Price of Fame

[Raelena St. John]

--open

People apparently wanted fame and fortune, and were willing to go to great lengths to get it.

Go figure.

Rae couldn't walk out in public without people staring. Sometimes people came at her with cameras, snipping photos. They'd long since learned that the rocker wasn't about to care what they saw or thought. Even now, the only time Rae ever cared was if someone she cared about was uncomfortable about the attention. Eve, for example, usually seemed bothered by it.

Now, though, someone had crossed the line.

"B-b-but you're famous!" the girl pleaded. She followed along behind Rae, pleading with the rockstar. "Please, can't you just listen to my album?"

"Look, I cannae--"

"Come on!" the girl moved around to stand in front of Rae. Her eyes watered, and she clasped her hands in front of her. "I'll do anything to get famous. I'll even--"

Her eyes scanned Rae, and she gulped.

Rae sighed, massaging her temples. People find out your a lesbian that likes sex, and they all assume you want to rape every woman on the street. Right now Rae only wanted one lass, and wouldn't even look twice at most others. Yes, there were a few exceptions, as Rae could never ignore someone as unearthly beautiful as, say, Mae, not to mention the chemistry there.

But some farmgirl with a dream?

"Look, lass, ye barkin' oop th' wrong tree. I disnae do tha', even when I'm nae--"

"But I'm not ugly!"

"Nae, ye tain't but--"

"Please! I'm okay with it, and I really, really want to be famous I--!"

Rae simply punched the girl in the mouth, sending her sprawling. Cursing, the lycan waved her hand, rubbing her knuckles.

"I said 'nae,'" she growled. Still, she leaned over and plucked a CD from the girl's hands. "Tha' ought ta teach her ta behave."

The lycan then pulled the unconscious girl to the side of the street, and tucked some money in her pants pocket. Just in case she needed bus fare or something.

That situated, Rae rose, and started down the street again.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke was scouting the streets, he would never admit to anyone what he was doing here.

In the business section of Masonville, filled with holiday decorations. Lights and holly and all manners of decorations, and Locke was window shopping, for one very special person.

As for who, well that should be obvious. The chill in the air had gotten too much for him to be wearing his usual shorts, so he'd traded them out for a set of longer sweat pants, though still keeping a long tailed coat to hide his extra 'appendage'. No sense in getting the crowds all worked up.

It was then that he noticed an odd situation. There was one girl, one he kept thinking he should remember, and she was standing over some other girl. What was going on here?

He then noticed the standing girl holding something, and her other hand coming out of the other girls pocket. Had she just...mugged her?

Locke's eyes went wide as he watched the scene. This was dangerous, he had heard crime rose near the holidays, but he hadn't expected to see it, not here. He almost locked up when the women turned in his direction, enraptured in fear.

[Raelena St. John]

Unfortunately, Rae did not notice that someone was paying particular attention to her. She also didn't see her actions as being particularly offensive, or even worthy of note. As such, she had no qualms about simply leaving the girl laying there. Maybe next time she'd think twice before accosting random people in the street.

"Alrigh'," Rae continued down the street, acting as if she hadn't just knocked out another girl. Run of the mill day for Raelena St. John. Complete with stalkers. And apparently voyeurs too.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke blinked twice, the women was walking away without a second glace. Was crime this common here?

All right, decision time. There were a few options. Call her out, and then he would be the next target. Find help for the girl, and then lose sight of the attacker. Try to attack her and take her down himself, a major no. Follow her and try to report her once she stopped moving.

Now that, that seemed somewhat reasonable. So ducking into an ally Locke watched the blond stroll down the roads, every now and again changing his vantage point so he could continue to watch her. He attempted to be inconspicuous, but he wasn't sure how good he could possibly be at that.

Oh well, at least SHE didn't notice...yet. He swallowed hard and continued his tailing of the women, he only needed to keep it up until she entered a building, then he could call the authorities and let them handle it.

God, when did I start acting like a Cavanite?

[Raelena St. John]

Had the girl gotten up again already?

Rae could certainly sense someone following her. Years of being stalked had given her the senses to do it, not to mention being a lycan. steady footfalls, slightly increased breathing. Besides that, a scent lingered on the air. Yes, the rockstar was being stalked.

