"That new guy, Isaiah, does good work," Dr Carter said approvingly.
Madame Bella nodded.
"Yes he does. And he seems to be fitting in rather well. Of course, I did say a three month trial period, not one month, and I mean it."
"Of course. I wasn't suggesting you do otherwise. I hope you hire him in the end. He's been doing a great job here, and taking some of the pressure off you. Which, I might add, is definitely improving your stress levels."
Madame Bella gave a bashful smile.
"I know, I know. But I remember all too well some other kids I hired, with and without trial periods."
"Yes, trial periods are important. Especially good at reducing stress later."
"There is that."
**********
Meanwhilst, Carrie Anne, Madame Bella's prime make up artist was putting the finishing touches on one of her clients.
"There," she said. "Beautiful, as always."
The woman looked at herself in the mirror critically, then smiled.
"You always do a good job, Mirco," she said. "Although, I do wish you would come up with a more sensible name."
Carrie Anne smiled. The woman stood and paid for her service, liberally tipping Carrie Anne, and then left. Carrie Anne started cleaning up in prepreation for her next client.
Isaiah
Izzy smilled as his next client sat down on the table.
"Sheila, good to see you again," he said. "What will it be this time?"
"Can you make my boobs bigger?" she asked.
"Well, I think I can go up one size, but any more and you'll have back problems. Anything else?"
"Can you make my nose turn up a little bit, like in this picture?" The teenager held up a magazine clipout of a supermodel who looked entirely too snooty and stuck up.
"Sure." Izzy said It took about 10 minutes to make the changes, even though Izzy thought they were a little too much. Hopefully she'd get out of this phase soon.
Elata and Roberto
"I can't believe you're dragging me here again," Roberto said.
"Aww, c'mon Wart-Wonder -" Elata began.
"Don't call me that."
"You have to admit this place is cool."
"You don't need me here to get another change done."
Elata just grinned as they walked though the door.
"Hi!" she greeted the receptionist. "Is Madame Bella in? I'm here for my appointment."
Tina
Tina looked around the beauty parlour warily. Mia was busy with affairs of state, so Tina decided to a little sightseeing, Wahim by her side of course, and she spotted this beauty shop next to a little ice cream shop. She decided to check it out.
Elata, Roberto and Madame Bella
Roberto looked around the lobby as Tina walked in. He watched her, curiously, until Elata tapped him on the shoulder.
"C'mon, Wart-Wonder -"
"- stop calling me that - "
"- Madame Bella's gonna be here soon so I -"
"Elata! Welcome back," Madame Bella greeted, stepping in.
"Good afternoon, Madame Bella," Elata beamed.
"And what colour would you like you skin changed to today?"
"White."
"White?"
Isaiah and Tina
Isaiah saw the slightly pudgy Arabic girl looking around the parlour, and decided to introduce himself. Personally he thought she looked beautiful just the way she was, but one thing he'd learned since he took this job was that no woman seemed to ever be content with her body.
"Hello, my name is Izzy, can I help you?"
"Yeah, I'm visiting my friend, and I'd heard about this place and thought I'd check it out. Is it really true that you can take off fat without surgery?" she asked skeptically.
"Yep. My power is the manipulation of organic material. It's much cheaper than plastic surgery, but without the pain." Tina thought about it for a moment, and then smiled.
"I'd like to make an appointment," she decided.
"Actually, I have a free slot now, if you'd like." Tina followed him back to one of the rooms and in a short while, Tina was about 20s pound lighter.
Roberto
Roberto was sitting in the waiting room for Elata to come back out. In the meantime he was flipping through the magazines.
While he was waiting, he saw the girl he noticed earlier come out, looking somewhat slimmer.
Tina
Tina paid the receptionist, and then noticed Roberto.
"Hello," she said. Wahim looked the boy over, and nodded.
Roberto
"Oh, umm, hi," Roberto said. "Sorry... I didn't mean to be staring at you or anything..."
Yeah, that was a great way to start the conversation.
"I'm Roberto."
Tina
"I'm Tina. THis is Wahim, he;s my bodyguard, obviously." She held out her hand, and couldn't help but notice that despite being green, he was quite cute.
Roberto
Roberto shook Tina's hand, and wondered why she would need a bodyguard.
"I'm just waiting for a friend of mine," he said, suddenly in a rush to say he wouldn't normally be here. "She's always coming here and doing something. Today its white skin. White as in snow."
Tina
"So she's intentionally looking like an albino? That's an interesting choice," she said, wondering why anybo9dy would want white skin.
Roberto
Roberto shrugged.
"Who knows how Elata's mind works?" he asked. "Last month she was purple. And before that she was yellow."
Tina
Tina crinkled her brow. "Yellow? That's the colour you turn when your liver stops working. So, do you get your skin dyed, or is this just a mutation?"
Roberto
"I'm a mutant," Roberto replied. "Elata is a mutant wannabe, and latched onto me like a leach when I first starting going to her school."
Tina
"I don't know why anybody would want to be a mutant. I'm just visiting at the moment, but I'm going to be moving to Genovia soon for boarding school. Daddy thinks it's safer than my old school in New York, and much lower profile than the Xavier Institute. Plus my best friend lives here. What's your power?" Tina asked, holding her skirt up with one hand, hoping Roberto wouldn't notice.
Roberto
Roberto nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "My parents tried homeschooling me back in Canada when it became evident I was a mutant, but..."
He shrugged.
"However, here it would appear that mutation is the lastest fashion," and Roberto rolled his eyes. "I don't know which is worse... victim or trend."
Tina
"Well," Tina thought, "Better to be idolized that victimized, I suppose. I don't know. Anyway, I've really enjoyed talking to you, but I need to go shopping. This was a sort of spur-on-the-moment thing, and now my clothes don't fit." she said, blushing.
Roberto and Elata
Roberto gave a shy smile.
"Yeah..." he trailed off as Elata renetered, her skin as white as white could be.
"Hi Wonder-Wart," she said. "Whatcha think?"
"It's very... umm... white..."
"That was the idea," she giggled, glancing at Tina. "Hi, I'm Elata! Who are you?"
Tina
"i'm tina, and I have to leave, because I just had my tummy tucked, and now my pants are falling off," she said with a giggle.
Elata and Roberto
"Aww, okay," Elata said. "Well, see you later. Maybe. If we ever meet again."
Roberto stifled a laugh.
"Bye Tina. It was nice meeting you. C'mon, Elata, we should leave too."
"Okay."
Elata was already imagining reactions to her white skin.