Chapter Text
A cup is set down alongside the whirring of a laptop’s fan. The aroma travels along the artificial breeze, willing Tomoe’s tired eyes awake.
“Thanks, Tsugu, it smells wonderful as always.”
“I’m glad to hear,” Tsugumi says as she sets down a tray of creamers and sugar beside the coffee cup, “job searching again, Tomoe?”
The red haired girl gives a tired sigh and leans back into her chair, hands resting behind her head. “‘Searching’ is a broad term; I prefer ‘looking for a job I already haven’t been fired from,” she replies with an ever-so obvious hint of sarcasm. Tsugumi frowns. “I know, I know; I’m just kidding Tsugu; I just—stable shoots are hard to come by, that’s all.” But behind the witty sarcasm laid a real truth to the matter; while a degree in arts for fashion photography seemed enticing from a monetary standpoint, the competition was such that Tomoe was stuck with meager wedding shoots just to scrape by. Her optimistic dreams of capturing the haute couture of runways were as attainable as Moca’s dream to open an all-you-can eat baked goods restaurant.
Sip, scroll, sigh. Sip, scroll, sigh. From the corner of Hazawa café, Tsugumi could hear Tomoe scrounging through application after application, trying to find something her expertise could encapsulate. And from the number of dissatisfied groans she could hear, Tsugumi was expecting it to be another unsuccessful day.
12:00 PM. Three grueling hours with not a single decent opening in sight. All that Tomoe had with her was a sliver of dignity and a long-gone cup of coffee. Well, that and a coupon for 20% off a bowl of ramen. But that would have to wait. Running a frustrated hand through her hair, Tomoe scrolled down her last unviewed page of application, bracing herself for imminent failure. Not enough experience… way too far… this one is for… a dog fashion show? Tomoe gave a grimace as she checked the slightly above average salary. Oh, I’d definitely get made fun of for using my fashion photography degree to take pictures of tacky poodles in dress… Tomoe quickly took the page’s link and pasted it into a document accurately labelled ‘LAST DITCH EFFORTS’. Continuing her fruitless efforts, Tomoe checked the listing right after, hoping the proposition would be better than taking a picture of a model who, at any moment, could pee all over the studio floor.
“Wanted: Photographer/Personal Assistant for Small Home Studio.” Enticing enough; Tomoe preferred being alone while taking photos; it took away from the pressure of having to compete against other photographers who were probably just as hungry for that good old job security. Well, here goes nothing. Clicking the link, Tomoe was welcomed to a neatly formatted job description and some images of the studio.
Silver Icing is an ecommerce fashion company and lifestyle brand dedicated to inspiring confidence through fashion.
Our online social selling platform is revolutionizing online shopping and direct sales marketing. With over 200% percent growth in the past 2 years, Silver Icing is an exciting opportunity for young professionals who want to make their mark, have an impact and meaningfully contribute to a rapidly growing company and industry.
Description
Hello, I am currently looking for a photographer/personal assistant to help me for my self-employed modeling job. Said shoots are done in a studio at my house, and a camera is expected to be provided. Lighting, editing, and such will be done by me. A proficiency in heavy lifting, time management and basic alteration is also greatly appreciated. Watermarks, crediting and advertisements for said photographer are greatly encouraged.
Responsibilities
- Photoshoots, which may include shoots done in public venues, such as parks, churches or public events.
- Assist in the scheduling of shoots, determining locations, organizing models, etc.
- Assessment of provided photoshoot storyboards to ensure the look and feel of the shoot is captured throughout the shoot
- Setting-up, arranging and fixing lighting for non-studio shoots
- Responsible to determine the lighting and digital capture requirements and ensure appropriate highlight and shadow exposure, colour density and tone
- Responsible for transferring digital images within a non-negotiable timeframe
Qualifications
- Diploma in Photography
- 3+ years of photography experience or education
- Comfortable working with female models, able to give poses and directions
- Experience setting up studios with necessary equipment including studio lighting
- Strong attention to detail
- Works well under pressure and can meet deadlines
- Patience with verbal communication
- Physical adept and able to carry out simple strength related tasks.
