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The Simulacrum - Chapter 132 - Part 3
🕑 Added 2023-12-21 14:56:18 +0000 UTC"Oh, look! They have a photo booth!" my excited draconic girlfriend exclaimed, pointing at a spot near the central showcase of the Valentine's Fair built on top of a fancy fountain (lacking water at the moment, because of obvious reasons).
"Can you really call it a 'booth' when it's out in the open?" I philosophized, but not for long, as I was already being dragged over there.
"Don't split hairs! Let's try it!"
She didn't need to pull me that hard, but since it came to this, I had no choice but to tease her a little.
"I don't know. I think we need to nail down the proper terminology first before we engage in any of this—"
"Ah, the cute couple over there! Would you like to have your picture taken to commemorate the day?" the middle-aged woman behind the tripod called out to us, and I could only sigh.
"Yes please."
Elly's giggles were uncontrollable for the next couple of seconds, but it was fine, as it made her look extra-charming in her picture. For which we had to wait a couple of minutes, so we stepped aside from the showcase to give others the opportunity.
So far, today's second date was progressing great. We started by watching a short comedic play in the National Theatre of Critias, an old and imposing building with a long history and incredibly uncomfortable seats. The princess didn't mind the latter though, and the show about a play within the play, where an inept theatre group was trying and failing to finish a performance where everything went wrong was both funny and meta enough to tickle my fancy.
After that, it was time for a second round at the fair, and there have been some changes since the morning, including some street performers, and a brand-new set of street stalls to browse from. Things remained wildly overpriced though.
"Say?" Elly grabbed my attention, literally by grabbing my hand. "Did you take a photo with Judy as well?"
"I couldn't even if I wanted to," I explained. "The photographer wasn't here in the morning… and even if she was, chances are, Judy wouldn't have wanted to do it anyway. She doesn't like it when her picture's taken."
"Aw, that's a shame… I wanted to exchange pictures with her."
"Maybe next time." That was the end of that topic, but since our photos still weren't ready, I decided to launch into another one. "You two are getting along really well nowadays, aren't you?"
"What do you mean 'nowadays'? We always got along," she protested, and I couldn't help but raise a skeptical brow.
"That's not how I remember it. In the beginning, you were pretty hostile to her."
"That was ages ago!" she pouted with audible discontentment. "Not to mention, back then, we were in a love triangle, and now we aren't anymore."
"True, I suppose."
She nodded with a content smirk, as if she just won a big argument, and nodded so hard it sent her ringlets cascading around her shoulder. Then, she paused for a moment and placed a tentative finger on her lower lip.
"But, you know, I think we got much closer recently."
"I guess living together does that to people," I noted, and for a moment I was getting expectant when the photographer's assistant returned from their makeshift darkroom… only to then hand go to the toilet, meaning our pictures weren't done yet. Oh well, back to the small talk. "Do you still practice singing in your personal studio together?"
"Yes! Singing together is so much more fun than when I'm doing it alone! And duets are the best!" Elly sounded extra-happy, which also made me happy, but then my mood instantly turned diffident when she proposed, "We should go to one of those karaoke places again, together! You know, when we had our first unofficial date."
"It was an outing, and… I don't know," I answered a tad uncertainly. "I would also have to sing there, and between the two of you, I'd get an inferiority complex."
"Don't say that!" She squeezed my hand. "With some vocal training, you will do fine!"
I still wasn't a huge fan of the idea, so before she could get any more into it, I decided to subtly steer the conversation away from any potential karaoke plans.
"Do you still sing Dragon Prodigy songs?"
"Yes! Once things blow over, I'll ask Janis if I can do some backing vocals for their next album, so I have to practice!"
As a reminder, Janis was the lead singer of Dragon Prodigy, one of the bands contracted to Dragonflame Records, the Dracis family's record label. She was also unexpectedly soft-spoken and friendly, despite the initial impression her tattoos and piercings gave off, but that's beside the point.
"Judy said more or less the same," I noted, and then squeezed her hand back and pointed at the darkroom. "I think our photos are ready."
I was right, and after receiving our framed pictures in cute, valentine-themed paper bags, it was time to hit up the rest of the fair. It was only half past five, so we still had some time before we'd have to leave, and I figured trying to find a food stand we missed in the morning would be a nice time waster.
