//------------------------------// // Scene 9: Vignette Valencia: The First Gofer (Pt. 4) // Story: Post-Processing // by Bookish Delight //------------------------------// "Stay close to me, Juniper," Vignette said, holding Juniper's hand as she walked across the lot to her car. "The studio lot's pretty safe, but Applewood itself can still be dangerous if you don't know where you're going." "I know!" Juniper chirped. "Daddy warned me, it's why I've been on the lot all day. But it's fine now! Because I'm with someone super safe and fearless!" She started to chant again.  "Vignette Valencia, afraid of—" "Oh my gosh, please stop being all formal and worship-py," Vignette interrupted. "It actually capital-F Freaks me out." "Oh." Juniper faltered. "I'm sorry." "No, no, it's nothing to apologize about." Vignette smiled down at Juniper. "Like I said, I love having adoring fans, but you're so much more than that. You're... like, family, you know?" Juniper nodded.  "Plus, it's a mouthful," Vignette went on. "Feel free to talk to me about other things than just what you know about me from the Internet. Also, you don't have to say my whole name. 'Val' will totally do." Juniper gasped, loud and long. "Really, Val?" "See? Rolls off the tongue already," Vignette said. Pretty much no one gets to call me that, either." Juniper squealed as they entered Vignette's yellow sport coupe. "Thanks, Val! I promise I'll do everything I can to deserve it." "Pssh, you'll so be fine," Vignette said, gunning the engine and driving out the lot. "I promise." Juniper's palms remained pasted onto the passenger side window's glass as she watched Vignette's car pass by building after building in downtown Applewood. Vignette, of course, was more than used to the glitz of the city by now, and even its more rustic parts. From her time as a tour guide, however, she knew that newcomers were always utterly enthralled, and Juniper was no exception. "This is amazing," Juniper said, pointing to a multi-tiered shingled house. "I want to live there. No, wait, wait, I want to live there," she corrected herself, pointing to an apartment building, then to a mall center the size of a small town. "And I wanna work there!" "Heh. As usual, good eyes," Vignette said. "But trust me, take a trip out to the suburbs while you're here. That's where the really swank mansions are." "Pfft. Suburbs are boring," Juniper said, sitting back down in her seat and crossing her arms.  Vignette stopped at a red light, and looked over to Juniper, who suddenly looked far less enthused than she had been a minute ago. "Well, color me surprised. I heard that Canterlot City's suburbs are some of the best in the country. Trees, peace and quiet, historical landmarks..." "Yeah," Juniper said. "Like I said. Boring." She perked up. "I know! I could live on the studio lot! I could live in the movies!" She reached over, grabbing Vignette's arm. "Something cool and exciting's always happening in the movies! And..." She looked away. "People are nicer in them, too." Vignette looked down at Juniper with a quizzical expression. "Are you saying people aren't nice to you already? Someone as tuned in and with perfect taste as you are?" She tilted Juniper's chin up so that they were face-to-face. "Don't lie to me. You have to be absolutely drowning in friends." Juniper fell silent. Vignette sighed. Kids never changed in their meanness, she supposed. "Let me let you in on a little secret. I used to be a loner, too. Not by choice, I just wasn't well-liked. Especially by the other girls in school." She rolled her eyes. "Never appreciated a girl with vision, they did. It's fine, they'll go broke soon enough. But it wasn't soon enough for me back then. So you know what I did?" "What'd you do?" Juniper asked, her voice betraying just the slightest bit of hoping against hope. "I figured, if people wouldn't come to me, I'd bring myself to them. And that's how I got the idea to start my vlog series, and I got eyeballs in front of me. Put myself out there. Became a capital-S Star—well, relatively speaking. And look at me now! You've hardly met me in person, but you love me, right?" Vignette preened. Juniper giggled. "Well, yeah." "That's the fast track to respect," Vignette said. "When people have reasons, reasons you can list off, keep track of, to like you... then they will. And it looks like we've both got the cinematic blood in us. Don't hesitate to use it." Juniper looked up, meeting Vignette's eyes with sparkling ones of her own. "Thanks, Val." "Think nothing of it, sweetie." The light turned green. Vignette drove one more block, then parked her car in front of a gleaming, upscale brick building which read "Starcolts Coffee" in green and white letters.  She got out of the car and scoffed, blowing her bangs away from her immediate field of vision. Odd, she thought. This location had been a bookstore just last month. "Ugh," she muttered. "Seriously, these things'll be everywhere soon."