First World Problems

Chapter 7: Tension at the Stage


Fox McCloud – Early Afternoon, Day 7

"Krystal, I really appreciate you coming along with me to the audition for the Cornerian Public Theatre. You're even driving us there. I would ask Bill, but he said he was busy helping a friend of his to convince her friend's boss from firing her. Something about a coffee spill and a burning crotch. I didn't know what that was all about."

Currently, Krystal is taking us to the theatre inside of a blue compact car. It's a bit snug for my liking but it's only for today. I will admit, the seats are really comfortable, so much so, I kind of begin to slouch against it.

"No worries, Fox. I'll be glad to help out a dear friend, plus I get to see what you will be auditioning for. What are you exactly auditioning for?"

"With the day of the Birth of Lylat coming up, it's no surprise the theatre is going to perform the story after the holiday."

"May I ask, what is the Birth of Lylat? After all, I did come from Cerinia, outside of your solar system and all…"

"Oh, that's right! I forgot you were a foreigner…" I straightened up and prepared myself to tell a classical story.

"The story goes like this, a beautiful baby girl was born and was named Lyla who had the power to heal anyone with a kiss. She has a fraternal twin who was foul and wretched, named Venos. Venos became jealous of Lyla and cursed her if she ever kissed her true love, she will explode into a giant star and forever feel the burn as she stays sentient."

"That's awful… why would her sibling do that to her, and how? Are they not infants at the time?"

"It's best not to question it, after all, it's a story. Anyways, as the two grew up, many stars pitied Lyla and this made Venos jealous, to the point that he began to conquer the system. Lyla, being ashamed of her relations with her brother, sets out on a journey to stop her brother once and for all. She gains allies along the way.

"It's terrible to have siblings fight against each other, I can't imagine what it would be like if I had siblings and fought with any of them."

"Krys, let me finish my story. At one point, Lyla met a handsome knight named Corrnosius and start to fall in love with him. She was conflicted with her feelings and doesn't know what to do. She didn't want to explode and die, but she wanted to be with the man she loves, at the same time, she had to stop her brother. So many things laid on her shoulders, she grew toxic and distant to all of her allies, including Corrnosius."

"Reminds me of a certain vulpine."

"Hmmph. Near the end of the story, she was able to stop her brother and killed him, but at the cost of Corrnosius being severely injured in the battle. Despite being distant, she still had a weak heart and wanted to save him and in doing so, she had to use her healing kiss. She was desperate and was willing to sacrifice herself to save her true love. As you can guess, she exploded into a shining beautiful star that is considered the birth of Lylat, the last twin dying after the other one."

"That's so sad, she didn't get to be with her true love, how is this a happy ending!"

"Her explosion is what birthed all of us and kept us alive. Each of the planets surrounding her is named after each character in the story. Venos, her brother, is the planet Venom. Corrnosius is the planet Corneria."

"Wow, and you're going to be performing the story on the holiday named after it?"

"Sadly… hopefully, if I do badly at the auditions I could be assigned to a stagehand, be in charge of lighting and all that."

"Oh, come now, Fox. I'm sure you're a good actor."

"Please, the last thing I want is to be on center stage with everyone watching me. It's bad enough I got eyes already on me after saving Lylat so many times."

"Hm…"

"Hey, so I've been meaning to ask, why are these two coming along with us?"

I look behind me to see a sleeping Falco and a Katt staring at her phone as she rapidly types. Sounds of clicking can be heard coming from her. After being mentioned she looked away from her phone and stared at me.

"Like, I understand you coming here, Krystal. What I don't understand is these two, Falco doesn't seem like the kind of guy to come to a theater, whether it'd be auditions, rehearsals or for the actual play."

"That's because we're here to give you moral support and whatever other excuses I can think of." Katt responded and went back to her phone.

I turn to Krystal as she kept her eyes on the road. "How did you convince Falco to come along?"

"Told him it would be a good excuse for him to get out of work."

"Nice, I would too if I could leave… can't stand children screaming, people complaining about their orders, some leave without giving me a tip or pay in general…"

"That… that sounds terrible."

"I know right! The worse part i-hhurk!" I felt a force pushing me forward as the car stopped with a hiss screeching surrounding us. The seat belt pulled me back but just added more pain then safety, I'm still recovering old wounds.

"We're here! Now let's get out and head on inside!"

