Ailana’s Journal—2026-06-23 (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven Keller

Welcome to Tuesday. Who’s ready for a great day?

If you’ve missed a few posts, I’ll catch you up. The whole AGI Creative team is in Santa Monica to start our Route 66 road trip. Today, however, we’re holding a mini boot camp for two new models Naomi sent our way—they need shots for their lookbooks. That’s happening today.

Right now, however, I’m having a moment. Everything was running smoothly—shower, hair, makeup, coffee, shirt, shorts… All good.

Now, I’m paralyzed by indecision. For working in the studio, sneakers are probably a little more comfortable. But we’re going to the beach and the pier, so sandals are a better choice.

Also, I’ve almost decided the difference in comfort isn’t significant enough to justify wearing sneakers and carrying sandals for later.

Instead, I thought I’d have Jason snap a photo while I sip my coffee and share the chaos in my brain with you!

I hope your Monday was great, and I hope you’re off to a terrific Tuesday. If you have anything cool planned, let me know!

So, back to the shoes…

I’ll probably just wear sneakers and take them off if we go on the sand. I dunno…

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All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

BOOT CAMP CHECK-IN by Ailana Geven Keller

This morning’s studio work went well. Now we’re outside, and I’m coaching them through different poses. We’re going for a fashion-catalog vibe.

NOTE: My outfit is NOT part of the vibe. My outfit screams “pockets, comfort, and freedom of movement”!

I’m going to share a few of my “try this” poses with you, as well as a couple of the images we took of the models in the studio this morning.

I actually think we caught some great shots for the lookbooks. They get to keep one shot from each outfit, and Jason and Geoni get the rest for their stock photo catalogs.

They had a wide variety of looks in their garment bags. I picked a couple to share that I thought were especially unique.

When we got to the pier, we stopped to work on a few techniques. They wanted me to go through different types of poses, not just standing up. They both seemed really comfortable with that.

I pushed them to think about eyes and expression. As I said before, not making eye contact sometimes causes the viewer to look at the outfit, and that just might be the whole point of the ad, right?

I also gave them some squatting poses to try. That was new ground for them, but they caught on quickly.

As I was posing, Geoni was giving me directions to follow. From a teaching perspective, my reaction to the directions was modeling the desired outcome. I was—apologies in advance—educationally modeling modeling for the models.

Geoni had some fun with me, giving me a lot of poses to go through. She’s become very creative and has a great eye for making things interesting.

Overall, I think the morning went well, and we’re ready to start shooting location-style images.

I’ll be back later to share and check in. See you then!

EARLY DINNER by Ailana Geven Keller

We’re all calling today’s mini boot camp a success. We wrapped everything up about an hour ago, and Nia and Tessa are staying another night so they can spend tomorrow enjoying Santa Monica—just to make the cost of the flight more justifiable.

I’m sharing a couple more images from their location shoot. I think both the models and the photographers deserve some credit.

Both Nia and Tessa brought their A-game to the sessions. They had solid outfits and modeled them very well.

Jasmine and Sasha helped manage the outdoor wardrobe changes. Clay brought the RV close enough to serve exactly as intended—a dressing room on wheels.

Jason and Geoni nailed the photography, too.

I spent most of my afternoon walking around telling everyone what a good job they were doing and brushing sand off my feet so I could slip my sneakers on.

Honestly, I was probably redundant today! And I think I’m just fine with that!

We’re having dinner at Fritto Misto. It’s nice but not fussy. After nine hours of lights, wardrobe changes, location work, and hauling equipment, nobody wanted elegant. We wanted pasta. Lots of pasta.

That’s it for now. I’ll check back later, so see you then!

ONE GOOD TURN… by Sofia Torres

In Mexico, we say, “Amor con amor se paga.” You might say, “One good turn deserves another.”

At the factory today, we hit our goals about an hour ago. As part-owners, and since Clay wants us to make decisions about how we work, we decided to clean up and get ready for tomorrow.

I locked up, texted Jasmine our numbers, and started home. As I approached the Dairy Queen, it was there. The blue F-150 with the green door.

