Disclaimer: I do not own Serra Muun or Victoria's Secret. Story is mine nonetheless, so mittens off.
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I
Golden Assailant
[X]
I am a goddess, you want me, Bunny thought to herself, head held high. Well, it was much better than thinking here you are twit, standing in nothing but knickers that aren't even yours with wings sprouting out of your back. The latter thought was one which wanted to creep up every so often, but right now she could think of nothing of how sexy the photographer wanted her to look. It paid the bills, so what else could she do? Waitress?
She actually let herself laugh at the thought.
"Bunny! Brilliant, smile again for us," a man behind the sparkling, blinding lights called out over the blowing fan.
So she did. No, she couldn't waitress. Her financial burden was too great to do something so physically demanding and unstable in pay. Besides, what better job could she ask for than to be a model for Victoria's Secret? Not only was the pay outstanding, but you also were considered to be a 'star' and, best of all, you got to keep the underwear afterwards.
The shoot was a relatively short one compared to a good number of others she had gone through in the past; it had begun at five in the morning and lasted until two. Victoria Secret was doing a spring sale; so only twenty roles of film were needed to choose the promotional posters from. The top models, however, whose names and faces were more pronounced than Bunny DeClaire's had the higher paying spots. Therefore, they had to stay a tad bit longer.
Better them than me, Bunny mused as she walked down the streets of LA. She would be there soon though, appearing in national commercials and God only knew what else. Modeling was only the welcoming mat for many as after that first commercial or so, it was time to move inside the limelight doing movies or television shows. The prettiest faces paved the way for the beginners like Bunny and she was climbing the latter fast. She had a look different from the dark beauties she was normally surrounded by; it got her noticed and kept her name fresh in people's minds when they were searching for a face to paste along with their products. Much like her mother she was tall at 5'10" with curves of cream silk abundant. Her father had called them his Moon Goddesses because of their natural white golden hair that depending on the light depended on what color was more dominate. An exact replica of her mother except for her light crystal blue eyes she had and her bolder facial features that were defined and exotic, both compliments of her father.
Yes, her unique appearances would give her the edge for the majority of her employment in the eye of the public, but it would also put her life in danger. She would soon find this out unfortunately, as she walked down those glamorous streets of LA.
Sipping on her strawberries and cream frapiccuno she had just bought, Bunny began to dig through her tiny purse for her cell phone as Moonlight Sonata played within it. Finding the desired object, she flipped open the pink phone and pressed it to her ear, "Hello?"
"Shoot go well?" A voice asked peculiarly.
The blonde stopped, trying to handle her nearly over spilling purse, halfway gone drink, and tiny phone all at once, "Yeah, it was short. A bit tired and stiff, but nothing more than the usual. You good for nothing agent, why weren't you there?"
"Hey, you'll thank me for not being there. I was scouting out a new gig…. Do you want to know what?"
Bunny paused, eyes squinting slightly as she looked to her left. Something in her agent's voice made this 'gig' sound bigger than all the rest, "Spill."
"Are you aware of, my dear friend, Demando Diamonds?" She could hear his anticipation grow, "Yeah. They only own the most expensive, gorgeous jewelry on the face of this earth and the next. What about them? Jared… what are you trying to say?"
"You're not driving are you? Because I am and I've nearly gotten into two wrecks since—"
"Jay!!" She yelled, trying to get his attention as his excitement began to unravel.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I got you a commercial Buns!" He exclaimed in her ear, only to be followed by a string of curses with the sound of rubber shrieking as Jared slammed on his breaks.
Her first initial feeling was numbness. It chilled her body as it slowly dripped down to her feet to be replaced by unexplainable warmth. It worked its way into every nook and cranny of her physical being as she licked her lips, expression blank, and took her trembling hand – which had drifted a few inches away— back to her ear, "Jared… are you all right?"
"Huh?" He repeated for the second time, a little more haggard than the first, "Oh yeah. Fine. Damn pedestrians think they own the whole damn street."