The three of us got out, with me trying to wake Falco up who just only trudges to the entrance of the Theatre. As we head on inside, we were greeted with the Main Lobby with a person in the front of the counter. They pointed us to the back of the main lobby where the auditions are held. We headed further to see rows of seats as far as the eye could see, the stage itself is currently occupied with other Cornerians including Panther and Wolf. The former noticing us and waving his hand, the latter just crosses his arms and taps his foot.

We headed down to the stage only to be introduced by a white peacock wearing a black t-shirt, black pants, and a hot pink feather boa. I reached my hand out for a handshake only to be shoved by Katt and fell to the floor.

"OH. MY. STARS. You're Blanco Shantelle Floshei the Fifth!"

"Oh, you heard of me?"

"Of course, you're only one of the top play directors who won six consecutive Lylat awards of being the best director. Not only for the artistic style you set up but for the dances you choreographed and the costumes that looked so beautiful and stunning and how they were planned! Rumors even said you assign the roles on your own, not only for their talents but through your intuition, believing if they have the potential or not! Who wouldn't know you!"

"My heavens, you must be quite a fan. Not many people appreciate the directors, most just recognize the actors."

"Shut up! Can I have your autograph!"

Never seen Katt this happy before… well, aside from that one time Slippy sent pictures of Falco in the shower to her through email because he wanted revenge over something. I swear, those two always fight with each other, it's a miracle they're somehow able to get along.

A hand reached out in front of me, it was Krystal's. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me back up. The white peacock whose long name I forgot already came up to us.

"So, I assume you all also want to audition, no?"

"Nah, just twinkle toes over here." Falco from behind jabbed his finger on my back, I cringed at the force.

"Ah, I see then. Well fox, tell me your name."

"Fox."

"Yes, I said fox, forgive me if I somehow said your species wrong, but what is your name?"

"Fox!"

"Of course I said fox. Is there a silent letter in their or something?"

"No, it's Fox. My name–"

"Good heavens, Boy! I'm asking for your name, not your species name!"

"His name is Fox! 'Fox' is his name." Krystal decides to jump in. The peacock stared at her with his eyes squinting. He looks at me in dismay.

"You're named after a species?"

"Um… yes."

"Are you and that wolf related or something?"

"Oh stars no!"

"I– I don't understand. Do your parents hate you or something?"

"Hey no–"

"Whatever. Just get up on that stage with the others. From now on, your name is going to be Faux."

"I didn't agre–"

"Go! And your friends also have to come along!"

I'm already regretting coming here. Why did I let the black cat convince me? I barely even like him. I got up to the stage and the others followed. Krystal walked beside Panther, Katt was between Falco and Krystal, with Falco at the end of the stage. With what little space left on the edge of the stage, I was forced to stand beside Wolf and some strange Armadillo dude. Could be worse, I'm not just beside Wolf.

"Thought you weren't going to show up, Pup. What took you so long?"

"In case your other eye is going bad, Krystal had to pick me up, along with Katt and Falco. Our places were far apart from each other."
"Krystal's… the blue one, right? With the beak?"

"That's… that's Falco."

"The pink chick?"

"Wolf."

"What!? I don't have the time to remember names, especially ones I don't care about. Hence why I call you Pup."

Okay, that stings a little but he's honest, I'll give him that. Before I could respond back, the white peacock clapped his hands together to get our attention. He stands below the stage, looking up at us.

"Alright people! Seeing as how a lot of you are here, I can only assume most of you want to have an acting role. Let me just tell you this, some of you may not get it. I'm scanning some of you right now, and already I can tell a few of you are going to be actors, others are props or stagehands. If you don't like what you are assigned after the auditions, you're going to have to suck it up. If you want to be selfish and get a role that could affect this play, just know you're practically ruining not only your crewmates hard work but all of Corneria and every other visitor in Lylat. Even your own Mother."

Should I bring up that mine's kind of… ooh… I probably shouldn't even finish that thought.

"I want to cut to the chase, we're auditioning in five minutes. Read over the scripts I'll be handing out, each of them is excerpts from other notable performances that I'm sure most of you recognize. Whatever name I highlighted, you will be performing that character and we'll see if your qualified to be an actor or not."

Five minutes!? I don't have time for that! Even if I wanted to put in the effort of performing this dumb play. The peacock handed me a thin script, the title read 'The Lonely Lumberjack'. Oh wow, a classic. It's about a lumberjack who got lost in the woods until a strange wolf came out and guided him back to the village. There were theories of the wolf being a hallucination, others thought it was the lumberjack's wife as a spirit, but most people just say it was a random wolf who had a good heart. Looks like I'll be playing as the lumberjack.

