JULIENNE ❛ JULES ❜ JOY MONTGOMERY. ❛ listen to the wind B L O W
watch the sun 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄
RUNNING in the shadows
( damn your 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒, damn your 𝔩𝔦𝔢𝔰 )
and if you don't love me NOW
you will never love me again. ❜ songwriter, owner & producer at lady zeus studios.
ABOUT ✦ CONNECTIONS ✦ STATISTICS ✦ FULL NAVIGATION
Not everyone can say they’ve been to the Big Apple, but [JULES MONTGOMERY], a [30] year-old [CIS FEMALE] has lived in [UPPER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN] for [TWENTY-FIVE YEARS]. This is the city of dreams and [SHE] knows it, because they came to NYC to be a [SONGWRITER / PRODUCER]. Well, that and as a [BEST FRIEND] to [CLAIRE MACKEN]. Living in the city means they meet all kinds of people, but everyone always seems to think they look like [ELIZABETH OLSEN]. They even got away with free cab fare once because of it!
general.
full name: julienne jules joy montgomery.
gender & pronouns: cis female, she/her/hers.
age: thirty.
birthday: september 28, 1991
zodiac: libra.
birthplace: hollywood hills, california.
occupation: songwriter, producer and owner at lady zeus studios ( greenwich village, nyc ).
residence: upper east side, manhattan, new york.
sexuality: bisexual biromantic.
relationship status: single, no children.
quick breakdown.
family history : born to a single mother, the product of a fling between a rising starlet and her costar she constantly found herself linked to in the media ( rumors are : true ) jules was very much kept like a secret. her mother remarried very early in her childhood to a media mogul, the only father that jules ever truly knew growing up. jules always felt a closer attachment to her mother, from the way they chose to express themselves to mannerisms to hobbies, and jules found it rather labyrinthine trying to connect with her separate from her step-father’s influence. the arms wrapping her up into a hug became that of a nanny’s. she began staying home more while her mother got to leave. memories captured by photographs or tucked into jules’s memory cast her mother as a background character, and later, a footnote. her step-father did his best to win jules over with extended invitations to otherwise child-free galas, free vip tickets to all the concerts and premieres she ever could have wanted, but her love was not easily bought. after memoirs and tv specials that jules always frowned upon being apart of once in her adolescence, jules found herself disillusioned by the persona of family her parents had crafted for them, which never translated over into reality. she connected with her birth father in her twenties after he reached out with a suspicion, resulting in distancing herself from her mother & step-father.
career : songwriting was not the first thing jules turned to as a career option. first it was the hopes of being an actress — which lasted a grand total of two law and order: svu episodes and a cult film that she regrets every single day that she is alive — and then it was a screenwriter, then a marine biologist, then a computer engineer. jules went to columbia in new york at age 18 for a degree in literature and very quickly found herself warming towards the idea of songwriting after poring through journals she’d kept as a child / teenager. she took advantage of her parents’ names and status to begin networking, collaborating and creating music with others. she wrote and recorded demos and sold them to other artists, never wanting to take a step in the direction of a spotlight. to her, the magic was in being a wordsmith, not a performer. occasionally, features arose or demos leaked, but for the most part, jules finds her satisfaction — and success — in writing / producing. she purchased and started lady zeus studios in 2018 as a birthday present to herself and began renting space and / or her services out to other musicians.
personality : far from quiet or reticent, jules is a loud splash of color on a monochrome palette. behind an affable personality she is steely and diligent in her work, open to growth but often struggling to part with the opinions she holds at her core. she is moody and capricious, not unlike her to chop herself a set of bangs in a bathroom sink at a club or randomly move to california for six months for a relationship. she does not fear much, aside from a loneliness she’s carried around inside of her since she was born and fostered by her mom and step-father. she detaches with a bone-chilling coldness before she chooses to scream and start a fight. she is the friend you want with a bottle of wine at 3am, sitting on your couch to give you a hug, the kind of partner in a workspace who will bring out the best in you, the enemy who often forgets of your existence until you start stoking the fire.