I passed it, turned around and went back just in time to catch up to Ryan as he walked toward the door.

Then, if I’d had a plan for what to say, I forgot it. “Hey… Um… Remember me? Flashlight bulb.”

He looked over. “Hey… Sofia… I remember you. Is the light working?”

“Perfectly… So… I saw your truck…”

He looked back. “You know my truck?”

I nodded, then suddenly felt like a stalker or something. “Blue with a green door. I saw you get in it at the gas station.”

“I’m here for my after-work snack. I’m going milkshake today.” He moved slowly toward the door.

I followed along. “I’d like to repay the favor you did for me. Can… may I treat you?”

“You don’t need to do that. I was glad to be able to help you.”

We got to the door and I almost changed my mind, but he held the door for me, so I went in.

“It’s not about needing to,” I said. “I’d just like to return the good deed. I have a good job now. I’m happy to share my blessings.”

He smiled and looked at the counter. “Okay… Will you get something, too?”

I suddenly decided I’d like to have a Blizzard. So I bought the guy who was kind to me a milkshake, and we sat at a table and enjoyed them. He asked about my job, and I told him all about SwimFit and the cut-and-sew factory.

When we were done, we headed for the door.

“You really didn’t have to pay me back,” he said. “I’m grateful.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. “It’s nice to be able to share a little of my good fortune with someone nice. I’ll not forget your kindness to me.”

By then, we were at my car, and he waited for me to get in. “Likewise. I won’t forget your kindness to me, either.”

It’s nice to repay kindness with kindness.

GOOD NIGHT by Ailana Geven Keller

I was actually planning on doing something goofy for the goodnight post. However, after dinner, something happened that I think is important.

Important probably trumps goofy, so here we go.

Earlier tonight, Jason left Emily and me in the hotel room to go help Clay repack the trailer. Emily and I climbed onto one of the beds and settled beside each other. We opened a bag of pretzels and turned on the weather report to see what was coming. We didn’t actually find out, though.

I handed her a bottle of water. “I really thought your idea with the room keys was great. You’re right about it giving us a little peace of mind. Does it seem like a lot of trouble?”

“Not at all. Once I go in, I’m in.”

“How did you think of that so fast?” I asked.

This is where the important part happened.

“I thought of it last summer.”

I had her explain.

She said that around March 2025, after our mother found my social media, she started reading everything from the very beginning. She caught up to the current posts while we were in the Everglades last year.

“I started thinking about what it would be like to be part of your world,” she said. “Everything you were doing… I imagined myself being part of it. I’ve planned out lots of things. The hotel room idea came pretty early. Like US-41 time. I thought about it before you were engaged and dreamed we’d just share a room like sisters.”

“You planned it all out?”

“I dreamed it out before it was a plan. I guess it started being a plan around last Christmas. But when you got engaged, I was like, nah…not sharing a room with Jason. That’s when I came up with the adjoining room and letting you keep the keys.”

So for over a year, she’s been dreaming and planning how to become part of my life. She imagined herself as part of everything and figured out how to make it work.

“I wanted to be part of your life. I just didn’t want to ruin it.”

I cried, hugged her, and said, “You most definitely didn’t ruin anything.”

Good night.

AFTERTHOUGHTS by Ailana Geven Keller

Beyond everything I’m feeling about Emily, I’m also thinking about the boot camp. I think it went well.

I’m convinced the AGI Creative Group is a strong team. I’m thinking of a theater analogy here. Hang on…

If a Broadway production doing two shows in a day compares to a massive modeling campaign, we’re a community theater company doing a three-night run.

The acting, singing, and dancing are just as good as Broadway. Maybe better.

The pace and scale are smaller, making it easier for young actors to keep up.

I think the images we captured of Nia and Tessa today stand up to anything produced anywhere. Jason and Geoni’s photography, combined with our lighting and backdrop systems, created a great set of images. My coaching might have helped, too.

