She covered her mouth when I said the statement.
"What do we do?"
"I…"
I tried my best to think of an answer.
"I'm not sure. For now though, we should lay low and investigate."
"Should we steal a lifeboat?"
"What?"
I looked at her, puzzled by her statement.
"No… we can't do that."
"We'll be like stewaways!"
Her eyes were shining bright again.
"No Riko I don't…"
"Yeah! And then we'll take on new names and identities."
"..."
For a very serious situation, she certainly was having more fun than I imagined.
"Oh oh, I know, I know. And then for money…"
She dramatically pulled her hoodie up to cover her face again.
"We'll heist people!"
"..."
I sighed, lifting the hoodie down revealing the Princess's shiny bald head.
"Riko…"
I stared intensely at her, looking directly into her eyes.
"Wh.. what Hu? Why are you…"
She blushed, turning away.
"I…"
"How many Kush candies did you take today?"
"What?"
"Sigh…"
Her eyes were glowing as bright red as ever as I continued to stare at her suspiciously.
"I told you to limit yourself to…"
"I couldn't help it, okay!" she said, "after I took one, I wanted to know what outer dimensional beings would be like, and…"
"So how many did you take?"
"Oh come on, numbers aren't important Hu. All I know is right now, your head Hu, it's like…"
She stared at me deadpan for a moment.
"It's like… so big."
"..."
Instead of scolding, I simply looked at her with a disappointing look until finally she lowered her head in defeat.
"Five…"
"Sigh…"
I sat her down on the bed.
"Look," I looked over at her in sorrow.
"You can't take that many Kush candies, okay?"
"I know…" the Princess said looking down towards the ground, "you're going to say something about how happiness is something that should come from within, right? Something only found through the journey and that using artificial inflators such as Kush to boost my mood would ruin the journey because it's like, a cheat right?"
She sighed.
"I get it, I'm sorry master!"
She began bowing on the ground in front of me.
"I'm so sorry! I have much to learn!"
"...what?"
"What? That's what you're going to say, right?"
"..."
"That's what the philosophy books told me!"
"...Pfff pfff Bwahahahahahahahahhahahaha"
I began laughing hysterically.
"Hahahahahhahahaha"
"What? Is it really that funny?" the Princess asked flustered, "Hu? Oh come on, what? Did I say something wrong? That's what the philosophy books taught me!"
"Yes Princess, and did you also know the majority of philosophers, especially later era ones, have a history of psychedelic drug use? Yeah, let's just say it's not just 'tea' they're drinking. I also took 3 before dinner, it's quite boring on this ship, isn't it?"
"..."
"No Princess, the only reason you can't eat that much Kush at once is because it would get expensive after a while."
"...what?"
"I know, I know," I put a hand on her shoulder as I stared at her empathetically, "when I discovered this miracle herb, I too thought, hey, why don't I just always stay on this, all the time? Especially since it doesn't really affect my work, in fact it increased profits as it became one of the commodities I dealt in! But even so Riko, even so…"
I looked into her eyes with a serious expression.
"Even so, the average Kush candy that you consume goes for about 5 Cives. As of right now, due to its banning still in many countries, the prices are artificially inflated Riko, they're artificially inflated!"
She gasped.
"Why do so many countries have a problem with it?""
"Because dearest Riko," I replied standing up.
"There's this really useless thing called religion that has bias against it. For you see Riko, as you have no doubt noticed by now, Kush changes people. It allows people to see the thin layers of capitalism as well as reveal the other truths of the world to us. It allows people to open up their world in a way being sober and especially being drunk never could. It allows us to see the dimensions of the world we never would have thought possible. It removes the cowardly layer that many hide behind known as "status" as a 2D concept and formula for pretentiousness, and instead allows us to analyze further depths of being human as we are in both the 3rd dimension, and 4th dimension."
As I continued my soliloquy, the Princess just sat there nodding her head. Her eyes were glowing beautifully opal with red sparks but unfortunately I was too impassioned by my own Kush soliloquy right now to take much notice.
"So you see dearest Riko, you see,"
I went down on one knee, holding her hand looking into her eyes passionately as the moonlight shined down on us from outside our ship room's window.
"We cannot run away from our political duties just yet Princess Riko, for you are in a very unique position as a future ruler of a great kingdom. There's a reason I feel why you discovered Kush when you stumbled upon my wagon on a random summer day, so it is only poetic that you may be the one to change the law of the land so that not just us, but the world, can unite around such a wonderful gift."
