The Moonlight boutique was set to be announced today, and open in only a few weeks, and Blake could feel the pressure building. A content creator opening a business wasn't terribly unusual.
Gil Uruk was a prime example of creators who were massively successful. He owned a energy drink company, sponsored several gaming teams, and even sold custom PCs, actually the one Lilian used on her streams was a Kur branded one. Not to mention his lucrative brand deals, own streaming success, and extremely popular podcast the Pantheon. Even crazier a few years ago he made an absolute killing being one of the first ones to jump on cryptocurrency.
Comparatively Jaune had a lot less diversity on his income, Lilian's content was primarily Dustigram modeling which for the longest time was his main source of income, then a few years ago he started streaming which quickly gained him a second but less frequent income source. With the birth of the online store a third source of steady income.
Yet compared to people like Gil, his source of money was much more fragile. Since the world of fashion moved so quickly it was incredibly hard to stay on top of it, and following/setting trends was a must to stay relevant. Blake hadn't ever realized how much effort was put into these things she used to dismiss as easy work. Stella and Jasmine would often put in 60 hours a week, fashion wasn't just throwing on some clothes and calling it good, it took research, experimentation, and sometimes flat out luck. Though they did have some cushion now since Lilian was so popular, even if what he models isn't outright the latest fashion his loyal fans wouldn't care and it gave some much needed forgiveness when they simply couldn't keep up with trends.
When she had asked why the boutique was so important, the Arcs had explained the weight the opening day in particular held. They knew with the success of Moonlight clothing, the actual store would most likely be fairly popular, but the actual in person appearance of Lilian Calisto would be a major test. To see if Jaune could actually handle the pressure of live appearances, not to mention if it went horribly it could mean the end of his career and everything they had put so much time, money, and effort into. That said it also meant if it went well the massive doors of live appearances opened, not to mention collaboration with other creators. That not only promised more exposure, but more opportunities to earn money making their sources of income more diverse and hopefully stable.
Blake lay in bed her head throbbing trying to process all this, she felt stressed too if she was honest. In preparation for the boutique, they had been building up a portfolio for Blake. She had a private Dustigram account for a while now, but Jasmine and Stella had started another professional one. This was to make the clothes she had modeled for the boutique more desirable, as if they simply just dumped them on the public they'd likely be more confused than anything why some random cat girl was suddenly part of Moonlight clothing. So pairing with the official announcement would be the public debut of Blake, a new model for Moonlight clothing, and as part of the promotional campaign for the store would be a campaign for her. It was admittedly scary, but having grown so close to the Arcs, she was more than willing to be thrust into the public eye if it would help them succeed. It also didn't hurt that they promised if her account did well and could make money she would get a very generous 80% cut of any profits.
With a sigh, she rubbed her temples and forced herself to get out of bed. The bed lightly creaked as she stood, not that it mattered much since Yang's loud snoring drowned out everything else. Weiss gave her a brief look from her own bed, hot coffee in one hand, scroll playing something and earbuds in, no doubt she was watching the "news" which meant she was actually watching some trashy Vacuo telenovela she had grown addicted to. And they said Blake read filth, at least she didn't watch it.
"Good morning Blake," she said, barely acknowledging her too wrapped up in her story. With an unintelligible mumble Blake headed to the bathroom to do her usual morning routine.
Exiting it a while later, she wore black yoga pants and a red sports bra, Weiss waiting in similar attire, but of course colored in classic Schnee white and blues. The heiress's long white hair pulled into a simple loose bun, Weiss handed her a cup with a smile.
"Black tea, honey and a little milk" she says, as always proud of herself knowing Blake's preferred drink.
"Thanks," she responds with a smile, this had become something of a Saturday tradition. The two practiced Yoga together every weekend, being the first two awake they had fallen into this routine. Weiss had not been very familiar with Yoga, and had watched Blake practicing it one morning and asked her teammate to teach her. And since then it has been their thing. For about an hour before the other two numbskulls wake up the two would drink coffee/tea, chat and practice Yoga.
Back in menagerie, when Blake was a little girl it was her mother who taught her Yoga, a special mother - daughter bonding time. Honestly doing Yoga alone had felt incredibly lonely, she was thankful to have a partner again.
