There is a certain etiquette about celebrities in France. Most people, when they saw someone they recognized, would feel happy and a bit excited, but would not go to them if they seemed rushed, busy, were in a professional setting, were in a personal setting like at a doctor’s office, were with other people like friends and family, or just seemed to be in a bad mood. Of course there were exceptions, disrespectful or overexcited people existed everywhere, but still, it was to the point where Hollywood celebrities that were harassed by paparazzis found France very comfortable. Some even settled here.

  Cyrielle herself had crossed paths with quite a few influencers she liked that lived in Bordeaux, one of them frequented the convenience store in front of Julie’s pce, but even if she was excited inside, she had never bothered them for pictures or autographs.

  Maybe that etiquette was the reason Cyrielle didn’t realize she had become quite famous. Of course, when she was going outside she felt the looks on her, but she didn’t know if it was because of her appearance or because they knew her. So what happened on new years eve came as a shock. It was a message posted on social media.

  {My experience with Mademoiselle Cyrielle

  There is this woman on MyTube that’s called Mademoiselle Cyrielle, she isn’t very famous but she still has more than 20,000 subscribers. I really like her videos because she is elegant and seems nice. Her voice is beautiful too.

  My hobby is knitting and I made quite a lot of clothes this year, so I got myself a stall at Bordeaux’s Christmas market to sell those. I didn’t think I would make much money, I just wanted to clean my closet.}

  It was a message written by the seller Cyrielle had met a few days ago. It was filled with genuine emotions, making your heart feel fuzzy. It described the interaction with Cyrielle in detail, even the part where she refused the discount.

  {She was overall really sweet and I didn’t bring it up because she seemed to be taking some time off and I didn’t want to bother her. But today when I checked the morning a cappel video, I was really surprised ! She talked about the sweater she bought and even put the link to my online store in the description ! Now I’m swimming in orders and I finally have enough money to go on holiday with my daughter !

  I just want to thank Mademoiselle Cyrielle, she has all the rights to be arrogant and haughty considering her talent and her background, but instead she chose to be an angel and brighten the life of everyone around her. I’ll never be anything but grateful}

  The account that made this post only had a dozen followers, but the message was shared and reposted so fast that it quickly became viral.

  {Views : 165,843}

  -So happy for you, your creations are cool and you deserve the recognition

  ?True, I just ordered a scarf and I can’t wait for it to arrive !

  ??Can we order the same sweater Mademoiselle Cyrielle is wearing in the video ???

  -You met our angel in real life??? Send me your luck please !!!

  -I don’t know her but I’ll check her MyTube channel now

  ?You should ! You’ll see she is super nice and cool, and her voice will send you straight to heaven !

  -she is nice cuz she isn’t too famous yet mdrrr

  ?this guy has nothing else to do, go study or something

  ?Go hate someone else

  The post had spread on various social media and had reached people outside of the MyTube community. As a result…

  [Mademoiselle Cyrielle]

  Subscribers : 47,231

  Videos : 86

  Her mother had called Cyrielle immediately after seeing the post. She hadn’t been looking for it seriously, but Cyrielle’s brother had shared it on the family’s group chat.

  “I truly raised you right ! Being so nice to strangers, you really have a heart of gold, my princess !”

  “No, mom… It’s just normal, why is everyone making a big fuss out of it ?”

  “Well your brother is very proud too, even if he doesn’t show it. You know what he is doing now ? He is sending Julie the english transtion for all your videos, so that people can know you outside of France. I think he even transted the seller’s post and is sharing it with the english people he pys games with.”

  “What ?! No, tell him to stop that ! And he must not tell anyone that he is my brother, not even Julie !”

  It was a big crisis. Her entire persona was based on the fact that she was a french noble girl with high level hobbies, if people discovered that she was really just a normal woman, everything would crumble. She had already run with the misunderstandings, Julie would kill her if she discovered she had been lying again.

  Fortunately for her, her mother seemed to misread the situation but reached the same conclusion.

  “Of course, I told him to keep quiet about it. Maybe it’s your dream to be well known, but I want to continue my quiet life. I don’t want people swarming me when you become famous.”

  It was settled in a strange way, but at least Cyrielle didn’t have to worry about it anymore. She finished the call with her mother and got out of the bathroom. Julie had already finished her shift and was waiting for her, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

  “You know what we need to do, now ?”

  Cyrielle shook her head, confused. Julie opened her ptop triumphantly, pointing to the screen.

  “I was waiting until we scheduled a photoshoot for your outfits and makeup skills, so that we could post it while unching your Instantgram account, but it’s too good of an opportunity to let it pass ! We need to strike while the iron's hot, and give people who are searching for you online a reason to subscribe.”

  On the screen was the video Julie had taken of Cyrielle’s numbers in the drag show. As usual, her filming skills were splendid.

  “I’ll post the full video on the channel, and each individual number in the shorts and on the Instantgram account. I’ll contact the drag artists now, there was one who wanted to arrange a photoshoot for you, right ? Try to talk to them a bit. I know you don’t use social media much, but you need to build connections and get used to talking to people. Oh, but don’t sell yourself short ! Don’t engage in full length conversations, a polite text every now and then should do the trick.”

