As the minutes counted down, the crew shuffled around with purpose. Someone produced a pair of small microphones over, unobtrusively clipping them to both Quinn and Mona’s collars. Napkins and cutlery were brought out to the table next, along with a pitcher of water, and glass of wine, which Mona immediately sipped from. A thirty-second countdown started, and with only fifteen seconds left the food was served piping hot. From behind the counter, chef Akihiro gave Quinn an enthusiastic thumbs up. 

Besca made her way around the set, to Mona’s back, where she’d be in full sight of Quinn. She waved, smiled. Her look said: “[color=gray]You got this.[/color]” But like Quinn, she was undeniably still nervous. Mona was about as good a draw as they could have gotten for the first interview, but a million things could still go wrong. They had [i]just this morning[/i], and while Besca had tried to be as comforting and supportive as possible, in the back of her mind she knew it was ridiculous to expect Quinn to have a complete hold of herself after a nap and a few sincere words.

A beep sounded, and red lights blinked to life on the cameras. A brief musical cue played as Mona waved to the centermost camera, and then there was relative silence. 

“Good evening, Runa, and welcome to dinner!” Mona said. Her voice seemed much bolder now, more projected, almost like a stage actress. “Tonight’s show is a bit shorter, but it’s [i]very[/i] special. That’s right. I’m sure some of you watching right now are asking yourselves: [i]who is this beautiful young lady?[/i] and to those first-time viewers—hello, I’m flattered.” She giggled to herself, as if in-time to the laughter of some unseen audience. “But no, no, really! A lot of you probably have no idea who this is joining me tonight, and I don’t blame you! But we’re [i]very[/i] honored to have her here tonight, and—you know what, I’m gonna let her do the honors.”

Mona smiled to her, gesturing to the center camera. “Honey, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself? Tell’em why I’m so excited to have you here tonight!”