Aqua
The room I appear in is a large studio with a set in it containing a TV with three chairs on one side and a counter on the other. With both sides facing the cameras at an angle inwards. Meanwhile there are at least a few dozen people in the room, including but not limited to staff, the hosts, and the other people making an appearance today. Since I’m not the only one being interviewed.
There are three people total being interviewed.
Interestingly enough, the other two people who will be making an appearance – Rhett showed me their pictures – look rather nervous when they glance over at me. Meanwhile the hosts look overjoyed.
Hmm.
Rhett actually warned me about something before this. He said that my recognition has skyrocketed after killing that shark since it was shown on the biggest stage in the Alliance.
And this particular variety show appearance was scheduled before my recognition skyrocketed. The design of the show was also obviously planned before that with the recognition of the interviewees in mind.
Which was messed up thanks to me.
So now the other two people being interviewed – neither of whom are Pioneers – look incredibly nervous about me potentially overshadowing them. Which is actually very likely according to Rhett.
That the hosts will focus almost entirely on me during this interview.
As for the hosts of the variety show? They’re most likely very excited about this for two different reasons.
My current recognition boost, and the fact that this is my first variety show appearance. Ever. Which they will be claiming after the last one was interrupted before recording even began.
I’m sure the other show is incredibly disappointed by that as well. But I leave all the planning and scheduling to the manager, and he decided to just go through with this variety show as planned.
Because apparently we couldn’t just push back this appointment with the excuse that we need to wait for me to be able to use my arm again for the other variety show and they have more priority than you.
At the end of the day though, I don’t really care who goes first.
So after greeting everyone I need to greet, I go to the changing room and change into a lovely black and deep blue dress chosen for this variety show appearance. Nothing too fancy but still a change of pace from my usual casual attire. Then I wait for the filming to begin. And when it does, I find myself seated in the middle chair of the three, with a man on my right and a woman on my left.
“Hello one and all, and welcome to Celebrity Weekly!” the host on the right exclaims while he leans forwards in his seat behind the counter. “I’m Host 1, Lenny McMallus, here to bring more celebrities to your TV!”
“And I’m Host 2, Lena McMallus, here to join the ride!” the host on the left says with a wide smile on her face.
“And today we bring you three celebrities!” the twin hosts declare with wide and matching grins on their faces. One of the reasons this variety show is rather popular other than their subject matter. “One of whom I’m sure you’ll all recognize!”
The camera drone turns its lens from the hosts while backing away to get all of us in the shot at once. Except with the lighting over the three of us on the chairs being dark and the lighting over the hosts being bright.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Welcome to today’s three celebs!” the twins declare. “First up we have Antonius ce Valdrea, the actor who played Kelmuth from the hit drama, Clear the Scar!”
A spotlight appears on the man to my right.
“Then we have the new singer making an explosion with her music on the planet known as Ah-tat, Felicia Tariule!” they continue, making a second spotlight appear over the woman on my left. Already breaking from the original plan, which was to introduce me second.
And out of the corner of my eye I find the singer woman’s smile twitching as she waves at the camera. Clearly irritated by this development.
“And last but certainly not least!” Lenny says with a grin on his face.
“The woman who has been making splashes all across the Alliance with her wild antics!” Lena continues his words.
“And a Bloodliner Pioneer, one of the first of her kind to exist and the only one to currently exist,” Lenny keeps the flow going.
“We welcome-” Lenny and Lena continue before pausing and finally finishing their introduction as the spotlight shines on me. “Aqua Fallen! A Pioneer broadcasting from the world of Oceana!!!”
“Hello, Antonius here. “And I’m Felicia, and as always, I’m delighted to see all of you again! Even if it’s only through a screen!”
Everyone on set turns towards me as I’m the only one who hasn’t said anything yet.
So I go ahead and just decide to act as I usually do.
“Hello. I’m Aqua.”
“Oh, ho, hooo! Now that’s one confident self-introduction if I’ve ever heard one!” Lenny exclaims while clapping his hands. “Just a simple greeting and her given name! But who can blame her?! There’s no one right now who doesn’t know who Aqua Fallen is!”
“You’re right about that Lenny,” Lena says with a confident smile and nod. “But I’ve gotta ask Aqua, how are you faring after your latest battle with the ripper shark? You lost an arm, so that’s gotta be a massive blow, right?”
I just shrug and answer, “I’m doing fine. It doesn’t really change much for me.”
The arm will be growing back in a few days after all.
Lena and Lenny’s eyes grow wide at that before they both start to grin.
“Does that mean you’ve figured out some way to get a limb regrowth elixir early?!” both twins ask at once, their excitement clear in their voice.
Oh. Right.
I forgot those things exist.
Elixirs capable of regrowing limbs. But only if the limb was lost within two weeks of drinking the elixir.
And, of course, as with all important things in the Sponsorship System, they aren’t available for a very long time. Not until at least level 300.
Some worlds have them restricted for even later levels.
From a financial standpoint, this makes sense. Since if they spent a fortune on one of these elixirs early on only for the Pioneer to die at some point after that, it would be a massive waste of funds.
But from the perspective of a Pioneer, it’s cruel.
“No,” I answer with my usual lazy smile on my face.
The twins share a glance, and the celebrities next to me look confused as well.
“Then do you have a high end prosthetics sponsorship lined up?” Lenny asks, taking the lead this time.
But I just shake my head and answer, “No need. This won’t be an issue in a week.”
Silence fills the studio for a few seconds.
“You’ll understand if you keep watching my broadcast,” I decide to state without any shifts in my expression.
“Oh, wow! You’re just gonna leave us hanging like that?!” Lena exclaims with an amused and even more excited look on her face now. “I like it! Alright, I’ll be watching your broadcast as often as I can to see what you mean!”
“As will I!” Lenny adds in while leaning over the counter.
“But I have a question I’m sure many of your fans are waiting to hear,” Lena continues, making Lenny nod as if he knows what she’s about to ask. Which he no doubt does. “How do you push yourself through so much pain? No matter what happens to you on Oceana, you always push yourself even harder despite it. So what’s your secret?”
I blink at that before staring at the two hosts for a moment and glancing at the two celebrities next to me. Both of whom actually appear curious about this as well despite their earlier irritation at being completely ignored in this variety show so far.
A slightly playful yet also cold smile spreads across my eyes just barely reaching my eyes as I raise a finger to my lips and tilt my head while answering, “That’s a secret.”
Everyone in the studio looks shocked at my answer.
But that’s for me to know and me alone.
It takes a moment for everyone to recover before the hosts finally move on to asking questions of the other two celebrities here. Shifting the focus from me with that last question.
And after asking the other two several questions each on an individual level, they shift the questions to include all three of us at once.
Then they finish up the interview with what is apparently their usual outro.
Ending my very first interview.