Dark Fame

Chapter 4

"He's skinny and short… but he has that androgynous look to him and that's all the rage these days. I suppose I can work with him, it beats finding a new male and female model. Blue hair though? Are we keeping that? If we are then we're going to need some professional dye because honey I can see your roots growing all kinds of back."

Saobe blinked as his ponytail was taken into a well jeweled hand glittering with all kinds of extravagant rings. "Hmm, good quality and it's clean, has a nice bounce, not too thin, a few split ends but again, I can work with it."

Saobe glance at Zath who was holding an amused smirk on his lips as the tall, brown skinned man dressed in a suit that would put a bag of skittles to shame circled around him and openly critiqued him. The man's name was Bartole Louise and was apparently the most highly sought after fashion designer and model make over in the world right now. Of course Zath had him under his employment, the man seemed to be able to get anything he wanted.

A black, pierced brow was raised at him as Bartole stepped away from him, hand to his slightly scruffy chin. "Shoe implants can make up for any extra height we need I suppose. Skin could be clearer, we'll have to get him on a facial treatment. Brows are… urgh just all over the place, but we can fix that too. A bit of an exercise regimen and… I can turn him into something worthy of Lender industries."

Saobe touched his brows and frowned a bit, they didn't feel all over the place, they felt like they were where eyebrows were supposed to be… above his eyes.

"We're keeping the blue Bartole, I think it's eccentric, different from all our blondes and brunettes. I could sit here and listen to you explain to me in vivid details everything you'll be upgrading but this company doesn't run itself." Zath turned to Saobe who looked like a pretty fish thrown into a pool of prettier fish. "It's okay, I'm not abandoning you, I have an open door policy, and I'm just leaving you for a bit so the team can find a look for you and tell me how much training you'll need."

Saobe rose a brow but said nothing about the open door policy, it didn't seem like Zath was a man to actually stay in his office to even have an 'open door policy' but that was just a stray thought. He was still getting used to all of it, the fact that he's agreed to a modeling contract as if he was accepting the terms of use to use a website. Here he was, literally amongst people who had enough money to own houses that had apartments inside and a different car for every week. To him the reality of it all was the hardest part to get used to. He literally, at the very moment, had enough money in his bank account that a comma was required after two entire digits… all from signing a piece of paper. What was the saying? You could turn rags to riches but you couldn't turn wool to silk? Okay, that probably wasn't a saying but it fit his current situation.

Zath with a quick flash of what he supposed was a smile and left Bartole and he alone. Saobe stared at him as the other continued to look him all over. Finally the other gave a soft tsk before staring him in the eye. "Okay listen up sweetie, I don't know what you're like yet but if you're catty know that I am cattier. It's best to just let me turn you into my experimental Ken doll while you're still fresh because I can give you a bad reputation like that. I'll find the right look for you and then if you make us all big money you'll have more say in what you wear and what you look like. Do you get me?"

He nodded, there wasn't much to misunderstood, he was new and new people didn't get to have opinions yet. He was pretty sure no one would ever call him catty and personally he thought he was a pretty cooperating person. "I get you but… I do have one thing that I don't budge on."

Bartole rose his pierced brow, a gesture that seemed to mean many things at once. "And that is?"

"I refuse to cut my hair, it's a personal thing but I'm not cutting it. You can trim it but cutting it off is out of the question."

"Oh that's it? Honey that's what wigs are for. Besides if Zath didn't like the hair he wouldn't have approached you. He only takes in those that he thinks are near perfection." Bartole shrugged, "I suppose you're alright, you have potential but Zath has his type I guess."

Saobe simply smiled in a mildly pleasant way, the things Bartole said sounded like insults and compliments at once and he couldn't get over his nerves enough to process how he felt about them.

"Alright," Bartole said with a clap of his hands, "let's get you presentable!"

ooOOOooOOOoo

Saobe had never been so groomed in his life, between the hair washing, the re-dying, the endless facials, his hands, being waxed, he didn't know if he felt refreshed or just highly raw and scrubbed. He sat in a chair staring back at three people, Bartole, a make-up artist named Krista, and a hairstylist names Azia. They were all looking at him the way he'd imagine an artist would look at a blank canvas.

"I think straight down, it'll give him like a Spanish look don't you think?"

Bartole shook his head, "no I think it'd give him a sad Native American look, and there are enough sad Native American pictures. The theme is Expressions, not 'let me stare blankly at the screen sadly so that you can remember all the troubles people I will never meet and probably aren't related to went through."

Saobe's eyes widened and he clenched his lips together to try and hold in the laugh of disbelief. Who said such things?

"Urgh Bartole you are a horrid person do you know that? What if he is Native American you jerk," Azia leaned down and smiled at him, "Ignore this jerk, he missed the phase in life where people realize they can't say everything that comes to their mind."

Bartole rolled his eyes, "tch, it's the fashion world, he'll get used to it."