“You mean, it’s even better than drinking hot chocolate and alcohol combined? I very, very highly doubt it.” Nate argued, a grin remaining on his face. He wasn’t all that good at such conversations; his high school diploma really wasn’t there, and all he had was life experience- which wasn’t all that much either. Still, it was easier to talk to Jules. He could always count on her, her words were always ones he knew he could rely on, and he knew that she wouldn’t poke fun of him. She was like family he had left behind, and he was forever grateful for it. “And I keep telling you, you really don’t have to do that! It’s not fair. And not just cause then I have to match it and do that even better when it comes to you.” His smile remained, for another brief moment before it finally disappeared, masked behind another sip of his drink that he took. “No! No! It’s the most wonderful time of the year, you’re not bringing in January blues way too early!” He quickly shook his head, his smile- maybe a bit strained this time- returning back to his face. Jules meant well, there was no doubt there, but there was doubt in Nate’s mind, getting more and more frequent. “I’m like five minutes away from getting a sugar high, I’m pretty sure that’s all I can manage for the day. And you?”
“Oh, I didn’t even realize we were throwing liquor into our conversation. For fuck’s sake, spiked hot chocolate will always be superior. Toss in a little peppermint schnapps and it’s divine. ‘Tis the drink of the season,” she proclaimed gladly, slinging her spare arm around his shoulders and tucking him into her side. The gesture had double intent, camaraderie and self-preservation bundled into one: even with New York in her blood, the cold seemed to continue phasing her the longer she stayed in the city, so none better than a dear friend — someone like Nate — to pull close and leach the body heat of. “Time’s a joke! It’ll be March before we know it. Besides, if the January blues hit too hard, I’ll do a little dance, splash a little vodka on it, and we’ll be in February in no time. Gotta have some faith in me, Nathaniel.” She watched him through quick glances spared his way, the shift in his disposition hardly noticeable to the naked eye but noticeable to her, the very person who always had an eye trained on him just to ensure he was okay. It was what she did. She looked out for him the same way she would a sibling, the same way she would family. “Sugar high might be on the agenda for me, but honestly, if I can manage to just not turning into a Jules-sicle, I think I can write this all off as a success.”
Lily was tired. She was so tired, in fact, that it made the coffee she had just ordered her only life line. Scrolling through her instagram feed she waited for the sound of her name to leave the baristas mouth. After what seemed an eternity her coffee was finally done. “Ugh, finally.” she muttered under her breath as she looked up from her phone. Though, the site she was left with was an unsettled one at best. There was another person taking the coffee with the name lily sprawled on it along with the only other coffee. “Honey,” The redhead began in an ice cold tone. “Let me explain something to you. The minimum you could do if you are going to take my coffee is leave me the other.” She reached out her hand expecting for the other to return the coffee.
It was anyone’s mistake, especially if you were Jules: running on two hours of sleep, in between meetings with new musicians and label honchos who hardly knew their asses from a crack in the concrete. Of course, her mistake had to be called out by Lily, the very person who was the antithesis of a balm for the headache she was currently nursing. She had her moments, but this seemed to be far from one of those. “Kindness, Lily,” Jules pointed out, weariness seeping into her tone. “It’s a virtue. You’ve got it somewhere in you, I know it — let it see the light of day every once in awhile?” She sighed, extending the coffee over to her. “Sorry ‘bout that. Head’s not screwed on right today. You working today?”
roxelana had been so engrossed in the work she was getting through at her local starbucks that she hadn’t realised just how much the place had been filled up around her. her productivity had been at all time high since leaving her office space, the hubbub of the cafe around her giving her just what she needed to get through the long list of demands this client had left her to deal with. hazel eyes lifted for a moment, startled somewhat at just how busy it was around her. “did you want to take a seat?” she asked, her hand pointing to the empty seat at her table. “i can take up less room if you need the space, i have a tendency to spread out when i’m on a roll.” she chuckled, pulling her belongings closer to her.
To approach an already occupied table felt out of pocket for Jules — usually, she’d take her coffee to go in a cafe this bustling, but she needed out of her own four walls in order to stave off the feelings of impending loss of sanity. That, and she hadn’t thought about the tiny danish on a ceramic plate she’d ordered. It wasn’t too far beneath her to stand by the door and eat it over the trash can, but the lack of standing room prevented it. Jules offered her a soft smile, shuffling towards the empty chair. “You’re a lifesaver,” she admitted, setting the plate down on the table. “Feel free to take up all the room you’d like; as someone who’s stuff also comes with a ten foot circumference around her, I’m not bothered by it at all. Seems like you’re way busier than I am.” Jules’s observation came with the quick glance at her things. “What’s got you this swamped?”
