Factor Industries Charity Event: October 18th, 2016

[ceofactor]

Even for Benjamin Factor, arranging this charity event had been something of a challenge. Just as he held great influence in Gateway City, Thunder Corp's influence in Locke was great as well. But with time and money, all things were indeed possible in this case, and the Memorial Dance Hall was playing host to the night's events. It was a glamorous affair: politicians, captains of business, dignitaries, and celebrities had been invited. For whatever controversy that existed, the world legitimately wanted to heal the wounds left by the invasion, and that meant there were a lot of people who wanted to use events like this to either advance that cause, or to make themselves look good.

But they weren't the only sorts of individuals who had recieved an invitation.

Benjamin Factor had also made it so the Numbered would be invited to his little party. Arrivals through the teleporter would be greeted by drivers at the community center, and the same courtesy was extended to anyone who might live in Locke. The only stipulation? Was that anyone who came make an effort to make themselves presentable. If that was a problem, or anyone arrived without knowing, they had clothes on hand for people to change into.

Indeed, it seemed that the Numbered would be well provided for tonight. That being said, their presence would get people to talk, given the presence of news crews making live coverage. Nevertheless... "getting people to talk" seemed to be exactly what Benjamin Factor wanted to happen.

[Event Links: Event Speakers | NPC Interaction | General Mingle]

Comments

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Well, Kirara definitely wasn't about to miss this party. She'd even dove into her timetable to reschedule a few meetings here and there to clear up the time for it. She's certainly hard to miss in the crowd, dressed to turn heads in a yellow party dress. She's on the list of speakers tonight, after all, so she had to look her absolute best.

There's no wallflowering for this girl at least. The whole time she'll be right in the middle of everything, happily chatting with anybody who approaches her. It's a party, she's in her element, and her energy seems to know no bounds. If someone's lucky, they might even get a dance.

[peacefulwinter]

Keeping tabs on Lily in the media means keeping up with pop culture news, and Winter easily spots the walking former headline from across the room. Kirara Hoshimoto... yes, that's the kind of person she'd expect to see here, Numbered aside. She's on her A-game tonight, too. Which is all the more reason Winter can't help but want to introduce herself, right? Movie star, ambitious, outgoing, a lot of things Winter has wanted to be for a long time, Kirara is. So she's not going to hold back. Or, well. She'll hold back just a little bit.

Closing distance to her, waiting politely until the other girl is done talking, she'll step in with a big grin. "Kirara Hoshimoto, right?" As if she doesn't know, gosh. "I saw your last movie! You were great. I'm... kind of a nerd for that kind of stuff anyway, of course. Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Winter Tsukuyomi. Cure Diamond, also, but I'm hoping not to have to show that off tonight." Stop babbling, honey, you've lived your own dream. Don't fangirl over hers.

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

This whole gala is far from Kirara's first rodeo, so to speak. She's attended more than a few parties in the months since she hit the big time, and plenty more before that, so she knows just what to do to fit right in. Only a part of that is appearance though. Honestly, she loves nothing more. The people, the energy in the room, every bit of it is a joy to her.

She's in the middle of one of many chats when Winter approaches, another person congratulating her on her success. It's repetitive, but she's happy to accept the compliment each time with a smile on her face.

When Winter steps in, she shifts her focus easily and politely and blinks once before smiling as Winter babbles through her introduction. Well, well, this is a fun surprise. She and Winter have met before, after all, but only one of them actually knows it.

"Oh, thank you." She laughs, letting Winter's babbling slide without drawing any attention toward it. It's something else she's gotten adjusted to in recent months, and Winter's is far from the worst she's seen. "It's nice to finally get to meet you, Winter. I've been following you and the others for so long. I guess you could say I'm a fan of yours too."

[peacefulwinter]

It is a very good thing Winter's fangirl squeal is internal. It'd probably be enough to deafen anyone caught in the unmodulated sound. "Pleased to meet you, as well! Ah, by that, do you mean Numbered-you, or... Precure-you? They're kind of two very different sides of me, I feel like."

[dragon_blossom]

"W-ell there, miss Kirara Hoshimoto," Marina greeted as she approached the actress. Note that the eyepatch is designed to match her somewhat floral black and red dress. "I'm not surprised to see a big name like you here - just that you had time for it."

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Kirara looked up at Marina's greeting, taking a brief glance over her look for the evening. Huh. Managing to coordinate an eyepatch with a dress, she's actually kind of impressed.

"Well there yourself, miss Marina Santana." She grinned, turning to face her. "Oh, this is the kind of thing I make time for. I never miss a party."

