McConnel grunted.  "Better hope so."

After a moment, he let out a big sigh. "What we need is ears on the inside.
 We've got outside eyes and ears, but they sweep the penthouses regularly.  We've placed a few bugs, but they haven't lasted long.  We can kit you out or you can provide a frequency, it doesn't matter.  We don't expect it to last long.

"As it happens, The Arctic Club is hosting a black tie party tonight for the Wrecked Energy Drink promotions team.  It's a gimmick and a networking thing.  But you know DuPennier is going to be there.  So... if you're up for a little high glamour?  We can probably get you in."

"Now, what do you need from me?"

--
So... How do you wanna approach this?  I've got plans, but wanna have McConnel give you whatever you might want or need before whatever happens happens and you can go do the hero thing!
This message was last edited by the player at 06:17, Tue 10 May 2022.

Cythi listens in and wonders if she might have been better off going to one of the other quests but decides in the end to leave it.  "It sounds like we have to go in as higher end girls of sorts or at least dressed up a bit."  She says realizing that sounds silly.  "What I am saying is definitely if you need us to do ourselves up a bit I am definitely willing to do so.  Although if they needed extra staff I may be better suited to that.  I am told that I make a good coffee barista and probably why I got good tips.  I think that works for cocktail waitress.  But then again it probably also works for just a girl in a club...."  At which point she looks at Gagamba hoping for a rescue.

The hair hanging over Gagamba's face hid any emotions she may feel as Stitch talked up their amazing abilities. She was pretty good at hitting things, but infiltrating a high class gathering? When Cythi looked at her, she had to resist the urge to say, "Don't look at me! I've never even been inside a club like this!" But that's not what McConnel wanted to hear. At least she knew her way around surveillance devices.

"We can plant your bugs where they might do some good." She said, in the spooky voice that she used to scare bad guys. "And maybe convince the right people to say the wrong things for you."

Stitches nodded in agreement to the ladies. “We got some room in the slush fund to get you ladies appropriate outfits with makeup and hair for the night if needed. Got to look the part after all right? I can also show up as one your dashing husbands. I have experience with these types of settings, and can guide you along the subtleties. My winning charm and ability to size people up may come in handy as well. Cythi can be our personal assistant fetching things for us which gives her reason to move about. The question is whether this is an invitation only event.”

"I remember Sammie before her shit went sideways.  She was a good cop.  Knew which side of the line to play things.  It ain't a skill you pick up easily or ever forget." McConnel said.  "I won't stop you from dressing up if that's the route you wanna go.  Way I see it, there are three avenues into that party.


We can probably get you an invite.  Media pass won't be hard to come by.  There's probably gotta be a casting call for Wrecked Girls eye-candy.  But I can tell you for certain that the Arctic Club wouldn't bat an eye for a couple of extra banquets staffers showing up."

"I recommend for me to go banquet staffer as while I am not sure I can do the eye candy as I am probably too young for it....I can likely pull off being a banquette person of sorts.  If you think it is better we go another route I will defer to suggestions."  Cythi says.  She does this as she is young.....sure she is attractive and even she can not doubt that.  But she also as undereducated as she is realizes she does not have the couth to play the higher class and might show too much discomfort to be eye-candy.  But then again whose to say as she has never tried.

(OOC - For metadata if not read on character sheet Cythi does have attractive*2. Seh is just over this side of 18

Angel looked at Stitch from beneath the locks covering her face. "Sure, I'll be your arm candy." She said. "Just remember," she added, "That's arm candy, not hand candy."

Stitches held up his hands defensively at Angel. “Okay okay. I get it. I do ask you don’t break any other guy’s arm if they make a pass. Let me try to diffuse the situation first. If I snap my fingers, it means they won’t listen and force may be necessary.”

He looked at Cythi with concern on his face. “You don’t know how they treat their female staff. You are nothing but pieces of meat to them that they can take free range whenever they want. I would feel more comfortable if you were part of the press or our entourage.”

"If it will work better then I will be part of your entourage and even if you really want I can play the arm candy.  But if an assistant is available I think I would feel that I could more fulfill that role then others.  But if Gangamba can help so I don't make a total fool of myself that would be wonderful."  She waits to see what the preference is.

"Thank you for the concern as well Stitches."  She says genuinely grateful and a bit surprised.

True to McConnell's word, arranging for them to be on the guest list was almost laughably simple.

BY the time they arrived, the party was apparently in full-swing.   There was a guest list. Supposedly.  But the entire affair seemed more like it was being run by a bunch of frat boys who'd already been dipping into the sauce.

The hotel itself was old-school high class, decorated in understated tans and golds.   The walls and pillars in the front lobby were decorated with framed photographs and artists drawings of many of the original pioneers who'd stayed or frequented the Arctic Club in it's original incarnation.