"Nobody could get used to you Bartole," Krista said in a chipper voice. "But I kind of agree, sad Native American look wouldn't fit… I say a simple pulled back ponytail, it fits his facial structures and we will be able to see if his face game is down for photos."

"Hmm," Bartole said, "I agree, a ponytail could work, if we dress him right it could give him this sexy sophisticated look."

Azia and Krista both nodded. "Okay," Krista said looking at her watch, "we should get started, the photographer will be here in about an hour and a half," the tall blonde gave him a big smile, "Don't worry Saobe, we'll make you look great for the boss."

More than an hour later, he felt like a pampered poodle, he'd been primped and poked and whatever word fell in between. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, having people basically wait on him, but knowing what it was for sort of ruined the experience for him.

"Woo! We're done, man that took a while, you have a lot of hair guy! But the new blue looks great on your skin tone, it's the same tone but we put the color back into it!" She smiled at him, "we also fixed those brows... they were… just all over the place."

Bartole nodded, "I can agree, now those brows are photo worthy, your skins not that bad either when you scrub off all the oils, it has a natural even tone which is good, it means too much of your paycheck won't go to your make up." He snapped his fingers at the gawking girls, "okay snow white, jasmine, you're dismissed, I need to get him into Critique appropriate clothes."

The girls gave Bartole a look but began to pack up, both waving goodbye to him before they were off chatting about hair products. He was pretty interested in seeing what they'd done to him but there weren't any mirrors in the room for him to see.

"I know that face," Bartole said with a click of his tongue, "company rules, you don't get to see what you look like til after the shoot. We want to see your inner confidence as a model, not the confidence you get from being turned into well borderline perfection if I may toot my own horn."

"Inner confidence… I'm not sure I have any of that… Modeling just came into my life last week actually."

Bartole raised that trademark brow, "what, you're a street rat? The last time Zath pulled someone from amidst the commoners was…" he smirked, "well, you'll find out I'm sure," Bartole ended with a rather sinister sounding snicker. It was the first time he'd heard the man remotely show humor… he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "Alright Mr. Andra, let's find out if your model material!"

oooOOOooOOOoo

"No, no, no, I need expression, expression! Sexy expression! Bold expression, speak to me with your eyes, call to me with your lips, form is good! Expression is crap… work with me, work with me!"

Saobe huffed, if he wasn't nervous enough with a line of people watching him from the sidelines, the photographer was aggressive and endlessly telling him about his expressions. What did he know about expressions? Expressions usually came from a situation for him, he didn't just sit around practicing how to make a sad face. The photographer kept yelling sexy and bold, he could be bold… but he sure as hell didn't know how it looked. As far as sexy went, he wanted to laugh and scream at the same time, he couldn't be sexy! He didn't even know what that entitled! Oh how he was regretting his decision already.

"Urgh I cannot! This… I can't, yes the face is nice, pretty, and handsome, whatever you want to call it, and body is mwuah! Marvelous, little scrawny but still good, expression… expression and body language is Ce n'est pas terrible!"

Saobe sighed as he watched Zath approach the photographer and they walked together chatting but he was too far away to hear them. People were bustling around him, doing this and that and it seemed like his shoot was over… he felt terrible, Zath would probably demand all his money back and kick him out on the spot.

"Don't mind Francias, he's over dramatic."

Saobe looked over to see an imposingly tall, black haired male standing near the base of the stage. He had dark green eyes and sun kissed skin with a face and body that looked like he was peeled right off of a beach billboard for some extreme fitness sport. He wasn't bulky or so muscular that it was creepy but he could probably pick up a whole pig and it wouldn't bother him. Saobe shook his head, was he staring? He felt rude, he usually didn't just admire someone like that but surrounded by models every time he rounded a corner there was someone new and perfect looking.

"Hi oh… yeah uh… sorry I uh… yeah…"

The other laughed, "relax! Don't be nervous," he reassured with a pearly white smile, "we were all new before, and believe it or not we aren't all fire breathing dragons. My first shoot I totally barfed from nerves. I'm Franco by the way, I'm only about a year old in the model world so I promise you it gets better."

"Haha am I that obvious?" Saobe stepped down from the stage and the height difference was evident, Franco had to be at least 6'3'' because Saobe had to tilt his head a bit to see the other's face. "Saobe… I uh, I'm a day old haha and it might be the only day I'm getting."

Franco extended his hand, "haha nice to meet you Saobe and don't worry, Francais didn't hate you so you're fine. He's literally called quite a few models giant pieces of crap and told them they weren't worth a stick drawing let alone a professional photo. Consider yourself lucky."

Saobe laughed a bit, feeling less like crap for the first time since the shoot started, "thanks, you're a giant help you have no idea."

"No problem, if you ever need help I'm—"

"Saobe!" A voice interrupted their conversation and he turned to see Zath approaching them with a rather intent expression on his face. He swallowed because he was sure that expression meant nothing good. "I see you've met Franco."

