9 AM was still quite early, so she didn't speak to anyone when she was leaving the Hotel. Charlie tries to call after her, but Voe ignores her, knowing it would take her some time to find the V tower once again. Once she did find it and entered the building it was 8:59 AM.
"Excuse me? If you're here for the event, the line is over there." spoke a secretary pointing to a line of women that Voe had completely missed when she walked in—a line of nicely dressed, but very tired and annoyed women that lead right out the door.
"Um, is my name written down somewhere?"
"Huh?" said the secretary, with her hand in her mouth "Who are you?"
"I'm Voe, I was contacted directly by Velvette."
"Hmmm," she scrolled through her computer "What did you say your name was?"
"It's Voe."
"Yeah, I'm sorry I don't have a Vogue here."
"It's Voe!"
"Yeah, Vogue."
"VOE"
"How do you spell that?"
"V-O-E?" her frustration building exponentially
"Ohhh. I have a V-O-E here, is this you?" she turns the computer with a picture of her on it. Voe stares at this woman as if she were insane.
"Yes," she says annoyed
"Mmk." She turns the computer back and begins typing "Okay, so I guess we can start now." The secretary stands and approaches the line "OKAY! IF ANY OF YOU BITCHES ARE SHORTER THAN 5 '3FT OR TALLER THAN 5'10, YOU ARE DISMISSED!" 3/4 of the line moans in annoyance and leaves. Almost enough models to fill Pentagram City alone. "IF YOU'RE WEARING FLATS, YOU'RE DISMISSED. AND DON'T EVER CONSIDER COMING BACK IF YOU'RE WEARING SNEAKERS!" Another couple hundred models left the premises.
"AND LASTLY IF YOU ARE UGLY LEAVE AND NEVER RETURN!"
"How do we know if we're ugly?" a woman on the line asks
"If you have to ask that, then you are." most of the women are gone, leaving Voe and one other model. Voe goes to stand next to her, she shoots Voe a smile, and Voe gives back what she thinks might be a smile.
"Okay! I'll call the boss now!"
"Melissa!" Another demon came from a different room "You're yelling again!"
"Sorry," she looks sheepish. Melissa turns to the models "I'll take you to the boss now."
After being led up the stairs, Melissa knocks on a door. A voice with a distinct British accent responds, "Come in!" Melissa knocks again. "Come IN!" the voice sounded more annoyed. Melissa knocks once again and the door is thrown open to reveal a beautiful demoness with deep brown skin, and hair that's red on the top and blue at the bottom, tied up in a large ponytail. She's wearing a red two-piece outfit with mismatched striped sleeves. "I said come IN!" She glares at Melissa "Don't just stand in the doorway!" she says to the aspiring models who follow her inside. Melissa takes up the rear closing the door from inside the studio.
"Stand here," the demoness calls from over by a desk, pointing at a slightly raised area in front of some U-shaped mirrors. They scramble to stand there quickly. The demoness stands up from her desk drawer, holding a tape measure, and approaches them with it "I am Velvette, but of course, you already know that and chances are that you're here to make your dreams come true. You think you have what it takes to survive in this industry? Well you DON'T" She glares at the both of them "I'm just seeing you both so I can know which one of you is the least trash." she squints "Names." she orders. There's a pause where they are both confused about what to say "NAMES?!" Her eyes widen and she raises her voice with anger
"Umm, Molly?"
"Is that a QUESTION?!"
"No! It's Molly!" her voice is quivering
Voe's hands are shaking and she has an overwhelming urge to pull at one of her ears "Voe." Her voice comes out sounding flat and her tone is indecipherable.
Velvette raises a brow at her. "Ahh…yes. Voe the Beau, is it?" the fashionista looks her up and down.
