"Dad... I've given it a lot of thought these last few weeks, and... and I've come to the decision that I really do wanna be a singer. No no no, just... before you get angry, or throw something, or whatever, just hear me out. "

Mary cleared her throat, holding up both her hands, then dug into her back pocket and fished out a rolled up flyer that she'd gotten while out in town earlier that day.

"Joanne thinks I'm really improving with my lessons, and she's been saying that I've got loads of potential to be an actual performer, so clearly it's not just me that's been thinking it..." She then unfurled the flyer and held it up. "And y'know, it... it doesn't even have to be at the Prairie to start with either, because it turns out that Fat Cat place downtown's holding auditions tomorrow for new singers. So... well, I dunno, I just I just thought maybe I'd go down there and have a crack at it. I mean, y'know what they say, you miss all the shots you don't take, eh..?"

After about five seconds of silence, Mary let out a frustrated groan and slumped down in front of the mirror that she'd just been speaking to. Being all too familiar with her father's stubbornness and temper, she knew better than to ask him for something without fully rehearsing and preparing herself to do so.

"Ugh, come on, you've got to do better than that!"

After taking several deep breaths, Mary then sat back up and straightened her glasses, an expression of steely determination forming on her face as she looked right in the mirror and spoke to her reflection again.

"Mary Madeline Griswold, this is your moment. Time for you to stand up and take it!"

"Are you all ready to order now...?"

"We are indeed, my good man!" Marilyn then pointed towards the item on the menu for the waiter to see. "See this one here, the small strawberry yoghurt? Yeah, I'll take a bit of everything except that!"

"Marilyn..." Kaya raised an eyebrow. "What have we discussed about unnecessary spending?"

"Ugh... fine." Marilyn rolled her eyes, then took another look at the menu. "Um... right, I'll give the banana pancakes a go, thanks."

Rather than head straight to the Majestic for another day of rehearsals, the Moon Troupe had decided to meet up in the hotel restaurant for breakfast first. It seemed a fine opportunity to find out more about their newest co-star, though it ended up feeling less like a conversation and more like they were merely an audience for Marilyn to tell her life story to.

"And then Papa was all like... Marilyn, you're going back on your tablets and you're getting a job, or we're cutting you off! They've been saying it to me so many times these past couple months, I'm honestly shocked they actually did it this time!" Marilyn lounged back in her seat. "But now I'm back on my meds and I've working with you lot too, and they've still not un-cut me off yet! So, I dunno about you, but I think something's definitely not adding up there."

"Uh... y-yeah, sure..." Ash forced a big toothy grin, which slowly sank into a grimace as she turned to face the others, who were all equally unsure what to say, even Porsha. "So, uh... so how's the independent life been going for you since then, Marilyn?"

"Yeah, it's brilliant!" Marilyn thought to herself for a moment, still keeping her eyes fixated on her phone. "I mean, yeah, KC's been a bit of a buzzkill about the spending, but other than that we've been having a great time! Loads of material for my livestreams, too!"

"Oh, you do livestreams...?" Meena said, being seated right next to Marilyn as she glanced at the gorilla's screen, her eyes widening a little when she spotted the flickering red light at the top. "Wait... Marilyn, are you doing one right now?"

"Of course!" Marilyn scoffed, then held the phone higher to give the elephant a better look. "Darling, when you've got 71K followers on Quacker, you've got to keep the interest up!"

"Um... okay, yeah, I guess..." Meena kept an awkward smile while she was still being broadcast on Marilyn's screens, then quietly shuffled a few inches away.

"Well, I'm sure you don't mean any harm in it, Marilyn, but you should really ask for somebody's permission first before you film them..." Rosita said in a rather stern tone, which Gunter supported with a nod. "I'm pretty certain there's all kinds of privacy trouble you can get into with that sort of stuff."

"Which I've told her..." Kaya snarked while she sent a glare Marilyn's way. "Many, many, many times."

"Well yeah, but what if I have to cancel someone...?" Marilyn's response made the others go silent for a good few seconds, though it seemed the older members were especially confused. "Oh, come on! Cancelling someone's a great way to get clout!"

"Wait wait, I don't..." Rosita pinched the bridge of her nose. "What does that even, mean? Like, to cancel somebody?"

"It's when ya ruin them cred... y'know, ya make everybody see what they're really like..." Porsha said. "Actually, y'oughta know all about that, Rosita. Ya basically cancelled my Dad when ya saved Uncle Buster."

"Oh... hmm... yeah, I guess I did." Rosita chuckled to herself, seeming rather proud by this new revelation. "So, I... I take it's a good thing to cancel somebody, then?"

"Most of the time..." Marilyn cut in again. "Usually it's not for murder, though. Y'know, it's like being racist, or inappropriate, or like funnelling money, and stuff like that. But yeah, if I catch someone up to no good on my Quacker stream, they're basically finished!"

"Yeah, well, I don't think we need to brag about it or anything, but we didn't need a bunch of Quacker followers to take down Jimmy Crystal..." Ash chuckled rather bitterly. "We had an actual audience when we showed him up. Used his own theatre for it, too!"

