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Zoe tapped on the keyboard in front of her intently, and the machine dutifully chirped and chimed. To someone else, the technology she was working with may have seemed like a modern marvel, but to her, it was a mundane part of her 9-5 department store job. She glanced up at the clock, only a few minutes to closing. She wouldn’t be able to leave until this last batch of mannequins was processed, so she worked as quickly as she can, hoping she could wrap it up soon without any distractions.
“Hey there Zoe!” Chirped a voice that made Zoe sigh internally, as she knew that the universe had taken its cue to crush her optimistic intentions.
Rachel basically bounced up to her, the woman’s face split with a smile so bright it may as well have been a constellation of stars, and framed with Auburn hair that tumbled past her shoulders. The woman was as fashionable as always in a stylish knee-length dress Zoe was almost sure she got at this very store. She couldn’t be positive, however, that wasn’t her department.
“Hi, Rachel.” Zoe said in as neutral a tone as she was able to manage. The girl sensed excitement or energy like some kind of shark tracing blood in the water.
“Are you just SO excited for your trip?” Rachel beamed, “I can’t believe you still haven’t told me where you’re going? Is it amazing? Oh! Is it somewhere with a beach you can get a nice tan at? Or where you can see some hunky guys…?” She added the last part with a wink, and was clearly about to continue, so Zoe hopped in.
“Oh, nothing like that, just like to keep it to myself is all.” The truth was, Zoe had taken the next while off from work, but hadn’t even planned anything. She just wanted the chance to relax, and get away from work for a while. That wasn’t something Rachel would comprehend, however, so she had simply left the woman guessing.
“Well, then at least let me help you out with your outfits! Come on we have a few minutes before closing, at least tell me the weather where you’ll be going. We get such a great discount here but you don’t seem to ever take advantage of it!” Rachel was basically pouting, looking over at Zoe.
Zoe knew she was right, in a way. For someone who worked at a department store with a frankly mind-boggling assortment of clothes, Zoe knew her style was a bit boyish. She wore simple sneakers and jeans, with a baggy t-shirt (emblazoned with the ‘Ultradeath’ logo, the band she had been most recently obsessed with), and she always kept her dark hair pretty short cut. She’d even have worn a hoodie if management had let her get away with it.
She knew that she wasn’t exactly the ideal candidate to work a clothing store as a salesperson, but then what she lacked in fashion sense, Zoe more than made up for with her technical training.
Rachel continued to chat mindlessly, and Zoe continued to nod and offer the barest of replies, but her focus was on the machine in front of her. The “Plastification of Objects System” or POSE machine was fairly simple in concept and unfathomably complex in design.
The POSE machine was made for one thing, making extremely customizable and posed mannequins. It started with rubber blanks, which looked like fairly realistic humans except made out of a rubber-like gel, not dissimilar to a crash test dummy. Zoe would load up a batch of 6 blanks into the machine, and programmed it to pose and prep each one in a particular way. The machine would then transform each blank into a mannequin completely customized for the display that it would be present at. It allowed the store to have the best clothing displays around, and that counted for more than one may expect in the window shopping world. The best part is once the mannequins were moved off of the display, they could be put back in the POSE, converted back to blanks, and the process could begin again.
Zoe tuned back in to the conversation with Rachel, she thought the woman was talking about possibly putting a streak of color in or hair or some highlights but Zoe wasn’t sure. “Yeah you should do whatever you think is best,” she said casually. “By the way, I finished up the previous batch of mannequins for the evening wear section, didn’t the manager want those on the floor before opening tomorrow? That and the summer dresses I’m working on now.”
Rachel’s eyes went wide as she remembered her last assignments for the day. “Oh, darn! I’ll have to go get that taken care of now before we close!” She walked up and hugged Zoe. Zoe, caught a bit off guard, awkwardly held her arms out before wrapping them around the bubbly woman. “Have so much fun and I can’t wait to hear all about it! And when I see you next, you have to promise to let me give you that fashion makeover I was telling you about.”
Zoe gave a noncommittal shrug and a “We’ll see.” But it seemed like it was enough for Rachel, who scampered off in a bid to get her work done before closing in a few minutes. And Zoe had to do the same.
She was on her last batch of mannequins for the day, and had pre-loaded instructions for dozens of additional mannequins over the last two weeks so that anyone could take care of them in her absence. She had dotted all of her I’s and crossed every last T. She was so, so close to freedom from work for a while.
With a heavy sigh of relief, she pressed the button to process the last batch for the day. The machine whirred happily to life, a progress bar began to appear on the machine, and Zoe turned to leave, a smile growing on her face.
BEEP “WARNING: SYSTEM ERROR. BLOCKAGE DETECTED. PROCESSES SUSPENDED.”
Frustration and fear washed over Zoe in a wave as powerful as a tidal swell. “No. No, no, no.” She muttered to herself, walking back over to the machine. The fear was not about worrying she damaged the machine, or that there was any real danger. No, far worse for her.
“You stupid thing don’t do this to me, right now.” But as if the machine could sense her frustration, it helpfully displayed the one warning error code she desperately hoped to not see. “Blank out of alignment.”
Zoe put her head in her hands, letting out a deep groan. That meant that one of the six blanks inside of the machine wasn’t properly aligned with its bay. It’d be an easy fix if the machine wasn’t running, but she had already pressed the run procedure button, meaning it was technically live even if it had paused. She’d have to spin down the machine, force a restart, wait for it to return to baseline, and THEN fix it. She’d be here another two hours! And all because one stupid blank was an inch out of alignment.
The POSE had no windows or internal cameras due to the nature of its internal workings, so she couldn’t see the wayward blank. But she imagined it in there, taunting her, as if it knew what it was doing and it was laughing.
“Okay… let’s think this through.” Zoe said to herself, grumbling as she looked at the door to the interior chamber. “I could either sit here for another two hours, and deal with that.” Her mind also drifted to the fact that the only other person who would be working late was Rachel. She mentally groaned again.
But then, as if the heavens themselves decided to grant her mercy, inspiration struck. She opened the Administrative panel of the POSE and entered her passcode. “It’s just slightly out of position… probably.” She overrode the warning messages and input a new series of commands for the machine. “All I have to do is go in, put it in place, and get out while the machine still spins up, and I’m out of here.” She set the machine to re-initiate 30 seconds after the main door was closed, and gave the override command to open the front door.
The POSE hissed, letting out the hot air of the interior chamber, and the main door swung inside the chamber as it opened.. Zoe, desperate to be out of here, made her way to the door with purpose and walked inside.
The interior chamber was lit by a dim teal-blue light that barely allowed her to see. The chamber was rectangular and just over half the length of the bus Zoe took to work today. Its walls were filled with various mechanical arms, tubes, and spare blanks set standing into alcoves along the wall. All of which should seem chaotic, but somehow came together in a perfectly-engineered harmony of order.
Except for one wayward chord in that harmony.
The four blanks and 2 mannequins set for re-posing were lined up on their circular platforms around the room. Each one was locked in place by a clamp around one or both ankles designating it as prepared. Zoe looked at the closest blank, and realized that the ankle bracer had instead clamped onto the rubber of the blank’s leg, causing it to be stuck.
It was an unbelievably dumb mistake for Zoe to have made, and she realized she must have been in more of a rush to be out of here than she thought. But, not exactly wanting to be caught doing something dumb like tinkering around in a live POSE machine, she walked up to the blank. She reached down, and tried to push the thing’s leg into position, but it was locked in tight. She tried to pull the clamp apart, and while it gave a little she just didn’t find herself with the strength to fully fight the machine’s iron grasp. Annoyed, Zoe decided to put her weight into it. She grabbed the blank around its waist, squatted down, and started to lift. If she could fully pull the ankle out, she could just re-place it back on the base! She let out an exerted breath, heaving and pulling, feeling as the rubber of the blank stretched and contorted, slowly giving before…
SNAP
Like a rubber band snapping out of one’s hands the blank’s ankle finally gave. And with a surprising amount of elasticity, the thing continued backwards with the momentum Zoe had given it, freeing it from its base and resetting it.