I looked deep into her eyes giving my most compassionate stare.
"Just like it united us."
"Doki"
She gasped, putting a hand on her forehead.
"Oh Hu. I'm going to ignore the fact that you likely have some bias in such a situation since you would benefit commercially if Kush were to be further legalized as you are a trader of it yourself. I'm just going to ignore that and just say to you…"
She stared back at me passionately.
"I will Hu, I will. When I return with thee to the kingdom, safe and sound, I will no longer be a coward and I will stand up to my parents about legalizing such a miracle, allowing the herb to be freely accessed by the people."
I nodded, "And don't forget to mention it's taxable."
"That said…"
She leaned in close to me, hugging me tight.
"What do we do now though, Hu? We're trapped aren't we?"
I pulled away from her,
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I just mean we're in a bind right now, right? That masked figure gave you that note saying they'd sell us out."
She looked up with worry filling her eyes.
"What do we do, Hu?"
"Hmmm…"
I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts.
"Let's think carefully about the situation we are in as it is, without the bias of what your stories told you previously. You assume that, because it is a masked figure, and that you've seen a similar situation in a story, that the guy we met will automatically be a bad guy."
"Hmmm…" she thought, holding her chin, "you're right Hu! I did think that."
"But that's not reality,"
"Hmm…"
"For all we know, that masked dude who I did not recognize could be after us for a number of reasons. The only real connection we can make is that he has ties to Ahmed. As for what I know about Ahmed… not much, but he must have seen you at some point sneak into the wagon. Maybe he has been eavesdropping the whole time. In any case…"
I paused for a moment to be dramatic as the Princess just stared at me mystified.
"In any case?"
"In any case, we don't have a choice but to go to the address given to us. I have however… exactly the weapon to take with us to handle such a situation."
I walked over to the cabinet of the room to grab my backpack.
*gasp*
The Princess seemed to understand what I had. She did not look like she approved fully, but did seem to understand why it was necessary.
"In here Riko…"
"Is a knife."
I stared at her deadpan.
"It's a knife right? I get it, it's a cruel world and while we won't need to use it, we have to bring it for backup in case things go south. It's fine but…"
I shook my head.
"Far deadlier,"
"What? No way…" she covered her mouth , "Don't tell me, you carry a gu… gu…"
"Gun?" I said reaching into my backpack. I shook my head.
"No Princess, even deadlier than a gun."
I glanced at her again with a smile before finally taking out...
"No…"
Her eyes continued to glow from shock as she covered her mouth.
"That's right,"
In my hand, was a premium golden colored keef filled Sativa Indica Hybrid Flaked 20% THC 80% CBD golden blunt. For those of you who don't know what any of those words mean, please go find out at your local cbd dispensary. If those don't exist in your country, I suggest leaving the country. Anyways, just think of it as like… a really expensive Kush blunt or cigar.
"Hu…"
"I know Princess, I know," I said, "I know, this blunt must be smoked and therefore will likely do marginal damage to our lungs. Still 10 times less than people that smoke a pack of cigarettes a day but like I said, I wish to be a fair shill about things."
I changed my expression to a serious one as I looked back towards the only thing on the ship more beautiful than the blunt in my hand.
"But it is our best hope Riko, for yes!"
I stood up looking out the window at the moon.
"I firmly believe what I mean when I say this stuff is going to unite the world. For you see, a great number of my fondest memories while on my journey of life have been sharing this wonderful substance with other enthusiasts around the world. For as I said before,"
I turned back to her.
"Kush will make us one community, and allow us to push for peace. So it is what we must trust here first, in this unknown situation. It is what we must trust to be able to break the ice with whoever it is that wishes to have our company for whatever reason. May that be for personal greed, a righteous cause, or anything in between. In any case…"
I turned back away from her looking outside the window again.
"In any case?"
"In any case, for anything to have a peaceful resolution, there needs to be talking right? To understand each other? This blunt will be a fantastic icebreaker for such things. And plus…"
I leaned in close to her.
"Let me tell you a secret Princess."
She leaned her ear in.
"What's that?"
"No one wears that type of mask unless they take some sort of drug."
"Oh true, yeah what was up with that, are they part of a cult?"
"The thing is I don't know, maybe. The masks are definitely weird though. But yeah, that's the plan, we'll just show up with this golden blunt."
