two
birds

❧

Owning her own magazine was all Valentina De la Vega had ever dreamed about. As a child, she’d had her own fair share of gossip up her sleeve, constantly using it to exploit her parents or even her older sister Rubi. It was the reason her parents shipped her off to boarding school at such a young age. She was too much to handle. But in this industry, she was the perfect amount to handle. Valentina didn’t often toot her own horn — well, perhaps modesty was never exactly her strong suit — but Vexed was such a success because she was at the helm. Anyone else steering the ship and they might as well sink before they even left the harbor. But Valentina was a true captain. She knew where success lay and she knew how to get it.

But she couldn’t do it alone. Behind every great captain, there was a great crew. And in Valentina’s case, her crew was her Gossips and photographers. Each of them had been hand-selected — or deliberately siphoned from other magazines — because of their attention to detail, ability to collect gossip-worthy information and the sheer fact that they reminded Val just a little bit of herself. She liked Gossips with gusto. She liked them with personality. Without all that, they were useless to her. Her Personal Assistant had been one of the useless ones. A girl that couldn’t keep up with her day-to-day schedule nor answer her messages in a timely manner, Val’s previous PA was a disaster. She couldn’t even remember No Sugar Thursday, which was a staple! Honestly, was it that hard to find good help around the United Kingdom?

So desperate for someone that could handle her assistant workload, she’d wanted to seek the advice of someone who was more experienced in the industry. Naturally, she’d turned to the editor of the second favorite magazine — the first obviously being Vexed. When she’d owled the Editor-in-Chief of HOME magazine, Valentina had expected a polite reply with an answer to her question about where to locate worthwhile employees….not an invitation to lunch. No, Lunch had been Anicka Nott’s idea.

Though Val had been living here for nearly six months, she was still unfamiliar with all the best places to eat. She usually took clients to Chutne Jidlo. It was close to the office and offered a wide selection of food that fit her taste (and the lavish budget that she liked to have for business meetings), so it was the natural choice for this afternoon’s lunch meeting with Lady Nott. Valentina was still getting used to the titles. It wasn’t something that they did in Barcelona, but she wasn’t one to complain. She loved a good showing of power just as much as anyone.

She was the first to arrive, taking a small table that was tucked into the wall of the restaurant, after all, she didn’t particularly want anyone listening in on their conversation in the middle of the room. Within a few minutes, the doors opened once again and a familiar — at least from the pages of a magazine — face appeared. “You must be Anicka. I think I would’ve recognized you even without the help of last month’s cover of HOME,” Val smiled holding out her hand as the woman approached their table. “Valentina De la Vega. It’s wonderful to meet you in person.”

@anicka | Outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","nthgwl"]two birds on a wire

[attr="class","nthgwl2"]one tries to fly away
and the other watches him

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[attr="class","shipoflove"]Anička's Outfit

[attr="class","shipoflove2"]TAG: @ valentina

[attr="class","shipoflove3"]WORDS: 1080

[attr="class","sttngsail1"]

Anička hadn’t been expecting the letter this morning, but when it had come it had seemed like a decent enough thing to do to go and meet with her in person. She had wanted to meet her since she had seen the new magazine that had come out. A gossip magazine was something that she was going to keep her eye on. Especially when she had seen both her daughter, and her niece had been featured in pictures there within. She had seen that, and she had planned on keeping her eye out for a chance to meet the woman. This morning, that opportunity had presented itself. Anička wasn’t going to think that there was any reason to immediately not like the woman for it. Whatever sold was what got printed, she understood the way that the game worked, it was one that she had been playing herself for years now. It was one that she thought that she was going to continue to play. There were things that got put into the pages of the magazines that weren’t necessarily true. Things that weren’t necessarily going to be something that she wanted everyone in the world to know. But she did know that her children, and her niece, were of age, and that they couldn’t stop the pictures like that from surfacing. Especially if her wild child was going to hang around with a rock band. Of all things…

She was really trying not to let that bother her. She was trying to loosen the reigns on all of them just a little bit, and she knew that it was something that she should have done before. But it was still something that she was struggling with. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Malcolm made her calmer. She was more laid back and handled situations a little better when he was around. No one had done anything explosion worthy since the fight that she had had with Constance back in January, and even that had blown over eventually. That particular relationship was probably one of the ones that she was handling the best. It was one that she was doing the most that she could to improve. And she wanted that with each of them. Anička thought that maintaining those good relationships, especially now, with her daughters, was important. She wasn’t around as much now. She was in Nottingham, and she knew that Ella had moved Elliot to Nottingham. She knew that they were all trying to stay together, but they were growing, and they were doing their own things. And she thought that that was good, and normal, and just letting them be normal was different.