And flying straight into the open doorway.
“NO!” Zoe cried out as she spun around, helpless to do anything else as she watched as the blank risk flying into the wall, damaging the machine.
The rubber doll slammed against the open doorway, causing it to slam close. The POSE machine, sensing the closure, locked the doorway in place.
Zoe stood there stunned, bringing her hands to her face as she processed what she saw.
“T- the door is locked, I can’t get out! I’m going to be stuck here until Rachel finds me!” She stumbled back in shock, how could she have been so stupid!
It was the worst-case scenario, and the worst thing to happen to her in a long while.
For about five seconds at least.
Zoe suddenly felt as a cool metal band clinched around her ankle. She froze. That couldn’t have been…
She looked down slowly, as if those few extra moments of delay would change what her logical mind already acknowledged. Wrapped around her ankle was the same metal brace that had just been stuck on the blank now leaning against the closed door of the POSE machine.
Zoe tried to twist her leg free, but found it locked as if in a vice. She leaned down, trying to find some emergency release button or anything!
“Come on!” Zoe exclaimed, pulling at the uncompliant metal.
ALL FORMS SET The mechanical voice of the POSE helpfully chimed out.
“No…” Zoe muttered to herself, almost in disbelief. Surely the machine didn’t think she was-
INITIALIZING PROCEDURES
“NO! You stupid thing it’s me! Zoe! Your engineer! Master, commander, whatever! Stop!” Zoe cried against the whirring of the POSE’s systems.
But it was no use, Zoe realized that she was stuck. She was going to be trapped in this machine as it posed all of the other mannequins. She sighed, grim acceptance overcoming her. Not only was she going to have to stay late tonight, but her boss was going to absolutely chew her out for being so stupid as to risk damaging the machine by being inside of it while it was running.
“Ugh, I’ll be recalibrating the machine all night. Won’t be getting much sleep it seems…” Zoe said with chagrin, as she at least tried to find some enthusiasm for watching the machine from the inside.
Any enthusiasm died quickly when she heard the next words out of the machine speakers.
BEGININNG DECONTAMINATION
Immediately, Zoe was brought back to present, and a whole new dimension to her terror unfolded.
A memory played in her mind from her first days at the store, being trained by her former manager.
Look, I can not believe I have to explain this again. We just had to let go ANOTHER store attendant who couldn’t remember the one, singular rule for loading mannequins into the POSE. Do. NOT. Forget to take off the clothes! Now I have to write off a few hundred dollars worth of lost merchandise…
All around her, a series of what looked like small laser pointers descended from the ceiling of the machine, set in a vertical row of concentric rings. Zoe, knowing what was about to happen and desperate for a way to avoid it, tried again to pull her leg free, before considering removing her shirt in an attempt to save it.
REMOVING FOREIGN AGENTS
The small devices set themselves to work. Small little beams of energy that went about removing all foreign contaminants before the mannequins could be adjusted. Most of the time, this just involved dirt or dust. But The machine didn’t distinguish between that, and clothing.
Zoe screamed in defiance as she saw the lasers start to get to work on her body. Her skin tingled as the machine went about giving her a perfect bath, but that was not what she was concerned with.
Her Ultradeath shirt started to grow small holes as if invisible moths were rapidly eating it away. The same holes appeared in her jeans, her shoes. And the machine, detecting materials which interrupted its pathway to the ‘blank’ in Zoe’s spot, went about removing them. Her clothes started to disappear, vanishing as if turned to dust themselves as the POSE went about its work.
Zoe felt the cold air of the chamber on her exposed skin, and the cold metal of the floor on her feet as her shoes were eaten away by the decontamination process. She stood there, in nothing but her mismatched underwear as she desperately hoped the machine would stop there.
She was not so lucky.
The decontamination process made quick work of her bra and panties, and Zoe’s pale skin flushed a deep crimson as she stood naked in the chamber along with a bunch of nude mannequins, still trapped by her ankles.
She covered herself with her arms in a desperate attempt to retain some modesty, as if the machine could see or sense her.
“Stupid machine… I was going to wear that to their next concert!” Zoe complained to nothing but the echoing chamber.
“… great.” Zoe said, trying to distract herself from the cold air on her skin. “Now I’m going to be discovered naked to boot. Just great…”
BEGINNING MANNEQUIN DEPOSING
The voice called out, and in some kind of need for distraction from her awful situation, Zoe looked over to the two solid mannequins set further in front of her. The machine brought up a series of four tall lights, almost like tanning bed bulbs, around each of the two mannequins. The lights flashed a golden yellow, and started to rotate as if they stood in a microwave.
Zoe couldn’t help but feel a bit interested in watching the process. Whether or not it was to keep her mind off of the idea of Rachel discovering her naked and trapped, she didn’t care to interrogate the idea.
Slowly, the two porcelain-skinned mannequins slowly had their skins soften, their poses relax. Bit by bit, the mannequins were converted to the rubber forms of the blanks, like the three that currently surrounded Zoe. After only a few minutes, the mannequins were indistinguishable from the other blanks. Their rubber bodies ready to be posed and set again.
Zoe let out a breath.
“Just one more stage to this nightmare… and then all I have to do is find a way to get Rachel to keep quiet about this… which is practically an impossible task.” Zoe thought ruefully.
“Just get it over with.” Zoe called out in defeat, wanting this whole embarrassing debacle to be over so she could deal with the consequences.
The POSE called out obligingly:
BEGINNING BLANK POSING AND PLASTICIZATION
Mechanical arms descended from the ceiling from seemingly everywhere. They caressed each blank like a dance partner, while the same four tower-lights that surrounded the two mannequins suddenly rose from the ground to surround all of the blanks. And Zoe too.
The mechanical arms held their partners, and moved their limbs commandingly. Some had their hands placed on hips, others set on their knees in a seductive pose, one standing proud and tall as if set to model an evening gown. The mechanical arms set them all in position as the lights began to work their magic in reverse.
And yet Zoe was still caught unaware as she suddenly felt cool metal caress her skin, and start to force her body to move.
“Oh no, absolutely not. You’ve subjected me to all of this nonsense but I refuse! Do you hear me you bucket of bolts!”
Zoe kicked out with her one free leg as she attempted to swat away the descending metal appendages. At first she felt like she was actually making some progress. But like Hercules fighting the hydra, as she batted one arm away, it felt like two returned to take its place.
Slowly, Zoe lost the fight and was forced to move like a marionette as the POSE machine set itself to the task of positioning her just perfectly.
Zoe fought all the while, but the POSE machine pulled her onto her tip toes, the ankle bracket increasing in height to accommodate the motion. Her left arm got set into a soft ‘V’ shape fingers set in a delicate curve at the end, while her right arm was kept at an angle near her sides. Metal arms cocked her hips moved her knees. Forced her into position. It even kept her face in a placidly neutral expression with a few well-placed robotic appendages, and Zoe was just counting down the seconds until this stage was done, and she could free herself of these metal megalomaniacs.
Then she felt the lights flip on around her, as they started to spin the way they had for the blanks in the chamber. Zoe rolled her eyes, wondering if this is what her late night snacks fell like in the microwave.
And then she felt the tingle. It was small at first, a cold wash along the tips of her fingers. Zoe tried to flex them on instinct, only for the POSE to hold her in place.
‘Weird…’ Zoe thought to herself as the tingling wave stated to creep along her entire body. It was a tingling breeze, just ever-so slightly prickling her skin. It was more thoroughly concentrated in her left arm, hung in its v shape.
Zoe’s breath hitched as it felt like her left arm became a wave of sensations, hyper-sensitivity at its height. She couldn’t move a muscle under the force of the POSE, but she desperately wanted to be able to see what was happening.
‘St- stupid light. What is it doing to me?’ Zoe thought to herself, helpless to do anything but contemplate what was happening.
The sensations ran all throughout her body. The cool wave cresting around her legs, her arms, her chest. Her breath hitched.