"I see, but…"
I could see her eyes fiending as she stared at the candy I had in the still opened cabinet where I grabbed the blunt from.
"What about those? Should we take those now so that we'll be able to reenact exactly what might happen?"
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to give her more, I had to teach her the important economics lesson about this early as I grabbed the candy and held it up in the air out of her reach before she could take another one. She sat down onto the bed, pouting.
"I want candy."
"Now now Princess, remember what I said, you're plenty high enough. But let me tell you a secret Princess, let me tell you a secret."
I looked down leaning in at her and staring into her eyes.
"The secret Princess, the secret to becoming more high Princess? To be able to extend your high while not having to take more Kush, and to even sometimes have a natural high without Kush? The secret?"
She blushed, facing away but still looking at me, cheeks as red as her eyes.
"Wh… what Hu? You're really close right now. What's the secret?"
"Is to want to feel high!" I said putting my fists on my waist and pulling away from her face.
"To want to feel high?"
She made her adorable tilted head finger on mouth expression.
"What, really? It can't be that simple, can it? Isn't that too convenient?"
"No Princess, not at alI," I said sitting down next to her and taking her hand again, "The world is only limited to what your imagination is. Now close your eyes."
"Okay," she said, doing just that while smiling back, cheeks still red, "and now?"
"Now imagine the masked figure again, in fact..."
I tried my best to remember what the voice of the masked figure sounded like before doing my best impersonation.
"Hello Princess Riko, I am a scary masked figure, I am here to return you to your kingdom."
"Gaspppp but I don't want to go back to the kingdom!"
"Good good," I said smiling, "See, you don't need more Kush right now. 5 times the recommended dose is all you need, anyway…"
I grasped her hand tighter.
"Imagine now a separate scenario where the dialogue he says is…"
I stood up, making a pose.
"Princess Riko, we are here to make you a deal."
Well, that's pretty much how it went for the rest of the night. I rehearsed with her about 100 possible scenarios of what may happen when we meet the mysterious masked figure. Perhaps not the most productive of nights, but certainly one of the most fun ones. Still, we could have practiced our whole life times to prepare for the meeting, and we still couldn't have predicted what was about to happen.
She covered her mouth when I said the statement.
"What do we do?"
"I…"
I tried my best to think of an answer.
"I'm not sure. For now though, we should lay low and investigate."
"Should we steal a lifeboat?"
"What?"
I looked at her, puzzled by her statement.
"No… we can't do that."
"We'll be like stewaways!"
Her eyes were shining bright again.
"No Riko I don't…"
"Yeah! And then we'll take on new names and identities."
"..."
For a very serious situation, she certainly was having more fun than I imagined.
"Oh oh, I know, I know. And then for money…"
She dramatically pulled her hoodie up to cover her face again.
"We'll heist people!"
"..."
I sighed, lifting the hoodie down revealing the Princess's shiny bald head.
"Riko…"
I stared intensely at her, looking directly into her eyes.
"Wh.. what Hu? Why are you…"
She blushed, turning away.
"I…"
"How many Kush candies did you take today?"
"What?"
"Sigh…"
Her eyes were glowing as bright red as ever as I continued to stare at her suspiciously.
"I told you to limit yourself to…"
"I couldn't help it, okay!" she said, "after I took one, I wanted to know what outer dimensional beings would be like, and…"
"So how many did you take?"
"Oh come on, numbers aren't important Hu. All I know is right now, your head Hu, it's like…"
She stared at me deadpan for a moment.
"It's like… so big."
"..."
Instead of scolding, I simply looked at her with a disappointing look until finally she lowered her head in defeat.
"Five…"
"Sigh…"
I sat her down on the bed.
"Look," I looked over at her in sorrow.
"You can't take that many Kush candies, okay?"
"I know…" the Princess said looking down towards the ground, "you're going to say something about how happiness is something that should come from within, right? Something only found through the journey and that using artificial inflators such as Kush to boost my mood would ruin the journey because it's like, a cheat right?"
She sighed.
"I get it, I'm sorry master!"
She began bowing on the ground in front of me.
"I'm so sorry! I have much to learn!"
"...what?"
"What? That's what you're going to say, right?"
"..."
"That's what the philosophy books told me!"
"...Pfff pfff Bwahahahahahahahahhahahaha"
I began laughing hysterically.