  Cyrielle silently nodded. She didn’t understand everything, but as always she trusted Julie. Texting people was yet another task added to her long list. She couldn’t go on like this, at this rate she would die from overwork before getting to sleep in a real bed.

  “Julie, it’s starting to be a lot…”

  Her friend turned to her. Cyrielle had become skinnier over the st month.. Having a bad sleep on a couch could be the reason, but it was true that she was very busy. Concerts with ‘Heavy Protector’ almost every week, interior design and crafting videos, karaokes, a cappel songs, studying, sewing… She was working every single day without rest. Julie nodded. She might be a manager, but most of all she was Cyrielle’s friend. She hadn’t said anything because Cyrielle seemed fine, keeping a cynical face all the time thanks to her ‘elegance’ ability, but if she said she needed to reduce her schedule, Julie would gdly do so.

  She opened her notebook with Cyrielle’s drawing on the cover and looked at the content. After taking a few notes, she finally came to a decision.

  “You don’t need to sing with ‘Heavy Protector’ now, the tips you get are not that much and we’ll have MyTube’s first paycheck coming in soon. They already gained ten times the followers they had before thanks to you, so they will gdly accept if you say you want to stop now. Also, you don’t need to study anymore. You already have reviewed all the school programs from primary school to lycée, right ? And you finished watching all of ‘Question for a Champion’ episodes up to date ? Then it should be enough. You can also stop doing a cappel videos, it’s not effective to gain subscribers anymore. We’ll focus on long format videos.”

  Cyrielle inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. With that much, she could finally have some time to explore ‘Path knowledge’ and upgrade her abilities. But she couldn’t rex for long.

  “That should be enough for now, but you will probably get really busy next year. I’ll do my best to keep it manageable, so don’t worry !”

  Somehow, Cyrielle had the feeling that her life would become very tiring.

  ***

  Julie had gone out to celebrate the new year with friends at a bar, but Cyrielle decided to stay in the apartment. She wasn’t an outgoing person and she didn’t drink much anyway. It was a habit she had gained when she was still associated with her father, at the time she took antidepressants, and those don’t go well with alcohol. She didn’t miss the taste at all, and fruit juice was much sweeter.

  She was sipping her gss of lemonade, celebrating the new year alone by watching a movie. It was already past midnight and the drag show video was out, she knew it because her phone kept vibrating incessantly. Ignoring all of that, she finished her movie and stretched.

  ‘Time to work !’

  With her new rearranged schedule, she had a bit of free time so she could attend to the things she had been putting off.

  ‘Path knowledge.’

  A blue game-like screen appeared in front of her eyes. There hadn't been much change since the st time she had seen it.

  [{Cyrielle Laporte}

  Age : 23 (Birthday on 5th of march)

  Status : Taking her first steps

  {Abilities}

  Singing, Home and Attire design, Handicraft, Elegance, Stage presence, Studying, Sewing, Makeup art

  {Characteristics}

  Aura : 75

  Visuals : 50

  Movements : 21

  Impact : 69

  Overall rate : B]

  She had earned the ‘makeup art’ ability, gained a bit of impact, and lost a bit of visuals, probably because she looked tired. But the difference was barely noticeable and she didn’t know exactly what those numbers meant.

  ‘Dispy ‘singing’.’

  She wanted to start training her abilities in the order she had acquired them. Anyway, the more she used an ability, the more she felt it grow, so it didn’t make sense to try hard to evolve one that would have done it on its own. It was more efficient to work on an ability that had reached a limit. It was the case with ‘singing’, after it expanded with the gift, it stopped at some point.

  [{Singing}

  The ability to sing. Current capacity includes : Free navigation through 8 octaves; voice projection; perfect breath control; perfect diction; free use of belly voice, head voice, and mixed voice; perfect pitch; basic music theory; basic music history; throat and vocal cords preservation

  {Tips}

  To evolve ‘singing’, try new genres or harder songs

  {Tips}

  You could discover a new ability by using some of the capacity of ‘singing’ in another domain]

  Cyrielle studied the window for a while.

  ‘The tips are useful. To sum up, I have two choices : evolve ‘singing’, or use it to gain a new ability. The first tip is straightforward, but the second is a bit tricky. If I understand it well, it means I can use the capacity elsewhere. For example, ‘perfect diction’ can be used in acting, and ‘perfect breath control’ can be used while exercising. It means the more I work on my ability, the more capacity I have, and the more I can use it for other things. But for that to be true, I need to be able to use the capacity independently from the ability, and I can’t do that yet.’

  If Cyrielle wanted to use ‘music theory’, she needed to bring out the ‘singing’ ability. She couldn’t do it on her own, and suddenly spout out music terminology without preparation. But it didn’t mean her memory was wiped out. When the use for ‘singing’ ended, she still remembered what she had done during that time, the way she used her diaphragm, and the thoughts that went through her head. So it wasn’t an impossible act to use the capacity without the ability, but it certainly required a lot of practice and experience.

  Knowing this, she put the second tip aside and focused on the first one.

  ‘Harder songs… The harder I know would be opera, right ? I can also try some metal songs with screaming and growling, or songs with whistle notes and a vibrato. I’ll start there and we’ll see how it goes !’

  Energised, Cyrielle took her phone and created a ‘training’ pylist.