Whisper Charlton (histrionic_life) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2011-04-04 20:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-08-14 |
You have ideas to share
Who: Calista and Whisper
Where: Whisper’s home
When: Morning
Calista might have been an airhead, but she couldn’t forget about the deal she made with Whisper. While she took her time with making dresses, her sketchbook was constantly overflowing with idea. With the past few weeks, perhaps even over a month - like Calista kept track - she easily filled a couple sketchbooks with ideas for dresses, formal attires, and casual outfits. All with different color palettes and styles. Calista even went out of her way to find fabrics she liked and pasted samples into the sketchbooks for reference. Overall, she was extremely proud with what she had done and hopefully Whisper would approve of them.
She wasn’t sure what to make out of this meeting. Calista never thought her fashion sketches out ever amount to anything. She was too slow and scatterbrained for fashion school, but to have some big name designer pick her out and ask for a commission? She could do that. Well, hopefully. There was still the meet with Whisper. For all she knew, the woman would throw out all the sketches and tell her to rot in hell. Rejection wasn’t something Calista did well with, despite how much of it she experienced in her life. The Greek girl wasn’t made out of money, but she did her best to dress well for Whisper. Another dress she had made herself. Hopefully it would show off what Calista’s designs look like in the flesh. Throwing her hair over her shoulder, she rang the doorbell and waited patiently. She was always calm, but she would have been lying if she said she wasn’t nervous.
Whisper had had the magazine delivered to her house and really, that was the only reason that she was awake that morning. Or at least she thought that was the only reason. She had only cast a glance at her planner for the day and that glance had zeroed in on the large, bolded letters declaring that her vampire shoot was going public. Including a shot of her that made it obvious to everyone that yes, she was a vampire as well. And proud of it, for that matter. Whisper had been so busy patting herself on the back over that release that she had not even realized that she had a morning meeting with that girl she had come across in the store however long. Unique designs, and that was something that Whisper knew how to appreciate. If she had not scooped up some budding designers during her century in the business then she might not have been able to do as well as she had. So she intended on seeing if she could add Calista to her little pile of gems. Even if she was currently unaware of the fact that Calista was coming to show her said designs.
The vampire had accepted the magazine from that person who delivered the mail, flashing a fully-fanged smile before closing the door, and proceeded to stretch herself out on the couch to flip through and admire her work. Reading the article commentary she felt like she had been bathed in a warm bath of attention. Yes, she was skilled, and even more so since she had taken a slightly rag-tag group of vampires and mixed them together to create something more than presentable. Something artistic and beautiful that the world could see and be in awe over. Smiling, Whisper continued to leaf through the magazine. She was just coming to the end when the doorbell rang. Well now, that could not be Tilly. She never rang the doorbell because she had a key and besides, she did not come by until later in the afternoon when Whisper was actually likely to do something. Setting the magazine aside, Whisper placed her hat back on her head in case the sun was trying to get a glimpse of her face and went to answer the door. Oh. She knew her. That was the designer girl. Christine. Carol. No, it had been something more unique... “Calista.” Yes that was it. “Can I help you with something?”
Wow, Whisper’s outfit made Calista’s look like crap. Definitely more high class than anything the girl owned, but she at least tried. She showed the woman a soft smile while nodding in her direction. “I was just coming over to show you some of the designs I had been working on since we last met. The ones for your collection.” She brought her arms up to show the stack of sketchbooks in her arms. Girl was serious business about this. “Um... I can leave them with you if you’d like, unless you want me around to go over them.” Calista didn’t know a damn thing when it came to how to go about this. Maybe treat it as if she was your client for exorcisms? She highly doubted it worked that way, but she did he best to remain professional. And hopefully fashion-forward. She refused to look like a slob before a famous designer.
Designs for her - oh. Damn. Why did this have to be happening on the morning when she had a magazine to flip through and admire? Whisper was not ashamed of her preference for admiring herself and her work, but if she wanted to scoop up a potential gem then perhaps she should just set the magazine aside for now. It was not like it was going to sprout legs and run away. If it did then she would pitch a fit until Karine went and got her a new one. “Please do come in, Calista, I was just a little distracted by my latest photoshoot. Have you seen the magazine yet? You simply must, darling, the designs are beyond divine.” Guilty of tooting her own horn? Yes, very. Settling back into her seat, Whisper patted the cushion next to her before reaching out to take one of the sketchbooks, flipping the cover open to begin looking through the designs that Calista had brought. “It’s always better to be shown what it is that the designer wants you to see. So explain, Calista.”