Franco smiled towards their boss, "Mr. Lender, it's always pleasant to get to see you in person."

Zath didn't say anything in return, he simply gave Franco an interesting look before turning to Saobe, "I need to speak with you, come with me to my office." He placed a steering hand against Saobe's back, "Franco I'm handling Saobe personally alright, I appreciate your eagerness to help our newcomer of course but he's a special project you understand so let me take care of him."

Saobe turned his head back in time to see Franco give Zath a narrow eyed look and a tight smile, "hmm I see, I didn't mean to intrude." He caught Franco's eye after, "maybe I'll see you around Saobe."

"Yeah hopefully, thanks for the words though." He glanced up at Zath but any expression that was there was long gone. Perhaps he was reading too into the situation... "Um what you need to talk to me about... am I fired already?"

"What?" Zath gave a bark of laughter that was unexpected to them both apparently, "you have a way of making me laugh it seems. Don't be so dramatic Saobe, why would I fire you when I went out of my way to purposely entice you to join my empire."

"Empire..." Saobe cut his eyes at his new boss, "I'm the dramatic one huh? But... you're not going to fire me?"

"No," Zath said as he entered the code that went to his office, opening the large black door for him to enter. "I have no intentions of letting you go anywhere anytime soon Saobe." He gave Saobe a bit of a wolfish looking smile but then again all of his smiles looked that way. "Criticism is the language of the model world, don't take much of it to heart. Francais has sent models crying their first day with his words, he actually gave you a compliment so you are already a step ahead of quite a few models."

Saobe visibly relaxed, he couldn't possibly afford to payback the bonus that was already mostly spent on his brother.

"What I brought you here to talk about is another deal. What Francais said was true, your expressions...they are all, how do I put this... deer like."

Saobe frowned but blinked at Zath in confusion. "Deer like? As in I look like a woodland creature when I try to make a sexy face?"

Zath chuckled, " no, not exactly... more like you look like a startled deer when you make a sexy face, your bold face looks like a startled and confused deer so at least you had some variation." Zath pointed to the large, cushioned onyx chair in front of his large glass desk. "Have a seat." He leaned upon the spotless glass as Saobe took a seat and crossed his large arms. "Let me ask you something, what is sexy to you? What makes you feel sexy? What does sexy look like to you?"

Saobe opened his mouth but paused because he really didn't have an answer to any of those questions. He wouldn't call himself asexual, from time to time, rarely, he'd seen a person and wonder what was beneath their clothes because they were very pretty or handsome... but he never felt sexual about it... it was sort of just from a perspective point of view. He could describe what he felt was handsome, classy, feminine, masculine, but hot, sexy, desirable... he never really had time for those kinds of thoughts or feelings. His life just up into a year ago was trying to make ends meet and keep a crappy apartment on the rough side of town.

"I can't really answer that, I don't really know what I think it sexy or what I think it looks like... I know it sounds weird but I don't really have those thoughts towards anything..." He looked up to find Zath studying him intently and something about those dark eyes, a blue that bordered black perhaps, or maybe a rich, dark brown... something about them just caused him to freeze in place like a spotted rabbit. He felt an instinct to run away from such eyes but a the same time questions ran through his head, most prominent was why run?

"I See," Zath said finally, blinking before casting his head towards the large window that looked out over one of the more beautiful areas of New York City. He rose, tall form feeling more imposing. "Then let me ask you something... how far are you willing to go to turn this into a real career? Not just quick money for a few months, money that can build in a little over a year into more than half the population of the world will ever see in their lifetime. Money that can buy you everything you need to live until retirement without ever having to lift another finger in your life... money that can... take care of your love ones for a very long time?"

Saobe glanced up at Zath wondering where he was going with his speech. Who wouldn't want any of that? He really only had one dream, to be a pianist and a composer. He never had the money to go to college though, hell he didn't even have his High school diploma, he was no idiot by a long shot but dropping out of school had been a decision he both regretted and felt was necessary. The decision didn't exactly spell out money and a college degree however... He wasn't actually sure what he'd do with his life, try to learn all of the bar life perhaps and take over someday?

"I... modeling was never something I planned to do but if I don't hate it and it provides me with money well..." he could use that money to later do what he really wanted to do. He was good, he knew he was, he just needed some fine tuning and credentials. Money was more than enough to make up for lack of a degree. "Then I am very willing."

Zath turned with a smile and his eyes trained on Saobe's. "Then let me offer you a private opportunity from me personally. It'll be a private contract between you and I, no one else, not my company, nothing legal, a contract between you and I."

Saobe was confused but his interest was piqued. "What kind of contract?"

Zath's smile widened and Saobe decided that he'd definitely be a wolf if he was an animal. "A contract where I teach you everything you need to know to excel in this industry... up close...and personal."