Because they weren’t normal. None of them were normal, and yet, they were trying to be. They were doing their very best to fake some normalcy right now. No one was playing princess. No one was pulling that card. And she thought that that was a good thing. That they could just be Ladies. That they could try and be themselves, and not worry about it so much. She was trying not to worry about it. Because Josef had sent his nasty letter. And she had let the enchanted thing yell at her, once she had sound proofed Malcolm’s study so that the kids didn’t have to hear it. No one had had to hear what he had said. No one had had to hear him tell her that he wanted to see her. No one had to worry about the fact that she was very much, not going. She wasn’t going, and she thought that Josef wasn’t really stupid enough to come here. Not after what she had sent back. She had told him that should he come here and try to take what was hers away from her, should he come here, and try and hurt a single hair on any of their heads, she would not hide behind her husband again. She would fight him herself, and last time she checked, she was a lot stronger than he was.

Her marriage had made her strong. It had made her confident in a way that she hadn’t been before. Because she thought that he would back her up. He would be there, to support her saying that she wouldn’t stand for her brother doing anything to hurt them. Anička hadn’t told him that she had made a threat. Not until she needed to. But she would hold up her end of that deal. She would tell him plain as day what she had said to her brother, and what exactly he could do with his attitude. Because she was done with it. She was done taking orders from him, and she was done being scared of him. At least from this far away. Anička would not be loosening the reigns on the girls enough to allow them to go to the Czech Republic. At least not unaccompanied. But she thought that they had other things to worry about right now. The Nott family drama was going to take precedence right now. They had had their wedding, and now she thought she was just waiting for Malcolm to tell her what it was that Lester had decided about Dorian.

She had dropped the kids off with her own mother, just for a couple of hours. She hadn’t wanted to bother Talia when she had had them for an entire week on the island, and Anička knew that she was worried about her own baby. Dorian might have been nearly forty years old, but he was still Talia’s baby. Anička hoped that they could figure out something that wasn’t going to take him away from them. She didn’t want to lose another little brother. She had already lost Dominick in a permanent way. She didn’t want to lose Dorian too. Taking a deep breath Anička switched her clutch to her right hand, and used her dominant one to pull the door in front of her open, and make her way into the restaurant she had agreed to meet Valentina De la Vega in. Smiling her demure, princess, smile Anička extended her hand to take the other woman’s and she nodded once. “It’s nice to meet you too. Thank you.” Slipping into the seat across from her she crossed her ankles and slipped them under her chair. “It’s always a pleasure to meet another female editor. There should be more of us.”

[attr="class","sngakisiggy"]∆

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two
birds

❧

To think that she had followed Santiago here of all places. London was nothing that Valentina had been expecting. Even still, she couldn’t deny that the gossip was particularly palpable. It seemed that the British were perfectly content making a fool of themselves at every chance they got. Barcelona’s gossip scene, while robust, had always been more close-lipped than not. It had always been like pulling teeth to get the good stuff. Here, it seemed that people were ready to volunteer their deepest darkest secrets if it meant that they would gain some notoriety. Gluttons, Valentina thought as she rolled her eyes. Their secrets could ruin them if they weren’t careful. Her sister’s sob story was proof of that.

But still, there were people like Sheryl Crabbe in the world: too excited over her own son’s secret marriage to financial tycoon Sabine Larsen to keep it quiet. And Van Parkinson: too dumb (or perhaps too daft) to hold his own relationship out of the papers by inviting Caterina Shafiq onto the Razzmatazz stage.

