xp_logs | Believing is Seeing: An Offer She Can Refuse

Karolina goes to the concert as agreed upon and meets Rob. She's less than impressed by him and his offer.

Kalyn pointed out the guy standing around by the concession stands, gave Karolina a nudge in the back, then blithely excused herself to go to the bathroom. Karolina looked over her shoulder in panic, but her friend had already disappeared into the throng of bodies. Crap.

Karolina took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and strode purposefully toward the man. "Hi. I'm Karolina..." She decided to leave off the last name--no reason to tell him too much, if Kalyn hadn't already done that for her. "Kalyn said you wanted to meet me." The introduction was probably unnecessary, what with the swirling rainbow aura coruscating from her skin, but eh.

The older man turned slightly, then cleared his throat and set down the soda he'd been nursing. "Oh, Kalyn's friend, right. I couldn't help but notice you in the crowd - oh, my name's Rob," he said apologetically, holding out a hand. "You stand out quite a bit, Karolina. Have I... okay, this sounds a lot worse than I mean, but seriously - have I seen you somewhere?"

Oh, ugh. "Dunno," she said airily, shaking his hand quickly and then tucking her hands into her pockets with an unconcerned shrug. "I like, live in New York now, so…" she trailed off, not willing to tell this guy that yes, she was Frank and Leslie Dean's daughter. "So, are you, like an agent, or something?" She was starting to get a bad feeling about this, and she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder, hoping to see her friend approaching. Nothing. Dirty rotten traitor ABANDONER.

"Mm, not so much. More of a talent scout. But you pick up fast. Seem to know a bit about the business, but I'm not going to insult you and talk down to you." Rob smiled, picking up his soda and taking a long drink. "Some people might say it's a pretty big risk coming out like this, couple thousand people at a concert, but you're not afraid. I like that. That's the type of young people my company's looking to feature. People like yourself, who aren't afraid to show that they're different and unashamed of it."

He reached into his pocket, holding out a business card to Karolina. "Interested in hearing more? Or did I read you wrong, Karolina?"

Karolina took the card cautiously. It couldn't hurt to have a card, right? Even if she never contacted him again. The vibe she was getting off of him was kind of oogy, but if Kalyn trusted him, she'd hear him out. "I'm like, so not afraid to be me," she almost snapped, looking at Rob challengingly. "What kind of like, talent, are you like, looking for?"

Rob chuckled, holding up his hands and backing away a step. "I know, it seems all sorts of creepy, right? But what we're looking for is people like yourself - mutants," he finally said it out loud, almost as if he wasn't sure how Karolina would react.

"Mutants who aren't afraid to be who they are, live their lives unapologetically, the ones like you who are bold enough to put the camera right on them - I know it's probably not my place to say it, but you've totally got the right kind of attitude. Why should you have to hide what you are? Show the world! The folks I work with have the same attitude." Rob smiled, leaning against one of the closed concession stands. "No strings attached, totally up to you. There's a number on the card you can call if you'd like to come by our studios, just for a tour. Or for an audition, if you think this is something you want to be a part of. We film in the studio some. We also let our employees work from home. Do you have a webcam, Karolina?"

Karolina tucked the card into her pocket, taking a step back. This guy was creep city, no matter what else. He just had a super-slick vibe that she'd seen too many times in her parents' world, and they were usually looking for money, or to exploit others. And OMG, webcam? That sounded like internet porn. No way was she going to do internet porn.

"Uh, yeah. I do. But, y'know, I'll like, think about it, kay?" She gave him what she thought of as her 'paparazzi smile', carefully neutral—not that she'd had many chances to use it before. "I should, um, see where like Kalyn is and all…Kelly's totally going to be like, starting soon." She didn't want to turn him down in case he freaked and got all indignant or something. And she'd watched her mom dodge enough reporters to do it at least kind of gracefully.

Rob gave a small wave and nod. "Enjoy yourself, Karolina. Think about this, hope to hear from you soon, okay?"

And with that, he took another drink of his soda, walking off towards the upper deck of seats.

Ew. EwewewewEW! Karolina stomped off toward their seats. Kalyn was going to get an earful for leaving her alone with a skeevy guy like that. And then?

Then she was going right to Mr. Summers when she got back to Xavier's. Something told her she should talk to someone about this, before Skeevy Rob lured anyone else into his 'talent' scouting. Talent. Riiiight. Gross.