As a private investigator, Grian was the best in the town, or at least, that's what they've all told him, and yet he never bought it.
The polar bear was quite the public figure by now. He was an experienced detective, working with many people from all sorts of walks of life, and has not only been responsible for countless arrests, but also many long overdue reunions, be it between two friends, parents wanting to see their missing children again, or just those who wished for any conclusion to an aggravating point of their life. No matter what your trouble was, Grian was sure to give you the answers you need. However, even with nearly 20 years under his belt, Grian never considered himself any sort of success, despite there being thousands of people who would say otherwise. That's because there was only one sole reason he ever got into this line of work in the first place, and for the longest time, he couldn't find his inner peace with it, no matter how much he tried.
Grian once had a friend he talked to quite often over the internet. As they were quite the reserved person, this friend simply named "Axel" would never ever reveal their real name, or P.O. box for any personal mail. They were incredibly careful to keep himself extra private, and to make matters worse, they didn't even go anywhere beyond the one chatroom that they seemed to practically live in. Back then, though, in Grian's eyes, Axel was practically a saint. Whatever trouble the polar bear had, just talking with them seemed to make it go away. And it wasn't just their vibe -- they had also introduced Grian to many of their own tech-centered friends, most of who he still keeps in contact with today. They all lit a fire that would grow inside of Grian, at a time where he was uncertain of his life direction.
But as great as all this was, it became increasingly clear to Grian that there was no other way to communicate with Axel... something that would be made irreversibly clear when the chat that they kept in touch with shut down sometime in the early 2000's. By this point, most friends Grian had made as a result of Axel would eventually be found elsewhere, but when Grian asked about Axel, all of them were also about as stumped as him. It was like they had practically fell off the face of the earth. Grian felt like a piece of his heart had just been snatched from him... But in that moment, the sadness he experienced gave him the strength needed to finally pursue after a job he never even expected.
By taking up a job as a private investigator, the ursine's motives now become clear -- he simply wanted to give everyone the gift of resolution, so that no one could experience the pain of missing someone dear. But it also reveals why he still doesn't consider himself a success: He would only be satisfied with all the work he put in if he could somehow, by a stroke of luck, find Axel again. And so far, every lead he had led to a complete dead end.
Grian had once again been looking out the window, pondering about all of this and silently hoping he would find something about Axel. There wasn't a single day in which he didn't think about them. Grian wouldn't even be here without them, after all... The least he could do was a heartfelt thank you, should he finally find them.
Buzz, buzz. That was his phone in his pocket going off again. Grian carefully took his phone out of his pocket and pulsed the screen on to find the notification waiting for him on his lock screen... and it appeared to be yet another spam e-mail. With one finger, Grian arrogantly flicked it away, cursing silently to whoever the man responsible for making the internet so vile nowadays was. And then, he just... stared at his phone screen for a bit, in deep thought, as it automatically turned itself off again a few seconds later.
Well, he thought, I may as well check up on the news or something, I can't just sit here in sadness all day. And so, he turned his screen on again and unlocked his phone properly this time with an upwards slide of his finger, before tapping around to his local news app. At a glance, nothing out of the ordinary seemed to stick out. A railroad workers strike in Washington, some conveniently placed fluff stories around it, international news that included protests in Peru rising in tension and Europe taking legal action against some tech company... and then, the top of the screen gently flashed as it recieved a new article. Grian raised an eyebrow lightly before tapping the refresh button, displaying a brand-new highlight that wasn't there before: A parade of sorts taking place right where his office was for the next two days.
Out of curiosity, Grian opened the article, and the full article seemed unfurled from the single slot it once occupied. Grian wasn't particularly interested in parades, so he skimmed through the article just to see if he needed to close his office for those days, in case the parade went directly through his street. And as if by cruel luck, he was correct: the "Celebration of Jazz" parade would be passing right through the street in front, as it was going directly to the city plaza just up ahead. Oh well, the polar bear thought. Perhaps just a few days off wouldn't hurt, anyway.
Grian would nearly close the app, having caught everything he needed to know, but a slight thought crossed his mind to go check the featured artists. Again, Grian was in no way interested in attending the parade, but he figured that if he was going to take the day off, he may as well see what the fuss was about anyway. Of course, following the embedded link to the official announcement post on MuzzBook revealed nothing he knew about the subject at hand. There was weird jazz terminology and artists all over the colorful banner, but to Grian, all of it seemed to blend together into an amalgam of people who have never stepped foot inside his office. That was, until he saw at the bottom a small cutaway, announcing a sort of post party set.
"And join Lyra//Lexa at Drakey's Bar for our exciting afterparty finale -- Drum and Bass style!"
Drum and Bass... in a Jazz centered event? That can't be right, Grian thought. Had he just imagined that? He was no musicophile, but Grian was absolutely certain that he knew what DnB sounded like, and that it certainly clashed with the likes of jazz as a whole. This seemed rather dodgy... Though, come to think of it, he only knows something about this because of Axel. They were practically OBSESSED with DnB...
But just as his train of thought picked up steam, Grian would find it crashing immediately as MuzzBook decided now would be a lovely time to autoplay a video just below the announcement post at full volume. Grian jolted as the sharp tenor of a saxophone blasted from the phone speakers, and he almost turned the phone off by instinct... had it not been for the voiceover of two women interrupting the instruments.
"Hey, it's Lyra--"
"--and I'm Lexa!"
"And we want you to join our set at Drakey's Bar this Sunday for our newest set, and a sendoff to the Celebration of Jazz festival!"
"We're fusing together the freeform melodies that you know about jazz, and the high energy, dreamy beats of drum and bass..."
"...and presenting it to you, LIVE!"
As the two women kept talking and thanking the host of the event, Grian looked away from his phone to think for a bit. Axel was a nutcase for DnB, but they did like just about any music, even if they weren't well versed in it. In fact, Grian recalls Axel once sharing to him a sort of jazz piece they had completed in one night that they had composed entirely with the music software Axel used. It wasn't the best sounding, as a result, but the effort was there.
"...here is just a sneak peek at what we'll be presenting on stage, live."
"See you there!"
Grian focused on the video again as the screen faded to black. Lively, abstract visuals eventually came into view in the video, and then what followed next was nothing short of a cosmic slap to the face for Grian.
It was the demo Axel had given him all those years ago, but it was all chopped up and with an atmospheric ambience attached, which quickly made way to the fast, hard beats of the digital drums, making a strange, yet entrancing amen break.
Grian's eyes widened. In that singular moment, he realized that his fruitless searching and obscene dedication to his job would finally pay off. At long last, his one and only objective in life, finished... for now, it was Grian's turn to get his happy ending. And in one deep breath of excitement, he shouted exactly what he felt...
"EUREKA...!?"
...and his voice turned to further confusion when he realized that this random string of events was the single thing that led him to this discovery, almost offended by how ridiculously simple it was and how it was practically handed to him on a silver platter.
"...THAT'S ALL IT TOOK!?"
Thursday_Prompt on FurAffinity. This is a reupload from our FA, go there to see all of our entries!
![Rift Explorer - Thursday Prompt Story [#5, 02/2/23]](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4580/4580542_TheFireTiger21_thursday_prompt_5.jpg "Rift Explorer - Thursday Prompt Story [#5, 02/2/23]")
![L7's Action Log - Thursday Prompt Story [#7, 16/2/23]](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4583/4583831_TheFireTiger21_thursday_prompt_7.jpg "L7's Action Log - Thursday Prompt Story [#7, 16/2/23]")
