“[color=ffe63d]I have [i]fans?[/i][/color]”

Mona burst into laughter, high and cackling, but not in an unpleasant way. She had the sort of laugh that people found contagious, unique but not grating—the perfect fit for a talk show host. Of course, when she realized that Quinn hadn’t been cracking a joke, and was in fact entirely serious and very visibly confused, her laughter settled. She kept her smile though, a match for Quinn’s own.

“Oh—oh wow, you really mean that, don’t you? Sweetie, you’re a [i]pilot[/i], you had fans the moment your name hit the net. And you know, that was pretty recent all things considered. It was impossible to find a single picture of you that wasn’t from some blurry drone—but that’s alright, people [i]love[/i] the mystery. And you know what? You’re just cute as a button in person. After tonight that crowd out there is gonna look like a puddle compared to the [i]ocean[/i] of fans you’re gonna have.”

She waved off-set, and a few moments later someone came over with glasses of water for each of them. 

“Oh, what’ll you want with your dinner? Just that? Pop? I’d offer you something more fun but I wanna stay on Bessy’s good side.” She barked out another laugh and sipped from her glass. “Plus, I’ve got a rule—no alcohol on the first interview. I had Renny Falsam on thirty years ago. He wanted these [i]huge[/i] steaks, I mean big as they get, and just a little bit of whiskey. Well, twenty minutes in, that boy is slurring and cross-eyed and he’s laughing at jokes he’s only said in his head. [i]Wow![/i] Talk about a disaster. Yep, no alcohol this time, but maybe down the road.”

Nudging her glass aside, Mona leaned onto the table, head rested on her hands. Her eyes were big behind her glasses. “So how’d you adjust to living up there? Coming from such a quiet little town and moving into [i]space[/i]. That must have been so weird, right? Do they shut the gravity off? Do you all just float around everywhere? How do you know when to go to bed? [i]Gawsh[/i], that’d mess me all up.”