What was happening to her…
In a final, blinding flash of light, the POSE reached her head and she felt the cool prickling sensation wash over her. The cool sensation washed over her, and for a moment it felt as if she was standing naked over a cool lake, the wind washing over her skin and…
She found her mind blanking for a moment in the subtly overwhelming wave of bizarre sensation, and when she came to, the POSE was entering its idle state. The slowly dying sound of motors almost like the satisfied rumbling of some great beast.
The arms retreated towards the ceiling, and finally Zoe felt like she could relax. Perhaps a bit more emphasis on the felt…
Because she couldn’t move.
It was almost a subconscious realization, followed practically immediately when she tried to pull her arm back.
No response.
She tried to blink her eyes.
No movement. Her vision just stayed locked unerringly forward.
She tried to move anything, and stayed as still as a statue.
‘W- what is happening!? What is this!?’ Zoe thought to herself, trying to piece together this insane situation.
And that is when she saw it, in the metal walls of the POSE. A distorted, uneven reflection, but one that gave her the information she needed. There, in the final base of the POSE, was a perfect mannequin. It’s skin was flawless, it’s expression neutral, leaning happy. It’s limbs and body pristine and ready for display.
It was her, the POSE had done this to her!
While her plastic face showed no emotion, inside her mind Zoe was cursing in every way and language she knew how.
‘I- I’m a mannequin… I’m a damn mannequin!’ Zoe honestly couldn’t even believe her own train of logic. It was just too impossible! Was this how the POSE machine acted on normal humans?
‘Wait, if I’m in the machine during the rubberization process, will I go back to normal!?’ Zoe was out of her depth, but the logic held in her mind. ‘Ha! You stupid machine, you aren’t going to get the best of me. I just need to wait until the reversal-‘
The door opened to the room with a HISS, and Zoe’s mind froze as thoroughly as her body.
‘No…’ Zoe thought in muted panic, ‘No, no, no anything but-“
“Hi there everyone! Ready for roll call?” Rachel’s unbelievably chipper voice rang out in the echoing metal chamber, and none of the mannequins were seemingly in the mood to respond.
Zoe was mortified. She was standing there, completely naked in front of Rachel! She felt as if she would blush crimson through the paleness of her new skin, but instead she just stood there.
‘But… maybe I’m wrong’ Zoe considered as she heard Rachel’s footsteps behind her. ‘Maybe I’m not a mannequin, maybe I’m just stuck and Rachel will recognize me!’ She tried not to dwell on the scenario that would lead to…’
Rachel bounced into her peripheral vision, Zoe held a mental breath, and then the blonde woman walked past her without a second glance! If Zoe needed any further proof about what had happened to her, that had sealed away any doubts.
Rachel approached the mannequin furthest forward in the machine. It was a male mannequin, set as if it was meant to be holding two dumbbells, flexing and working out.
“Well Mister, seems like you’re going to athletic wear!” Rachel pulled the mannequin away from its stand, and set it on a dolly attached to the POSE’s wall. She walked out with her new companion, humming something under her breath as she left the room.
’S- she just walked right past me’ Zoe thought, astonished. ‘I- is she stupid!? Surely she recognized me even like this!’ Zoe fumed, trying not to think about how little she knew what she currently looked like. Right now, all she could do was wait.
Rachel came back a few minutes later, and retrieved the next mannequin in line. Then the next. And the next. An agonizing eternity passed as Zoe could do nothing but feel the cool air on her skin, and wonder what will happen next.
Eventually, Rachel came back for the last mannequin. She walked in and stood right in front of Zoe, who mentally screamed at the woman to recognize her.
Rachel came right up to her, looked her up and down. Having her coworker look at her naked was humiliating, and sent a charge of adrenaline through her body.
“Wait… hold on a moment…” Rachel said, as if trying to parse through a difficult problem.
‘Yes!’ Zoe exclaimed, trying not to focus on how embarrassed she was going to be having to explain exactly what happened. ‘Rachel you know me I’m-’
“You are PERFECT for the window display. You’re coming with me!” Rachel exclaimed as she reached her arms around Zoe’s waist.
Zoe would have blushed at the intimate contact before she suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground as if she weighed nothing, and being sat down on the dolly.
‘No, no you have to recognize me! LOOK! With your eyes! You can’t be this dense Rachel!’ Zoe mentally shouted at her.
But Rachel just stepped behind the dolly and pushed. Zoe was taken out of the POSE machine like she wanted, but as a mannequin!
Zoe wanted to sprint right back into the machine the second she realized she was being wheeled through the store naked! She didn’t exactly feel thankful at the moment, but she did count herself at least somewhat lucky that it was late enough that Rachel was the only employee still here.
Zoe wondered for a second where Rachel was taking her, before realizing the obvious as the room in front of her loomed into view. It was well lit, nestled in the back of the store in the employee-only section. And it chilled Zoe to the plastic bones.
The dressing room.
Rachel wheeled Zoe in, before taking her off of the dolly and setting her down.
“Oh I have just the absolute perfect outfit for you!” Rachel said as if to a friend while shopping.
Then, with the enthusiasm of a child on Christmas, Rachel got to work.
Without much fanfare, she walked back up to Zoe, and looked at the top of her head. “Hmmm…” She wondered aloud. “You have lovely hair, but I think blonde would fit the outfit better.”
And with a flick of her wrist, Rachel pulled the hair off of Zoe’s head like it was a wig.
‘W- what!? Give me back my hair! Blonde!? No absolutely not I refuse!’ Zoe tried once again to move. It was a futile effort but she refused to do otherwise.
But Rachel quickly returned with a blonde wig, setting it snugly on Zoe’s head. Blonde strands dangled in front of Zoe’s face infuriatingly. As if each one was meant to taunt her.
Oh she and Rachel were going to have words when she was back to normal.
But her tormenter didn’t stop there. She pulled out what looked to be a set of pens, and applied a small amount of faux-makeup to her face, to accentuate whatever outfit she was planning on.
Zoe was fuming, but she couldn’t exactly stop Rachel from painting her face like a portrait.
Once satisfied, Rachel moved onto her next step. She casually walked over to Zoe’s bent right arm, twisted it, and popped it off her shoulder like it was nothing.
‘Did… did you just take my arm you psychopath!? Give it back!’ Zoe couldn’t believe it, had the POSE seriously transformed her so thoroughly? Was she… was she just a mannequin.
But nothing could stop Rachel from quickly detaching her other arm, then both her legs, and leaving her a torso being held in the air by the grinning woman.
“Now, for the extra fun part!” Rachel said with a bubbly energy.
She pulled out a pair of teal-blue underwear for Zoe.
Most stores wouldn’t bother putting underwear on their mannequins, but the store had a reputation, and it wasn’t borne from half-measures.
Zoe hadn’t been dressed by anyone else since she was a child. And yet here she was, limbless and being dolled up by Rachel of all people!
She clasped the bra around her back, slid the panties up her short thighs, then reattached Zoe’s legs.
Zoe breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief as she felt her legs reattach, grateful Rachel didn’t take them away. But that gratefulness quickly ended as she saw the rest of her outfit.
Rachel quickly pulled a dress over Zoe’s head, resting it on her shoulders. It was like a white and blue blur to the mannequin, and it was only in the dressing room’s full-length mirror she got a look at her outfit.
It went just above her knees, and was mostly white with a blue floral print. It was pretty, and feminine, and the type of clothing Zoe would not be caught dead in usually.
So needless to say, she was not thrilled.
But at least Rachel paid her back by reattaching her arms. Less so when she accessorized with several bracelets, and set a wicker bag or picnic basket in the crook of her arm, as if it was designed to go there.
Which, Zoe realized, it had been.
A straw sunhat with a matching blue ribbon was set atop her head, and Zoe’s outfit was complete.
It had taken only a few minutes, and Zoe couldn’t help but gape at her reflection in the mirror.
That view only lasted a few seconds longer, as Rachel packed Zoe back onto the dolly.
