Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was the sound of feet scurrying upon the hardwood floor after the knock to the door. After several seconds, the door popped open slowly enough to not hit anybody in the nose if they were standing too close.

Behind the door was a bright eyed girl who definitely was too young to be a professional photographer. She had a few sticker-gems decorating her face and a rather friendly smile just waiting to greet her mom's guest.

"Hullofericerous*! Are you Arilee?" She tugged the edge of her skirt and offered a half curtsy. With an eager energy, she began to prattle on as if she knew this complete stranger her whole life.

"Good to meet you! Mom's finishing up with the previous appointment... so it will be a little bit before we can get started. I love your hair! It'll be funzowie* to style I bet!"

There was a momentary pause.

"Oh, I guess we can go in... if you want that is. Sometimes the girls that visit don't want to go in until the other girls before them are done..."

Since Arilee had mentioned her own consideration for the previous appointment, the girl momentarily leaned back and seemed to stretch her neck back as far as she could to take a look inside. Her mom and the previous appointment were practically done. The girl had already changed to her day clothes, though the makeup she wore wouldn't be coming off for now. That was something the girls had to do on their own. They were both now huddled at a laptop looking over the images from the shoot.

"It looks like she's done with changing... so you are fine both ways!" As fun as it was to sit around on the patio, there weren't any chairs. So soon enough the girl was reaching out to attempt to snatch up the customer's hand to lead her inside.

"I go by Mystery, by the way! I'm Carolynn's daughter. Is this your first time doing this sort of thing? Doing it for anybody in particular? Boyfriend? Fiance? Just because? Did you have any specifics in mind for the shoot?" As they entered, one could see the walls immediately around the doorway were quite evidently designed to function as a set. It was a pale wall covered in an elegant and nearly lacy feeling Fleur de Lis pattern in black. It only was spread out for the doorway, and once they were past there, the walls seemed to turn into a normal pattern again.

Mystery's shoes clicked against the hardwood floor as she led Arilee to a black couch with a white see through curtain pulled out behind it. With a firm pat of her hand upon the couch, it was a sure sign that her companion could sit down. "I'll store you here!"

If there was one thing Mystery was honest about, it was her name. "My name isn't Mystery... it's just what I go by. My name is Miette." No spite hung to her words, just strictly stating the facts in her rather energized sounding voice.

As Arilee seemed to settle in, the silvery haired girl crawled onto the top part of the couch, sitting against the backboard of it and peering through the lacy curtain behind. With a few wiggles of her fingers behind, it was clear where the photographer was at that very moment.

"I don't think many people opt to look like June Cleaver in all honesty... Some girls just opt to be in their underwear, but that is usually to tease their boyfriends."

Leaning forward, Mystery took a good look over Arilee's face. "...did you take some piercings out?" She pointed a finger to her eyebrow, then to her chin.

"Did you bring them with you? Mom always says it is more fun when girls have distinctive features to play off of... like piercings, tattoos... stuff to make the Vintage have a more 'rocking' edge!"

However, her questioning had to pause as the girl asked the easiest one to answer. With that, the child seemed to almost roll off the top edge of the couch and vanish behind the curtain. The child could be heard greeting the previous appointment, then murmuring some sort of permission from her mom. When she came back through the lacey curtain, the child had a couple calendars and a few small hard-cover booklets to share. Going around the side of the couch instead of over the top, she put the objects down on a nearby table. Taking up the regular calendar (since the other was strictly from a maternity shoot), she sat down next to Arilee. As she spoke, she let the girl flip through the calendar to see what other girls had done with their appointments.

"Mom and I do your makeup and hair. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half usually. We make you look like the classic pinups, so heavy makeup, super rosy cheeks, and bright lipstick. We use fake eyelashes too. For hair we use heated tools and curl, curl, curl! When we finish, Mom dresses you up if you didn't already bring your own clothes for the shoot."

There was a pause. "...which I am guessing you didn't bring your own stuff... which is totally okay! Mom has a lot of fun stuff to wear! We go shopping all the time to find good things to wear for the photo shoots!"