Again.

Rae stopped in the street, sighing. She massaged the bridge of her nose. Some times, it wasn't worth being famous. Even in a rinky-dink town like Masonville. Seriously, didn't they have something better to do? They should be used to the Scottish superstar by now.

Thoroughly frustrated, Rae looked up, calling, "'oi! I ken ye be followin' me. If'n ye want ta bloody say someit, come oot an' talk ta me. Otherwise get ye arse oot o' here!"

She didn't turn, instead waiting to hear a response of some sort. Either feet scurrying away, or someone calling her out.

[Locke F. Herald]

Oh god she noticed him, and she looked like she was going to turn around and pounce on him any minute now. And she called out. Locke's voice caught in his throat briefly, but then he spoke up.

"A-Any reason you just robbed a girl in the middle of the street?" He was trying to sound confident and strong, he didn't think it was working. She'd probably just turn around and punch him, or shoot him, or stab him, or any number of unpleasant things.

He gulped hard, trying to look rock solid.

Yeah, cause that was going to work.

[Raelena St. John]

Rob a girl? Is that what this was about?

Rae couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head. Someone had seen her knock out the other stalker, and had figured that she'd mugged them. More like a reverse mugging, than anything.

"Ye wrong there, lad," she replied, still chuckling, "I didnae mug th' lass. Knocked her oot because she wouldnae take nae fir an answer an' I disnae like bein' stalked. Left her some money an' took th' d**m CD she wanted me ta listen ta."

She rolled her eyes, and turned so she was now speaking over her shoulder. She still couldn't quite see whomever was speaking, but the voice told her he wasn't old.

"So relax. Ye a lad, I disnae jump lads all tha' often. 'sides, ye actin' a wee bit like a mate o' mine, makes me like ye a wee bit," she chuckled again, then turned fully, trying to see the Good Samaritan.

[Locke F. Herald]

She made the declaration of what had transpired and Locke ran it over in his head, she did have a CD, and he hadn't seen her return her hand to her pocket after it left the other girls...but then did that mean? It was kind of hard to understand her through her thick Scottish accent. Then she turned and Locke realized it, half way.

"I...know you..." He tried to recall the face. "You...." He let it drift off, and seemed lost in thought, he KNEW he'd seen that face before. It was unusual for this boy to forget anything, so he was more then a little confused at why this girl seemed so familiar, when he couldn't place where he had seen her.

"I know I have seen you somewhere..." He repeated, cupping his chin in his hand. This was going to bother him for hours if he couldn't figure out who this girl was.

He could try asking, but of course he didn't think of that.

[Raelena St. John]

"I jus' have one o' those faces," drawled Rae, smiling. Now that she could study the boy up close, she recognized him from a set of drawings. This was Kiri's lad. Not too bad in person, and he certainly had the right sort of attitude. Was he a Cavan then? And Rae fought against the strange urge to bark and chase him up a tree.

"I ken ye too, lad," she added, smiling. "Ye Kiri's lad, aye? She an' I gabbed some time ago. Nice lass, ye better treat her righ' or I might have ta do ye like I done tha' lass back there."

She jerked her chin in the direction of the unconscious girl, just in case Locke forgot.

"Oh, name's Rae," she added, sticking out a hand, "an' I ken aboot th' Academy an' all tha' bunk, so ye disnae have ta dance around it."

Hmm... should she go and get this kid drunk, figure out about him? Now she had the sudden urge to grill him, if only for her own satisfaction. Either that or just leave him puzzled. Both would be fun...

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke took a half step back when she turned on him. And then she dropped Kiri's name, and she KNEW her?! Why would Kiri know a women like this? It didn't make any sense. She then made a threat on him, granted with a smile, but that just made it even creepier. Words struggled to form a line out of his mouth.

"How do you know-? I would never trea-! Wait, Rae?" He asked confused, staring at the hand out in front of him.

Rae...Scottish, someone whose face he had seen before... He snapped his fingers with a smile.

"Of course! You're Raelena, the crazy, trouble magnet, Lycan, Scottish Rockstar that Kennedy knows!" He said triumphantly. He then realized that he'd said a few things that might be construed as insults. "Ummm...I didn't mean that quite the way it came out..." He said, eying her suspiciously.

