Jack Of Arts

==============================

Happy New Year Everbody!

Thanks for the Power Stones ladies and gentlmen. We've crossed to the top 600 baby! If it's not too much to ask, keep 'em coming!

Shout out to Dayside, BallisticBunny, lazyhobo, Shadowed_Fate, WidePeepoHappy for the consistent support.

Thanks also to Shadowed_Fate, Ballistic Bunny, Darksoul_YT, WidePeepoHappy, Sad_Tweety, lorenzo86, Dark_knight2517, and finally Rileyshima for the gifts. I can't cash them out yet, of course, but I just want to say, I appreciate them very much.

Anyway... On to the story.

==============================

December 1, 2011 – Thursday 1 pm – Berry Hill, Nashville – Tayaw's Hotel Room.

"Text me if you need anything." Chala said before leaving the hotel. He just informed Tayaw that he's going to be out for the entire afternoon with his date.

Tayaw then closed the door and walked back to his room's desk. The whole morning, Tayaw was filming himself as he gave feedback to each of his band mates' arrangements. This has become Tayaw and the band's agreement since Tayaw left Ouigab last October. Uploading another video, one that is addressed to Inson, Tayaw was done with his teaching for the week.

Tayaw then opened his e-mail to check how 'The Halfling' went. Last week, on their way to Nashville, Tayaw made a short stop in Lexington, Kentucky where he saw a bookstore there have a poster for 'The Halfling' on their store front. He bought a random book while he observed for half an hour to see how well 'The Halfling' would sell. In that half hour of observation, he saw two other people purchase a copy of 'The Halfling'. It was only then that Tayaw felt first-hand the international popularity of his book.

Tayaw soon found the sales reports that Topaz sent him. He opened first the sales report of the fairy tales and the sale went down once again to 3.5 million copies 1.8 million copies less than the sudden spike of sales last October. This netted him 5,700,000 BGC if he deducts the taxes. Tayaw expected just as much.

He opened next the sales report of 'The Halfling'. Since its release last November 1, 'The Halfling' sold 8.9 million copies worldwide, around 5 million of it was sold in Teungeb alone. With the net price of the book at 25 BGC and his agreed 30% and 35% shares from soft and hard copies respectively, Tayaw earned 69,000,000 BGC. Deducting Chala's 8% share, Tayaw received 63,500,000 BGC in his bank account. Setting aside the tax, Tayaw, just in the month of November, got another 43,000,000 BGC he can spend however he wants.

"Man. Where am I gonna spend this money?" Tayaw said as he chuckled. He knows that if anyone would hear him, they would surely beat up Tayaw to their heart's content. After spending more around $27M in investment, $2M for his house in Long Island, Tayaw is back at 90,000,000 BGC or $45M in readily accessible cash.

Looking at the number, he was suddenly reminded of the 900,000 BGC contract he worked on in his previous life. It was the last project he finished before he was sent back in time. Nasiri, a currently undeveloped place in South Ouigab, will become a high-end neighborhood in the future.

If the events of Tayaw's previous life will stay the same, then Teungebian government will have a huge project of building an express highway that would connect the mountainous Nabla and Nukab Provinces to the Northernmost coast city of Biongo. Biongo is an important city as it has one of the busiest international airports of Teungeb, therefore a busy international trading scene.

This highway will cut down the driving time from Biongo City to Ouigab from 10 hours on zigzagging roads to 3.5 hours on a straight path. This will result to South Ouigab gradually develop in the next fifteen years into Nabla Province's business center. Rich people from all around Northern and Central Teungeb will flock to it, making Nasiri, the closest undeveloped area, be developed into a high end suburban neighborhood these rich people would build their mansions on.

As to why Ouigab, of all places would benefit the most out of all the cities in Northern Teungeb, is simply because of the most pleasant weather and scenic places in Nabla Province. It is not as hot and humid as the coast cities, and Nabla has more naturally beautiful places than the neighboring Nukab Province. More pleasant assets, then more people. More people, then more money. More money, more benefits.

Processing all of this, Tayaw plans to check with the government once he goes back to Teungeb to see if there are talks about the express highway project.

Slapping his laptop shut, Tayaw once again grabbed his guitar to write some songs.

December 3, 2011 – Saturday 1 am – Hillsboro Pike, Nashville

"That was us. Thank you all for staying." Tayaw from the waiting room, heard Bobby address the audience as Strawberry Front finish their last song, and also signified the end of Blackbird Café's night. Tayaw also heard the enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

"Man. Great Set!" Tayaw gave a high five towards the members of Strawberry Front as they entered the waiting room. Tayaw, who always went back to his hotel right after his set the previous week, was true to his words and stayed to watch the Strawberry Front's set for the first time tonight.

