True to her word, Lola was standing at a nearby rack, re-tying the bow on a sailor uniform. Her green eyes lit up when she saw Jennifer. She clasped her hands together and her voice fluttered. "Look at you! What a fine choice, and on your very firrrst try." She beamed at Jennifer like a proud sister. It'd be flattering if it wasn't coming from someone who was trying to sell her some clothes. Still, Jennifer smiled. She almost gave the saleswoman a sarcastic curtsy but decided to be tactful.
"It feels really good, I have to admit," she replied. "Where is your shoe section?"
Lola grinned. "A fine question. Rrrright this way." She once again led Jennifer by the arm. It didn't feel as awkward as the first time, since Jennifer was expecting it now, and as they strolled through the store, it felt kind of nice to be getting such devoted attention. If only Lola would stop rubbing her fingers up and down the soft black fabric of her sleeve.
The racks of costumes came to an end and Jennifer was presented with a large wall of shoes. There were styles galore, in many sizes. 'Damn, I might just come here for regular shoe shopping,' she thought to herself.
Lola gestured to the shoes with a sweep of her arm. "Try on anything you want. These are mundane. The true power is all in the costume." She poked Jennifer's sleeve before letting go of her.
Jennifer wasn't sure what she meant by that, but she thought "mundane" was hardly the word to describe this selection. There were so many choices. She wasn't sure where to start looking for truly gothic shoes. "Um...," she said, trying to take it all in. "I just want something typically goth."
"Traditional or modern?"
"Modern, I guess? Like... I want people to be able to tell that I'm a goth girl and not just in a fancy black dress."
The red-haired woman nodded. "You want the full up-and-down, stereotypical goth package."
Jennifer nodded. "Yeah, exactly."
"One modern goth girl, coming rrrright up!" she said with a trill. From a nearby shelf, she pulled a box of faux leather black shoes with a buckle across the top, a chunky flat heel, and a round toe. They looked slightly cartoonish, like they were for someone younger. They also had built-in crisscrossing ankle straps, which offered stability.
Jennifer sat on a nearby bench to try on the shoes. She was already wearing white socks, so she slipped her feet into the cute footwear and Lola helped secure the buckles and ankle straps. Walking in them felt perfectly natural. There was plenty of room in the toe and the shoes stayed firmly on her feet as she strutted up and down the aisle and did a few turns on her toe. The youthfulness of the shoes actually paired great with the frills of her knee-length skirt.
"What do you think?" Lola asked after she let Jennifer play around a bit.
"I love them, actually!" Jennifer's voice rose to a slightly higher pitch as evidence of her satisfaction. "These work great."
"Wonderrrrful! What else can I help you find, darling? I won't rest until you're fully dolled up."
"Uh, well, maybe a wig? And some gothic earrings."
"The earrings I can certainly provide. As for the wig," Lola smirked as she led Jennifer once more to a nearby aisle of costume jewelry. "That's already coming along."
Jennifer raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant by that. Did they have a custom wig shop here, too? This place was amazing.
It didn't take long to pick out a pair of black pendant earrings that looked like onyx stones. She didn't want to go too over-the-top with the accessories. Although she did become taken by a black choker with a silver-on-black cameo plate in the center. She found a small round mirror further down the aisle and daintily stepped over to it in her nice shoes. Moving around in the costume was already feeling natural.
The shock she got from looking in the mirror was anything but natural, though. Jennifer was stunned to see a brunette slide into view. Not only was her hair black, with a thick row of perfectly straight bangs just above her eyebrows, but her whole face was a stark shade of white. There was just enough color in the skin to hint that there was life behind those black-rimmed blue eyes. Jennifer blinked and the girl in the mirror blinked. She peered closer and recognized her own eyes, nose, cheeks...
Jennifer spun around to see Lola slowly approaching, her hands clasped at her waist.
"Surrrrprise," she smiled gently. "This part gets trippy."
"Wh-what IS that?" Jennifer saw dark hair move at the sides of her vision. She pulled at the unfamiliar hairs and felt the tug in her scalp. "Ack! How is this glued on? Where's my actual hair?" She started digging through the wig to find her golden curls, but not one could be seen.
"You wanted the full goth package. This is it." Lola's tone was deliberately reassuring, and for once, she wasn't reaching out to paw Jennifer. "I told you: our costumes reshape you to fit your chosen role."
"What? When did you say that?"
Lola crooked her mouth. "When we were looking at the dresses. Were you not paying attention? So sorry, I should have given you some time to process everything. All this is everyday stuff to me." She shrugged.
"Okay okay, so how did you do this? Can I get my real hair back?"
"Darling, that is your real hair... but yes, of course. These are costumes, after all. You'll change right back once you're out of the dress."
Jennifer's hands immediately flung behind her to find the zipper. Her fingertips grazed it just as Lola raised her hands.
"There's no rush, doll," she said in a calming tone. "You're okay. You have my word. You're just wearing a costume. A delectably realistic, magical costume." She slowly adopted a seductive smile as her head dipped slightly forward. "Wouldn't you like to see what it can do for you?"
Jennifer slowly turned her head back to the pale-faced vision in the mirror. Hearing Lola call her "doll" had an affirming ripple that tickled Jennifer's mind. The bizarre appearance didn't seem so wrong suddenly. She wanted a black wig, and now she had it. She hadn't said anything about thick goth makeup, but she had been thinking about it. The longer she looked at herself, the more she felt...