"Hahahahahhahahaha"
"What? Is it really that funny?" the Princess asked flustered, "Hu? Oh come on, what? Did I say something wrong? That's what the philosophy books taught me!"
"Yes Princess, and did you also know the majority of philosophers, especially later era ones, have a history of psychedelic drug use? Yeah, let's just say it's not just 'tea' they're drinking. I also took 3 before dinner, it's quite boring on this ship, isn't it?"
"..."
"No Princess, the only reason you can't eat that much Kush at once is because it would get expensive after a while."
"...what?"
"I know, I know," I put a hand on her shoulder as I stared at her empathetically, "when I discovered this miracle herb, I too thought, hey, why don't I just always stay on this, all the time? Especially since it doesn't really affect my work, in fact it increased profits as it became one of the commodities I dealt in! But even so Riko, even so…"
I looked into her eyes with a serious expression.
"Even so, the average Kush candy that you consume goes for about 5 Cives. As of right now, due to its banning still in many countries, the prices are artificially inflated Riko, they're artificially inflated!"
She gasped.
"Why do so many countries have a problem with it?""
"Because dearest Riko," I replied standing up.
"There's this really useless thing called religion that has bias against it. For you see Riko, as you have no doubt noticed by now, Kush changes people. It allows people to see the thin layers of capitalism as well as reveal the other truths of the world to us. It allows people to open up their world in a way being sober and especially being drunk never could. It allows us to see the dimensions of the world we never would have thought possible. It removes the cowardly layer that many hide behind known as "status" as a 2D concept and formula for pretentiousness, and instead allows us to analyze further depths of being human as we are in both the 3rd dimension, and 4th dimension."
As I continued my soliloquy, the Princess just sat there nodding her head. Her eyes were glowing beautifully opal with red sparks but unfortunately I was too impassioned by my own Kush soliloquy right now to take much notice.
"So you see dearest Riko, you see,"
I went down on one knee, holding her hand looking into her eyes passionately as the moonlight shined down on us from outside our ship room's window.
"We cannot run away from our political duties just yet Princess Riko, for you are in a very unique position as a future ruler of a great kingdom. There's a reason I feel why you discovered Kush when you stumbled upon my wagon on a random summer day, so it is only poetic that you may be the one to change the law of the land so that not just us, but the world, can unite around such a wonderful gift."
I looked deep into her eyes giving my most compassionate stare.
"Just like it united us."
"Doki"
She gasped, putting a hand on her forehead.
"Oh Hu. I'm going to ignore the fact that you likely have some bias in such a situation since you would benefit commercially if Kush were to be further legalized as you are a trader of it yourself. I'm just going to ignore that and just say to you…"
She stared back at me passionately.
"I will Hu, I will. When I return with thee to the kingdom, safe and sound, I will no longer be a coward and I will stand up to my parents about legalizing such a miracle, allowing the herb to be freely accessed by the people."
I nodded, "And don't forget to mention it's taxable."
"That said…"
She leaned in close to me, hugging me tight.
"What do we do now though, Hu? We're trapped aren't we?"
I pulled away from her,
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I just mean we're in a bind right now, right? That masked figure gave you that note saying they'd sell us out."
She looked up with worry filling her eyes.
"What do we do, Hu?"
"Hmmm…"
I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts.
"Let's think carefully about the situation we are in as it is, without the bias of what your stories told you previously. You assume that, because it is a masked figure, and that you've seen a similar situation in a story, that the guy we met will automatically be a bad guy."
"Hmmm…" she thought, holding her chin, "you're right Hu! I did think that."
"But that's not reality,"
"Hmm…"
"For all we know, that masked dude who I did not recognize could be after us for a number of reasons. The only real connection we can make is that he has ties to Ahmed. As for what I know about Ahmed… not much, but he must have seen you at some point sneak into the wagon. Maybe he has been eavesdropping the whole time. In any case…"
I paused for a moment to be dramatic as the Princess just stared at me mystified.
"In any case?"
"In any case, we don't have a choice but to go to the address given to us. I have however… exactly the weapon to take with us to handle such a situation."
I walked over to the cabinet of the room to grab my backpack.
*gasp*
The Princess seemed to understand what I had. She did not look like she approved fully, but did seem to understand why it was necessary.
"In here Riko…"
"Is a knife."
I stared at her deadpan.
"It's a knife right? I get it, it's a cruel world and while we won't need to use it, we have to bring it for backup in case things go south. It's fine but…"
I shook my head.