“You look GORGEOUS!” Rachel said genuinely, pushing Zoe deeper into the store.
‘Gorgeous!? No, take me back and give me some normal clothes! I’m not some doe-eyed summer blonde! Rachel!!’
But Rachel just continued to yap about how good Zoe looked and how she was going to look so great at the front of the store.
‘Wait… the front of the store?’ Zoe realized in horror that Rachel was pushing her towards the very front entrance, and the displays in front of the enormous glass windows of the storefront.
‘Rachel, not there, no don’t put me there!’ Zoe pleaded.
Zoe wanted to go back into the POSE immediately. Barring that, she should at least be put somewhere where as few people as possible would see her in this humiliating situation! But the storefront… Thousands of people passed by every day!
And they would see her like this…
Zoe tried to break free of her plastic prison for what now must have been dozens of attempts, to no avail.
Rachel picked Zoe off of the dolly, and moved her towards an empty pedestal right in front of the glass.
She set Zoe down and with a CLICK, Zoe felt as an ankle brace locked into place on her leg.
“There, all set! Oh everyone is going to LOVE you tomorrow!” Rachel said with an enthusiastic tone to her voice that made Zoe want to groan.
“Good night! See you in the morning!” Rachel waved as she walked off.
‘Wait, no… Hold on Rachel don’t go!’ Zoe thought, desperate. She was at the very front of the store, this was insane, she had to be changed back. She needed Rachel to realize that she wasn’t a mannequin, that she shouldn’t be there!
After a few minutes, the lights turned off around the store. Rachel walked out the front door, locked up, and waved at Zoe. Leaving the woman to her thoughts.
Zoe looked forward, and despite the darkness, could see a bit of her reflection in the store’s glass panel. Besides the glimpse earlier, this was the best look she had gotten of her current body.
‘It’s hard to believe that’s me…’ Zoe thought, almost as if to reassure herself that her eyes hadn’t betrayed. She was forced to stare right at her own reflection. Her subtle makeup, the blue and white floral sundress, her slightly-askew hat… her face completely rendered in beautiful, pristine plastic.
But was it strange that the hardest thing for Zoe to process was her hair? She had possessed jet black hair all her life, not even falling into the single-streak dyed hair phase so many of her friends had. But the wavy blonde wig that now rested on her head made her look like a different person.
It was about as far away from Zoe’s persona as she could possibly imagine. But a distant part of her had to admit the store did at least have a sense of style to its outfits. She just wished she wasn’t the one modeling them…
Unable to look away, but trying to avoid lingering on that thought, she started to ponder.
‘Okay… this is bad. But, maybe it won’t be as disastrous as it seems.’ She considered the situation, trying to piece through the possibilities.
‘Every mannequin gets reposed after being brought down from display, and if that thing did this to me, then it could probably change me back! I just need to be patient, bide my time. Well, as if I have any choice in that.’ She laughed ruefully to herself.
Her thoughts like that continued for a while, but how long was impossible to say. She had no clock, and no other people were meandering the mall’s pathways after closing. Nothing to do, but wait.
Day 1
As it turned out, mannequins don’t necessarily ‘sleep’ per say, but at some indeterminate point Zoe felt her thoughts drift, her mind relax, and she just… zoned out. But for someone as perennially stressed-out as Zoe, she had to admit it was the greatest night’s rest she’d had in a while.
She hadn’t realized that the sun had risen until the skylight had fully illuminated the malls hallways. But it wasn’t that that bothered Zoe, it was the fact that the light wasn’t what ‘woke’ her from her trance.
It was the janitor cleaning off the windows right in front of her. The man was just about done cleaning off some smears on the glass, and he was looking right at Zoe! She wanted to squirm, realizing that this was the first person seeing her like this other than Rachel. And he was so nonchalant! Shouldn’t he act at least somewhat embarrassed at seeing her stuck like this!
But those thoughts were her initial emotional kneejerk reaction to the truth. All he saw was one mannequin amongst dozens in the store and he moved on as if nothing happened.
Zoe’s heart felt like it started to race inside her chest, even if she knew that wasn’t true.
‘Okay, okay. Look its just a bunch of dumb customers. They’re going to look, shop, and not even notice you, so don’t even notice them. Just ignore them the way you always do at work, that’s the job of the sales staff. Just ignore them…’
Zoe started to repeat the phrase like a mantra, as the mall slowly started to fill with more and more people. More gazes wandering over her.
The first wave of people that entered her store were the employees, and while Rachel was among them, she gave Zoe only a passing glance. They were all too focused on getting the store ready for the day, and Zoe could only bristle at being ignored so easily by the few people who may actually recognize her! Her entire, well, everything notwithstanding at the moment.
The first customers came just after opening, and it was there that Zoe realized that it would actually be much better to be ignored. A couple, a man and a woman right around Zoe’s age stopped by first. Their conversation muffled by the glass as they approached, but quickly became clearer.
“Oh, that dress is so cute! Do you think it would look that good on me?” The woman asked, teasingly poking her partner as he chuckled.
Zoe felt both of their eyes wandering over her. Simultaneously looking at her and almost through her as they focused on the clothing she wore. She couldn’t describe it, but she felt a small flutter in her stomach at their attention. A deep, subconscious part of her would almost describe it as a small thrill.
She wanted to tell them off for staring, or shy away, or simply go put on a different outfit, but she was stuck their under her gaze. The woman was clearly trying to imagine herself in the outfit, the man Zoe wasn’t sure if he was imagining his partner in the outfit or Zoe out of it.
“I think it would look even better, come on let’s go find an attendant.” The man laughed in turn, pulling her along. The couple all smiles and loving banter as they made their way inside.
All in all, the interaction couldn’t have lasted more than 30 seconds, and yet it lingered in her mind. It was all she could focus on, that feeling of them looking at her like she was just part of the decor. It was demeaning! How dare they! And how dare they leave so quickly…
That last, subtle thought was drowned out by the next set of customers. And then afterwards by the next several dozen.
Zoe tried desperately to reach that zen sensation from the night before, but she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, whenever a new set of eyes lingered on her she found herself brought to full, undivided attention at the sensation. It was like a reactive instinct in her at being watched in the wilderness, except she couldn’t do anything to escape it.
Men, women, families. Hundreds over the course of the day passed by her. Some only glanced at her. Some let their gazes linger. Some actively complimented the outfit, or considered Zoe in such a way that let her know they approved of her outfit.
An outfit that she had no interest in wearing whatsoever. But throughout the day, her blonde, beautiful reflection stared back at her from the glass.
‘Ughh…’ Zoe sighed to herself, before finally acknowledging, grudgingly, ‘This is awful. But… I suppose that if I had to be stuck in this situation at least I’m stylish. For others, of course…’
Zoe’s thoughts swirled like this as the fluttering sensation filled her the rest of the day. The sunset had tinted the skylight an orange purple by the time the last customers were all-but-thrown out of the store. The rest of the employees started to pack up.
Zoe saw in the reflection someone she had never expected to be excited to see. But she’d be lying if watching Rachel walking towards her with that bubbly energy of hers wasn’t amazing to see.
‘Rachel! Look that was the strangest experience of my life. I know I’ve never been able to rely on you for much but PLEASE just take me to the POSE and repose me.’ Zoe thought at Rachel desperately, as if trying to develop telepathy.
But Rachel had other plans. “You were quite popular today! You’re still looking so beautiful like that!” She beamed up at Zoe “We sold through a ton of those dresses, and they were brand new merchandise too! Keep it up and you’ll be one of our most popular mannequins yet! Sleep well!”
Rachel beamed at Zoe, before simply walking to the front door, locking up, and leaving. The lights soon turned out, and Zoe was left in a familiar feeling of isolation.
‘D- does she always talk to the mannequins like this?’ Zoe wondered, baffled, before coming to herself and realizing that she was stuck here for at least another day.