If nothing else, the atmosphere was nice, and since the sun went down, the mixed lights gave the whole square a 'carnival' kind of feel, further helped by the actual, honest-to-goodness fire-eaters and jugglers setting up shop in one end of the square. We idled there for a while, before moving on to another row of stalls, and to my sheer and utter surprise, I found some familiar faces there.
"Good evening, dear customers. What can I…?" The tall guy on the other side of the traditional, white-and-red striped stall greeted us with a chipper, if somewhat nasal, voice. However, the moment our eyes met, he shuddered and uttered a soft. "Oh. It's you…"
"It's 'ho?" a short guy, his buzz-cut hair hidden by a company-branded baseball cap and carrying a tray of freshly cut onions, lettuce, and tomato slices, came to a halt and looked up at me. "Ah! It's 'im!"
"Who's who?" the third member of the trio, a heavy-set guy wearing the same kind of cap and a white apron with 'Kiss the Chef' written on it, looked up from the vertical roaster.
Yep. They were, without a doubt, the ol' Goldfish Poop Gang.
"Evening, gentlemen," I greeted them in a chipper voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Not really," the tall guy (Jones, if my memory served right) grumbled, but the big guy immediately scolded him.
"A customer's a customer, so no badmouthing!" He turned to us next. "What do you want?"
"Boss. Ya just said to be polite," the short guy whined, and their leader let out a scoff.
"I was! I asked them what they wanted to order!"
While the three of them squabbled, I looked over the place. By the looks of it, they were making döner kebab. Or maybe gyros? I wasn't entirely clear on the distinction, but considering that they had a portable vertical roast, pitas, burger buns, and a whole bunch of different vegetables, I was certainly in the right ballpark.
"So? What's the story behind this stall?" I asked, interrupting their heated discussion about professional courtesy, and the big guy answered first.
"Jones's aunt is in some kooky church charity organization, and because of that, his uncle told us to man this stall."
"All the profits go to some children's hospital," the tall one amended, and the boss nodded with a sour expression.
"And that's why, instead of looking for a girlfriend, we are stuck here next to the hot stove all evening. It's unfair."
"But 'tis for a good 'asue, ya know?" the short guy chimed in while packing the shredded vegetables into stainless steel containers.
"Yes, yes. Keep telling yourself that," the big one continued to gripe, and after absently slicing off some meat from the grill, he looked at us again. "We're still stuck here, and then to make it worse, this lucky bastard shows up to show off his girlfriend again. I bet you're on a fun date, aren't you?"
"Yes, we are!" Elly declared, either oblivious to the barbs in the guy's words, or just so amused she didn't care.
"Bah! Just tell me what you want!"
"Well, since you asked, I think I'll have a big pita with extra meat."
"I'll take a small one, without the spicy sauce," Elly followed after me, and the short guy gave us a determined nod.
"On it!" he declared and immediately began putting together our order. In the meantime, the tall guy looked somewhat restless, and when I raised a brow at him, he finally mustered up his courage.
"So… We mentioned that this was for a charity, right?"
"Yes."
"And, you know… we aren't doing great so far," he admitted.
"We are doing fine!" the big guy cut in from the side. "It's not even peak hours yet!"
For once, the tallest ignored the protests of the boss of the group and let out a sigh.
"You see, I think normal couples just aren't really into spicy street food during Valentine's. I mean, look how much better those guys are doing!"
He pointed at another stall, where they were selling cotton candy, and there was a veritable line forming in front of it, as opposed to this one, where we were pretty much the only ones idling around.
"I think I get your point," I noted as I turned back to the guys. "You want us to donate?"
"Only if you can afford it," the tall one answered, but his face lit up with a mixture of hope and expectation.
"Let's see. How much will my food cost?" I asked as I opened my wallet.
"Ten Jens," he told me, and I had to click my tongue. It was certainly overpriced, but this wasn't the time to be stingy.
"Truth be told, I've been forced to watch my finances for the first time ever, and so I don't have as much money on me as usual, so…" With that said, I handed over a dozen or so one hundred Jen notes, much to the trio's amazement.
