Seated stoically a silver haired man watches a company employee click on a face files video, in the video is a teen singing to a crowd of teenage students, Raven Voss, the man before the laptop calls to him excitedly
"Boss, should we contact him?" Giving the go with a soft nod the silver haired man turns his eyes from beyond his shades back to the screen his lips tilting up barely half a millimeter
Walking up towards his school's gates Raven turns toward the sound of a black truck pulling over behind him, opening the door a tall man in a black shirt steps out looking him dead in the eyes.
"Are you Raven Voss?"
"Yes"
"Here" the man states pulling out a business card, "we don't usually approach prospects, but we've got an audition coming up you should be there"
Pausing briefly raven frowns, "I'm flattered but I'm not interested" Raven replies to the man's visible shock
"Do you?.. I'm from 'HE'"
"What's that?" Raven inquires feigning ignorance while well aware of the company, glancing towards Luke, Raven's lips raise partially in amusement. Forcing his smile away at the mans inquisitive stare the two are pulled away from their staring contest by the boy beside him,
"Raven!…what're you doing?, Accept it! It's Hedge entertainment" after giving it more thought Raven eventually concedes
"As long as my friend is invited" he states to the man,
"Then come with me", the man replies his face betraying his pleasure over his triumph. Deciding begrudgingly to skip school, the duo step into the vehicle and after several minutes finally arrive at their given destination, staring in awe as they make their way through the entertainment company's HQ.
"They're top two in the country easy", Luke's encyclopedic nature about anything entertainment related having finally worn off Raven's general apathy for following recent trends, walking up to the huge glass doors they're left to make their way back to the man and are met by a woman in black who inquires their names then leads them towards an elevator then through a series of maze like turns,
"Here" with her objective complete she spares the duo a glance before walking off and leaving them to their own devices
"S....should we?" Luke inquires nervously signaling to the door to which Raven opens swiftly, stepping in he is immediately met by the sight of three individuals, the talent agent, another man and a woman in-between all seated in front of a set of engineering gear and a studio glass, though darker than any he'd ever seen, (i can't see past it)
{You can, if you focus that is, though i advice against it the sign would scare the non's},
"Your friends up first" being the first words the man says in greeting towards Raven, Luke steps up nervously almost in a salute like stance
"Yes!, h...hi I'm Luke python!"
Raven watches for several minutes as Duke raps, sings and dances for the trio and eventually reaching his turn he steps up
"I don't have anything planned" Raven states, (i came for Luke anyway)
"Sing anything" the man states prompting Raven to sing the first random song that comes to mind,
"Thank you, were done we'll get back to you in a few days" watching the two walk out the woman speaks up excitedly
"Where'd you find him!?, He's got to debut immediately!"
"I didn't" the talent agent replies staring into the heavily tinted glass,
"so? What'd you think?, KV" he mumbles as the stare of a silver haired man in shades pierce's him from beyond the glass.
Upon arrival at his apartment Raven switches bodies before falling into a zen position, inhaling and exhaling with a series of exercises and alternating breathes he proceeds to hold his breath while tensing his muscles and sealing his pores to avoid sweating in his attempt to superheat his body, slowly but surely the pressure amps up eventually building to the point where he slowly feels fat and miniscule amounts of muscle burn away from his body but his body grow in explosiveness, exhaling steam pumps out his pharynx. His room is blinded white from the sheet magnitude of steam his body slightly weary,
(How much longer do i have to do this?),
{Others achieve the pinnacle of Breath control through constant combat, tempering the body under pressure and forcing it to grasp at the miniscule amounts of Force in the surrounding in great amounts before converting it yo vapour, steam, but given your current lack of action it's best you keep at thing's this way} Silver replies, their banter is cut short abruptly, interrupted by a call, picking up the phone he sees the initial used to save the talent agents number
"Hello?.....yes...i got in?....what about Luke?....he got in too?... that's great!.