Valentina liked that there were other women involved in the publishing industry here. In Barcelona, it had been so saturated with homes that it was almost unbearable (almost, because Valentina did enjoy her fair share of men). Men like those tended to think they knew better than her, which often resulted in an uncomfortable power struggle. It wasn’t until Valentina threatened to expose their affairs and…other hobbies that they would back down and learn their place. The gossip arena was her world. It wasn’t theirs. Anyone else who thought they would be able to dethrone her was living in a delusion. But, Val knew her new friend — if she could call her that in the future — wasn’t like that. Anička Nott recognized the importance of women in their industry. She seemed to know quite a good deal.

Hopefully about getting a competent personal assistant.

Val’s smile only grew at her words. “Plenty more. Though not enough to saturate the market. A little competition is good. Any more than that becomes cutthroat.” She swirled her glass of wine before raising it to the woman now across from her and taking a sip. It was never too early for wine, she thought with a small smile.

“I was so pleased when you suggested lunch. It’s hard to find time to eat on a solid schedule these days,” Val paused, not bothering to lean forward. What she was about to say was more than welcome to be heard by the rest of the world. After all, her idiot of a Personal Assistant probably deserved it. And this woman was not British. Val could tell from the hint of an accent (and everything that she had researched about Anička before reaching out to her. “I’ve been having a horrible time finding someone to keep up with me. Are all British woman…brutes estúpides?”

@ anicka

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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Two

Birds

She had long preferred face to face contact when it came to meeting new people. Valentina De la Vega was a name that Anička had recognized this morning, and she had been more than happy to have Temperance adjust her schedule to make it work. Technically she wasn’t back at work yet, but it was still easier, when scheduling things like lunches, to have her dcera do it. That was why she had an assistant after all. When she went back to school in the fall Anička would have to see if she wanted to continue on working at the magazine, or if she wanted her to find a new assistant. That would be a challenge, she was sure. Temperance knew her moods. She knew when she was going to want this or that. She had been her assistant since she had gotten out of Hogwarts, and five years of experience was enough to have her knowing Anička’s ins and outs when it came to HOME better than most. Kate perhaps, could read Anička’s mood in the office, but she didn’t think that the red head was going to like that comparison.

She was the Lead Staff Writer on the magazine. Anička had given her that promotion when she had left the Ministry. She had known that she was going to have to step back from the magazine for a few months after having the twins, and she trusted that Kate could handle it. They had reported to her. She was Anička’s first line of defense when it came to what was actually going to make it into the magazine. But she knew that as far as the publications in England went, right now they were headed by mainly women. They were strong, and they were smart, and she thought that that was something that they could be proud of. That this was an industry that men were notoriously dominant in around the world, and here they were, leading it. She knew that it was something that they had all worked for, but for the most part, there were women editors that knew what they were doing. Small enough companies that they were still hands on.

Anička was hands on with HOME. She approved every draft herself. The book went through her before it made it to publishing. And she favored red ink when it came to correcting anything that she didn’t like. She would correct it no matter who wrote it. She didn’t play favorites. She had thrown out her own work before if it didn’t match with the tone of an issue. There was a flow to all of it that she was going to have to try and put together. Perhaps her magazine didn’t focus on the same things that Valentina’s did, but Anička thought that that was for the best. She would never have been good at being a gossip columnist. The closest thing that HOME had was their society pages, and even that wasn’t something that they were overly gossipy about. They talked about the things that happened in overview. They didn’t speculate. And Anička had a habit of. Protecting her own.

“You can say that again. I don’t think I’ve had a moment to really sit down in the middle of the day since we got back.” They had only returned from their honeymoon last week, and she was so glad to be home. The island was nice, and they would go back. She had purchased it, after all. But she thought that a week without her babies was too long. She had missed all three of them. And she knew that they were safe, but it was nice to all be back under one roof. Anička lifted her water glass to her lips to suppress a smile before she shook her head, “No todo.” She knew that the woman was from Spain, she had looked that much into her before she had come to lunch, “Pero hay suficiente.” The petite witch placed her glass back on the table and ran her finger along the lip. “Personal Assistants have to be shaped and taught. I’ve had more than a few miserable ones over the years.”

