Rachel sighed after a hefty swig of iced tea. “Lemon juice really adds some flavor,” she commented to Janet, sitting across from her. “Maybe add a squeeze?”

“Sorry, lemon juice just doesn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong though, I love me some good iced tea.”

“You can say that again.” Rachel took another bite of her taco.

“Sooo... how’s the shifting been?” inquired Janet at a quieter volume, Rachel swallowing her current bite.

“Oh you know, I’ve been making progress. And I’ve recently been into woman-to-woman transformations. They feel excellent.”

“How is it again... you can’t go from a nonliving form to another nonliving form without returning to the natural you, correct?”

“Yeah,” responded Rachel, finishing her lunch.

“And once you’ve acquired something or someone, you have that form forever?”

“Yep. My mind won’t change though, so I’m still Rachel through and through.”

“I remember you telling me that. So I suppose if you’re done eating we should get back to shopping. I kinda wanna see the new Villa store they installed here...” Janet suggested. “And uh... would you mind maybe disguising yourself this time?”

“Not at all,” replied Rachel with a smirk. “Actually, I might have to take a look around, pick up some new disguises too.” She sipped up the last of her drink, then the two cleaned up and headed across the food court to the ladies’ room. Janet, actually having to go, answered nature’s call as Rachel entered another stall to satisfy other needs, starting with her face. It quietly crunched and squished, rounding out a little bit as she felt her nose lengthen and broaden. Her lips gaining some thickness, they rouged with rosy lipstick, followed by teal eyeshadow painting her eyelids. Darkening to cocoa brown, her hair quickly lengthened and tied itself into a neat ponytail. Finishing the facial changes with a deep tan, she moved onto her arms and torso. Emphasizing her breasts by only a cup size, she elongated her arms after adding an inch of height. Her fingernails dyeing themselves the same hue of blue-green as her eyeshadow, she tanned her upper half to the same shade as her visage, then adjusted her legs simply by packing in a modicum of muscle and tanning herself down to her feet.

Ten seconds later, Rachel’s body had changed into the persona she called Loulia. But Loulia wasn’t complete; her clothing still needed to make its exchange. Pausing for a breather, Loulia shut her eyes and got to it: Her jeans and shirt merged into a silky, flowing black dress that perfectly fit her frame, and by the right leg a single purple crescent arced up from the very bottom of the dress’s skirt all the way up to her hip. She adorned herself with some golden jewelry next, covering her wrists with thin bracelets with some gems hanging from them, then a series of shimmering necklaces stretched into existence, a few reaching below her bust. These were mostly concealed by her new dress, but whatever wasn’t would be after the midnight-violet climbs of fabric unfurled all around her head into a hijab matching the stripe on her dress.

Loulia was a pretty Pakistani.