In the aftermath of Kassy's enigmatic disappearance, a wave of imitators swept in, emulating her distinctive style, while a plethora of speculations swirled around the circumstances of her vanishing act. These speculations ran the gamut from the notion of her deletion due to a glitch in the matrix to the unsettling possibility of her abduction by a clandestine cloning laboratory, used in an audacious quest to create the perfect clone. Some even entertained the fantastical idea that she might have transcended, assuming the mantle of a demi-goddess and departing our planet out of sheer ennui.
(•ω•)
Jess and Jyn were at Jess's place, discussing the piece of music had they put together. Jess was thrilled that his dream girl, Ashlyn Starr, liked his mix, but he felt overshadowed by the work of the Kassy clones.
On the walls were large black slabs, presumably meant to soundproof the room so nobody would hear the music and mistakenly contact the police, thinking it was a crime scene.
Among them was a high-end, very expensive mixing desk with all the volume faders one could ever want, a microphone equipped with the latest vocal tuning software, lots of vintage hardware, guitars, drums, and digital drum machine synthesizers—all of which looked very appealing but were rarely used by the two.
All the magic was accomplished by the small device in their hands! It was the same device he was scrolling through, feeling annoyed that many Kassy clones were surpassing him in views and click rates.
Jyn, half-asleep and bored of Jess scrolling through the feed on eBunnee, casually started to put his bubble-gum-flavoured energy drink down.
"Hey!" Jess suddenly noticed what Jyn was doing.
"What?!"
"Don't put your cup on that! That's vintage stuff!"
"But you never use it; you might as well get some use out of it."
"Sort of like how you transformed that £1,000 Harry Potter magic book into a cup stand back at your place? Yeah, but no thanks."
Jyn's irritation grew palpable. "Because it's within reach whenever I need it! And it's not Harry Potter magic! It's the real deal!"
Jess, sporting a sceptical expression, fired back, "Are you for real? I couldn't help but notice a bookmark still sitting there on page four. Just to put it out there, page four is all about the author's introduction. It's like you haven't even cracked open this book."
"Why are you snooping through my personal book, by the way? And for your info, this material is well-known among professionals, top-tier magicians, and practitioners of dark arts and voodoo. Tiara Quinzi, Impulse Reflexes, Cyber-Catz, and many others have all immersed themselves in its pages."
"Come on, Jyn, do these folks actually strike you as avid readers? They're getting paid to hype up this book, you know!"
"I don't want to spend another night insulting all the people more successful than you. We'll be here all night! Carry on insulting Kassy! At least she's somebody you have knowledge of."
Jess, realising Jyn was quite dangerous and could potentially put a curse on him or do something weird if he got on his bad side, said in a calming voice, "I was seriously ticked off at those Kassy clones! You know, I've got a weird sort of respect for Kassy, in a twisted way." But then Jess, noticing that Jyn was in a relaxed, chill mood, felt compelled to inquire further: "All this talk about tricks and curses... you know, people gossip. Some girls are legit scared to chat with you because of all this, right?"
Jyn gently shook his head, a bemused smile playing on his lips, as he corrected Jess's misconception. "I've moved far beyond those days," he chuckled. "I used to dabble in curses through emails, you know? It would go something like, 'Repeat this curse five times, send it to a dozen people before midnight, or face the wrath of the Jynomonic demon, who'll visit you in the night, and...,' well, you can imagine the rest. But I've since progressed far beyond that beginner's magic."
"Imagine the rest?" Jess thought to himself, realising that even Jyn was embarrassed to repeat the actual content he used to include in those emails.
"I really respect you, bro, as my sidekick, but honestly, it's like you're stuck in my shadow, and hardly anyone even remembers you or gives you the time of day. And those wild rumours about curses and witchcraft? Man, they freak people out big time! Don't you ever want someone awesome, like Ashlyn, to notice you? She's my dream girl, and we're out here rocking the music scene together. She's my bestie too. Our bubble-party album was killing it for a few hours until a bunch of those Kassy clones rolled in and totally messed up the eBunnee algorithm, dude! Slapping 'Kassy' in the title or on the artwork is just a lame and tacky move to get more listeners... Argh!"
Jyn remained acutely aware of the evolving situation involving Ashlyn and Jess. Ashlyn once cherished the fact that she graced the album cover of a musical piece, basking in the promise it held. A single photo shoot was all that stood between her and this coveted achievement. She revelled in the initial surge of attention the music garnered, feeling like both a prominent musician and a fashion icon.
As time passed and the influx of Kassy clone music surged, interest in Jess's album among listeners began to dwindle rapidly. This decline fostered a diminishing desire within Ashlyn to maintain her connection with Jess. The prevailing sentiment was clear: people craved Kassy and nothing else! Kassy's clones faithfully replicated her unique style, leaving no room for alternative genres to thrive. To survive in the music industry, one had to sound like Kassy or risk fading into complete obscurity.
