Phoebe

"Hey cutie~" Mischief bubbled in Thessaly's voice as she answered Phoebe's call.

Phoebe perched on one arm of the big armchair in her suite and slid down into its seat, swinging her legs up onto the other arm. "Hey." Curling her back this way meant her spine hurt less, provided she didn't try to stand up again too quickly. "How's it going?"

"Good, I think." The mermaid didn't sound entirely certain. "Brynna's working really hard to drum up some more collabs and Perfect Storm’s still doing well. I think we'll be ok."

"What've you been up to today?"

"Practicing. Just like you." A faint giggle made its way down the phone line. "It's easier to make myself do it when I think about how hard you work."

"I-" Phoebe stopped, feeling her lips twitch. "Really?"

"Yeah! I can almost imagine we're working together, even when we're this far apart."

"Uh."

Thessaly giggled again, a little louder. "How'd it go today, anyway?"

Phoebe managed to breathe. "Good. It's fun here, I like the wind."

"How's your back?"

"Sore." Instinctively, Phoebe rolled her shoulders, and immediately regretted it. She couldn't hold back a groan. "I'll be ok."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, the doctor says I can fly, so it's fine." Phoebe grasped for a chance of subject. "I'm more worried about Petunia right now."

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"Oh no, what happened?" Thessaly's voice jumped a couple of tones.

Idiot. Of course she'd think Phoebe was talking about a physical injury. "The TV people want to interview her on Sunday, she's kinda stressing about it. She hasn't done an interview before."

"She'll be fine, she's really strong."

"You think so?" Petunia was really organised, and worked super hard and stuff, but what did Thessaly mean by 'strong'? "I don't know how well she's gonna handle all the rumours. She's very…" What could she say? Naïve? Honest? Forthright?

"Well, are any of the rumours true? You mean the mob stuff, right?"

Phoebe groaned again, feeling a different, colder kind of discomfort spreading around her shoulders. She couldn't lie, not now. "…yeah. Some of them." She paused, hoping that Thessaly would say… what? "We're not a mob team, we're not. But I did borrow some money and stuff. But those are my debts, not the team's, it's just the team is mine, that's all."

"I figured." For a moment the tone in Thessaly's voice hit Phoebe's mood like a torpedo at the waterline. But then the mermaid continued, voice not brighter exactly but not angry either. "They get their claws into everything, one way or another. Brynna owes a lot of money to a man called Castelloro."

"Castelloro? Angelo Castelloro?" Phoebe fought to keep her voice down.

"Maybe? I think so…"

"That's the same guy I borrowed money from." A laugh wormed its way out of Phoebe's throat. "Small world."

"Yeah."

"Do you have any advice I can give Petunia?" Phoebe said. "You have to- I mean, Nina gives you talking points you have to hit in interviews, right?"

"Advice about lying, you mean?" The mermaid's tone had an edge.

"That's not- I mean, I'm sorry, I don't mean it like that."

"It's ok. I don't really think about it as lying, though. It's like… hm, how to explain it." She paused, and Phoebe waited. "It's like, when you're in front of the camera, it doesn't matter whether what you say is true or not. The signal that goes out into the world, that's real, that's a part of reality, but that's all the director and the producer and the editor and everyone. Reality happens on that side of the camera. I don't know if that helps, though."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe felt her shoulders tensing up. "That it doesn't matter what she says?"

"Not exactly. It's more like, she shouldn't feel bad if she has to say something that isn't true. Because by the time it reaches the audience, whatever she really thinks won't be part of what they see."

"Hm." Frowning, Phoebe started to say that she wasn't sure how that helped, and stopped. "Huh, I hadn't thought about it like that."