The cascade would then begin with an unsuspecting group of high school friends at their usual hangout location: the mall.
The group was comprised of four students:
Jenn, who was the self-proclaimed (and somewhat true) leader of the group with brunette hair tied in a ponytail and had a thing for grunge, wearing a simple t-shirt under her dad's red plaid jacket, a pair of worn jeans and sneakers. She was a free spirit in the sense that she doesn't mind being a little less girly than other females... which sometimes causes trouble.
Susie, the blonde and the genius of the group who had known Jenn from elementary, though she sometimes wishes she hadn't after getting in trouble more than once for simply being caught up in the troubles she tends to stir up. She has a more feminine personality than her friend, letting golden hair down naturally while often dressing with a cute tube top under her short denim jacket and longer-than-normal miniskirt.
Stephen, the jock AND the band geek of the group, breaking the stereotypical split between sports and music, though he has trouble staying quiet about both. His dark brown hair is cut short but swept to the side for sight while he wears his varsity jacket on top of his band dress shirt. Like Jenn, he also wore jeans and sneakers.
Hal, the tech guy of the group and all-around geek, though to his credit, he tries not to look like one from the 60's. Often ready for business, he often wears semi-formal attire regularly, though he leaves his tie out, his sleeves rolled up and dark blue dress shirt unbuttoned, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath when he's with his friends. Below, he wore tan khakis and a pair of black work shoes.
Of course, none of them would know that they were the start of the rewriting of their reality. It all started when Stephen noticed something different about Jenn while they were sitting and chatting at a table in the food court.
"Hey Jenn, is your skin... grey?" he question as Jenn skin began to lose tone, darkening from soft skin to light grey. She looked down at herself, examining her arms and even rolling up her clothes to check her legs and midriff. Indeed her skin was becoming an unnatural shade of grey.
"Yeah, so?" she asked back, completely unfazed by the changes unfolding in front of her eyes. "Somethin' wrong about it, Steve?"
"Oh, um, I just thought it looked a bit lighter than usual," he said a bit embarrassed by his 'mistake' his own skin becoming a similar graying tone.
"I don't think so," Bailey said, looking at her best friend's colorless face, which had now stop darkening to a balanced mix of grey.
"Huh, I wonder what came over me," Stephen wondered as he looked at her and Hal, whose skin were also losing tone. "Must've been the light. But it really does compliment your eyes, Susie."
Susie giggles a bit, even at the sight of the group's eyes following suit as her own: darkening and widening ever so slightly into black beady eyes. "Why thank you! It's be weird to look in a mirror and see them white!"
"Why don't you two get a room, then, huh Steve?" Hal butted in jokingly. This caused the group to laugh out loud, though it seemed a bit off when one of the voices began to sound... monotonous?
As it turns out, the growing monotonous voice belong to the most unlikely one of the group, Jenn. Of course, no one noticed the shift, even as a pair of fleshy antennae with round ends began pushing through her brunette hair, nor did they realize the shift came with the addition of the stalks on her head.
"This would be most illogical as we are in an establishment of eating and shopping and not that of resting and copulation." Jenn replied almost mechanically, her laugh being just as emotionless even though she had the bare minimum of a smile on her face.
Normally, this would be a shocking change to the girl (other than the obvious physical ones) as she would never use such technical terms even if no one was looking. Of course, the cascade prevented any of them from seeing the shift as anything but normal.
"Yes, that is true I guess," Hal said with a chuckle.
"You do not have to hypothesize any further Henry," Stephen said, his voice matching with the monotony as his own pair of antennae began to push out from his head. "All information and records indicate that this is indeed an establishment for recreational activities such as consumption of food, verbal socialization, and purchasing of goods and merchandise."
"You are correct in your statement Stephen," 'Henry' now said in his increasingly toneless voice. "Evidence to my error is lacking as well as evidence as to why it is not present. The conclusion must mean that it has either become irrelevant or unobtainable, but fact of the imperfection of the neural processors estimate irrelevance as the most logical conclusion."
"The irrelevance of the conflict has been noted and resolved," Susie said, her antennae bouncing a bit as it finished from out her hair. "I propose we purchase items of nourishment preceding our continued verbal socialization." she stated, pointing at one of the burger joints they normally have lunch at.
As she did so, her finger tip began to swell in size, causing her fingernails to disappear underneath the smooth grey dermis. It was no surprise that all those hours wasted on her pedicure went unnoticed as the concept became nonexistent in accordance to their body. Her fingers were also slightly elongated, but still within human length.
"Your finger nodes are appear to be visually exceptional and healthy Susanne," Stephen stated after looking over her, his monotonous tone being a normality at this point.
"Your visual analysis confirms my own and noted." 'Susanne' says with the tiniest of smiles.
Soon, where there had been four high school students sitting around were now four grey human-like aliens, almost robotically moving from their seats to approach the burger joint.