“Maybe, but I’m not getting into a philosophical discussion over hot chocolate right now.” And yet, Nate smiled before taking another sip of his hot chocolate. This was absolutely amazing- then again, maybe he really was overselling it, but Nate didn’t care all that much. “Don’t make promises I will bug you about for the rest of the year.” He threatened playfully. Then again, something gourment most likely meant that Nate would have to spend extra money to match her present, and, really this time of the year was just stressful. As great as tipping was, he really had to prepare for the next to months, when people were particularly frugal. Then again, Jules was worth it. “Thank you! And no, don’t say that! Or I’m going to spend countless sleepless nights, thinking I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
“Aw, c’mon,” Jules ribbed. “What better time for philosophical conversations about hot chocolate than while drinking hot chocolate? Seems a little too fitting if you ask me.” She enjoyed watching the light enter other people’s eyes as she poked and prodded them towards a reaction — a benevolent one, usually, it further stoking her own amusement. Nate was a perfect example of this, the perfect person to go to with all of her whimsy and eclectic conversations that could be had with no one else. “Hey,” she insisted, lifting her free hand lifting in mock arrest. “You know me. Gotta go above and beyond for you.” She meant it, too, unable to conjure a list longer than the number of fingers on her hands of people she’d devote her time to procuring the perfect present for. “Ah, isn’t that life? Thinking we’ve done good only to question every decision we’ve ever made? Judging by your moves back there, I’d say it’s not too late to change paths. Or pick up a side hustle. Who says you can’t do it all?” She coupled her own question with a laugh, her elbow nudging his. “Got any other plans for Winterfest now that you’ve taken home the gold?”
open event starter
location: winterfest - Cafe Lalo Decadent Hot Chocolate and Coffee Station
“It’s been so long since I’ve had it!” And Nate sounded genuinely excited as he took a sip out of his cup. He was already freezing, having had just come out of the ice skating competition, and so far, he was really having fun. After all, so far, this had to be the best Christmas he’s had since he had moved to NYC eight years ago, and he was going to make it out. “Have you tried it already?” He turned to the person next to him, his enthusiam not going away. “I might be biased, but it’s worth every penny!”
“You do know hot chocolate exists beyond here and this moment,” Jules teased him, retrieving her own cup from the working barista. Both hands interlocked around it, allowing the warmth to seep through her gloves and warm her fingertips to a point of discomfort — in this weather, she welcomed it, especially if it meant a reminder that her extremities were still in tact underneath her gloves. She carried on, gently blowing through the opening in the lid. “Next year for Christmas, I’m getting you gourmet cocoa mix so you never have to do without.” Despite the ragging she incessantly gave him, it was nice to have his company. “By the way, nice job in the skating competition. I think you might have missed your calling in life.” The corners of her mouth fought back the rigid temperatures as they curled up into an ever-growing smile.
CUSTOM MADE FOR: @carlottaahlqvist
LOCATION: UNDISCLOSED COFFEE SHOP, MANHATTAN.
The holidays are on the mend, and Jules is tired. She pays exhaustion to occupy the spaces in her bones, really, the way that she’s just bought a cashmere and lambswool blanket for the studio to keep her cozy on the nights that turn into mornings faster and faster, and how the taste of caffeine is always in the corners of her mouth. Coffee shops are the reason she’s made it this long, she thinks. Especially so during a season when she’s reminded of the overabundant, gaping void her mother’s family leaves in her life, the way they take and drain and expend her.
She doesn’t care, though. Not as far as anyone else is concerned.
She’s sitting towards the back of the cafe, spine following the structure of her chair as her hands wrap around the coffee mug. She takes inventory while she waits — the midnight blue polish on her fingers is chipping and needs a retouch. If her hair looks as grotesque as it feels, she wishes she would have put on a hat before leaving the house. Her coffee could do with a little less sugar. Her heels aren’t sore yet from where she knows she will have to dig in, but she’s bracing for the impact. She even bought lavender epsom salts for the occasion.
Her eyes follow movement across the shop, smile pricking the edges of her lips when she sees her company. “Hi,” she muses around the lip of her coffee mug, eyebrows shifting upwards to brighten her expression. “Glad my stellar directions to this place were mostly correct.”