"Have you seen Lilian's latest post?" Weiss asks while following Blake's example doing warrior 1.
"The one hyping up some big announcement?" Blake says moving into Warrior 2 "what about it?"
"There's been a lot of talk about it," Weiss says mirroring Blake "most people think it's gonna be related to creatorcon."
"The thing she's never been to?" Blake says leaning into warrior 3 "also that isn't for a few months yet."
"4 months out yes, but the main idea supporting that theory is the top three Dustigramers have already confirmed they're going." Weiss says also moving to warrior 3
"And we all know they've been pining to get the top 4 together." Blake says as she tree-poses, every year the Creatorcon organizers drop major hits they hope next year the top 4 will all attend.
"Cinder fall definitely causes problems every time she shows up, being pointed towards adult audiences it's hard to use her as a hook for the fashion crowd. It's definitely why they want the top four so much. Gil brings in the gamers, Ryan the vloggers, Cinder pulls in the mature audience, and Lilian they could use to grasp the fashion enthusiasts and cosplayers." Weiss explains following Blake's movements.
"Still, in her years of popularity she hasn't done a public appearance once." Blake says, "It seems a little far-fetched to expect her to confirm her creatorcon appearance." finishing their Yoga, Blake tips back the remainder of her tea.
"I think it would add a lot of hype to her appearance, but you're definitely right, honestly I think it's more likely she's opening a store."
The words catching her off guard Blake nearly chokes on her drink. How on earth could she have predicted that!?
"Ew don't spit tea at me!" Weiss squeaks indignantly, holding her hands defensively before herself.
"Sorry, just went down wrong." Blake says with a cough wiping some tea from her mouth, "what makes you think she is opening a store?"
"Well it's kinda obvious," Weiss says, still looking at Blake like she might cough tea on her, "the Moonlight clothing store has been down for a while, for online stores moving to a in person location it's not unusual for them to have to stop online orders for a while to build or move inventory enough for a storefront. Also she's advertising some big announcement, since more than likely it isn't creatorcon it's likely a storefront."
Blake was honestly impressed Weiss had guessed about the boutique. Sometimes the observational skills she had truly impressed Blake, not that she'd ever tell her that.
After the two got dressed normally, before going for breakfast they woke Ruby and Yang, the two likely to sleep till noon if not stirred. Following a pleasant breakfast with Weiss, Blake left for work telling Weiss to inform Ruby and Yang she'd be back around 3 then they could hang out for the rest of the weekend.
Upon arriving at the studio She was surprised to find genderbent Jaune, Jasmine, and Stella all waiting in her dressing room. They all practically buzzed with a strange mix of excitement, stress, and determination.
"Blake!" Jasmine said loudly with a bright smile as per usual. Stella and Jaune both smile too, but more subdued.
"Hi." she says a little awkwardly.
"Todays the day! Announcement day, debution day! The beginning of a bright and glorious future for Moonlight clothing!!!! HUZZAH!!!!" she says, pumping her fist in the air,
"Huzzah," the other two say lazily, raising their own fists.
"Spoil sports" she pouts looking at her siblings. Jaune just shrugs as if saying what do you want from me, Stella just rolls her eyes, the subtle dark circles under them telling enough.
"Let's just get on with it Jazz." Stella says standing with a quick stretch.
She grabs a hooded Varsity jacket from the nearest clothing rack and beacons Blake to come try it on.
Naturally Blake does so and slips it on. It was a comfortable black with white sleeves and silver trimming along the hemline and zipper. The moonlight clothing logo proudly on her right breast in pink, her personal emblem alternating with a bow image went along her left sleeve in purple, the right sleeve being pure white except the matching cuffs being black and silver horizontal stripes. It was a rougher fabric on the outside, but the inner lining was soft and felt pleasant on her skin. The coat itself was big, the hem ending near the bottom of her thighs and the sleeves bunching up a bit due to their length, the cuffs had holes for her thumbs to help keep the sleeves from swallowing her hands.
"Turn around! Look at the back!" Jasmines said practically, vibrating with excitement while Stella only stood her watching, her hand cupping her chin as she admired her own work. Jaune's eyes absolutely sparkled… Blake would never get over how trippy it was. Jaune was such a cute girl.
