The evil manager bullies the Mousey
(munch munch munch) "Hope we win. If we don't, hey, it's fine—just a game, it's the taking part that counts (munch munch munch)."
By his estimate they were probably going to lose this round by one point to Jade Hayes' team. So he was trying to preemptively console the others.
Obviously the other three were already in good spirits, too. They'd long since accepted the possibility of loss—the nine-point gap wasn't exactly trivial—and everyone had done their best and had a lot of fun. That was enough.
"Ollie, what are you doing after this? I know a place in Ashford City that does an amazing wild-mushroom hot pot. Want to go try it?"
Grace whispered this to Ollie where the cameras couldn't see, giving him a little wink. She hadn't said much, but Ollie seemed to understand exactly what she meant.
Time had been so short she hadn't actually seen what little creature Ollie really was; she was curious.
Ollie: "..."
Ah, whatever. He'd already outed himself by being careless earlier. He was going to have to make time later anyway to go with the three of them to the Supernatural Affairs Bureau to sign a nondisclosure, so she might as well pet him a little now.
"Let me see. Caleb's given me three days off—tomorrow and the day after I didn't have scenes scheduled anyway…so I probably only have time the next two days. Director Grant's show is reaching a big arc; I'll be busy for the next half-month after that."
The others exchanged knowing looks.
What Ollie was implying was obvious: they must keep tomorrow and the day after free to go with him to sign the confidentiality paperwork. If they didn't, the woman in all black they'd seen last night who looked pretty scary might be the one to take them.
"Deal! It's on me—thanks to you and Mason these past two days. Our two MVPs deserve a nice meal!"
Ollie thought of Mira's White Spirit Mushrooms—the kind that only grew in Northridge. Northridge's spiritual energy was dense, and those mushrooms drank in aura as they grew. For small fae like him they were a real tonic.
They were also gorgeous: after soaking up all that aura the caps turned a milky white and were very pretty.
Ollie swallowed hard. The live chat exploded.
[Not getting any—Grace don't make him drool, he's literally salivating!]
[Little Ollie has no idea what's coming. Wait until he gets signal—storms incoming. Did you see Caleb's Insta? He was so mad he posted a string of like a hundred periods. Manager speechless.]
[Other managers spend their days cleaning up scandals; Caleb's just dealing with this little glutton's food antics. And apparently Uncle Ned is just an accident—Ollie saw his brother for maybe five minutes? Dude just said hi and went back to the food court to keep eating…]
[Zane: We're just online friends, you're all being rude.]
[I saw Zane West commented on Caleb's Insta—lol. He's been abroad competing and off-grid for almost a week. Only Ollie could blow up the semi-missing-person situation.]
Zane West had finally had a little downtime and had received a thoughtful gift from an overseas fan—a box of alcohol-filled chocolates. The packaging even let off a faint boozy scent; he knew Ollie would like them. Zane asked the fan for an address so he could send them as a small birthday present.
Then he opened his phone and saw Ollie blowing up the Insta trending list.
He'd already guessed the club that'd been photographed was Lumin Club, and from there he had a bad feeling about what was really going on. He worried for the little hamster—hoping nobody would dig anything up. Honestly, Zane would have preferred it treated as a harmless rumor.
But of course things didn't go their way.
Sometimes Zane couldn't fathom it. He was just a normal person, unable to control all the eyes and attention from every direction. But Ollie—he was basically a little fae! Couldn't he disguise himself before going out?!
Seeing Caleb losing it, Zane had nothing to say but post a contrite hamster sticker in the comments: tiny hamster clutching its paws, text saying "my bad, won't do it again."
That sticker was of Ollie, made back when Caleb once pulled Ollie's true form into a livestream for content and fans had screenshot it.
Don't let the tiny hamster fool you—Ollie's account had over a million followers. Caleb's team was even preparing some small merch for Ollie: this year's fan event would have free hamster-themed giveaways.
Their group was close to the set; in under twenty minutes the production team arrived. By the time everyone regrouped in the guest lounge, it was already 7:30 p.m.
Everyone had their phones in hand again; the show's final result was the least of their concerns.
Under pressure from all sides the production team had to wrap the livestream quickly, so they scrapped any extra foolishness and just announced winners and prizes.
They'd done the math down to the decimal, but nobody expected this: it was a tie.
Both teams ended with 14.5 points.
[Oh snap, who's laughing now? The slide to disaster is real—how are you going to recover?]
[But honestly, Ollie and Jade are two total wildcards. If they hadn't been on, there's no way this ends in a tie.]
