Model Misbehaviour (Daleen x Vamp)

[TheLadyIsAVamp]

Bianca pushed open the tall glass door to the venue, smiling as the low hum of conversation and clinking glasses spilled out onto the quiet street like perfume. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Cassie was still following close behind. Bianca was in her mid 20s and had been modelling since she was a teenager. She'd attended this social on multiple occasions. It was a good way to meet people and make new contacts. She'd landed several well paid modelling gigs through social events like this. But Cassie was newer to it, and Bianca wanted to make sure her friend got noticed.

The venue was tucked away behind an unmarked entrance in the heart of the city, one of those word-of-mouth places where the chosen crowds mingled beneath dim lighting and velvet drapes. Inside, the walls were a rich navy blue, adorned with oversized monochrome prints of past fashion icons. Gold sconces cast a soft glow that danced across the marble-topped bar, where bartenders in pressed black shirts moved like clockwork.

“Don’t worry,” Bianca said over her shoulder, offering Cassie a reassuring smile as she handed her coat to the waiting attendant. “Everyone's really friendly, and if anyone gets elitist with you, I'll give them a talking to they won't soon forget!"

The room was already buzzing with a curated crowd, models in low cut dresses and deconstructed blazers, photographers with cameras slung casually over their shoulders and tablet devices containing their portfolios, and agents sipping cocktails with the air of people who hadn’t paid for a drink in years. Laughter rippled from a corner booth where a group posed for selfies against a neon sign that read Frame Yourself in loopy script.

Bianca looped an arm through Cassie's. “It’s a little scene-y, but it’s good for getting your name out there. Just be confident, smile, and don’t agree to anything without checking who you’re talking to first.”

A waiter floated past with a tray of prosecco flutes. Bianca snagged two and handed one to Cassie. “Welcome to the circuit.”

 

[Daleen]

Cassie was practically buzzing with excitement as she followed Bianca along, nervous energy mixing together with eager anticipation for her first steps into the real world of modeling once she heard the sounds of the gathering, picturing it in her head before she even turned to see it in the real world. She paused for a moment after stepping inside, the subtle chill of the night air sealed away behind her with the closing of the door and for a moment she felt as if she'd stepped into a dream she'd relived time and time again in her head. She stood there, pausing in her stride to simply take it in, the sights, the sounds, the scents, all of it oozed of upper echelon. Sure she wasn't under impression that she was sharing the air with Rockefellers or Roosevelts, but this was undeniably leaps and bounds from where she'd found herself. She couldn't help but compare it to the pizza party that had been her first networking event when she was sixteen, earning herself her first gig at a summer selection sale for a chain outlet store that had since gone out of business. She'd managed to keep herself involved in her work, and even did well enough to stay afloat after Highschool with a recently ended contract with Macy's. But she wanted more, especially considering the reality of student loans that had been hitting her lately. Staying afloat just wasn't good enough anymore, not when her dream and her career came with a ticking clock attached to it. At a fresh twenty one she was already having markets closed off to her, but she hoped it would also lead to some opening up.

Thus she had asked her closest friend and co-model for assistance, deciding that was better than asking her parents for money to buy time to chase after contracts herself. And now here she was! She had to stifle down a small squeal of excitement, doing her best to maintain her composure amongst the suave gathering of folks here tonight. First impressions happened once, and in this line of work, they could go very far indeed, though admittedly once she stopped to examine the room she couldn't help but feel a bit underprepared. The agents and photographers were easy enough to pick out, most dressed comfortably, albeit still showing off their success with their attire, but the competition, that was what was working her nerves. She looked around at them, only momentarily distracted by the attendant as she offered the man a sincere smile and a quick thanks as she handed off her own coat to him, showing off her own outfit for the evening, a black two piece vegan leather ensemble with a strapless black top that clung tightly to her smaller bosom with a silver snake adornment at the top center linked to a thin chain that wrapped around her neck, shining brightly against the raven black of her long hair. Leaving her midriff exposed, the creamy paleness of her skin was broken by the top of the matching black mini skirt ending tantalizing high upon her thighs, giving a free glimpse of her toned and slender legs all the way down to the strappy black heels she wore, with her freshly purple painted toenails pressed out at the tip. An outfit not designed for the weather outside, but one that fit in well enough here, if a bit less filled out in some area's than most of the other woman present.

