1816/Pretty Up! A Singing Challenge!

Pretty Up! A Singing Challenge!
Date of Scene:	30 July 2024
Location:	Pretty Holic
Synopsis:	Laura, Seiko, and Glimmer meet each other at Pretty Holic, and between discussing beauty products, a challenge is issued.
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Seiko Akai, Glimmer Brightmoon

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Laura La Mer has posed:
On her exploration spree throughout Tokyo, Laura had found pretty interesting places, some of which she had already made the most of (including a karaoke, because of course, how could she not, when they had an entire place dedicated exclusively to singing). Another one she is keen on entering is Pretty Holic, a place that promises to make you gleam and shine, and she certainly finds nothing wrong with becoming even prettier.

She has been making enough money through various little jobs here and there, and frankly, she can't wait to enjoy the fruit of her hard work. Dressed in a white sleeveless dress with a celeste ribbon tied at her waist, she is about to enter the premises of the locale.

Seiko Akai has posed:
There is something to the whole Idol thing that Seiko doesn't have. She has the voice. She has the moves. The thing she doesn't have is the look. That needs remedied and that has lead her to Pretty Holic. She didn't know that Laura would be here so she is a little surprised when she sees her mermaid friend. Seiko gives a wave to the other Pinkette with a big smile.

From Seiko's purse, A small head pops out. Hoshi smiles and waves to Laura before ducking back down. Turns out that she might be a little scared after everything that happened at the meteor shower.

"Hey Laura! Whats up?" Seiko smiles and greets the other girl. "I figured its time I should get some makeup." She blushes a little. "I never really did my makeup before. So this is going to be really weird. I can't wait to try though." She quietly speaks as she turns to the store. "Is doing makeup hard?" She asks curiously.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Make you gleam and shine? Oh, she HAD to check THIS place out. The moment she'd seen it Glimmer, or Gloria Moonhawk as she was going by today, HAD to check it out. She was, of course, wearing her henshin's leather jacket, the tight pants and, most importantly of all... the toothpick. Though, admittedly, the fingerless gloves were probably more fitting to the asthetic than the toothpick. But she HAD to have the toothpick.

She pushed open the door with such force it opened and CLANGED when it hit the edge, drawing every eye to her and... "S-sorry! Sorry!" Gloria said quickly, putting her hands together. "My bad! I thought it was heavier!"

Okay, while she looked like she was here to fight and take names... she at least didn't have that attitude. She stepped inside and sniffed the air. Ohhhhh. Perfuma would LOVE it here, she could feel it. She walked over towards the hair curlers, eying the devices as she tried to figure out... were they devices for torture, or did they fire lasers when activated? They totally looked like magic laser guns.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Seiko! Hoshi!", Laura exclaims, waving at the two before the Chara Guardian retreats in her purse. She really doesn't feel like hanging out in public, does she? Not that she really blames her after last time, and considering they will be in a place full of people she is invisible to. "Hey, Hoshi, how would you feel spending some time with Kururun? She would appreciate the company?", Laura whispers, taking out the Aqua Pot and bringing it close to the mascot. "You can just hop in there."

"So, Seiko, here to gain a dose of confidence?" the mermaid grins at her friend, offering to take her hand and lead her inside. She feels somebody she knew would have said something like that. Somebody at Grand Ocean, likely, but she doesn't really remember. Before she can take one step however, they are surpassed by a third pinkette, and one that decidedly didn't look like she needed a boost to her confidence. Well, not like Laura needed it either.

"Please, try to be more careful", Laura sighs at Gloria when the incognito queen of Brightmoon slams the door on her way in. "You could be hurting someone like that." Quickly forgetting that matter, she starts taking a look at the selection on offer, her eyes falling on a selection of brushes of all kinds of sizes. They kinda reminded her of anemones, even if they were decidedly not as colourful and she doubted there was anything hiding in it.

Looking at the girls waiting around not too far from each other, a shop assistant puts on her best smile and approaches the group. "How may I be of help?"

Seiko Akai has posed:
Hoshi smiles and nods, "Thank you Laura-chan!" She quickly hops into the Aqua pot to hang out with Kururun.

