Stress Head (Valentina and Darren)

by **Lucian Ciero** Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:38 am

Valentina had been through an extraordinarily bad day, she had arrived late for work this morning and had missed two business meetings as a result, that had an impact on the rest of her working day and she had only just made it to her shift at the cafe.

Why she still worked there she didn't know.

Sighing she sat at the bar, dressed in her business suit and she must have loomed laughable, an 11 year old in a business suit? That was about all the attention she paid to those thoughts. Valentina had numerous modelling profiles to go through and she flipped through them as she sipped at a pumpkin juice.

by Guest Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:32 pm

Darren walked through the door of the Leaky Cauldron, and sighed in exasperation as his iPhone died off. He kept forgetting that electronic devices don't work in the wizarding world, and the Leaky Cauldron was part of it.

He saw a girl whose face reflected the clearly bad mood she was in. Should he go over there? Should he?

He ordered a Butterbeer and walked over to her.

"May I?" He gestured at a seat in front of her.

by **Lucian Ciero** Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:09 pm

Valentina looked up and she blinked, her whe attention had been pretty much focused on the profiles and now that there was a new person in front of her she had to regain her focus onto them, she was glad to see it was a student. Like her.

"Please do."

Closing up the profiles she smiled, glad at a distraction from them, looming at beautiful women only served to make her feel ugly and she was feeling at an all time low.

"Pleasure to meet you I'm Valentina Clarke, and you are?"

by Guest Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:00 pm

"Thank you." He smiled and sat down, taking a sip from his Butterbeer and placing his sling bag on the floor.

"I am Darren. Darren Arbalastier. Pleased to make your acquaintance as well. You seem pretty down... Anyway you want to talk about it?" He smiled.

by **Lucian Ciero** Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:00 pm

Valentina smiled softly as the boy introduced himself to her, he seemed nice enough, but you never could be too careful in these days and age so she didn't quite relax just yet.

"Hmmm, down is not the word I would be using to describe me, however, it wouldn't be so bad to have a male influence on what I'm attempting to do."

Hauling up the large pile of portfolio's Valentina passed one to Darren.

"I'm trying to find a new model for my business."

by Guest Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:51 pm

"Uh-huh..." Darren was trying hard NOT to get into her mind, and this would probably result in his delayed response time.

"Oh, you run a business... Modelling business? How cool... Who did you have in mind?" He flipped through the pages gently, rubbing his forehead a little. Fancy running a business at her age. He probably couldn't do it as well as she is getting along.

by **Lucian Ciero** Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:27 am

Valentina grinned softly and she was glad that it was considered a fact to be proud of, she was glad thar she was doing well in terms of managing her fathers business after his death. She didn't think she could do it without Cadbury however.

"No no no, I own Magicorp, the wizarding cosmetics company?"

She knew he would have heard it. Second top business in the world it was quite famous after all.

"Im trying to find a model for our new product. But I can't find one that's right for our image so I have these to go through now."

by Guest Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:38 am

He flipped through the models and when he was done, he closed them and pushed it back to her. Okay. Honestly!? He never heard of them. Time to be honest...

"I'm terribly sorry. No, I have not. I live in a mostly muggle world... In fact, I never knew my mom was a witch until last year because she divorced from my dad."He said apologetically, and bowed his head slightly in apology, his ears reddening in embarassment.

"Well, what image would you be looking for?"

by **Lucian Ciero** Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:45 am

Valentina blinked at the boy. He had never heard of her company? Never. Hmmmm this was strange and she made a scribbled note to increase publicity and to make sure that they burst into the Muggle world, then, it hit her.

It was called something different in the muggle world!

"My apologies, I believe in the muggle world they call it Maybelline. Or something to that effect."

Picking up the folder she had been looking at Valentina pointed to the model with a wry smile on her lips, it was hard to find your exact specification.

"Blonde, needs to be able to pull off both punk and formal evening attire for the advert, and she needs to be over 5'8''!"

by Guest Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:56 am

"OH. Now THAT. I heard." He laughed. Even if you didn't own it, they were enough advertisements for you to know them.

"Okay... I got no taste whatsoever. THEREFORE, you're ALMOST on your own on this... Unless there is someway I can help you..." He sighed, sipping his butterbeer.

"Might as well get a Vocaloid to help you out." He joked.

by **Lucian Ciero** Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:08 am

Valentina was glad that after saying it's muggle name Darren seemed to recognise it, it was something that she was proud of. Her business empire. Now it was actually hers it felt almost empty. She didn't want it if she was going to be alone.

"I'm sure you're not that useless Darren."

Laughing happily Valentina shook her head and spread three portfolios out on the table in front of Darren, her shortlist.

"Pick which one is prettiest out of these three, and I'll put them forward for consideration."

Her brow knitted a little bit and she bit her lip, what was a vocaloid? What on earth did it do? Something to do with voices? Singing? Music? Maybe she didn't know.

"What's a vocaloid?"

by Guest Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:11 pm

"Hopefully not, I guess..." He took the three portfolios and looked at the models. Okay... None of them appealed to him, but he was sure all he had to do was find the most attractive to him.

"This one." She handed the one who was most appropriately dressed back to her, and then closed the other two portfolios, and he held his Butterbeer to his lips and sipped it.

"Well... They're something really popular in Japan and parts of Asia where I was from. They are holographic singers." He smiled.

by **Lucian Ciero** Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:18 pm

Valentina raised one eyebrow as Darren handed her the one that was most conservative, which was good, but for a male surprising, however Market research did show that they wanted more covered up girls so they didn't feel like being known as perverts.

