Lipstick Express

[Marzena Vaas]

Marzena smiled warmly at Alize, she did work to keep her fans happy, and it was nice to interact with them whenever she had the chance. Her brows rose just slightly at the thought of touring the ship, perhaps it would be interesting. So far she had only seen the gift shop area that was near the exit, a strategic placing to be sure, so that the passengers would be tempted on their way in and out.

“I haven’t seen the rest of the ship yet,” She looked towards Dunames, “Yes, why don’t we take a quick look?”

She had arrived to Lipsec on her own transport earlier that morning, as she was needed to greet the Lipstick Express as it arrived. But from what she could see, it did seem that the vessel was quite comfortable, perfect for pampering its passengers during their voyage. Her eyes glanced towards the cases of lipstick on display, and it reminded her to touch up her own. She pulled a tube of a red designer shade from her bag and applied a thin layer.

“Where will you take us first, Ms. Lopez?”

[member="Dunames Lopez"], [member="Alize Rosenheim"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

With Alize and Marzena in tow, Dunames agrees to show them the way around the Bowser-class ship used for the Lipstick Express before the return flight boarding process commenced. The Lipstick Express is a name applied to the route, but is otherwise not much different from the standard Star Tours accommodations. The main cash cows of the spaceline are the duty-free shop services and the Secret Courier services, and also the first-class cabins to a lesser extent.

"What you have seen is Star Tours' on-board duty-free shop, and the galley is close by. On your left is the first-class cabins, very similar to what's used by light-sided companies for long-haul space cruises. Understandably, with long-haul first-class accommodations on what is not usually considered that long of a flight comes a rather high cost"

To Star Tours, in passenger operation, short-haul is 1-3 hexes away, medium-haul 4-6 hexes away and long-haul 7+ hexes away. Dark-sided companies often tend to skimp on comforts and give only the bare minimum for short-haul and medium-haul, with some companies even making you charge for something as simple as flight glasses. And they tend to charge for extras that would be complimentary on light-sided spacelines. Dunames wonders how can Bespin Direct call themselves a non-stop spaceline that doesn't stop caring when they use all-economy configurations for their Coruscant, Alderaan and JanFathal long-haul services. They should rather be a non-stop spaceline that doesn't break the bank instead. She also takes the ladies to what lies beyond the forward galley, which featured an automated kitchen and separated economy class from first class.

"All the seats come equipped with holotrays, which allow you to watch holoshows while seated, and the selection of channels often revolve around what's available at each end of the flight"

[member="Marzena Choi"] [member="Alize Rosenheim"]

 

[Alize Rosenheim]

[SIZE=14.6667px]With the business discussions concluded, Alize followed [member="Dunames Lopez"] as she commenced the tour of the ship. Once the group was near the duty-free stores, Alize took a moment to admire the displays, taking mental notes of how the stock was arranged. Wishing to experience the service herself, Alize excused herself from the group for a couple of minutes and approached the nearest cosmetic counter.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Within seconds, she had been approached by a sales assistant. "Hello, how can I help you today madam?" The woman asked.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Pleased with the efficient service that she had been met with, Alize pointing to one of the lipsticks on display. "May I try out this product?" She asked.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]"Sure," the sales assistant smiled as she reached under the counter and took out the tester, disinfected it and passed it to Alize.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Alize smiled, noticing that the woman had taken the effort to disinfect the lipstick for her. It was obvious that the staff or at least, this sales assistant had been well trained. Taking the lipstick, she wiped off her lip makeup and applied the tube to her lips.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]"Would you like to purchase the lipstick, madam? That colour looks very flattering on you," the sales assistant asked expectantly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]"Yes, please." She replied, prompting the sales assistant to ring up the item. Leaving the cosmetic counter, Alize returned to the group and apologised for her sudden urge to visit one of the counters in the duty-free store then turned to Dunames.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]"I am quite impressed with the service and the cleanliness of the makeup counters in the duty-free stores aboard the ship, Miss Lopez," Alize smiled, pleased with the level of customer service that she had received and the general state of the counter. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px][member="Marzena Choi"][/SIZE]

 

[Marzena Vaas]

Marzena smiled to her companions and walked along as Dunames began the tour. Her high heels clicked lightly against the floor, and her manicured hands swung gracefully at her sides as she went along. She had already taken a quick look at the offerings in the duty free shop, and took a moment to gaze at her reflection in the glass of a display case. She ran her fingers through her dark hair a couple of times and attempted to work a bit more volume into her wavy style. It was a pity that she did not have any hairspray with her. Marzena had seen a number of the passengers exiting the ship with bags from the duty free shop, and she wondered how many more purchases would be made during the return voyage later that day.

“Did you find something nice?” She asked as Alize returned to their group, with a bag of her own.

As the tour continued, she peeked inside a few of the first-class cabins, the accommodations certainly looked comfortable. She gave a small nod of approval before they moved on past the galley. Marzena listened with a pleasant smile as Ms. Lopez explained that each seat allowed passengers to watch holoshows during the flight. She moved to a nearby row of seats and gently sat down. There was just enough leg room to not feel cramped, and the seats themselves were cushioned nicely. The little details often made for a pleasant journey.

“Nice work, Ms. Lopez.” She said with a smile, “I can see why everyone looked so content after their flight.”

[member="Alize Rosenheim"], [member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"The seat pitch on Star Tours ships is about 80 cm in economy class, which is the tightest seat pitch we are allowed per inter-faction regulations. Whereas some spacelines would simply hand out flight glasses, like the Star Tours of Darth Vader's time, or Mandalorian-controlled Dantooine Express, we needed to do better than that"

"Do you like fried chicken? There's a TKFC location nearby" an airport employee told Dunames et al.

