Becca's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The invitation glowed on Becca's phone: report to the floating studio in three days. She sat on the loft floor and studied the finalist gallery the magazine had posted. Every model had a hook. One shot her feet in gold chains. One dyed her toenails to match live snakes. Becca scrolled to her own photo. Just pale skin and black polish. Clean, but plain. The others would swallow her whole. "You're panicking," Vivian said. The robot lay across the couch, pink eyes half dim, running on low power to save her cells. "I can hear your breathing change." "They all have a signature," Becca said. "I have feet. Nice feet aren't enough anymore." Vivian sat up. Her joints clicked. "Then we build you one. What's the coldest thing in this room?" Becca looked around. Her cat crossed the floor, black and sleek, tail curled like a question mark. The animal stopped, stared with one green eye, and sat by her ankle. Its silhouette looked sharpened, too still, too deliberate. "Him," Becca said slowly. "He photographs like a shadow with teeth." Vivian's eyes brightened to full pink. "Goth girl. Zero gravity. Black cat floating beside her arch. Nobody else can copy that. The cat's yours." They worked through the night. Vivian rigged the ring light and killed the antigravity plate she'd borrowed from upstairs. Becca floated. Her hair lifted. The cat drifted at her heel, weightless, paws spread, eyes locked on the camera. Becca pointed her toes. The arch curved hard. The cat's dark shape framed her sole like a guard. "Hold," Vivian said. Her sensors flared, capturing frame after frame. "That's the cover. That's the thing they'll remember." Then the loft door opened without a knock. Lilith stepped in. She was another finalist, and she wore almost nothing, red horns catching the light, a tail curling behind her. Becca knew her by reputation. A succubus who left rivals hollow. "Cute," Lilith said. She looked at the floating cat, then the projected shots on the wall. "Cat and arch. Smart." She said it flat, like a fact. "Get out," Becca said. Lilith didn't move. "I came to see what I'm beating." She tilted her head. "You found a look. Good for you." She let a beat pass. "I found one three years ago." She turned and left as quietly as she'd come. The cat hissed at the closed door. Becca stared at the images. Her hands were steady now. She had her signature. The cat, the arch, the float, all hers. But Lilith had seen it. And Lilith wasn't the type to walk away from a thing she wanted. "She'll try to take it," Vivian said. "Let her try," Becca said. She saved the best shot and closed the file. In three days she'd stand in the floating studio and prove the look was hers to keep.