By the time Holly had gotten back from her morning jog, the news had broken. Normally Holly would have been done with her run well before the day had officially begun but after last night - helping clean the Dahlia given her one drink maximum leaving her incredibly sober, she allowed herself to sleep in a little later. Not too much later, of course, otherwise she would quickly find herself falling out of the routine she had so comfortably settled into. Of course, Holly didn't get wind of the news of the cancellation until she stepped out of the shower, hair in desperate need of drying and cosmetics in even more dire need of application, and turned the television on for background noise. What she heard from the breaking report almost made her poke her eyes with an eyelash curler. Instead it clattered to the ground and Holly, who had been watching in the reflection of her vanity, turned her head with a confused, blinking stare.
The low rumbling of her phone vibrating away wasn't enough to break her concentration on the news. With how much of the region was built around the gym challenge - socially, economically, and touristically - it was impossible to imagine a scenario where one of the biggest events of the year was cancelled. Short of an apocalyptic event, Holly couldn't think of any reason to not go forward and with it being cancelled that was apocalyptic in its own right. Sure, she might have had her misgivings about the pomp and circumstance but she was, if nothing else, a professional and played her part the same as everyone else.
Also looking on and sensing a problem based on Holly's reaction was Doppio, who had been looking forward to having her shell spines sharpened and cleaned for the ceremony. The Toxapex blinked as it swayed inside its shell, toothy mouth wriggling in disappointment as it became clear that Holly wasn't going to give the poison barb equivalent of a mani-pedi today. Doppio closed her shell flap to sigh to herself, the low complaining sighs of her disapproval muffled behind the colorful shell.
"Don't you start." Holly said, barely turning to look towards Doppio before her eyes finally broke free of the television as she saw her phone vibrating enough to move it on the counter.
"Shit..." She would be late. There was no getting around that. It was already 10:20. Still, there was an advantage to being late and that was being
fashionably late. Holly was certain no one would expect anything less from her.
The meeting had already started by the time Holly walked in. True to her nature, she walked in looking less like someone arriving for a spot of bad news and more like she was stopping in on her way to a photoshoot. Black heeled boots and dark leggings that looked like faux leather but knowing Holly was anything but, a sleeveless tank top; the coat she wore with it was draped on her back like a cape only because it was too cumbersome to carry on her arm and it was too warm inside to wear it normally. In her hands was a coffee cup - she had taken the time to stop for coffee on the way in - and if she didn't seem overly concerned based on appearance and time of arrival than her neutral expression and shrug of the shoulders as she arrived did the trick.
"Good coffee." Holly felt she had to say something as she awkwardly took a sip from her cup, looking around at the others who seemed to not be in much of a state of amusement.