@ valentina - 701 - anička's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRPHY 2.0

[attr="class","reasonvalentina"]

[attr="class","reasonbgvalentina"]

[attr="class","reasonbigvalentina"]

two birds

[attr="class","reasonsmallvalentina"]Two birds on a wire One tries to fly away And the other watches him close from that wire He says he wants to as well But he is a liar

[attr="class","reasonbodvalentina"]Val didn’t feel that she needed to worry about Anicka. After all, their magazines were so different in nature, there was hardly even competition. HOME catered to the modern woman – the prim and proper. It was delightful, to be sure. But it was the sort of thing that Valentina herself would want to read. Vexed, on the other hand, was about tapping into the other women’s psyches. Everyone wanted to read about celebrities. They wanted to be spoon-fed lies and drama because they didn’t have it themselves. Val’s magazine was for the married woman who longed to be out of her marriage but couldn’t leave. Her magazine was for the teenagers that were fawning over Van Parkinson. Vexed was for the average woman.

But the way Valentina saw it, there were far more average women in the world then there were rich, modern women. But, to each their own, she thought with a small smile. The point was, they catered to different audiences, so she saw no reason that they shouldn’t work together to find her an Assistant. Or anything else that might come up in the future. Perhaps they could establish a rapport and count on one another in case of something coming up.

That was the dream, wasn’t it? Of course, it hadn’t been the reason that Val had started Vexed, but having a dossier of Lady Editors to call on should she ever need something was quite tempting.

She would get along with Anicka – she could tell from the way the woman wrote her letter. Perhaps they would become friends down the line, but for now, she would settle for an alliance. HOME and Vexed – together. At least, the Editors working together.

“You’ve just married, haven’t you?” Val said, raising her eyebrows. Things didn’t escape her – especially not things like that. From what she remembered, Anicka had married a Nott, but she couldn’t remember his name. Perhaps it was better if she didn’t go spouting all of her information about her personal life. She didn’t want to come across as a stalker, but that was her job. “Congratulations.”

Marriage wasn’t her favorite topic. After all, her’s had turned out so swimmingly, hadn’t it? She was divorced, chasing after a man that quite literally wanted nothing to do with her. Santiago had his own life here in London, so Val had made her own, too. Unfortunately, he’d been avoiding her in whole since she’d arrived.

Still, Val smiled. He would come around – eventually. After all, he couldn’t avoid her forever and he would soon realize what he was missing. “Grooming?” Val sighed heavily, before picking up her glass. “Hadn’t thought of that.” In truth, she wanted a ready-made model. She didn’t want to have to groom someone to her liking. But, if that was the only way that she would get what she wanted, Valentina supposed she had no choice.

“Would you suggest picking her up from the pool? Or going off book? Where do you find the most luck?” She trusted this woman’s opinion and if it meant that she would eventually have an assistant that she could trust, then Val would do just about anything.

[attr="class","reasontagvalentina"]@ lady editor | 529 | OUTFIT

[attr="class","credvalentina"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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two birds on a wire

ONE TRIES TO FLY AWAY

AND THE OTHER WATCHES HIM CLOSE

Anička thought that there were plenty of reasons to meet Valentina De la Vega for lunch. She thought that most of them came from the fact that while she didn’t particularly like a good deal of the editors in England, she did want to know them. She did like to see them and know what it was that they were doing. She didn’t think that there was any reason to dismiss Valentina yet.

Of course, she wasn’t looking to make a new best friend. She had already done that once this year. And she thought that Arista would have been offended if she decided to replace her with this woman. But Anička could see the appeal of getting to know her. She was another female owner/editor that had moved to England. And she thought that being foreign was a bonding point with anyone in their position. They were in a position where it took a lot to run a publication, in a language that was not their own.

Anička’s English was perfect, after all. She knew a good deal of languages. Something that she had made sure of after she had come to England knowing only those that they didn’t speak here. It was French that she had used to get by for a while, and then her English had improved. But there were plenty of others that she knew. Anička could find a common language with just about anyone that was a European native. And she thought that that was a mark of her station.