Behind the curtain the sound of footsteps could be heard, then a door opening and shutting, and then more footsteps.

Not that Mystery seemed to be paying those sounds any mind. "You wouldn't be the first girl who had shorter hair to deal with. Though... you have more hair than some other girls have had as well... so we can still play!"

Along the wall of the entrance which the pair had entered in, a woman soon enough was seen leaning against the frame. She had pale hair and a fair amount of makeup on. She had a single finger extended so that her pet parakeet could keep perched there. In a cool tone, she mentioned "You'd be amazed at what a simple headscarf can accomplish, Arilee."

Before introductions could be made, the child practically popped up from her spot and was already scrambling to her mother's side with the simple exclamation of "Mom!"

A small laugh escaped the woman before she lowered her extended finger onto the child's head and soon enough the little blue and white bird was hopping into the child's hair. She stepped toward her customer, hand extended, with a warm smile. "I am Carolynn Wylde. Pleasure to finally meet you, Arilee! I can see you've already met Mystery." With a quick sideglance to the child, she then asked in an inviting tone "So do you have any questions before we get started and turn you into a gorgeous pin-up girl?"

Carolynn didn't miss a beat and when Arilee used the wrong title, she was quick to correct her. "Miss, not Misses. I never married actually." She seemed so comfortable about a fact that many women might have been less up front about. To add to the casual feel of it all, she added with a smile "Mystery was a child of passion."

Said Mystery didn't seem bothered at all by such facts. She was just as comfortable with the situation as her mother. As she made her way towards the two older girls, the "child of passion" put a finger upon her head near where the little bird was momentarily sitting.

Quite quickly the little bird hopped onto the finger, taking up the new perch rather contently.

"Do you like birds, Arilee? This is Requiem! She's mom's pet! She's a budgie, which is short for budgerigar. She doesn't make any noise. Ever. Do you have any pets?" The child shoved the hand which had a little bird perched upon it at the blonde before Carolynn's hand intercepted.

"Actually... I need you to take Arilee to the closet-space, Mystery. Get her situated and in a robe please. I'll go get the makeup and curlers." She paused and turned to Arilee. "I'm not trying to avoid you, I promise! I just have to continually move all the make-up stuff in and out of the living room, since having it in the actual photos doesn't look very appealing."

The child, ever so inconsiderate of the passenger upon her finger, saluted.

"Aye aye!" Swiveling upon the balls of her feet she soon enough was using her non-occupied hand to grab onto Arilee's hand again.

"Okay, come with me!" With a firm tug, she began to try and lead the way.

"Sanskrit is a good name!" the child easily rattled on. "It's the name of a language if I remember correctly? Mom always said that interesting words make really good pet names. You know, rather than things like 'Fluffy' or 'Rex' and the likes. I mean, some pets look like they are a Fluffy or Rex... but most probably aren't and the owners were just lazy..."

They turned a corner and went past a doorway that had a beaded curtain draping across the entryway. To one side was a walk in closet, filled with clothing of all different kinds. Some were revealing, some were more chaste. In a couple plastic bins were smaller accessories, such as scarves, headbands, flowers, and the likes. Along the furthest wall was literally a case built in just for storing shoes. And there were plenty of shoes to be had.

"...Requiem's name is kind of ironic since mom meant the musical term... but Requiem is mute. And Oasis.... he's wandering around somewhere I bet... I picked his name because it was a desert-name... and he's a cat... and cats and Egypt... well... you get the idea!" With a brief giggle, she then turned again to a door that was opened and upon inspection was easily the bathroom.

Now at the desired location, the child let go of the girl's hand. Since her one hand was occupied by a rather patient bird, the girl had to pick up the necessary item with the other hand. Soon enough she was turning back to Arilee with a hanger and a rather short silky robe.

"So you are going to need to get out of your clothes, except your panties and bra... and then put this on over it... that way when we don't have to worry about accidentally getting the makeup on your day clothes!"