She was pulled from her doubts and concerns as Bianca smiled back at her, and the simple gesture did wonders for her nerves. She reminded herself she wasn't here alone, she had her best friend here, and considering who that friend was, she had little to worry about. She laughed at the woman's promise, before nodding her head, having little to no doubt at all that Bianca absolutely meant what she said, and pitied anyone who threatened to get on that woman's bad side. "With you here, I doubt anyone would be so brave" she teased, giggling as she pressed in against Bianca's side once their arms intertwined one another and she nodded her head, listening intently to her friends advice. "How could I not be confident, when I managed to snag one of the most beautiful models in the world here at my side?" she asked before accepting the flute, her eyes roaming over the room once more. She'd meant what she said, Bianca truly was a stunning beauty, but that seemed to be a necessary requirement for entry here, how she was supposed to stand out against a crowd like this seemed a rather daunting task. However she just turned back to Bianca, putting on her best smile as she held her glass up for a cheer. "To a future of success" she offered, unaware that she herself had already earned more then a few stares, some less then friendly at the young newby intruding into crowded territory, but others with simple interest, and at least one with more then friendly ideas already forming. "So, see any familiar faces you want to talk with before we start working?" she asked, taking a sip from the glass, her practiced smile softening with sincerity at the sweetness of the wine tickling her tongue with it's carbonated bubbles.

 

[TheLadyIsAVamp]

"I see lots of familiar faces here, but don't worry, I can chat to them later! I'll point them out to you, though!".

Bianca took a sip of her drink and guided Cassie through the crowd with the effortless grace of someone who knew exactly where she was going. As they passed a group gathered around a glossy coffee table scattered with business cards and portfolios, Bianca leaned in, lowering her voice just enough to keep things conspiratorial.

“Okay, see the girl in the silver dress by the bar?” she nodded subtly toward a tall woman with an angular face and striking platinum hair pulled into a high braided bun. “That’s Amira, she does a lot of high fashion modelling. She’s got that whole ice-queen energy going on but don't let it fool you, she's a big softie."

Bianca grinned. “And iver there” she gestured toward a slightly scruffy-looking man in a charcoal turtleneck and round glasses, who was deep in conversation with a shorter woman holding a camera. “That’s Theo, he shoots a lot of my lingerie stuff. Looks like he lives off black coffee and existential dread, but he’s brilliant. If he asks to shoot you, say yes, even if he wants you standing in the middle of a motorway at 5am. The pics will be worth it."

They paused near a wall where an installation of backlit polaroids displayed snaps from previous events. Bianca let her eyes drift across them, taking in the flashes of models laughing, posing, frozen mid-smoke break, mid-pose, mid-kiss.

“There’s River,” Bianca continued, nodding toward a nonbinary model with emerald green eyeliner and a nose ring, currently laughing in a booth surrounded by admirers. “And that guy by the piano? That's Max. He’s a lifestyle photographer, but he always sneaks in fashion shots. Everyone acts casual around him, but his Instagram has like six million followers. One post from him and you’re golden.”

Bianca sipped her drink as she scanned the room. Her expression suddenly creased into a frown. "Oh God. She's here" Bianca groaned, nodding toward a young woman with flawless tanned skin wearing a fitted black minidress that hugged her body and showed off her long slender legs. She was stood talking and laughing with three older men, all of whom seemed to be hanging on her every word. "That's Valentina. Same age as you I think but she's been modelling for a while, started out with high end fashion and then moved into the sexier stuff. Lingerie, implied nude, fantasy dress up. She's popular with the photographers but she's a troublemaker. She can be a bit immature, she flirts too much and she's got a rep for being a party girl. She's signed by our rival agency as well. Probably best to just avoid her."