[dragon_blossom]

It was becoming a bit of a talent - maybe she should sell designer eyepatches. Surely she could find customers in the central parts of North America.

"Ah, I can't imagine wanting to miss one like this either. It's a bigger deal than most, hm?"

[darkhourdear]

Phillip remembers this girl- it would be kind of hard not to, when you have an actual movie star on the network. It's after he's given his speech when he comes across, torn between officially introducing himself off network or just... hoping she remembers. (Or alternatively was paying attention when he was talking.) He's not very good at introducing himself to people out of the blue anyway, so...

"Um, hello!" he says, cheerfully enough when he semi-stumbles across her, "How are you?"

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

She's been paying very close attention to the speakers so far. Besides which, she's pretty good with faces so she does recognize Philip when he comes up to her.

"Oh, hi! Philip, right?" She answers, just as easily cheerful as ever with a small laugh. "I'm doing great. How about you?"

[darkhourdear]

"I'm good!" Oh good, she knows his name, he didn't want to reintroduce himself. "Your speech was really good." It was a lie, about her not being Numbered, but he told the say lie so he really can't say anything about that even if he was inclined to.

[scarlet_devil]

"Ah! Kirara! Are you enjoying the party?"

There's no wallflowering for Emilia either, and soon enough she approached the girl boldly. Emi was dressed to the nines herself, because she saw no reason not to go all the way.

Oh, but to be able to finally meet Kirara face to face...

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

It's quite a night already and Kirara's come across quite a few people. Both ones she'd already met and new ones altogether. Emi here is certainly a familiar face as she comes out of the crowd to approach her. She's pretty good at names and faces, she's nearly made a career out of it, so she knows Emi on sight.

"Hm? Oh, Emi, hi!" It appears the time has finally come for Emi to meet her in person. ... She might be a bit shorter than she looks on TV. "Absolutely, I'm having a great time."

She pauses a second, looking over Emi's fancy dress.

"Wow, you look awesome tonight."

[scarlet_devil]

She does, really. Emilia was expecting her to be taller, but the vampire pays that little mind. Emi was still going to be shorter since she's five foot nothing.

"Good to hear... I admit, I was expecting some trouble to start."

Indeed she is liking the attention her friends give her dress. She even gives Kirara a little twirl with a small grin.

"Why, thank you. I do try to look my best."

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Oh, look! It's the girl Lily feels like she accidentally insulted by not knowing who the hell she was. She's made efforts to try and rectify that recently! Perhaps she should... no, yes. She walks up to approach Kirara, smiling.

"Hello, there. Having a good time tonight?"

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Oh, hey, it's that one girl who apparently never watches movies or the news! Okay, no, that's not fair. She hadn't recognized her but she'd still been perfectly nice to talk to after the fact so there's absolutely no reason to hold that against her.

So, Kirara greets the moon-dweller with a friendly smile. ... Gosh, she's really tall in person.

"Lily, hi. I'm having a blast tonight! Best time I've had at one of these things in a long time." And she's been to plenty of these things. "How about you? Enjoying the spotlight for tonight at least?"

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Oh, she watches the news. Long enough to listen to people bad mouthing her. Still, Kirara seemed like a nice girl, so... why not be friendly?

She laughs a bit nervously, all the same. "To be honest, I'm still not really... used to the spotlight. Even doing interviews is kind of rough in the past, but at least those I can kind of... mentally prepare myself for?"

She grins. "But then, I guess that's all normal for you, huh?"

[witnessme]

Nux is beside himself. His lips are worse than chapped, they're scarred as if someone was trying to turn his face into a cartoon skull with a knife. The lines slicing through both lips have healed thick and obvious, and his previous calls for chapstick seem ridiculously naive now.

He dealt with the scars on his chest a little bit better, all things considered. Those actually looked kind of cool, in the shape of an engine and all. But this is on his face, can't be hidden with a shirt, so he finds himself looking for anything to cover it up, even if the result looks even more ridiculous.

He has a napkin tied around his lower face when he draws near Kirara, looking like some kind of suited culinary bandit. He's trying to make his way to the men's room where he can look at it again and try to get used to yet another drastic change in his appearance. Maybe if he practices enough, he can use the powers he still has thanks to Albero's modifications and disguise it, but it would take a lot of continuous effort and thought.

Maybe not too much.

He focuses all his attention on smoothing out the skin around his mouth, and he thinks it's working, but he's so distracted that he doesn't see where he's going. The young bald man with the napkin tied around his face walks right into a splendid vision in yellow, and when he sees who it is, he greets her with a wordless, panicked yelp.

