Phoebe

"Hey Phoebe, what's up? I was surprised when you asked to call."

"Just… needing someone to talk to, I guess. Someone who's outside all of this."

"This?"

"The IL."

"Oh, the racing? But you love it, right?"

"I do, Thessaly, I do, but it's a lot sometimes."

"It's going well, though, right? Didn't you win last time?"

"Not quite, I came second, but that's kind of it. Now they want to interview me for the preshow next weekend, I dunno what to do."

"Shouldn't you take the interview? Like, it'll be good for your team, right?"

"I don't know if I'll be any good at interviews, though, Thessaly, I don't think that's my strong suit, I don't know…"

"Well, what is it you're worried about?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"What if I say something dumb?"

"Nah, you'll be fine, just be yourself. Laugh a lot, your laugh is really cute, they'll love that."

"My laugh? I mean, you really think so?"

"Yeah, most interviewers aren't there to make you look bad, they want something that their audience will love and, like, warm up to. I always try to just be as cute as possible and let them do all the work."

"Wait, you've done interviews before?"

"Yeah. Not for a while, but I have some coming up soon."

"What for?"

"Oh, my new song just came out and we finally managed to get some press arranged."

"Song? You're a singer? I had no idea, Thessaly, how'd I miss that?"

"Well, I'm not very big yet, but, um… maybe I shouldn't have said that, actually, I'm not really supposed to, like, mix work and personal life."

"You can trust me, Thessaly, don't worry. I'll keep your secrets. So where can I hear this song?"

"Oh, uh, I'll send it to you. You really wanna hear it?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? Friends listen to their friends' music, Thessaly."

"Um, I guess so."

"Hey, you really think the interview will be fine?"

"Yeah, I mean, like, your manager hasn't given you a list of talking points or anything, right?"

"My team manager? Petunia?"

"No, like, your media manager."

"Do I seem like the kind of person who'd have a media manager, Thessaly? Is that really something that I seem like I can afford right now?"

"Okay, yeah, you'll be fine then."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Like, for me, my manager always gives me these lists of things I should try to get into the interview, like trends and stuff. Because everything with idols is supposed to be super-fashionable, y'know?"

"Oh fuck no, I'm not doing anything like that."

"You shouldn't have to. Just talk about Soot, I really like it when you talk about him."