Now at the HQ Raven makes his way into 'HE', he's directed this time towards a training room, stepping into the room he's immediately taken to the spacious almost gym like setting, the stark white walls and ceiling, hardwood floors, a mirror covering the entirety of the wall to his right
"Hey!" Comes a cheerful call, turning he sees one of the two present, greeting in reply the two introduce themselves
"I'm Ian, and she's Darla, I'm in my fifth year, and she's in her third" the guy states introducing themselves, the group get to practicing as the veterans take the lead in training the duo,
"The evaluations are set at the end of every month, this month's evaluation comes this week, I really don't think they'll have the two of you participate though, you've barely had time to adjust, but it's best to prepare you anyway", Ian states, the group turn at the sound of the door both Raven and the new entry pause each staring at the other momentarily,
"Amy?, your a trainee?" Raven inquires staring at James younger sister who squeals in excitement before barreling into him,
"how're they?" Raven inquires referring to Nue's puppies
"She's good!, They're all good!" the bubbly fiery haired girl replies flexing her pale arms
"I didn't know you knew each other" Ian sates
"Her brothers a friend"
"Well as much as i enjoy watching you too we've got less than a week to make you both somewhat decent artists"
The group work on getting the choreography, linkup and flow right, Raven trains day and night upsetting Silver endlessly, who'd stated repeatedly that he'd have enough time to dance once he was dead to which it'd immediately burst's out laughing rambling on and on, on how his body would dance like a headless chicken once his head was lobbed off by an insane martial artists
(Can't say i blame Silver but I've been pushing myself and haven't really improved since advancing, can't be helped things have been relatively peaceful, makes me wonder if i just keep away from this martial arts business I'll retain my peace),
With the week end finally here Raven stands together with his training group in an auditorium holding every other artist in training, the most attention grabbing people are the two who are seated at the center while the others stand around them,
(KV, Kevin volt and Yue the two biggest 'HE' stars),
Standing behind the girl we're her thug like manager and assistant both sporting raunchy colored tattoos that peaked just outside the cover of their clothes.
The evaluations commence with Raven and his group last to perform, watching everyone else perform over the next few hours Raven comes to a certain conclusion,
(Ian and Darla are much better), watching further as the looks of admiration show at the duo's performances Raven becomes certain something else is at play, Yue whose face had contorted at the sight of the two quickly cajoles the rest of the judges into giving them low evaluations much to Raven's distaste, Raven takes his turn feeling the burning gaze of the silver haired man in shades, (Kevin Volt), the exclamations of pleasant surprise at his competence ensue,
"How long have you been a trainee?" A judge inquires
"A week sir"
"What!?, A week?" The crowd rouses again but with a wave of his hand the crowd falls silent and the surprise dies out, Luke has his turn performing his best as he ignores the disgruntled looks of some of the trainees and judges alike unhappy with his weight,
"Who taught you kid?" The company president asks from his seat at the side
"Ian and Darla did sir they're al..."
"so they can just stay as class c teachers" Yue interrupts shooting the two a sweet smile, the president smiles understanding Yue's cue he agrees after several minutes of contemplating, the judges eventually concede excluding Kevin Volt who's eyes remain fixated on watching Raven's every move
"Good, I'm glad everyone agrees, you two should be honoured", Yue states while staring down the duo, Darla's head hangs low while Ian's eyes are shut tight with his breath seemingly stuck in his throat Raven seeing their distress is about to speak when he's interjected
"This evaluation is over" Kevin states before getting up from his chair as he makes his way out of the hall while ignoring Yue's advances.
(What really is the point?, Should i just give up? Live a normal life? After everything, all the years, i wish...i wish I'd never met her)
Ian now inside the C class music room walks towards the wooden piano running his finger under the hull he feels the rough surface of it's carved hide, a carving of a better time one he wished he'd never had
(We were so happy back then, she'd told me she liked me, i rejected her, i had helped out the country girl with an inferiority complex a few times, i wanted to concentrate on starting my career, already in my third year of being a trainee, things where looking hard for the both of us, before i knew it we were already together, relying each on the other, a chance to debut had arisen, there were four girls in our class including Darla they were picked to debut as a trio, and she was left out, i remember her crying, myself consoling her, a trainee life with no money, no guarantee, but we were happy, but happiness, it never lasts long.
I was ready, to give up my foolish dream of being a star, to be happy....so 'we' could be happy, i remember the day, i'd stopped hearing from her about a week prior, she'd been absent from training and then i saw her, inside the car of the president's colleague, the man who'd requested the trio for a debut, they were kissing, he was... touching her, i knew what it was i just i....i couldn't believe it, i didn't want to, i ran at the thug he had protecting the area, i don't know how long it was but when i woke up, there he was, squatting down looking down towards me with a mocking smile, bloodied and beaten, swollen i looked to her, and she turned away, my shock must have been obvious, i remember his words, 'i'm sure you'll like this' he said and on it where the pictures she'd send me the one's I'd thought only for me, seeing my shock they laughed, seeing my shock she glared in contempt, in disgust, and then it sunk it was over, not just us..... everything, my dream, my vision, my goal, i knew then....i was done, and yet i tried and well here i am, she debuted not long after, and proceeded to make my life hell, i saw hate every time i looked at her why?....for the life of me i never knew, i still don't, maybe this is my karma...i should never have lost focus in the first place).