It was a rainy day outside, so she wasn't expecting her guest to be particularly presentable, but she made sure she had a traditional black dress on to make a good first impression. She had heard that a sort of pointy hat had come into vogue recently for witches but it looked rather silly to her so she didn't bother with it. She she made her way down the various rooms that had to be traveled through in order to reach the front door, her house lacking a main hallway, something that had proved surprisingly convenient despite the slightly longer trip around the house, and approached the door, hearing another set of hard knocks. She opened it, and was immediately shoved back into the wall behind her before she could say anything.
"Don't even think about movin', or I'll gut ya, eh? None o' that magic crap either." was the barked instruction that came from her attacker, accompanied by a particularly sharp, jagged dagger poking her in the ribs. She sighed internally. Sometimes she wished they'd realise that if she wanted they could have been pressing a carrot into her ribs before they even finished their sentence? She took at look at her intruder, who was a poorly shaven man with a face covered in scars, with a roughly-hacked short mop of wet black hair. He had an angry sneer on his face that showed he was very confident in his presumed superior position. Despite his rough look he wasn't particularly impressive, the scars showing more that he wasn't very good at dodging attacks, and his beady-eyed stare and piggish nose further helped his unkempt look. Generally the sort Alyssa preferred not to associate with. She looked down, directing her head towards the dagger to keep up the man's false sense of security, and as her eyes went past his dirty cloak over an old white shirt and brown pants, her expression shifted into one of slight distaste and annoyance at how he was getting mud all over her clean floor, and not to mention her nice dress. Sure, she could get rid of it easily, but it was the action itself that annoyed her the most.
The man mistook her look for one of fear or surprise, or any of the emotions that he expected her to have, and kept up his threat by motioning for her to back into a corner while he closed the door behind him. And getting mud everywhere he stepped, Alyssa further noticed. She decided to speak first.
"So, what are you here for, then?" She asked, completely nonchalant, something the man didn't notice, or took for bravado.
"Your friend didn't 'ave the mumbo jumbo for what I wanted, so I had 't persuade him to find one o' his pals who could." He said, pulling up his dagger to eye-level for effect. She wondered if he had been sent here so that the wizard he had threatened could get a quick laugh, since she was sure that he could handle this guy pretty easily. She'd have to remember to query that the next time they met.
"Since you didn't answer the first time, what do you want?" Alyssa asked again.
"I need you 't give me a new face. I've gotta disappear, and you're going 't assist me with that. The person who steps out of here'll look completely different, see?" He said. Oh good, transformative magic. That was certainly her specialty. She could make something out of this situation yet. Or she could just make him disappear literally. But what she had in mind was more fun.
"Alright, a new identity. I can do that for you. I'm going to need a name first, since I suppose you won't be putting that knife of yours down." She said. He seemed to be pleased, and spoke up.
"'Course not. Name's Joe, and that's all you need to know. Now get with the magic before-"
"Yes, yes. Now, since you'll be wanting a new identity, I'll fill you in as I go along. Now, you want to be unrecognizable?"
"I don't want me own mother 't recognize me." He said. Well, since he hadn't even given his full name, presumably to avoid Alyssa giving any information to the local authorities. Like she'd do that. She wondered if she should give him a sign that she was casting a spell. For most types of magic, you didn't glow, you didn't make the wind swirl around you, and you didn't give off any sign that you were doing anything, save for any fireballs flying out of your fingertips. Normally when she wanted somebody to know that she was casting she made herself glow, but she figured having him be caught off-guard would be more amusing.
"Alright Joe, I'll give you some backstory on your new identity." She said, starting to cast as she spoke. "You're a nice young woman named Josephine."
In an instant, Joe, if that was his real name, changed, by his perception to make it go by too fast for him to notice it happening. Alyssa however got to watch the whole thing, having simply having made Joe zone out for a minute, making the change seemingly instantaneous, and not giving him time to try to attack her while it was happening. She watched as he shot down in height to five-foot-nothing, now assuring that he'd have to look upwards at Alyssa, rendering him already less intimidating. His coarse stubble faded away, and his features softened until he looked quite female, albeit not very attractive, her nose and slightly squinty-eyes remaining. His chest swelled outwards into two large, soft, spherical mounds, each adorned with a engorged nipple underneath his ill-fitting clothing. His waist shrank inwards while his hips pushed outwards, giving him a pleasing curve to his body coupled with his new-found breasts. His body-hair also vanished, replaced with soft, smooth skin that had its muscles fade away, his arms slimming and giving way to dainty, gentle arms that looked like they weren't good for carrying much more than a heavy bag of books, and not for particularly long at that.
