RUSH HOUR ||wriothesley x lumine modern AU

3. Shades of cool

its so strange to publish regularly like wdym people actually live like this

Lumine, being the high profile model she was, got used to flashing lights following her everywhere she went. What she didn't get used to, was how forceful and loud the paparazzi were and still she shivered hearing people yelling after her on the streets.

Every city was the same: from the moment of her arrival Lumine had about thirty hours of anonymity before the public got the wind of her. If her travel plans weren't kept secret, she wouldn't even have that small window of privacy. Her agency obviously knew it and they made sure that at any event from her schedule she went, Lumine had at least one photographer around. Pictures of her made money, so she didn't really blame her management for wanting to maximize the revenue.

However, Nahida's dinner party was a private affair and apart from people invited to it, nobody else should have known it was happening. Not even Lumine's assistant. Yet somehow, as soon as Lumine got out of her Uber, she was surrounded by a hoard of paparazzi.

One had to go through it like through a flu season, avoiding getting caught up and taking all precautions to cover one's mouth.

An instant migraine hit her as she walked across the street, trying go as fast and as gracefully as she could in her six-inches tall heels.

It was astonishing how rumbustious a person desperate for money could be.

Fortunately, as Lumine eventually entered the foyer of the building Nahida lived in, the paparazzi became the doorman's issue. She walked through a silent hall towards the elevator, accompanied only by the sound of her heels tapping against the marble on the floor and by her reflection following her in the gold-framed mirrors hanging on the walls.

Lumine was glad that designers were so quick to assume she would need a fur during her stay in the East and sent her a myriad of different fur coats, hats and such. Now that she was walking through the cold corridor wearing her black mini dress, Lumine was especially grateful for the long black coat she had on.

She entered the lift and chose the button with the number of the last floor. As the door closed and the ride began, there was a short-lived moment of peace and quiet, disturbed only by a humming of the engine. Lumine leaned against the cold metal wall and stared in the eyes of the woman in the mirror across from her. She felt strangely detached from her.

When the lift arrived to the last floor and Lumine knocked on the door, yet another time she fell victim to her friends' obsession with material possessions:

"You look just like a true tsarina!" Nahida greeted her and made Lumine spin around like a tiny ballerina. "And that pearl jewellery!" She clicked her tongue. "Very tasteful. Make sure to wear pearls tomorrow too, I like it. Red lipstick really suits you too. Did you come up with this on your own?" Nahida pointed her chin at the outfit Lumine had on.

"Made by yours truly." The blonde raised a corner of her mouth as she curtsied. "I don't think a tsarina would wear a dress that didn't cover her knees, though."

"Oh, that's irrelevant. If tsarina wants to wear a short dress, she wears a short dress" Nahida smiled and Lumine just rolled her eyes. "It's very good that you take care of your own image. Your management might be good at making profit but they have no sense of fashion."

"Like most people in the industry, to be honest." Lumine shrugged.

Nahida sighed and shook her head.

"Nowadays everyone is making art, clothes, music, paintings, sculptures, books poems and almost all of it is trash" she complained, leading her friend out to the living room, from where the sound of conversations, laughter and music were coming from. "It's really difficult to have a good art investment now, really. Or to be a patron of actual good artists. Imagine how difficult it is to make an interesting dinner guest list!"