Calista found it to be a massive honor to be invited into the designer’s home. Far more glamorous than what she was living in, but that was neither here or there. “I haven’t yet, but I know I will.” She wanted to. The girl did her best to keep up with fashion, so she knew said magazine would be hers in a day or so. How else was she to keep up with the ever changing fashion world? Taking a seat by Whisper, she watched as she flipped through the sketchbook, a tad nervous. What exactly was she suppose to explain? She never properly presented her designs to someone, except holding her sketchbook up and saying, “Look what I did!” This was definitely not the case. Calista blanked out for a second, lost for words, then finally found them. “Um... I didn’t exactly stick to one theme or idea. I think every ten pages has a new theme, like this one right here, I was inspired by military themes and incorporated some modern patterns to them.” She pointed to the color swatches she painted to the side along with the pieces of fabric she had in mind. “Some of them are fall appropriate, some of them are spring. I tried doing casual wear, formal wear, and something advant-garde for each them.” The designs did have quite a range, both in style and color. “If you like one theme in particular, I can make more for that one area.” And probably fill out three more sketchbooks in the process. She was quite open when it came to that. While Whisper looked, she took the rest of her sketchbooks and laid them open on the table for her to look at.
Hmm, well if she intended on looking at the magazine then Whisper supposed it was not all that bad. Not everyone was as eager to see the designs and how they had turned out as she was. They should be, but they were not. The vampire was doing her absolute best to not think of the people who might realize that she was a vampire and turn their noses up. That was the sort of person that Karine had always worried about and the sort that Whisper insisted was not necessary to keep her business running. Plenty of people would not care whether she had fangs, fins or purple skin so long as she knew how to put an outfit together. And thank you, she was an expert at that. “Yes, I am seeing the changes.” They came rather quick. She would have preferred to see more options for each type, but Calista was a beginner. It happened from time to time. Or maybe it was more of a ‘to each their own’ sort of thing. Whisper had never been very good at taking other people’s way of doing things into account. “Military themes are a touch too... not something I would support. Even ones that look like they could be worth the time such as these.” Anything relating to the military or weapons simply was not Whisper’s preferred venue. “But ideas for a fall line are what I’m currently interested in.” It was coming up. And while she could have spent a fair amount of time flipping through Calista’s sketches until she found something she wanted to see what the woman herself preferred. “What do you think is your best work out of what you’ve brought?”
A beginner was definitely something Calista was and she accepted that. She was certain many fashion school grads would laugh at her approach, but hey, who was the one sitting down with Whisper? Oh right, she was. “My favorite?” It took her a second to flip through her own brain and try to remember her favorite fall collection theme. Once it came to her, Calista reached out to flip through a sketch book on the table until she came to a set that was very similar to the one page Whisper was one. Very chic, very modern, and very feminine. It reminded Calista of something high end girls in New York City would wear. Maybe even Whisper herself. The color palette consisted of neutrals, black and whites, and a single splash of color. Nothing over the top, but nothing too simple. It was a very classy fall collection. “I like this one. It’s something I would wear I was visiting the city.” And had the money to afford it. Calista, for the most part, was a jeans and tshirt kind of girl, only because she couldn’t buy these luxurious items. She looked over to Whisper, waiting for her criticism. Anything from her, whether it was praise or ripping it up before her own eyes, was better than nothing.
