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Tenna was extremely proud of TV World. It had that classic, golden Hollywood shine; that glitzy, glittery wonder embodied by the films and shows of yesteryear, with red carpets and spotlights and of course, lots of statues everywhere with his face on them. Well, it was his world, he could put his face all over it if he wanted to; after all he practically built that studio from the ground up!
So he was partial to his own Dark World, what Boss wasn’t? You either built or remade the place in your own image when you were a Dark World Boss.
Queen had certainly done so in Cyber City. If the posters and billboards starring her that absolutely plastered all over the city weren’t enough of a hint, the giant gaudy palace in the shape of her head would tell anyone exactly who ran the show around here. It gave him the heebie jeebies a little bit. Not that Queen wasn’t… erm, nice, but would it kill her to throw a few pops of red and gold in here? All this dark blue and purple…
Still, as he stood on the balcony of Spamton’s fancy room within the palace, he had to admit to himself, there was a certain cool, futuristic appeal to the whole Dark World. The metropolis sparkled with a million lights, luring in travelers, inviting them to try the many pleasures it had to offer. The yellow glow of the cars and the flash of the billboards couldn’t help but draw his gaze as he sipped his battery acid on the rocks. He smiled as he saw a familiar face on one of those billboards.
Big Shot Autos! The Name You Trust, The Cars You Love!
His little mailman. His Big Shot, up in lights.
Spamton’s iconic red blazer made the billboard instantly eye-catching. And hey, if everything else hadn’t been so purple, it might’ve been harder to spot, Tenna had to admit. There was so little red in Cyber City. The signs and lights flashed pale yellow, hot pink, and sterile white against the cold blues and purples of the buildings and the deep, blackish-blue of the sky. The sky was shot through with a thin grid of green, which Spamton had tried to explain was called a “sky box.” Whatever that meant.
Yeah, in its own way, Cyber City was beautiful. A strange, futuristic galaxy sparkling with a million stars.
A small form leaned against his side, one arm loosely wrapping around his thigh. Tenna’s circuits warmed as he looked from the billboard down to the real thing, standing next to him.
Of all the stars in Cyber City, in Tenna’s eyes, Spamton was easily the brightest.
***
Cyber City looked fancy from the outside, but it could be a ruthless cesspit of cold-hearted bastards looking to rip each other apart just to claw their way up the ladder of success. Spamton would know. He was one of them. Even here, having made it to the top of the heap, he couldn’t help but see through the artifice when he looked out over Cyber City’s landscape. Those flashy signs and billboards didn’t do anything to hide what an uncaring, cold place it could be.
TV World on the other hand, was so… charmingly old-fashioned, in some ways. Cheesy, sure. Over-the-top, absolutely. And no one embodied that more than Tenna, who was practically the very spirit of TV World, as its Boss.
Spamton had been horribly envious of Tenna when they met. How could he not, when Tenna was literally born to be a star? For someone like Spamton, who’d… well… needed a little help getting to the top, it was natural to be envious of someone to whom celebrity was as natural as switching on.
But now, standing alongside him, the only thing Spamton felt was adoration and awe. Tenna never blended in, no matter where he was, and here in Cyber City he stuck out even more. But instead of looking gawky, to Spamton he looked wonderful. The bright red of his tailcoat, even the gaudy yellow of his shoes and tie, brought much-needed brightness and warmth to Cyber City’s chilly digital ambience.
Tenna was like a sun—or what Spamton imagined the sun would be like—shedding warmth and light everywhere he went. He could be overbearing but Spamton craved his light like he craved being a Big Shot. Almost more than that, now.
To Spamton, no harsh neon sign in Cyber City could ever compare to the brilliance of Tenna’s light.