[Raelena St. John]

Wow, that many adjectives now? At least Kennedy was mentioning her name to his friends.

"Cavan's callin' me th' bloody trouble magnet? Tha's projectin', righ' there. Lad's more trouble then ten o' me, an' I go lookin' fir it," she chuckled, thinking of all the mischief the two of them had gotten into. It seemed like hardly a month could go by without Kennedy getting in over his head with something. Recently it had become this whole proposal thing.

"Disnae worry aboot hurtin' m'feelin's," Rae waved Locke's protests off, "I'm used ta far worse than tha'. 'sides, most o' it's true anyhow, cannae complain if'n ye bring it on ye'self."

She eyed Locke again. Yes, this was definitely a boy she could see that innocent little girl being with. Hardly a threat to anyone, and certainly good enough for her. They must make quite the cute little couple.

Ugh, too much monogamy was making Rae syrupy.

"Kiri an' I met late one night. She was in her PJs an' I was sneakin' oot," she grinned at that, letting Locke put things together. Should be an interesting picture, that's for sure.

[Locke F. Herald]

Kennedy a trouble magnet? Well that did seem to make sense, his heroism did tend to get him into trouble. At her remark that his comments were fine he released his held breath, a sigh of relief.

When she described the situation they met under, Locke's eyebrow raised. She was sneaking out, but she was not a Wingrosian, that much was obvious. So why was she sneaking out of the dorms, and why did she meet Kiri. Looking at Rae's attire answered the question, was she sleeping with someone in the Wingrose dorm? And Kiri was up because...?

"You were...wait, not with her...right?"

The last word was not as certain as Locke wanted to be. Shouldn't he trust his own girlfriend?

She was naive though, and naive girls did get taken advantage of.

[Raelena St. John]

"Mebbe," Rae replied, grinning. This was suddenly a lot more fun. Besides, she wanted to see how Locke reacted to the idea of his girlfriend making out with a super-hot rockstar. Some guys would get excited by the idea, others would get upset. Rae was betting that Locke was one of the former as opposed to the latter.

"She's a wee cutie, ye lass," added Rae, nodding. "She an' I bonded a wee bit, an' I got to sort through her panties."

Rae sighed at that, putting a dreamy look on her face.

"Good times, good times."

[Locke F. Herald]

For all his life Locke never really fit a mold too well. And there was no reason that was going to stop now. So men could get excited, they could get angry, but not Locke.

No he just got self conscious and depressed. His lip almost started quivering when she said she'd bonded with Kiri, and when she mentioned going through her undergarments his face was totally red. T-That...how was he supposed to take that. And then he saw something familiar, it was a daydreaming expression, he saw it on Kiri sometimes, and he knew what it meant.

So that was it eh? Little Miss Popular up and snagged her eyes off of him, well it was bound to happen he supposed. After all, Raelena was gorgeous, famous, talented in the arts, and rich. Not to mention that Kiri was probably too naive to consider any romantic relation 'right' or 'wrong' regardless of gender.

"I...see..." Locke said letting the sentence drift off. He felt like he had a weight around his neck, dragging him down slowly. What could he possibly do now? Maybe?

"So...she likes you, that's good for her." He said, trying to sound pleased.

[Raelena St. John]

Watching Locke squirm was somewhat entertaining. Rae couldn't help but feel some delight in seeing him hash over some make-believe relationship in his head. Besides, his reactions would be so telling.

Though Rae did feel a little bad for torturing. Blame it on the lack of anything better to do with her time.

"Oh, she likes me," agreed Rae, nodding, "but nae as she likes ye, ye f**kin' idjit."

The wild lycan reached and slapped Locke on the back of the head, though she grinned the whole time. "Ye ought ta fight a wee bit more fir ye lass. At least yell at me or someit. Jus' cause I'm prettier than ye an' bigger disnae mean ye should roll o'er."

She snorted, crossed her arms and raising her brows, "Mebbe I should go back an' see wha' she looks like in those cute wee panties o' hers. Probly beat ye to it."

A low blow, quite literally.