Despite my confusion and everything, he was able to convince me to join him for the next meeting of this…A.E.L group or something and that he’d be able to show me around Baton Vyolèt or whatever the city is called, I was really…really confused by all of it and a majority of my brain was telling me that it was all fake and he had really just drugged me and I was in some sort of fever dream and was about to wake up somewhere as like a drug mule or something.

            I didn’t have work or anything, so…I agreed. I walked alongside him as he walked down this little side-street, people were passed out on the street, beads, confetti and general refuse was everywhere, to the extent where you had to be a little careful about where you were stepping to make sure you didn’t accidently step in a pile of actual human shit. He led me to this…it was probably an old doorway of some kind along the side of a building, but as we walked up…the bricks wavered and rippled like oil on water as the bricks faded off into this…expanse of city. He stepped through and I followed behind him. There was this feeling of being forced through a layer of cling film as I stepped through the archway before I found myself…in even more shock, confusion and awe.

            The city around me was like New Orleans, but the dial of Mardi Gras had been turned far past ten to the point the dial broke fully off leaving it maxed out, despite the fact it was nearly noon, there were…dozens upon hundreds upon thousands of people in all directions of this expansive street…the party still at its apex here. But…there were people that weren’t really…people: there was a full centaur woman who was topless, just in dozens of colorful beaded necklaces, holding a giant drink…a man with bird legs and his arms were also wings, holding a large drink in one hand while perched up on a random balcony, everyone was…they were people that I had only ever heard or seen in books.

            Jamie just led me through the almost impassable throng of partying people, not regarding my look of confusion or mild fear, but I tightened my grip on his arm so I wouldn’t get separated from him and pulled into this party. Honestly, it made Bourbon Street look like the Vatican. I’m pretty sure I could see people just fully nude and doing various acts that would without a doubt get them arrested, even during Mardi Gras.

            There was this loud screech sound and I looked up as this…tectonic serpent flew overhead, no limbs, just a giant pair of rainbow toned wings as the serpent curled around a building, dancing and bobbing to the blaring music as the serpent suddenly started condensing and shifted smaller and smaller before a nude woman, covered in scales, feathers and beads was dancing on the rooftop. A whole ass tree just walked over some of the buildings, branches covered in bead adorned fairies and all sorts of other people, like a tree version of one of those pedal bars due to the full bar that was wrapped around the tree’s mid-section. Floats flew overhead pulled by literal Pegasus, skuttled along with these long metallic spidery legs or floated about with these glowing spheres under them, there was a whole ass galleon ship floating over the city with the cannons blasting every so often showing people with beads, confetti and various other things, vibrant colored sails with More Beads painted across the back of it. The sky was still bright blue, sun bright and high as the light was warmer and intense around me, the party probably having gone sense yesterday afternoon with no sense or hint of it getting any slower.

            I saw a full-on unicorn centaur dude, horn out of his human forehead, passed out drunk over a short wall with this curtain of rainbow and glittery toned vomit down the wall and a puddle of glitter around his horse lower body. A giant gargoyle looking figure that was covered in pretty much just glow-sticks just dancing along a roofline while blowing a loud whistle in time to the song that was playing.

            What I was experiencing reminded me of the first time I was fully in the depths of Mardi Gras, it was instantly sobering and…scary almost, the way everything was so much more intense, so much more aggressive and so much more in your face compared to what I had always considered a “normal” night.

            “Sorry we had to enter through the Baton Vyolèt French Quarter, they’ll…they’ll still be like this till Monday” Jamie sighed as we walked off the main road and it quickly started quieting down.

            “It’s…Wednesday” I said, a little scared for the safety of everyone.

            “Yeah…us magical folk take it seriously, we love any excuse to party, so…we make Fat Tuesday last a full week” he laughed, a little embarrassed about how this was how the magical city functioned. “We’re almost there.” he added

            I walked behind/alongside him through this maze like expanse of city, the buildings four-five stories tall at their shortest, but masses of greenspace visible and any possible spot where someone could have some sort of party going…there was. No rooftop was free of people, speakers, lights or confetti cannons or people randomly throwing beads.

            “Show me your dick!” A woman shouted throwing a beaded necklace at Jamie who just threw the necklace back, “COME ON!” she shouted, stomping her foot a little, hair flaring up into a mane of fire as three other woman just pulled her along, one with hair of clouds, the next with hair of a localized river around her shoulders and the last of this swirling dust devil around her.

            “Some people get…too happy to not have to mascaraed as humans” Jamie explained as he nodded up towards just…a full Sphinx, draped half-way over a balcony, huge wings draped over the sides and beads along their tail.

            “This…is just a section of the city, no?” I asked, he nodded, “How…many people are here? Just under New Orleans’ skin?” I asked

            “Probably three-four times the nonmagical city’s population…we’re not the biggest of the magical cities: Arbor in LA or Anex in New York are definitely the largest magical cities out there, save for some of the ones overseas like Camelot.” He added with a shrug, “Just down here.” He added motioning down one of the other streets.