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Meanwhile, Kirara's is none the wiser to Nux's frantic meanderings, far too wrapped up in the atmosphere of the party. She's barely had a moment to herself since arriving but that's just fine with her, she's more than happy to soak up the attention for now even as she waits for her name to be called to go up and give that speech.

She's in the middle of one of many conversations now, chatting away with some... executive type in a smart suit. She's sure there was a name mentioned somewhere along the way but it's escaped her for the moment. As such, the odd look on the young man's face is nowhere near enough warning before she's suddenly barreled into.

Unfortunately, when Kirara doesn't happen to be transformed into a magical powerhouse capable of knocking giant monsters on their butts with a punch to the jaw she's a rather slightly built, small Japanese girl, so the unexpected impact is enough to make her stumble with a sharp gasp of surprise. Double unfortunately, one of her high heeled shoes catches and slips out beneath her as she struggles to right herself and she ends up toppling right over and gives out a sharp, pained exclamation as she lands right on her elbow.

"OW!"

... And now several heads turn with several more shocked gasps as they take in the sight of the crazy masked bald man who'd apparently just bullrushed a celebrity in the middle of a fancy party.

Sucks to be Nux.

[witnessme]

It sucks a lot to be Nux. He stares at the object of his long-time crush on the floor, and it looks like she's hit her elbow in a way that really hurt. That's all his fault.

He extends a shaky hand to help her up, but then he thinks that maybe he should refrain from looking like he's even thinking about touching her.

"UH... uh! Sorry! I wasn't trying to grope you or anything!" he insists, voice panicky. "I... my mouth looks diseased, and I had to go to the bathroom. I mean... uh, get to the bathroom, not like that...!"

This is just getting worse.

"I... I should get you some ice."

There's a nearby ice sculpture. It's a swan. He's pretty sure he can at least chip the head off or something with a fork.

[billkiller]

Arlene's moving through the party feeling like an Oscar statuette; tall, golden, and coveted. She might not be the youngest or most conventionally beautiful in this room. She's definitely not the most graceful or cultured, but by her standards, especially in the last bleak decade, she looks elegant indeed in a floor-length, fitted black evening gown, long gloves, and dripping in jewelry that she can only afford thanks to her new employer: Thunder Corp.

She reaches up to adjust one of her heavy diamond earrings as she approaches Kirara.

"Cute dress," she comments bluntly. "Very age-appropriate. With the kinds of things you see some younger girls wearing these days, it's actually very refreshing."

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Oooooh, good. Kirara remembers this face coming up to her from a couple of network conversations, a couple of... awkward conversations to say the least and she's looking hella bedazzled. Like she just drove a dump truck into a bedazzle factor and dove in. She's pretty willing to greet anybody who approaches her but in this case... she might be avoiding eye contact. Just a little.

To no avail, it seems! As the woman seems to pinpoint her like a guided missile and come right up to her. Yay.

"Aw, thanks." She smiles, managing not to bristle outwardly at the... compliment. "You look great too. Just how I'd expect a model of everything to look."

[billkiller]

Being very much a true member of the nouveau riche, Arlene hasn't really had time to go from hick to beauty without a little bit of residual tackiness. That goes for her overbearing, overglittering jewelry as well as her manners, and Kirara's quiet reluctance to talk to her doesn't do a thing to deter her from approaching.

"Yeah?" Arlene asks, giving a slightly braying laugh as she plays with her necklace. "That's sweet of you to say. It's expensive enough, so I'd better look good, huh?"

She probably thinks that this is a sweetly self-deprecating thing to say, as opposed to deeply and truly tacky. But no one has ever bothered to teach Arlene such things.

[charcoalfeather]

There she is...! One of the people that Rakka was looking forward to possibly seeing here, and to her fortune, she wasn't wrong!

She's at the same party as celebrities, oh boy oh gosh. "K-kirara! Hi! Do you remember me?" Because if she doesn't then this is going to be quite the pickle Rakka inserted herself into.

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Even if Rakka's excited voice hadn't reached her over the crowd, it wouldn't be easy to miss the one girl in the room with a glowing halo over her head. Catching sight of the shining ring, she paused and turned Rakka's way, smiling when she saw her.

"Oh, hey, Rakka!" That's right, she knew her name. Because, really, how do you forget meeting a real angel girl. She giggled a bit. "Of course I remember you, why wouldn't I?"

[charcoalfeather]

It's perfect for when she gets lost in crowds, and Raye has to find her.

"Aha!" Yesssss. She knows her name! That's officially awesome. "That's great! I was hoping you would." She's all smiles now, finally getting a good look at the movie star.

"You look amazing! I love your dress."