Voe nods once "Indeed,"
"Hmm," was all Velvette responded with. She paces back and forth silently, looking over at the potential hires every few minutes with her piercing gaze. Voe wondered what was taking so long, they were just standing there. The other girl, however, had begun shaking and sweating under Velvette's watchful eye, to the point where it became noticeable. After about an hour of silence and short glances, Velvette walks back up to them and says "No. 9" pointing at Molly and Voe respectively. The girl, Molly runs off crying and tripping over her shoes and Voe stands there confused by her statement.
"What are you waiting for?"
"You to clarify." Voe's mouth is something like a straight line when she says this. Confused, but not wanting to look angry
"Clarify what?"
"What '9' means"
Velvette rolls her eyes "You don't know how to tell time? Come back tomorrow at 9! Now leave!" She points to the door.
Voe walks toward the door still a bit confused. How was I supposed to know what that meant? But brushed it off. Guess this means she got the job!
Usually after doing things in the morning, Voe would come home and crash into a nap, but today she was filled with energy from her visit to vVv Tower. She sat in the parlor eating a plate of spaghetti that she found in the fridge and turned on the tv. The first thing she saw was a girl with blue skin, black sclera, green pupils, sharp teeth, and dark brown puffy hair being interviewed on 666 news.
"Hi, I'm Katie Killjoy!"
"And I'm Tom Trench!"
"Nobody gives a fuck who you are Tom! And we are here with the Vees newest discovery! Introduce yourself, sweetheart!"
The camera focuses on the petite demoness who speaks with a high-pitched voice. "Hi, you can call me Sugar. Sugar Cube!"
"Sugar has been working with the Vees for about a month now and she's seemed to become an instant celebrity overnight! What do you have about that Sugar?'
"And do you taste as sweet as your name implies?" Tom speaks up and Katie growls at him
Sugar's eyes are lidded and sensual "I wouldn't say it was overnight. It takes so much practice and…. confidence? I'm sorry I'm so nervous."
"Well that's alright Sugar, you could just be staring at the camera and there'd be at least 2 things I'd be happy about with your performance!" Tom interjected
"I swear Tom, shut the fuck up. What's it been like working with the Vees?"
"Pretty cool, you get so many opportunities and you can meet so many great people"
"And what people have you met?"
"Umm…lots."
"Like…?"
"Ummm..he Vees?"
Laugh track plays over the scene. Katie looks clearly envious "You're lucky you're pretty Sugar."
"Me too," she says
"Aww, what the fuck! where'd my spaghetti go?!" Angel Dust can be heard from the kitchen. Voe slowly places the plate on the coffee table. Angel enters the parlor. "Hey, have you seen my-" she spots the plate and just stares at her with flat brows "What the fuck."
"In my defense, I thought it was up for grabs."
"It had my name on it!"
"How do you put your name on spaghetti?"
"It was in a container? With my name on it?"
Voe picks up the container out of the garbage and checks it over, seeing Angel's name on it "Hot damn, my bad. Do you like, want it?"
He plops down on the couch "No, just shit ask next time damn."
"Okay," she sits back down and puts his legs over her lap. "Hey, do you know that girl?' She points at the tv
"Huh?" Angel is scrolling through his phone
"That girl on the tv"
His eyes glance up and focus on who she's pointing at "Holy shit."
"She says she works for the Vees, so I thought maybe you might have seen her?"
"Rumor has it that you're getting a billboard right in the middle of Pentagram City!" Katie continues
"Well, that's only a rumor, but I'd love for it to be true someday."
"Well, you are living the dream Sugar." Katie turns back to the camera "That's all for tonight on 666 News and before it cuts off she shoves Tom off his seat
Voe frowns "I wanna be on a billboard."
"Holy shit. Someone's gotta get her some cue cards."
"So you do know her?"
"Yeah, we work together."
"Oh, she does porn too?"
"Yeah..." he says not really listening anymore. Voe gets up and throws the rest of the spaghetti in the trash, which definitely gets his attention.
"And then you wasted it?! What the fuck?!"
Voe had taken to playing music out loud in the hotel: full speaker, no headphones, nothing. Whenever she was happy she couldn't help but dance, which is what exactly she was doing when she heard a knock on her door, she had idea of who it would be, and was confirmed to be correct once she opened it.
