CHAPTER EIGHT
Fig and Newton's house is tiny. It's a prefab trailer, in theory, but it's well furnished inside
and feels like it's been cared for. It's a house, just smaller. Poppy likes how no space is
wasted, how each room feels like it was designed intentionally. The living room is also bike
repair, the dining room folds away to make a space for morning yoga. The kitchen is kept
pristine despite signs of use. A small dishwasher whirrs away on the counter. It's a space
for two, no more. Already Poppy is making apologies.
"As soon as I find an apartment I'll be out of here, I'm already touring."
"You can stay as long as you need. The couch is comfy enough, but let us know if it doesn't
work for you."
The couch is a lovely shade of brown, and is covered in hair, so so much hair. The money
that can be made in just cleaning some peoples shedded fur would make anyone wealthy.
But then again, who wants to scrape carpets forever? Hardwood is a popular choice for this
very reason, carpet is a luxury item for those who can afford to upkeep it.
The first night goes off without a hitch. Fig and Newton sleep in separate rooms since they
both snore and it wakes the other up. Poppy goes to sleep at four so she can wake up at tenand make her way to the station. She does the show and bikes home, getting there at 3:30.
She sleeps until ten, by which point her new roommates have already gone to work. She
gets herself ready, trying to use as little of the food in the kitchen as possible, and leaves to
run some errands. It's weird living like this, trying to split the day between day and night.
She only lives a few hours in each, and she feels like she's missing both.
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Amora's fan club is gaining major traction, and Poppy agrees go to a meeting one night. The
address she was given leads to a small church, and signage suggests festivities in the
basement. She climbs down the side stairs into a pit and opens the door to find a few dozen
people standing around sipping drinks. Most of them are on their phones, and with the
music playing they don't notice her entering. One does, another lagomorph, but shoots his
eyes back down to the floor he was so preoccupied with. Maybe he just really likes his
sneakers or something.
Amora must have noticed this, coming over to greet her. Amora goes for a hug, and Poppy
feels obliged to accept it. She sheep may know her, but not like that. "Thanks for coming
tonight, I didn't tell anyone just in case you flaked out. You wanna say something to the
group?"
"S-sure? But don't expect it to be anything worth writing down."
"Don't worry, I'll tape it!" And Amora pushes her to a small stage with a microphone and
speaker set up. She taps the microphone, everyone looks up at her. At some point the music
stops, too.
"Everyone, I brought a very special gust to tonights meeting. She can't stay long because
she needs to go off and record tonights episode, but for a little while... Poppy herself!"
"Um, hello everyone." Applause, a good 15 seconds of clapping for a hello. "How are you
all doing tonight?" Cheering now. She could say anything and get a good response, she's a
celebrity to these people, bordering on a messianic figure. "Uhh, Marco!" The crowd hollers
Polo in response. Nifty.
"Had to try that. Forgive me, I'm not the greatest with public speaking. Numbers on a screen
are one thing, but to see other real people interested in my program is incredible. I thought
that a show at goes live at midnight wouldn't get too much traction. In my.. ignorance?
Oversight more like, I forgot about the people who occupy this town while the rest of us
sleep. It's funny, trying to cater to 2 parallel cultures. I've had to spend weekend nights out
on the town to get a grasp on the culture, to better appeal to y'all." More applause at this. "I
hope the show continues to be.. entertaining enough for a good long while. Thank you."
She stepped off the stage and into the lions den of the people who idolized her.
She spent an hour and a half there before having to leave for the studio. She talked to
someone who was making their own merchandise, who shoved a T-shirt from their bag into
poppy's arms. There was a cat who was making daily playlists of the songs played on the
show that were getting serious traction (and who was very disappointed at the music
segments being cut down in the recent weeks.) Multiple people, much shyer, came up to her
when she wasn't engaged with anyone else and talked about how the show was good
company on nights when their own anxiety flared up. They made point to mention their
names, and Poppy agreed to mention them in the show at points. Maybe she should do
some affirmations for people, couldn't hurt.
As the hours winded down and she was getting more and more anxious about making it to
the studio Amora came up to her again and thanked her for coming. "You mean a lot to
these people, We hope to see you again sometime soon. It's a shame you can't stay, we do a
listening party when the show goes live."
"Well I can't exactly be two places at once. See you around Amora, take care."
"I'll try."
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