When Jyn thought about what Jess had just said, he asked, "It's like I'm stuck in your shadow, and nobody remembers me?" Jyn then repeated what Jess had said and responded, "I do that intentionally, like, make myself hide in the shadows. I'm trying to be cool and mysterious and all that."
"But seriously, dude, it's not working out for you. Your eBunnee engagements are like, totally non-existent, and people just straight-up laugh at your lame tricks."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Come on, just check out this ridiculous non-trick," Jess said, getting all set to show a video of his mind-reading act where he was about to dive into the minds of his eBunnee audience and predict what they were thinking. The video began with Jyn speaking, "Hello there, my Jynomonic demons! Today, 'The Jynster' will blow your mind... and then read your mind."
"Jynster? More like 'Jester'," one of the comments read. Jess quickly disabled the comments before watching the rest of the video.
"Right here, right now, we're about to delve into the mysterious world of mind-reading. I need each and every one of you to play your part in this intriguing experiment. What I want from you is simple: stay absolutely silent and fix your gaze upon this magnificent silver coin that I'm about to reveal, alright? That's the spirit! But remember, not a word must escape your lips. Your only task is to focus on this shimmering silver coin for approximately 30 seconds. During this time, I will tap into your thoughts through your unwavering gaze and reveal what's hidden in your minds. Got it? Excellent!"
Jyn held up a coin that definitely wasn't silver and said, "Just gaze upon the silver coin without speaking a word, and I will read your thoughts!" When the timer ran out, Jyn said excitedly, "You were all just thinking! The coin is not silver; it's a gold coin!" Jyn unleashed an eccentric laugh, resembling a curious fusion of a hyena's cackle and the ascending notes of a vocal warm-up.
Jyn's laughter was triggered as he watched himself on the screen, as though it were an infectious bout of mirth. His laughter mirrored the precise cadence captured in the video.
Meanwhile, Jess gazed at Jyn, baffled, as if he were a perplexing piece of art that eluded comprehension.
Jyn responded, "What?! It's from my early days. Not everyone begins at their peak. Your music was dreadful when you first started, and now it's... well, it's somewhat so-so. Perfecting your craft takes time. Besides, that 'trick' was fantastic!"
"'Fantastic'! 'Fantastic'!? It wasn't even a trick! It's like saying, 'Look at this picture of Kassy in a bikini.'" Jess held out his phone and started scrolling through pictures of Kassy, continuing, "Right now, you're thinking about her body. Voilà! Magic! I'm a mind-reader too!"
"Fail! Not what I was thinking at all. Leave this to the professionals, okay?"
"'Fail'? Bro, your eyes totally popped wide, and your jaw dropped to the floor! You're like, super easy to read."
Jyn's left shoulder suddenly itched, and he nervously scratched at it. He then forced a laugh as he stammered, "I was just, you know, thinking about the name at the top. Why were you sending weird pictures of Kassy back and forth to Ashlyn? I thought she ghosted you as soon as your album's engagement started to dwindle."
"Ghosted me? Why would she ever do that? Oh, ghosted... I mean, I probably should mention the ghost I saw at Estresey Academy today, but we've got bigger stuff to talk about. And those pictures you're talking about? Those Kassy pics? Dude, they're all just fake images of Kassy that I whipped up using prompts from some software! None of 'em are the real deal."
"Wait, you made them all?! You created them? Ummm... actually, I heard about the software you can use to create images of famous people, dress them however you like, and place them in any location you desire. But did you really feel the need to, you know, create pictures of her in bikinis and such, and then send them to Ashlyn of all people?!"
Jess didn't instantly respond; instead, he opened up his laptop, moved some of his music gear to the side so he could type, sat down, and brought up an album from one of the Kassy clones called 'Kassy's Bubble Party.'
"Kassy is having a bubble party now?!"
"No! They straight-up jacked that album name from me! This whole Kassy clone music from those fake artists was a total sham! They've been using software to copy her voice with some speech synthesizer. They typed in a few lines, and a fake Kassy sang it. Slap on a drum loop, toss in a few provocative pics of her as album art, and... boom! You have yourself a track on eBunnee that pulled in loads of views!"
"Why not do the same? If you can't beat them, then join them, they say."
"Because, you know, I've got this thing called integrity, and I ain't gonna use some depraved picture of Kassy to sell my music, man! And those folks making those pics of Kassy... like, I can't even begin to picture what the person who created them actually looks like in real life. Maybe they're some messed-up creature from the swamps of Heart-ling Forest, or something even worse."
Jyn gave Jess a long and judgemental stare as he watched Jess scrolling through some feeds on his laptop and clicking the like icon on many posts. He struggled to read something on the screen and leaned closer, then wiped off a lipstick smudge on his screen that was obscuring it a bit.
Jess said, "That was a close call! This eBunnee thing is a minefield! I almost clicked on instant death!"