But we created maybe 50 to 70 percent as many images of each model as a full-scale campaign would produce with makeup artists, wardrobe techs, and people whose expertise lies in tying ties and making shoelaces look just right. We got the outcome. Just not the volume.

I think this is a solid approach, and Naomi will most likely agree. New metaphor: this is where new models hit their first home runs before moving up to the big leagues!

I’d love to know how you’ve liked the boot camps we’ve done so far. Were they interesting? Do you like them and want more? Please let me know.

See you tomorrow.

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ALSO THIS…

After—as I do EVERY TIME—having ChatGPT proofread today's goodnight post, I—as I do from time to time—wrote this:

“How do you like this story?”

The answer blew me away. ChatGPT dialed in the Ailana/Emily situation so deeply, I had to share.

Here you go…

I think this is one of the strongest Emily-and-Ailana scenes you’ve written because it reveals something enormous through a very small, ordinary moment.

The room-key idea was already clever on its own. Here, it becomes emotionally devastating in the best way. Ailana initially sees it as Emily being unusually thoughtful and responsible. Then she learns Emily did not invent the solution during the trip—she had been rehearsing how to belong in Ailana’s life for more than a year.

That changes the meaning of everything.

Emily was not merely following the Journal. She was mentally living alongside it. Every trip, hotel, boat, bedroom, family change, and practical complication became something she quietly worked herself into. “US-41 time” is especially effective because it makes the history specific. It shows that Emily remembers Ailana’s life in chapters and locations, almost the way a devoted reader would—but with the painful hope that someday she might stop being a reader and become family.

The progression from dream to plan is beautifully handled:

“I dreamed it out before it was a plan.”

That may be my favorite line in the scene. It captures Emily’s entire emotional journey. At first, imagining herself with Ailana was comfort and escape. Later, once her circumstances became unbearable and the fantasy began to feel remotely possible, she started solving logistics.

Her reaction to the engagement is also both funny and deeply believable:

“But when you got engaged, I was like, nah…not sharing a room with Jason.”

That bit of teenage practicality keeps the scene from becoming overly sentimental. She immediately adjusts the fantasy: adjoining rooms, no key to her own exterior door, access through Ailana’s room. It tells us how thoroughly she had considered not just being rescued, but being easy to care for. She was planning ways to make her presence less disruptive before she even arrived.

That is the painful center of the story. Emily did not merely want a home. She believed she needed to prove she could fit into one without damaging it.

“I wanted to be part of your life. I just didn’t want to ruin it.”

That line lands because it grows directly from her past. A child who has been treated as a burden, exploited, or made responsible for adult chaos often becomes hyperaware of the space she occupies. Emily has spent more than a year imagining the rules, anticipating concerns, and developing solutions because she fears that needing too much could cost her the family she wants.

Ailana’s answer is exactly right:

“You most definitely didn’t ruin anything.”

It is simple, immediate, and unmistakable. She does not give a long speech or try to reason Emily out of the fear. She cries, hugs her, and rejects the premise.

I also like the structure. The opening promises something “important,” but the setting remains almost aggressively ordinary: Jason leaves, the sisters climb onto a hotel bed, open pretzels, turn on the weather, and never even learn the forecast. That domestic normalcy is the point. Emily once dreamed of sharing hotel rooms with Ailana like sisters. Now she is sitting on the bed beside her, eating pretzels, already living the thing she imagined.

The story quietly fulfills Emily’s fantasy while she explains it.

The abrupt “Good night” works, too. Anything more elaborate after Ailana’s final reassurance would weaken the ending. The scene does not need a blessing or a summary. The emotional conclusion is already complete.

This also adds a valuable dimension to Emily’s occasional “over-readiness.” She is not implausibly perfect at joining a family. She has been practicing for this family in her mind since March 2025. That does not mean reality will always follow her plans, but it explains why she arrives with answers for hotel rooms, travel boundaries, and household logistics. She has had a year-long head start on everyone else.

It is tender, sad, lightly funny, and enormously rewarding for readers who understand the history. Most importantly, it makes the room-key detail feel like character revelation rather than mere cleverness.

Wow…

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