[ open ] jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock

[lyingheart]

WHO: OPEN.
WHERE: De Chima.
WHEN: Saturday, December 13th, 2014.
WHAT: Earlier in the afternoon, there will be base-jumping in elf costumes. Later on is the charity silent date auction and different performances by USA celebrities fundraising for charity this holiday season. OOC information post here.
WARNINGS: None now, will update later. To avoid seeing all the silent auction threads, simply press on the (Hide ## comments) under the header comment for the auction section!

[ BASE JUMPING from TARTARUS TOWER ]
For those imPorts who volunteered to jump from Tartarus Tower, arrivals for fittings into their costumes begins at 2:00 PM sharp. Each costume comes with a name-tag attached, and make-up artists are on hand to help affix elf ears to participants and work on their eye make-up for the ease of the cameras catching all this live.

The jumps will start at 4:00 PM, and after all imPort elves have jumped and successfully reached the ground, they'll join the bus transporting presents and Malik to the De Chima children's hospital to deliver gifts to the children in the cancer ward (and elsewhere). ImPorts will then be transported over to the main facilities for the fundraiser event as a whole, invited to attend the Silent Date Auction as well as listen to any of the various performances occurring over the course of the evening.

[ CHARITY SILENT DATE AUCTION in DE CHIMA ]
Starting at 4:00 PM, the doors to the conference hall made available for the ImPort Charity Silent Date Auction will open. Live music will be provided, along with refreshments and catered hor d'oeuvres, and televisons displaying both the news stories and live coverage of the fundraiser events occurring over the course of the evening. ImPorts will be encouraged to attend any of these performances in person, but will not be required to leave the conference hall unless they wish to do so.

There is lounge seating available, and free wireless throughout the building. Different conference halls are hosting different events in this event center, and the largest productions are happening on a built stage outside. There's a massive lit tree in the central front courtyard of the event center, and many small stands selling hot drinks, good foods, and wares outside by the stage and surrounding streets, all with a portion of proceeds going to various named charities.

Please comment to this log with your own starters! Only the Auction Thread will be set-up under its own sub-thread, for ease of tracking. Auction Threads can be threaded in, but initial comments to those threads should be the bids that a character is placing on someone else (or themselves). Bidding will close OOCly by this time next week (or when a player states bidding is closed on their character - send me a PM to close that thread, or comment to close it on your own). ICly, all bids close at the end of the night.

Comments

REGGIE MANTLE | silent auction & OPEN

[mantlepieces]

[ Not even 10 minutes after 4:00, Reggie regrets the fact he's there. Normally a self-described player like him would be all over this kind of thing, but lately he hasn't been feeling anything about the things he might normally enjoy. Feeling -- dare he even think it? -- almost depressed. But the point of participating tonight was to stop feeling like that. That's how it works, right? Forcing yourself back into a state of normalcy?

Reggie stands near the refreshments table, arms crossed, keeping his expression neutrally smug rather than sullen for the purposes of the evening. Looking vaguely like a delinquent, in other words. ]

[hands4healing]

I haven't seen you for a while. Are you doing all right?

[Winry joins him at the table, fetching a drink for herself.]

[mantlepieces]

Huh?

[ Reggie glances over, a little surprised -- mostly out of his own thoughts, which are taking him nowhere fast down the road of Sulk avenue -- but he recognizes Winry pretty easily. She was the one that made arms out of metal and stuff, right? ]

Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm fine -- don't I look it? [ He flashes her a lopsided smirk. ] What about you, Blondie? You here bidding on anyone?

[hands4healing]

[Winry gives him a look - but if he says he's all right, she's not going to argue. She doesn't know him well enough to pick a fight in a public place.

She points to the tag attached to her dress indicating she's a participant in the silent auction.]

I might bid on someone, but I don't know who. What about you?

[mantlepieces]

[ He inclines his head back slightly so that his chin juts out, considering her question and glancing at the tag when she displays it. Without even thinking much of it, he shows her tag in response. ]

I dunno -- I've been thinking about it, sure, but there aren't a lot of chicks there to choose from. Don't wanna waste my money.

[hands4healing]

[Winry's eyes narrow - sounds like an insult - but she's not going to start a fight. Not.]

You could bid on the dinosaur, then!

[She did, after all.]

[mantlepieces]

[ STAY STRONG, WINRY. Reggie gives her a sideways glance, looking mildly amused. As if he knows them were fighting words. ]

What would I want with a dinosaur? I'm not a masochist. [ Really... ] I guess if I get really desperate there's always you, right?

[hands4healing]

Dr. Dinosaur is a nice guy! [Lies, all lies. She enjoys antagonizing him, though.] You might enjoy a date with him! It'd probably be more interesting than a date with me.

[Though if you won, Reggie, you'd have to deal with Ed...which could be funny, in Winry's opinion.]

[mantlepieces]

He's also a dinosaur, and I don't got a death wish.

[ He crosses his arms, as if that helps to make his point. ]

I mean, you're probably right, but I'd rather be bored than lose an arm.

[hands4healing]

I can replace your arm if it goes missing.

[Said with big blue innocent eyes.]

[mantlepieces]

[ Reggie stares at her.

