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

[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.

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

It does hurt. It hurts a lot which is clear by the pained wince on her face as she starts to pick herself up and cradles her arm. Ah, that is definitely going to leave a bruise....

She's still a little dazed by the hit, which may be a small mercy for Nux as she misses most of his stammered, panicky apology. The people crowding around the scene are quick to step in though and somebody reaches down to help her back to her feet. She murmurs a thanks and turns to see who or what had run into her....

But the sight is quickly cut off as a small mob descends on Nux, hands roughly pushing him away from the unfortunate star and more than one angry voice orders him to back off with a clear threat of harm in it.

This might go from worse to even worse pretty fast.

[witnessme]

Nux feels bad enough already without the judgment and ire of all the eyes on them. The wince on her face is life a knife in his chest, and he bites his scarred up lip and turns to head toward that ice sculpture...

...only to face what looks, essentially, like a bonafide angry mob. He's shoved away, and wide-eyed, he holds his hands up helplessly.

"It...it was an accident! I d-didn't mean to!" he stammers as the angry voice's beefy owner glares him down and advances threateningly.

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Well, Kirara's no longer knocked for a loop by that impact. Enough to recognize what's happening here and wonder if she knows that guy... hard to tell with the napkin around his face. Just what is with that anyway?

Buuut that's not important because this whole thing is clearly going nowhere good fast. Kirara's fine with a little chivalry and everything, but this is going a bit too far!

"Hey, hey!" And she's suddenly there, sneaking in between Nux and the big guy menacing him. She smiles, holding her hands up... which should hopefully make things better even with that bruise on her arm. "Look, you don't have to do all this. I'm fine, and I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. Accidents happen, right?"

Please don't just be looking for a fight, big guy. She's tiny and doesn't want to give her secret identity away stopping what is almost a lynch mob.

[witnessme]

Nux is already preparing for a pounding. While he's sure that his hand-to-hand fighting abilities are plenty good enough to take someone bigger than he is, he knows that this is a night that reflects on all Numbered, and if he hits a normal guy and hurts him, it could get everyone into trouble, even the ones who weren't involved at all, just through association.

"Accidents happen, yeah," the big guy says skeptically. "Can't really call that an 'accident' from where I was standing. I'd call it a creep. You need first aid? I can see if there's a medic or a doctor in the building."

"F-first aid?" Nux asks in a quavery voice. "Oh no! Uh, you're not that that b-bad are you? Oh no..."

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

... Not to mention ruining a good party and giving the tabloids more fuel than she needs to deal with right now. "Valhalla Star Involved In Factor Gala Brawl" is not something she needs to see sitting on the shelves at the supermarket checkout lines, thank you very much! Plus, her agent might just have a heart attack.

... Oh, yeah, and she'd hate to see this poor guy beat to a pulp on her account. That's a reason too.

"I don't think he was out to try anything, and I really am fine. I've had way worse falls than that during filming." That's... mostly true, but it doesn't mean her arm isn't throbbing or that there won't be a bruise there later but she can handle it. She's also dealt with a few creeps in her time so, in fairness, she at least knows she's not dealing with one here. Still, she smiles through it, even taking a step forward to move between the big guy and his would-be target just to head off any ideas he might have of throwing a punch anyway and giving him some big, hopeful eyes. "We can all just move on from this, can't we? No harm done."

[witnessme]

Nux hastily shakes his head to confirm that truly, he wasn't out to try anything, as Kirara starts defending him from the skeptical witnesses. She has a lot of charm and charisma, to the point where she does appear to be getting through effectively to them, but that doesn't change that Nux is still being rather unkindly regarded.

Then she's close, actually between Nux and the big guy (flipping white knight...). He quickly lowers his guard with the small Japanese girl in the way, keeping his hands at his sides even though he's still breathing hard and looking darkly over her shoulder at Nux.

"You should still call security. Could be he meant no harm, and could be you're in danger."

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Flipping white knight indeed. It's actually only a conscious effort that stops her from rolling her eyes at the dark glare being directed over her toward Nux. Seriously, guy? She's pretty sure his head would have exploded if he'd been around whenever she'd been filming any of her fight scenes.

Still, as much as she'd like to spell out just how much she's a big girl who can look after herself "Movie Star Loses Shit At Big Numbered Party" is yet another news story she doesn't want to see.

"I appreciate it, really, and I promise I'll do just that but for now let's just leave it alone and not mess up the party, okay? Please?"

For her, big guy, just... take the hint and beat it already. Go grunt at something in the parking lot or whatever!

[witnessme]

The crowd is starting to disperse at this point, since the altercation has apparently reached its peak and doesn't look like it's going to get more heated. Even the big guy grunts a curt response and only sends one more intimidating glare at Nux before he heads off.

Nux watches her uncertainly. His lips are all but forgotten, but the tips of his ears are bright red. This situation was infinitely more embarrassing than a few new scars. He starts to back away.

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Finally, after a long and tense standoff the crowd seems to be moving away sensing that there isn't going to be a fight here after all. After a little while longer, even the big guy seems to get the hint and finally starts to back off. Once he's out of there, Kirara breathes out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted!

"Jeez." She mutters to herself, hands on her hips as she makes a face after him. "What, did he think I was just gonna jump into his arms after all that? I can't stand guys like that...."

... But there's still the matter of her arm to worry about. Past experience tells her it's not too bad, but it's still throbbing away. A quick glance at the stage tells her that it's nearly her turn to go up there and deliver her speech. Not something she can easily do with a swelling, painful arm. No choice, she'll need to do something about this.

She lifts her head, looking around before catching sight of the masked assailant trying to melt into the party and... well, there's suddenly a sparkly yellow typhoon heading at Nux.

"Oh no, you're not off the hook just yet." And then there's grabbing at his sleeve and dragging him along. "You still have to find me some ice for my arm."

Take some responsibility, man!

[witnessme]

Nux finds himself listening very closely to what she has to say about guys she can't stand, and makes mental notes not to be like that (even as he secretly kind of hopes that maybe he's the exception, and once she realizes how wonderful he can be, his arms will be the best possible ones to jump into.) He is a little bit slack-jawed as she considers what needs to be done next, and more than a little bit red in the face and the tips of his ears. He completely regrets coming tonight at all.

But if there's one thing Nux has always been really good at, it's following directions. As she advances on him and tells him what he has to do, he nods dumbly, all but forgetting the stupid napkin tied around his lower face.

That ice sculpture swan is still there. He hurries toward it after trying to give Kirara a sweaty-handed, reassuring pat on the shoulder, and then takes off his suit jacket to give his muscular arms a wider range of movement. He grabs a cake server and manages, in one motion, to knock the head clean off. As it clatters to the floor, he takes the napkin off his face, using it to wrap the ice and holding it out timidly toward Kirara.

"I... I g-got you some ice. Hope it helps a lot."