RP thread since you guys are hopeless chunis

[Duke Rockhopper]

The pair make their way over. Juniper expresses interest in meeting up with her friend now that they're joining her event, and before long she is the one leading Pal forwards.
"I want to say hi before the race starts," she explains happily, "Now that we're comin' to watch 'n'all".

As the pair draw close, a girl of similar frame and similar dirt level can be seen sat outside, almost so still she could be meditating. It looks like a pre-race ritual, a honing of mind and spirit before the grand event. Sacred; a tradition passed down from each generation of driver to the next...

"Sunny! Hey, it's me! Juniper! How are you?!"
The girl resembling a lit match bounces over to her friend, completely oblivious to whatever was occurring moments before. All notions of serenity are shattered and thrown to the cool-blowing wind as the bubble of energy reignites and barrels its way through the fields of peace. Quite unexpectedly however, upon seeing her friend, Sunny does exactly the same thing.
"Juniper? Is that you? It's me, Sunny! How are you?!"
She bounces up and throws herself at Juniper, performing a graceful glomp and nearly tackling the girl to the floor. Juniper spins her around and rolls her across her arm to catch her by the shoulder, both of them facing Pal.
"This is Sunny, my friend from 'ome!" Juniper explains obviously. "She's a really good racer!"
Sunny, for her part, can but grin sheepishly with a hand to the back of her head, and wave in greeting.

[Heinrike]

Alice sees the haircut, and turns to the cosplayer. "Wait, I think I saw him." She looks more closely, at the very least, her eyes would definitely have no trouble with the dark.

[Pal]

Pal smiles and returns the wave to Sunny.
"I know, we're one of her sponsors." He points to the car, which has Pal's corporate logo on the driver's door. An anime-style smiling black cat's face with little fangs showing from an open mouth, 'nyaa!'-ing happily.
"It was supposed to be a surprise, so...uh, surprise!" Pal grins awkwardly at Juniper.

[Merne23]

The cosplayer exits the room anyway. It's possible she thinks her neon lighted costume would be distract from the panel. As Alice focuses, she's pretty sure it's Bax sitting there. She'd have to see his face to be sure, which means walking through the middle of the crowd to get to him.

[Duke Rockhopper]

After beating his arm senseless, screaming at him for "using business to buy his way into my poor Sunny's heart" and accusing him of several (maybe untrue) indecent acts against her with no real basis, Juniper regains a little of her composure. Turning to Sunny, she bows low.
"I'm sorry that I didn't care for you growing up! If only I'd given you a little more money when you asked, you wouldn't have to depend on this useless lump to survive! Ahh, I feel like such a failure!"
Sunny laughs and waves her away. "Really, you don't need to apologise! And it isn't me personally he's sponsoring, it's the company I race with."
She indicates another logo further down the side of the car, depicting a grey car engine with fashioned metal cat ears near the top. The name "Nyandera" was printed across one of the engine's pipes in a way that actually made it rather hard to read, or so Juniper thought. Sunny smiled at the shape and continued.
"A contract was formed between the two companies for this season. The extra budget has allowed us to dip into some rather hard-to-reach parts and equipment. I've never been more excited to race! Just turning the thing on makes me shiver all over~"
She strokes the bonnet of the car affectionately, almost forgetting that anyone else is there with her. Juniper, for her part, can but stand and stare at her friend, wondering to herself where she went wrong with the social upbringing.

[Pal]

Pal takes the tantrum like a man; he cringes and tries to protect himself from the redhead's fury. Once the panic has subsided, he wisely keeps his mouth shut about the pending negotiations with Nyandera to buy them out. Legal would have a field day with him just for letting Juniper know about the sponsorship.
The cat-eared man takes out his pocket watch, part of his tanker's outfit, and checks the time. "I think there's enough time for a short warmup lap before the race starts. Want to show Bacon here what this thing can do?" He hooks his thumb towards Juniper for Sunny's benefit.

[Heinrike]

Kat goes and finds herself and Sapphire seats among the crowd, and Bill and Alice go find a spot near where Alice thought she saw Bax.

[Duke Rockhopper]

Sunny smiles, but shakes her head. Juniper looks at Pal like he's just suggested burning down an orphanage for fun.
"How could you even suggest such a heretic action?! Do you WANT Sunny to lose?!"
She stares agape at the man, while her friend places a hand on her shoulder.
"Easy, Junie, easy..." she smiles apologetically at Pal, "Sorry mister Pal sir, but I don't race the car before I have to. I've been up all night charging my powers!"
She beams as though her words are as everyday as commenting on the weather. Juniper nods vigorously, bobbing her hair up and down.
"Sunny is already in the race mentality! To disturb it now by exposing her to driving would be disastrous!"

[Merne23]

The panel continues with going on to showcase a new trailer. The game's a very stylish side-scrolling hack-n-slash. It all looks very fluid and clean, with hits on enemies and the player both popping on the screen and the animations being crisp. Supporting characters are swapped in with a background overlay of their portrait, also showcasing the teamwork mechanics. At the end of the trailer sees the main protagonist hopping onto the back of a flying mount before coming up to a boss, at which point the gameplay ends and an anime clip gives a title flash.

The crowd cheers and claps at seeing this, and the panel opens up to questions. Being so close, Alice knows this is Bax she's sitting near. He doesn't stand up for questions but is taking notes on his lap. He seems genuinely invested in this game and its development despite his overall laconic demeanor.

[Pal]

Pal shrugs and just pats Sunny on the head. "Ok. But afterwards you have to come to dinner with us." He indicates Juniper and himself. "Deal?"

[Heinrike]

Alice whispers softly in Bax's ear from her spot behind him~ "enjoying the panel? Your friend has been looking for you~"