Mavis waddled off to check up on every other detail of the club while Kalinka and I got to work hooking up the DJ booth, which entailed unboxing and laying out the equipment, arranging the displays according to the map Mavis'd laid down for us, and of course spinning a giant spiderweb of wires underneath the podium that linked all of the equipment and displays together on a crucially specific network. It still took around two hours to dig through over half of the workload, even with the two of us maintaining a decent, moderate pace with one another. Honestly, I felt like I was the one holding the other back, seeing how Kalinka made arranging her getup look as natural as speaking, which was pretty damn amazing for someone working in the freezing cold with no jacket. Even if the thin language barrier was a distraction.
"Alright, how're you guys faring, so far?" Mavis asked as she reentered the dance floor, having set up the tables for the night.
"Pretty good..." I called back, kneeling in front of the podium to plug in a few more wires, while Kalinka inspected her 'studio' as she called it. "How long do you think till we're done, Kalinka?"
"Soon!" Kalinka chirped, shooting us a thumbs up. "We shall be up and singing in one hour!"
"That's good to hear. And hey, why don't you guys take a break?"
"Eh, I could go for one."
"Yes!" Kalinka approved.
"Alright then. Fifteen minutes, and here!" Mavis reached into a bag hanging against one of her lovehandles and tossed us both a can of soda, pulling out a much larger one for herself as she trudged back to her side of the club.
"So, Gregory..." Kalinka leaned over the dashboard, gazing down on me with her chin resting in her palms. "What is it that you do inside of the Gaia?"
"Well, I'm what's known to staff as a 'choreboy.'" I explained, snapping open my soda. "If there's anyplace in the hotel in need of extra staff, or if there's a guest with a special request in need of human interaction, they'd send me over to take care of it."
"Such as?"
"Anything, really. A spare lifeguard, a bartender, waiter, masseuse, pretty much every conceivable job known to man." I snickered.
But in a surprising flair, Kalinka crouched onto the dashboard and hooked her legs onto the lip so she could swing over the podium's mouth, dangling upside down over the ledge so she we could see eye to eye, her hair hanging loose in a waterfall of orange. "Is there anything that I must learn about life in the Gaia?"
"Well, uh..." I scratched the back of my head. "...well, you probably don't have to worry about it as much as I do, but with the size difference and all between anthros and humans, there's sort of a balance to maintain between how far and how far you can get to them, thanks to certain...well, instances that can happen when they're grabbing for things to eat."
"Ah." Kalinka calmly agreed, expertly swinging back up to grab her soda from the station. "Anything else?"
"Well, Mavis also kind of wanted me to warn you about eating right here."
"Eating right?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Well, it's just that most food around here isn't exactly the healthiest to eat all the time, and with most of the VIPs we get around here, there's a bit of a tendency too...well..."
But with perfect timing, a loud belch rang from across the club, where Mavis sat drinking a barrel of soda. I merely pointed her out, making Kalinka giggle. "Oh, I see!"
She bent back up and slinked back into her new dugout. Curious, I got up and walked around onto the steps leading into the DJ station to join her, but I was surprised enough by the workspace she'd created for herself that I forgot what I wanted to say.
True to her DJ expertise, she'd laid everything out in a clean, gorgeously organized manner. The panels were filled with bright, colorful displays, turntables, sliders, and neon decoratives in a way that it looked like her own high tech laboratory, a loy more impressive than the wired mess I still had to work out. There were even controls affixed to the ceiling.
"How're you gonna get the ones up there?"
"That's the question!" She beamed, holding the body of the wheeled ladder.
"So, how long've you been in the DJ business?"
"Many, many years, since I was just a small child." Kalinka explained. "I'd been born to the string, but sometime many seven years ago, I'd uncovered the world of electronics, and it brought music to life beyond the string! It's the music of the mind, not the hand!"
"Huh." I uttered plainly, walking along labyrinth-like array of audio controls and displays. I'd never been a huge of electronic music, but I'll admit I never thought of it that way. "I couldn't even name the first thing about all this stuff."
"Well, it needs a life of duty and passion to fully see!" She noted. "You can come in here sometime so I can show you a few, if you'd like!"
"That'd be fun!" I actually smiled. She was actually starting to get a nice spot with me! "Anyways, mind giving me a hand with the wires, when we get back?"
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