"I always need a dose of confidence. I never really wore makeup before though. I mean I have worn it but I usually had someone else do it for me." She smiles then the third pinkette nearly takes the door off the hinges. "Eep!" Seiko exclaims as she backs away from the much more confident Pinkette. "Wow. Talk about not being shy in the least." She blushes a little before walking in to the store. She begins looking around at the different makeup and trying to get a feel for what would look good on her.

"Ummm Hello." The shy Pinkette speaks up to the shop assistant. "I am looking for makeup. I want to look like..." She whispers, "A Pop idol." She doesn't want to draw too much attention to herself as she continues looking around.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk gave a small, sheepish grin to Laura. "Sorry, sorry. Wasn't trying to break anything or anyone. Usually I make sure to look them in the eyes before I do that," she said with a wink. As the assistant came by, 'Gloria' jsut gave a small shrug.

"Just looking for now. Thinking I might get something for some friends of mine. Do you have anything that screams 'Oh my gosh, will you two just hook up already?' Especially when one of them is just like... so deep in denial that she's just about hit the heart of the world and the other is so obvious about it that, frankly, everyone around her is starting to get a bit concerned? Oh, or something that kind of smells like an old, soggy pile of clothes? That'll probably make her feel more comfortable."

Of course, she was already off before the assistant could, well, assist, perusing the aisles before... Glancing back to Seiko. "Oh, hey. Did you say you're an idol? Which group are you a part of? I've heard they're pretty popular here?" Just... entirely missing the 'subtlety' part the other girl was going for. As the toothpick sloooooowly meandered its way to the other side of her mouth.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Never really used any of this either, and, I really wouldn't know where to start from. We don't really have any of these back home", Laura waves around as she keeps looking through the products. "But you will be very pretty, I am sure of it", Laura grins.

"Yes, looking like a pop idol", the shop assistant repeats, musing on the request. "Are you aiming for something professional? There is more to it than make-up", she remarks as she starts gathering quite a few products. "You want to have a routine at the end of each day to bring out the best of your skin, starting off by applying a double layer of cleansing, one oil-based and another one water-based", she says, putting two sprays on a table next to Seiko.

"After that you want to apply a moisturising mask and a toner to keep your skin hydrated, letting it rest for a while." More bottles join the one she had already placed. "Now for make-up, please come over here, I need to check your complexion", she says, pointing her towards the white wall.Leaving it at that for now, she moves onto Laura. "What about you? What would you like to have?" Raising up her hands like she is on the defensive, Laura says "I was debating that, actually. What would you suggest?" The completely open-ended request earns her an incredulous look from the assistant, who nontheless starts considering how to best satisfy it. "You really can't go wrong with lipstick or nail polish, I suppose. What do you want to try out first?"

Glimmer's request leaves the shop assistant confused. "I would need to know your friends' preferences at the very least, but going out on a limb, how about lengthening mascara, maybe burgundy? Not really sure how to help for your second request. That doesn't sound like any perfume we could have here", she replies, holding herself back from giving Gloria a look that explains just how absurd she finds that request.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko Blinks and suddenly starts panicking a little bit. "I umm. No. I'm not an Idol. Not yet anyway." She blushes. "I want to be. I really want to be." She then turns to the store assistant.

From there, Seiko is swimming in the information she is being given. "I um..." She blushes bright as she looks at all the stuff. "I dunno if I can afford all of this stuff." She comments as she looks around. Hopefully no one else is really paying attention to the conversation between her and the associate. "I have this much I can spend." She lays out her yen. Its not a lot. A few thousand. "Sorry. I didn't mean to cause you difficulty."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk got a little glazed over in the eyes, hearing the attendant go into the deep... deep explanation of things. W-wow. That... that was DEFINITELY more a 'Bow' thing than a 'Her' thing. She was suddenly, mroe than ever, grateful for the genes she had from her mom's side. It made her not need all of... that.

She relaxed a little and then glanced back to the other girls. She shook her head. "Huh? Oh, come on! You wanna be an idol and whatnot, right? There's probably a ton of money that goes into it. Splurge and..." and trailed off as she realized it wasn't that the girl didn't want to spend the money, she just... didn't... have it. "Oh. Eh. Being an idol is all about singing, right? So like. Maybe focus on things to help your voice?" she offered.

