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

[darkhourdear]

Phillip was dressed nice, and by the end of the whole giving a speech thing he feels a lot better. Though, after being in Locke for five minutes and not turning into a death avatar and not having Nyx rise up out of the Earth also did a lot for his nerves. The world is not going to get destroyed today, and that's awesome.

He's trying very hard to strike a balance between 'sort of professional' and 'optimistic' in the same way his speech did whenever he's addressed by anyone who wasn't Numbered, so he's kind of relieved to let that go a bit when he sees a familiar-ish face. Mostly the professionalism. The constant optimism is pretty part for the course, with him. "Hi! How are you?"

[meteormercenary]

Jacob approaches Phillip lightly, trying to be the least amount of awkward possible. He isn't completely sure how to talk to someone nearly half his age, much less one that gave a rather well done speech, but he supposes he'll try anyway. He gives a polite smile as he stands before Phillip.

"I'm fine, thanks." He raises his glass a little in a cheers motion. "I liked your speech, very well done."

He pauses a moment, with a few drifting thoughts.

"I hope you're doing well, also. I'm sorry, my name's Jacob. Nice to meet you."

Although Phillip's name was said on stage, Jacob thinks it rather awkward to just start talking to Phillip as though he knows him and will allow Phillip the pleasure of properly introducing himself.

[darkhourdear]

It's ok, Jacob. Phillip figures out how to talk to everyone. Not always well, but... he sure can come up with things to talk about.

"Thanks!" And even though he knows he was introduced on stage, it feels weird to not introduce himself here. "I'm Phillip. It's nice to meet you too!"

[meteormercenary]

He gives a small smile and glances over his shoulder at the party.

"Rather interesting that they would go to so much trouble for the Numbered, isn't it?" He wonders if his wording outed him already. He'll just have to play it off if it does. "So, you're from Locke? How does it feel to be back home?"

[darkhourdear]

It doesn't out him, exactly, and Phillip won't say anything since he's not officially outed either... but it's noted. "Yeah, I am. Um... it's kind of weird, but it's kind of nice to be back, too." Mostly to know that he can come back without Ruining Everything, but.

[meteormercenary]

Weird is definitely to be expected in this situation. It would probably be strange if it wasn't weird to come back to a hometown of mostly rubble and destruction; so Jacob definitely shares Phillip's sentiment on this and nods a little bit.

He takes a sip of his drink as he tries to think of a way to continue the conversation. He might be feeling a bit awkward, trying to be friendly with a kid he doesn't know.

"So, your speech. I hope we can make a positive change happen, too. It would be nice if we could help this place not just get fixed, but to be better."

[jasminebloominginshadow]

When greeted, Jasmine turned, and... actually smiled when she saw who it was. "Philip!" she exclaimed. "I was surprised you came back here. I heard your speech earlier! It was pretty good...!"

Seeing Philip here made Jasmine feel good. The boy had seemed pretty nervous about the possibility of coming back to Locke, and with good reason.

[darkhourdear]

Phillip had been nervous, but when you get specifically requested to do a thing it's really hard to turn it down. And it turned out alright, so far. He's not going to address that part right now, though.

"Thanks!" he says, grinning in return, "I hope everyone else thought it was ok." It was one thing for the Numbered to like it- he's not sure how the business type people would be feeling and all.

[jasminebloominginshadow]

"Well, I can't speak for them, but it was pretty great, especially for someone your age."

She looked to the side, before leaning in and chuckling. "So... looks like no worries about unfortunate things happening, huh?"

[darkhourdear]

Phillip manages a weak smile at all. "So far, so good," he says- Jasmine doesn't know why, exactly, he was specifically worried about him and Nyx in combination (and if she found out somehow he will be very concerned), but it's still kind of unnerving to have it addressed so directly. Of course, it's also entirely possible that she just means with the party. Bad things tend to happen at Numbered gatherings...

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Jasmine nodded, and waved her hand. "I won't say anything more about it. Tonight's about having a good time, right?"

She stood up, and smiled. "I don't know about you, but... it feels good to have something positive going on for us for once."

[prismaticdestruction]

Even if she tried, Dani knew she would never be able to sneak up on Phillip. Her wings would always give her away at the very least. So she would approach from the front, a wide smile on her face and wearing a hoodie over her dress. Why..well..It's Dani. The ten year old just keeps her manners and keeps in mind the people around them as she speaks.

"It's been a while since we've been able to talk face to face, hasn't it?"

[darkhourdear]

"Oh! Hi, Dani!" It had been a while, if only because the whole mass movement out of Locke City made it sort of hard to keep in contact with people if you weren't trying really, really hard. Still, Phillip's happy to see her, especially since she was awfully panicked when they last talked. "Yeah, it has been. How are you?"

[prismaticdestruction]

"It has! Everything got chaotic and then it just got harder and harder. Almost makes you wish it was easy again."

If only because she's been hiding again. For many different reasons but for now, she could feel safe. If anything- Dani was thinking about setting up a email that only her friends knew so she could talk to them...even when out and about.