 

[Daleen]

"We'll see how long that takes" she teased with a soft laugh, knowing how sociable Bianca was. The woman could walk into a crypt and just being the life of the party that Bianca was bring them all back from the dead for a fun time. She knew better than to expect to have Bianca to herself for to long. However while she did have the woman, she meant to make the most of it and get as much info as she possibly could, thus allowing herself to be led away. Cassie had always been graceful, but even she had to make an occasional sudden move to keep from colliding into the occasional party goer as Bianca pulled her through the crowd, laughing as she tried to on occasion take another sip from her flute as they moved. Already affected by Bianca's contagious natural energy she was feeling more relaxed by the time they slowed while passing a table, and she leaned in to meet the woman's words, eager for the tea of the room. She turned, looking over at each person pointed out, doing her best to memorize the faces with the names.

She immediately held doubts about how soft Amira was, confident that it was just Bianca who had access to that side of the woman who looked as if she wouldn't bother wasting her drink to pour it out on you if you caught on fire, before covering her mouth to hide her small snort of laughter at the woman's advice for Iver. The way the woman said it made her confident that that had indeed happened at least once already, though she had seen Bianca's lingerie shoots and made sure to make a mental note to make her name known to the man. They had been absolutely fantastic, and Cassie had spent almost a week staring at them trying to imitate Bianca's poses and energy from those photos alone in her bedroom.

Taking another sip of her wine as they finally came to a stop, she looked back over the room, scanning the faces of the crowd before focusing on where the woman pointed. "Oh wow, they're lovely...and I want to talk to them just to know what pallete that eyeshadow came from I have to get my hands on it" she murmured before her eyes widened as the woman listed off Max's count. She herself had only recently managed to break past three hundred thousand, certainly no small feat but it paled in comparison, acting as a stark reminder of just how small a fish she was in this very big pond. She looked back to Bianca, about to ask the woman what her own followed count had managed to get up only to freeze in surprise as a look she'd never seen before flashed across the normally happy woman's face.

"Who?" she asked with worry as she turned to look over the room, before finding the source of the woman's ire. "Wow...she's beautiful" Cassie said before she could stop herself. She bit her lip as Bianca listed off the woman's accomplishments, and for a moment the sourness of Bianca was forgotten, as that seemed exactly the kind of person she wanted to talk to. The woman had already conquered high end fashion, which was Cassie's dream, plus the fantasy dress up had only added to her desire to meet the woman. She wasn't a cosplayer by any means, the thought of slaving over foam and 3d printers to great a chore for her but her own distractions from the world had tended towards the side of fantasy escapes across many genre of media, her personal favorite an elven fantasy anime that had gotten it's hooks deep into her.


She pulled on her lower lip, the soft rose lip stain taking the abuse with ease, as she found herself torn. She trusted Bianca a great deal, and if the woman said to stay away she knew it was probably for the best. Yet...the woman was like a checklist for everything she was looking for. Her own age, accomplished in Cassie's dream field, and it seemed they likely shared some similar hobbies as best she could guess, fantasy shoots were rarely done for the fame and fortune after all. They weren't exactly big ticket items, and it tended to be a niche market, so when it was done it was usually as a passion project. Though the mention of working for a rival agency did hold a fair bit of weight to it...she wanted to get to know the woman, to learn from her, possibly even network with her but, she'd be putting up a lot to risk for that. "Yeah...alright, so...what about them?" she asked, pointing to a random table for no reason other than to try and change the subject, though as Bianca began telling her about the people there she found it all going over her head, her eyes continuing to flick back over at Valentina. Even if they didn't work together...she couldn't help but admire the woman's beauty, she seemed to ooze the confidence of someone who knew exactly what they had to bring to the table.

 

[TheLadyIsAVamp]

Valentina was happilly chatting away with her little captive audience when she happened to glance over.

Her eyes met Cassie's for the first time.

She held the other woman's gaze, offering her a friendly smile before letting her eyes flick down the pale woman's body and back up again. Valentina hadn't seen her here before, but whoever she was, she was beautiful - smooth skin clad in an outfit that was neither too scandalous nor too formal, long silky hair hair that seemed to flow around her shoulders, a gorgeous face and sharp eyes, a slender body and legs that seemed to go on for days.