"I'm gonna go look at... masca-ra, that'll actually probably be perfect." She quickly walked deeper into the aisles, searching for the elusive Lengthening Masca-ra.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"For now, but she will be great though", Laura smiles confidently towards Glimmer. "I have sung with her, you know, and it won't be long before she will do great, especially with my talent backing her up", the mermaid remarks, standing straight and smiling so brightly that if it were a sun, it would have blinded everybody in there, even just by the sheer confidence.

"I want to do my nails, then", Laura confirms, dedicating her attention to the assistant, who at the same time is wondering what Laura is talking about. She certainly hasn't heard of any such teen celebrity looking like her from her children. Is she being delusional? She doesn't even know the first thing about make up. At least, her looks don't really need the help. Some people can just coast by like that.

"How about some simple blue polish? Or pink maybe." She has to hold herself back from adding 'You look like you'd nail either one.' Instead, she starts guiding Laura through the process, the duration of which keeps her busy for about half a hour.

Good thing that Gloria is off to do her own things and another assistant has been called up for Seiko. "Don't worry, dear, it's really not a problem, I will put all these back and then we can look at some cute lipstick for you", she says, doing just that and then coming back with a selection of warm colours. "Which one do you like more? I think that green would pop off together with your hair", she suggests.

"Hey, Seiko, how do these looks? I decided to go for both, blue for my hands and pink for my feet ", Laura asks her friend once she comes back. Good thing she had chosen to wear open-toed shoes that day.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko Blushes a little as all the things are taken away and put back. She frowns and looks down. She glances up at Glimmer and blushes. "If I could I would. I am just a poor school girl. Being an Idol is my dream though and I am doing my best to chase it. I practice singing a lot and I play the keyboard." She comments as a new person comes back with the different lipsticks.

"At least these are easy to apply. You just put them on your lips right?" She really has no idea about anything like overdraw or the like. "I like the green. I think that would look pretty. What do you think Laura?"

She looks up to Laura and smiles. "Oooh! Those look nice! You will look wonderful with your nails done up. My mom used to do her nails up and even did mine a few times. It was always fun." She smiles.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk blinked a few times, having to lift a hand over her eyes at the dazzling display of the other girl. Oh. That. That was EXACTLY what she expected when she twas told this place would make them shine.

Of course, as the other girls got to work, she was looking and trying to find some other products... son coming back with two big containers of mascara. She wasn't sure how it'd help one become like... tougher and 'Ra-like'. But eh. Sure, why not? Her two disasters could use a nice gift.

Meanwhile, the other two were working on it and she had no choice. She'd seen these idols and stuff with Easter. It looked tough, but... who knew? Maybe it'd be fun. And as the two of them got to work... "Well then. What were your names, again?" she asked the two, before giving a smirk of her own. "You want to become an idol, right? Then this should be no problem. I challenge the pair of you. Karaoke, one week's time. You two versus me and one of my friend's. If you two can beat us? I'll buy you a month's supply of all that stuff they were saying you'd need. The lipstick, the eye shadow, the masca-ra. Karaoke club down the street. What do you say?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"That depends on how much you want to apply, and if you want to make your lips look fuller", the shop assistant start explaining. "Now, for the first one, if you want to apply a light amount, you just tap the lipstick lightly, making sure not to get out of your lips, and once you are done, you spread it with your finger. You can use a small brush for the same effect if you are not confident you will do it well by yourself", she says, showing said brush to Seiko.

"Now, if you want to look like one of those idols with full lips, and you don't have the luck to start out with them, not all is lost, because you can use a pencil to mark up the outline of your lips, and then fill in. Any questions?", she inquires, looking at Seiko reassuringly.

Laura beams at Seiko when she compliments her nails. "Thank you, Seiko. I am really loving how they look on me", the mermaid says, still admiring her nails, her eyes warm with glee at how much she likes her nails now. Stopping with that, she looks at the products that are being presented to Seiko this time. "These look quite good, I do agree on the choice of the green, you will do great with it."

