Raz Stone
Brewed Awakenings, Avalon Branch
Monday - Morning

Raz was willing to bet pretty good money that Sara Cross was not a good gambler. This ordeal had started when her attempts to threaten him into silence had met with a less then successful result, though Raz had of course gone easy on her. She was his cute subordinate after all. However her response to this had been to double down on the threats. Even had her claims been entirely valid, he wasn't concerned in the slightest.

Being an idol was not just about showing someone to look after, a back to follow or a handsome smile to swoon over, it was about showing humanity in all its forms, from beauty to the very humanity inherent in mistakes. One actually tended to grow in popularity with the occasional scandal, it generated public interest. A famous play write had once succinctly put it: "I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right."

Raz had repeatedly found there to be quite a bit of truth in the old saw. Of course, he felt it was a bit incomplete. One needed to occasionally show a bit of human weakness in order to move past it. Do so, and fans would celebrate your redemption instead of becoming jealous of your success, or worse, tarring as inhuman and unable to understand the hearts of your admirers.

Raz often likened such to a good cup of coffee. Delicious coffee was one of the most wonderful, euphoric experiences one could have on this planet. ...However...if one never had a bad cup of coffee, they might find themselves less able to appreciate the subtle complexities of a really good cup of coffee. it was in contrast that created perception, created understanding. Plus it didn't hurt that "I tried to threaten him into silence and he tried to make me sing!" was not perhaps the career shattering scandal that Sara had been portraying. Raz had actually quite looked forward to making Sara aware of this. In fact, he had half a mind to print one of those amusing "Do it!" memes on the front of his shades in fact, except....

Raz's wince was hidden behind the Hermes Shades....but it was still apparent in his voice.

"Your Comp...she just went online didn't she? Whelp, guess that means the jigs up."

Without warning, the DTG popped back up tipping his fedora at the new A.I. briefly before issuing an excited all purpose announcement. "You ain't kidding the jigs up! Once the Canary start singing," the DTG thumbed a finger at Sara's AI, "the lil' looker's gonna hit the ing-bing but quick, savvy?" Unsurprisingly, the detective looked provably thrilled at the idea. To say that Raz did not have an especially over protective A.I. was a bit of an understatement.

"He said once your AI tells you what I assume she is pulling up, you will freak out." Raz sighed, answering the unspoken question.

"I guess ill bite the bullet myself," The dark haired man went on, shrugging ruefully. "See the good news is, you don't have to sing for me. Never did, though of course I would like you to. Baring your 'pathos' as you put it, is a bit wordy but its not wrong. Singing is at heart, baring yourself to the crowd, asking them to love and accept you. Music is the purest method of conveying your feelings. Why wouldn't I want you to convey yours?"

"...Having said that, the idea that I might expose you? well, that was just me having a laugh. Cause the bad news is... once you reach a certain level of popularity, people treat finding you in public as kind of a 'where's waldo' game, and they post about it online. " Raz cleared his throat for a moment and then rather uncannily did a picture perfect imitation of an excited high school girl's voice. "Saw Raz buying coffee beans today, Squee! Bought the same brand he did, #better then tea!"

...Using the Heat system to sing in a female voice for a change of pace or to act as his own back up in a duet was a familiar refrain from the Bard of the Kingdom. As such, it was not particularly noteworthy.

"Sooo...if one replays the last hour or so, you grabbed me quite emphatically in a fairly public area, walked me through more public areas, and then brought me here, a place I go all the time. Sorry to say, but by now we have almost certainly gone viral. I bet they think its a daaaaaaate. And while your disguise is pretty good, give a couple hard core fans a few hours and some basic facial recognition software....well, I dont doubt that your name is uh, trending, as they say."

"I guess what I am trying to say is..."



"...welcome to being a celebrity."


The moment hung out there a little bit longer before....

"Psssst" The DTG stage whispered. "He's weak to electricity! Just saying!"

Wise up!


REN: X > 120