Holly Perez and Fords' Golden Tour MirrorG Chapter 19: All Attention Stationed on Faye Summary: In which 'wow, this blew up'. Stepping over the clutter of the garage again, Fords swiftly escorted the group from the Distance Wing back onto the canal platform. She gently shut the doors to the wing behind the group as they idly spread out. “Now, if I’m not mistaken,” she said softly, not finishing her thought as she trotted further down the platform to an unremarkable, unpainted door. Fords opened the door, peeked through, and nodded decisively before leading the way through it. Faye, still beaming, spared another glance back at Bridgette before following suit. The two followed as well, finding a cramped, concrete back room with little but a metal, spiralling staircase in its center. Faye looked around the unimpressive room, then craned her neck to look up the stairway stretching above them. “Is the stop you lined up for me somewhere up there, Fords?” She looked expectantly at the ewe. Fords nodded excitedly in response. “Indeed, Miss Huffie! It should only be a brief climb to reach our next destination.” The rabbit giggled in glee at the confirmation before leading the way up the spiral stairs. Each grated step creaked with age as the group made their way up, and Holly found herself drifting further backwards in the pack. Following Faye’s example, Holly leaned back to try to get a better view of how high the stairwell spiralled upwards, only to find it continued for what looked like dozens of floors before disappearing off in the distance. Dizzied by the height of the structure, Holly locked her eyes forward as resolutely as possible before following behind Bridgette. Completing the set, Bridgette leaned over the handrail to gaze up at the sheer extent of the stairs. “‘Only a brief climb,’ huh?” “Well, luckily for us we won’t need to ascend all the way to the top of the complex for this upcoming stop, Miss Grazeland. Like I promised, I wish to give your feet a bit of a rest,” Fords stopped climbing to grin through the gaps in the steps down at Bridgette below. Holly only glanced up at the sheep before locking her gaze back forward. Still, the sense of vertigo renewed itself in her. “Just how far is it, Miss Fords?” “Only to the next landing, I suppose,” Fords answered simply. “Gosh, it’s no wonder we weren’t able to get any reception this whole time,” Faye remarked, “just look at how much stuff there is stacked on top of us! It all got in the way, didn’t it?” Her cheery voice echoed through the stairwell, which gave her a brief pause. Thinking on the noise, she stuffed her phone back into her pocket. “ So, let’s hope we get to, you know, wherever we’re going pretty soon. The acoustics in this place are terrible for getting any video.” Almost as soon as Faye finished talking, Fords arrived on a metal landing in the stairwell. Another small door awaited her, this one marked only with some kind of small spiralling pattern in its center. She opened it before trotting up a couple steps higher to clear the way for the others to enter first. “Right this way to the Attention Station, dears!” From the name alone, Faye’s eyes lit up in delight. Before Bridgette or Holly could sidle past her, she stopped on the landing to address Fords. “Wow! That sure sounds exciting already, and we haven’t even gone in yet!” “I was hoping that the name of this room in particular may help to grab your attention as well, Miss Huffie,” Fords beamed, satisfied by the rabbit’s response. Faye waved off the remark, a smirk on her face. “Oh, you’re just too nice to me, you know that? Let’s see what this place is all about, alright?” Finally, Faye pressed on, bounding through the door and freeing up the pair to follow behind. Stepping through as well, Holly found herself in a broad, open, circular chamber. A lattice of metal supports lined the walls, stretching up at least another five storeys upwards into a broad dome, though she struggled to glean the exact shape of it due to a layer of indistinct floating objects bobbing around high above them. Finally able to look down again, she found that the group again stood on a sort of raised platform. In the center of the room sat a lowered pit, five feet deep, ringed with handrails and lined with brick all the way down to its grated floor. A dark, indistinct shape rested beneath the grating, and a circular plate of solid metal gripped tightly to the grating in a way that almost resembled a small stage. Somewhere far above, shafts of sunlight shone into the Attention Station. In the open air overhead, wolpertingers fluttered about freely. They looped around each other in little aerial stunts, some dressed in their usual jackets, now lilac in hue, and others donning bulky, orange headsets paired with matching