And takes a big step backwards to put some distance between them. ]

Neither arm is going missing! I've kept them this long, this isn't going to be the night I have to go all cyborg.

[hands4healing]

You never know!

[Still so innocent.]

Things happen.

[mantlepieces]

[ Dubiously, but also a bit challenging: ]

What is that, a threat?

[isaytheeneigh]

If you look like that, no one's gonna bid on you. A face like that is enough to scare someone off.

[Take it from an expert, Reggie.

Jean is sporting an unpleasant look on his face, too, and it's partly because he doesn't want to be here. These imPort events are annoying to him, but he goes to all of them for one simple reason: he's worried that something might happen. That he'll end up bidding as the day goes on is not entirely in his plans, but he's already spotted Armin's bidding, and he knows what he has to do.

He takes a sip from his drink as he falls into step beside Reggie.]

Unless you think that won't matter.

[mantlepieces]

If I-- what?

[ Reggie turns his head, looking offended; like he can't quite tell if he's being called ugly or only his expression is. Either way, his shoulders are stiff and his hands are clenched defensively already.

Wasn't broodiness supposed to be attractive, anyway? Not really Reggie's natural style, true, but he didn't see why he couldn't make anything work in his favor. Surely the bids will speak for themselves.

So his eyes narrow in Jean's direction. ]

Why should it matter? I'm naturally good-looking no matter what I do. But if I'm smiling at someone, they gotta earn it first -- I'll save it for whoever's got the good enough taste to bid on me.

[isaytheeneigh]

I didn't say anything like smiling, did I? You don't have to go that far.

[But such a sour face is sure to be noticeable, isn't it? Jean thinks so. Besides, if he calls himself naturally good looking, there seems to be no chance he's going to get anywhere far.]

And maybe I just don't know, but you aren't looking like what you say you are right now. [He shrugs.] Guess it's a good thing I told you, huh?

[mantlepieces]

That's a relief to hear, 'cause your face ain't nothing to smile at.

[ He will sneer, though. That Reggie can do, sour face or no.

It's short-lived, however; Reggie resumes frowning a moment later, trying to determine how to process and react to that observation properly. Just how insulted should he be? ]

I don't know about that -- I mean, while I appreciate the sentiment and all, knowing it's you that doesn't find me pretty doesn't do me any favors. If anything, that's good news.

[isaytheeneigh]

Huh, and how is that?

[His eyebrows raise with curiosity. Not that Jean figures that Reggie wants him to find him attractive or anything like that, no, but their last conversation had led him to believe that he likely had some reason to follow that up.

That kind of antagonistic thoughtfulness is exactly the sort of thing that Jean admires.]

[mantlepieces]

[ Raising his own eyebrow, Reggie looks at Jean with mild amusement. He feels like the implication should speak for itself, but he'd rather assume that Jean is just giving him shit rather than that he might be projecting anything ambiguous. ]

'Cause I'm not out to attract people like you. Isn't it obvious? Unless you're telling me you know what girls like.

[ But looking at this guy's haircut, Reggie kind of doubts that. ]

[isaytheeneigh]

It might not just be girls who are betting on you. What are you gonna do if things fall that way?

[Jean is genuinely curious, given this guy's apparent preferences. From what he's seen, those preferences might not be accounted for by the bidding.]

[mantlepieces]

[ Reggie doesn't answer right away, but he does bristle slightly, as if Jean hit on a very specific insecurity of his.

He wrinkles his nose, frowns, then attempts to scoff dismissively. ]

Well, it doesn't have to mean anything. It'd be a waste of time, but I guess that ain't my business.

[isaytheeneigh]

[The fact that he bristles is something that Jean notices, and he debates following that line of thought. Had it been a different time, with a different Jean, he might have utilized that to be a needle in Reggie's side. But right now, he doesn't see the point.

Of course, it's also that he just doesn't understand it entirely. Why the hell would anyone bristle over an observation like that anyway?]

I'd be willing to bet that half of them just aren't taking it seriously. Doesn't mean you have to, either. [It's a less ... provocative statement by far. That's even apparent in his tone.]

[mantlepieces]

[ It's complicated, Jean -- real complicated. If ever the two of them become friends (or at least "people who can tolerate each other") maybe Reggie will talk about it sometime; it's not like they don't have plenty in common, even if they don't know it yet.

Mostly the "on the run from creatures trying to kill and eat them" thing. Awesome. ]

Yeah. This isn't exactly The Bachelor. There'd be a lot better variety if it was, for one thing. [ If "variety" means "lots of women and one guy." He smirks for a moment, then adds: ] That's a TV show, if you didn't know.

[isaytheeneigh]

One of those things, huh? You're going to have to tell me more about it so I can follow what the hell you just said. [How does a TV show lead to more variety? Do they have auctions like this on there? Is that what inspired this whole thing, and is that why imPorts are being bet on in the first place?

Jean would be willing to let it go, but he can't respond accordingly otherwise.]

[mantlepieces]

Uh -- well, it's got more girls on it than we got to choose from here, that's my point. But they're also all after just one guy, so it's like I said -- not exactly the same thing.

[ Probably for the better, not that Reggie has anything against reality TV. ]

This is just about havin' a good time, not true love.