Isaiah looked over the Help Wanted ad again just to check the adress. "This looks like the place," he told his keychain, whick was shaped like a monkey. It didn't respond.
"Hello, I'm looking for Madame Bella, about the job opening? I called earlier, and the recptionist said I could just stop by."
Madame Bella
The cleaner looked up at Isaiah, and glanced briefly over at the counter. Guess the receptionist had gone for a coffee break or something.
"Uhh," he said. "Well, she's probably about somewhere..."
To his relief, Madame Bella took that moment to enter, chatting with a client on the way.
"And be sure to tell your friends all about me," she said. "We have more than just painless nip and tucks available, and far cheaper than you'll get from any plastic surgeon."
"I will, thank you," said the rather pleased woman.
She glanced at Isaiah.
"She really is very good," she said, and departed.
Madame Bella took a moment to notice the receptionist's absense and the cleaner's presence, and promptly handled the situation.
"Good day," she said. "I am Madame Bella. How may I help you?"
Isaish
"I'm Isaiah Matthews, Izzy if you please. I called about the job opening?"
Madame Bella
"Ahh yes," Madame Bella nodded. "Come to my office, please."
She turned and opened a nearby set of doors, then up the stairs to one side.
"I have enough staff in most required areas of my beauty parlour. Plenty of people able to do the simple stuff - tanning, hair styling, etc. It's the complicated things that are harder. I am currently the only one able to do things similar to medical proceedures like liposuction. And at that I can only take away, or change the shape of what's already there. And I'm the only one who can change skin pigmentation, that kind of thing."
She opened an office door and stepped inside.
"So the purpose of my ad," Madame Bella went on, sitting behind her desk, "is to find someone else with my power of body sculpturing - or at least something similar that can accomplish the same results. Please, have a seat."
Isaiah
"Well, right now I can only change my own pigmentation," Izzy said, "But my power is manipulation of organic material. I can control anything that is, or has ever been alive, including all parts of the body."
Madame Bella
"I see," Madame Bella nodded. "Well, I don't conduct my interviews for employment on sayso. It's two-phase. First of all, I'd like a demonstration of your powers, please."
Isaiah
Izzy thought for a moment, and then reached down towards Bella's right leg. Concentrating, her shin bone began to stretch out sideways, forming a sort of banana look. The ends of the banana started to form a spiral, cause Bella's leg to resemble a spring. The resulting look was quite unique.
Madame Bella
Madame Belle shifted her leg so she could see the result.
"Cute," she said. "But not all our clients are interested in sporting the mutant look. Most who come for body shape changes are interested in removing fat and/or forming muscle."
She gave him an inquiring look.
Isaiah
"Not a problem," Izzy said. "I can remove, transfer or enhance. You don't really seem to need any body fat removed," Izzy said, returning her leg to where it was, "But let's see." He held his hand above Bella's arm, making it grow in size, before returning it back to normal. "Obviously, my power control isn't perfect, I don't know anybody's that is. But I have gotten pretty comfortable with my powers."
Madame Bella
"Hmm, so you can add?" Madame Bella noted. "That could be useful. I, myself, am limited to removal, or altering what is already there."
She stood.
"Well, then, that takes us to phase two then. I shall put you on a trial working period of three months. In that three months we shall see how you interact with the clients and other staff. We're open from two to eight, Tuesday to Friday and seven to five on Saturdays. You're expected to be punctual, and your first day will be tommorrow. Would you like a tour of the facilities now?"
Isaiah
"That's awesome," Izzy said. "Sure, I'd love to see what you do here."
Madame Bella
"Very well. Follow me please."
She headed back down the stairs and headed down the corridor.
"These are the rooms where we conduct our more temporary makeovers. Hair, make up, so on, so forth. We have a number of mutants who are capable of showing the customer multiple results in the time it would take a human to produce just one. In fact we have a telekinetic makeup artist who can do wonderful things with makeup. Not much good with moving big things around, but she can apply blusher strategically, right down to the last grain of powder."
Madame Bella paused.
"There she is at work now. If you watch the client's reflection in the mirror you can see a whole new look come together in a matter of seconds."
Isaiah
"Now THAT is cool," Izzy said. "I can't work that fast. Although I am getting better. I don't know if you ever deal with this, but do you ever use your powers subconsciously?" Isaiah paused for a moment. "Like, sometimes, when I'm sleeping I'll move things around. And there was t his one day when it was really hot, and my shirt unbuttoned itself. It was weird." He looked at Madame Bella.
"By the way, what should I call you?"
Madame Bella
"I used to when I was younger, but not any more," Madame Bella replied. "My mutant name, obviously, is Madame Bella. You may call me Bella. I prefer to keep my real name to myself."
She went further down the corridor.
"These are the rooms I generally use. This is where you'll be working for a good portion too, and I want you to report here when you start work. If I'm not here straight away, just wait."
Madame Bella opened one of the doors to reveal a somewhat plain room, with a cushioned table and pillow, a couple of chairs, a desk and a few other odds and ends.
Isaiah
"Very cool," Izzy said. "Well, I suppose I should get going. I'll see you first thing tomorrow then," Izzy shook Bella's hand.
Madame Bella
"Very well," Madame Bella.
"Bella!" called a voice from down the hall. "Just the person I needed to speak to."
Madame Bella looked over.
"Oh, hi," she said. "Oh, while you're here, this is a trial employee I have, Isaiah. He'll be starting work with us tomorrow. Isaiah, this is Dr Carter. He does research along the lines of the type of work we do here (I cna't go into specifics, you understand), but he needed some funding, which I have provided, and in return, he gives our client who undergo the more... intrusive treatments a medical opinion. Some people just need the assurance of someone who has a medical degree that these procedures are safe."
Isaiah
"Aha, that makes a lot of sense. Nice to meet you sir." Izzy shook the man's hand before heading home.
Madame Bella
"You think he's going to be any good?"
"He appears to have the skill. Just a matter of time before we found out if he has the other qualities we need."
Dr Carter nodded.
"Well, I hope he works out. You could use some relief from your workload."
Madame Bella shrugged.
"I deal. Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"