To fit his hips his ass puffed outwards into a slappable sloped ass, while his thighs firmed up and grew thicker, the rest of his legs growing smaller and slimmer. Finally, the change was completed by his genitals shrinking and being sucked into his body, a slit opening up to replace it. Internally his organs rearranged for a new reproductive system, amongst other things to fit her new exterior. With that complete, Joe, or rather Josephine's awareness was restored to her, and she was suddenly left staring down at a woman's body and clothes that were simply far too large for her.
"Y-you bitch! What the hell did you do to me!" She yelled at Alyssa after a few moments of confusion followed by incoherent spluttering. She was now waving the dagger at Alyssa furiously, although it was of course obvious that she'd never use it. After all, she needed Alyssa to change her back. Unless she was too angry, confused, or stupid...
"You wanted a new identity, didn't do? I'm sure that nobody will recognize you now." Alyssa said, allowing a hint of her internal giggling to reach her voice.
"You know what the hell I meant! Now change me back before I slit your damn throat!" She yelled, her voice higher pitched but still similar to her old voice.
"You really need to let me finish." Alyssa replied, folding up her arms. "Now, Josephine is actually quite a pretty young girl, and a quite feminine one who wouldn't think of trying to hurt somebody with a dangerous weapon."
Immediately, Josephine's face began to shift. Her eyes morphed into large, clear eyes, the bridge of her nose flattening and losing its piggish look, also shrinking to a much cuter size. The years were shaven off of her as she lost the few signs of age she had, regressing to her being only twenty years old. Her hair, retained from her male body, started to flow outwards, cascading down her neck and past her shoulders, growing more illustrious and shiny as it went. Her lips plumped up slightly and she indeed was quite beautiful, if furious. Fortunately for Alyssa, the second half of her sentence kicked in, and immediately the way Josephine was holding the knife changed, going from tight and ready to attack to loosely held and shaking slightly, Josephine waving it awkwardly in front of her with an obvious lack of intent to actually stab anyone with it. To make matters worse for the former criminal, her clothes began to change, her cloak, shirt, and pants merging together into a plain brown low-necked dress that reached to her ankles, a loose string tying it up underneath her exposed cleavage, her knife almost getting caught on the loose sleeves that now reached her hands. Alyssa could have easily slapped the dagger aside without the assistance of any magic, but instead stepped forward, causing the now significantly girlier Josephine to gasp and drop the knife, placing her hands on her hips in a feminine pose and glaring angrily at Alyssa.
"You, you horrible woman! " She yelled, her insults now significantly lamer with her unnoticed loss of her vocabulary of curses. "Change me back right this instant, or I'll-"
"I said, you didn't let me finish." Alyssa continued. "Josephine doesn't like violence, and is a friendly girl who wouldn't think to hold a grudge. She has a lovely voice and is an excellent singer, and is currently quite interested in settling down and looking for a job opening at an inn before pursuing her singing."
The bite was taken almost entirely out of Josephine, who looked more ready to cry at her situation that do anything about it. Which left Alyssa to put the finishing touches on her.
"Josephine is also sometimes quite forgetful, and won't remember coming here in about ten minutes. She thinks that she should cope with her situation, and doesn't care much for her old life. Now, let's go you going, shall we?" Alyssa said, giving a sweet smile as she materialised a thick, waterproof cloak over Josephine.
"B-but... What do I do? You, you... But..." Josephine managed to get out. "What'll I do like this? How will I..."
Alyssa noted that her voice was noticeably melodious, and quite pleasant to listen to even when she was in a state that could only be described as completely flustered and semi-coherent. She'd probably be a hit at night at the presumed inn she'd be working in soon with that voice.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you'll work it out on the way back to town. If you see my friend again, tell him not to send people over to my home again, will you?" She said, directing the confused girl over to the door, conjuring up enough money to last a week or two and discreetly concealing it on Josephine's person, before gently shoving her out the door and closing it behind her, ignoring her protests. She waited a minute for her to stop trying to get back in, before hearing her give up and walk away. All in all, she could have been meaner to the person threatening her with a knife. She had done her job though, the girl who walked out was an entirely different person guaranteed not to be recognised as Joe something or other. At this point it really wouldn't be fair to do anything else to the poor girl. Maybe she'd go into town in a disguise and listen to her sing sometime. She had also heard that there was a new restaurant that had been opened up by an overweight but extremely good female chef that might be worth going to while she was there. She really had to get out more, she decided, heading back to her room.