Topic: My Beloved Monster and Me

Elodie

Date: 2008-03-31 01:22 EST
"My beloved monster and me, we go everywhere together. Wearing a raincoat that has four sleeves gets us through all kinds of weather. She will always be the only thing that comes between me and the awful sting that comes from living in a world that's so damn mean.

The truth of her existance could all be boiled down to a single fact: The only person who truly knew and cared for Elodie Hortenze was a monster.

Every day the alarm clock screamed its blaring message and pulled Elodie from her state of blissful reverie into the tortured reality of her West End suite. A dirty, raspy voice would creep into her mind with chilling lucidity. Did you enjoy your sweet dreaming, my dear? Cloudy blue eyes tried desperately to return to the picturesque scenery of her previous nights excursions to no avail and she would eventually give up the effort and stretch her exhausted form beneath the cotton comforter. Fingers rubbed carefully at her eyes to try and focus the currently hazy scene before she pulled herself reluctantly from the covers and sat upright to met sunlight streaming through the curtains.

"Good morning, Azira." The words, though friendly, were too often coated with subconscious venom upon being spoken. The cold of the monster's presence worked its way from her chest to trail down her spine in a cruel motion. It didn't take long before bare feet sluggishly inched towards the wooden floorboards and Elodie staggered into the bathroom in hopes of drowning the neverending chill in a hot shower.

You have another busy day ahead of you. Fingers tested the water pouring from the faucet tenatively. The model was no fool. She knew that despite her most desperate wishes there would never come a morning where that voice wasn't the first her ears would hear. Limbs shivered despite their best efforts to remain still in the creature's presence. The water warmed quickly and her thin camisole fell into a little pile by her feet just seconds before Elodie immersed herself in the steaming hot shower.

Another day, another dollar.

Elodie

Date: 2008-04-02 04:54 EST
Winter was quickly receeding as emerald sprouts began to spring from the soil to lift to spirits of all those who had begun to doubt that life was still possible with the chill of late March. Along with the change of scenery came the soul of the artist and it seemed that Elodie's schedule was full almost to the brim. Each night brought another social event and the entourage of publicists and stylists, who were ever in the model's company, were on high alert to deal with the young woman's horrific inability to speak publically.

After a particularly late evening ending bed at sunrise, Elodie awoke to the sound of her phone ringing merrily and shaking the nightstand where it was placed. Cloudy eyes opened long enough to glare through the haze at the object that was currently the bane of her existance. It continued to ring again and again as weary eyes closed to shield her bloodshot pair from the sun's light. The moment her lashes rested together once more a startling chill like an icy stab made her jump and pop onto all fours in agony. Elodie growled with disdain while a hand reached over to pluck the phone from its base.

"Hello?" A groggy greeting even as Azira's harsh laugh resonated in the back of her mind. The creature was like having a second manager around and this one was ten times more ruthless.

"Elodie" You sound like shit, doll. I know it's early, but the photos from your last shoot came in and I wanted you to view them this morning so I can get the papers sent off before noon." It came as no surprise that Jylle Gates, Elodie's manager for the last three years, was on the other end of the phone. A few hard blinks and the model's gaze drifted to the alarm clock nearby. Nine-fifteen. She practically had to bite her lip to keep from audibly groaning at the idea of business whenever she hadn't even been asleep for more than three hours. Even more disturbing was the fact that Jylle had been at the party last night as well and was already out with regular business hours.

"I had a hard time getting to bed right away." A hand reached out further so that she could sit down in a more comfortable position and let her legs dangle over the edge of the bed. She moved the headset away a moment to keep her yawn from being heard on the other end of the line. "When do you want to go over the photos, Jylle?"

"Actually, I'm downstairs right now. Just need you to hit the buzzer and I'll be right up." This time no amount of lip-biting could stop her from groaning. Jylle laughed lightly at her reaction.

"Sure, just give me a second to put some clothes on." Her manager didn't miss a beat and hung up just as Elodie returned the phone to its base. A lazy stretch was followed by her immediate move to the bathroom to retrieve her robe and slippers. Fingers reached up to scratch through the mottled mess of colorful hair while she crossed the room to press down on her buzzer and unlock the front door for Jylle.

Elodie

Date: 2008-04-02 05:25 EST
With a wave of energy and obnoxious cheerfulness that almost made Elodie physically nauseous, Jylle Gates came bustling through her apartment door dressed to the nines in a tailored suit with her engraved briefcase in tow. A dreadful looking Elodie was barely able to give her manager a 'Good Morning' or offer for coffee before Jylle was pulling the latest photos from her bag.

"I didn't want to wait for the discs to get done so I just took some hard copies and brought them over right away. Now, there's a few of these that are just fine for the advertising, but a couple I thought you would be just DYING to see!" Jylle's pretty jade eyes hardly paid any notice to her client's current state as she made herself at home in the lounge area and went to the task of spreading the 'hot off the press' photographs across the coffee table's glass top.

Fingers rose to cover a yawn while Elodie wandered into her little kitchenette to turn on the coffee pot. The churning sounds began just as she returned to the living room and loped to the couch to join her manager. Body folded unceremoniously onto the thick cushions while weary eyes, still stinging and red with fatigue, tried their best to narrow in on the broad spectrum of product from their last two shoots.

Jylle had undoubtedly looked through the stock at least five times before coming over here and was now desperately trying to read Elodie's face as her cloudy blues poured over the merchandise. The model would never get used to looking so intently at pictures of herself because it seemed far too much like vanity. Still, the wardrobe from this batch was a new brand of alternative wear being fronted by an organization that was trying to market itself to the rockstar crowd around Rhydin. Elodie recalled having loved the outfits whenever she saw them and her memory was soon refreshed as she poured over the possibilites.

"I'm surprised these turned out so well." Leaning in towards the coffee table to snatch a black and white print from the rest while Jylle nodded avidly. "That's why I thought you'd want to see them. In the time they gave us the range is absolutely amazing."

It took only a matter of three minutes staring at the batch before Elodie was able to pick out the two she knew Jylle was so excited about. Without a doubt they did stand out against the rest and would both make an excellent addition to her portfolio. Jade eyes squinted in delight as Jylle watched her actions like a hawk.

"These are the two you want to put on the cover of the website and packet, I take it?" Gaze sliding to her manager as each hand held one of the prints. A simple nod was her response. "Without a doubt I think they're a great look for you and the color in this one just blew my mind." Elodie had to agree with her manager. The artistic manipulation of the photograph was one of the most impressive she had seen out of these companies in a long time. http://usera.imagecave.com/AnjolieQuinn/blackwhiteelodie-copy.jpg http://usera.imagecave.com/AnjolieQuinn/elodiebowl-copy.jpg

"Well, Jylle, I think it's a great idea." At last she released the two prints back into the pile and her manager nearly squealed with delight. Through a brightly grinning face and a clap of hands she replied. "I knew you'd love them!! I'll take them down to Sentari right away and give him the okay to go through with it." At once she was on her feet and carefully gathering the collection of prints to file back into her briefcase. Elodie couldn't help but smile through her yawn.

"Get some sleep, Elle. You know you've got an appointment with Clarissa in like six hours to get ready for tonight." Whatever good will that still remained on Elodie's face soon faded. She groaned and then escorted her manager, now humming happily with her victory, to the front door before crawling back towards her bed with hopes of more dreamings.