Pointing her back to the mirror Blake read what was on it, a large silver number 2 with Blake Belladonna stitched in cursive under it.
"OOH the hood! pull up the hood!" Jaune said excitedly getting off the couch to help pull up the hood.
Blake never was one for hoods, they typically flattened her ear's in an uncomfortable way, about to protest she saw Jaune pull her hood on and to her surprise… It wasn't uncomfortable at all. Wiggling her ears and looking at the mirror she saw two little white pocket-like ears wiggle. It was a part of the black hood and didn't try to hide the fact her ears existed, in fact the different color made them obvious, and to be quite honest it looked… cute. Mesmerized by the simple addition Blake kept twitching her ears in the hood watching the white fabric move when her ears did. Not to mention an even softer fabric had been used to line the ear pockets to help prevent discomfort… It was amazing, it was also stupid most clothing brands didn't do the same, most just cut holes in their hoods making them look ugly, and the ones that did bother making ear pockets didn't use softer fabrics making them uncomfortable to use and ultimately useless.
"D-do you like it?" Stella said a little nervously since the lack of feedback made her think she might have messed up or something.
"They don't feel uncomfortable." Blake said simply enjoying moving her ears in the soft fabric, "I- I think I love it."
Stella let out a breath she was holding in relief that all her work wasn't meaningless.
"I'm so glad, I was debating not even adding a hood, but I've been toying with some faunus targeted clothing lately and I wanted to see if my ear pockets were up to snuff." she says a bright smile crossing her face as she pulls out a notepad furiously writing down some notes, "After all it's a huge demographic practically no one in fashion even bothers with, and those that do hold such a monopoly their clothing only has to work not be pretty or well made! It's ridiculous!"
She wasn't wrong, the faunus really did get screwed by clothing. She considered herself lucky since she only had an extra set of ears and hats and hoodies weren't really her thing to begin with. But she knew it was a real struggle for people with extra appendages like the faunus with tails. For them it was often you had to wear your pants low, cut a hole in them, which since there was no stitching around it would be more susceptible to tears, or buy ridiculously expensive and limited style ugly pants with a hole in them already.
Not to mention the same applied to underwear, which forced many to just go commando which could be uncomfortable and embarrassing. The same problem applied to those with wings and sucked for women with wings especially, because finding a wing friendly bra was a nightmare. Brothers know proper support wasn't a choice but often a necessity. (not that human girls had much luck with comfortable bras either…) while it might sound funny or simple to someone on the outside to faunus it was a real and sometimes painful, embarrassing, or expensive problem. The clothing world was vicious and with the already weak business representation of faunus not much was ever done to address this problem, since big clothing brands ignored it until a faunus owned company tried to enter the market only to be crushed once they became a threat.
" I like to think we have a pretty good chance to break into faunus clothing, a lot is due to Jaune's influencer status and wild fame it would be incredibly hard for the big companies to ruin him especially due to all the mystery surrounding him since no one knew much about Lilian Calisto personally an attack on her personality would be exceedingly hard." Stella said with a determined smile.
"And with the success of our online store we already had a foot in the door to properly invade the clothing market. We'll have to play this all carefully from this point though, with Jaune's in-person appearances coming up we have to be mindful to not attract any negative attention that could be used against our reputation… no pressure baby bro." Jasmine says with a sheepish look at her feminized brother who looked a little sick.
"N-no probs" he says shakily, holding a thumbs up.
"Aww you'll be fine! We just have to be more cautious with the boutique opening, but once we get it off the ground and have established ourselves a little more I'm sure our burst onto the faunus clothing market will be a piece of cake! And so help me if some big company tries to wreck everything we've built for so long. All that will wait for them is a bitter and bloody battle." Stella says a vicious smile crossing her face at the end making Jaune, Jasmine, and Blake all take a step away from her.
"Anyhow this is part of your last campaign shoot." Stella continues as if she didn't get all creepy for a second, gently looking over the jacket for any flaws she might have missed.
"It's very comfortable." Blake says still enjoying the feeling of the jacket, not only soft but warm and dare she say comforting to wear, she was starting to understand why the Arcs liked hoodies and jackets so much.
