Fortuna Verto

54-Flawless Performance

Night's arrival felt all too swift, the fateful moment at long last. All of their preparation had amounted to this next stage of their grandiose act.

"Holi, can you give me an update on our situation?" "Oh, welcome back, Kori. Everything has gone according to plan so far. Your surveillance grid is fully operational. Does that mean we're going to be proceeding with..." "Tonight, yes, but not quite yet. We need to delay a bit longer, give people time to begin their night. Delaying now would be far easier than trying to hold things off under hostile terms. Where is Sophie? We could at least get everything in position so that we could go right when opportunity knocks?" "Sophie is in the inventory room.. so I guess she's of like mind to you." Kori nodded as she ran off, leaving Holi just as suddenly as she had arrived. Nothing about that had been new that night anyway, just about everyone was stirring about all over. Even Holi herself was quite literally all over the place, her nanites spread out in a vast calculating network. There was far too much to do to simply stay in one place at a time.

"Holi, I need your help with something." "Oh, Rosa.. what is it?" "I've got some slight stage alterations I'm hoping to run by you at the last moment. Nothing too major.. though it might certainly have quite the impact. I especially want your input on how I should convince Kori that it would be a good idea." "Ah, so you're working on a surprise.. but you want to share the surprise in advance. That might be a good idea, Kori would be left quite flustered if things suddenly broke from her plan unexpectedly. What exactly is it that you have in mind, then?" Rosa went over the details of her idea with Holi, the whole concern becoming very quickly evident. No wonder Rosa sought help with this particular problem, this really was quite a stroke of ambition. Fortunately.. it really wouldn't impact the plan very much at all. In fact, in all honesty, even Holi believed there would be a lot of value in the accomplishment of Rosa's little project.

"Kori, perfect timing. I've got your attire already prepared for you. I made sure to include all of my sister's random doohickies, all while not diminishing the vibrant flare of the decor. I'm really hoping Holi manages to get a recording of everything, it would suck missing you two up on stage dressed up like this and performing. If you want to take this and go get changed, I can work on styling you up too." "You're about as eager as Holi was. I don't mind getting changed, but we should be careful about being too quick with makeup and all that. Like I had told Holi, we're probably not leaving quite so soon. It's going to be rough already having to wait all uncomfortably, it would be even worse if your work didn't hold up long enough for the main event." Sophie still handed off the package she was carrying to Kori, not disputing such logic in the least. Just as Kori left to get change, Rosa arrived too, picking up her own package in much the same way. Sophie could tell though that Rosa was pondering something.. but Rosa was gone before she could form her inquiry. Holi however remained behind.. and was already open to filling in the blanks.

Kori returned soon after in a full body dress, a glamorous appeal far beyond anything she had ever even bothered considering before. Sophie had gone all out on this one, the whole thing outright shimmering in its light and buoyant flare. The electric azure tones diligently clouded over the blue marks of her conduit blood, despite the whole thing doing even less at covering such marks than she might have usually been used to. Makeup was supposed to handle much of the rest, along with a proper distribution of shadows. Rosa was going to be the center stage anyway, all lights on her, Kori was just playing a supporting role here. Music was far more Rosa's thing anyway, this was just going to be her show.. even if it might have been fun to have made something more out of everything.

"My word, it suits you perfectly. We should have you wearing this sort of thing more often." "Uh, maybe not. I feel it draws a little too much attention to myself.. which really..." "Yes, yes, you've always preferred to blend in rather than stand out. Just like it's been far more your style to do things for others than to find your own happiness. Quite rightfully, that won't do. We need you out there having the time of your life, because you're going to be representing Hypertech out there. Fake smiles won't be nearly as good at drawing in people's interest than actually being the authentic Kori out there." "Wait, authentic? I thought we would be hiding the fact that I'm a conduit, because that would..." "Oh, yeah, that really was a crummy idea. Think of the controversy when your fanbase learned the truth? No, certainly.. there is no way we would have any long term value in clouding over everything. So instead, we're going to have to bring out all the best in the real you." Sophie's sudden shift in the plan was leaving Kori going outright pale. There was no way this would work.