It was something that she had passed on to Ella as well. Her eldest had a good grasp of a great many languages, and it was for the same reason. If there were ever a time when they found themselves in a position that was far different to the ones that they were occupying now, they would not be lost in conversation with foreign dignitaries. Anička didn’t like not knowing what someone was saying, and she had felt like she was learning in a bubble when she had first gotten here. Her English had improved enough over the summer that she could follow along for the first semester of University. But she figured it out after that.

Picking up the basics of a language was not hard for her. The woman in front of her was from Spain, and the change in languages was not anything that Anička couldn’t handle. She didn’t think that they needed to switch back and forth when they both had a decent enough grasp of this one. But she would roll with whatever it was that came out of the other witch’s mouth. She didn’t think that she was going to get lost really. And that was all that mattered.

“I have. Thank you.” She knew that her personal life had been in the papers. She was a foreign princess. She had married a Lord. There was no shortage of people that had wanted to talk about that for a couple of days. But mercifully they had missed them. They had been in Africa, and she had managed to keep the kids there, and out of the press too. For being in the business that she was in, Anička preferred not to have her own name in the papers as much as possible. She had been on the cover of her own magazine a couple of weeks ago, and that was enough press for a couple of years if she had any say about it.

She chuckled a little bit and shook her head, “My daughter is my assistant, and so far, she’s been the best one. Even if she could still use some work.” It had been five years, and Anička thought that that was probably the longest that she would keep an assistant in her entire life, but she didn’t have the heart to fire her daughter. “When I have to choose again, I’ll choose off book. The ones that come out of the pool can’t think fast enough. Most of them are highly skilled in two things. Typing, and gossip. Neither of which I need.” She picked up her water glass and took a sip before she continued. “I think I prefer an assistant I can mold from the start. Someone that’s never done the job before. Start from the bottom, build what you want. Then they don’t know any different when you send them on horrible assignments.”

@ lady editor • 742 • anička's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[attr="class","reasonvalentina"]

[attr="class","reasonbgvalentina"]

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two birds

[attr="class","reasonsmallvalentina"]Two birds on a wire One tries to fly away And the other watches him close from that wire He says he wants to as well But he is a liar

[attr="class","reasonbodvalentina"]Their marriage would be happy. At least, that was the story that Valentina could tell from the pictures of the event that she had managed to get her hands on. Usually, she was good about reading body language and predicting the outcome. Though, Val wondered if she could have seen her divorce coming from a mile away if she had been able to remove herself from the situation. Still, things would work out. She had faith that they would. And faith could carry her a long way.

Hearing the other editor’s words, Valentina paused. She’d not thought about using her own daughters as her assistants. Of course, Luna was still a bit young for the post. And Graciela was more content with seeking out the gossip then she was with sitting in an office for the entirety of the day. It would be difficult to pin down her eldest and entrust her to be her assistant. Though, if anyone knew about what Valentina needed most and when, it was her daughters. At least they would remember about No Sugar Thursday. “I have two daughters myself, though neither of them seems particularly ready to take over my PA position. You're lucky,” Maybe she would need to start grooming Luna to join her at Vexed. After all, her younger daughter had always had good potential. It would be a way for her to learn, wouldn’t it? Perhaps even an internship?

Now that she really mulled the idea over, she doubted Luna would be interested. Her daughter was young — she wasn’t sure what she had in store for her future. Perhaps she ought to ask…that would be the motherly thing to do. After all, wasn’t Val’s infidelity the causation of their arrival in London? She could at least reach out to Luna and check on her.

But the magazine — there was so much to do before they went to print next week. Maybe she could just have her new PA — whenever she hired her — send her daughter a letter and some chocolates or something.

“PA’s that gossip, that’s novel,” Valentina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. That had been the trouble with too many of her prospects, too. They thought they wanted to be reporters…that they eventually wanted to join her band of Gossips. When, in truth, all Valentina wanted was a professional. Someone that could keep up with her — someone that wasn’t too shy to interrupt her for her morning smoothie at 7:45 AM, sharp. Were they really that hard to find?

