Welcome to Gaia! ::

Regina sat, watching the stage through one half-open eye. She was, of course, in the center of the judges table, between Aandes and Odette. The question of perhaps putting something on her chair to er, fix any height discrepancies was solved by sending in for chairs with adjustable heights. They were comfy, padded, and with wide backs. So she lounged.

If Aandes had thought that her uses for him and Odette was going to be limited to musical theatre, he had surely picked up by now that she would be making full usage of their services for far more than that. These two trolls, and the attention and reputation they had managed to carve out for themselves, were her ticket to a media campaign that stretched from one end of Alternia to the other. The most well-known and widely spread faces of fame in Alternia would all owe their success to her. While they might not be inherently loyal, they would at least be emotionally and legally indebted to her. There wouldn't be any room for more trolls with questionable backstories to crawl into the limelight with her personally picked stars receiving all the media attention. As 'Razzle Dazzle', real name the far less glittery Giveem Theold, reached the end of her spiel, Regina looked between Aandes and Odette, straightening up and broadening her smile. "Good luck."

--

"Heyyy Alternia! Sup?" Leaning forwards, Regina waggled her fingers at the camera. "I'm stoked to be here, with you all, creating some real magic. I know everyone's looking forwards to the real center of attention, and me, I'm stoked to see what Alternia's got to offer. There's so many trolls out there who don't got the personal connections, or time, or beetles, or whatever to get that first push out into the public, but got so much to offer. And I'm so beyond jazzed that we can give them that tonight. I want to see a troll really grab what we're giving, and drain it to it's last drop. Really make use of this, and show us their energy and conviction. So hey, look forwards to it."

Turning her eyes from one side to the other, Regina leaned back and gestured magnanimously at Aandes and Odette. "I mean, that's what I'm really looking forwards to, but what about you guys? What are you here to see? What's gonna get you real excited? What are you looking to see in a winner?"

Regina's smile was, as usual, flawless and toothy. As the camera panned around to the judges table she was already leaning forward. Today she, LaMode and Cygnet would be picking their favorite troll out of the most successful first-rounders to highlight. Looking around at the other two judges, she turned her face back to the camera again and gave it a friendly wink. "Hey hey! Welcome back y'all! I can't wait to see how the next few nights are gonna change the playing field! While we don't got numbers in for the turnouts at the individual meet and greets, we know how the audience reacted to the initial introductions, and what trolls got some real interest from the public through that."

Leaning back slightly, she looked from side to side again, then back at the camera. She had tossed up between two trolls for the one she'd be chatting about tonight. The aggressively slick and polished purpleblood had been expected for her blood hue - so Regina had selected the hemoanonymous contestant. They stood out for being so risky, and yet so bubbly in the face of a potential backlash. Maybe her comments would make them nervous, but if a troll couldn't handle a little pressure, they had no business entering in a competition with such high stakes. "It'll be interesting to see if the top trolls will only solidify their platforms or if new faces will rocket to the top! I'm curious if Ely Z is gonna grab and hang onto the huge reception that she got. The kid gambled on the huge risk of coming onstage with no blood colour on display, and got a gigantic reaction showin' that kinda guts. She says that she's eager, so I'm eager myself to see where she's going! And I'm guessin' I'm not the only one?"

--

"You’re absolutely right, Regina. I’d say there’s been a great showing of enthusiasm here today, and one of the brightest bulbs I’ve seen was from Frenzz. Even rattling off his sponsors he didn’t miss a beat – I really believed his endorsement. Frankly, I couldn’t say that for every idol here today, so that’s quite a feat. Looks like a natural performer to me. For a lowblood to perform such dangerous and whimsical arts, and speak so confidently? And that charming, homey accent. I have to say, I wasn’t sure about a jack of all dangerous trades in this competition, but I’m intrigued about him.”

Aandes shifted in his chair, folding his arms and placing his index finger and thumb on his chin. “Seems like the sponsors really extended their offers this sweep. Wonder if there’s any drama behind the scenes of this competition, hmm? I’m so intrigued.”

He wrapped up his commentary and looked at Regina with a nod. If he was sponsoring an idol he wouldn’t want to put all of his eggs in one basket, of course – but sponsoring so many seemed like a major liability. He was grateful that he wasn’t in the hotseat here – in front of all of Alternia a bad egg could spell a publicity nightmare. He glanced over at his own starlet, Odette, placed in the discerning eye of the Empress and the world. Aandes wondered if these wannabe idols knew the stakes they were involving themselves in.

--