ties. A few even waved about large pieces of candy corn fashioned into shining batons, using them to direct the maneuvers of the other wolps. Occasionally, some of the fairies broke away from the group to fly upwards towards the vague shapes hovering near the top of the room. Though the numbers of their little fluttering pack steadily diminished as Holly took in the room, the sound of their games never grew any quieter. Faye looked baffled by the sight of the room. She quickly stepped over to the handrail and leaned on it as she looked down into the pit below, as if it held the secret to why Fords chose this stop in particular. With nothing else to do, though, the rest soon joined her side, gazing down the brief drop to the grated floor below. The rabbit tilted her head and craned her neck to try to find any angle that satisfied her curiosity, and her long ears flapped about behind her as she did. “ So ,” Faye spoke up after a moment, looking over at Fords, “is this really all there is to here? Or are we not actually at the place you wanted to show me-” Once again, the bunny failed to finish her thought before being cut off. This time, the culprit came in the form of a jovial piano tune resounding through the entire room from somewhere up above. Wolpertingers fluttered down to the group’s level, singing to each other a familiar jingle. Holly barely registered their lyrics, instead trying to place the tune to a particular commercial she recalled seeing as a child decades ago. A charming taste in every bite, Making the world fun and bright! Enjoy the magic as you please From Fords’ Fantastic Fooderies! The doe sighed as her memory failed to conjure up a satisfying answer to the familiarity of the song. Instead, she turned to watching the acrobatics of the wolpertingers for a moment. Only now she realized that, no matter how the wolps exerted themselves in their performances, their singing voices never wavered. Impressed, Holly glanced around at the other three. Bridgette pinched her brow as yet another song began, while Faye glared up impatiently at the wolps’ interruption. Neither Fords nor the wolps paid them any mind, and the latter dropped down further to perform directly for the group. So welcome, new friends, to this wing! We’ll help you all adjust to things, This Attention Station, it’s where it’s at, All eyes on you in no time flat! It’s rather easy to understand, A public lift gives you a hand! And in this case, when we say ‘you’ We mean, of course- “ None of you!” Faye suddenly exclaimed, halting the music in its tracks with her outburst. She gripped the railing tightly, her teeth bared in aggravation. Fords blinked as the music stopped so ahead of time. “Hm? Is something the matter, Miss Huffie?” “Oh, don’t bother trying to keep playing the innocent act, Fords!” Faye snapped at her, “I haven’t bought this act of yours all day, you know. I don’t know what your problem is with me, but you better get it out already!” “I’m not sure I understand. I don’t believe I’ve been doing any acting, today,” Fords began, but now Faye cut her off as she continued to rant. “As if ,” Faye spat out, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know why everyone here is so obsessed with making sure I can’t get a word out today, but I’ve had it with all of this!” “ Wow ,” Bridgette muttered at Holly’s side. “I mean, I figured she’d lose it at some point, but not this badly.” Before Holly could respond, Faye’s wrathful look shot their way. “And you two can shut it, too! I can’t believe all of you, acting like it means nothing to get to star in one of my own travel vlogs alongside me.” Fords took a step back from Faye in stunned silence. Instead, Holly tried to speak up in the ewe’s defense, “I’ve been trying to not say anything while your camera is rolling,” she pleaded, but Faye piped up again to stop her short. “Yeah? Well, some great job you all’ve been doing at it, huh?” The rabbit steamed. “Do you all even know who I am ? Who it even is that you’re dealing with, here?” Chapter 19, first illustration. Faye, enraged, waves her arm and shouts at the rest of the group. The rest of the group is in the foreground and looks uncomfortable. Faye pushed off from the railing, gesturing wildly at the other three. “I’m Faye fucking Huffie! Do you get that? My fans could make all your lives hell if they knew even half of how you’ve been treating me, today. You’d better start showing me some of the respect that I deserve here, or,” she trailed off for a second, gazing down at the platform in the middle of the pit, “or…” A fiendish grin spread across the rabbit’s face as she turned to face the others again. “Or I’ll start making you give me some respect,” she said, swinging a leg up and over the railing to straddle the edge of the pit. Holly