Page 119 of Light Leech

“Do tell.” He bit his fingertip.

“Not right now.”

“Oh, how foul am I to bring up such a vile subject. You must forgive me–”

“It’s nothing, really. I just–”

“Of course! You’re here to enjoy the event! Do you need a guide? Of course you do! I can remember how frightened I was my first time, If you can imagine that.” He laughed at himself, giving her a moment to speak.

“I think we want to just feel out the atmosphere and take it in slowly for now.”

“Of course! Dear Light, where are my manners? I’ve been keeping you for far too long! Go! Enjoy yourself! I’ll save a seat for the both of you for the Meat and Wine!”

“Save seats?”

“Girl, you don’t know? My Light are you in for a treat! We have like an hour until it begins! I assume you didn’t bring any fans then?“ He poked me. “Surely you don’t want to let go of this catch.”

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.”