Most of the clients Jade started with as a new free agent were small potatoes, struggling B-listers and minor celebs looking to retool their image a bit in the face of the new social change, needing the kind of work that Jade could do in her sleep. It was reliable and safe and ensured she wouldn't go hungry at least, but Jade needed something more then that, something that would get her into the big leagues. Jade's instincts told her that Banshee would be the right way to go.
"It's actually Greenhouse now."
Jennifer blinked in confusion. "But you were Banshee when I last-"
"Right, that show," the tall, thin woman with a dyed-purple undercut hairdo down to her shoulders said with a laugh. "Sorry for the confusion, come on in."
Collecting herself, Jennifer followed the woman into the apartment flat, already hearing the distant rhythms of synthesizers and the steady pulse of a bass riff. The room was quite spacious, more then enough for four friends living together, and surprisingly modest for a successful band like this one. "I don't think we met in person before, you were the drummer, right?" Jennifer asked.
"Yeah, name's Aster," the purple-haired woman said, twirling a drumstick in one hand. "Almost didn't recognize you at first, you're carrying those extra pounds nicely."
"I...well, thank you," Jennifer said, a little flustered at the compliment. Surprised too, considering that Banshee, or Greenhouse apparently, didn't seem the type of band to bow to cultural norms. It would certainly explain why Aster looked as thin as ever.
"Alright can it girls, our agent's here!" Aster suddenly shouted into the next room, the synth and bass dying down as they walked inside what appeared to be a makeshift recording studio. Jennifer recognized the pink pigtails of Carnation straight away, the flighty band leader perched on an amplifier bobbing back and forth to some beat in her head, not even noticing her surroundings it seemed.
"Oh no, and Carrie's in creative mode too," a small, slight girl hiding behind a synth keyboard moaned, clad in a head-shielding hoodie with flecks of blue hair poking out from under the hood.
"It's fine, we can explain the concept to her," the bass player said setting aside her instrument, stretching out her rather muscular arms to tie her bright yellow hair back in a ponytail, stepping forward to show she was at least head taller then every girl here. "I'm Primrose, by the way. That's Delphi behind the keys." The girl behind the keyboard let out a soft squeak that may have been a very quiet 'hello'.
"Pleasure to meet you all," Jade said, casting a glance at Carnation before sitting down and pulling out her laptop. "So, you are all needing my services to best adapt to the new social trends?" Badly too, Jade noted. All four girls were rather reedy besides Primrose who was built like a bodybuilder.
"Something like that," Aster said. "We're thinking of something like an ARG to promote our next musical project, and respond to this new Big is Beautiful trend or whatever it's called."
"Something piggybacking off our last album, Garden of Sound," Primrose said, pulling up a chair and sitting backwards in it. "We had a minor hit a few years back and a small bump of fame, Carnation came back from that with a whole concept album about a fictional band that deals with the same sort of thing, only the band members are all mutant plant people. Lots of commentary on the human condition and society from the perspective of outsiders and all that."
"...I see," Jennifer remarked.
"It really took off though and we were hoping to start touring under the new band name to promote the new stuff and build up to the next album, and then this whole Fat Fad hit," Aster continued. "We of course wanted to incorporate that into our next album, and that's when Carnation hit upon something."
"Our fictional characters go all in on the fad," Primrose finished. "We go on tour, and the entire team we get fatter."
Jennifer looked up from the notes she was taking. "Won't that make it...difficult for you to tour like you usually do?"
"That's the point of it," Aster said with a grin. "Our fictional characters keep trying to tour as we get bigger, and then at the end we release our next album talking about our experiences becoming a one-ton band."
"One ton?"
"Five hundred or more each," Delphi piped in. "We're uh, learning new ways to play our instruments and stuff, when we get really...chunky..." She hid behind her keyboard again as Jennifer gave the other two girls a look, both of whom seemed enthusiastic about the process. Her feelings were mixed naturally; even in a new world where gaining was good, five hundred pounds seemed excessive. Still, it was a bold idea, and Jennifer liked bold ideas. Maybe, just maybe, something like this could be the break she needed.
"Alright then..." Jennifer concluded, pulling out some contracts to sign. "I think we can make this work, girls."
"Righteous," Carnation suddenly declared from the corner, startling Jennifer.
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