17356/When Opportunity Knocks

When Opportunity Knocks
Date of Scene:	06 March 2024
Location:	JVD Flagship Store, 5th Ave NYC
Synopsis:	Colette O'Connail swings by a show at the JVD Flagship store and catches Janet van Dyne's eye. A fast friendship forms?
Cast of Characters:	Janet van Dyne, Colette O'Connail

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Janet van Dyne has posed:
Though the bulk of the day-to-day operation of the JVD label happens at the Fashion House located in the boroughs. But the face of the business, the place the public eye is trained, is the Flagship Store on Sak's, 5th Avenue. The location itself is some of the most premium real estate in the world, and a declaration of war against the longstanding powerhouses in the fashion game that JVD had so quickly displaced.

Thus, when there are new clothing lines to be launched or special events, the Fashion House turns into a social club. Drinks and food are provided, and the guest list is largely limited to New York's movers and shakers.

Though the guards know well enough that a person with the right sense of style, might be an exception to the rule.

Janet herself is holding court with all the composure of a queen. She is right in the middle of things, spending long enough to chat up every party goer at least once but not dawdling over-long so others feel excluded (except for the ones she deliberately avoids). She has donned a lime-green dress with starched cowling over her bare arms and some intricate, slightly daring diagonal voids in the material. Her stiletto pumps precisely match the color of the dress, and the ouvre of her makeup has been exquisitely adjusted to set the colors off nicely against her skin. It is the sort of thing only starlets and models would risk, to stand out against the sea of black ties and little black dresses.

Janet steps away from one of the conversations and stands in a little alcove on the second floor, her body language insisting on a few moments of privacy while she takes a personal call. It doesn't take her long to complete, and she hangs up with a slightly aggrieved expression. It's then she discovers her drink is empty, and the socialite levels an exasperated look at the absent waiting staff. "Where the hell did everyone go?" she demands of no one in particular.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    New line being debuted, drinks, none of the hoi polloi, ideal shopping conditions for a high-school teacher. At least one who's income gets sufficiently supplemented by her parents to afford the items on sale here, which is no doubt how Colette O'Connail has managed to get in. While the construction business isn't the most glamorous its money is as good as anyone else's, and while O'Connail construction isn't a good few steps below the Bechtels, Emcors and Wayne Constructions of the world it's a big enough regional player that the dilettante daughter of the majority owner is welcome in anyone's luxury goods store.

    In a crowd of people dressed top impress, Colette is at first glance dressed outrageously casually. There's a leather jacket, there are jeans. It could almost be thought a test to fellow attendees; will they sneer, or do they have the eye to notice the jacket and boots are Balenciaga, the jeans Stella McCartney? Is the fact that she's virtually the only person in the shop not wearing /anything/ by JVD entirely intentional? Almost certaintly, though she is looking over the latest JVD offerings with the interest of someone who's actually considering what to buy.

    Conversations and socializing? Not if they can be helped. Colette is not the world's most sociable person. She's not actively rude to anyone she vaguely knows from somewhere who greets her, but nor has she so far responded with anything more than the necessary politesse to avoid annoying anyone and move on.

    She's also on her fifth glass of champagne already, but by ensuring she grabs a glass from a different waitron every time, nobody has noticed that yet.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's path takes her right by Colette, and she finally snares a waiter. "I am -dying- of thirst," she informs him, and puts the empty glass on his tray. "And remind your manager that because you work for me, there should be someone *near* me at all times." The smile she flashes is perfectly polite and doesn't at all reach her eyes.

The waiter gulps, and Janet pats his arm as if appreciating the peril of the situation. "Theeere it is," she encourages, and shoos him along with a little flapping of her fingers. It leaves her momentarily bereft of drink or company, and Colette happens to be the nearest target of opportunity. Janet's shrewd eyes don't miss a beat on Colette's outfit. It may not be haute coteur, but it is worn properly and well-tailored.

Having estimated that Colette is at least worth a passing word, Janet flashes a rueful smile at the stranger. "It is so hard to find good help, isn't it?" she asks, a little rhetorically. With Colette's attention diverted, Janet steps smoothly into place next to her at a precisely-calibrated social distance. Fingertips temple in front of her belly, and she nods at the mannequin near Collette. Somewhere between a romper and a pantsuit, high-waisted and the color of a midnight sea. "What do you think? Anything here catching your eye, or are you a die-hard for Demna's work?" She reaches over and manages to squeeze a seam on the jacket without actually making contact with Colette. "He does have a knack for making it work with clean lines and austere design."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "In my experience if you want something done right you always have to do it yourself," Colette replies, before looking to see who's addressing her. It's definitely an automatic response, so she probably means it. When she does turn to see who's talking, she responds with a nod of greeting and no sign she recognizes Janet as the owner and designer. An elbow resting on the balcony indicates she's willing to stop to talk for a bit though.