"Is there something I can do for you, deer man?"
Alastor's are only slightly open, and he's holding his cane as though he used it to knock with "Yes, my dear in fact there is. Your," he pauses, raising an eyebrow before saying "Music, is quite loud. I would advise you to turn it down."
"Is it bothering you?" She leans on the doorframe
"Well, now that you mention it, yes."
"Why?" He tilts his head, confused by the question "Did you hear it from somewhere else, or just walking by?"
"I heard it from my room."
"Where's your room?"
"Right upstairs."
"That's not that far, plus you have those deer ears. I'm not sure it's as loud as you think it is." She smirks "No one else has complained. How do I know that you're not just being a nag?"
"Can you not just be respectful and turn it down?"
"But then I can't hear it."
"If you turn it down a singular notch?"
"Then that wouldn't make much of a difference to you, now would it?"
"How do you know? You haven't done it."
She takes out her phone and presses the 'volume down' button once, which has no perceivable difference in the amount of sound. "See?"
"Hmm. Very well." his brows are flat "Enjoy your 'music' on your…" he cuts his eye. "What is that?"
"It's a speaker," she said, looking up at him with a hint of annoyance as he poked it with his cane.
"That is not a speaker. It's a box with small holes in it. Speakers have large funnels to project sound and a place to play your record or radio. This is not a speaker."
"It's a speaker," she repeated. "Modernized. It's for phones, iPads, computers, and stuff."
Alastor looked shocked and disgusted, but his smile never faltered.
"Where does the record go?" he asked.
"There's no record. We barely even use CDs anymore."
"What in hell is a CD?" Alastor asked incredulously.
"A 'Compact Disk'," Voe explained. "People used it to play music. But that doesn't matter because people don't use them anymore. This," she pointed to her speaker, "connects to my phone," she held up her smartphone, "via Bluetooth. It's a wireless technology that allows devices to communicate with each other over short distances," she added, looking up from her phone. "It plays the music that I have saved on my phone."
Once Voe finishes and takes a breath and looks up, Alastor seems as if he is going to short-circuit from the vast amount of information he was just given. Voe sighs again.
"You don't get it at all."
"Not at all," he hits the top with his cane
"Hey, watch it." She turns serious "Do not damage my property."
His smile grows at the idea of irritating her "Enjoy your 'music' on your 'speaker'" he walks out in a pompous manner, somewhat bouncing with each step.
"They are not theoretical things," she mumbles. She turns to go back into her room, before doing a double take. She tilts her head, watching Alastor leave. With each step, his coat raises a bit, she squints looking as hard as possible. "Is that a tail?" her jaw drops open with delight.
The next morning Angel was rushing around the parlor, looking like anxiety incarnate.
"Oh shit, Val's gonna kill me if I'm late again," he mumbles to himself.
Voe strolls through the parlor without a care in the world. "Val?"
"Valentino. That's his boss." Husk spoke from behind the bar before lifting a bottle to his lips
"Really dude? It's not even 9 am."
"This is my breakfast," he said taking another swig
"Are you headed to V tower?"
"Yeah, don't distract me toots."
"Oh! I'm headed over there! We can go together!"
"Sure, but I'm leaving now!"
"Okay!" She skips out the door right behind Angel
Reaching V tower, it felt a lot larger and less friendly than it had when Voe came the first time, maybe because of the lack of models, maybe because of how quiet it was, or maybe because of the look of terror on Angel's face, when they entered the front doors. There stood a giant moth man decked out in bling and a fancy fur coat with a red top hat donning a striped feather.
"Angel," he spoke in a sickly sweet voice, "What did I tell you before?"
"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Angel lowers his head, and Voe is confused by the gesture. She'd never seen him look like this before. She looked up at the moth man, he was incredibly tall, and the way he put his hand on Angel, made his face contort into something awful while the moth man's smile grew.
