After the World Ball, Sally was now chatting with Empress Bing Qi Ling regarding the next stage of her development in becoming an Ice Queen. They were currently enjoying a brunch at the well known Warming Winter Café, a popular diner in the Anti-Rizz Realm.
There were refreshing salads, ice cold drinks, and all sorts of cakes, pastries, and desserts, and even piping hot tea, a rare delicacy which allowed one to better feel the icy coldness again after a hit of heat!
"Thanks for taking me out, Auntie." Sally said in her usual sweet, graceful, and gracious manner.
Empress Bing Qi Ling cast Sally a frostily fond look, since at this point she considered her basically like her own daughter, as opposed to a Disciple in the strict sense.
"My dear, this is the least we can do. You deserve a treat, and something sweet, particularly after that sh*t show that was the World Ball…!!! Humph."
The Empress had received the latest news and updates regarding the World Ball via Tristen of the ARSES, who was officially back in the Empress' good books after neutralising the serious threat to Ice Queen Sally that was the Grand Dark Rizzard Itvasme!!! But there was still a lot she wanted to know, preferably from Sally herself.
"I must admit that Tristen did pull through this time... I must make a note to give him some… praise." (...Miles away, Tristen felt a weird tingle of excitement.)
"Anyway. Speaking of The World Ball. So... How was it?"
Sally thought for a moment before answering, as she thought back to that evening...
___
Dressed like Diamond Dust, Sally had blown away everyone with her queenly glamour as she entered the Castle like a goddess come down to Earth, and descended down the stairs to the Ballroom…
In fact, a big part of the World Ball for Sally was to promote her latest MV, "Celebrity", as part of her ways to give back to the World!!!
In the MV, a Cinderella-like girl is seated at a table and looking sadly into a mirror, which reflects the same girl but dressed gorgeously - it is Sally in her World Ball attire!!!
*cut to "Celebrity" MV [Excerpt] for your viewing entertainment*
*4 bar Instrumental intro*
So you asked me…
"What was it like?"
Dres-sing up gor-geously for the night~
The sun was shining…
The day was bright
Smiling and walk-ing in-to the light~
Feeling a-glow
I'll have you know
That what you see…
Is not just me…
//
I was crying…
End-lessly
Won-de-ring if things were meant to be~
I kept on trying…
to find the key
To find the true meaning of 'Ce-lebri-ty~'
I'll have you know
Feelings will grow
And It's thanks to you
That I know it's true~~~
Celebrity~~~~y-y~~~~
It's something more than eyes can see
It lies within your heart,
It's something that you start
Together as we fly~~~ into the sky~~~
Celebrity~~~~ y-y~~~~
It's something more than eyes can see
Within you lies a Queen
The Girl with Hopes and Dreams
Don't let her go unseen~~~~~~
Celebrity~~~~y-y~~~~
It's something more than eyes can see
So give her the chance to grow
Become more than what you know…
That's what I've found for me~~~
Celebrity~~~~y-y~~~~
It's something more than eyes can see
Love
From my future self to me
A me that's finally free~~~~
…Love
From
Your…
Ce-le-bri-ty~~~~~~~~~~~~~~✨
The final sung note is supported by a transcendent wash of colour from the piano and strings, as Sally steps into a familiar Disnéy-esque castle and descends the steps to the glittering Ballroom like a goddess come down to earth, stunning, beautiful, gracious, smiling, and the camera zooms out to reveal that the World Ball scene was in fact all occurring within the mirror, and then the camera pans to showcase the girl in the room, who was originally sad, now break out into a warm smile as both she and the bare room undergo a "Celebrity transformation"!!!
Needless to say, the MV has become a Certified Chart-Topping No. 1 Classic, symbolising the Inner 'Celebrity' that exists within all women, empowering and inspiring them to believe in themselves, and at the same time cementing Sally's own "Celebrity" status as an Icon in the music world!!!!
___
"So yeah," Sally concluded. "Basically, I think the World Ball went well. A few people tried to talk to me, but then they... got into a small argument, I guess?"
This was, of course, just Sally's perspective, since her currently insane -10 000 000 000 000 000 000 Anti-Rizz Index had rendered her immune to the actual chaos that unfolded, barely registering as a blip on her radar!!!!
In fact, after coming into conflict over Sally, and after Meatius Maximus had... finished Directus Approachus off, Arroe Gant and Meatius ended up having a full-on, hard-on, brawl on the ballroom floor. Meatius had ended up taking a few 'slaps and tickles' from Arroe's sword, but after a bit of a 'tug and tussle', Meatius had finally managed to trap Arroe's long weapon between his trunk-y thighs and with a jocular jump, a herculean hop and a terrifying twist, Arroe's implement became… bent!!!
His once straight sword was now... L-shaped…!!!! 💀
To his credit, Arroe was unfazed, although to be fair, this was probably less to do with bravery, and more to do with his poor grasp of reality and overestimation of his own actual ability.
After pulling it out from the crevice that was inbetween Meatius' legs, he adroitly adjusted his stance by 90 degrees, and continued in his attempts to harpoon Meatius sideways!!!
This move had the laudable distinction of being bold and innovative, but was unfortunately offset by the ignominy of the fact that it was very ineffective, as he couldn't actually see his opponent properly... Moreover the actual reach of the L shaped sword was also quite poor 🥀
It was now Meatius' turn to forward his agenda… and by 'agenda', we of course mean his 'fist', coming forward to connect with Arroe's - admittedly very punchable - head.
"Bro." Meatius said words to that effect in agreement. "Your face… It's so… so punchable!…"
It is a well-known saying that one should never pick a fight with an ugly person, for they have nothing to lose.
To the onlookers, this was clearly a fight between two desperadoes, both with nothing to lose.
Arroe was, as usual, sneering. This was his default expression, which looked like he was chewing on a wet tablecloth, but even if he wanted to, it was actually difficult for him to for his face to look any different due to force of habit.
Meatius was grinning, which gave the impression of a leer due to the hypertrophy of his facial muscles from over-juicing.
Not to worry though. They were both hoping to give their opponent a muscle-mass makeover, and to 'rearrange' those facial features fairly soon...
The two men briskly engaged in close quarters combat, culminating in Arroe wrapping his legs around Meatius' head for a chokehold, whilst Meatius viciously built up momentum using some circular power steps, and launched himself back with sickening force against a hard stone wall!!!
In the end, they both lost consciousness at the same time, spending the rest of their World Ball experience keeping each other company in slumber. Needless to say, their sponsors weren't too happy, but in actual fact, it all turned out to be a blessing in disguise, although this would be a story for another chapter...
And so it was... Just one scene amongst many.
There was a man dangling off a still-swinging chandelier, another two men slumped together unconscious against a wall… and yet still another two men huddled in a corner, one fondling and sniffing whilst the other welcomed the fondling and sniffing…
___
Meanwhile Sally had in fact continued on after mentioning the bit about the small argument, since these kinds of things were basically a common occurrence for her at this point, and not really worth mentioning...
"So yeah, after that, I had a few dances on the ballroom floor with some people, before randomly bumping into a guy called Valentine Richést, who gave me his card."
"Oh?"
The Empress immediately became curious.
For Sally to actually remember someone by name... this was already quite significant.
"Tell me more about this... Valentine Richést..."