    "I wouldn't say die-hard. Good quality, very wearable, and I appreciate a bit of minimalism in everyday wear." Pose or not, she clearly hasn't dressed up for the occasion as much as the vast majority of attendees.

     "To be honest I kind of turned off Balenciaga when they appointed Beiber as a brand ambassador, but then they told Kanye West to fuck off and I jumped back on board. Demna's too good to hold a grudge for long. I haven't decided what to do about the Kim Kardashian situation yet."

    Her eyes follow Janet's nod towards the mannequin and Colette responds with a shrug. "That's really not me, honestly. I've definitely got my eye on that asymmetrical maxi with way too much slit in whatever that insanely black fabric you've managed to find is." Apparently she does recognize Janet after all. "One or two other things. I like your stuff for party wear, mostly. I appreciate that you make things that look good and can be danced in. Because honestly most of the events I go to that call for dressing up a bit, everyone's boring as fuck and dancing helps avoid too much conversation."

    "Most of my actual friends are barbarians who wouldn't spot the difference between what I wear and something from Walmart, honestly."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Oh, honey," Janet says, in what is (apparently) a real moment of empathy. She impulsively reaches out and gives Colette's wrist a reassuring touch. "A pilgrim in an unholy land."

Her eyes flicker a little as if working out a solution to something, and it apparently works out in Colette's favor. Janet straightens and engages Colette with her body language a little more deliberately. It's a subtle thing. Janet is clearly a master at the art of such an understated language.

"I do love the maxi," she agrees with a more convivial disposition. "No one expects a clothier to do materials science, but we've got a lab and everything that does ongoing research. We were able to adapt one of the super-black paints and bind it to the clothing fibers. It's obviously not as good as painted on a solid surface, but the effect we get works better," she explains. "You get just the slightest bit of contrast, and that shows off the outfit's texture."

The socialite pauses when a waiter appears with a fresh drink for her. "Ahh, there it is," she says, and beams a sunny smile at him that seems to have forgotten her earlier ire. "Arthur, give the man a tip for being so on the spot," she says over her shoulder. A rather unremarkable, but pleasant-seeming gentleman is standing a little ways off and always in a position where he can see Janet out of the corner of his eye. How he blends so effortlessly is surely a skill mastered over time. But he moves like he was watching the situation like a hawk, and the waiter is escorted along with two crisp portraits of Grant discreetly tucked into his jacket pocket.

All this happens without Janet paying attention to anything past her directive to her aide. Instead she turns slightly and points the index finger curled around her new drink at some other mannequins. "You might like this, too. We're experimenting with new fabrics all the time. This one has been treated with a dye that absorbs only specific wavelengths of light. So if you have green undertones that you don't want to see, this dress will help desaturate the light hitting you and restore your natural coloration," she explains. The socialite pinches the hem, giving the linework a critical once-over, and then offers the edge of the skirt to Colette to examine for herself.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette takes a look a the skirt with a little more than polite interest, feeling the fabric and looking over the shape of it, but her mind is clearly still on the black dress. "I know -- carbon nanotubes just aren't ideal for fabrics. I tried asking the people who make Vanta black about it and they said they do have something, but it's under an exclusive military contract. There's a Japanese company that has a fabric almost as dark, but it's too thick for most things. I've thought about having a jacket made from it though."

    She lets the hem of the skirt drop from her fingers and tilts her head thoughtfully as she looks the skirt over. She may be adding it to her mental shopping list. "Call me weird but I think I'd like something that /doesn't/ show the texture at all would be nice. Just pure silhouette."

    She looks up to Janet with a grin. "Maybe I'm talking to the wrong Van Dyne, though. You help fund Nadia's company, don't you? Maybe you should get her to take over the materials science R&D for your clothing line. Though I get the impression she doesn't have /quite/ the interest you do in clothing. Every time I've met her she seems to be dressed extremely casually. When she's not actually suited up, at least."

