“Phew! Thank God it’s all over!” Taylor exhaled deeply, rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck this way and that. “That was much better than last year, thanks to you boys,” she beamed at Ever and Chaos.

  “You are quite welcome,” the older man said with a nod.

  “It was actually pretty fun,” Ever said, “I haven’t seen so many people in Lygon Street before.”

  “I don’t know about fun,” Taylor sniffed, “but yeah, that festival’s great for business. Not like our one needs it though with what we sell at this time of the year. Speaking of which…” she scuttled over to the cabinet next to the ice cream display and opened it up. “Look how many business cards we ended up getting!”

  She held the clear plastic box aloft like it was a mini treasure chest.

  “What do we do with it?” Ever asked.

  “Pretty straightforward. We close our eyes, put our hand into it then randomly choose a business card. Of course while we’re doing this, we have someone live streaming it so that we can blast it out on our socials. The one that we pick out gets two, I repeat, two free scoops,” Taylor emphasized, making a peace sign, “everyone else who put their card in, we reach out and say that they can come by for ten percent off if they spend ten dollars or more. You guys following?

  “Uhhh-” Ever said.

  “Can I choose the card?” Chaos asked.

  “Sure thing!” Taylor responded, “Ever, here you take my phone, stand over there then once I say ‘go’, you start recording.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “OK.”

  “Alright cool, this is going to be awesome. Let’s get it done before any customers start coming in. We have one shot at this, since it’s being broadcast live. Umm hold on, let me make sure my hair doesn't look shit...”

  Ever held the phone carefully, trying to fit both Taylor and the taller Chaos in the frame. He looked at the primordial being through the camera.

  *Are you going to pick out Gaia?*

  He rolled his eyes of unending depth. ∞And where’s the fun in that? Randomness is one of the purest elements of chaos, I’m not about to disrupt it.∞

  *I don’t know, maybe you would show favoritism to your children.*

  Chaos snorted and severed the telepathic connection. Ever smiled. It seemed that by spending time with humans, he couldn’t help but take on some of their behavioral quirks. So much for looking down upon humanity.

  “OK, I’m good!” Taylor said, snapping shut her touch-up mirror. “Oh wait, what am I going to say? Ah whatevs, I’m just going to wing it.”

  “Best way to do it,” Chaos said, nodding vigorously, his beard swishing up and down.

  “OK. Ever you ready?” Half crouching, he nodded. “3, 2, 1…”

  “Morning everyone, welcome to Pagoto's Ice Creamery!” Taylor greeted, best smile on display. “We’ve just finished up Mid-Summer Nights, amazing turn out. Thank you everyone for showing up. You might have seen this little box at our stand,” she gestured to Chaos, who jiggled the clear plastic box, “now we’re going to pick the winner of our grand prize: two scoops on us! Are we ready?”

  She took the box from him, opened the lid and held it for Chaos. Ever stepped forward slowly, putting the box in focus. Chaos made a show of swirling his hand through the cards before picking one out.

  “The winner is…” he looked at the card, “Zoe Regali, Vets R Us!” He turned the card around and Taylor surreptitiously beckoned for Ever to move right in. “Congratulations! We’ll be in touch soon.”