"Far deadlier,"
"What? No way…" she covered her mouth , "Don't tell me, you carry a gu… gu…"
"Gun?" I said reaching into my backpack. I shook my head.
"No Princess, even deadlier than a gun."
I glanced at her again with a smile before finally taking out...
"No…"
Her eyes continued to glow from shock as she covered her mouth.
"That's right,"
In my hand, was a premium golden colored keef filled Sativa Indica Hybrid Flaked 20% THC 80% CBD golden blunt. For those of you who don't know what any of those words mean, please go find out at your local cbd dispensary. If those don't exist in your country, I suggest leaving the country. Anyways, just think of it as like… a really expensive Kush blunt or cigar.
"Hu…"
"I know Princess, I know," I said, "I know, this blunt must be smoked and therefore will likely do marginal damage to our lungs. Still 10 times less than people that smoke a pack of cigarettes a day but like I said, I wish to be a fair shill about things."
I changed my expression to a serious one as I looked back towards the only thing on the ship more beautiful than the blunt in my hand.
"But it is our best hope Riko, for yes!"
I stood up looking out the window at the moon.
"I firmly believe what I mean when I say this stuff is going to unite the world. For you see, a great number of my fondest memories while on my journey of life have been sharing this wonderful substance with other enthusiasts around the world. For as I said before,"
I turned back to her.
"Kush will make us one community, and allow us to push for peace. So it is what we must trust here first, in this unknown situation. It is what we must trust to be able to break the ice with whoever it is that wishes to have our company for whatever reason. May that be for personal greed, a righteous cause, or anything in between. In any case…"
I turned back away from her looking outside the window again.
"In any case?"
"In any case, for anything to have a peaceful resolution, there needs to be talking right? To understand each other? This blunt will be a fantastic icebreaker for such things. And plus…"
I leaned in close to her.
"Let me tell you a secret Princess."
She leaned her ear in.
"What's that?"
"No one wears that type of mask unless they take some sort of drug."
"Oh true, yeah what was up with that, are they part of a cult?"
"The thing is I don't know, maybe. The masks are definitely weird though. But yeah, that's the plan, we'll just show up with this golden blunt."
"I see, but…"
I could see her eyes fiending as she stared at the candy I had in the still opened cabinet where I grabbed the blunt from.
"What about those? Should we take those now so that we'll be able to reenact exactly what might happen?"
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to give her more, I had to teach her the important economics lesson about this early as I grabbed the candy and held it up in the air out of her reach before she could take another one. She sat down onto the bed, pouting.
"I want candy."
"Now now Princess, remember what I said, you're plenty high enough. But let me tell you a secret Princess, let me tell you a secret."
I looked down leaning in at her and staring into her eyes.
"The secret Princess, the secret to becoming more high Princess? To be able to extend your high while not having to take more Kush, and to even sometimes have a natural high without Kush? The secret?"
She blushed, facing away but still looking at me, cheeks as red as her eyes.
"Wh… what Hu? You're really close right now. What's the secret?"
"Is to want to feel high!" I said putting my fists on my waist and pulling away from her face.
"To want to feel high?"
She made her adorable tilted head finger on mouth expression.
"What, really? It can't be that simple, can it? Isn't that too convenient?"
"No Princess, not at alI," I said sitting down next to her and taking her hand again, "The world is only limited to what your imagination is. Now close your eyes."
"Okay," she said, doing just that while smiling back, cheeks still red, "and now?"
"Now imagine the masked figure again, in fact..."
I tried my best to remember what the voice of the masked figure sounded like before doing my best impersonation.
"Hello Princess Riko, I am a scary masked figure, I am here to return you to your kingdom."
"Gaspppp but I don't want to go back to the kingdom!"
"Good good," I said smiling, "See, you don't need more Kush right now. 5 times the recommended dose is all you need, anyway…"
I grasped her hand tighter.
"Imagine now a separate scenario where the dialogue he says is…"
I stood up, making a pose.
"Princess Riko, we are here to make you a deal."
Well, that's pretty much how it went for the rest of the night. I rehearsed with her about 100 possible scenarios of what may happen when we meet the mysterious masked figure. Perhaps not the most productive of nights, but certainly one of the most fun ones. Still, we could have practiced our whole life times to prepare for the meeting, and we still couldn't have predicted what was about to happen.