"You're telling me, you got me a commercial spot for Demando Diamonds?" She said carefully, slowly making sure there were no mistakes.
"Better than that."
"Better?" She squeaked, warm feeling buzzing inside of her veins.
"Two words: Contract. National."
"National?" She breathed almost inaudibly.
"Think about it Buns," Jared began, excitement mounting, "Leading lady in your string of national commercials!"
Bunny clutched her drink tightly to her chest and felt her knees begin to buckle, vaguely aware of someone near her exasperatedly yelling, "Jay, oh God. I think I have to sit down…. National? This is big…. How did you…?"
"Have lunch with me, I'll explain everything."
"Huh?" She mimicked him absentmindedly, "Oh, yeah. Where at?"
"Eisig's good?" Jared asked, sounding a slight calmer now that his big news was out in the open, "Where are you at? Maybe I could pick you up."
"Uh, let me see." She turned to look for a street sign as any and all comprehension of her location had been blown to bits, but only got as far as saying "I'm on—" before a great golden blur pounced on her, toppling her over. "ACK!"
"Jag--!" A voice boomed, ending with a surprised gasp.
A few moments of hazy delirium and pain went by as Bunny acknowledged the heavy weight that now stood on her stomach and chest as she lay sprawled on the sidewalk. What brought her out of that daze was a warm, leathery, slobbery something lapping at her face. "What the—eww! Ick! Get off!"
"Jag, you heard her!" The voice said angrily as they pulled the weight off of her, "Sorry about that Miss, he got away from me."
"Ah," Bunny bit, trying to sit herself upright, eyes flashing dangerously at her assailant, "I take it this is Jag."
The golden retriever sat at the feet of his master, panting happily at his find unbeknownst that if his 'find' had it her way, he would be put behind bars for good. Surely he would get a treat from his master for leading him here. He was a good boy and only loved to please his best friend.
"Yes, I—here, let me," the voice spoke again, just a dark silhouette against the sun to Bunny until they reached down to haul her up on her feet as if she weighed nothing, "Oh geez…."
Looking up at the dog's owner, she was slightly bewildered by the intense blue eyes that were gazing at her oddly. She would even go as far as saying the man was amused at her apparent distress of having been mauled over by his pet. Following his stare she looked down at herself and saw the majority of her chilled drink sopping down the front of her white tank top and jean skirt. Her jaw dropped as she stared dumbly at the stain while her assailant's owner stooped down to pick up her empty cup.
He looked sheepishly at her, holding out the plastic container, "Uh, I think this was yours…."
"I don't believe this…." Bunny tried to brush off the access slush before her disbelief turned to raging anger, "I don't believe this!"
"Listen, I really am sorry."
"Sorry?!" Her normally pleasant gaze snapped to the guilty man, "Sorry?! You're dog runs me over, slobbers all over me, and ruins my clothes all in one fell swoop and all you have to say is sorry?!"
The stranger's facial features hardened ever so slightly, "I'll pay for your clothes. I really don't know what got into him. He normally doesn't act like this…. Well, there was that one time…."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing, "You mean he's done this before?"
"It was just the one time, honest. Let me just pay for your clothes and—"
"I don't need your money!" Bunny hissed at him as he pulled out his wallet, "What I need is for you to keep your dumb dog off the streets so he can't attack any more innocent people!"
Those eyes that held her interest for a split second turned cold as they narrowed, "I said I was sorry. I know Jag can be thick headed sometimes, but he's a dog! And he sure as hell as doesn't attack people."
She just snickered, "Yeah, well there was that one time."
"Now you listen here, Miss," he began, straightening up to his full height to stick up for his 'dumb dog,' who all the while was licking up strawberries and cream goodness up off of the cement.
Throwing up her hand, she cut him off being way too irritated to listen to him berate her. "No, you listen. I don't want your money and I don't want your apologies. I just want you and Jag—" the golden retriever looked up happily, tail wagging in recognition that they were talking about him, even if it was unpleasantly, "to get out of here while I piece together what dignity I have left."