"Wait, me too!" Elly followed me up by rummaging through her purse, and after a few seconds, produced an honest-to-goodness cheque-book. "Do you accept checks?"
"Erm… I'm not entirely su—"
"'Es! O' course we do!" the short guy interrupted his colleague as he placed our completed orders in front of us.
"Great!" With that, Elly produced a pen, and while I didn't watch closely at what she wrote, based on the absolutely flabbergasted expressions on the Goldfish Poop Gang's faces, it probably had at least one too many zeroes at the end.
"This is so unfair!" the heavy-set guy cried out as we picked up our orders. "He's not only rich and has a pretty girlfriend out on a Valentine's Day date, she's also rich! I also wanna have a rich girlfriend!"
"'Ere, 'ere, boss. 'E're 'ere for ya," the short guy tried to console his sizable friends, but it had little effect. However, if nothing else, the commotion drew people's attention, and by the time we left, there were at least a couple of new customers, so I imagined they wouldn't have a lot of free time to mope around anymore.
"Hehe," my princess giggled by my side as we looked for a nice spot to sit down as we ate. "Giving to charity always makes me feel nice."
"I can relate."
We soon found a bench, and the moment we sat down, she levelled another question at me.
"You said you have to watch your finances, but didn't Dad already send you this month's profit split?"
"Yes, he did, but I had a lot of extra expenses to balance it out," I answered absently between bites. "Not to mention, while the streaming platforms are doing well, the social media site and the online video platform have yet to break even. There's just not enough online advertisers yet, I suppose."
"You should take my advice and just fleece the Magi already," the princess said, sounding rather aggressive.
"I'm working on it, but it'll take some time."
"Then follow Judy's advice and fleece the Celestials instead," she said, switching tracks without batting an eye. "You said they were the ones who were sending you money all this time, so they obviously must have some more they can give you."
"You make it sound simple, but remember that the Directorate is pretty much the world's most entrenched and fossilized bureaucratic system. Even if I demanded money, it would have to pass through something like six reviews and nine committees before I would see a single penny."
"Then you just have to strong-arm them into speeding up the process. You are their boss, aren't you?"
"Well, yes, but it's complicated," I muttered and took a big bite.
For the next half an hour, we had a pretty meandering conversation, starting with Celestial money, and somehow ending up with a discussion about the health benefits of cooking with olive oil, and while I could swear each link in the conversation made sense, I still didn't have the foggiest idea how we ended up there. More importantly, it was already after six, and we had somewhere else to be, so I called the limo driver and, after one last round around the festive square, we got into the car and headed to our last destination.
"Sooo? Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Elly asked, sitting on my lap inside the passenger compartment of the limousine in an eerily familiar fashion, and I shook my head.
"No can do. It wouldn't be a surprise that way."
"Aw! You're such a tease today," my dear princess griped, but it didn't stop her from giving me another kiss.
Like this, we spent about ten minutes waiting for our ride to reach our destination. Namely, a fairly unassuming nightclub, just outside the City's downtown. It didn't have any flashy neon signs, but it had a good reputation, and for this evening, the security was upped by a notch, for multiple overlapping reasons. However, I was getting ahead of myself.
"Where are we?" she asked a touch apprehensively when I helped her out of the car, but I shook my head and put a finger in front of my lips.
Holding tightly onto her hand, I led her past the people lining up in front of the entrance, and after flashing a special VIP ticket, we were let into the club at once. Inside, the fog machines were already working at full tilt. There was the expected, extensive bar in the back, with its fancy stools and shelves full of expensive alcohol, but we naturally steered clear of that and headed to the dance floor. Except, nobody was dancing at the moment, as while there was a familiar instrumental track playing in the background, both the main dance floor and the surrounding areas were packed full of people intently staring at the stage dominating the space. Once we were led to the front row by security and Elly could take a look at the instruments already up there, her eyes opened wide.
"You couldn't have…" she muttered, but as per the rules of timing, it was at this moment that someone with a microphone spoke up.
"The VIPs are here! Let's get this party started!"
A moment later, all the lights went out, and the stage lit up to the tune of a very familiar guitar solo. We were indoors, so pyrotechnics had to be kept to a minimum, but they still had some sparklers at the sides, and as they fired up, the band for the night marched onto the stage, amidst the cheering of the crowd.