    "I assume you had a hand in those G.I.R.L bomber jackets though. I mean it looks more Nadia's style than your style, but they're very well tailored."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
There's a half a second-- just a fraction-- where Colette name-drops Nadia, and Janet somehow changes her entire posture without moving a muscle. It goes from friendly, forward leaning, to something wary and coiling. Like a snake deciding to strike.

But it passes so fast it could easily be dismissed as a shiver, and once against she's all warm hostess and receptive charm. "You're /Nadia's/ friend," she states, and nods in satisfaction as the picture clicks into place. "And yes, you're not far wrong about it," she admits, and laughs wryly with a fond affection in her tone. "Once in a while I show up and mother her into wearing something fashionable, but she's just a lot like Hank that way," she says with a helpless shrug. "Loli Goth, I think that's her vibe. I meet her halfway by making sure she's wearing high-quality clothing." She gestures vaguely at Colette, as if the woman's casual garb drives Janet's point home.

"As for funding though, you're not totally correct," Janet clarifies with a little pride in her words. "Pym Technologies bankrolled the startup costs. The prospectus for next financial quarter is well in the black. They can operate self-sufficiently at this point. Once they have the loan paid off, they'll be sitting on a good income stream to expand the work they do."

A little chuckle slips her lips. "Though I'll admit, I don't see the application of a portable black hole device, but sometimes you've just got to sit back, feed the nerds some money, and figure out how to make the results pay for themselves."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"More of an acquaintance really," Colette says. "Mutual friends kind of thing. " If Colette was name dropping, she doesn't seem particularly eager to emphasize the connection. "I know a few of her team-mates. Bumped into Nadia a few times at the tower. I've only actually been out socially with her once."

    She tilts her head thoughtfully. "Half a time, really. It was supposed to be an educational museum trip and meal with her and Terry - Vorpal - but then there was a whole thing with some aliens waving guns around, and you can imagine how that went." Colette makes an airy gesture with her hand. "Some people just have a hard time relaxing."

    Janet's prior trouble finding a fresh drink must have impinged on the awareness of the staff, who are clearly now being rather more attentive to this particular corner of the store. Colette takes advantage of this fact by fluidly swapping her now empty glass for a new full glass in one fluid motion as a drinks-bearer goes past, not missing a beat as she does so. "They're young and enthusiastic, I can't fault them for that. It's part of their identity, really. "

    "Portable black holes? I don't see Nadia as a doomsday weapon merchant, so I'd imagine the profitability there will rest on energy in versus energy out. If she can find a way to keep one stable without using half the typical energy consumption of Manhattan, there would be lots of possibilities. Maybe you should invest. "

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Mm--" Janet's eyes widen mid-sip, and she gestures circles at Colette while she gulps down her cocktail. "/That's/ where you know her from. Those, uh, kids, the Titans," she amends, snapping her fingers to nail it down. "Okay. Drawing lines here," she says with an encouraging nod. "And I know Terry. He's Lois Lane's right-hand man. Apprentice? Either way, she's a dear friend, and I think I terrified him somehow the last time we met," she says with a little frown. "And I wasn't even really trying to. Whatever. He needs to have a spine if he has a chance of keeping up with Lois," she says with a dismissive shrug.

Something else occurs to Janet and she peers at Colette inquiringly. "Wait, you're friends with Nadia, with Terry, and you hang out with the Titans. Are you part of the capes and tights brigade?" she asks Colette. The mere affiliation with the Titans seems to have given Colette more footing in Janet's estimation. "I used to keep track of everyone doing the hero thing, but there's so many these days that they all run together. Nadia's running around with fifty girls her age, height, and demeanour. I had to label them for the first week they were here."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "He's not with the Planet any more," Colette responds. "There were concerns about neutrality. Making the news as well as reporting on it. Seemed like a huge mistake both from him and them if you ask me, but Terry never listens. Shame, I thought Lois was a good influence on him. Which is to say he once dragged both of us to a restaurant and she jumped on board quite eagerly when I started tormenting him about his love life."

    The young woman breaks into a grin and shakes her head. "Wouldn't catch me in tights and a cape. No, I'm not part of the hero scene, I just know a few. I helped a little with the team reforming. Encouraged a few people, put a few people in contact with each other, pulled an alien out of the sea and taught him how to speak English, things like that."