I already know word-for-word from the story my father would read to me before going to bed. I'm still going to try and bomb my performance, I'm not going to have people watching me, it's uncomfortable.

When everyone was assigned a script, even Falco, Krystal, and Katt, they all scattered around the stage. I spent most of my five minutes going through my phone, catching up on any news or drama passing by. When the five minutes were up, we all formed in a straight line. I was still beside Wolf but this time, Krystal was beside me instead of the random armadillo.

"Alright, I'm sure all of you read the lines the characters you were assigned. However, instead of reading the highlighted name, I want you all to perform in front of me with the other character that wasn't highlighted. This would show not only how dedicated you are to perform, but also to see how experienced you are into memorizing the whole script, word-for-word, with every single character. After all, there could be unforeseen events where last minutes need to be made."

Ooooh… I may know the story, but I don't know the excerpt I was assigned. I know I didn't want to put effort into auditioning, but I at least want to save myself from the embarrassment of not knowing the specific excerpt I was to perform! My plan was to act out in a monotonous voice and slouch, not knowing the opposing lines!

I still have the script, maybe I can just scan through the other lines and–

"Faux! You'll be the first one to perform! Walk up to the center of the stage!"

Oh, you have got to be fu–


Katt Monroe

There goes the leader of Star Fox. Getting ready to take the most difficult mission he's ever taken. Oh, oh… He's shaking his knees. He's… already looking over the script. In a matter of two seconds, this is already a dumpster fire. He's stuttering now. I can't bear to watch this, I just look over to Krystal reading over her script. I can't believe she actually sees something in that sad little awkward man, yet she still hasn't made an effort into advancing him, the only thing she did was lift him off of the floor. I pushed him on the ground for nothing and I got some gaudy prissy pants autograph. There's even a marked lipstick on it, how's that even possible.

I think I should just take care of this with my own hands, we're going with my plan instead. It's time to initiate the 'Make the Uncomfortable Fox Jealous' plan. From what I'm able to understand this black cat that is surrounded by a cloud of perfume is in love with Krystal. Krystal wants Fox. The black cat is desperate to get Krystal's attention… this theatre is going to perform the Birth of Lylat… the Heroine dies with a kiss…

Hoh! I know how to make this work!

I scooted close to Krystal and whispered to her.

"Hey Krystal, have you thought of actually performing this play. With Fox, Panther, and Wolf?"

"Not really, it feels wrong to perform in something that's part of a system I don't belong."

"But Krystal… if you were to perform, you could play as the lead actress of the performance, Lyla."
"Katt, what are you getting at."

"I'm just saying, there's a strong possibility you might be Lyla, after all, the female competition here looks pretty weak. Fox could be Corrnosius aaand there's a kissing scene in the performance. You two could possibly kiss…"

"R– really…"

"Of course. It's obvious this is destiny's way of telling you two to hook up." Not really, with Fox's performance right now, there's a strong chance he's not going to be assigned to anything. Not even as a janitor.

I'm pretty sure the black cat will be Corrnosius, which is exactly what my goal is. If Krystal is Lyla and the black cat is Corrnosius and they perform that kiss… there's no doubt Fox will be jealous. It's the best plan I have thought of, even better than the time I sent Bill on a goose chase to find a literal goose as I stole all of his shades to see what his eyes look like without them. It backfired as I realized he still had the ones he was wearing at the time.

Fox's performance finally ended and from the looks of it, most of the people just looked away or cringed at his acting. Blanco just stayed silent with a forced smile across his face.

"That was… certainly something, Faux. Good job on… lowering the bar for the others…" Fox just trudged back to the line as he stares at the ground, hugging himself. "So… who's nex–"

"I am! I volunteer!" The one who announced this was the queen of blue beside me. Looks like my plan is starting off well.

"Oh! I thought you weren't going to perform miss…"

"Krystal, my name is Krystal."

"Good. Thought it was going to be something like Vixen. I'm looking at you Faux and Wilfred."

Wolf was given the name Wilfred? That. Is. Hilarious. Speaking of 'Wilfred', his voice can be heard across the stage, even stopping Krystal from getting ready to perform.

"Wow Fox, that was terrible. I thought you were good at everything. Quite the shocker really."

"Wolf, can we not do this. Leave the poor man alone." The black cat walked past me and head towards Wolf.

"What? I'm just asking him why he flubbed it so terribly. What with him being 'the hero of Lylat' and all."