- Able to assist in mundane tasks that are pivotal to the overall success and fluidity of photoshoots (alterations, driving, ordering food)
Job Type: Full-time
Experience:
- photography: 3 years (Preferred)
Contact
E-Mail: [email protected]
Profile: @ringing_bloom
Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Tomoe blinked. Blinked again. Pinched her arm. The whole shebang. This job was almost too perfect. The distance was only a few stops away from her house, the pay was decent, and she barely scraped by with her credentials. Pumping a triumphant fist into the air, she immediately sent an e-mail over to this… well, there wasn’t a name attached, but that wasn’t too much of an issue. Sometimes risks need to be taken, and she’d definitely take meeting a random stranger and helping them pick up boxes over another day walking dogs. Giving one last check to make sure she had sent her resume rather than a silly picture Ako had sent her, Tomoe leaned back into her chair and breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief.
“Good news?” Tsugumi called out from a few tables away.
“Yeah, saw a really nice-looking job posting; it’s close by and it pays well. That never happens.”
“Wow, finally struck gold?”
“Hopefully.” Tomoe closed her eyes and kicked up the front two legs of her chair. “All this job searching makes me regret not going into business like you and Ran instead of just breezing through the easiest thing I could get into.”
Tsugumi gave Tomoe a slight frown. A part of her almost felt guilty hearing those words; knowing that one of the only reasons that Tomoe went into photography was because it was “the least boring major” she could find while searching for classes. And while their close-knit group of five had promised to stay with each other regardless of circumstance, Tsugumi wondered if their childhood promises had backfired. “You have fun doing photography though, right?”
“Yeah, you’ve got me there,” Tomoe answered back as she closed her laptop, “it lets me scratch that fashion itch that I have without all the hassle of actually going into fashion, y’know?”
Phew. That’s good to hear, at least. Seeing as Tomoe was putting her laptop back into her bag, Tsugumi took the time to take the dirty dishes off of the table and onto her tray. Out of the corner of her eye, Tsugumi spotted Tomoe pulling out her wallet, taking a bill out from one of the pockets. “No need, Tomoe, it’s on the house.”
“Aww, c’mon Tsugu, you can’t go around giving free coffees like that, you got a business to run.” But as soon as Tomoe’s sentence started, she was quickly hushed by a frowning Tsugumi.
“You’ve been here more times than I can count and you still do this,” Tsugumi commented as she pushed Tomoe’s wallet back; an action of which she was more than familiar, “you’re like family to me; I’d never make you pay.” Picking the tray up, Tsugumi gave Tomoe one last encouraging smile. “I hope the application goes well; make sure to tell me if you land the job, OK?”
“Will do.”
-creak-
Laying across her small couch, Tomoe heard the painstakingly familiar sounds of her apartment doors rusted hinges. Not bothering to check to see who it was, Tomoe blurted out a ‘hey Ako’, focusing more on the phone in front of her face than the person walking in through the door behind her.
“You’re not usually in the living room, sis.”
“Ah, just watching a pizza that’s in the oven.”
“Pineapples and ham?”
“Sorry, just pepperoni.”
A defeated sigh. Trudging footsteps. The unceremonious flop onto the last remaining couch cushion that wasn’t taken up by Tomoe’s legs. It was almost muscle memory, an unspoken ritual done every day by the Udagawa sisters. Even though their days of high school were long gone, the two of them had taken to renting an apartment together, reasoning that the division of responsibilities was already well ingrained into their mind at this point. Plus, it helped knowing that the person you were living in an apartment with wasn’t secretly some shady person you knew nothing of beforehand.
Expecting to hear the calming background noise of the television turning on, Tomoe was surprised to instead be greeted by the sounds of flipping pages. That girl whom only a few years ago convinced her family that she was some dark demon goddess was now a lot more mature and responsible, pouring over what seemed to be a heavy textbook. That wasn’t to say that her past was completely behind her, as indicated by the extremely extra ink quill the girl was using.