“Oh,” Val leaned forward, suddenly very interested. She hadn’t thought of that. Draw in someone from the beginning and they would be yours to mold. Of course, there would be a transitional period…teaching them wouldn’t be an overnight affair, but taught once, they would grasp the concept and never forget. Because it was the only way they’d ever known. “Now that’s something I could get behind. If only I could find a PA to train my new PA. Unfortunately, none of them have stuck around long enough to grasp any of my habits.”

She was complaining for the sake of complaining, but for the first time since she’d arrived in London, Valentina actually felt like someone could understand her. She actually felt like she might have a friend. A strange word to even think, given Val’s reputation, but there was hardly another synonym that seemed suitable. “You’re a plethora of knowledge, Lady Nott,” Val said, picking up her glass and clinking it against her companion’s. “I’ll have to farm a new PA from the fresh out of school stock. But in the meantime, anything you can tell me about the London market?” She was curious if there were changes she could make to Vexed to make it even more successful.

[attr="class","reasontagvalentina"]@ ew, val said friend | 636 | OUTFIT

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TWO BIRDS ON A WIRE

ONE TRIES TO FLY AWAY

AND THE OTHER WATCHES HIM CLOSE

Everything that had happened in her life had led her here, and Anička knew that changing even one thing, could have meant changing everything. It could have meant that she never would have taken that meeting. That Andrew might have been alive. And Malcolm would never have crossed that line. He never would have touched her if she would have still been married. If she had still been Anička Mountbatten she would have been off limits, and everyone knew that. Everyone knew who she was, and she thought that she had been surprised by the kiss. It was the only time that anyone had ever done that.

Her entire life had been proper, at least, publicly. What went on behind closed doors was entirely different, but Anička thought that everything that happened meant that she was stronger now. Everything that had happened had changed her in some way. Made her into who she was now. But she had always been a princess, and no one had ever done something like that. No one had ever pushed her up against the wall and kissed her, just because they wanted to. And then he had left. He had kissed her like that, and he had left, and… Well, and now they were married. And they had kids. And she had a real fairytale.

For the first time in her life she thought that she was truly happy in her marriage. And she knew that she had always been happy in other ways. She had been happy as a mother. She had been happy at the magazine. But to be happy in her marriage was new. And while she thought that the newness would wear off eventually, she rather liked the newlywed feel this time around. There was something different about it now that she was Lady Nott. It was a name that would be sticking. At least, until things changed, but even then, if it came to that, the name that she would take to the throne, would carry his too. She would take his name to the throne with her. Queen Anička would have to be Queen Anička Wentzell-Nott.

Ella had done that, Anička had seen her daughter legally change her name when she had been old enough to, and she had been proud of that. Eleánora Mountbatten-Wentzell had been the name on her daughter’s marriage certificate last year. Still, Ella was not the daughter that they were discussing. They were, in a way, talking about Temperance, and Anička thought that, after five years, it might be time for her daughter to do something else. To go to school full time, or to decide to apprentice with a Herbologist. Her step-grandmother could probably help point her in the right direction with that.

“I am.” She nodded as she watched Valentina mull over what she had said. The shaping them from the start thing had been a decision that she was making the more time she spent with Remington Steele. The intern was smart, and Anička thought that she would rather like to keep her on when she finished Hogwarts next spring. “I do try to be. Years of experience I’m afraid.” She had been doing this for ten years now, running HOME anyway. Before that Andrew had insisted that she was home. But when they had been down a couple of kids in the house all the time, and they had needed to look like they were doing something so that Otec would leave them alone, HOME had come into existence.

Anička had kept herself busy with it, and it had given Otec pause every now and then, about calling her home. “Just keep your fingers off of Miss Steele. She’s mine.” Of course, she didn’t know if Remington even wanted the position, but Anička had every intention of asking her if she did, “The market is competitive though, that’s for sure.” She took another sip of her water before she moved her arms back to her lap as she focused on the other woman. “There are a number of magazines that come and go, but to get in with the crowd you want, your best bet is to get in with the execs that control the flow to newsstands. I’ll have Tempe get you their names, if you can get one to take you seriously, you’ll have a finger on the pulse point, and it’s easier to read what it is that they are looking for to pull in overall consumer numbers. They change their minds faster than models sometimes.”

@ are we friends? • 760 • anička's outfit

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