    Colette swaps her glass (which somehow is almost empty again) to her left hand and offers her hand to shake. "Colette O'Connail. My main superpowers are teaching English, spending dad's money, and drinking unfeasible amounts. Oh, and tormenting Terry. Maybe that's more of a hobby, but honesty it's because I like the idiot. "

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet smiles approvingly when Colette introduces herself formally, and returns the offered hanshake with a civil finger-squeeze of her own. "It's nice to meet you, Colette O'Connail," she bids the woman. Janet doesn't introduce herself to people. She generally assumes anyone who doesn't know who she is, isn't worth her time.

"Spending someone else's money, killing it in fashion, and putting the bar out of business-- for all that, I can forgive a day job," she says with wry amusement. "Everyone needs a hobby, right?" She looks around, then beckons Colette to come along with her. There is a little wet bar about twenty feet away, and Janet gestures at the bartender to get him to hustle around and pull out one of the little bar tables and two stools. They're set up in a way that discourages people from just wandering up to the conversation. Janet claims one, hooking the heel of her pump over a rung, and invites Colette to take the other seat with another little gesture.

"There, now we're nice and civilized. You want a bite to eat?" she offers, and is already signalling the waiter to step into earshot. "I can only drink on an empty stomach for so long before I either really need to commit to getting drunk, or I need some food," she explains.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette arches an eyebrow slightly at the invitation, but follows along. "It seemed like an entertaining enough way to pass a few decades. I'm not entirely sure I didn't go into teaching solely because my father wanted me to study business in the hopes I would want to run his company when he retires. It was set up by his grandfather, he wants to keep it in the family."

    She takes a seat at the table and makes herself comfortable. "Something to snack on would be pleasant," she agrees. "And I wouldn't want to be responsible for encouraging you to get disgracefully drunk at the launch of your latest collection. Gracefully drunk, maybe. I do hope you didn't take my comment as a challenge."

    Colette gestures with her now empty glass to the waiter as he approaches, indicating the need for a refill, and leans forwards with a conspiratorial expression. "Honestly, the most fun thing about being a high school English teacher has been that getting to teach English to an alien makes me something of an authority on xenolinguistics, and I just *love* how much that makes the tenured professors in the field insanely jealous."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet just laughs at the idea that Colette's posing a challenge the socialite must rise to. "You would be surprised how many Asgardian shield-warriors I've left slumped under some table," she says with a glib amusement. "It's not much of a competition with me."

The socialite addresses the waiter. "Find us something to eat? Finger foods, nothing untidy. Starch and proteins," she says. "Arthur can tell you where to go."

That task done, she turns her attention back to Colette. "/High/ school English?" That prompts both of Janet's brows to go up. "I thought you were teaching college. But--" hands lift and open, clasp again in her lap. "I can absolutely get down with the vibe of showing a bunch of grumpy old men a thing or two they can't pull off," she agrees wholeheartedly. "But, for what it's worth, I've seen trust fund money dry up fast," she points out. "Between shady relatives and crap lawyers, you can whittle a big pile down to nothing in just a few decades. Maybe stave if off for a bit if you avoid drugs and expensive escorts," she concedes, and laughs. "And I do hate to pass a chance to help another woman step up in an industry as a leader. If you /ever/ want some suggestions about how to manage the business and automate your role-- drop me a line," she reassures Colette.

"But, for now, let's talk about getting gracefully drunk. I'm finding your company much preferable to the vultures who snuck in here hoping for five minutes of face-time with me," she admits with a little scowl over her shoulder. Janet lifts her glass and leans it towards Colette. "So-- to graceful drinking," she toasts!

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Now it sounds like /you/ are making it a competition," Colette replies with a laugh. "Unfair, I've never met an Asgardian shield-warrior to have the opportunity to drink one under the table. I did once try to drink Captain Marvel under the table, but she didn't seem eager to drink on an empty stomach either and insisted we go for shawarmas instead. " This high-school English teacher does seem to get around!

    "Got to start somewhere when it comes to teaching," she tells Janet. "I was a TA only three years ago. College is the step I'm taking this year. That's what /really/ gets the grumpy old men riled. "

    "Honestly my intention is to just employ really good people when the time comes, but I have no intention of rushing that. As for shady relatives... there are a few. I'm fairly sure the family were some kind of Irish mafia back when the company was set up, but my father bought out a controlling interest around the time I was born so I don't think that's a major issue. Thank you for the offer, though."

    She raises her glass to greet the toast. "To graceful drinking... today," she replies with a grin. "Next time, Ms. Van Dyne, when you're not hosting an event, we may have to see how that contest goes."