"I'm glad cause it might be a long shoot, I wanna have these photos be as perfect as possible since it won't just be you, but Jaune too. We're going for the whole team look you know?" Stella says, pulling a second similar varsity jacket and giving it to Jaune.
His was slightly different, due to height Stella had made his a crop top version since making an oversized version for Jaune like Blake's would have taken needless time and fabric since he was simply larger than her by a fair margin. She had also determined it would look a little tacky on him. His was primarily white unlike her's with the sleeves being black and the trimming being gold instead of silver, the moonlight clothing logo was on his right breast instead of the left like hers, Lilian's logo alternated with hearts in blue along his left sleeve. Just like her coat the sleeves were long bunching up a bit with the same thumb holes to prevent hand engulfment. On the back was a large gold number 1 with Lilian Calisto stitched in cursive under it. It was similar, but also different enough to be unique.
"I wanted a team look, but I also had to make it look different enough to help with the contrast between you two." Stella says looking over her brother's jacket, "It's really important to me to dress you both differently enough in joint shoots to protect you both from that who wore it better bs, you're both beautiful no your both absolutely stunning, if Jaune is like the shining sun, you blake are like the breathtaking night, and im proud and honored to work with you both." Stella says almost getting a little emotional quickly pulling Jaune and Blake into her for a quick hug.
Blake felt flattered and was lost for words, she really had won the jackpot working here.
"Awww group hug!" Jasmine said excitedly grabbing the three of them and nearly crushing all their necks, on second thought maybe this job did come with occupational hazards.
The shoot was pretty fun, normally it would be her and Jaune taking turns in front of the camera, one getting a break to rest and re-apply to any makeup that had been diluted or smeared with sweat from the bright lights, or slip out of the current outfit and get ready for the next one. Both outfits were pretty casual today and Stella didn't make many adjustments, only consulting with Jasmine on the pose for the next shot.
Blake wore the Jacket, a black knit sleeveless halter crop top with no designs, white distressed jeans. Not the kind of distressed jeans Stella called tormented jeans, the ones where the pants are so cut and ripped they can barely even be called clothing anymore, but the more stylish moderately ripped ones showing sections of Blake's legs, but mostly hiding them behind strands of fabric. Finishing her clothing were simple high top shoes, nothing special. Her hair was also pretty simple having been pulled up into messy space buns a few stands left close to frame her face better, a pair of silver circular sunglasses with purple lenses sat on her head like a headband for the moment, depending on the shot they would be removed completely or worn properly. She was a cool beauty with a hint of rebellious teen. At least that's how Jasmine described it Blake had no clue what that meant.
Jaune wore his coat with white sleeveless turtleneck, a soft yellow knife pleated short skirt with 30 denier tights under, and also simple white hightops to finish it. His hair was left mostly loose but still slightly curled to help with the wavy look from the waterfall braid he had. He had golden aviator sunglasses with blue tinted lenses resting on his head. Jasmine said he looked like the girl next door who might secretly be an animal in bed… suffice to say Jaune had been disturbed by the statement, and Blake couldn't help but secretly agree, at least a little bit.
Stella couldn't help but gush over the two of them proud of how well each pulled off the outfits they wore. The shoot lasted a few hours and after Blake and Jaune were released to their dressing rooms while Jasmine got right to work editing the last photos for the campaign. Stella on the other hand followed Blake to her dressing room.
As per usual Blake stripped the outfit and pulled on a robe, neatly placing the clothes on the appropriate racks. She wouldn't lie, she'd miss that jacket. It really was very comfortable. It also probably cost a small fortune just from how well it was made. She couldn't help but respect Stella a little more having seen all the work the woman put into every item of clothing she touched. With a sigh she hung the coat up and got a towel to shower before heading back to Beacon.
"What do you think you're doing?" Stella says from the doorway looking at Blake hanging up the jacket, "That's your jacket. Only one just like it, 100% unique."
"Yeah I wish," Blake says with a small smile.
"No joke," Stella says, returning the smile, putting a hand on her hip, "I didn't just make it for the shoot, it's a good luck present from all of us."
