Greetings to all who follow this blog.
I apologize for my absence these past few months. Life is busier than ever, preventing me from posting anything for a while. But, I assure you that I am always working on something relevant to this muse that forever fuels my imagination. Most recently I have been firming up the image of my latest character; Maxy Coates. I spent a bit of time developing a proper title page for her prologue https://lctdadrms.blogspot.com/p/the-cameo-of-aveline.html to replace the initial photoshop sketch I posted there.
This is closer to my vision of what Maxy Coates looks like.
I also commissioned artist Carlos Rodriguez to produce an illustration of Maxy. His original work can be seen at https://www.deviantart.com/crcarlosrodriguez/art/Maxy-Coates-791020878 I altered the image slightly to fit my concept of her as seen below.
She is the leading lady in "The Star of Ascania"
https://lctdadrms.blogspot.com/p/the-star-of-ascania-by-cuirbouilli-what.html and I do intend to write much more about her. Unfortunately, her story will unfold slowly over months and years as my free time is very limited, but my intention to create and share this embodiment of the lady in the leather coat shall abide, and hopefully be realized to a full extent someday.
https://lctdadrms.blogspot.com/p/the-star-of-ascania-by-cuirbouilli-what.html and I do intend to write much more about her. Unfortunately, her story will unfold slowly over months and years as my free time is very limited, but my intention to create and share this embodiment of the lady in the leather coat shall abide, and hopefully be realized to a full extent someday.
For now I share this brief excerpt of just one short story idea I have featuring Maxy that corresponds to the illustration above. A handsome French curator from the Louvre is waiting to introduce an American woman to Ms. Coates:
“Ah!
There she is now!” Jacques announced suddenly, smoke smoldering from his
nostrils.
He
inhaled again deeply, anxiously finishing off his cigarette and mashed the butt
on the ground beneath his foot.
Nancy
gazed obliviously in the same direction he was staring across the street.
She had no idea what the woman they were waiting for looked like, although she
pictured the name Maxine Coates belonging to a dowdy sixty-five year old woman
with glasses and stringy gray hair who volunteered as a docent at art
museums. She searched for a woman of this description among the
pedestrians on the opposite sidewalk and quickly picked out a middle-aged woman
who was conspicuously a tourist in a floral print windbreaker, blue jeans, and
gym shoes; sporting a red beret atop her gray perm.
“The lady
in the beret?” Nancy asked.
“No, no,”
Jacques chortled, shaking his head and grinning at the suggestion.
“The
beautiful brunette in the hat and leather coat.”
His
description did not seem terribly helpful to Nancy as she looked beyond the
lady in the beret. After all, there was hardly anything but
beautiful women in Paris. Countless would-be models flocked to the city
hoping to get noticed by a designer label. Willowy, fresh-faced girls
dressed in the latest trends strutted their stuff along every street
corner. Even the local French women going about their daily business
struck Nancy as generally being more attractive and better dressed than
American women. Picking out the “beautiful” one was not necessarily going
to be obvious.
Furthermore,
leather fashion was at the height of its popularity. Many people around
them were clad in black leather of some sort, including Jacques himself.
Men wore bomber jackets and car coats. Women
were wrapped in an endless variety of leather blazers, jackets, and trench
coats, accessorized with leather pants and leather skirts. She had seen
at least half a dozen ladies in full length leather coats pass by just that
evening alone.
Then Nancy
spotted her. And there was no further question who Jacques was talking
about.
Indeed,
Maxine Coates would truly be difficult to miss in any crowd. She was a
striking woman of statuesque build and glamorous silhouette in a big black hat
and long black leather coat. She paused at the edge of the sidewalk as a
motorcycle buzzed by before stepping off the curb to cross the
street.
Nancy
meticulously scrutinized every visible detail about her. One thing was
certain: she could not have been more wrong about Maxine Coates’
appearance. There was nothing remotely aged or frumpy about the stunning
lady walking toward them.
Her posh
hat was made of wool felt with a black leather band and an elegantly curved
brim that flared the width of her shoulders. Her oval face was framed by
voluminous waves of chocolate brown hair that cascaded to the middle of her
back. Her porcelain complexion was
radiant and her features exquisite with finely arched brows, dark sultry eyes,
and full red lips. She regarded her surroundings with an aspect of serene
sophistication.
Her sleek
black leather coat was semi-fitted with princess seams and flowed to her
ankles, flattering her slender figure as perfectly as a ballgown. It had
a notched collar that was popped confidently about her graceful neck with a
crisp white shirt spilling from the lapels at her throat. Five polished horn buttons sealed the coat
along a single-breasted placket from her perky bustline to her glossy leather-gloved
fingertips. A belt was knotted at her narrow waist between the second and
third buttons, gathering supple ripples around her hourglass torso. A sweeping hem of liquid-smooth leather
billowed open in front to reveal her long legs encased in tall, shiny black
leather boots.
She sashayed
with a long, self-assured stride; hair bouncing, back straight, and curvaceous
hips swaying with natural feminine allure. The leather soles of her high
heeled boots clicked nimbly on cobblestones that were still slick with a wet
blue sheen from the afternoon rain. Her right arm swung with carefree
poise, carrying a folded red cane umbrella like a baton. Her left hand caught the strap of a black
leather satchel purse on her shoulder with a carnelian gemstone ring glimmering
on the outside of her glove.
In a city
teeming with lissome beauties Ms. Coates was easily the most gorgeous woman
Nancy had seen yet. At a glance she might have easily been mistaken for
Eugenia Silva doing a photoshoot for Vogue. Her svelte,
leather-enclosed form gleamed from head-to-toe with a resplendent golden luster
in the rays of the setting sun. “Venus” by Bananarama played on a stereo
speaker nearby as if on cue, for indeed she was a “goddess on the mountain
top”.
A glass
shattered on the sidewalk as a waiter at the brasserie absently tipped his tray
while gaping at her.
Jacques
stepped forward.
“Bonsoir
chéri,” he crooned, spreading his arms.
Ms.
Coates’ expression brightened as she met his burning gaze with glittering eyes
and her red lips parted in a dazzling smile that would make any red-blooded man
weak in the knees.
“Bonsoir
Jacques!” she replied vivaciously.
She
bounded up to him and they embraced, exchanging an affectionate kiss on each
cheek.
Please go on writing your stories! I would love to see more scenes about her squeaky leather garments and her coat getting splashed by rain and snow while keeping her secured.
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