‘Okay, that was… a bizarre day. But if they run out of dresses, they’ll have to change out the front stand, then I’ll get my chance to change back. I should… I should probably take some time to think through my plan for when that happens.’
But try though Zoe might, she found herself tired from the day, and entered that meditative state within minutes. She only woke the next morning with the new opening shift…
Day 3
It was at the end of her third day in the storefront display that Zoe finally got her chance.
The past two days she had gotten more and more used to the bizarre sensations of her new body. People looking at her always forced her to pay attention, but in the absence of people she found herself relaxing faster and faster into that zen-like state. It at least made it so she wasn’t bored, and the nights… well if she had to miss part of her vacation, she may as well get a chance to relax.
She’d even gotten a bit less averse to her reflection in the mirror. She still wasn’t used to looking like that, but the mind could adjust to anything with enough time, she supposed. In the times where she was not paid as much attention, she fantasized about what she was doing in that outfit. She imagined herself walking in a shady forest path, away from people, bringing a small basket of food for a quaint lunch somewhere. It wasn’t her style, but it helped pass the time in those brief moments of reprieve.
But now, at the end of her third full day, Rachel (who had continued to speak as if they were friends at the end of each day) approached.
“Well, you did it!” Zoe’s fellow blonde called out to her, as if congratulating her. “Our entire inventory of those summer dresses has been totally sold out, which means its time to get you a brand new outfit, isn’t that exciting!”
Rachel clapped her hands and stepped up onto the platform Zoe stood on, unlocking her ankle and setting her down onto the transport dolly.
‘Finally! This is it, I’m going to get out of this prison!’ Zoe couldn’t help but contain her excitement as the vibrations from the dolly reverberated through her plastic body. Rachel wheeled her over to the changing area, and once again removed Zoe’s limbs to disrobe her, leaving her a fully naked mannequin once more, and heading towards the POSE.
Zoe was still mortified at being naked in front of Rachel, but her mind was laser-focused on the POSE machine and her opportunity to escape. Nothing else mattered right now, despite the fluttering in her chest at the intimate contact with her coworker.
Rachel brought Zoe into the familiar machine, and set her down into position in the POSE. Zoe never thought she’d be so happy to be inside this machine on her vacation!
Her feet locked into place, and as soon as Zoe’s fellow mannequins were loaded, the door to the POSE closed, and Zoe was left to await her freedom.
Zoe had programmed several weeks’ worth of new outfits for the machine, so all Rachel had to do was press the “Go” button. Zoe was less surprised than she expected when it still took what felt like an eternity for Rachel to turn the machine on.
But turn it on she did. And Zoe had never been so happy to hear the POSE machine’s emotionless monotone.
ALL FORMS SET
INITIALIZING PROCEDURES
Zoe felt her plastic skin tickle as the machine went through its decontamination steps. While she was still furious at the machine for destroying her clothes, now without such accessories it was just removing the dust and dirt from her body.
But then came the three words she had longed to hear.
BEGINNING MANNEQUIN DEPOSING
Suddenly, a warm light enveloped her, and her skin begin to tickle as if she was standing in intense sunlight on a summer day. She felt her entire body begin to relax, as if she had been tensing her muscles and finally got a chance to breathe.
Breathe… breathe! She could breathe! As if in a moment, Zoe felt herself sag in place as an overwhelming rush of sensations came to her. She could move, she was back to normal!
Zoe patted herself down, trying to see if there were any lingering changes. As she looked, the only thing she noticed is that her skin was almost completely free of blemishes. Scars, moles, all gone in a moment.
Well, Zoe could accept that. She felt her hair fall over her face and idly reached up to set the blonde lock behind her ear.
“Wait…” Zoe said, pulling the hair back in front of her vision. Then, furious, added “You stupid machine, you didn’t change my hair back!”
Zoe was still a bubbly blonde! She went to pull the wig off of her hair, before wincing in pain and realizing that it was as attached to her scalp.
“Just another reason to be out of this stupid thing.” Zoe said, annoyed, and actively trying not to think about the more positive sensations of being a mannequin.
“Rachel!” Zoe called out, voice echoing in the chamber. “Rachel can you hear me! Stop the POSE!”
Her echoing voice. Then, silence.
“RACHEL!” Zoe called out louder. She was right outside wasn’t she, unless… Zoe’s face turned into a grimace as she remembered how often Rachel would use the POSE time to take a break or move other mannequins around. Zoe always told her she had to stay nearby in case there was a problem!
BEGINNING BLANK POSING AND PLASTICIZATION
A problem like this!
Filled with renewed fury, Zoe fought back against the arms that came down to pose her once more, along with all of the other mannequin blanks.
“Stupid thing! Stop! You are NOT doing this to me again! Do you hear me! I know how you work, I’ll dismantle you bolt by bol- MMPFHH”
The POSE cared as little this time as it had the last time as it moved her into position, and positioned her face in a mask of calm, somewhat happy repose that was not at all reflective as what she felt inside.
But then she felt the lights, and it was all she could focus on.
A few minutes later, and Zoe was once again a mannequin. This time, she was posed a bit awkwardly. She had one arm vaguely resting above her hip, while the other was held down and away, as if meaning to hold or wrap around something.
‘And of course I’m still blonde…’ Zoe grumbled as she was now forced to, once again, remain a mannequin. The transformation hadn’t been as intense on her mind that time, now that she could expect it, but still she couldn’t help but focus on the scenario.
‘Okay… calm down.’ Zoe thought to herself. ‘That didn’t work, but the great news is it showed I could be turned back with no issues, and all mannequins end up going back through the POSE at some point or another. So…’
So all she had to do was wait. She was stuck, infuriatingly so, but now she knew she had an out. If she could only muster the patience. She just needed Rachel to actually be there next time…
The door hissed open, and Rachel strode back in, as if to taunt poor Zoe.
There was a very brief moment where Zoe could trick herself into believing Rachel had heard something, but that passed as the chipper woman hummed to herself and went about setting up the mannequins. As with before, Zoe ended up being last.
Eventually, Rachel came up to Zoe, and using the mannequin’s awkwardly-posed arm as leverage, lifted her onto the dolly.
Was Zoe imagining it, or did Rachel’s touch on her plastic skin feel… better than before? Perhaps she had simply been too distracted by the insanity of the situation before but…
Ironically, Zoe’s plastic skin felt even more sensitive to the touch. The graze of Rachel’s skin, the press of the air on her “naked” body, it was a symphony of sensations that she hadn’t really paid attention to before.
It was when they had gotten back to the dressing area that Zoe tuned in to what Rachel was blabbering to her about.
“Oh just you wait, it’s a big day for you tomorrow and I want you to look your best!” Rachel said. “Just think of me like your best friend getting you ready for the main event!”
‘What in the world is she talking about?’ Zoe said, using her limited vision to try and see what kinds of apparel options were around her.
She mentally shuddered in a mixture of pleasure and bizarre sensation as Rachel popped off her arms, once again feeling the loss of sensation in them as the process repeated with her legs.
Rachel was going on and on about how good Zoe was going to look, and Zoe had nothing else to do but listen and be dressed. So, even though it wasn’t her usual style, she accepted the compliments and tried to puzzle out what display she would be in.
The first clue was the underwear that Rachel was putting on her. It was lacy, intricate lingerie of pure white. The silk-patterned bra fit her perfectly. And with some clever placement of her then-reattached legs, she was able to slide Zoe into a set of pure-white panties and garters, of a sheer material that was just this side of transparent.
Zoe blushed inwardly. She had tried to imagine that she was a bit more used to this, as bizarre as the thought was. But this was far more… intimate than her last pair of modeled underwear. She could only hope that this too would be hidden beneath layers of clothing.
But as Rachel put on a pair of matching white 3-inch heels and set her upright, Zoe saw it, and realized that the underwear would be the least of her worries.
It was a wedding dress.
The sight of it shocked Zoe out of her senses for so long that it took Rachel grabbing the dress off of its hanger to get her mind to chug into motion again.
