The Ace - Chapter 85

The day after Christmas, Ace carried out his routine in a daze, his mind overcome with all he had learnt. It was only after breakfast, and a much needed period of self-reflection, where he was finally able to deal with the information he had learnt, and what his actions would be moving forward.

For starters, he would not say anything, he assumed this was a test, but he dismissed it regardless, he would act as if everything was normal, and simply move on with his life.

He also had to begin making preparations, the information was pretty well hidden – impressively so, in fact. But if Ace had been able to find it, then so would most of her major competitors, and once that happened, heads would begin to roll. The revolution was coming, and Ace would have to get ready for it. He would have to outlast it, he owed her that much at least.

******************

Ace spent his day in reclusion, working over the language he was currently working on, as well as spending time working on the puzzle. When it was time for dinner, he got a call from John, asking as to whether he wanted to go out for dinner. Ace declined, citing ‘tiredness’, as the reason. He needed the day to work over his emotions, and going out with friends would simply interrupt and ruin his coping process.

He went to bed later than usual, his mind full with useless thoughts, nevertheless, he did not dream that night.

*********************

Ace woke up feeling refreshed, he went through his exercise with even more fervour than usual. Which only made the shower and breakfast that followed all the more glorious. He had no plans for the day, so he would most likely stream, he had been pretty consistent, streaming when he said he would, and even a few extra days when nothing popped up.

He booted up the computer, he would play some Rainbow, and then figure things out with his stream.

“Ok, welcome chat, for now, I think we’ll do some Rainbow, most streamers are still sleeping now anyways, but we will see what we do later, maybe some more songs?”, he hinted at what could follow, and his chat spammed some emotes. He had ordered a professional to create a few emotes, and one of them was the picture of the stereotypical music note, but the two-button tips were his eyes instead. It was a creepy design, but his chat seemed to love it, in an almost morbid manner.

As the chat spammed it, Ace attempted to catch actual messages within the ocean of emotes. For whatever reason, a few users were spamming an emote of a gnome.

“Uhhh, why the gnome?”

At this, the number of people that were using it increased, but soon, people began to type: ‘You’ve been GNOMED’ next to it as well.

“Ah, I see, you think I’m bsing?”, Ace asked, “Cool, no Rainbow for now then, the poll is set up, gimme song requests.”

[WOOOOO], people were now spamming messages of cheer, along with confetti and such emotes.

The poll was something new that Ace was testing, people could choose among a long list of songs, and the song with the most requests after 5 minutes, would be the one Ace played. Then, as he began playing, the poll would begin again, and once he finished, he would choose the next one.

“Seriously? Is this a joke? I play for you guys every stream!”, Ace said, in mock disbelief

[NONONONONONO], a user typed in

“What do you mean, Bunhopz, I always do, ok, you’ll see, I just won’t play anymore, I think I will end the stream for today”, Ace said, then laughed at all the [FORGIVE] messages on chat.

“Ha! See? It was your mistake all along!”, Ace said, while pointing at the camera, as if to signal everyone who was watching, “Ok now, let’s look at what I’m playing”

Ace opened up the poll, and looked at the top request, “What? Fly me to the moon? Well, that’s a weird one, but ok. Give me a moment to set up the keyboard.”

He turned his chair and faced the keyboard that he had set up next to the PC, he switched cameras, and asked, “All good?”, he played a short bit on the piano, “The sound good?”

Resounding yesses came from chat, and he cracked his knuckles, “Ok then, here we go”

He played the first few notes in order to ensure he had the right ones, and then breathed in and exhaled heavily, then he started to play.

The song, by Frank Sinatra, was a beautiful one, as Ace began to sing, accompanied by the piano, thousands of people in their homes were astounded. He had just played it out of nowhere, he had clearly not practised beforehand – at during the stream, and while it was one of the most well-known ones, there were still a multitude of songs in the list. Had he lucked out, or was this simply natural ability?

Regardless, people enjoyed the song, and when he finished it, Ace was overwhelmed by requests of people asking it to be put on his U-Tube.

“Ok, guys, I hear you. But this is not U-Tube quality yet, let me practise it for a few more days, and then I promise that you will have the video.”, Ace nodded, and answered a few more questions, before choosing a new song, to his surprise, Fly me to the moon had been chosen, yet again.

“Well, seems like you really liked it”, he breathed in, exhaled, and went through the motions yet again.

*************

Ace ended up playing the song four more times throughout the whole time he was streaming. People seemed to like it, and the word had spread, he found a multitude of clips on U-Tube and I-Gram of him playing.

Ace grinned, that was good, he had played it well, but with a bit more practise, it should end up being flawless, furthermore, he would use the good microphone, and the sound input from the piano should be of a higher quality as well.

Eating dinner, Ace played around with the cube, it had become a favourite pastime of his, along with learning languages and playing video games.

As he was about to sit down, ready to watch a movie in the language he was learning, he got a call, he saw it was an unknown number, and picked up, while thinking over who it could be.

“Hello?

“Hello, Ace! Sorry to call at this late hour, it is Mr Jobbings?”

‘The director? Why would he call now?’, “Hello! No worries, I was just about to watch a movie.”

“Ah good, we are on the same page, I wished to invite you to the studio tomorrow. I know it is a bit sudden, but your grandmother told me that you did not have plans.”

‘Well, I guess she has tapped my house and devices’, “Of course, I would be more than happy to go,, simply message me the directions on this same number, and the hour you wish to see me by, I will make sure to come.”

“Fantastic! I look forward to our meeting, I believe that you will find what we discuss more than favourable.”

“I am sure I will. Goodnight sir.”

“Of course, I hope you enjoy the movie.”

“I am sure I will.”, Ace hung up the phone.

‘Well, it seems that things are progressing a lot faster than I expected, but that’s ok I suppose, after all, the more I grow my fanbase, the better.’

Ace pressed play for the movie, and made himself comfortable, a coke next to him, and a large bowl of popcorn on his lap.

******************

Ace put his spoon down once he heard the alert that he had received a new message. It was currently 8 in the morning, so he assumed that it was the information for the meeting with Mr. Jobbings.

[Good morning Ace. The address is 79 Mayfield Road. I hope you can be there by 11]

Ace sent out a quick reply, [I will be there. Thank you for the information]

He finished his breakfast calmly, while looking through the route he could take to get there. It was a 15-minute walk, so he would ride his skateboard there, instead of taking the car. He could maybe go to the skatepark later, John had told him yesterday that they would spend the whole day there.

He skated the way there, weaving in between cars and motorbikes. He got there with 15 minutes to spare, and took his time to enter the building.

It was decorated in a somewhat tacky style, but Ace assumed that it was the trend. The various awards and pictures lined through the walls. They all seemed quite prestigious, which made sense, considering that his grandmother had presented them to him.

He had done some research before coming here, as was customary, and found out that they were the people in charge of some of the most successful movies of the last 20 years.

He walked in, and neared the receptionist, who blushed once she realised that he had noticed she was playing a game on the computer, she seemed to be playing a game of Uno, something Ace found hilarious.

She smiled at him, “How can I help you?”

“Good morning, I have a meeting with Mr Jobbings, my name is Ace, he told me I should be expected.”

“Yes, he informed me of the meeting, Mr Goldsign?”, more of a formality than a question, Ace nodded in response, and she handed him a pass, whilst motioning him to take the elevator.

He nodded and smiled, “Thank you for the help, and good luck on your game!”