"Oh yeah, that actually was pretty cool what you lot did... y'know, when me and my cousin heard about that, we couldn't believe it. Seeing all them videos of him on that stage, everybody laughing and jeering, it was amazing!" Marilyn laughed, taking on a surprisingly gentle, even nostalgic tone. "God, if I pulled off something like that on my stream, I'd be shooting right up in the world! Maybe I oughta try something like that on my Auntie when I go home."

Porsha laughter at this exchange suddenly stopped, as some more morbid memories of her first performance resurfaced. "Wait... Marilyn, your Aunt's not a crazy murderer too, is she...?!"

"Wait, what...?!" Marilyn looked away from her phone, just as flabbergasted as the rest of the table, though she brushed this off with a laugh. "OMG, no... no no no, Auntie wouldn't hurt a fly! Ha ha... I mean... come on, love, who do you think she is, Graham Griswold...?"

Everyone around the table went dead silent when Marilyn mentioned this name, though Porsha didn't understand their concern as she tilted her head and looked around. "Uh... who's Graham Griswold?"

"Mate, even I know who Graham Griswold is..." Nooshy scoffed with a smirk, neither she or the others noticing Johnny while he clenched his fist tight around his fork. "Y'know, big crime boss? The Calatonia Kingpin? Not ringing any bells?"

"Nah, not really..." Porsha itched the back of her neck, thinking for a moment about whether what she was about to ask would be inappropriate. "So, uh... on the scale of good to my Dad, where do ya think this Graham Griswold guy would go?"

"Ugh... I think he was definitely pretty close to your father, sunshine..." Rosita gently held Porsha's hand. "The only real difference with Griswold was that they actually knew he was a killer! He never even tried to hide it, but he just got away with it."

"Oh my gosh, seriously?!" Porsha winced a bit, cupping her chin with her other hand. "Wow, I... y'know, I honestly can't decide if that makes it worse or better. But... b-but he's locked up now, right?"

"Oh no, Porsha, he died years ago..." Ash thought to herself. "Yeah, I think, uh... must have been about thirteen, fourteen years he's been gone. But y'know, it's like Rosita said. He has his hands in pretty much every illegal thing in Calatonia, but he always had fall guys and stuff."

"Yeah, he was a right thug too. He really made all us gorillas look bad..." Marilyn scoffed, now seeming more invested in the conversation as she'd ended her livestream and placed her phone back on the table. "I mean, I know I've been dissing my family all morning, but if it weren't for Auntie going against those stereotypes, they probably wouldn't even be rich enough to cut me off."

Although she had worded it in a somewhat overly materialistic manner, most of the troupe couldn't help being impressed by the sincerity of Marilyn's words, and Kaya showed a small expression of pride as she patted her on the shoulder. Wanting to expand on her point, Marilyn then decided to turn her attention to the other gorilla present at the table, having only just noticed that Johnny had barely said a word since they'd all sat down.

"Yeah, I bet it weren't all smooth sailing for you either, eh mate?" She said, genuinely trying her best not to be insensitive. "Actually, what do your parents do for a living, Johnny...?"

"Look, if it's all the same to the rest of you, I'd rather we just stopped taking about this now!" Johnny was surprisingly blunt as he finally unclenched his fist, allowing Ash and Nooshy to notice that the fork he'd been holding had been bent in half. After a few seconds Johnny let out a small exhale, regaining his usual manner as the slightly reddish tint faded from his cheeks. "Right, um... sorry about that, everyone, I just, um... yeah... oh, by the way, has Mr. Moon come down yet?"

"Ask and you shall receive, Johnny!" Buster bellowed in his usual charismatic tone as he and his much taller girlfriend made their way over to the table. "Yeah, sorry we're a little late, everybody. Suki and I just had a, uh... well, I guess you could call it a lie-in."

"Oh yeah, I can relate to that, Uncle Buster. I've never been a morning gal. Right, Aunt Suki...?" Porsha said, having not yet processed the deeper implications of what Buster had just said. "Anyway, we just ordered breakfast. You guys want anything."

"We actually had it brought to the room, sweetie, so we're full..." Suki chuckled. "But there's no rush. Soon as you guys have eaten, we'll head right up to the Majestic."

Johnny then cleared his throat, and looked down at the koala that had just clambered up on the chair next to him. "Anyway, Mr. Moon. I, um... I've been thinking about that Madame Jument thing from yesterday, and I -"

"Actually, just hold up a second with that, Johnny, cause that just reminded me!" Ash quickly cut in, though she had no idea that her suggestion wasn't going to be too far off the gorilla's own. "Yeah, cause me and Porsha were talking last night, Moon, and we thought it'd be good for us to go to Jument's big send off. All of us, I mean."

"Oh... oh yeah. That's... that's on Monday, isn't it...?" Buster waited for Ash to nod, then cupped his chin and looked to Suki. "Hmm... yeah, that... we could fit that into the schedule, couldn't we, honey?"