“Ta-da! It’s absolutely gorgeous isn’t it! Oh I think you’re going to be so happy with your big day! And your hubby-to-be isn’t bad himself!” She added the last note with a wink to her mannequin friend.
Zoe looked the dress over as best as she could. It had a flowing train, with abundant skirts and a pale white material which shone in the luminescent lights of the dressing room. The dress would leave one’s arms fully exposed, and as if that wasn’t enough skin, a neckline which would leave a tasteful amount of her chest on display.
‘No….. No don’t you dare Rachel! You hear me! I’d rather go out in my underwear, no way!’ Zoe tried instinctively to back away. It was just so… feminine. A perfect bride’s perfect dress, and something she had never expected to be within a million miles of her.
But if the universe was reaching a point where it was willing to listen to her requests, it apparently still hadn’t gotten there yet. Rachel carefully clothed Zoe in the dress, positioning it perfectly on her body. She clicked Zoe’s arms back into place, and set a small veil over her head, pulled back over her hair to make her face more visible.
Zoe felt each and every swish of the fabric along her skin. Where the skirts rested on her hips, where the veil rested behind her. She wanted to blush so furiously it would break through the pale plastic exterior, but no luck.
She couldn’t remember a time she had ever worn anything even remotely like this! Even the dress yesterday had been tame by comparison. But as Zoe stood aghast at her new outfit, Rachel spoke up.
“Oh-Em-Gee, you are absolutely gorgeous! The other mannequins are going to swoon when they see you!” Rachel chimed, as happy as always. “You look so beautiful!”
And, a part of Zoe had to admit Rachel was right. The outfit, as with every other one in the store, was immaculate on her. It wasn’t her style, and she looked like a stranger in the floor-length mirror of the dressing room but… she was beautiful like this.
The thought ended quickly as Rachel loaded her up onto the dolly and moved her out into the display area.
“Sorry, I can’t exactly play ‘Here Comes the Bride’ right now but I’m sure this’ll have to do!” Rachel giggled to herself as she pushed Zoe in front of her.
Zoe wanted to roll her eyes at her coworker, at least before she saw what she meant. Set on a central pedestal in the store, near the bridal section, was a single mannequin. It was a male mannequin, dressed in the sharpest three-piece tuxedo Zoe had ever seen. It’s pose was a bit awkward, right arm held out in almost a mirror of Zoe’s own, as if reaching back towards her.
‘Oh, there’s no way…’ Zoe thought to herself, in a mixture of defeat and shock.
“It’s always so beautiful when the bride walks down the aisle!” Rachel laughed again. “Wait, does this make me your flower girl? Or I suppose I should be in front of you, instead of pushing from behind…”
Rachel’s friendly banter continued as Zoe approached her ‘husband.’ Rachel picked up Zoe, and moved her into position on the pedestal, a small ankle clip locking around her right ankle.
Her left arm wrapped around the male mannequin’s waist, just as his own wrapped around hers, resting comfortably just above her hip. Two pieces of a puzzle, perfectly interlocked.
Rachel spent a fair bit of time ruffling and setting her dress’s train before standing in front of them, smiling ear to ear with a job well done.
“You two are just the absolute perfect couple! People are going to love you tomorrow! And maybe you’ll give some other brides and grooms-to-be some good luck! Rest well, it’s a big day tomorrow!”
Rachel all but skipped off, humming a wedding choral to herself as she went about shutting the lights off, and locking up for the night.
Leaving Zoe alone with her mannequin-partner.
“This… is going to be something else…” Zoe thought to herself as the lights went out.
Day 4
Once again, Zoe found herself relaxing, zoning out, or whatever she wanted to call it when Rachel left. Even if the entire evening she had felt the presence of the male mannequin next to her.
When she woke up, it was when the morning shift was once again setting up the store.
A woman, an employee Zoe didn’t recognize, was setting out the day’s inventory on a table in front of Zoe, when she swore she met the woman’s gaze.
That same, tingling feeling from the day before returned. The woman, looking at her, taking her in and Zoe could not do a thing about it. Tell her off, shy away, nothing.
“Well, evening shift really outdid themselves with the bridal display, I’ll have to see who set it up.” The woman said it casually, and then went about her day.
But the compliment rushed in Zoe’s ears, fueling that tingling and her embarrassment.
It was a feeling she would get very used to over the next day.
Soon, the store opened in earnest, and people started to crowd the store. She felt each and every pair of eyes that glanced over her, and each one she wanted to fight off.
This… this dress was so embarrassing! Yes, it was beautiful. Yes, she was catching several women asking about the style of dress she was wearing for themselves. But… but she should be mortified! To be on display like this, just set dressing for all of these strangers!
It was as if the time in the front window had been reset, and she was back to the beginning of her acceptance of the day, potentially longer, in front of her.
At least she wasn’t the sole focus of attention. The male mannequin next to her made them a matched set.
‘Ugh, I can’t just keep thinking the phrase male mannequin over and over,’ Zoe thought to herself. She couldn’t exactly ignore his presence, much as she wanted to at first.
Zoe had never named a single mannequin she worked with, blank or otherwise, but now… well its not as if she had anything better to do.
‘Kyle. Your name is Kyle.’ It was a snap decision, an errant thought, but when it ran through her mind it felt like it fit. ‘Look, Kyle, let’s just try and lay low. I know we’re literally on display and all but still. You can do that, right?’
Kyle just stood there, laying his arm around her as if comforting her.
Just then, a couple passed by, the two women holding hands looked up at the two of them, complemented Zoe’s dress, asked an attendant where they may find her heels, and left.
Zoe felt her eyes on her, that tingling building inside of her with each moment.
‘Hey Kyle’ Zoe started.
Kyle obligingly stood in silence to listen.
‘How… do you do this every day. Just sit there and feel all of these people looking at you?’
Kyle just smiled amiably.
‘Typical, so hard to get a conversation out of a man.’ Zoe laughed, distracting herself from the feeling of the eyes on her.
And yet… she started to wonder throughout the day. Kyle was just a mannequin, but it meant he wasn’t beholden to this embarrassment, to this squirming inside of her frozen body.
Yes, she couldn’t change her outfit. Yes, this was embarrassing to be on display like this. And yet… it wasn’t as if she could control it, could she? There was nothing she could do until she was put back into the POSE machine and was able to make her escape.
So why worry about each and every pair of eyes on her? To them, she was just another mannequin. Not even the only mannequin on display right now. Why not just… let them. At least for now.
Day 5
The last portion of the previous day had passed so much faster than she had expected. Zoe had tried not to let the eyes on her bother her as much, and she found it much more… pleasant than she had expected.
She had instead made a game out of making stories for all the mannequins she could see in the area. Forming a complex web of relationships.
There was Terry, the male sportswear model who was gazing longingly across the way to the businesswear model, who herself was dressed in a fine office pantsuit. She imagined that they had met in the gym one day after her long shift, and he was trying to find a chance to ask her out.
There was Louise, who was dressed in a fine set of slacks and cute blouse that would fit right in on the streets of some European city. She imagined she had an accent but couldn’t place where. Louise was involved in a love triangle with the other two mannequins in her section. But when one had been removed overnight, she imagined that Louise had made her decision.
The dozen or so mannequins she could see in her limited view of the massive store all had their own stories to Zoe, and it had made her feel more at ease.
And then there was Kyle. Zoe had crafted about half a dozen stories about where he came from, but eventually she decided that he was an engineer, working updating electrical grids in the surrounding areas.
Her daydreaming hadn’t gone so far as to include Zoe herself, but she had all kinds of stories she imagined Kyle had taken part in.
But Zoe’s biggest change had been in her own perception. She had given all of the other mannequins names, stories, personalities, drama. And none of them cared that people were looking at them.
Why should Zoe?
Zoe hadn’t exactly lost that sense of embarrassment of people looking at her, but… she didn’t exactly resist it as strongly.
Every glance still filled her with that strange flutter inside of her. But now she could admit something else.
It felt nice.