Waiting patiently, or as patiently as she ever could, Whisper set aside the sketchbook she had been looking at in favor of the one that Calista pulled out. Though a slight sneer did work its way onto her face at the sight of the black. “One thing you’ll learn if you work with me,” Whisper remarked as she tried to imagine any other color in place of the black. “Is that we don’t use black. Or red. Or pink. They aren’t acceptable.” She might very well be the only vampire who did not think that the color red was ever acceptable but she also did not care. Those colors did not see her wardrobe and if she had her way, which she usually did, they did not see her designs either. New designers could be forgiven for their first slip. Because after Whisper had made the first dozen cry Karine had taken her aside to explain that she could not hold people responsible for doing things wrong when they were not aware that they were doing something wrong. It just did not work that way. Sometimes Whisper still forgot herself, but thanks to Karine’s presence and the magazine she was in a good mood. “So these would be nice if they weren’t ruined by that color.” Black ruined designs quicker than a pair of scissors could. Even if it was a good pair of scissors. “The design itself isn’t flawed. Just the colors.” Which happened to be a rather major part of it.
“No black, red, or pink,” Calista nodded. She had no issues with the colors - or any colors for that mattered - but if she wanted to impress Whisper, then she could easily nix those colors from all her palettes. She even went out of her way to take out a pen and scribble that bit of information down onto one of the sketchbooks in the corner. Either that or she would have forgotten by the time she got home and would simply upset Whisper all over again. “I can fix that.” Also within her bag was a pack of colored pencils and sharpies. Being the aspiring artist, she always kept them on hand in case inspiration hit her. And it was hitting her now, Calista quickly began creating color palettes to the side, still using the neutrals and white, but this time throwing in a few other complimentary colors. One had shades of purples mixed in, another with blues and greens, and another with gold and orange. She could have sat there and done that all day, but after making a few new ones up on the spot, she looked up to Whisper to see what she thought. Maybe it was a step in the right direction or maybe she was doing it wrong. “Are these better?”
Good, the message had gotten across and Calista seemed to take it well. Whisper remembered one designer, an uppity little snit of a woman in France, who had simply not understood that certain colors were not acceptable. She had kept bringing back black dresses with red accents and eventually Whisper had just needed to drain her dry. She had not even tasted all that good. “Good.” Setting back, the vampire waited for Calista to finish fixing her designs. Take away the black, red and pink and it was actually pretty good. Something that she would not object to showing in her fall line for that matter. Calista had potential and Whisper? Loved getting the potential on her side so that no one else could use it. “So much better, Calista, I’m especially fond of the purple.” Because purple was the color that she believed she looked best in so naturally it was always the best. Though the gold and orange, she liked that one as well. “I think that I would like to see these off of the paper and on a mannequin.” Mannequin first, then perhaps she would be able to put them on one of her models. Rowan most likely, she was the new girl. “Do you think that you’ll have the time to actually design a few of these for me to see?” Naturally the answer would be yes, but people reacted so much better when they were at least asked the first few times.
Calista smiled to herself upon receiving the good critique. Yes, she could do it! She could make a famous designer happy with her own work. Calista couldn’t wait to tell her friends and her family and - I have to do what now? Not that Calista was ever against making outfits - the dress she wore was her own design - but making several in enough time to present to Whisper? Calista wasn’t sure. She was a slow designer. Everyone could agree with that. She’d have to pick out all the fabric, which would take forever, seeing she would have to make more decisions, and then she’d have to spend forever making them. Though regardless of how slow she was, Calista’s work was never short of perfect. Everything was impeccable and beautifully done. If Whisper had the patience, the Calista knew she could wow her... or maybe she’d buy herself a pack of energy drinks, pull a few all nighters, and crank out said outfits. “Of course.” Like hell she was going to say no! Not after all of that. Calista was determined. “When would you like to see them?” A week? A month? Next year?
Had Whisper known that Calista was the sort to take forever to get something done then she would have been extremely tempted to do something that Karine had told her, in no uncertain terms, that she was absolutely not allowed to do. No matter how important it was. Whisper was not allowed to go and lock designers or potential designers in a room with all that they could need and proceed to leave them there until they had given her what she wanted. It was illegal or something like that. As though Whisper paid attention to the silly laws that humans were so intent on making. Sometimes she suspected that they made new laws just because they were bored, not because they were actually necessary. “I’m always the sort of woman who likes to see designs for potential lines at the soonest possible date, dear, as you’ll learn if you work for me.” Whisper kept other people waiting, they did not do the same to her. It was almost like refusing her attention and she could never manage to stand for that. A crying vampire was not a pretty sight and once she hit ‘hysteric’ - as happened rather quickly when she thought she was being ignored or overlooked - the tears came. “When do you think you can have them ready? And if there’s anything you need, I’m sure that I can see that you have it. Including help.” She had an assistant. She could be shared during daylight hours. Sometimes.
