The Transformist (IC)

[Whatevr89532]

The Transformist didn't have to pay for a ticket. Instead, he had temporarily replaced an elderly woman, making her appear to be a pet cat for a little while. With the long lines and high security of airfare, trains were his preferred way of getting from one city to the next. After restoring the lady to her original form, making sure to youthen it a bit and take care of a couple of complications he'd sensed, he left the station. The station for the train was still a bit out from the city itself; he had to take the subway to get into the thick of it.

So it was that a fairly inconspicuous man in a business suit, but with no briefcase, arrived in a subway station. He went and sat on a bench not far from the tracks, trying to get a feel for surface thoughts, who might be interesting to watch...
((Characters can be anywhere in the city; if they're in the subway station he'll affect them almost right away. We're making up city geography as we go, risky as that is, for convenience's sake.))

[Harri-chan]

Near the ticket office, a female police officer was talking with a round man in a suit, the colours of which suggested he worked at the station. She was in her late twenties, quite tall and curvy, with long brown curls of hair that came nearly to her waist. Her uniform consisted of a navy blue dress, with short sleeves, a collar, and a mid-thigh length skirt. Her badge was pinned to her chest, and a belt went around her waist, with her gun, handcuffs and radio on. Nodding her head, she was making notes in a book. The round man pointed towards the man sat on the bench, and the officer turned, and looked right at him. More words were exchanged, and she then turned and started to walk across the busy floor towards the bench, coming to a stop infront of him, and set one hand on her hip. "Excuse me, Sir... but could I see the ticket you used for your journey today?", she asked.

[Ookalf]

*Meanwhile, in another part of town, Pat is quietly standing at his check out lane at the grocery store, trying to keep his patience while his manager tries to explain to an irate customer that "half-off" and "50% off" are in fact the same thing, and that they aren't trying to rip her off somehow by using both terms.*

[Whatevr89532]

"Certainly, officer," the man said, smiling amicably. He could glance at her mind to find what exactly she had been told, or convince her she was looking for someone else..but that wouldn't be any fun. Rather, he reached into his pocket and formed a ticket: Paper, made from wood, and ink from natural pigments. He pulled it out; it looked quite legitimate, but some of the numbers were made up. It would take another query of a station worker to discern any difference. Then he offered it to her; all without missing a beat.

[Harri-chan]

The female officer took the ticket, and checked it over briefly. She seemed confused, but held it back out for him to take. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Sir... please enjoy the rest of your day". Still standing infront of him, the snug navy blue dress of her uniform tightened a little further as she turned her head to peer back towards the station manager's office. "Hmph... ", she muttered, and then turned, long brown curls sweeping about. She had to tug the back of the short dress down a little as she walked towards the office, her heels clicking along the ground, her hips and bottom swaying from side to side. "He HAD a ticket!", she could be heard yelling as she leaned on the frame of the office door. "I should be arresting YOU for wasting police time".

[Whatevr89532]

The man nods, and once Karen has left he gets up and blends in with the crowd, altering just a few subtle features of his body and clothing, enough to appear to be a different person. He discreetly keeps an eye on the policewoman, however.

After berating the station officer, Karen has a small, somewhat unconscious urge to find something funny. If it surfaces consciously, it will latch on to some thought or something she sees that would normally be very mildly amusing perhaps, but seems especially funny just now for some reason.

[Harri-chan]

Karen turned away from the office, shaking her head as she walked through the crowds, heading for the steps that led up out of the subway stations, to the street. Her brown eyes kept a careful watch on those around her as she climbed the steps, finally emerging into the daylight above. Her squad car was parked just across the street, and she started to head towards it, but just before she reached the edge of the sidewalk, a taxi cab went right through a puddle, and splashed water all over the pants of a guy that was stood there waiting to cross. Karen's eyes widened a little, and she quickly lifted a hand up to clap over her mouth as she found herself giggling. She knew it would look back, but was overcome by laughter, her other hand clutching at her stomach.

[Whatevr89532]

During the fit of laughing, Karen starts changing. Her hair becomes several inches shorter, while her body loses only one or two inches of height. Within a few seconds she looks mostly like she did when she was at the end of her teenage years. Her uniform hasn't changed size and still fits, but it's starting to look a little discolored: Paler near the center of the top, with a bit of red tint on either side, and the bottom a little greenish. The urge to keep laughing is somewhat strong, but might still be suppressed with enough willpower.

[Harri-chan]

Karen didn't notice the changes, and neither could she stop laughing. She knew she could get in a lot of trouble however, so quickly crossed the road, away from the man, letting her hand drop from her lips, laughter spilling out when she reached the other side. "Oh, god, that's so unprofessional of me... ", she murmured to herself, glancing back towards the man to check if he'd noticed her inappropriate behaviour. "It looks as if he's wet himself", she giggled as she walked up to her car and took out her keys.