It was still strange, but… but the feeling of all of those eyes on her. It felt good! It was a shocking thing to realize but it was the truth. Every single compliment now filled her with that strange pleasure, that embarrassment, and a new sense of budding pride in different measures.
And every compliment she received, she realized something else. Rachel was quite good at her job. That realization was almost as shocking as the first.
Zoe had always written off Rachel’s bubbly attitude, the way she had for most women like her over her life. She had never gotten along with such people before but… but Rachel was clearly way more clever and competent than her bubbly persona would let on, as her displays always seemed to get the most attention.
Displays like Zoe.
Zoe hadn’t seen Rachel since she set her on display. When Zoe got out of this, maybe she owed Rachel an apology. Or maybe a swift kick in the pants for not helping her get out of this situation. Zoe still had some time to decide.
Day 8
The past several days had passed much faster than her first days in the front window. The rotating cast of characters in her workplace dramas expanded greatly, and Kyle was there to listen to her gossip. He was a great listener that way.
And all the while, they stood there. The picture-perfect couple that all of the others were not-so-secretly jealous over during their big wedding day.
The dress now felt like an extension of Zoe’s own skin. While it still felt odd to be wearing it, she was no longer uncomfortable with the idea. She resolved that maybe, just maybe, when she was out of this situation she could live with having one dress in her wardrobe again. Maybe a different color, though…
It was almost a surprise when at the close of the eighth day on display she saw Rachel again. And despite herself, Zoe felt herself feel happy at the sight of her friend.
“You two have been amazing!” The woman clapped, the rest of the store having emptied out by this point. “It’s almost sad to have to move you two to a different part of the store, but management has its policies…”
Rachel pouted as she unclipped Zoe from the stand, followed by Kyle.
Zoe’s mind started to race again as she realized she would be in the POSE machine soon! She tried not to focus on the strange feeling of emptiness of not having Kyle’s arm wrapped around her. That feeling of loss.
Instead, she focused her attention, clearing her mind of the pleasant daydreams of the past few days.
‘Rachel! I’m so happy to see you. Listen, just STAY NEAR THE MACHINE THIS TIME!’ Zoe asked the woman as she wheeled the two of them to the dressing room.
Zoe was almost unphased by the undressing this time. She had spent so long as a mannequin, that what more could it hurt for Rachel to see her undressed one more time?
Rachel was telling Zoe about how many compliments she had gotten for her displays the previous days, and how excited she was for the next one. Zoe found herself nodding along mentally, even as she and Kyle were moved back towards the POSE machine.
Zoe felt herself being set into the base of the familiar machine. Kyle was placed two rows in front of her. She even recognized a few of the others in the POSE, and was shocked to see them out of their outfits.
Rachel walked up to Zoe, and whispered conspiratorially. “So… management gave me permission to set up a display of my choosing. And I want your help with it!”
Rachel shushed the air in front of Zoe, as if swearing her to secrecy. “So the person who usually sets up your poses is a very nice woman named Zoe, but… I can edit your poses as well, though she doesn’t know. It’s our little secret!”
‘Wait- you can use the POSE!?’ Zoe was genuinely shocked, she had just assumed she was the only one who had the training or experience to do it. Rachel had all this time?
Wait… but that meant Zoe had absolutely no idea what type of pose Rachel could put her in.
“So I’ll set you up nice and neat! Oh you are going to LOVE this!” Rachel beamed at her.
‘Tempting as that is, you won’t get the chance!’ Zoe realized, as if in inspiration. Surely this meant that Rachel would stay nearby, all she had to do was yell out the moment she could!
Rachel stepped to the doorway, but then Zoe heard a sound that made her stomach drop out from beneath her.
The chipper ringtone of Rachel’s phone echoed in the metallic chamber. It rang for only a few seconds before Rachel’s voice answered “Oh heyyyyy! Are we still on for tonight? Yeah I’ll be out of here soon! I just need to finish up. Hold on, my service is so bad in the back, let me start something real quick and move to the front of the store so I can hear you! Yay! I’m so excite-”
The door closed, and Zoe wanted to slam her palm into her forehead. She knew then that this wouldn’t be her chance either. Through the walls, she heard the click of Rachel’s heels retreating towards the front of the store, her voice chatting all the while.
That was until another voice drew her attention.
ALL FORMS SET
INITIALIZING PROCEDURES
BEGINNING MANNEQUIN DEPOSING
Once again, Zoe felt herself return to vitality under the friendly light of the POSE. She took a deep breath, stretching her muscles. Her muscles felt relaxed, and her skin was even more free of blemishes than the first time. It was as if her movements felt fluid, languid.
She tucked the lock of blonde hair out of her face, then made an effort to escape at least.
“HEY RACHEL! YOU THERE?” No response from the outside. Just a deafening echo inside.
“… figures” Zoe said, frustrated.
But at this point she was familiar with the procedure. Rachel wasn’t there, and this machine was going to have its way despite her wishes. Why fight it?
Zoe dedicated her brain power to instead wondering what had gotten Rachel so giddy? Not as if the woman was ever anything but giddy but…
BEGINNING BLANK POSING AND PLASTICIZATION
“Well, here we go again” Zoe said to the POSE as its many arms descended, and began to pose her.
This time, while she put up a very token resistance, for the most part she was as easy to pose as the other blanks in the machine.
What was different this time, is that the machine made her lie down.
Her base slid over to the wall, and locked in place, making it so that she was lying on her side, legs slightly bent.
“Wait… what!?” Zoe genuinely said in shock. She had no idea the POSE had this functionality. She had never even thought to try.
Rachel wasn’t lying it seemed about her POSE experience, and she may even have a thing or two to teach Zoe.
The machine set one arm behind her, supporting her weight, and the other resting teasingly along her thigh. Her legs rested on top of each other slightly, entwined tantalizingly.
Zoe thought she was past this feeling, but she blushed regardless. She was posed, unquestionably, seductively. As if she was set to be placed on a bed awaiting a lover.
But she knew enough at this point to not waste her energy fighting back, and let the POSE finish its work.
Before she knew it, she was once again frozen in plastic, her enticing pose making her the only mannequin lying down.
She realized she hadn’t had a chance to sit down in over a week. She pondered on that while trying to keep her mind off the thought of her being stuck in this pose for who knows how long.
Rachel returned after some time, and this time went straight to Zoe.
“Oh… you turned out even more perfect than I imagined! Let’s get you dressed quickly!”
Rachel picked up Zoe’s frozen form and rushed her over to the dressing room.
Zoe’s heart began to beat faster. She had an inkling of what this may be, and part of her hoped she was wrong.
A small, almost invisible part of her very much hoped she was right.
Rachel took off Zoe’s legs and arms, meaning she had to lay her torso on the work table like some kind of Greek bust of a goddess.
“Just wait until we get you in this!” Rachel called out, and held up an oh-so-small amount of fabric.
Zoe gulped.
The lingerie set was made up of a pair of lacy black panties and bra, with a set of garters and a pair of stockings to boot. It was intricate, lacy, enticing.
And it was going to be her new outfit.
Zoe’s mind raced. She had come so far in her time as a mannequin and yet this… this was too much! At least… she thought it was, right.
That small part of her whispered that she knew she wanted to feel what it was like to wear it.
Rachel dressed Zoe, and the latter felt every single square centimeter of the undergarments on her skin. Each clasp, or motion that Rachel made sent a tantalizing shiver down Zoe’s body. There was so little there, so little covered. She couldn’t tell if the shiver along her skin was the cool air, the embarrassment, or the anticipation.
Rachel was soon finished, and Zoe was left perched on the table. She couldn’t believe the image in the mirror.
She was laying on her side. One hand posed seductively on her thighs, the other behind her, pushing her up and keeping her chest pushed out. The black lingerie was relatively simple, but intriguing at a glance and impossible to turn her gaze away from, even if she was capable of moving her gaze.
She was the perfect model of seduction.
“You are my best work yet!” Rachel said, her tone surprisingly subdued. Her chipper, upbeat style replaced with genuine pride, and subdued excitement. “Let’s get you on display!”
