(Aryalat’s notes: this chapter was originally being written from Alex’s POV, but it became too much for me so I’m changing it to Sophie’s. We’re basically skipping Alex’s first person feelings about what is happening, they were way too real for me not to break down. I hope I portrayed Alex’s feelings properly anyways.)

Sophie was waiting nervously on the sofa, playing a mind-numbing phone game right besides her girlfriend. Given the activities of today, if she was nervous, she couldn’t imagine how poor Alex was faring… Still, she felt they were doing something important today. Alex had full control of her transformation, since they hadn’t triggered any kiss in who knows how long already, so it would be all at her own pace and with her consent. She had been worried these past few weeks, seeing Alex resenting her birth form more and more, and there was no way that was a healthy mindset. Additionally, well, it could be useful to become stronger and taller for a moment, no? There were perks to being a shapeshifter, but sadly Suki was probably right that her resentment was clouding her ability to see it.

And so, today, Suki and her had a plan. With Alex’s consent, of course, today they were going to give Alex’s birth form a makeover. They wanted to show her that both forms were her body, and that she had the right to modify them as she saw fit. Specially, she wanted Alex to see that she could still look like the woman she was in her birth form, too, so there was nothing to resent from it. They had managed to keep the details a secret from her, though, she wanted it to be a surprise. Sophie had secretly purchased something that she hoped Alex would love: two sets of their old high school girl’s uniform, one fitted to her birth form (the one she wanted to use for the makeover), and one to fit her girl form. Alex’s egg cracked way too late for her to enjoy the school girl life, but there was nothing preventing them from just wearing the uniform together and having an after-school date as it should have been the year before. Further, if everything went well, she had a cool idea that Aiden would probably love too: a picture of Aiden and birth-form Alex, both in the girl’s uniform. Had Alex’s egg cracked earlier, without any kind of magic involved, she would have probably gone to school like the result of today’s makeover session. It would be like making memories of a parallel universe.

Her thoughts were cut off by the doorbell ringing. Alex jumped on the spot at the sound, tense as she was. Sophie decided to be the one to open the door, her anxious girlfriend trailing behind. As she opened the door, she saw Suki standing there. She was wearing today a simple set of denim shorts with a belt and a T-shirt with comfortable sandals, not too different from Sophie’s own outfit. As she let her in, she spotted her landlord watering the plants of the garden area, and waved at him with a smile before closing the door. It was important to be friendly with him, specially if he was as nosy as they feared he was…

Inside the house, Suki said hi to Alex too, and gave them both a hug. Alex just returned it half-heartedly, she was not in the mood for much.

“Morning, Shiftie! Morning, Witchie”, she said.

“Good morning, Foxy. Someone is excited, huh?”, Sophie replied to Suki.

“Yes! I’ve been thinking about this for a while. BTW, Alex, you look super cute with the outfit right now, damn!”, she exclaimed while admiring Alex’s looks. Sophie had to agree, strangely enough. Alex was wearing an oversized hoodie and gym pants, giving her the “boyfriend’s borrowed clothes” look, and it looked ultra cute on her. Of course, given that the clothes were actually properly sized for her birth form, she thought it would be better to not mention anything about it. Alex didn’t even want them here, they brought them at Alex’s parents insistence that they needed something to fit her birth form in case any accident happened, and Sophie agreed with the logic.

Quickly, Sophie did a final do-over to the house, making sure all the windows were covered, before giving Suki the OK. They were going to do a lot of magic things after all, and people seeing Alex change was explicitly illegal as of now. At her signal, Suki released her camouflage and her beautiful light pink hair and fur flowed freely. She adjusted her shorts slightly, using the belt to keep them secure after having to make a rather risky angle on the hips to let her tail hang free. Her ears were facing forward, really eyeing Alex up and down.

“C’mon, Shiftie! I really want to see your birth form!”, Suki said excitedly. “Are there any other forms you want to show me too?”, she finished tilting her head slightly. Ugh, she looked so cute.

“N-N-No, no, I think this is more than enough”, Alex answered notably uncomfortable, one of her hands uncomfortably rubbing her own arm. Looking at her for moral support, Sophie grabbed her hand. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before casting her barely-used gifted spell: shift. Her body instantly changed into that of her birth form, one she hadn’t seen in quite a while. This was her form when they had fallen in love, and while she would never admit to it unless she believed it would not break her girlfriend, she was still as attracted to this form as always.

“Wow! You look great! Like, of course I understand you’re a woman and you want to look the part and everything, but that’s a damn fine body you have, girl!”, Suki said. Sophie knew she was just trying to help by complimenting the anxious girl, and likely truly believed she looked nice as Sophie herself did, but she was not sure it was the best moment. Alex opened her eyes then, and she fake-smiled at Suki as thanks. A smile that did not reach her eyes. Empty eyes that seemed to have lost the spark of life she had. Sophie was really starting to consider calling the whole thing off, but Alex hadn’t said anything and maybe, this was exactly what they were trying to solve today? The spaced-out look on Alex’s face terrified her to no end, though.

Suki also seemed to worry a bit, by the way her ears were starting to flatten. She shook her head before talking. “Ok, Alex, shall we start? Just sit down on a chair in the living room and let us do our thing. And keep your eyes closed, don’t spoil the surprise!”, she said in the closest she could muster to a cheerful tone. Alex stared at her, before muttering “Sure” in a very low voice, cringing quite visibly, and just sitting down with a long sigh. After Alex closed her eyes, Sophie could see quite a few emotions moving around her face. None of them were what she wanted to see in the love of her life.

