Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sign, handmade, was set up against a folding table. There was a cooler full of ice and soda to one side, a basket full of pride buttons, and several binders full of temporary tattoos sitting open for passerby to purview.




There was a lull in business, but the table's owner didn't seem to mind as she nudged her sunglasses down to get a better look at the boys playing frisbee nearby. This particular office came with a really nice view.

Poking her sunglasses up, America grinned up from her seat and drawled, full Southern, "That'd be the Clown Tax. But you don't gotta worry 'bout that, you've clearly got a good brain in that pretty head of yours." She was absolutely ready to sell this girl either term life insurance or at the very least, a hella cool temporary tattoo.

Standing up, she held out her hand, "The name's America Jhones, with an h for helpful. My pronouns are she/her and I'm very pleased to meet you miss...?"

Plonking a can in front of Tilly, America picked up the ten and tucked it into her fanny pack, pulling out seven dollars in change to hand over.

"Oh I got all sorts," she tapped the binders on the table. "Little guys right up to jumbo. I got a range from Disney, to Lisa Frank, to Biker Babe."

Flipping them open for the other girl to check out the goods, she went on to explain, "Nobody's paid for bad advice as of yet..." and here she gave a big grin. "...but plenty of people have stopped just to ask about that price."

Since Tilly had bought a soda, America was feeling generous. "When it comes to selling to folks in person, the biggest thing is getting their attention and then, getting a piece of their time." After that, getting them to spend a bit of their money was only natural.

"With your looks, not having a Lisa Frank tattoo would be a sin," America readily agreed to the logic, and the tip, and placed the money with the rest in her pack. The tip brought a new sparkled to her eyes, and she hauling up the binder labeled JUMBO, flipping it open to the neon fantasy that was Lisa Frank.

Picking out a tiger surrounded by flowers, a unicorn framed with butterflies, and a dolphin majestically surfing a wave, she held each up against Tilly's arm one by one.

"Naw, I'm new. Just moved up from Florida with my uncle." Pausing, she scrunched up her face in a sulk, "I'm getting sent to the nun school for bad girls, or whatever it's called. You go to Meadowview, I take it?"

"Unicorns are hella hot right now," America agreed. She took out some alcohol wipes and began cleaning Tilly's forearm with a professional air.

"Ugh, well...hopefully. I mean the girls will be great because girls pretty much always are," she gave Tilly a wink. "But I hope the teachers aren't real strict, 'cause I don't deal too well with that." At least not anymore. Once the shackles came off, there was no way she'd stand for them to get put back on again.

Hearing about yearbooks and photography was a lot more fun to think about anyway. "Oh yeah? You got an instagram or something I can follow?"

Carefully laying the tattoo paper down, she first smoothed it out with a damp cloth, and then held the cloth extremely still over the whole thing.

"I like it so far. Seems like a place fulla opportunities for a girlboss like myself."

Gently pulling up a corner of the paper, America made a satisfied little hum and carefully peeled back the rest to reveal a unicorn, with a burst of butterflies, prancing in all its vibrant glory. "Oh yeah, baby, there we go!" It always felt good when they came out perfect! Not that any turned out bad! Just to a lesser extent of perfection.

"Now try not to move it or flex it about too much for a good ten minutes, okay? Then we'll get it moisturized and sealed up right nice." Putting her bit of equipment away with a highly professional air, she finished up by handing Tilly her business card. And there it was, a string of socials all going by @bosslipgloss.

"You should totally follow me, 'specially if you wanna start girlbossing yourself." She sat back in her chair, arms crossed and face showing the heavy experience of a fourty-something CEO. "It's not as easy as I make it look. But it's worth it."

"Now you're cookin' with peanut oil!" America declared, shooting up the other girl with double finger guns. "First step of girlbossing is respecting yourself. Respect your time, your skills, and you're energy to deal with it, uh huh."

She grinned, "We can be friends forsure, and gotta say, 'could use a few coming to a big city like this, y'know?" Local know-how can beat out even a boss like America if she got too cocky in her goings on. "Whatcha gonna call your 'gram? Best to make one you won't mind following you all hither and yon."