She whisked Zoe as fast as she could over towards the intimates section of the store. And there, in the cent of everything, was a small circular pedestal. On it, a silk carpet was set out, layered with fake candles and pillows.
Rachel set Zoe down onto the pedestal, a small discreet clamp wrapping around one of her fingers, as if it was a ring.
And just like that, Zoe was back on display.
Rachel stared at her for a long, long moment. She adjusted pillows, rearranged candles, moved around the whole display.
All the while, the tingling sensation that usually accompanied people looking at her as a mannequin was now an inferno. It was as if Rachel was undressing her with her eyes. And given the fact the woman had seen her naked, that thought still pushed through Zoe’s week-long defenses as a mannequin.
“You. Are. Perfect!” Rachel called out in triumph, exuberant as she normally was. “Oh I can not wait until tomorrow, you’re going to blow them all away!” Then, Rachel’s phone buzzed, and she let out a soft curse. “But now I’m late and I have to hurry, see you soon!”
And just like that, Zoe was left. But then, as if set on a timer, her whole world started to turn.
Zoe realized that her entire platform was rotating in place, spinning as if she was a display at some car show. It took probably several minutes to make a full rotation it was so slow, but it let her see all the mannequins around her.
She recognized several of them, all staring at her. All more clothed than her!
Why her! Why should she have to be the one half-naked while so many of them got to wear cute business outfits or nice dresses!?
And yet… and yet part of her still yearned for what it would be like for people to see her like this.
And all she could do was wait, like all of the other mannequins.
Day 9
After being woken from her reverie by the morning shift getting ready, she knew this was going to be different.
She was much lower than usual, and it now seemed like all of the staff were towering above her as they went about their business. Everyone could see her like this!
But her mantra from before kicked in. Her conscious and subconscious warred within her
‘They’re all looking at me in- in- in this outfit!’
‘And why shouldn’t they? It’s what you’re meant to do right now.’
‘It’s embarrassing!’
‘Why would that be?’
‘Because I’m a person, not some-’
‘Mannequin?’
A mannequin. Right now she was a mannequin, one to be looked at and appraised. Casually and publicly.
The first customers came by her department about an hour later. She felt their gaze upon her, a burning heat of pleasure now far eclipsing the tingling from before. But they were behind her, she didn’t even know what they looked like. But she knew they were looking at her as sure as she knew anything.
The looks of the strangers set a fire in her that Zoe wasn’t expecting. At least, not the magnitude of it. They walked past her after a moment, leaving Zoe to feel the lingering warmth, confused as to what was happening.
Then the next customer came, and the fire rekindled.
Then the next.
And then the next hundred.
Her day was filled with people perusing in her department, casting glances. Women, wanting a set of her lingerie for themselves. Men, imagining their partners wearing it. Or perhaps imagining that Zoe was a real woman herself.
What a concept to her in those moments.
As the day went on, she felt that flush of fire kindle and ebb inside of her and she finally realized it.
The fact that she had been hiding from this entire time.
‘I- I like this.’
It was a simple admission that carried a massive amount of weight for the woman.
She enjoyed this. She enjoyed all of these people looking at her, staring at her.
Yes, it was humiliating. Yes, it still made her want to curl up into a ball or shy away from it. But despite all of that, it sent a thrill through her that she had never truly felt before. To be treated like just another mannequin, like just some thing, it set a fire inside of her that she truly, desperately wished she had the movement in her hands to be able to put out.
All of the other mannequins around her all stared at her as well. As if judging that she was so undressed in public like this. Well, she was getting by far and away the most attention. So why not enjoy it?
And oh did she enjoy it.
Day 11
The past several days had become the greatest vacation Zoe could have ever hoped for. She rested more thoroughly at night than she had in a long time, and during the day…
Her days were filled with nothing but a mind-melting pleasure. Her resistance to her situation fading away. She was enjoying it just as much as any other mannequin.
Speaking of, she had spotted Kyle in the another section in a golf uniform. She only got to see him every few minutes with her spinning display platform. But she had found herself thinking of him more and more.
She imagined it being their anniversary. She had never thought herself to be the type, but dressing up, waiting on their bed, sending him a note to meet her upstairs when he got back and…
Her daydreams, and nightly fantasies, kept the fire inside her stoked to an inferno.
Day 14
Two weeks.
Two weeks Zoe had been a mannequin.
At this point, Zoe was content enough to let her thoughts wander throughout the day. Not really focusing on anything except the thrill of everyone’s eyes upon her. The days were flying by, and it was a shock to her when Rachel came for her at the end of that night.
Rachel had stopped by her display quite a few times over the past several days. Mostly to discuss how happy management was with the sales of the lingerie department.
But this time she was even giddier. “You’re not going to believe this! But I got a promotion! They’re going to have me oversee all of the mannequin displays in the store! It’s all thanks to you, my little muse!”
Rachel picked up Zoe, setting her gently on the dolly. Zoe couldn’t help but feel a burst of pride. She just relished in the fact they had both done their job so well.
Rachel had gotten Zoe back to the dressing room, undressed, and halfway to the POSE before the mannequin realized she needed to get her head in the game.
‘Wait… okay this is my chance! There’s no way Rachel will be distracted again,’ Zoe said, as if psyching herself up.
But as she was moved towards the POSE, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. These past few days, weeks. She had been so stress-free near the end. So relaxed, nothing to do but enjoy that taboo thrill of people near her casting their gazes over her.
But this was her chance to be human again, and she was taking it.
Rachel set her into the base, on the wall once more to make up for her reposed positioning.
But before she left the POSE room to activate the machine, Rachel turned back to Zoe.
“I have SO many more ideas for you. You’re going to be the star mannequin of this entire store when I have my way. Thank you for everything!” Rachel said as the door closed.
Zoe knew that, from Rachel’s perspective, she was just talking to a mannequin. But still…
ALL FORMS SET
INITIALIZING PROCEDURES
BEGINNING MANNEQUIN DEPOSING
The warm light bathed over Zoe, once again releasing her from her plastic confines.
And then it hit her.
The wave of sensations, bottled up and held down these past 6 days, shot through her like a lightning bolt. It was as if everything she had been feeling. Every glance, every touch, every breeze, and every slide of her clothing along her skin had built up, waiting for its chance.
The crescendo of pleasure was unlike anything Zoe had experienced before, and as her mouth unfroze she found herself letting out a sharp yelp despite herself, her mind overwhelmed and unsure how to proceed.
It was the single greatest feeling Zoe had ever felt, and it was not particularly close.
It lasted both a few seconds and an eternity. Zoe collapsed on the floor of the POSE, feet still locked onto the wall, and panted as the aftershock of that sensation coursed through her and turned her languid muscles to jelly more than being made of plastic ever had.
It was as if she had to will her body to move after that. But her eyes focused when she heard a voice.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” Rachel called out, confused, but clearly unsure of herself.
Rachel… Rachel had heard her! Zoe opened her mouth to call out, then closed it.
Maybe it was the after-effects of that mind-numbing orgasm. Maybe it was her new acceptance of her exhibitionist side. All she knew was that she shut her mouth, and didn’t respond to Rachel’s questioning.
But in barely a whisper, she said to herself, “Well… what could one more shift hurt?”
Her voice was quickly drowned out.
BEGINNING BLANK POSING AND PLASTICIZATION
As the POSE machine began to pose Zoe and all of her fellow mannequins, she could only wonder what outfit Rachel would pick out for her next.
Zoe works as a technician at the local clothing store, primarily focused on the state-of-the-art POSE machine. The wonderful device allows the store to pose and repose mannequins by converting them to rubber 'blanks' so they can be adjusted and then reconverted . However, on the night before her vacation, an error with the POSE machine will send her on an adventure she hadn't wanted or expected... but maybe could learn to enjoy.
This story contains adult content and themes of objectification, nudity, mannequinization/mannequin transformation, inanimate transformation, exhibitionism, and temporary or uncertain transformation duration