looked over to Fords, whose brow was furrowed more intensely than she’d seen all day. Still, she failed to say anything at all, let alone something that might assuage Faye’s rage. With no choices left, Holly spoke up again. “How are you going to do that…?” “I’m going to do it,” Faye said, her look somewhere between a glare and a manic smile, “by getting on that stage and showing all of you what a real performance looks like!” Bridgette groaned loudly in response. “Yeah? And what makes you think that any of us even want to hear another song at this point? Oh, even better, what makes you think that you could even give us one?” Faye smirked at the bear’s questions, playfully flicking her hair and ears off of her shoulder. “I was in theater , you know,” she cooed haughtily before swinging her other leg over the railing and dropping into the pit. Faye took a moment to collect herself as she landed on the grating. As she did, Holly inched closer to Fords and spoke to her in a low voice. “Is it safe for her to be down there, Miss Fords?” “Safe? Yes,” Fords’ response sounded nearly like a whisper, “there’s nothing dangerous anywhere here, it’s just,” she trailed off and simply watched Faye continue. As the rabbit strutted out to the center platform, the telltale backing music of a heavily produced pop song echoed through the Attention Station. Faye stepped up onto her improvised platform, took center stage, and turned around to look up at the other three with a deeply satisfied expression. The music bent to her will, and she took it all in stride as she began her own sudden performance. Now -this- is perfect for the newest of new To get everyone’s gawk, stare, and view! And if you can’t see, it’s -obviously- me That they all mean when they say “you” So crank that dial to eleven, And slam every input to high heaven! The world can’t wait, shoot it right out the gate, For my fans, all two-hundred-million and seven! Wolpertingers descended from higher up in the room, and they watched Faye’s display while gripped with total fascination. Some attempted to join her on stage, but she swatted them all away as a spotlight appeared over her in particular. So send me up or you’ll be over in a week, I- One wolp attempted to riff off of her. “- Need to bark as loud as you can squeak? ” Faye silenced the little fey with another snap in their direction. Shut it, it’s -my- turn, freak! Watch my numbers blowing up! When my views double, that’ll be enough, All eyes are on me! Right where they should be! You’ll- Faye suddenly vanished in a cloud of pale white gas which shot up through the grating all around the stage. When it finally dissipated, Holly saw her coughing and sputtering on the stage, her performance stopped in its tracks. After regaining her breath, she glared up at Fords and stomped a foot against the ground. “ Finally , I don’t think I could’ve handled another one of those,” Bridgette said under her breath. “ Fords ,” Faye barked at the ewe, “what was that supposed to be?” “It looked to be the Attention Station activating,” Fords called warily back down to her. Holly peered cautiously down at Faye as a slight whirring began somewhere beneath the room. “And what does it ‘activating’ mean?” Fords sighed. “Well, the Attention Station is less of what you may call a ‘stage,’ more of a ‘staging ground,’ you see. At the moment, it seems to be trying to get Miss Huffie ready.” Holly glanced back at the sheep. “Ready for what?” Suddenly, the whirring noise intensified, drowning out any response Fords may have been preparing. The sound reverberated loudly through the room, and Holly squinted to see what looked like a giant fan spinning beneath the grate, only barely visible through the mesh of metal. A second later, the rush of air it pushed upwards reached the group, sending their hair blowing wildly in the wind. Faye’s hair flicked around most extremely of all, and even her lop ears bobbed up and down from the sheer force of air beneath them. A perplexed look flashed across Faye’s face for a brief instant before her eyes shot down to look at herself. To her shock, starting from the bottom up, the rabbit’s body grew more puffy and rotund. She pressed her paws into her hips in a desperate attempt to stem the tide of her body’s growth, but to no avail. With her first attempt stifled, Faye resorted once again to shouting demands up at Fords, straining to be heard over the loud fan. “Fords! What do you think you’re doing?! You’d better get down here now and fix this!” “I would quite like to, Miss Huffie, believe me,” Fords called back, cupping her hands around her mouth to be heard better, “but I’m afraid that by the time I arrived down there, you would already have rejoined us all again, up here!” “Another cryptic promise, just great ,” Bridgette said wearily. “I only mean to say, Miss Grazeland,” Fords said, turning to her for a moment, “that I doubt Miss Huffie will be grounded for very long.” Holly struggled to pull her eyes from the bizarre display of Faye’s curves inflating outwards. “What do you mean by that?” “I mean,” Fords continued, “that what Miss Huffie was just sprayed with was a special concoction we’ve produced for maintenance on our advertising blimp fleet. I don’t suppose you’re familiar?” “I am,” Holly nodded, sparing only a glance at Fords, “but what did it do to her?” “It did what it always does to all of our aircraft,” Fords said, “it made her permeable one-way to the helium that fan is currently directing towards her, sealing up gaps that it might leak out through, and ensuring that she’s elastic enough to match standard fleet size!” Holly looked incredulously at Fords’ explanation before returning her attention to Faye, whose body grew rounder even faster than Azure’s dizzying transformation just before. She continued screaming up at Fords, but with each threat her voice grew higher pitched and less comprehensible. Bridgette clamped an ear shut in an attempt to block out the ferocious squeaking coming from the rabbit. Before long, a neatly spherical shape subsumed nearly all of the rabbit’s body beneath her arms. It stretched out her bright yoga pants, which gripped tightly into what was once her trim, exposed midriff. Infuriated, Faye stomped the ground again, only for the force of it to send her light body rocking uncontrollably. The ballooning rabbit struggled to keep her footing for a second before starting to fall upwards. As she did, her whole body flipped upside down, with her head and dangling lop ears becoming the only thing left still weighing her down. Holly gazed upwards at the open air and wolpertingers above Faye as the bunny began to rise ominously. “How far up is she going to go?” “Why, just as high as the rest of the fleet, assuming that the Attention Station is functioning properly today,” Fords answered, somehow not detecting the concern in Holly’s voice. Faye continued to rise, ascending past the group and allowing them to get a glimpse of her face, now red with fury. Even as the distance between her and the fan grew, her growth failed to stop, only slowing. Her body continued to round out all over, and it stretched beyond her normal height. Her head and identifying features gently sank into pronounced divots as the broadening sphere of her body grew taller than herself. As she rose higher, her ears became the only way to tell where her head must be. Bridgette leaned against the railing in blatant disinterest. “I guess your magic spray must have also made her clothes able to stretch about four times as big as Burle, huh?” Fords nodded. “Too right, Miss Grazeland, it’s one of the many wonders of this compound we’ve developed.” Another moment passed, and Faye’s growth gradually began to steady out. By the time the expansion finally stopped, Holly supposed the rabbit must easily be at least fifteen feet across. Despite this, the relaxed fit of her overstretched outfit showed that her titanic body was anything but a tight squeeze for her gaseous contents. The din of her squeaking protests and complaints continued to echo from on high before being drowned out by the music from her song picking up again. Wolps from all around the Attention Station sprang into the air, directing each other around in more aeronautic tricks before their formations converged on the giant rabbit. Listen up For who’s coming up! A rising star, And she’s rising far! As the wolps took control back over the music, they began the struggle of batting Faye around through the air. Many simply bounced off of her like a trampoline from her sheer mass, while others worked together to shift her course. Hey everyone, come look at Faye! How could she be in such dismay? Normally so sickly sweet, But now she’s been swept off her feet! But isn’t it that she wanted it? Demanded, said she’d be the perfect fit? A superstar, rising high, Beloved by all, who could deny? Some wolpertingers broke off from the group to quickly fly up to the very top of the Attention Station before returning at the helm of some of the company’s familiar ad blimps. Just as Fords claimed, Faye now resembled them in scale, though in shape she looked far rounder than their oblong structures. The wolps began piloting the aircraft, creating new formations which incorporated Faye herself as one of their number. “Well,” the deer said, “if you’re right, does that at least mean Faye isn’t in any danger, like Azure was?” Fords sighed in relief. “Indeed, Miss Perez, if that serves as any consolation. The compound used on Miss Huffie should make her equally as durable as our fleet!” Holly glanced