"Oh, why don't you stick a cork in it. It's not like you could do better. You're not good at lying so I doubt you're not going to be good at acting." Fox retaliated.

Oh no. What it is this feeling.

"Please, being roommates with a drama queen certainly improved my acting skills unlike you. Then again, you're just always surrounded by drama wherever you go, like your two blue friends as prime examples."

"Don't you dare bring Falco and Krystal into this, you worn-out old Cyclops."

Oh my stars. Is… is this sexual tension!? Do these two have something more going on between them!?
Are they… are they… ship material!?

"Oh crap! Hey lady watch out!" I hear someone yelling above me and before I could respond or look up, I felt something hitting against my head, knocking me out in the process.

Waking up, all I see is just a vast space of pink as far as the eye could see. This place looks almost familiar but I can't seem to put my finger on it. Though, what's most notable is I don't feel… protected. In fact, I feel a little chilly…

I wrap my arms around to warm myself up only to feel a lack sense of cloth. I looked at myself only to realize I'm no longer wearing anything at all.

"Oh my heavens! Where are my clothes! Where's everyone! Where am I!?" I quickly stood up and try to walk at whatever direction I'm facing. Yet, I feel like I'm going nowhere, all I see is just the same color of nothingness. I turn back to where I came from only to notice two figures off in the distance. From what I could hear they sound like they're arguing over something.

I headed towards the direction of the two but as I got closer I could make out one looking down at the other with a more jagged silhouette. The other one appears shorter and has a more smooth outline and a more slim body. As I walked closer, it turns out to be both Wolf and Fox.

As I try to get their attention, my thought process went to a halt as I see the both of them in the nude as well.

"Oh my goodness!" I turned around to avoid looking at them but as I did I see more men behind me talking to one another, all of which were lacking any clothing.

What is going on here!?

"You're such an idiot…"

"I don't know, I think I'm pretty smart… after all, I decided to be with you…"

When I tried to avert my gaze to the world, I could hear what sounds like to be Wolf and Fox's voice. Attracting my attention, I peaked towards their direction once more. As I did, I could feel my face getting hot as the two are at a close proximity with one another…

Oh no…

Are they going to…

OH. MY. STARS!

I don't understand… I thought this old life was far behind me now… I thought it would pass as I grow older but… my inner fangirl is burning deep inside.

I know what this dream is now…

This place… this place is…

MY SHIPPING DREAM!

I ship Wolf and Fox so much! The passionate rivalry between them is so exciting! The fact they were against each other even before the Lylat Wars with Fox's Father! The sexual tension between the two is just screaming and trying to break away its leash! I want these two to not only fight each other but to be together as well!

I ship them!

Turning to the other men who already committing romantic acts such as handholding, cuddling, kissing. It's all too much for me!

I ship them! And them! And them! I ship all the boys I see!

I could feel every bit of love growing around my environments, that's when I noticed a familiar blue bird up ahead… he's latching onto a green lizard and a familiar black cat…

Oh Falco, how I love you so much but… I could just ship with you just about any guy I see you with… I don't mind sharing you with any cute boy that'll look good with you.

I am…

I am…

I am the shipping queen!


Falco Lombardi

I'm snapping my fingers over her face trying to get a response out of her. Yup. She's completely unconscious.

"So, how is the poor girl? Am I going to get sued?"

That white gaudy bird came up to me, fanning himself with a fan that's made out of feathers. How fitting.

"Yeah, uh, she seems… fine? She keeps mumbling about ships. Last time I checked, she has not once told me she's been fascinated by boats or something."

I turn to the other people, Fox and Wolf still arguing with Panther between them pressing his hands against both of their chests. Krystal is busy chastising the man who was the cause of Katt's knockout. Turns out, the man was on the catwalk at the time of the incident and he accidentally dropped a sandbag above her head.

"Lylat bless us your stars… We are off to a good start, I got two rowdy men barking at each other, an incompetent assistant, and an unconscious groupie on my stage." The birdman just keeps on fanning himself as he paces back and forth "Truly the worst day ever. Nothing else. This above all else like wars or and prominent figures deaths".

He quickly stops and turns to me as he swiftly closes his fan. I think he just broke it…

"You there! What's your name."

"Falco."

"Really? Stars, what is with these ridiculous names!" Takes one to know one… "Your name is now Francisco, Francisco take the groupie to the infirmary near the main lobby! Now."

"You know, her name is Katt."

"Good heavens! Is there something wrong with this system and its terrible originality in names! Francisco, take Catherine to the infirmary, ASAP!"

