The Shadow And The Light: Issue #1

[Tarrius Drast]

The room's ambiance was joyful and the crowd had grown excited with the various performances that had taken course throughout the night. Many within the crowd stood and bopped to the rhythm of the music, their bodies taking shape with each and every note. It was relaxing for Tarrius, who had been swamped the past few months looking into several key cases for the Imperial Police.

To relax and find some semblance of normalcy felt strange, he felt naked without his shockball uniform or The Shadow's armor. He could feel the cold eyes of many patrons gazing over and pointing towards him, oohing and awing that a professional player from the GSL was actually in attendance.

"You seem to be the center of attention," his date responded in a thick core accent. She had flowing red hair that curved with her angular face, highlighting her faint white skin, and bright blue eyes. She was some model from the Imperial Republica, one of many that he had the chance to spend time with.

"Maybe they aren't used to seeing a model around these parts," he would pause with a slight wink, as he brought a shot glass up towards his lips, "I mean have you seen the wackjobs that hang out in this city?"

The girl arched her brow at the comments, her face giving away that she was confused. "Mmm..Like the freak shadow guy, hunts criminals like he is some character out of a holobook. He's a nobody, they all are." She would pause as she wrapped her arm around him, "What really matters is when is the man of the hour going to arrive? I'm bored.."

Tarrius glanced towards the girl, chuckling at her comments. If only she knew who her arms were wrapped around, maybe she would see things differently. "Yeah, they're a bunch of freaks." He responded as turned to hear the sound of clapping and commotion, "Speaking of the man of the hour..I think he arrived."

tag: @TwoSidedHeart

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[Levi Stargazer]

"Remember to make eye contact with everybody when you address them. I won't have it be said that my son is not respectful." To anybody other entertainer in the Galaxy, getting advice from the retired classical singer Aubrette would be an honor. To Levi, it was just another repeat of past wisdom from his mother.
"I will mother." Levi offered a bright smile to her before his attention was drawn to his father.
"And don't forget to play up your sex appeal during tracks one, four and seven. The fans in the front row will lose it, and I have it on good authority that there may be an investor in attendance partial to an attractive young man such as yourself." His father, Lexius Devva, was always on the lookout for potential investments to Stargazers career.
"So you want me to sing with a husky voice, thrust my hips and 'accidentally' show my abs while I dance. Got it." Sometimes, Levi wasn't the biggest fan of his parents. He knew, just as well as the tabloids, that on some level they were trying to use his career to advance themselves upwards in social status.
"Alright then sweety, it's time." Aubrette kissed him on the cheek before gently pushing him towards the stage. "Good luck."
"And don't kriff anything up. We've paid a lot of money to get this gig covered."

With a now tight smile, Levi left his parents behind and stepped towards the curtain line. Peering out, he could see a wide assortment of people. Fans, celebrities, potential investors, staff members and security. Young and old, all in attendance to see him unveil his new album. There was even a holo crew there, ready to stream the show across the stars to everybody unable to be there. He'd never performed in such a high stakes show before and the prospect made him a little nervous.

Adjusting his clothes, he turned to look in a mirror. For his new album, his parents and agent had decided that it was time for a 'bad boy' look. While he wore faux leather pants before, now they were even tighter than before, paired with an equally form fitting sleeveless shirt that was strategically short enough that it rode up whenever he raised his arms above shoulder level. His feet were covered in some kind of designer shoes gifted to him by a sponsor and he also wore a pair of tinted purple sunglasses with silver rims. Lastly, his hair had been painstakingly altered over several weeks, the left half black and the right half a pristine white, stylized in a messy fashion that was supposed to look effortless. Altogether, Levi felt that kind of uncomfortable in the undersized clothing but he knew that his fans were going to love it.

Stepping out onto the stage, he was met with applause and cheers, smiling widely and waving. Nearer to the stage, there was a group of fans that were screaming in excitement and he made a point of giving them personalized waves.

"Welcome everybody and thank you for coming out tonight." Levi began as he reached the microphone, leaning down slightly to speak into it. "I'm really excited to unveil my new album for you all. I've named it Illumination." He let the people applaud him, some whistling as always, before speaking again. "As you all know, I'm going to be performing the first ten tracks here tonight, with an additional three bonus tracks being released after the performance on all streaming services, including Galactatunes." The opening few notes of the first track on the album began to play, a melody that dove into a hectic chorus involving a complex choreography routine that was highly sexualized in order to hammer home his new image. Taking the mic in his hand, Levi took several steps back and slowly swayed to the beat, ready to get the first song over and done with. "This song is called Seeing Stars."​

 

[Tarrius Drast]

"I love this music...Levi is amazing," the model responded as she glanced towards the aging Drast, giving a smirk, "He's so young, but alluring...I love it." She bopped along to the beat in their seat, Tarrius nodding towards her with a bit of a smile. This was utterly painful for the man, he hated this pop music eschutta that had run rampant across the galaxy. There wasn't any substance, it all seemed artificial and fake to him.

"Yeah...he has talent," he said in a dry tone as he leaned back in his seat, taking another sip from the drink. "To be honest, I think it sucks," he chuckled, "The kid's father asked for some celebrities to be in attendance, offered me some credits so I showed up. I'm not here because I love the kids artistry, far from it."

The model gave a slight huff, and pushed her hands off of him, "What womp rat ran up your rear and has you all depressed, lighten up it might be more appealing." She got up from the seat and made her way towards the dance floor. Well obviously she wasn't here for my personality. He chuckled to himself.

"To be honest, I think brooding and depressed fits you," a strong feminine Outer Rim accent whispered into his ear. The Drast glanced up to see a pair of icy blue eyes staring back at him. "Vianna Dimzon..but, my friends call me Vee." Her thick black hair flowed down her back and accented her cherry red lipstick that she dawned. The woman wore a tight fitting purple dress that shaped around her body. The top was cut into a v-shape that gave off a slight tease at her assets. Tarrius had to admit that he was impressed. He watched as the woman slid into the booth, her hands clinging to a wine glass.

"I'm Kal..."

"Ooh...I know who you are," the woman smirked as she took a sip from the glass, her lipstick leaving an imprint upon the rim. "Consider me a...big fan of your work." She smiled as she glanced towards the boy performing, "You're much more style, I never got the appeal of slender boys like that."

The Drast chuckled, as he nodded his head, "I agree.." Tonight just got a whole lot more interesting.. He thought to himself as he gave the mysterious woman one more glance.

tag: @TwoSidedHeart