at the wolps that played around below Faye, now including some costumed air traffic control wolpertingers singing into their handheld lights. Or is that just what the camera sees, And when alone she’d act how she pleased? Takes someone’s boost then pushes them down And if she gets mad, runs them out of town! The only thing she cares about Is chasing after precious clout Even now, she’s spent all day Pouting and gossiping to get her way! As the song progressed, the wolps’ tricks became increasingly more elaborate and daring. Their blimps bumped into Faye directly, pushing her around between each other as the other wolps orbited the scene. The pronounced bouncing of each impact punctuated the thudding beat of the song that echoed through the Attention Station. Chapter 19, second illustration. Faye, inflated to spherical proportions, floats upwards between blimps and wolpertingers flying in formation. To think! Her fans don’t even know Just how low a rabbit could go And that she’d do it all to them too, If just to sneak an extra view! Now, this part might just send you reeling, But all your fans all have real feelings! And when you drop that thin veneer, Tell us, who do you think cheers? It’s always been an awful trend, Watching starlets leap ‘friend’ to ‘friend’ Stepping stones, that’s all they are, Who said -you- get to be the star? Faye rose further up into the hangar high above, and the wolp’s display rose right along with her. By now, Holly only barely managed to distinguish the black and white pattern of Faye’s outfit from the rest of the blimp fleet, standing out slightly more from its stark checkered segments. Despite the growing distance, the song came through just as clearly as when the song had begun. Funny how this bunny crier Just couldn’t push her brand up higher Instead this rabbit’s pouty fit Has turned into our favorite skit! Just know that folks aren’t your subjects It’s easier than you’d expect! Count on friends to care, not obey, And you’ll meet less Faye Huffies along the way! Now, if she still wants us to try To shoot her numbers to the sky We would only ask her why, What could she want, when she’s so high? After that, the wolps finished their newest song and continued toying with their blimp fleet as Faye rose to the same level of the original, indistinct balloons Holly saw upon entering. The sound of the music continued to echo through the Attention Station for a moment longer before finally quieting down, leaving the group in silence once again. Holly continued to lean against the railing and gaze up at the fleet until her eyes completely lost track of which of the vague shapes above belonged to Faye. “They’ll be able to get her down,” she asked, turning to Fords, “right?” Fords tapped her cane against the floor. “Doubtlessly! And they’ll have all the time they need to escort Miss Huffie to the accompanying station where blimps are deflated for maintenance. We only open the hangar doors to practice maneuvers with the fleet on Saturdays, so there should be no risk of her floating out to the exposed sky.” Holly blinked, putting the pieces together in her head. “But isn’t it a Saturday, today?” Fords thought on the matter, her face blank for a moment before her brow furrowed again in realization. “I suppose that it is , Miss Perez. But still, I’m quite confident that the girls will be more than capable enough of bringing Miss Huffie back down to safety before she so much as gets close to the hangar doors!” Holly found herself unconvinced by the faltering tone of Fords’ voice, but Bridgette spoke up before she could. “Are we done here, then? I didn’t expect you to start running out of ideas for all of this stuff so quickly.” Fords nodded. “I suppose I can see how that’s a concern, Miss Grazeland. In which case, we should keep on moving, ourselves! There’s still plenty to see before the day is through.” “Yeah, well, hold on for a second,” Bridgette retorted. “Before you go running off again, how much of what you’re talking about is actually new enough to be worth stopping for? It looked like you gave up on showing us how to make anything here and just wanted to entertain us with whatever. But, well, look at where we are now, huh? Recycling.” Fords tapped her cane against the ground anxiously, and Holly spoke up for her. “I mean, I’m sure you can think of something along the way easily, right? A couple things feeling familiar is probably a fluke more than anything.” Bridgette shot a suspicious look at Holly before turning to face Fords again. “ Can you?” Fords remained quiet for another moment before nodding and motioning the group towards a door on the other end of the Attention Station. “I’m certain I can, if you only give me the chance to prove it to you! All we have to do is find a better stop.”