Tightly winding the leather leash around his hand once, the stranger gave a curt "Fine" before leading his dog away to resume the walk they were having earlier to the beach. He only looked back once to see the young woman cursing as she picked up a small pink object off of the ground. Sensing his master's hesitation, Jag stopped and also looked at his find. He was pleased to feel his friend scratch behind his floppy ears, "You numbskull. Too bad she's irreconcilable, huh?"
Jag nudging his head against his legs was all the motivation he needed to leave the cursing beauty behind.
= =
"What—" Jared started as he stood to receive his client, but stopped short in shock when he saw a frazzled Bunny walk up to their table and flounce into the chair he pulled out for her, "Don't even."
Sitting across from her, blue gray eyes wide and jaw slightly ajar he took in her appearance. Pink stains running down her front, silver hair flying every which way, and a scowl that could kill imprinted upon her usually agreeable face.
"You said you got run over by a dog, but… geez. What was it, a Saint Bernard?"
"Ha hah." She replied, taking a menu offered to her from a puzzled waiter, "Golden retriever if you must know. Can we just order?"
"Go ahead," her agent trying not to laugh, handed his own crimson menu to their server, "I'll have the fettuccini."
"And you, Miss?" The boy asked, training telling him to forget how disarrayed his customer looked.
Bunny chewed the bottom of her lip as her eyes ran over the selection offered, "I'll have a Caesar to start out with… then the Chicken Alfredo with—a side of five cheese lasagna… aaaanndd… bring a side of that eggplant whatsit. Oh! And an extra loaf of bread. We'll need it."
Flashing him a dazzling smile, she handed over her menu and watched the bewildered waiter walk off to put in the order. Jared just shook his head, grinning.
"He must be new," Bunny said, placing her napkin in her lap.
"He must be," he agreed with her, "It still surprises me that you can eat so much and keep your figure."
She shrugged, "I can't help it! Italian is my weakness."
"And so is Chinese, Mexican, American, Thai—"
"Okay, okay! I get it all ready. Food in general is my weakness. Is it a bad thing that I love to eat so much?"
"Not until your metabolism gives out. Too bad you can't cook or else I think you would have became a chef, huh Buns?"
"Shut it Jay," she glowered, taking her glass of red wine to her lips, "And I can cook thanks. Only a select few items. Like desserts."
"I'll give you that, but let us not argue about your innate ability to poison others. Let's talk about the Demando deal." He leaned forward, morphing from friend into agent, "What do you want to know?"
She looked him over. If she wasn't such good friends with him, that Jared Massey, she would seriously consider him as date material. Girls flocked to him with his tall, easy figure that resembled bronze plated iron poles braided together to modestly show that he did, in fact, work out. He had sand blond hair that was a curly mass of chaos on worse days, and on better ones it gave off a 'beach bum god' effect. The effect, thankfully enough, didn't hold a shadow to Jared when he wore an expensive suit and put on his best business face for he was a ruthless panther when it came down to it. But when it didn't come down to the grit, he had an easy smile that always reached his eyes of cool gray, which held constant merriment. All and all, in and out, Mr. Massey was a perfect male specimen, but he wasn't for Bunny DeClaire.
"Everything," Bunny smiled, warm giddy feeling returning from when she had it earlier.
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TR- Well, another chapter come and gone. If you didn't read the top, I made Bunny taller just because one she's a model and two I'm sick of everyone making her out to be a 'small fragile pixie.' Sure Bunny/Usagi/Serena's short, but damn it! This is my story! Ahem. So, lasagna anyone? Love you guys, really.
I also have the next chapter typed out, but I want reviews first. I want to know what you guys think of this story so far so that I may be better motivated to write more as a whole. I want reviews and I know you have them!! Gimmie!
I AM GOING TO UPDATE ON MY OTHER STORIES! You, dear reader, are closer than you think to getting a whole truckload of new chapters. I just have to whip myself into shape and get them finished and polished off.
6.13.04
(unedited)