"Thank you, but, damn it..." Bobby said as he dabbed the sweat running down his face with a towel. "Huh? What happened?" Tayaw asked in confusion. "It's because of you." Aaron said as he slapped Tayaw's back playfully before taking a sit, obviously exhausted as well. Unlike Tayaw and the other performers who only had to perform an hour, Strawberry Front would perform an hour and a half as both the headliners and closers during Friday and Saturday nights.

"Huh? What did I do?" Tayaw asked, still confused. "Because we had to follow you." Rez said as he puffed his cigarette. It took Tayaw a few seconds before he finally realized the source of Bobby's reaction. Tayaw and the Percussive Corrections, in his previous life, when they first headlined at the ROH Factory, had to maintain their prides as headliners by not being upstaged by the performer before them.

If the performer before them killed it in the stage, then Percussive Corrections has to do an even better job so that they will not leave a forgettable impression on the audience. Still, Tayaw didn't think that he upstaged the Strawberry Front. If he did, then at least not by a significant amount.

"You did great though. What's the problem?" Tayaw said. The Strawberry Front members look at each other before Rez sighed. "We had to prepare and perform extra harder to catch up to your set." Rez said. "And I don't think we did." Bobby said, looking at the ceiling.

"Well. Based on the crowd's reaction, I think y'all did better than me." Tayaw said. "Psh. If it's about how loud crowd is, then I guess a dance song is better than a country song ALL THE TIME. It wasn't the cheers, Isaac." Rez explained. Tayaw thought it made sense.

"I think so too, Bobby. I think the crowd responded well because, what do you call it? The uhh.. memory bias, was it? Isaac. There was a 30 minute break after your set, so it gave the crowd the time to calm down from your set. Then we had to perform a lot longer than you did, and because our set is more recent, that's what they remember more." John analyzed.

"Couldn't have said it better." Rez nodded. Tayaw processed what they said, and didn't know what to say. What could he do? Hold back? Then that's not fair to him. "So uhh.. What can I do to help then?" Tayaw asked to console the group. "Nothing. Just do what you've been doing. This is good." Bobby said. The others nodded as well.

"There ain't no enough bands that could compete with us in this bar, we got… loose." Bobby continued. "That's not how musicians should be. We should grow." Rez said. Tayaw is somehow flattered at this. If one looks at it another way, Tayaw is helping Strawberry Frpmt to grow as musicians. "So.. Yeah. We haven't worked as hard as we did during the past week in a long long time, and honestly, we enjoyed it. So. Thank you Isaac." Bobby said.

As Bobby said that, Tayaw felt his body tremble. This trembling felt familiar because this is exactly what feeling enhanced feels like. Tayaw also noticed that this level of enhancement is what he got when the void acknowledges the quality of the song he writes. 'So, someone expressing gratitude can also enhance me?' Tayaw thought to himself.

To confirm his theory, he put his hand on his front pocket of his pants and subtly rummaged inside to look for a coin. After he found what felt like a dollar coin, Tayaw pinched it between his thumb, index finger, and middle finger until it folded. Tayaw nodded as his theory was proven correct. Even though he can fold a dollar coin before, he felt it was easier this time.

"So. Yeah, man. Still, guys, don't you wish Isaac would take it easy a little?" John said, continuing the chatting as if Tayaw did not just display a feat of strength. "Well, I don't think so. If we can't follow his sets, then too bad. We can just try again." Rez replied. John just shrugged his shoulders.

"Still, Isaac ain't even country." Aaron suddenly brought up Tayaw's status as a Nashville outsider. The band also nodded in agreement. "Hey. That sounds a little… Strange." Tayaw said in disagreement. "After seeing me perform and listened to the originals I did on stage, you can't honestly tell me I'm not a country musician." Tayaw continued.

"That- If you put it that way…" Aaron has no words. "Isaac is country, alright. If he released a country music album first instead of that acoustic rock album he released, we would not even be thinking that he's an outsider." Bobby argued for Tayaw.

As they were chatting, two men, one wearing a police uniform, and one wearing a typical suit and tie, suddenly entered the waiting room. John saw the cop first. "Good evening… morning, officer." John greeted the cop. The cop just nodded in response before asking "Is there an Isaac Yawat here?" This confused the group, especially Tayaw.

"That would be me, sir." Tayaw said as he packed up his acoustic guitar. "We have received reports about your immigration status. It would be great if you followed me back to the precint to answer some questions." The cop said, to the shock of everyone in the waiting room.