[muffinstud]

Carter is taking a well-deserved break at the new library construction site. He sits on a pallet of concrete bags and munches on his sandwich. He watches the people walk by, and quietly imagines what they're all up to. Not willing to draw attention to himself, he doesn't wolf whistle at the cute girls, even if he does see a couple that really strike his fancy.

[Whatevr89532]

The man doesn't appear to have noticed, but as she keeps laughing, Karen might notice a few people nearby paying attention for entirely different reasons. Her hair continues to shorten, soon not even reaching her shoulders; without the length, the curly hair takes on more of a messy, disorganized look. She starts to shrink noticeably now, both in height and physical maturity; her chest is a little smaller than before, and her legs are getting shorter. Her clothes shrink to the proportions, and continue to change. The skirt turns to a dark green color with a couple of brighter stripes near the bottom and a lace border below them. The red coloration on the top seems to pop out and become its own article of clothing, some kind of bright red button-down sweater; the part left behind turns a bright tan color.

Meanwhile, Carter hears a female voice from somewhere to his side. "Hey. Are you bored?" On turning around, he'll find a woman in a china dress sitting, legs crossed, a couple of feet away and looking at him with a sideways-turned head. It's hard to say whether she just appeared there or he somehow failed to notice her walking up and sitting down.

[Harri-chan]

Walking up alongside her squad car, Karen came to a sudden stop as she saw the reflection in the driver's side window. One hand clutches at her short, curly hair, while the other reaches down to grasp at the dark green skirt with a lace hem. "Huh?", comes the sound of confused as she lowered her head and looked down over her body. Her laughter came to an abrupt end, replaced with a worried look as she glanced around to see several people were staring at her. A bright red blush washed through her cheeks, and she grabbed the keys from around her waist, to unlock the door of the car, before quickly climbing into the driver's seat. Her heart was racing down as she stared at herself in the rear-view mirror, before sinking down a little in the seat when she saw people were still watching her. "Oh god... ", she groaned.

[muffinstud]

Carter chokes down the bite of sandwich he just chewed off. "What the... What are you doing here?" He looks the woman over, allowing his eyes to wander a bit. "You're a little over-dressed for trespassing on a construction site. You should get out of here before the overseer catches you." He sets his sandwich down into his lunchbox and gets to his feet.

[Whatevr89532]

Karen keeps shrinking as she gets into her car; her voice sounds a little higher and less mature. Soon her body looks like it did when she was fourteen. The shirt under the jacket seems to move on its own just a bit, pulling itself off of the pin of her badge so that it falls off. Her belt starts turning into cloth and dropping anything--taser, gun, and so on--that it was holding, and then moves almost like a snake up her body to wrap itself loosely around her neck, becoming wider and longer and turning colors to red and white stripes, which makes it a scarf.
The rapid changes to her body begin to slow down, like a train that's getting close to its next stop. Her chest slowly flattens, the bra that was holding it up disappearing, and she stops at a physical age just on the cusp of puberty, but not quite there. While the last signs of maturity melt from her body, Karen nonetheless feels a small touch of optimism, like something might turn out okay. It isn't really enough to offset the shock of her present condition, but it might resurface later on.
Several of the people who were watching her shake their heads or rub their eyes like they can't believe what they've seen. Some decide they've hallucinated and resolve to put it completely out of their minds. A few onlookers remain, but they can't quite see her. If there's anything good about her present size, it's that sinking down in the car seat prevents people from seeing her unless they get close to the door.

The woman next to Carter chuckles, but she does get up. "If it took you this long to notice me, I'd say the overseer will take at least a few minutes." She points toward one of Carter's coworkers, who seems to be looking in his direction but doesn't react to her presence. "Anyway, I wanted to give you this." She reaches into her left glove with her right hand and pulls out a red ribbon about three inches long as she speaks, and offers the end of it she isn't holding on to in his general direction.

[Harri-chan]

Karen blushed brightly as she watched her skirt getting both looser and shorter, while flaring out slightly, revealing more and more of her skinny legs. She tried to grab her badge as it fell from her shirt, but groaned as soon her handcuffs, radio, phone and gun followed it to the floor of the car. Frightened noises continued to rise from her throat as the scarf wrapped around her as her chest almost deflated entirely beneath the tan t-shirt. For several moments, she just lay there, slumped in the driver's seat, staring down at herself in utter confusion and horror. Finally, she reached out, and turned on the car's police radio, before wriggling down onto the floor, her skirt being tugged up as she picked up her possessions, and placed them onto the passenger seat. "This can't be happening... ", she muttered to herself as she climbed back up onto her own seat, and checked her cell phone for messages.