[Do you think the producers saw this coming? Lol. Director must be freaking out—guests messing with the show! Iconic.]
[What about Shane Keane? Has he contacted his manager yet? Any official response? But who needs one—miniprotectors reporting to police right after the livestream, classic.]
[That's setup against Shane, right? Wait until after the live show to file a report—definitely Ollie retaliating. Revenge for that dark-clothed thing that happened.]
[So what? If someone buys astroturf to smear him, why can't he defend himself? Also Ollie just got his phone back, cut him some slack.]
[He's got that movie-king + investor brother, right? So what if his brother helps?]
[You really think we Zane fans are pushovers? Shane's not worth Zane doing anything about, lol.]
The livestream chat was exploding—everyone piled in, chaos. If the flame war kept building the stream might even get shut down.
Just before things escalated past recovery, the host finally showed up and announced the ultimate result.
"Sorry for the wait, everyone! We just received an anonymous sponsor's offer. Since both teams tied, we'll be donating a total of $4 million to charity on behalf of all eight guests! A fancy dinner has been prepared—eight portions—and that's a wrap for this episode of Memory Tour. Thanks for joining us—see you next time!"
Shortly after, Memory Tour's official Instagram tagged Zane West and revealed the identity of the mystery sponsor the host had teased.
Originally the producers planned to split the $200k per team into halves; then Zane called and offered his support to bail them out. From that point on, though, he gained influence.
Zane wasn't about to lose money: he donated $200k and bought a 20% stake in the show. From now on, every episode's flow would need his sign-off. From a certain perspective, Memory Tour was actually a lucrative variety show.
[Wow, Ollie you struck gold. Your bro's got power! I'm your long-lost sister, take me home and we'll have a reunion.]
[Cub, we agreed to stay broke together—what gives? You're getting rich behind mom's back?]
[If Ollie starts posting, don't make us buy Yellow Kangaroo's expansion coupons for him—we're not doing that.]
Whether or not Ollie had "made it," he certainly got roasted for almost half an hour.
He still had to stay overnight at the set. Thank God Caleb wasn't close by; who knew what that wicked manager might do to this small, helpless hamster?
He'd finally squeezed a crumb of signal out of the network and opened Instagram—only to find himself trending over being photographed at Lumin Club!
Wahhh—he'd snuck out claiming the Bureau needed him, then went to the food court to show off. He couldn't believe he'd run into a fan.
His brother had been across the room meeting someone for business and noticed him, so he'd asked Ollie to go get snacks from Lumin Club. He admitted he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, but two minutes inside and—snap—papped. It would have been better if it were just a paparazzi picture. He'd much rather the trending story be a harmless romantic rumor…
People could not just take pictures of others without asking! Annoying paparazzi!
"I booked you on Wilderness Survival—the one Lex Song was on. Filming starts in November," Caleb said coldly, handing down the final decision.
Ollie went stone still. He felt like he'd petrified.
That survival show required a closed shoot for half a month.
Half a month!
He'd basically been chewed up. Ollie had lost all will to live.
"Caleb—Caleb! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I swear I won't do it again. You can't be like this to me—after everything we've been through—"
"What bond? There's no such thing. Go earn money for me. Don't think that blowing up a brother's name gives you a shield. If you make another trending incident before your birthday event I'll release the plush you hate the most and sell it—then your dirt goes global!"
If there was anything in this world worse than forbidding him to eat, it was the hamster plush merch the studio had just produced.
The plush was modeled on Ollie's true form—cute and everything—but for some reason someone decided to add a tacky embroidered hand on the plush's rear forming a finger-heart.
When Ollie first saw the sample he'd been delighted—he thought the plush captured him perfectly and wanted to bring a bunch back to Northridge for Uncle Ned and the others. Then he saw the cheap embroidery and almost fainted.
Because he'd been locked into shooting an immersive drama, the factory had already gone to full production—too late to change. The thought of that finger-heart hamster being given out as free swag at his birthday event made him seriously reconsider being a celebrity.
Maybe it was time to retire and go back to Northridge to farm.
Uncle Ned, Uncle Qin, Uncle Qilin, and Uncle Pixiu could farm; he'd lie on his little cushion and watch.
Looks like he'd need to manufacture some scandal of his own.
He really couldn't afford this plush humiliation.
"Fine, Caleb. Wilderness Survival, whatever. I'm a little fae—no problem. I'll crush it. I'll bring back first place for you!"
[—end chapter—]