And though the staff kept an impeccable approach, you could hear the party from the lobby.

By the time they arrived upstairs, there were maybe two-hundred people or so there, and the room felt like it was maybe half full.   It had an enormous glass-paned ceiling above decorated with frescos at every turn, that gave the place the feeling of expansiveness.

A small dias was set up at the far end of the room, and a smattering of tables were aligned in a semi-circle around an open area that would, presumably, become a dance-floor.   A small bar had been set up on either side of the dance=-floor, and there were already clusters of people around each.

A woman was on stage, singing a rather raucous version of "Uptown Funk" to a quality karaoke.  She had to be a ringer: a tall, stunning black woman dressed like a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader without the actual logos.

Everyone was dressed up.  Suits and gowns were the norm, though every now and again a full-blown tuxedo or designer gown was visible.  Some of the local celebrities were there, too.  Not the least of which was tech giant Maximillian Mars and his companion Elyssa Von Voom.  He was standing back with an untouched drink in a martini-glass, while she spoke amiably with a couple of blonde girls in matching black sequined dresses.

Nobody even batted an eye at Angel and Cythi's presence.  If they felt like they were underage (they weren't), there were enough blonde bimbos in the room who looked like they were closer to fifteen than nineteen.


Just setting the scene proper.  Will move things along once you
The room itself:
https://www.hilton.com/im/en/S...p;rw=1214&rh=683

Cythi is not sure if she is thankful or not on what she sees here but one thing for certain is she felt uncomfortable as heck.  But now was the time to fake it until you make it which includes putting on a winning smile.

She would have begged not to be dressed as Arm Candy but in the end would have let it happen but only so much as wearing a fancy dress as she never wears makeup.  Still she has her natural glow which is likely enough.  At least in her mind.  But as stated she has her smile and even likely appears as air headed as she tries to focus on what she needs which is not to stick out.  And that seems like the bimbo way she saw is best and if it works she may see things that need to be seen.

"I have my eyes open!" She says to the other two if they can hear her.

It didn't take too long to get a certain amount of attention.   The hall, for all that it was opulent and redolent of a bygone era, carried the miasma of a predatory swamp in it's core.  Something to do with the people, no doubt.  This was, after all, a glorified night club.

Wrecked Energy drink targeted the young adult demographic--those who wanted to be seen as "extreme" and exciting.  The drink, locally bottled--was known for it's over-the-top commercial segments with the tagline "Get Wrecked!"  They were overt and obvious in that they were selling the fantasy of the unassailable protagonist, someone beyond mere mundane laws.

One of the hotel wait-staff came up to the three of them with a tray of hors d'oeuvres.  Stitches took one dainty little salmon sushi thing, and popped it in his mouth.  Then he froze for a moment.

Stitches watched one of the far walls with narrowed eyes.  then frowned. "Girls,  I'll be right back.  There's someone I need a word with."

And he walked across the room, through the crowd, and loomed up in front of one of the wait-staff, a short, powerfully-built man with a shaved head and a clipped brown moustache.   Stitches was clenching and unclenching his fists, as if he was withholding a lot of repressed anger.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:13, Sun 05 June 2022.

And at that moment, someone  else came out of the crowd.

"Well, they'll let just about anybody in here, won't they?"  A woman's voice, low and thick, with the unerring blade of personal insult.

She came from behind them, a young woman in a black spandex dress that left almost nothing to the imagination.  She wore heels that made her taller, but she still only reached maybe five foot six.  There was barely an ounce of body-fat on her and she showed it off with casual pride.   Her features were elegant an, with a strong jawline leading to ears bedecked with rows of chains across multiple piercings.  She had dark eyes above delicately contoured cheekbones.  She didn't wear much makeup--she didn't need to.  Her hair was drawn back from her face by a simple black band angled such that one single gem lay at the bottom of her pronounced widow's peak.

If Angel hadn't heard the voice, she might not have recognized Portia, so out-of-character was Portia's style of dress.  But she did, and she did.  And the temperature in the room felt like it dropped by ten degrees in an instant.

Portia stepped in front and glanced at Stitches across the room.  "Sugar daddy?"  She said with an arched eyebrow, the taunt obvious. "Really?"

--
Gagamba;  Introduction of Portia for the scene/encounter.  No idea how it'll play out, but it's your complication, so you get a hero-point for it. 

Cythi at this point steps back and slightly behind Gagamba being not sure what to make and this person.  She is tempted to jump in defense and speak her mind but two problems.  One being she was too timid to do so at this point and this lady had way more courage....I mean look how she was dressed.  Still if she could muster the courage the other problem is that this would not be her area and likely she would make things way worse.

"Oh, don't worry." the woman said with a light laugh as she glanced over at Cythi.  "We're old old friends.  I'm just envious that Angel is in such fine company. "

She smiled and it was like the room lit up. "I'm Portia Reyes  I'm in marketing.  And you are?"