"Sure… jerk."

"Good. Krystal. Perform your audition. Thanks to these useless distractions, we've lost valuable time."

"Oh… okay."

Krystal walks up to the center of the stage and performs her act, as she does that I hoist Katt up by wrapping her arms around my neck and grabbed hold of her legs, putting her in a piggyback position.

Stars! I can feel myself getting ready to fall over. I don't comment on women's weight but man does she weigh like a truck, where does all that weight come from!? Eh, this does remind me of our preschool days, the girl always falls asleep at the end of school and I had to carry her back home.

I reached the main lobby, the guy behind the concession stands looked at me and understand the situation as he points to his right to a door with a sign of a red cross. It's scary how he knows the situation, it's as if this was a common thing in the theatre.

Walking over to the infirmary and heading inside, there were two vacant beds side by side, one against the wall. I dropped Katt to the one near the wall as I sat on the other bed. I sighed in relief as the extra weight on me was lifted.

"Ya know, Katt. You were a pain when it came to missions and you're still a pain now. Hard to believe Ma would always tell me to date you. You're brash, annoying, selfish… I feel like I'm just attacking myself now instead of you."

I looked at her with her eyes still closed. Glad she's still unconscious. Don't get me wrong, she's… nice but the last thing I want is to be held down. Plus, she's just a friend! Wonder if this is how Fox deals with when it comes to Krystal. Yeah, don't think I noticed. Pretty clear you see her as a friend and nothing else, probably more of a sister actually. It's just that neither of you has noticed.

Looking back at Katt once more, she's no longer mumbling. In fact, she looks more peaceful. I will admit, she's cute when she's not gossiping or flirty. She seems more… real.

What the heck am I saying? Why am I not back at the stage?

I got back on my feet and reached the infirmary's door. I turned the knob but not before I looked back at Katt.

"You're wild, you know that." Turned back to the door, I head out.


Wolf O'Donnell

"Beautiful! Beautiful! My stars, had I never seen such a performance before! You are a natural when it comes to acting, dear! I feel sorry for anybody who missed such spectacular performance!"

"Oh, why thank you Mr. Floshei."

"Alright, now get out. You're hogging the stage." The crazy bird pushes the blue chick to the side as he scans for the next person to act out their garbage. I feel sorry for the next poor sod embarrassing himself in front of ever– Why is he staring at me?

Oh. Crap…

"Mr. Wilf–"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Before I got to the stage I made sure to get the Pup's attention by bumping into him. As he glared, I whispered 'Watch this, puppy.' and walked to the center of the stage.

The scene I'm to act is from 'The Failing King,' the scene is where the King realizes the massacre he caused and that he's all alone with no one by his side. Except for his wife… the last ally he has, will now leave him.

I was to perform as the King, but with the whack adding a twist, I guess I have to act out as the wife. I took my stance of an anguished Queen on her knees.

"My love… why must your pride take over the man I once knew. The man I loved is now dead, before me is but the toxic, poisonous shadow that was left behind." That sounded dull, I have to relate to this character in order to do well.

Think, think. What makes me brokenhearted… it has to be something from my… past. Heck, of course he's the first person I can think of…

"I have shown you nothing but support. I never questioned your intelligence before each battle. I never questioned the risks you were willing to take that only resulted in failure after failure."

I slammed my fist on the floor and looked up and glare at nothing, revealing my fangs in the process.

"What about your own son! He loved you the most and you just left him behind! You ruined him and now he's gone!"

Silence… it's always awkward when you don't have a partner to act with… With a short pause, I stood up and turned away from the rows of seats. I stared at the other 'actors', but I stared at him the most. It's disgusting how he resembles so much like him. To think. he would help me act out to the best of my ability.

"I am a tired woman… so many moons have passed where I stay awake restless. How I wish you were smarter. How I wish you were more passionate. How I wish you gave more attention to your son. You promised him you'd come back."

Crap… I swear I could feel something coming out of my eye.

"I'm leaving. I'm leaving you, this land… this world. I have nothing left… but I never had anything to begin with. After all, to you, I'm just a ghost. Do you even see me? Can you even hear me?"

Silence.

"All you can see is just another enemy, your own wife. You killed her years before you now lost your army and your kingdom."

I think… this is the last line my 'partner' would say. After that pause it's my last line... shoot. How did it go again…?

"You're on your own now… may Lylat watch over you now." With that last line, I slowly walked towards the other 'actors' as I hugged myself.

Silence once more. It quickly diminished with the sound of one person clapping.