"Good luck?" Blake says confused, Stella takes a deep breath.
"Today is announcement day Blake, it's not just a lot of attention on Jaune, but it's about to be loaded onto you too. I know deep down you'll be able to handle it, you're strong and smart not just a pretty face. But you know what they say, a little good luck charm doesn't hurt… also free advertisement ya know." she says with a laugh.
Blake also let out an amused breath, looking at the coat in her hands she couldn't help but feel a little nervous, but also excited for whatever the future will bring.
"Now remember, when you wear that coat, wear it with pride! You're a member of the Calisto family now so don't ever wear it without the pride of all we have and will achieve together!" Stella nearly shouted with a wild grin on her face.
"I promise, I won't let you down. Thank you for all you have done for me." she says with a bow, a polite thank you her mom taught her as a little girl.
"Let us down? Nah Blake, don't ever worry about that, the only person you cant let down is yourself!" Stella says with a laugh before waving a quick goodbye before leaving the dressing room.
When she grabbed her stuff and left Blake put the jacket in a travel bag knowing better than to waltz into her room with such a telling piece of clothing.
Upon entering her room she found her teammates already watching Jaune, or rather Lilian Calisto's stream on the Tv. with a simple hey they acknowledge her presence as she hung the jacket near the door and set her other stuff on a desk.
"Soooooo I know all my honeys have been waiting for my big announcement!" Lilian says excitedly in that innocent charming way she had, "Well it's time for the big reveal!" she says spinning in a circle in the chair.
Blake smiled, she could tell Jaune was nervous but also super excited for real, not just hamming it up for the audience.
" I actually have 2 big announcements!!! In 1 month all us at Moonlight will be proud to welcome you all to the grand opening of! THE MOONLIGHT BOUTIQUE!!!!!" she yelled excitedly, the chat suddenly bursting as line after line of comments buzzed by.
"Called it," Weiss says proudly looking down on her inferior teammates.
"Shush!" Ruby hissed while she buzzed with excitement. If this was the first announcement it surely meant it was the smaller and only bigger and better things could come.
Blake remembered how they would only announce Jaune's in person appearance at the boutique a few days before the opening to try and help keep crowds down. Lilian was no little deal and if even a quarter of her fans showed up it could be waaaaaaaay to overcrowded to be safe.
" Now for mind blowing announcement number two! I… am no longer the only model for moonlight clothing." she says, looking seriously at the camera. Chat buzzed again surprised, it had only been Lilian since the beginning of Moonlight clothing.
"Allow me to introduce you to my amazing new coworker!" she says pulling up a blurred dustigram page.
"Honeys… HELP ME WELCOME BLAKE TO THE MOONLIGHT CLOTHING FAMILY!!!!!!!!!"
The page was suddenly unblurred and looking right at her team was a smiling dustigram profile picture of Blake Belladonna taking a selfie with Lilian Calisto, the moonlight clothing logo her banner.
The follower page was pulled up and zero people were following her… then with a click of a mouse the fourth most popular Dustigramer with 306.6 million followers was…
Three heads snapped back with looks of absolute shock and Blake couldn't help but retract a little with a nervous smile.
"Surprise?" she said with a little shrug. All was silent until Ruby Rose, swear jar enforcer extraordinaire yelled at the top of her lungs.
"BLAKE WHAT THE FU-"
That night Blake Belladonna set a world record, her Dustigram account with only one photo album uploaded went from 1 follower to 1.2 million in just one night.
A/N: Okay… so you all have every right to be mad… I promised before the end of last month and I swear I was on track for it. But I for whatever reason couldn't finish this chapter and I have no idea why. Like every time I tried to bring it to an end it just SUCKED. Even now I'm not sure I like how I ended this chapter. I hope you all realize I really do my best here to bring you the best I can, but sometimes I just get way too trapped in my own head and for the life of me forget how to string letters together to make words, much less words into sentences, into paragraphs, into halfway decent writing. Anyhow… Son, a dusty old Qrow should be up next. No idea when it'll be but it's coming. Be sure to like and follow. And I am very much a vain bitch so shower me with those sweet sweet comments if you could OKIEE Bye!!!!!! Metaphysical mic drop.