Taking a closer look at what her sister was doing, Tomoe could see that Ako was writing some sort of paper, her eyes darting back and forth as she referenced the stacks of notes sitting in front of her. While Tomoe simply drifted along from course to course during her college career, Ako had gone with a more clear-cut path into creative writing. Keeping up with a chunni schtick through most of your life gave you that unnecessary amount of extra-ness that was perfect for the extra sort of students you’d see in an English department.
ding ding ding
“Ah, I’ll get that.”
“Need any help?”
“Nah don’t worry; pop or water?”
“Just water is OK.”
Nearly rolling herself off of the sofa, Tomoe got up and trudged her way to the oven, pulling sleep deprived legs across tile in an attempt to silence the incessant beeping. Slipping on the oven mitts that she had left on the table, Tomoe braced her face as the initial wave of heat washed over her. Not bothering to cool down the pizza, Tomoe threw it atop the flattened box it had come in, saving herself a few dishes later (it was her turn to do it and by God was she going to make it as painless as possible.)
One, two three, four cuts separated the hot, cheesy mess in front of her; maybe adding extra slices of pepperoni on top was a bit of an oversight on her part. Opening the cupboards adjacent to the oven, Tomoe fetched two small plates and 2 cups, setting them atop their kitchenette’s island. A small apartment like this had to have compromises; if they were to have a big living room to entertain guests, then something like a proper dining table wasn’t in the cards. “Ako, c’mon, lets eat,” Tomoe called as she opened the fridge, “don’t want the food to be getting cold.”
“Kaaaay.” Ako got up and stretched her arms as she made her way to a set of bar stools in front of the island. Getting up on her usual seat, Tomoe followed quickly after, carrying large pitcher of water and a bottle of ranch dressing. “So how’d today go?”
“Better than usual,” Tomoe explained as she took a slice from the makeshift serving plate, “actually; I think I might have finally found the gig I was looking for.”
Well, that was what she wanted to think. And what she wanted to tell as well, right beside Tomoe were the excited, life-filled eyes of a college soon-to-be graduate, who definitely did not need to be told about the horrors of post school careers. She could tell Ako about that some other time. “It’s some photography gig that needs me to heavy lift on the side,” Tomoe explained between bites of her pizza, “a perfect job for my set of skills, if I do say so myself.”
“Do you know who you’re even working with, or is it just some big company?”
“I think it’s just one lady, judging by the way the job application looked; I think they had some sort of social media as well.”
“Do you remember the name?”
Pausing after her first slice, Tomoe wracked her brain for any info on her potential employer, blaming the greasy dinner for coming up seemingly empty handed. Tomoe gave a weak smile as she wiped her hand and picked up her phone (nothing in the world is worth than pizza grease on your phone screen.) “One sec, lemme check.” Opening the job searching website, Tomoe was delighted to see a notification popping up, informing her that her application was received. “Yeah, here it—one second… ah, there isn’t a name, guess they wanted to keep it anonymous,” Tomoe began, scrolling back down the web page, “but it says here that they use ‘Ringingbloom’ for their social media, whatever that—”
Tomoe’s search was halted as Ako jumped out of her bar stool, flinging her slice of pizza somewhere atop the fridge.
“YOU’RE GOING TO BE WORKING WITH RINGINGBLOOM?!?!” Ako looked like Tomoe had just told her that she had won the lottery, or had scouted for her favourite girl in a gacha with only a single pull. Ako quickly jumped back over to the coffee table her homework was laid out upon, grabbing her phone with greasy, excited fingers. A few swipes and taps later, Ako gave a great ‘aha!’ before running back to Tomoe, showing off what appeared to be a photography portfolio—
Of the most gorgeous woman she’s ever seen.
From what she could discern, Ako explained how this woman was a cosplay model who primarily did cosplays of the game that she played, Neo Fantasy online. Apparently, her accuracy to the game as well as her natural beauty and frequent convention appearances made her quite popular in the video game community. Well, popular was one way to put it; amassing a fanbase of tens of thousands of followers was near celebrity status in the realm of cosplay.