"Bravo, Mr. Wilfred! There were a couple of errors, for one thing, it's not Lylat that watches over Jameson, it was his actual wife. As she was the one he truly loved and the family of Jameson never believed in Lylat. You also kept calling yourself as his wife which wasn't the other character in your script."

Oh crap, I forgot. It's not the wife I was acting. I was the mistress he slept with. Whatever, all I know is I did way better than the Pup.

"Alright, who's next… you with the long neck!" He points to a giraffe.

I walked back to Panth who patted my back with a silent 'good job'. I looked over to the Pup who glanced at me but quickly turned to the other direction. The blue chick is whispering to the blue bird, guess everything went fine with the pink chick.

Time would slowly pass by as everyone performed their own assigned script. Panth was by far the best, to the point, it put the white bird to tears. When the last person finished their act, the bird walked back up to the stage and preps himself for what may be a final announcement.

"Alright, now that everyone has performed. I will be judging everyone's performance with the notes I have written down. Meet me here this Tuesday, early afternoon and I will announce everyone's roles. Again, some of you may not be actors, some will be in the backstage, dressers, make-up artists, etc. You can all leave now."

With that said, everyone dispersed and went their own way. I sat on the edge of the stage as I kick the air, waiting for Panth who's accompanying the blue chick as she waits for the blue bird to get the pink chick.

...

Maybe I should start remembering their names. I'm starting to confuse myself. Speaking of not remembering names, I see the Pu–… Fox, walking up to me and sat beside me.

"What do you want?"

"I'm bored."

"So what, am I your entertainment for tonight?"

"Please. Think before you say anything else."

"Oh you know it was intentional."

The small conversation died as I just kept looking at the empty rows of seats. Fox just looks at his phone, scrolling upwards from some social app he's using. I could hear the clicking he makes, almost makes my head nod. Before anything else could happen he spoke again.

"You're a good actor, you know." Well. That caught me off-guard.

"Um… thanks. I'm sure you would've been good too, had you read your script."

"You knew about that?"

"Of course I did, so did Panth. We have an excellent vision you know, hard to believe that blue bird friend of yours didn't notice. His name is… Francis?"

"Falco."

"Ah, Falco. Got it."

Thus, another short conversation died but apparently gained a second wind with Fox speaking once more.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry… I punched you. At Mandarin Fox."

"Oh… Oh! Um… it's okay, barely forgot it." Not really, I still have a broken eyepatch… everyone can see my scarred eye. "I'm sorry I made fun of your Dad."

I didn't look at him but I could sense him peering into my soul. Before he could speak up, Krystin... Krystin? Krystin called his name and told him she and the others were ready to leave. He got up as did I, he looked as if he wanted to say something but instead turned back and followed Krystin. Without looking back, he waved his hand at me. I looked at Panth who was ready to leave as well, as I walked up to him, he wrapped his arm over my shoulder.

"Can you believe it, Wolf? You and I are going to be actors! We're finally doing something good for Corneria instead of attacking it! Isn't that great!"

"Yup. Can't believe it either…"

I didn't pay attention to what he said, my mind was wandering somewhere else.

I can't believe I actually apologized to Fox. When was the last time I genuinely apologized? Feels like years...

Panth and I went back to our apartment where we brought some Mandarin Fox along the way. We also got extra eggrolls for Leon, who was waiting for us at home.


Author's Notes (With Confidence... I think)

Hoo boy, I'm going to admit, this was probably the weirdest but fun Chapter I've done thus far.

Trust me, when I was writing Katt's segment, I was like 'Oooooh this is weirding me out and making me uncomfortable... but I planned this scene for weeks so I have to commit to it.' Hopefully, you all weren't weirded out.

What I did enjoy, in fact, LOVE when I was writing this was the in-universe tales and stories. The Birth of Lylat, The Lonely Lumberjack, and The Failing King. I had fun when I wrote them and if you ask me, they're really important in this story than just some fluff in the Chapter.

I've also been doing research on how theatres and behind the scenes work. It's really fascinating thus far, but I still need to do research, do tell me any facts, info about theatres or just any errors I made about it!

One more thing. Blanco, the White Peacock, made him on the whim. If you're worried about him getting any attention or segments. I'm here to reassure you, he's just a side character who'll only appear in this story and not the other two. He'll only get minimal attention when characters are in the theatre rehearsing, performing, etc.

In conclusion, I do hope you all enjoyed this Chapter as much as I did and I hope you're enjoying the story thus far as well.