Why did the question suddenly have to be aimed back at her? Wasn’t it what the client always wanted or something like that? I should be better at doing this. Just treat it like it’s one of your medium clients. Though even that didn’t happen overnight. Ghosts were tricky like that. Upon hearing that she could have some help, Calista perked up a bit. “Really? If you could pick out fabrics, that would be great.” Coming to a decision was never easy for the airhead, but having someone pick those out for her would be a huge help. “I can do the rest. Probably in...” Oh god, now she had to figure out a time. Whisper did say the sooner the better. She feared of saying the wrong thing. Why did this have to be so difficult. “Um... next week or so? Does that sound ok?” Because the last thing Calista needed was to be physically thrown into a closet and forced to design or something.
Picking out fabrics was not even a problem for Whisper. No one else was as aware of the things that she liked, or preferred, so it was simply a fact that they would be unable to pick the best out. She could do that. Would be more than happy to for that matter. “Of course darling, if I didn’t mean it then I wouldn’t have said it.” Did she often say things that she did not mean? Quite possibly. Occasionally it was necessary to lie, or stretch the truth, in order to be able to get what she wanted but that did not apply at the current moment solely because she was not lying. If she had been then it would not have mattered either but that was not the point, now was it? “Next week would be good. Just not too much longer than that because then I’d actually have to rush a little bit to complete my next line in time and I wouldn’t want to rush.” Closing the book, Whisper offered it back to Calista. “Would you care to have a look at the fabrics that I use? Give you some inspiration.”
She smiled some more when Whisper offered to help out. That was perfect! Now that was one thing off of her plate. Plus if the legendary designer picked out what she wanted, it would be that much better. Next week, got it. Calista also scribbled that into her sketchbook, circling and underlining it several times. What? She didn’t want to forget. I need to start right away, too. It would be difficult focusing on that and the ghost murder she was working on right now, but she would figure it out. She always did. Though her thoughts went poof when Whisper suggested checking out the fabrics. Really, did she have to ask? Taking her sketchbooks back into her hands, Calista just glowed. “I would love to. Would be a big honor.” Whisper showing off anything of hers would have made Calista giddy.
See now, that glow right there - was that too much to ask of people? Just smile and be genuinely delighted to be in her presence and offered help wit something, or to see her designs. It was an honor and if more people were like Calista here then Whisper would not have to go out seeking attention because it would just be right there waiting for her. As it should be. Karine was good at it, but everyone else should really pick up on that note. No, Whisper did not do modest and likely never would. It was simply not wired into her any longer. If it ever had been in the first place. “Then come along darling and I’ll show you.” Whisper flashed an absolutely delighted smile and reached for Calista’s hand. “Just be quiet, my sire is asleep and I wouldn’t want to wake her.” Because Karine needed her rest. For that matter, so did Whisper, but it appeared that was not going to be happening for awhile. Ah well, she did not actually mind. “Right in here is my workroom, and the fabrics...” Raising her hand she motioned towards where she kept them. All far too organized again, which meant Karine had been in here. “Try to keep things in whatever order they are or she’ll have a fit at me.” A roll of her eyes indicated that she did not actually care. “But yes, those are the brands I prefer to use. Only the best.” Naturally.
That brief touch from Whisper’s hand sent a chill through Calista’s body. A dead chill, one that reminded her of what it felt like around ghosts. Whisper was definitely not that or she would have picked up on it by now. Still, she was too giddy about seeing Whisper’s workroom to be even hung up on that. She had met a vampire once before and it didn’t bother her. They were people, too! And quiet she could do. For the most part, Calista was quiet. Not loud and all over the place like Tessa was, but everyone was different. She remained quiet by Whisper’s side, silently staring at everything in such awe. Ok, she needed a room like this. This was just too awesome. And everything was neat and organized, far more than Calista was used to. Walking over to the fabrics, her hands skimmed over them, savoring the touch of them and examined the different colors, patterns, and textures. “These are absolutely beautiful.” Because they were. Calista couldn’t afford fabrics like this all the time, but they did make a difference. People who didn’t know how to pick the right fabric just couldn’t design. Period. It wasn’t that Calista couldn’t pick... she just had issues coming to a final decision. “Do you... have any favorites?” She was rather liking the few shades of purple and green that were in there.