Well, that’s what Tomoe could make out from Ako’s description. Because while her little sister rambled on and on about all the different classes and enemies that the woman had brought to life, Tomoe was enraptured by her beauty. Amidst her ranting, Ako handed her phone over to an awestruck Tomoe, tapping on a photo that ‘totally captures Ringingbloom’s magical energy’
Tomoe stared at the photo for a lot longer than she was willing to admit. She wasn’t too sure about the details of the getup (Tomoe wasn’t much of a video games person in the first place), but it seemed to her like some sort of magic spell caster, complete with a wizard’s hat. But it was just the combination of it all; the sheer fabric on her midsection and legs, the look of determination in her eyes; it was as if she could feel an intense heat like the fire that she looked to be wielding. This? This is my employer? Tomoe debated on scrolling through her page, wondering if her heart could handle seeing such a beautiful woman this many times--
“Sis. Sis. Tomoe. Tomoe Udagawa.”
“Wh—What?”
“You’re drooling. On the table.”
Oh God. Momentarily regaining consciousness, Tomoe looked down to see that she had, in fact, drooled all over the table. Luckily enough, she had spared her food but, it was safe to say that she had sufficiently made an absolute disaster of herself (in front of her sister, nonetheless.) Tomoe sheepishly handed Ako’s phone back, and did her best to cover up her rising embarrassment by having another slice of pizza. “So, a soplayer, huh,” Tomoe commented as she squirted a dollop of ranch onto her plate, “what’s she like outside of all her photos?”
“Ahh… no one really knows.”
“H-Huh?”
“Yeah, its pretty weird, but no one’s really heard her talk save for a few words at the time,” Ako explained as she finished up her last slice for the day, “I’ve seen people say that her voice sounds nice but, she rarely if at all talks to anyone.”
Tomoe nodded. A shy, silent beauty, huh… maybe she’s asking for a helper so that she doesn’t need to talk to too many people…
-bzzzt bzzzt-
Ah, did someone text me?
1 Unread Email
Re: Application
That was quick… It was rare for Tomoe to get this excited over an e-mail; hell, she couldn’t even remember the last time she was excited for one in the first place. Whether it was the prospect of not having to work on a cramped food service gig, or the fact that her potential employer was drop dead gorgeous, something in her made the arduous opening of the e-mail all the sweeter. Opening the notification, Tomoe’s eyes glued themselves to the screen, reading every word with utmost diligence. Apparently Ako had taken to this uncharacteristic amount of effort over something she had seen her sister do many times in the past. Ako struck one of her signature poses, dropping her voice down a few octaves (which was, for once, quite fitting), “Did thou receive communication from the demon empress herself?”
“Yeah, just reading it right now…”
Dear Ms. Udagawa,
After reading through your resume and debating on whether or not you would make a good hire for the aforementioned position, I have concluded that your background, expertise, and set of skills match that which I have outlines in my application. Before on-site training and hiring, I would like to ask for a formal and proper interview to happen. This will just be a series of questions on your familiarity with the particular subject matter of photography at hand, as well as other important miscellaneous questions.
I would prefer to have this interview done in a public area, preferably one in which you are comfortable being in. Using the given phone number, I would like to ask if you could provide me with a destination and a time via text for us to go through with this interview.
ringingbloom
“Oooh, sounds like you’re a shoe in, huh?” Ako exclaimed as she put her dirty dish into a slowly piling dishwasher, “are you going to bring her to Tsugu’s place?”
“Yeah, probably, can’t think of anywhere else that isn’t loud or distracting.” Tomoe did her best to give one of her usual devil-may-care laughs, playing it off as just another job interview. But the more it set it, the more her heart was beating; what was this beautiful, mysterious woman going to be like when she was graced with her presence? Was a small, rustic café like Hazawa’s even in the woman’s radar? Should she dress formal? Sports Casual? Ughhh… Tomoe flopped her face onto the table in defeat
right into her pile of drool.
Eugh. What a sign of things to come.