Panotti of the Opera (12)
1254 Words
It was almost time for the curtains to be lifted up. Floopy wasn’t the only person nervous. On the stage, Syris was dripping water everywhere. It was a good thing the costume was waterproof because they had to start from inside of a tank.
The musical was about a lost siren who spent his days singing to anyone who would listen to him but nobody cared about him or pitied him. In fact, they bullied him until the lost siren found a dying crab and saved it. The two became fast friends and eventually fell in love. They then spent the rest of their days travelling the world together. Naturally, this script wasn’t written by Floopy. He only made the songs. It was Yang Yang’s idea when he heard that there was a musical to be written. The three-legged crow volunteered to do everything from scriptwriting to costume designing. When Soubi heard about their troubles from Kenma, he offered to teach Syris how to act and dance on top of singing.
Of course, the musical won’t be possible with only Syris and Floopy acting. Klick wanted to volunteer but he was still in bandages. The injuries he got from Bruce falling off the tree was severe enough that he was only able to start walking two weeks ago. Dr Iason did his best but the bat demon was simply too frail for him to heal everything in one go.
Bruce juggled between classes, caring for Klick and attending acting rehearsals. He was the main villain in the story. Alongside Bruce, Michael and Ringo who heard about it from Sei offered to help with the acting roles. Sei felt uncomfortable in front of people so he offered to be the stagehand with Soubi. Even the elusive and anti-social cultivator, Ruo Han, decided to lend a hand with prop making and special effects.
“Ten minutes till showtime!” Sei announced and Floopy started to vibrate on the spot from nervousness.
The combined display of a nervous trainwreck from the two main characters made Bruce cringe. Syris was dripping way too much water and the shark merman couldn’t tell if that was sweat or water. Floopy’s ears were changing colour in tandem to his face, one moment white and the next moment green. Nobody knew if he was going to faint, barf or do both.
“Will both of you calm down?” Bruce slapped them both on the back hard. Floopy jumped three feet into the air and Syris collapsed onto the floor, his feet turning into a tail.
“Look, how will everyone think if you’re both in such a mess? I thought you wanted to show them how good you can be even though you’re born different? Is this how you’re going to convince them?”
From behind, Ringo giggled and helped Floopy to rearrange his ears that had fallen out of the hermit crab helmet. His costume was made to be cute and Floopy just had to have confidence before the crowd would fall for him. In this hermit crab costume, it was difficult for anyone to recognise him.
On the other hand, Syris was a flopping disaster. Due to his nervousness, he couldn’t keep his transformation steady. The tail wouldn’t go away and his costume was stretched in a horrible way from the transformation.
Bruce didn’t know what to say to his prince that didn’t kill the self-esteem even more. Hence, he groaned and backed off, allowing the other alphas to talk some sense into him.
Michael and Sei tried the good cop and bad cop approach to motivate Syris to no avail. The siren was simply too worried to listen to anything. Ruo Han got tired of Syris acting like a wuss so he strode over and pulled the man up by his costume.
“Look. If you really want to be a man charming enough to court your little hermit crab, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than this. Right now, he’s being twice the man you are, please grow some balls or legs in your case. You only have one chance to prove to Amanda that you’re a worthy alpha serious about him to convince her to give you the gender reassignment potion. I know that you don’t want anybody else to be your mate so you’re going to have to work hard to make this count.”
Ruo Han’s words were like freezing water and Syris felt the coldness seep into his heart, dousing the flames of worry with much-needed effectiveness. The cultivator was right. During the month that he got to know Floopy, working with the beta boy was the happiest days of his life. Floopy helped him find his voice, courage, purpose of life and even feelings he didn’t have in him. In the simplest way to put it, Syris found himself falling madly and deeply for Floopy.
Likewise, Floopy didn’t remain unaffected to Syris’ charms as the panotti watched him improve every single day. Syris was probably the most hardworking person he ever knew and his talent blossomed under Floopy’s nurturing. It was no secret that they liked each other and were even considering entering the dating phase. The only thing stopping them from courting officially was Floopy’s gender. They couldn’t sign the mating registration papers with Amanda because Floopy wasn’t an omega. For that to happen, a second-gender reassignment test and potion must be given by Amanda. For that to happen, they must have a very good reason.
This was why the show starting in three minutes was going to be very important for both of them. Everyone working for the musical knew about their secret and wanted to help them make this a big hit. Yet, the two boys in question were getting wet feet the very last minute. How disappointing.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Yang Yang’s cheerful voice echoed and the chatter quickly died down. Ruo Hand dimmed the lights and the actors got into position. Sei did one last check on the water tank and gave an all-clear sign.
“We’re gathered here to witness this history-changing musical either willing or not. It doesn’t really matter. The word should have gotten around by now that the song composer is the ugly panotti and the main actor is the tone-deaf siren.”
At this, there was some laughter from the audience as well as some jeers. Yang Yang didn’t entertain those. They had rehearsed this so many times and Floopy stood firmly, holding onto Syris’ hand.
“For those jeering and laughing, I’m very confident that you won’t be disappointed by the show we have worked hard to put together. Tonight is a night that the Ugly Panotti and the Tone-Deaf Siren will make their debut as the Lost Siren and the Cute Hermit Crab. Please put your hands, fins and wings together and give a warm welcome to our actors.”
With that, the lights went out and the show officially began.
Author's Note: More exclusive chapters about this couple and the musical and more only on P@treon from USD1 per month!
- Writer
