New Year, New Strategy

“This year I will bring this group to stardom!” Ozzie announced as he entered the venue. Dominic looked up from tuning his instrument to see his friend and band-mate trotting over to him with confidence, a gembat fluttering behind him.

“You say that every year,” Dominic replied. “It’s your default New Year’s resolution.”

“I know it is. But this year will be the year! Our year! We’ll be touring all over the realm in no time at all. This year…”, Ozzie stated, “I have a plan.” The gembat chirped as if to agree.

The candle noodle hopped up onto the stage Dominic was on. He had a big grin on his face. Dominic continued to tend to his instrument while Ozzie stared at him, still smiling. Only a minute passed before Ozzie lost his patience.

“Aren’t you gonna ask what this plan is?” he shouted.

The sound echoed across the room, demonstrating the excellent acoustics the venue had. The venue was larger than most indoor concert spaces, catering to tortuvina who usually could only attend outdoor concerts due to size and space concerns. Being a tortuvina, that was one of the reasons Dominic liked this place. All the way on the other side of the room, by the bar, a voice shouted back.

“Yeah! Aren’t you gonna ask him, Dom?”

The source of the voice was another reason Dominic liked the place: Moira, a friend and fellow tortuvina. However, Dominic did not like her encouragement of Ozzie’s antics.

“I’m sure you’ll tell me whether I want you to or not,” Dominic replied dryly. The show was scheduled to start later that day and there was still a lot to do.

“Why don’t you want to know my plan? Don’t you want to be successful? Everyone wants to be successful! Isn’t that right Moira?” Ozzie yelled this last question across the room.

“I am successful, Ozzie. I own this place, remember?”

Ozzie seemed to ignore Moira’s remark and turned back to Dominic. “What I’m saying, Dom, is that we can be the stars we know we are. We no longer have to continue playing in the same places each weekend. We can be famous throughout all the islands in the realm.”

“You should have been a motivational speaker, Oz. Or a serpent oil salesman. I’ll bite. What’s the plan?” Dominic asked.

Ozzie puffed up proudly. “We play for pets,” he stated simply.

Pets? Dominic frowned. What was Ozzie thinking? Is that why that gembat was with him? The candle noodle answered his unasked questions right away.

“Meet Amethyst!” Ozzie gestured to the magenta gembat that was now sitting on the stage. “I adopted her last week, and I’ve discovered that she just loves music. I was singing while doing chores earlier this week and she just went nuts!” Ozzie started humming a tune, a standard piece that he and Dominic play at most shows. Amethyst took notice right away. Once Ozzie started singing the lyrics, the gembat took to the air, swooping around. She seemed to be dancing while flying. Dominic couldn’t resist picking up his horn to play. Even when he joined in, Amethyst continued her aerial dance. Moira came over to watch, and then lent her voice to harmonize with Ozzie. Once the impromptu performance ended, Ozzie started up with explaining his plan again.

“If Amethyst loves our music, then I bet that other critters would too. Faians love their pets and do most anything to spoil them. It could mean fame and fortune for us. We’ll be the first group dedicated to playing for critters! In fact, I already have several gigs lined up for us this year.”  

Dominic was impressed. Ozzie’s plans usually weren’t so straightforward or logical.

“Oh, so when’s your first gig playing music for pets then?” Moira asked.

“Tonight!”

“Ozzie,” Dominic said as his mood began to darken. “We’re booked to play here tonight.”

“And I’m not letting you cancel last minute on me,” added Moira.

“Huh. And I was wondering why you were here today with the stage set up, Dom,” Ozzie replied.