The woman in the middle grabbed the mic and walked to the front while the rest of the band, all of them big, burly metalheads with long hair and fancy beards, picked up their instruments. Then, with a flash of the stage lights, the surprise Dragon Prodigy live concert launched into the first song on today's list.
"No way!" Elly screamed, yet still barely audible over the sound of the audience and Janis's singing. "I can't believe you arranged something like this!"
I leaned closer, to make sure she could hear me, and yelled, "Just wait! This is just the start!"
Tried as I did, I wasn't sure she could properly hear me, because her eyes were glued to the woman singing up front, and she was waving and screaming like any good fangirl would. I had to admit, the atmosphere was infectious, and even though I promised myself that I wouldn't get too into it, by the time the intro song finished, I found myself tapping my feet and nodding to the beat.
Then, as the final chord was struck, during the lull between songs, Janis walked up to the edge of the stage, mic in hand, and waved her arms in the air. It must have been some kind of universal sign, as the crowd quickly quieted down (as much as such a term could be used to a raving audience of metalheads). For the record, unlike her usual stage costume, which looked like some kind of leather corset with a short skirt and leather boots, she was wearing something much closer to street clothes. It was another request of mine and one she agreed to without much hassle. As for why I asked her, well…
"Welcome, Timaeus!" she exclaimed into the microphone, and the crowd responded with cacophonous cheers that shook the whole club. "Today is a very special concert for a very special friend of ours! It's a big day for her, right, Eleanor?"
She pointed at us, making Elly wave so hard I was afraid her arms would fall off.
"Jannis! Wooooh!"
Yet, her hands stopped the moment she spoke her next line.
"We decided to do something special tonight! She already sang with us in the studio, but today, she'll sing with us live! Isn't that right?"
Suddenly, a pair of stage lights focused on us, causing Elly to stiffen up for a moment.
"Are you serious?" she mumbled, and while I couldn't fully hear her, based on her lip movements, I was about ninety percent sure that was what she said.
"It's your first live concert!" I shouted to her to be heard over the crowd. "Go, get them, princess!"
Elly glanced between me and Janis, and when the woman on stage also flashed an encouraging smile, she could no longer hold back her excitement and jumped on me, wrapping her arms around my neck to pull herself up into a kiss before turning around and leaping onto the stage.
Relieved that things went about as well as expected, I signalled with my fingers to the stage crew, and so they turned off the light still aimed at me and continued with the show. Truth be told, I was a bit nervous about how the princess would react to this opportunity, so I had to put a couple of safety nets in place. I had to ask Janis to look less flashy than usual, so that Elly wouldn't look strange next to her in her street clothes. I also wasn't sure that she would immediately jump onto the stage, so I had a couple of contingency plans under my belt, none of which had to be used.
Finally, I curated the crowd a bit. While about half of them were the usual patrons of the club, plus the fans of the band who rushed here when they heard about the surprise mini-concert, the more visible ones in the first couple of rows around the stage were all 'my people', so to speak. Staff at the Dracis mansion and Dragonflame Records, off-duty Squires and Kage ninjas, plus friends and family. People who were in on the plan, and wouldn't complain about the concert getting 'hijacked' by a guest singer, or care if she would miss a note or two in her excitement.
Luckily for me, the princess was in prime shape, and after some warming up, by the second song, she was singing along with Janis like they were a professional duo all along. Yet, I didn't especially care about the music itself at the moment. The most important part was that Elly was, by all indications, having an absolute blast on stage. That was all that mattered, and looking at her singing her heart out up there made all the trouble I had to go through to secure this venue, ship in the band, arrange the audience, and do all of that without her being none the wiser, all but melt away.
I loved it when a plan paid off, but not nearly as much as I loved watching my girlfriends be happy. That was, without a doubt, the best.
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Egathentale
Hello, dear readers. The third part, as promised. There will be another short part tomorrow, serving more as a denouement, and then I'll take a break. I hope your enjoyed this slicey-lifey break, because after this, things are going to pick up pace again. So, till tomorrow, ciao, and have a nice day!