"I've been okay. Just trying to keep up in school..thinking about seeing if I can take a bit more to keep me busy..Also planning on going out to look where my family ended up. I don't think they are in Europe anymore."

[darkhourdear]

"Yeah." It would be great if things would hurry up and get easy again. It was supposed to after they finished everything but... alien invasions don't clean up as quickly as anyone would like, apparently.

Oh, right. Dani was another of the ones who left home because of the Numbered. (Phillip thinks he and Toushirou might be the only ones who stayed put, and Toushirou was the only one who was 'out'.) "You're with... your cousin, right?"

[prismaticdestruction]

Apparently not, Dani had actually swapped from Public school to a online school just to stay out of sight..also letting her travel as she wished.

"Yeah, Emi took me in when my Dad and sister went back. I haven't heard from them in a while..nor from my Mom. I'm not too worried- I know Europe well enough to go looking."

Probably best left unsaid that she goes alone on those trips.

"But still..Everything is done for a reason I guess."

[billkiller]

Arlene is surprised to see someone so young at an event like this, and even more surprised to see that he's one of the speakers. She sips her white wine as she listens to it, and then when it's over, she gives it a little bit of time before seeking him out. She's curious, of course, maybe a little concerned... but above all, she is extremely jealous. She tends to be, for every star that on the rise, or at least every one that's made it higher and grander than hers ever did.

"Hey," she greets, a sleek and regal vision in her long black evening gown. She's tall and thin and certainly looks the part of a former model far more than she ever has. Tonight, people might actually believe her when she makes that claim. "I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. That was a nice speech."

She pauses.

"So... where are your parents, tonight? They didn't let you come here all alone, did they?"

[darkhourdear]

"Thanks!" Phillip's been getting a decent amount of praise for his speech, and he's hoping it's honest as opposed to people being polite. He hopes his speaking helped, and if nothing else, hopes it didn't make things worse.

As for his parents... "No, they're not here. It's ok, I'm 13, and I brought a friend with me.." Because clearly that's old enough to be halfway across the country with only a friend. (As far as his parents, as far as they knew he was contacted by Mr. Factor for his acting skills and clear bias in favor of the Numbered, and was brought here by plane or something instead of teleporter.)

[billkiller]

"You're welcome. It really was good," she congratulates, even though it might be a little superfluous at this point. Like many who crave praise, Arlene's not great at giving it.

"13 is pretty young, though," she points out. "How old is your friend? And do your parents know you're away? Did they sign a permissions form or something?"

[darkhourdear]

He appreciates her trying, at least.

Phillip tries to hide his frown when she calls him too young. He knows he's not openly Numbered or anything, but seriously, nothing is going to hurt him here. He's fine. "My parents know, yeah. Mr. Factor helped me get here and everything. And my friend's a couple grades ahead of me." Which is to say Toushirou's actually a year older than him and skipped some grades, and neglects to mention that Toushirou will look like he's 10 for next 200 years.

[billkiller]

Arlene, for all her flaws and all her envy, isn't a terrible person. Just kind of misguided sometimes. She does her best with what she has and if she comes up short, well... blame her upbringing, she is always quick to say.

"What do you think of Mr. Factor, anyway?" she asks casually. "Isn't he running around doing card tricks for everyone? Awfully funny behavior for a CEO."

He should be dressed nice and drinking wine and making hoity-toity small talk. Like Arlene!

"Hm. I still don't think that most parents would let someone your age be so far from home all by yourself. I wouldn't, if I was your mama."

[switch_over]

Alexandra had only really spoken to Phillip once before, so she was kind of expecting the cheery disposition when she ran into him. Her eyes crept past him and back toward the table where her food was waiting. It was so close yet so far away.

She turned her attention back to him and shrugged softly.

"I've been worse, you?" She was a grumpy person, she wasn't going to drop that image because she was a party.

"So... Doing speeches now are we?"

[darkhourdear]

Doesn't matter if she's grumpy. Phillip is very, very hard to convince that he should be anything other than positive.

"I'm pretty good!" he says, smiling. He's a little surprised she came, since she was super grumpy the first time they met, but he's glad. "I guess so. Mr. Factor saw a play I was in and said he'd thought I'd do a good job!"

[switch_over]

Honestly she was only really here because her grandfather told her to come along. This really wasn't the kind of thing she enjoyed. Though to be honest, finding something she did enjoy was not an easy task.

"Well, you didn't screw up. So I guess he wasn't wrong." That was... almost a compliment? It was a step up anyways.

"Is working for him going to become a regular thing for you?" She's not overly interested, but she can feign it. It at the very least will pass the time.

[darkhourdear]

"Thanks!" Phillip is used to things that don't sound like compliments actually being high praise. Being best friends with Toushirou really lowers the bar on that kind of thing.

Oh. That's a good question. "Um... I don't know," he says, thinking this over, "I mean, no one said anything like that when I agreed to do this, so unless he needs an actor or speaker for other stuff, then probably not."