Max

An article by Ida:

Following the agreement reached with It That Hungers, and after months of hard work, yesterday marked the inaugural Games For the Pacifying of It That Hungers (GFPITH for short).

The event was held at the Shoreline and saw the participation of a surprising number of animals. Competitors came from as far afield as the Forest and the Plains, and the event was even attended by some citizens of the Underground, including the Rat King himself.

Whilst it seems that, contrary to the hopes of some, the participation of It That Hungers itself seems to at present be too dangerous to occur whilst still ensuring the safety of all competitors, some have testified to seeing bubbles and ripples appear in the Lake at certain pivotal moments in the festivities. Whether these were due to applause from various aquatic spectators, or some signal of approval from the eponymous Spirit itself, this reporter supposes that only time will tell.

Besides the obviously very impressive performances of all of the competitors, who took turns being pursuer and pursued in various chase-games, it must be said that the highlight of the games was the impressive opening performance by Max from the Upper Grey Trees.

The performance to usher in the new Games initially took the form of a rousing solo, which incorporated various splashing-sounds and melodic shrieks, but then morphed into a group piece as the singer was slowly but surely joined on stage by each member of the Great Zoological Orchestra. They proceeded to run, fly and scurry at each other, incorporating more and more instruments and sounds, until collapsing finally with a low, satisfied hum. The members then rose, paw in paw, in a gesture of solidarity. Perhaps the most controversial member of the band, the Rat King (or: ‘Remington’), was seen to whisper something to the band’s leader, Max, during this final bow. It is unknown what was said, but it has since been announced that Max will shortly be leaving the Orchestra, and the City as a whole, in order to travel and discover what music the wider world has to offer.

I’m sure my readers will join me in wishing him good luck in this endeavour, and hoping that the future GFPITH go as well as this year’s did.

“So then he left?”

“Yeah! And he just flew over the Lake and the mountains and the grasslands and he just kept going!”

“And… he just stumbled across the whales?”

“Well… maybe not stumbled. He was staying overnight with this nice panda family, when he woke up in the middle of the night to this, like, mournful song…”

“Oooh…”

“Yeah, yeah! And so… he immediately shot up and flew over to find the singer, right? And when he got there, it was this enormous expanse of water, right… bigger than he’d ever seen before.”

“Because he was born in a City, and hadn’t ever left?”

“Yep. So then he sees this water, and he’s like… ‘woah’.”

“Woah.”

“And then the whale pokes their head up, and he sees them, and he shoots down to say hi. And the big guy’s surprised at first, of course they are, but well… he’s really charismatic.”

“So charismatic…”

“So the two get to talking, and he finds out that they’ve just gone through a breakup.”

“Poor them.”

“Yeah. But that’s where he got the idea from. And he copies the song. And the whale is just… blown away.”

“I would be too.”

“Oh, yeah. So then, anyway, that was the first like… big musical discovery he made. It ended up being like… the centre piece for his first album. Like… sorrows sung in the night, or something. I think maybe it was also to do with him like… feeling sad after leaving home?”

“That must have been really hard…”

“Well, I suppose so, yeah. Though… between you and me, I don’t really believe what people say about his bad relationship with his family.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Because I saw him perform, dude. And his parents were both there, front row! And also, like, this jaguar I think he knew, and some other people I think were from his hometown. And, like, I admit… his parents weren’t like… cheering the house down, or anything. Definitely not his dad – that guy’s kind of scary, to be honest.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah, for sure. But like… his mum went over and hugged him after the performance. I saw it! And it seemed super sincere and everything. So, like… I don’t really believe all that stuff.”

“Hmm.”

“I kind of think, maybe… it’s about, like, tourism.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“As in… he goes around, right, and sings all these gorgeous songs – and the songs are gorgeous – about the Eyrie, and the Grey Trees, and this whole far-off place nobody’s ever been to before, right?”

“Right.”

“And he sings about, like… how the sun looks setting from that high up, and the trees of the forest like moss on the floor, and the gentle kiss of the wind…”

“Right, right.”

“And, well, all I’m saying is… a lot of people have gone there to see it for themselves.”

“Have they?”

“Oh, for sure. I mean, even I wanna go! 'Cos I heard it used to be, like, really hard to get up there, or something. But, because of all the tourists, they like… I dunno, made some kind of gadget thing that gets you up there real quick. You used to have to literally climb it, if you didn’t have wings.”

“What?”

“Right? And I heard it was even so high that it was hard if you did have wings.”

“Seriously?”

“Have you ever seen a Grey Tree, man? Those things are massive.”

“That’s… so cool.”

“So cool. So, like, anyway… I heard that he’s always on the lookout for, like, new songs. And new bandmates.”

“Really??”

“Really. And all I’m saying is, when we go to the concert… you should bring that human thingy you found. The like… whistly one. And just… blow it as hard as you can! And maybe… you know… you’ll get his attention.”

“Oh man… do you think so?”

“Definitely, bro.”