Summary:Damien Wayne and Toni Ho meet during a charity event and discuss the philosphy of people over profit when running a corporation. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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A Charity Event hosted by the Wayne Foundation was currently being held in times square. What was the charity for? To put money towards medical facilities and operations who specialize with children who have unique and difficult-to-treat diseases.
In place of his father, Damian Wayne is present. He wore a simple three-piece black suit with a dark green tie, to match his eyes. He did give a speech and it was a rather sincere one. Children were a soft spot for Damian, namely because his childhood was absolute shit.
After said speech, Damian descended from the podium to mingle with the crowd. He gives the waves and the bows, but doesn't engage in any meaningful conversation. He looks around though. There's got to be somebody in this gaggle of great minds and celebrities that could speak on his wavelength.
Normally, something like this would be handled more by Toni's co-CEO, Veronica Kelsey…after all, she's the chief medical researcher for RESCUE and this is totally her thing. And Toni is not particularly fond of high society social events. Buuuut…someone has to attend, and Toni did make a fairly large donation this time around out of her personal funds. Because it's a good cause.
Therefore, She's here, in a red dress that matches her dyed purple hair. Simple, but elegant at least, though she's certainly not as made up as other debutantes here.
She's got a glass of champagne that she's sipping at , but other than that she's really not seeking out people a great deal. More just…people watching…while she messes with her tablet, fiddling with a blueprint on it.
Damian notices Toni as she wears that red dress. He wasn't quite expecting someone who dressed so…loudly (or looked so young) to be present. Usually its just a bunch of old people trying to get endorsements from the young Wayne. So, Damian decides to approach.
"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you here at this event, Miss Ho. If you endorsed this charity, I have to say I'm honored to have your help." Even if it was for a good cause, Damian is now on the cause of being polite and welcoming.
Toni blinks as she realizes belatedly she's being addressed, quickly hiding the tablet as she slides it into her purse. "Oh! Ah, hey Mr….uh, Damien Wayne, isn't it?" she says, searching her memory. "Well, yes. I mean, Miss Kelsey would have preferred to be here, but she was dealing with a complex surgery and couldn't really justify it, so…here I am." She smiles a bit, shrugging. "It's a good cause, it's just parties aren't usually my thing."
Damian notices the tablet she quickly hides, but he makes no effort at all to see what she was up to. They were in public, after all! "That is indeed my name." He says with a smirk, but as she tells him that Kelsey would usually be here, Damian nods in understanding. "I know you mean well. I admire your work with RESCUE. Honestly, I'd love it if we had more minds like yours focused on saving lives in a medical standpoint through any situation." He gives a nod of his head to show his sincerity in his words.
"If I can be frank with you for a moment Miss Ho, I'm not one for the Party scene either. Truly, thats more my father's venue."
"Mm, well it's certainly nice to be appreciated. And Toni is fine, if you don't mind me calling you Damien?" She smiles. "So you just like the charity in particular then, huh? Your father is pretty great for his charity work too, Wayne Enterprises does a lot of good these days." She wrinkles her nose. "I mean, most of the tabloid stories are totally made up about him, I'm sure."
Damian shakes his head lightly. "I don't mind at all, Toni." He smirks a little bit at the allowance. Felt nice to drop formalities every now and then. "and before I forget, you look nice. Sometimes I forget my manners." Damian admits with a shrug of his shoulders while his hands go into his pockets. "I do. I've given my own share of donations to the endeavor. I only hope they make something good out of it. My father is indeed part of the driving force of the charity. I'm not usually the one on the front pages, its true. But thats not my focus."
He smiles at her lightly.
Toni idly brushes her fingers over her dress to smooth out imaginary wrinkles. "Thanks…you look pretty sharp yourself." She smiles and shrugs. "Oh, really? Well, good on you then." she adds easily. "And I admit I don't know a lot about what you do with Wayne Enterprises…do you have a position there? Or are you more just working with your family affairs?"
Damian smiles when she compliments him in return. "Thank you." As she speaks further and asks him about his position with the company, Damian shakes his head. "I more like help with Human Resources. My sister will be the one to inherit the company, so she's the one doing all the labor on that front. I just wanted to help out where I could." Damian says with not even an ounce of hostility in his tone. Apparently he's truly fine with this.
"Helena, right?" Toni says curiously. "Well, even if she's going to inherit it sounds like you're making your own place. Works better I think, right? Making a place, instead of having it just because of who you were born to." She sips from her champagne, crossing her arms absently as she rolls the stem of the glass between her fingers. "I'm sorta suprised it's Human Resources, it's not one of those more glamorous parts of a company, even if it's really important."
Damian looks at Toni with a nod. "Helena. She's kinder than she sometimes lets on, but then again, she's always had my mother's mischief." Step Mother. But, all the same. "I like to think so. True, Human resources isn't very glamorous, I use it to gain an insight into the lives of those who work with the company. Are they happy with our policies? Are they being paid well? Are they happy working in their department? In my own way, I help make people's lives just a little bit better." he smirks. "Glamour or luxury has little to do with it."
"Heh, yeah, but just try to tell that to a corporate higher up generally.' Toni notes wryly. "You would not /believe/ the arguments I've had with my board of directors over donations and how close I've insisted my or Roni's paychecks be compared to most of our employees. I mean, it's definitely caused some to go look for greener pastures, but I like to think the ones we have left are generally interested in making things work for people."
Damian smirks a little bit. "Oh, I can believe it. I've had a few of those arguments myself, though I'm not the CEO of the company, so I imagine you probably have it in a more interesting way than I do." He shrugs a bit.
"Mm, there are a lot more expections of how you have to act as a CEO. At least, for most business types." Toni shakes her head, taking another sip of her drink. "I've never been one for putting profit ahead of people, it's not why I started my company, or what Roni and I want to do with RESCUE. A lot of people we've hired don't see that, and some have just moved on because of it. I suck at being a business type anyway, I'm much more at home in a lab, or out doing something useful."
Damian seems to listen to her as she speaks. "I'll take your word for it. Honestly, being a CEO is not something I would want to be." he shakes his head a bit. "But, people usually look at money rather than the actual imperative of the mission the company set out to achieve in the first place. I'm sorry you've lost people to possibly greener pastures, but..better to do whats right." Damian shrugs. "Or try to, anyway."
Toni sighs. "Eh, well, they're probably happier where they are. And I wouldn't even be that interested in being co-CEO if it wasn't a bad idea to stop paying attention to what your board of directors are planning, even if you're also co-owner, you know? I think every single business drama ever pointed out the problems of CEOs being removed by their board because they weren't paying attention."
"Maybe." is all Damian says in reply, shrugging just a little bit. "Board of Directors could ixnay you on a vote. Thats why its always good to have at least one or two friends who serve there." Damian shakes his head lightly. He feels his phone buzz in his pocket and he checks it. Putting it away, he looks at Toni. "I'm afraid thats my curtain call, Toni. It was really nice meeting you, and I hope to see you again in the future." he gives her a bow of his head before he'll turn heel, unless stopped.