Page 334 of Light Leech

I furrowed my brow, but Naoma did her job in keeping calm and confident.

She opened her mouth, but Lyler spoke first. “Go, meet all of the people who love you as much as I do, or do you need an introduction? No, I’m sure they need introductions and such. You might already know the Nichley rep, though, right?”

Every muscle in my body tensed.

“Who?” Despite her best efforts, Naoma’s voice was weak.

“Kell Folsom, do you know him?”

She opened her mouth, but he must have seen the doubt in her and was quick to pacify.

“Oh, I suppose you don’t work much on the business side of things, Kell–dear Light, this is too good.”

“What? Tell me!”

He looked down, smiling as he bit his lip as if he was eating the attention she fed him. “Kell works with Nichely’s streaming rights. If you talk to him personally, you might be able to convince him to put The Red Geisha back on streaming. Wouldn’t that be delightful?”

“What would I say? I mean, he can’t be the one who decides what they do and don’t stream, right?”

I almost tried to intervene and change the direction of the conversation, but the returning confidence in Naoma’s voice kept me back.

“No, he’s on the legal and rights distribution side of things. Who can stream which Nichley shows, when they can stream them, and so forth.”

He leaned in, smirking as his eyes shot from side to side.

She took the bait. “What is it?”

“If I must gossip, I suppose you’re someone that deserves to know.”

She waited only a second before printing him. “Yes?”

“Kell was at the head of a little drama not long ago. You see, as one who has control over most of Nichely’s streaming agreements, he controls the prices for certain services. Nichley hired him on because of this little scandal though it could have ended his career if they hadn’t saved him. They liked what he did, despite how unethical it might have been, but we all know ethics are just an excuse for the self-righteous to remain prideful and condemn the rest of us. You see, Kell worked with rights and pricing for Mental Media prior to Nichely. Have you ever wondered why Nichley’s streaming service is the most affordable to the lesser districts, despite the other companies continual efforts to price match?”

“Sure?”

“Nichely will always be the affordable option for those lower district people because Mental Media charges every other service exponentially more for streaming their content, to ensure they are on good terms with Nichley. The Mental Media subsidiaries will always charge a higher price for other services because of this. More than half of the studios producing mindshows are owned by Mental Media, so anyone who wants a service, needs them. They charge more for rights, other distributors need to charge their customers more. They can make any excuse they want to bring you to their services, but Nichely will always be more affordable.”

“That’s…”

“Zegging brilliant, isn’t it?” Lyler laughed. “And no one can do anything to him because of Nichley. If you want your mindshow back in the forefront, he’s the man you want.”

“Do you mind introducing us?”

“Why of course! Come.“ He took her hand and sped ahead on thick-platformed shoes, twisting his head in every direction like a pigeon in the middle of Zingang.

I kept up by forcing my way through clusters of people, surely earning scowls though I had no time to apologize. The music ate up the scoffs, gasps, and complaints–if there were any. I was still trying to understand the proper form of behavior for an event such as this. The eccentric talk-show host wasn’t the best example to base my reading on, though it was hard to find the best behavior between the fornication to my left and the civil vows to my right.

I stopped before bumping into Naoma, looking up in time to see her before bumping her into a Finian butler. The Sea-mech offered a black substance that pulsed like a heart in an open clam shell. I politely declined and turned to look at the savory alternative.

Zeg, Lyler had nice teeth. Perfect pearls with a violet sparkle under the light of the room. Despite the two jeweled incisors, I wanted to pluck each of them and savor their unblemished enamel like a reclined hedonist enjoying grapes. I licked my molars and almost shuddered at the thought of someone else’s in my mouth. The powdered remains on my tongue like cocaine in the nose of an addict suffering from withdrawals. The idea of that innervated pulp against my tongue caused me to shiver.

Naoma took my hand. “Yes, this is my boyfriend, Petya.”

She moved it forward to another man whose teeth looked just as delightful. His face tensed as I held my hand out, limp, but I couldn’t care about anything more than those teeth. He didn’t have any ornamentation like so many other people I had seen here. A fresh set. Unblemished by the foul diet of poverty.

Naoma squeezed my hand. I turned to her. Despite the glimmer of her teeth, I did not reach for them. The promise I had made to her to never harm her overrode my hunger. I had enough will to do that but knew such strength would soon expire.

She moved my hand out to shake his. The vice of his fingers against mine woke me. The hunger remained, but I held onto clarity, knowing that it would soon expire with the next surge of desire.