Meanwhile, Glimmer has come back, and with her she has brought two whole boxes. Clearly, she isn't one to mind splurging. Though, she has also brought with herself a challenge, one she wastes no time issuing. "You are on! This is not going to be easy on you, you know? When I sing, everyone in Grand Ocean stops to listen." A thing that wasn't an exaggeration. "I really love singing, and I have done so ever since I wax little. My full name is Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer, and I accept your challenge!"

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko listens carefully to what the the Counter person says. She looks at herself in a mirror and smiles. She is lucky as her lips are rather full looking. Pouty even. She looks the Counter lady and smiles to her, "I'm going to buy this lipstick. May I try putting it on?" She beams happily as she awaits an answer.

"Oh you're welcome. That shade of pink and of blue really bring out your complexion. They will look fantastic on you. You know you could put both colors on both your fingers and toes." She smiles.

Then the challenge is laid down. Seiko blinks a few times. She has never competed in anything, especially a singing contest. For a long moment she considers the whole thing. When Laura agrees to the little challenge, Seiko is over a barrel. Could she really back out now? Suddenly a change comes over Seiko. The charm on her necklace changes to a star. She boldly stands up straight and exclaimes, "My name is Seiko Akai, and I accept your challenge."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk gave a small smirk, nodding before pulling out her card, sliding it to the cashier to pay for her stuff. "Good. I go by many names. Today? I'm Gloria Moonhawk. I'll see you there, don't you dare try to run away. A challenge unmet is a challenge... well. Unmet. It sucks," she said firmly. "And I have no idea what Grand Ocean is but it sounds like it'll be fun! I'll see you there!"

Her goods paid for, she took the bag, reaching up, grabbing her toothpick and flicking it off... into the trash. "Until then, see ya."

Of course, the moment she was outside, she took out her phone and... sent a message to Ryoko: Karaoke contest, you, me, you in?

It wasn't long to get a message back.

Message from Ryoko: You're on.

Laura La Mer has posed:
The assistant raises her eyebrows at these kids issuing challenges to each other over their products like it's nothing. At least with the pinkette, er, no, they are all pinkettes, well, the one wearing gang clothes, at least with her, they will have a good deal more money, and maybe it's something she can leverage too. Though she will have to be here when they come back to be extra sure. Focusing back on Seiko, she smiles. "Of course, don't worry about it."

"I will be sure to try that too", Laura nods happily at Seiko. Good thing she got explained how to wipe it. Especially since she would have been stuck otherwise.

The challenge is accepted, and Gloria has gone away after paying her own stuff. She won't miss their challenge for anything in the world. "See you, Gloria-san!"

While she goes to pay for her products, her eyes fall on the stationery in the shop, especially one of the notebooks there. Why not? Seiko writes a lot. Having paid for that too, she goes back to the Chara Bearer and shows her friend the notebook. "Here, I got you this", she smiles.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko smiles to the store employee and takes the green lipstick. She does as she was told. She puts a bit on her bottom lip and then moves it around with her finger, making her lips green. The coloring really does look good with her hair. It kinda is remniscent of a watermelon when combined with her hair.

She gives a wave to Gloria. "See you next week!" She smiles mischievously. Then her necklace turns back into a horseshoe. "I just got chara changed!" She eeps and sighs. "Its going to take some getting used to. I mean I partially wanna ring Hoshi-chan's neck but I promised I wouldn't yell at her."

Then Laura surprises her with a new notebook! Seiko beams happily. "Oh Thank you!! This is really nice! I will take good car of it. Maybe I will use this to write songs in?" She smiles. "Thanks for hanging out with me today. I think I need to get back to school. I wanna practice my keyboard a little and maybe try putting words to some music."

Laura La Mer has posed:
"That's ok", Laura grins when Seiko comes back from her Chara Change. "There is really nothing to worry about. We have all it takes to win the challenge, Seiko. And write in the notebook all you want!" That is what she bought it for, after all.

"I will probably take a look around here, see if I can find anyone who would resonate with my Tropical Pacts, then go back to school too, see you there", she says, putting her purchase in her bag.