Lady Greencloak was sitting with me, her arm wrapped behind me. The Announcer started an introduction of the first person to come up to the stage. It was a lady, and she came up with a set of trinkets. The woman was a horned person of some type, and she showed off the effects of these trinkets.
The trinket was a small box, maybe the size of two palms, and it was intricate and shiny. She said that the trinket was something from a master that she met while on a business trip. She grinned and opened the box, which suddenly erupted into a massive fireworks display near the roof. It was incredibly pretty with a massive change of colors that was a spectacle of the eyes, and some of the front rows sounded happy and clapped. The back rows did not, and when I went to clap, Lady Greencloak stopped me.
"There is a level they must reach for us to clap. That woman is brand new; she would not know that we have seen something like that a decade ago. Many lower-ranked ladies and Sirs would not have seen that. Therefore, it is unique to them. She will be allowed to move up among the lower ranks, but we would make a fool of ourselves if we joined in," Lady Greencloak explained.
"Okay," I replied almost dumbly. That was pretty, but then I remembered that this was a show of uniqueness. If it was not truly unique, there was no place for it. This somehow made their ranks in this upper society move up. "How often do you have to do these events?" I asked.
"Once a year, it determines our rank and makes us leave the city and travel or spread our coin to ensure we find something unique. I was going to bring something else when you showed up. I like you a lot, but Lady Yancy needs me to cover for me, too, as an enemy is around above us." Lady Greencloak finished.
I nodded and realized the seriousness as the announcer called the next man. This man had a group of people come up and do a circus display. The acrobatic routine was pretty good but lackluster compared to some of the acts I had seen in real life. I was hoping for more, and when the act was finished, the silence from the audience made the man pale, as he was the only one clapping.
"I did not expect someone so new to flop out this early. Usually, they make it more than one year. People are easy on you, but that routine was moderate at best. That person just lost their title," Lady Greencloak said, and the pressure on me was mounting.
The next few audience routines were all mediocre at best but elicited some clapping from the front rows as they were unique objects and jewels. They were something that would be hard to find in the wild, and one even showed a rock that looked surprisingly like a person that they brought up. Someone even went up to appraise the rock, and it was a genuine natural rock formation that looked exactly like the person. The man was even decently handsome, and so it got more people to clap and promote them.
It was one of the most unique parties I have ever seen, and watching it was in itself an unquiet experience. Each Sir and Lady walked up like it was nothing, but it was a faccad. They were sweating bullets in what I used to think of as a kindergarten game of show and tell. Just up the stakes a thousand percent and multiply that by a thousand percent again. It was insanely high stakes.
Showing after showing went up, and the crowd clapped along with the announcer, who promoted and demoted people. A few in the front rows were demoted, as they were mostly promoted. But as it went up level after level, slowly moving towards the back of the crowd, it was getting closer to our turn.
Wonder after wonder came up. Some were cool objects like trinkets and swords. One that caught my attention was a Sir bringing up a talking sword that could assist someone with sword fighting. Lady Greencloak and I were clapping for them, but I noticed that the higher section did not. It got my attention because I thought that this was a one-of-a-kind type of thing.
People were promoted and demoted quickly in these ranks, and finally, it was time for the person beside us. Lady Gearspoke, and she walked up with a confident stride, bringing her box along with her. It took her seconds to move down the stage, and she smiled. She showed the box and grinned, "This is what I have brought for you all; I found this in a very interesting location for those who wish to talk about it with me later." She grinned, and suddenly the box opened, and suddenly a little guy came out, and the lid snapped shut before the little guy landed on it. Then it started to dance and twirl around all over the box. "This is a little Maschine person that likes to dance around on the box, and I thought you would all enjoy a closer look at it as it was made by a rare Machinist but at the Grandmaster level!"
That announcement had quite the amount of applause, but there was something I noticed. Following Lady Greencloaks clapping, there was no sound of clapping behind me. This was a stationary level. Something rare from someone of the grandmaster rank was something Lady Greencloak had to find once a year. That made me wonder, "I wonder what applause I will get," I said slowly.
"This is only the first part; there is still the performance after. But you are going to do great," Lady Greenclaok said. Lady Gearspoke walked off the stage, heading toward us, with a small smile on her face. She was reassured that she was going to keep her position at least.
"Now, for Lady Greencloak, she assured me she has something that will get all your attention. Please, get ready for LADY GREENCLOAK!" The Announcer summoned us, and Lady Greencloak stood up and started to bring me along. I gulped and wondered how everything was going to go from here as my nerves started to turn in my stomach.
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