Had she told Calista that she was a vampire? Whisper could not remember for the life of her, but if she had not then it was not going to stay a secret much longer thanks to the article. If Calista got spooked and ran off then Whisper would be so disappointed in her. “Of course they are, darling. I wouldn’t have anything in the room where I work that wasn’t beautiful and the best.” Because to use less than the best was to indicated that it was worthy of and, simply put, it was not. “The purples are my very favorite,” she confided, reaching out to skim her fingers over the deepest purple silk that she had purchased. Purple had, for whatever reason, become her favorite color in the past century and she could not see that changing. The darker purples were the best, so long as they were not too dark because if they were black then they were no good. “Although I’m also a fan of this silver right here.” She had used it for that dress of Elizaveta’s if she recalled correctly. Which she must have because Whisper did not forgot commissions that had come so recently. Especially ones that had been that level of lovely. “What do your tastes lean towards?”
Even though the psychic was a bit of an airhead and couldn’t come to a conclusion quickly, she did know her own tastes when it came to colors and fabrics. “I tend to lean more towards cooler colors, like blues and greens and purples.” Someone had once told her those colors brought out the richness in her eyes and thus she stuck with them. But she also knew how to work with other colors, seeing she wasn’t always making something for herself. “Some of the brighter colors are nice, too. I really like orange and yellow.” Calista’s favorite pair of shoes happened to be yellow and she wore those proudly. As for the fabrics... that was more difficult. Whisper had a lot of fabrics that Calista only dreamed of buying. Was ‘all of them’ a right answer? Swallowing hard from being placed in the hot seat, she scanned through the selections again, this time going off of how they felt against her fingertips. “I really like the softer, silkier fabrics. Ooo, and this sheer one is really nice, too.” She pulled out a silvery purple material that would have looked lovely draped with another material to make a skirt. But then there were also a few heavier cotton-like materials that grabbed her interest. Why was this so hard?!
Blues, greens and purples were very much among the colors that Whisper accepted in her lines. It was a good thing that Calista had not gone off declaring that she was just in love with red. How could anyone like that color? It was horrid. One exception existed where red was actually appreciated and that was when it was coming straight out of someone's veins. No vampire, not even one with a dislike of the color, could not appreciate the way that blood looked when it was on the menu. Wearing the color was just something else entirely... it seemed that Calista was enjoying her opportunity to look through the different fabrics that Whisper kept for her work. Good. A designer who could not appreciate material was one that did not belong near her. "If you see one that you want to use for some of those designs, then please feel free to take it. Anything that'll help you with your work." She could always have it replaced. That was truly the advantage of having the funds that she did, unlimited supply. Unfortunately, no matter how promising Calista was, it was late for the vampire. Now that she had seen her designs in the magazine all she wanted to do was curl up next to Karine and sleep the day away. "Did you want to look much longer? It's quite late for me."
Calista was already picking out fabrics once Whisper said that she could take whatever she wished. So many to choose from, but that meant she could take one of each of the ones she liked, right? A bit of a handful, but if she could lug around bags of flour at her bakery job, she could do this. Fabric was much lighter in that comparison. “Almost done,” she informed Whisper, taking a few more different fabrics into her arms, before looking over to her with a smile. “You’re too kind. Really, you are. I promise I’ll make something beautiful with these.” It was just a question of whether she could do it in a week or not. Well, she did put that time limit on herself and Whisper seemed very keen about it, so might as well follow through. There was no backing out now. She didn’t, however, put together the whole ‘late’ for Whisper thing. But... it was still morning? Definitely very early. Or maybe she was a night owl and had been partying a lot the night before? Didn’t most fashion people do that? Calista didn’t know, but she just kept smiling. “I’ll let you be then. Thank you again for having me over.” And with that said, she nodded in Whisper’s direction and began making her way to the door. Such a lovely house! She couldn’t wait to come back to it again in a week. That was one thing to look forward to.