(OOC - Just realized I don't think I gave Cythi a last name so will go with Summers.)

Poking out from the back, "I am called Cythi..."  She realizes last minute likely this was not the place to give her real name.  "I am a barista at a café." In her own way she answers honestly.  She stays back hoping Gagamba will give some clarity.  For a moment she actually thought that she should give a made up name but realizes if Gagamba is known then it might be pointless.

"Well hello, Cythi." Portia nodded amiably.  "Are you... " she raised an eyebrow comically, and leaned in just a little, "Are you hoping to become a Corn Star?"

--
Wrecked Energy Drink has  a handful of flavours and one of it's tag lines is "Twice the sugar, three times the caffeine!"  It also sometimes advertises that it uses "Extreme Fructose Corn Syrul" in it's ingredients.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.  And, from that corn syrup tagline, the "Wrecked Corn Stars" were born...  Basically booth-babes who walk around in various costumes with the Wrecked brand all over them.  Wrecked trades mercilessly on innuendo as part of it's marketing strategy.  Primarily pointed to youth and twenty-somethings.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:37, Fri 17 June 2022.

Cythi shrugs back mainly as noise and mistaken what was heard, "No my parents did way to much for me to be a porn..."  She stops as the words enter her brain and process completed.  "Did you say Corn Star?  What is that?"  Now her face looks utterly confused.  "I doubt they would want me anyway."

Portia laughed, a genuine throaty laugh that seemed unabashed and unconcerned about anyone outside of their immediate presence.

"Wrecked's marketing strategy.  Send a bunch of cute girls out to all sort of events, sporting events, conventions, pacific raceway.  Dress them up in bright colors and give away free products.

Men are peacocks, drawn to the bright colors and the hope-beyond-hope that these pretty girls will give them the barest sliver of their time.   Everything men do is about convincing themselves that they're worthy.  And if they come to believe that an energy drink will--"  she made little air quotes "get it done!, then who are we to deny them?"

She took a step back and nodded, "You could do it.  The Corn Stars are a little over-ripe at the moment.  A dose of cute Midwest-style innocence would draw the shier boys. "

Portia opened a little clutch that matched the colors of her dress perfectly.  She fished out a business card and handed it to Cythi.  "If you talk to a recruiter, mention my name.  It'll either get you in or scare them off, depending on what you want to do with it."



--
The irony here is that before I posted, I must've deleted the other two options she'd presented...  ("Are you a vendor, with the media or...")  I suppose it's a little funnier if she cut right to the naughty bits...

Her eyes wide eyed and doe like blink for a second letting everything sink in.  Also remembering not to react on impulse and let it all sink in.  Even though there is no way in heck she would actually do it it may be a matter of an infiltration later.  So for that reason alone she nods,

"If you think I could do it I might be interested..."  She says even as she takes the business card.  She hopes that ends it and this other intimidating lady leaves them but also looks back at Gagamba hoping she interjects soon.

"Check. check.  Is this thing on?"

A woman's voice.

Some feedback, then the volume on the microphone was normalized.

"Hello all you lovely people!"  The woman who stood on the little raised dias was a whale of a woman, Perhaps six feet and change, she must have weighed near three-hunderd pounds.  She had a pear-shaped figure that was all hips and little else, making her head seem almost comically small.  She had long long black hair that seemed to eat up the light.  Obviously a bad dye-job.  She wore a shining silver thing that looked like it should have been a dress but seemed more like a full-on mumu, as if a mumu were designed by Chanel.

Portia turned to toward the stage, her hand visibly tightening on the little stem of the wine-glass she'd been carrying.

"Rebecca Wrecht."  she said.

"Well, you've all done it." Wrecht said, "You really did it.  I said you wouldn't be able to pull it off, but you managed to put Wrecked Energy Drinks on the bloody map!"

"We got the second-quarter figures back from Atomic Apple's launch and we've sold over two million units!  Wooohoo!"  Wrecht gushed.

A very drunk blonde lady stumbled in front of Cythi's view, giggling inanely.  She stopped for a moment, smoothed her own glittery dress, and smiled over at Cythi.  Her eyes were vacuous and distant.

Cythi, please roll perception: DC12.  I wana see if she keys into something...

Cythi still feeling like a fish out of water keeps it all in stride as she stays where she is while keeping her eyes open for things going on notes this Portia's persons reaction but having no context decides that hopefully she won't need to find out.  But that will depend on Gagambia.

Stll spotting the very drunk blonde lady does illicit some reaction as that could be someone in trouble and that is where she starts to move forward.

Perception - 14

(OOC -
07:07, Today: Cythi rolled 14 using 1d20+1.  oh right perception...one of her worst.)