"Oh yeah, absolutely." Suki had a quick glance at the checklist on her phone. "Yeah, we're actually pretty far ahead anyway, so we could probably afford give the whole crew the day off. It's not an invitation event either, so I don't think we'll have to book or anything."

"I'm included in this too, right...?" Marilyn seemed more excited, having picked up her phone again. "Madame Jument's been an idol for mine for, like, two whole weeks now, so I'd love to meet her!"

"Sure! More the merrier, Marilyn!" Buster laughed, while the others murmured in agreement. "Well anyway, what was it you wanted to say, Johnny...?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh... n-nothing, it's alright..."

Johnny sat on his own hands so that he didn't fumble them, though this only made him look even more uneasy. Not that the others didn't seem to notice, since they'd already gone back to their more casual conversations. So with his friends all distracted, Johnny took a moment to close his eyes and let out another small exhale, giving himself some more space with his own thoughts.

"A singer?!" Graham slumped back in his chair, putting a hand to his face as he burst into loud, hearty laughter. "Bloody hell, Mary, not this nonsense again!"

While he was renowned for his explosive anger - and she'd experienced more than her fair share of his outbursts over the years - seeing her father being amused by her request was somehow even more unsettling for Mary. It was jarring enough to make her lose her train of thought, and all the time she'd spent rehearsing her speech in private had been rendered a waste as she resorted to her usual fearful, uneven rambling in his presence.

"Well, the... the thing is, Dad, um... J-Joanne thinks I'm really improving, and... and... and that Fat Cat place downtown is... wait, Dad..." Mary trailed behind Graham as he stood up and went over to the long mirror stood up in the corner. The older gorilla adjusted his green tie and straightened his cuff-links, still chuckling to himself while his daughter spoke. "Look, you might not like that kind of stuff, Dad, but I really think I could make something of it!"

Graham groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose, still not turning to face her. "We've been over this, Mary. Ya have to be talented to do performing like that."

"But... b-but I am talented..." Mary lowered her head, rubbing her arm. "Look, if... I think if you just let me have a go at it, I... I could really make you proud."

"Or make us both look like a couple of prats..." Graham finally turned to face her, making Mary shrink back a bit, but he pulled a small smirk as he extended his hand towards her. "Come here, love... have a look at yourself..."

Mary hesitated, then slowly approached, letting her father put his arm on her shoulder as he straightened her up and guided her over to the mirror, giving her a full view of her reflection.

"Now, do ya know who I see standing here in this mirror, Mary?"

"Dunno..." Mary exhaled, trying to sound casual. "But I'll suppose it's going to be something mean."

"Well, what I see is someone who's gonna take Calatonia by storm! Someone who's still gonna be loved, respected and remembered. Someone that folks'll be talking about years, decades, even centuries to come!" Graham sounded a lot more sincere than Mary had expected. He sounded encouraging, perhaps even proud. "But then of course, I see you stood here too."

Mary's smile dropped, but Graham's tone remained the same, despite his much more cutting words.

"A clumsy, chubby, four-eyed little nobody, who never does anything but leech off her generous, and far too patient old man..." He then ruffled the top of Mary's head, his forceful manner almost giving her whiplash. "Do ya really think somebody like that's cut out to be a superstar...?"

"Well, I... I..." Mary bit her bottom lip, then looked down again. "No... no, I suppose not."

"Course she's not..." Graham then patted her shoulder - rather more forceful than necessary, but seemingly affectionate enough - while cupping her chin with his other hand. "All this girl needs to do is keep her head down, do as she's told, and not go following stupid dreams."

"Uh... right... yeah, okay..." Mary sniffled a bit, and she remained where she was even after Graham let her go and returned to his desk.

"Besides, it's not like you've not got a bright future ahead anyway..." He unfolded his rectangular glasses and put them on while reading some paperwork. "I hear that Marcus boy's been thinking of popping the question to ya. Course, that's probably not the only thing he'll be popping, eh..? Ha ha..."

That last remark made Mary tighten up even more as a shocked, disgusted expression formed on her face, though at this point she wasn't nearly confident enough to reprimand her father for making such an inappropriate comment. So instead, she simply cleared her throat and wiped her slightly misty eyes while she heading back towards the doorway, though she held back as Graham continued.

"You're happy enough with him, aren't ya, love?"

"What... you mean with Marcus...?" Mary pursed her lips. "Well, yeah. Of course I am."

"Good..." Graham said, lounging back in his chair. "Ya wanna put something worthwhile into the world, Mary, maybe you can start with some bloody grandchildren! Ha ha... yea... it'd be good to leave the world knowing I've got a strapping young Graham the Second to carry on the family business, eh...?"

Mary didn't answer as she left the office and closed the door behind her, propping her back against it while she put a hand to her face. After letting out a long, frustrated sigh, she reached into her back pocket and fished out the flyer that she'd been intending to show to her father.

"No..." Mary shut her eyes tight and took another few deep breaths, holding the flyer to her chest as her determination finally came back. "This is your dream! This is your moment! You can't let him take it away!"