Velvette finally entered the room at that point, while Voe was examining the two men, bringing the moth's attention to her. "There you are!" she said
"Oh my," the giant moth approaches Voe and Velvette "You are gorgeous. Do you need a job? Because I could make you-" he bends down, then kisses and slightly licks the back of Voe's hand, leaving a residue of red saliva "A star." His eyes stare up as hers stare down. He smirked, and she almost sneered.
"Fuck off Valentino, she's mine!" Velvette interjects
"You're Valentino?" Voe spits, shocked by the information
"In the flesh Hermosa." He spreads his wings as a display of dominance "I see my reputation precedes me."
"Indeed it does," she confirmed, wiping his saliva off her hand
"Come with me and I could make you bigger than she" he gestures to his comrade "Ever could. Especially someone like you. I don't have any plus-sized girls." He stares at her like he's starving and she's a piece of meat. Voe's body temperature began rising exponentially and-
"Like I said Val, fuck off! I found her first!" Velvette begins pushing Voe in the opposite direction towards her studio while flipping Valentino off. Voe takes one more glance back, and the moth wiggles his tongue and blows her a kiss before she shivers in disgust, looking back at Angel as he is dragged the opposite way.
"Okay, stand perfectly still," Velvette instructed her while she stood in front of the mirrors. Voe does her best to do so, as her new boss snaps once, twice, three, four five times to find an outfit that works for her. "Hmm, no no no. None of these are working!" She snaps again and again, changing the outfits every second, but she remains unsatiated "This isn't working, get down!"
Voe does as she was told. Velvette looks her up and down "I want to use you, but none of my clothes fit you right. Melissa! Bring me my measuring tape!" Melissa scrambles in to bring her the tape that was right beside her "Stay still." she is instructed once again
Velvette measures her height "Move your arms! Spread your legs" She does everything oh so quickly. "Your body doesn't fit my current regime, but I like it. And your face. You're very pretty, you're welcome. So I need to do something special with you if I want to use you. Wait! What if I created a new line centered around demons with your body type? Yes of course! I'm a genius!"
"Call it 'Respectless', 'cuz I heard that's your thing."
Velvette's eyes widen "Listen, I'm the brains of this operation, so don't give me your ideas again unless I specifically ask for them! But that idea is so good that I'm going to use it and take all the credit for it, got me? Great!"
"Got it." she purses her lips "So when are you going to start making the line?"
"Hmm, you're doing an awful lot of talking for a model, but if you must know I'm going to do it right now!" she looks giddy and intrigued, looking at Voe as if she were a puzzle to solve. "We'll go with shades of pink because those do look good on you, I will say, you do know how to pick a color, you're welcome. But your body seems a lot more soft than what I'm used to." Velvette walks up to Voe and grabs her waist while staring her directly in the eye "Yep, I was right, you're soft." So I need clothing that will either offset that or something that could highlight and compliment it "How do you feel about your body? Now I want you to speak, let's go chop chop!"
"I like my body."
"You like it? Is that all? Give me something deeper, something more, do you stare at yourself in the mirror?"
"Sometimes,"
"And what do you see?"
Voe blinks "I see me."
Velvette rolls her eyes "And what else?"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand the question."
Velvette walks up to her "What do you feel when you look at yourself? Need an example, alright. When I see myself in the mirror" she walks to the center of the line of mirrors "I think I'm that #bitch. I'm smart, I'm sexy, and I've pretty much got it all. Now what about you?"
Voe stops for a moment to think "I don't think about it at all, I just am."
"You are what?"
"The one."
She raises her brow and steps closer to her "The one what?"
"The one to be. I've got charm, confidence, and the skills to back it up."
"Yes…and…?" She inches closer and closer
"And I don't apologize for being me."
"Because you are…?"
"I'm a bad bitch!" She felt hyped up by Velvette
"Yes! You're a bad bitch, and don't you forget it! Now that is the vibe I want to get from this new line. It's based on you."
"Wow, that's-"
"Nope! Now we're back to not talking." She cuts Voe off once again.