The Light of my Life

Wake-Up Call

While Tamotsu struggled to find the sanity in Silvia's plan, Ilyana was lost in sweet dreams, drowning in a sea of plushies. Her room suited a precocious spirit like hers. Every kind of stuffed critter that could be found was laid out around her in bed and the young model nested among them peacefully. Unlike Tamotsu who rose at ungodly hours, long before the sun showed above the horizon, she was quite the night demon and was prone to a nocturnal lifestyle, but her work schedule completely flipped this. In the mornings she was exceptionally lethargic and it often took several minutes to rouse her from a deep slumber. Today Tamotsu was not going to wake her so early, allowing her time to rest before their busy day. She was able to sleep an extra hour, but that was when the noise started.

-brrr brrr brrr-

-brrr brrr brrr-

The familiar sound of the blender rang between her ears, causing her to stir beneath the pile of stuffed animals. A soft yawn rumbled from between her thin lips, a pale hand raising up from beneath the abyss of multicolored toys. Illyana pulled herself into a sitting position, a groan rumbling from her chest as she stretched her stiff muscles. Last night's ride on the bus was a little uncomfortable, but it was a fun adventure! At least up until the thugs tried to take advantage of her. She would have had no trouble defending herself, but had she done so she would have inevitably risked her reputation. It was already a fragile merit. The paparazzi found every way to twist the truth into a tawdry piece of dirty laundry they used to make a profit, even at the expense of someone else's livelihood. 

Reaching up to her hair, which had been frazzled in different directions which gave her an exceptional  case of bedhead, Illyana would try and smooth down her white, almost silver shimmering, locks. Pulling at the ends of her hair she would look at the frayed tips.  Her first thought was not of their condition, though that was secondary for the model, what bothered her most was their color. White as snow. She stood out as a demon and it made it difficult to mingle with people, but being a Vampir made it all the worse since they are feared by both Humans and other Demons.  

Though she was a hybrid it never came up as a measurable problem in her life. She wasn't terribly close to her father and had next to no knowledge of her demonic ancestry. Her Vampir side though... That was something her mother was very proud of and never gave up the chance to talk about it. Lily was sure if Vampir was a category in a game show, she'd walk away with the grand prize! Her face retained a majority of her Vampiric features as well, despite her Devil lineage. Pale skin, long and narrow canine fangs, red eyes, and white hair. White wasn't the only hair color a Vampir had, but it was the most common. 

"I wish I looked a little more like my sisters..." Lily's quiet invocation was a desire locked away deep in her heart.

Unlike her, Lily's siblings were closer to her father in terms of looks. Their slightly tanned skin and elegant features were more inclined with exceptionally beautiful Humans. Even her youngest half sister was a popular idol hailed for her cute factor and singing voice.l! Hers was more an ethereal beauty that many called haunting or mystical. She didn't want to be any of these things. 

Inching her body to the edge of the bed, the young woman dangled her robust legs off the side. Though lithe that didn't mean her thighs were without weight. One could say the most demanding feature of her body was her posterior. Laying her hand over the highest part of her pale thigh she felt her hand sink against her skin, as if molding putty. She felt it an overwhelming feature that took focus away from her face. Though her chest was an enviable size, it didn't seem to draw as much attention as she'd like. 

Was she going about this the wrong way? The thought crossed her mind to ask her manager...

"I couldn't ask Momo something so embarrassing!" She buried her face in her palms. 

She didn't know how he'd respond, but she was sure she'd never recover. Pushing aside her lamentable looks, the professional model still had a job to do! Hopping out of bed Lily made her way to her dresser drawers to find an appropriate outfit for the day. She had gotten a text from Tamotsu lady night with a basic run through of her schedule. She needed to dress light and comfortable. 

"Okay, let's see!" With a stumble and twirl Lily skipped out of her closet in what was her fifth outfit. 

She was struggling between styles and setting as she was going to spend the whole day on house arrest -- er, with Tamotsu, she needed to look extra sure. His opinion of her meant more than most. Unlike outsiders who paid her to her surface looks with comments like 'you make the clothes look good' or the more perverse 'you don't need clothes to look that sexy!' Momo's more reserved observations were gratifying. 

As she styled her hair in the mirror she blushed. "W-what? I'm acting like a teenager with a crush!" She smooshed her hands to her cheeks to try and squeeze the problematic thoughts away. "Okay... maybe it's a little crush." Glancing to her reflection she let her arms fall to her side. "He got a boyfriend though..." Ugh.

Off all the rotten luck! Why are all the handsome ones in BL relationships! Still she wanted to at least be friends with him. Being around Momo made her feel safe and less lonely. He was great at listening and, though he didn't speak too much, he still found ways to communicate with her in his own way. She's gotten used to his mannerisms over the years. At first it was hard understanding his intention. After all, what kind of guy except a pervert wanted to be a model or an idol's manager? At least the youngest sister said all her managers had been nothing but useless lolicons.

She got lucky. Falling from her thoughts Lily looked back to the mirror, posing in her outfit. 

She picked out a black, criss-cross back, corduroy dress that stopped above her knees, with a white off the shoulder tee, with a ruffled neck. Underneath the dress she smartly wore spat shorts. She was an athletic type so dresses could often end up a hindrance, especially when she had to flee the gentle care of her handlers.

Sometimes you just need to run free!

With her hair tied back in a simple fishtail braid she gathered her bag, which itself had a mascot shape matching her favorite bat plushie. She packed her pocketbook, phone, sunglasses and pack of tissues. Zipping up her bag she headed out into the hall, taking care to step into her house slippers as she didn't need to faceplant on her own hallway because she ran out on just her socks. 

Before she made it even halfway through the living room she heard the sudden shattering of glass. 

"Momo?" She called out in concern, before picking up her pace. 

During their time together Lily has noticed Momo was a bit clumsy. He's cracked his phone's screen a number of times, having told her he'd dropped them. She's heard loud bangs when she was in the dressing rooms of her gigs, only to pop out and find Tamotsu had dug a shoulder-height hole into the drywall after tripping, he's declared. The poor man seems to react that way when he's feeling anxious as it usually occurs after a bad phone call. 

There was even once or twice where a chair fell victim to his wiles and turned to firewood. 

"Momo!" As Lily rounded the corner into the kitchen. She nearly took herself out on the dining table in the process. "Are you okay?!"

Arriving in the kitchen Tamotsu held up his hand to stop her approach. "Whoa, Lily! Stop!"

In his left hand he held the dustpan and broom brush. He knelt down, sweeping up the shreds of glass from the cup he looked to have dropped. Seeing as he'd already set a precedence for his behavior Lily would ask: 

"Did you get some bad news?" She pulled out a chair from against the table and seated herself.

He had his back turned to her, the corner of his mouth twitching. Dumping the shards into the trash. He turned to face her, face carrying a shy smile. 

"Ah, Silvia called to tease me." He cleared his throat. "Nevermind that, sit. Breakfast is done. We can talk about it when you start eating." Honestly he would have liked to have forgotten the whole matter entirely. 

Why didn't he take Daido's offer? Having the fellow hunted down like a dog seemed easier, even if not as satisfying.