“Can everyone here cook like the fine chefs who have prepared the food you summon for us?” Kaspian cocked his head at me.
I had “summoned” more meals through Doordash. Every meal was a new cuisine chosen by Kaspian. It excited him to experience new tastes. His world has different types of cuisines from various regions as well, but it's harder to get food from one region prepared for you in another. Even more shocking to him was that one chef could be adept in several regional cuisines. Thus, his question.
“Not everyone, but anyone can learn. Recipes are easy to find online. These posts aren't the best way to learn how to cook, though. A lot of them don't even give you the ingredients. They're just clickbait. There are more extensive videos on YouTube.” I winced as soon as the words came out of my mouth, knowing what would follow.
“What is YouTube?”
“Not yet.” I held up a hand when he started to protest. “Let's get you through the quagmire of cat videos, cooking posts, and influencers first.”
“Influencers?”
“Those are people who make a career out of posting these videos. If you get a big enough following, you can make money in multiple ways. You influence all of those people who watch you. Companies will hire influencers to promote their products and get people to buy them. See, this girl is promoting that energy drink. She's telling people how good it is and encouraging them to buy it.”
“Influencers. I understand the title now.” Kaspian nodded. Then he scowled. “Why do people allow themselves to be influenced? They must know that these influencers don't really like these items. They are being paid. So why listen?”
“Influencers don't make only paid content. They usually build up an audience by relating to people. When people trust them, they can promote things without losing that trust.”
“Can't humans decide what they want to purchase on their own?”
“These videos help some people make that decision by showing them the qualities of the items. They can also introduce products to people who might be interested in them but not know about them yet.”
“Why can't people do that for themselves? Do they truly need someone to tell them what to buy?”
I grimaced. “Kinda. There are so many products for sale. It can get overwhelming. You gotta remember that we have a global economy. We can have things shipped to us from the other side of the world in just a few days. Sometimes less than a day. It's so much easier when someone tells you which product is good and which is crap.”
“But you said that companies pay these people to post about their products. Even if you think someone is similar to you in your tastes, how can you be sure they're being honest about an item someone has paid them to say good things about?”
“You can't. That's the reason I don't buy anything that goes viral.”
“Viral?” Kas drew his head back. “Like a virus?”
“Yes, actually. It's a term we use when something gets really popular because of these influencers.”
“Ridiculous. Humans are ridiculous.” He pointed at me. “This is the result of a lack of Dragon leadership. No Dragon king would allow such nonsense to happen in his kingdom. He would root out swindlers like these and put a stop to their lies. Such things are deemed criminal on my world.”
“They aren't looked well on here either. It's just hard to prove who's lying. It's all subjective.”
Kaspian shook his head and shooed the phone away. “I do not want to see any more of this, Mate. Enough. On my world, people think for themselves. Even humans.”
Okay, this time, I heard him clearly. No mistaking it. He said “mate.” And then, yes, he kind of insulted me again. But let's get back to the M-word.
“Did you just call me mate?” I lifted a brow at him. “I know you're not Australian, so what's up with that? Is it another attempt at changing my nickname?”
Kaspian's eyes twitched. His hand clenched my thigh. “Demetrius, we must speak about something very important. I got distracted. I should have told you this earlier.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“When I—”
A boom came that had us shooting to our feet.
“What the fuck?” I started for the door.
Before I could make it two steps, men in gas masks and black clothing came swarming into the bedroom. They aimed guns at us. Big guns. My heart sank, then raced. I guess I hadn't been as convincing with the men in black as I'd thought.
“Don't move!” one of the men shouted.
Kaspian roared and swung out an arm. One of the men flew into another.