Yup, she was beautiful. So much so that Valentina's eyes kept flicking back to her. She was only half listening to the photographers now. One of them was trying to impress her with a story about a competition he'd entered. Something about a picture of a ladybird. She didn't care. She was much more interested in the other women. They kept catching each other stealing glances at one another. Valentina shot her a knowing smile as their eyes met again, and a moment later she excused herself from the photographers and walked over to the bar, giving Cassie a long lingering look that silently issued an invitation to join her as she walked past

"...And that's why she can't be trusted with tequila anymore" Bianca said, turning back to Cassie. "Cass? Hello? You listening?"

She didn't get a chance to enquire further. A large man with a full beard and a bald head appeared by her side and pulled her into a hug, calling out her name in a booming voice. Bianca laughed and hugged the bear of a man in return.

"Bee, I need to introduce you to Malcolm" he said hurriedly. "He's going to leave soon, have you got a minute?"

Bianca swore. "OK ok, sure. Cass are you alright if I just go talk to someone? Socialise, talk to people, I'll find you when I'm done!" She said, practically being pulled away by the large man.

 

[Daleen]

Cassie froze like a deer in headlights as the woman's eyes seemed to catch her own staring gaze, and for a moment she felt her heart skip a beat. Gods above and below, she really was beautiful. She tried to look away, she knew she should, at this point Cassie couldn't help but feel like she was being rude staring so intently at the other woman, but she couldn't. Her eyes widened as she saw the woman's gaze drifting and realized the woman was...no, no she was being ridiculous. There was no way the woman was checking her out, at least not like...no. The woman was probably just examining the new girl. Still it didn't stop the blush from creeping across her face, the heat in her cheeks finally motivating her enough to tear her gaze away. Though only for a moment, as her eyes soon flicked back over to Valentina, again and again as she tried to focus on what Bianca was saying she couldn't hear any of it. She felt drawn to the woman, for a moment wondering if this was what a fly felt like watching it's friend being closed up in a venus fly trap's grip, but unable to resist the pull of the sweet nectar's scent.

She felt that skip of a beat once more as the woman smiled over to her, and found herself wondering how many people might have seen that same smile while looking down upon a magazine cover, how many people pulled by those eyes. Her attention suddenly snapped back to Bianca as she heard her name being called, and she turned back to face Bianca, a dazed look on her face as she suddenly remembered where she was, and what she was here for. "Huh? Oh, um, yeah, yeah sorry, I just..." she hesitated for a moment before taking another sip from her glass. "Just thinking about all the possibilities I could find here, sorry" she said with a sheepish smile. "You were saying?" she asked, before blinking in surprise as suddenly someone new appeared, catching both Cassie and Bianca's attention, though only holding Bianca's, Cassie looking back to where Valentina had begun moving towards, just catching the back of the woman moving through a crowd before it closed back in after her.

"Hm? Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. That sounds perfect. I'm just going to grab another drink first but maybe I'll go and chat with Amira and see if I can't get past that facade to all that softness you told me about" she said with a half hearted laugh that barely surpassed polite. Once Bianca was dragged away, Cassie stood there for a moment, truly telling herself that she was going to do just as she said and find Amira and introduce herself. She knew she shouldn't go after Valentina, Bianca had specifically warned her about the woman, and if they were even seen together she knew how quickly the rumor mill worked. The last thing she needed when just trying to start taking her career to the next level was getting on her agencies bad side, and yet as she moved to search for Amira, she found herself trailing along after Valentina, making her way around the crowd the woman had simply strolled through.

She spotted the woman over at the end of the bar, and for one final moment she had enough time to think clearly. This was a bad idea, she knew this was a bad idea, everything in her was telling her that this was a very, bad, idea. And yet her feet carried her forward until she stood a few feet away from Valentina. She opened her mouth as if to say something to the woman who wasn't even looking at her, before biting down on her lower lip once more in an old nervous habit of hers, and at the last second turned instead towards the bar, resting one hand on the counter top of the bar, before bringing her glass up, and tilting it back draining the remainder of the wine. She should leave now...she technically hadn't done anything wrong, she hadn't actually talked to Valentina yet, she'd just...happened to find herself near the woman, on the complete opposite side of the room of the woman she'd said she was going to meet. But she hadn't done anything that could get her into any trouble exactly...not yet at least.