TKFC was founded by the (in)famous TK-421 in 0 ABY, who was most famous for leaving his post regularly despite sometimes having good reasons for not being at his post. By 1 BBY he was stationed on JanFathal and he was either to transfer to Tatooine, the Death Star or to go on one of his business trips leading up to TKFC's operation. In the fast-food world, four major companies seem to have a following that go beyond their own system: McYoda's, Pizza Hutt, MandalBurger and TKFC. The first two are Hutt-controlled, MandalBurger is Mandalorian-controlled (with the Mandos, one could never tell where they lie in the Force, but they tend towards the light for the time being) and TKFC is dark-sider-controlled. It has recently announced the construction of a new headquarters building on Dosuun.

"Two pieces of fried chicken, complete with fries and a drink, for 2 credits"

"This is also served on Star Tours flights... except that the selection of drinks is not always optimal"

[member="Marzena Choi"] [member="Alize Rosenheim"]

 

[Alize Rosenheim]

“Did you find something nice?” Marzena asked Alize when she returned to the group, with a bag in hand.

"A lipstick caught my attention so I felt the urge to sample and purchase it," Alize replied, removing the item from her bag to show [member="Marzena Choi"]. "It's such lovely warm rosy colour isn't it?"

Putting the lipstick back into the bag, Alize admired the first class cabin where comfort met style. With a small nod and a smile, the Epicanthix showed her approval. "It's a fine room, Miss Lopez very befitting of first-class cabins."

Following [member="Dunames Lopez"], Alize stood, her hand wrapped around Frederick’s as she listened to the woman describe other features of the Lipstick express with great interest. The more she heard about the service aboard the vehicle, the more excited she felt for its stores to display and sell her company products at its cosmetic counters.

"Do you like fried chicken? There's a TKFC location nearby," an airport employee asked the group, grabbing Alize’s attention. Although she had heard of the company, she had not yet sampled their products before. Curious, Alize jumped at the chance to buy some when the employee informed the group “Two pieces of fried chicken, complete with fries and a drink, for 2 credits."

OOC

Spoiler

Sorry for the poor quality post. It's 3am and I'm tired but didn't want to continue to hold up the thread.

 

[Dunames Lopez]

How could Alize possibly hear about TKFC unless she went to Jakku or Bimmisaari lately, or some publication talked about how TKFC expanded outside First Order space? These were the only two TKFC locations outside FO-space. Of course, Lipsec had its fair share of TKFC locations, and Dosuun as well, and, on Lipsec's major cities, they have a saying that, if one missed a TKFC location, one would find another location within four to six city blocks or so. Dunames approached the spaceside TKFC location, while recognizing that sign almost instantly as she approached the location. Understandably the lineup is rather long, as many passengers returning to Lipsec are hungry, especially after flying on companies such as Hedeek Shipping and Ororo Transportation, which provide little, if any, food onboard even on longhaul flights like Coruscant-Lipsec (Hedeek Shipping) or Alderaan-Lipsec (Air Alderaan). When it was Dunames' turn to go to TKFC, she recognized Sera Kawano just ahead of her in the line.

"One two-credit, two-piece special please"

"Which drink?" the squeaky-voiced teenage order taker asked.

"Jawa juice please"

"For 1 extra credit you can supersize either the drink or the fries; do you want any of these?"

"Supersize the fries please"

[member="Alize Rosenheim"] [member="Marzena Choi"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[Marzena Vaas]

Marzena admired the lipstick that Alize had purchased; the packaging was very appealing – feminine, flowery, and sweet. Her dark eyes flickered from the lip color to Alize’s complexion, and she gave a swift nod of approval. It would look lovely on the young woman. The shade she had chosen would also work well applied to the cheeks for a bit of blushy warmth.

“Very pretty, it will look nice on you.” She said with a smile.

She shifted her attention when the topic changed suddenly to food. And while it was important to eat, Marzena found herself frowning at the mention of TKFC. Of course, it was an establishment that she had heard of, but would never frequent. Marzena was a bit picky about the types of food she allowed herself to eat, and any sort of fried food was most definitely not on the list. But her smile remained, for she imagined that the passengers of Star Tours would probably like food from TKFC. That was the type of food normal people ate, right? Maybe not every day... at least she hoped.

The celebrity stood well to the side of the space side TKFC, and she waited for the others to receive their orders. A quick glance at her watch told her that she would only be able to linger for a short while longer, for the day was still quite young and there was always much to do.

[member="Dunames Lopez"], [member="Alize Rosenheim"]

 

[Alize Rosenheim]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Alize stared at the lengthy line slightly with a sigh. Being an impatient woman, Alize turned to Frederick and spoke with a [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]tone reminiscent of a child attempting to sweet talk their mother into buying them a toy or a packet of sweets. "My darling," she started as Frederick sighed - she had never been one to address him with pet names unless she desired something from him. "The line is a bit long and my calf is getting a bit sore because of these new heels of mine so will you do me the favour of ordering a [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]meal for me honey?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]“Sure, do you want the meal with [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]jawa[/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px] juice?” Frederick asked confirming her order with a sigh. Typical Alize[/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px], he thought as he fought the urge to shake his head and smile.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14.6667px]“Yes, please!” she replied enthusiastically. Being a [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]well-travelled[/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px] woman who rarely remained in one location for too long, she had heard about TKFC on her travels but was regrettably unable to sample their products during her brief stay Bimmisaari. The fragrant smell of the fried chicken had drawn her to the store but unfortunately, her schedule forced to depart the planet before she was able to have a meal there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px][member="Marzena Choi"], [member="Dunames Lopez"][/SIZE]​