"This one Hmmmn? Good choice! I liked this one too, I'll pass this to the development team, thank you."

Biting her lip she sipped at her butterbeer and she leant her head back against the wall, this was going to be a long day, she had another meeting to go to as well.

"Oh I see, I've never spent an extensive time in Japan so I guess that's why I don't know."

Valentina smiled softly, but then her wrist began to ache with that old familiar pain that she got often, now she had a reason for it, she supposed, but her wrist was bandaged under her suit so nobody could see.

"Are you going to Hogwarts this year?"

by Guest Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:46 pm

He nodded and said in sympathy, "You're running a successful business. Will do you good to have a nice loooong holiday..."

"You're very much welcome." He inclined his head a little.

He could feel the pain in her mind. But what was it?

"Yes, yes I am. Where do you think you'll end up in? I'd like it to be Ravenclaw very much... But oh well... Just being in this school is privilege enough."

by **Lucian Ciero** Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:12 pm

Valentina giggled a little, she couldn't take a holiday, she didn't know what it was like any longer to not have to get up at six and start working at seven, she was always busy and that was something that she loved to be.

"Well, as nice as that sounds it wont be happening any time soon, my dad always said 'Now is time for doing, you can rest when you're dead.'"

Smiling softly, she wondered if her hunch was going to drive the hoping for Ravenclaw boy away from her, it did most people.

"Slytherin. Hopefully."

Valentina smiled slightly wider:

"I wish you luck with getting into Ravenclaw, you obviously think highly of your intelligence."

by Guest Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:40 pm

"Well, but when you're dead, you'll be sleeping for all eternity. The most graceful sleep and deepest sleep in life." Darren said, and pulled out his laptop and was about to turn it on, when he realised with a start, that electrical items do not work here.

"Slytherin eh... It's a person's characteristics that distinct one another. I don't mind what house people are in as long as they are nice enough." He said, drinking his butterbeer.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greater treasure. Sounds familiar?" Darren smiled.

by **Lucian Ciero** Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:16 am

Valentina grinned and chuckled a little shaking her head slightly as she looked at Darren, that was the point, there was no but, that sleep would be the greatest and longest you would ever have, you would at last be at rest.

"That's kind of the point though." she said with a little laugh

Noting the laptop Valentina grinned again:

"I know right? I feel like my right arms been torn off because my phone doesn't work."

Tilting her head to one side Valentina nodded slowly: "Kinda, why?"

by Guest Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:00 pm

"Tell me about it. No vocaloid music for a good time. I'll scream and die." He said in frustration, and placed it back in his bag.

"It is true. Knowledge will change the world. Wit beyond measure is what I hope to achieve." He smiled, and emptied the Butterbeer, and ordering one more.

"So how does it feel running a successful EMPIRE?"

by **Lucian Ciero** Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:25 pm

Valentina raised her eyebrow and laughed quietly, there was no way that she wanted to be around when that happened, although it might have just been an odd figure of speech.

"Please don't scream. People will look over at us."

She joked and stuck her tongue out at him before sipping a little more of her butterbeer with a small sigh, if felt good to get this whole thing out of the way.

"Well, that doesn't sound so bigheaded, so I'll let you off."

Without thinking Valentina answered immediately.

"Empty."

by Guest Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:06 pm

"It was a figure of speech, Valentina." He said, and drank from his bottle of Butterbeer, and closed his eyes a little, listening to the thoughts of others.

When he opened his eyes, he nodded.

"I think I know what you mean. Well what is your definition of empty?" He said.

by **Lucian Ciero** Fri Dec 16, 2011 12:50 am

Valentina bristled a little, of course she knew that it was a figure of speech but she was just playing along with the boy, so maybe she shouldn't do that in future if he was going to be like that with her.

"I am aware of that yes."

She blinked a little bit. This boy was full of questions he had no business asking. And then, she realised, it might be good to talk to someone else about all of this, as she couldn't very well talk to Cadbury about it...he was as distraught as she.

"It's lonely, and it's bare. That's what I mean."

by Guest Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:07 pm

"Sorry, I take things too literally, but I'm trying hard to get rid of this bad habit." He shook his head, and muttered an apology.

"It's the fame barrier right? You meet a boy you like, and you give him your number and wonder why on earth he did not text you. Correct?" He asked, trying to understand how she felt without going through her mind.

by **Lucian Ciero** Fri Dec 16, 2011 7:25 pm

Valentina raised her eyebrows and she shook her head, there was no need to apologise to her for something that was part of his character.

"No no don't worry."

She couldn't help but widen her eyes and laugh long and loud, this was too good, there was no boy in her life that even remotely interested her, after all, she didn't even have time to meet them apart from launches...then they were too old for her.

"That's not it at all Darren, quite missed the mark."

Sighing softly Valentina smiled and said tiredly:

"How do you think I, and 11 year old, come to own one of the largest cosmetic companies?"

by Guest Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:06 pm

"Alright! Alright!" He laughed as well. Looks like he is a thorough idiot when he does not use his gift of reading minds.

"I assume it's too much politics and hard to find someone you can trust now?" He asked, tilting his head a little and drinking his butterbeer.

"Or it could be pressure to perform?"

by **Lucian Ciero** Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:32 pm

As Darren laughed it made Valentina feel a little better about everything and she chuckled a little more weakly now, the memories had begun to flash in her mind making her skin run cold and Valentina bit her lip.

"No that's not it either, and neither is that although both are true."

Valentina smiled weakly and took a big breath before holding her hands out in front of them, using them as she talked.

"In order to have a company such as this, at an age such as this, it needs to be inherited, and one of the ways that happens is if the chairman wills it to you."