Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jessie had to ponder that a bit. “Possibly I guess. It really depends on your definition of ‘big words’. There are quite a few strange words in the book since it’s a retelling of the story of Anastasia. It is a bit grim and a little bloody so it might not be the best match but it is a young adult book so it shouldn’t be too hard to read.” Jessie gave a slight shrug, it was always hard to tell what some books were appropriate for people. If she remembered correctly The Diamond Secret dealt with death, betrayal, love, and murder. The most heart breaking bit was the little blurb in the back though, where the author gave the history behind the creation of the book. That bit she would suggest skipping for Mystery since it does kill the romanticism behind the idea of the lost princess of Russia.

“Hum?” Jessie had become lost in the thought of the book and others like it. It took her a moment to register Mystery’s comment. “I guess. ‘Information is not knowledge’ however and like Mark Twain said, I find that all the trivia in the world can’t make talking to people easer.” Talking about books? No problem… Jessie knew she could ramble on for hours about one book after another but talking about real things like life, love, family, and friends. It was like someone grabbed her tongue and held it still as she tried to articulate what was going on. Small talk was not her friend and she wondered if maybe that was why her mother was always pushing her to go out and do new things… to get her use to small talk.

She quickly complied to the request although she found it easier to just shut both eyes rather than focus on Carolynn coming closer and closer with a something that looked a bit like a dilapidated caterpillar. “I can’t say as I have. No real need to I guess.”

Jessie snickered at the voice by her ear before nodding, “Bring on the demented caterpillars…” Jessie’s eyes flew open and then as red flared across her face she closed them again in mortification. “I didn’t mean it that way…. They are just kind of strange looking…. Large and a bit fluffy… a bit like fuzzy caterpillars…” Her explanation stuttered to a stop and she sat in the chair with her eyes closed as it seemed like her face got even brighter.

Insulting someone’s items was never a good idea and they had been so nice to her. It made Jessie feel horrible about the slip of her tongue. Normally she was better at things like that simply by not saying anything, or too much some times. “Sorry.” It was soft and said with quite a bit of mortification. With any luck Carolynn and Mystery didn’t take offence to her slip but Jessie was afraid that her luck had run out a while back.

Jessie smiled slightly, the blush fading slowly from her face. Mystery had a point, it was actually a pretty logical jump from butterfly kisses to calling false eyelashes caterpillars. "'Butterfly kisses'" Jessie started to hum a tune, rather flatly too. The old country song was sung by Bob Carlisle and it was the first time that Jessie had actually heard that term. It was a really sweet song that was used pretty often for the father/daughter dances at weddings because of the theme of the song and the tune of it.

There had been a time long ago when Jessie found that song and others like it but she forgot about it when things didn't go as planed and the castles in the sky that she had been building dissipated like true clouds. It was nice, even if a bit painful, to be thinking about that song. Maybe some time in the future she could once again think about dancing to that song with her father on her own special day... but first she would have to make her mom's year by finding a boyfriend. Jessie suppressed a snicker at that thought before responding to Carolynn. "Yes but it is not particularly polite to make fun of someone's possessions even if they are only false eyelashes."

((its a really sweet song link))

Jessie silently wondered what to do with the eyelashes once the shoot was over with… which brought her to the question of what to do with the makeup that Carolynn was carefully applying to her face now. It wasn’t like she wanted to just ruin all the time and skill by removing it right after the photos were done but she didn’t think running around town with this much stuff applied would look right. But then again since she couldn’t see what was going on, only feel it, maybe it wouldn’t be too out there. Considering that Jessie rarely used makeup at all even wearing eye shadow was a bit of a new experience.

Her silence stretched on as Carolynn directed Mystery to get the outfit and oddly enough the only real thought that she had was a image from The Terminator where Schwarzenegger said, ‘Asta la vista, baby.’ She turned back in when Carolynn described the finishing steps to her transformation and before she could even say anything Mystery announced her return. Jessie’s eyes popped open and jumped slightly from the yell. Trying to gather her thoughts she stammered out, “nervous… a bit excited but more nervous… I’ve said that I’ve never done this before right?”

Jessie eyed the dress and silently wondered how such a pretty object would look on her. She had dressed up before but found that she was a bit more of the fancy slacks and blouse then a dress kind of a woman. The dresses she had were from a few years ago or were rarely worn, kneeling in a stack of books just doesn't work when in a dress. And the gloves...

The last time Jessie wore gloves it was for handling a particularly fragile book so it was a bit odd to think that she would be wearing gloves for a completely different reason in just a little while.

"Hum? Curls?" Jessie glanced at Mystery. Part of her snickered since her alter-ego had her hair up in a mass of curls but Jessie had to admit that by Pompeii having her hair up she didn't have to worry about it getting in her way when she practiced and in battle. "I guess, its pretty practical if you think about it. A pony tail is easier but curls are more elegant." She smiled at Mystery and added, " My hair is straight because of the length of it.... when I was younger and had my hair cut shorter it was much curler all by its self." Her hair would never hold a tight curl, regardless how short it was cut, but until it extended past her shoulders Jessie's hair had gentle curl. Her mother's favorite picture from when she was a child and was posing like Marilyn Monroe except in shorts and a shirt rather then that white dress, not that the 10 year-old Jessie really understood everything that the pose or picture meant.

Jessie almost voiced her desire for a translator when Mystery started to make up new words again but it seemed that Carolynn beet her to it and corrected Mystery’s mysterious words… at least the first one. The second was pretty understandable, which made Jessie wonder if being here for extended periods of time was like learning a foreign language via emersion.

“Yes but it is said that the creation of beauty is art and no artist willingly gives away her secrets.” Jessie said. Emerson had actually said that ‘love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.’ But the first part was not terribly appropriate, besides the second part was a thought on Jessie’s part. She knew that many artist pioneered new techniques, materials, and styles but it never really took too long before the secrets of said artist’s became known. Although… even in her own mind she was correcting herself. Some artistic secrets have yet to be discovered, like who was Mona Lisa. Was she a real person? Someone Da Vinci tweaked until we had the mysterious women that we had today? Could she have really been a feminization of the artiest himself? She shook herself out of her internal musings knowing full well that she could very well become enmeshed in her on wonderings…. And so could the local fire department. There were quite a few times when they were called to her apartment over her store when she got wrapped up in something and her food caught on fire. Almost always it was more smoke then flames and no books were ever harmed in any of them either. But she never forgot to donate to the department and a few of them were even regulars in the store.

Jessie was thinking of a reply to Mystery when Carolynn asked her to open her mouth. She knew that it was time for lipstick, her mother favored the open mouth process while Jessie herself preferred more of a softer opening to work with… she didn’t wear lipstick much and preferred chapstick. Chapstick didn’t get everywhere if she suddenly bites down on a pencil as she inventories books or if she absently taps the spine of a small book on her mouth as she mentally wrangles with a complicated problem said book sparked.

Jessie knew that some found that practice odd but the smell of a book and the texture of cover always seemed to center her. It is well known that sent sparks memories and for Jessie, although she had no particular memory, the rich scent of paper and books evoked a calming effect. She always believed it had a lot to do with the fact that her childhood home was also full of books and she spent a lot of her time at her mother’s job, the local library.

As Carolynn applied the lipstick Jessie wondered how she would look. How would the dress look on her? The makeup? The hair? She didn’t need to Mystery’s comments to know that soon she would be able to look into a mirror and see what she would look like if she was born just a few decades earlier.