Suki and her stared at each other for a few seconds, before nodding uncertainly and deciding to continue. That was what they set today to do after all… Sophie went to a cupboard to retrieve the biggest uniform of the two, while Suki collected their make up. Looking at Alex once again, she reminded herself that Alex was going to like it. That they were helping. They… were, right?

Sophie and Suki got to work. Before starting with her outfit, they decided to get on with the makeup, the part that Suki could help out with. Alex had argued that she didn’t feel comfortable with Suki seeing her birth form in her underwear (funnily enough, not mentioning her girl form…), and they both intended to agree to her wishes.

After whispering to each other to plan her look, they started to work in tandem, trying to accent the most feminine features of Alex’s form, along with some contouring and such tricks to make even more of an impression. Looking at how her face was slowly transforming, she could really see how her girl form and her birth form resembled each other. Her bisexual heart was enraptured by the sight, they really should have played dress up before… Alex’s egg would have cracked much earlier, and she would have been able to kiss this face…

As Suki declared her own part also done, they went on to the outfit. Alex was still squirming uncomfortably, a mixture of the wrong form and how weird it was to have people apply make up to you battling in her head, Sophie assumed. Suki turned around, grinning, while Sophie removed Alex’s clothing and left her in her underwear. She started with a stuffed bra, to give her a more balanced look for a woman of her size, and make the uniform fit better. Dressing her up in the uniform proved to be more of a challenge, between Alex having her eyes closed so she could not help that much and her being notably larger than the other two girls in this form. Still, they managed. Although there was no way Alex did not have a rough idea of the outfit already.

The finishing touch came in the form of a long, black haired wig. Alex’s birth form had, sadly, short-ish hair for a woman, and they wanted to give her maximum effect. She had also once confessed to her that she had wanted long hair all her life, just never dared to try back in the day. She knew Alex would really like it. Being done, Sophie guided Alex and a very excited Suki to the bathroom mirror, so she could look at herself and see the result of their work.

“Sooooo what do you think?”, said Sophie with a smile as Alex opened her eyes. She seemed shocked, dumbfounded, simply looking ahead to the image. It seemed like she was really struck by it. Mission accomplished! … Then a tear came. Then two. Then more. Suki and Sophie looked at each other, unsure about what to do. Alex took that moment to sprint away from the bathroom, but sadly the house was quite small to actually have any hiding place, so she just laid on the sofa and curled into a ball, crying her heart out.

Sophie and Suki arrived a bit later, her ears completely pinned back, her tail dragging behind her. Sophie tried to sit right besides her to comfort her, but she made a noise that made it very clear that she should not get that close. She sat down on the opposite corner of the sofa, while Suki took a chair and sat in front of her. She kept crying for a few minutes, dropping the transformation in between to return to her chosen form.

After her sobs faded to a manageable level, Sophie decided to talk to her. “What happened?”, she asked carefully, her voice full of worry.

“You wouldn’t get it”, she answered completely lacking her normal energy.

“Let us understand then, please”, Sophie pleaded with her girlfriend.

Alex took a deep breath, before starting to talk. “Okay. I hate that body. And you both know it! I have told you before! Just shifting into it makes the world feel so dull! My voice is all wrong, I’m too tall, my emotions are somehow mostly out of reach, my hands are too big, my shoulders too wide, and many other things!” She paused for a second to take in air before continuing her rant. “I know you two wanted to help, and honestly you did a nice job, this would have definitely cracked my egg a few months ago, but now it only reminded me of everything that was wrong! Of everything I left behind, and why! I know it hasn’t been that long, but getting this form has been the greatest gift I could have possibly received! I really don’t want to deal with any of this anymore! And that’s not even talking about how exhausting it is to maintain that stupid shift thing, wasting energy just to get into a form that makes me feel like all kinds of shit…” She finished her rant with another sob.

“I’m sorry, Alex, I really wanted to help.” Sophie lent in for a hug. “We will never ask you to do that again, right Suki?”, she finished trying to rope her friend into the conversation. She did not respond. She was looking at them intently, ears completely forward. Was there something wrong?

“Alex, that was your birth form, right?” Alex nodded in response, sniffing, seemingly as confused as Sophie about where she was going. “And what tired you out is turning into it, right?” Alex nodded again. “So, you’re saying, that your BASE form takes you energy? That is impossible”

Alex gulped audibly, as Sophie started to panic. Alex’s upset rant led to them talking a bit too much. What lie could they spin to her?

“And not only that. What the hell do you mean that this form is a recent gift!? We were clearly told that shifters cannot get new forms after the age of three! And why do they look so alike!? That never happens! You’re clearly hiding something from me” Suki looked at them very intently, and maybe a bit hurt? Sophie was still pondering how to proceed.

Alex took a deep sigh, and looked back at Suki resolutely. “Yes, we are. There is a reason our teacher answers the questions relating to ourselves for us. Our file is classified. I cannot tell you much, please don’t pry. But… this is now my base form. I shouldn’t tell you anymore.”

“That is impossible”, Suki answered, eyes wide.

“Yes. We’ve been told. But here we are. Please don’t ask for anything more” Alex pleaded to their friend.

Suki closed her eyes, and they could see her ears twitch. Finally, with a tired sigh, she answered. “Fine. I won’t pry. But my goodness girl, you really have some surprises”. With their apologies made, and the unpleasantness of their badly-thought out plan behind them, they decided to enjoy the rest of the afternoon as regular friends. It ended up being a fun time, all things considered.