In the universe where Curtis Patel visited More Than Masks, the store was located at the edge of the commercial district two streets over, between the GB gas station and the XXXetra adult store. There was a sort of organic wall between the adult store and MTM with a hill and half-wall safety fence that, even though they were neighbors, blocked each other from view.
For Curtis, the store had moved in about two years ago, and he'd only rented a suit there just once before. Taking some of their student loans, they had acquired a Synth costume and used it to cram for finals the previous semester. The suit required approximately two hours of charge a day, far better than their desired eight hours as a human. Basically, they had almost always been fully rested and it gave them a sense of full focus.
Stepping into the store, Curtis could tell things were wildly different. While he may have only been able to afford a suit once before, he'd still frequented the shop on his way too and from school. But he'd never before seen it so busy. All the sections had been moved around, and it was absolutely packed with people. Was it a holiday? Was it a firesale?
After following Vari around the shop for a few moments, Curtis stepped out of the way of Derek Ballard—a young man who went to the same college as him—and his little brother and sister.
"Excuse me," Curtis said, trying to catch Vari before they headed to the cash register. Something must have changed since the last time Curtis had entered the store as Vari no longer looked like an orange-tanned man with a purple mohawk. If it weren't for the name tag and name-drop from the other customers, Curtis might not have put two and to together.
Apparently what the Charibabel spell thought Vari should look like to Curtis now was a Synth. That meant that Vari was a reptilian-looking humanoid figure with digitigrade legs that, like his hands, had three digits to them. The hands had two fingers and a thumb, all black, claw-tipped. The feet were two toes with thick black talons with a dewclaw off the back.
Indeed, Vari was sleek but imposing and clearly still masculine of build. There was a V-shaped, dark purple over-armour which went over Vari's shoulders. Across the upper arms and circling under were many black hexagonal shapes like spots that ended under his wrist. Those same spots traveled up under his arm, down the sides of his torso, and along his inner legs down to his feet.
A smattering of smaller hexes in black were under Vari's black visor where his flat-color, flattened yellow circle eyes were. Those eyes had no black notches for pupils, which unique even for a Synth. In fact, as Synths went, Curtis had seen most Synth as the base model he originally started from. But Vari was mostly an orangey-yellow with a dark purple tail that was thin and whiplike, the same color as his upper body armour and metal fauxhawk over his head.
Curtis shook his head and finished his thought: "I see you're very busy, but..."
"All part of the job," Vari shrugged those spotted shoulders. "What can I do for you?" He paused. "Wait, Curtis? Curtis is that you?" The young man nodded. "My magitech is showing I look vasty different than the last time you saw me..."
"You look like a Synth," Curtis acknowledged. "A kind of formidable one, actually. Nothing like the defaults."
"Well, I'm certainly no default. Unique, you might say," Vari spoke from their metallic muzzle. "I thought there was a chance you might be in this week. Excuse me... I just need to ring up a man about a centaur or few," Vari said, then raised a hand to point towards left of the front of the store in the direction of the changing rooms there. "Synths and other robot-like, generic and open source species are over there... or are you trying something different today?"
Curtis looked over towards the section. When he was in last semester there had been only a small corner of Open Species in the store. Now machines had their own section.
"Synth for me... as close to the old one as I can," he said simply, looking back.
"I figured, what with the appearance alteration that you see," Vari said, motioning down their sleek, metallic, reptilian body. "I've got good news I'll share with you in just a moment," added Vari as they moved over behind the cash register.
Curtis moved passed numerous customers, giving a glance here or there to the newest satyr costumes in the adjacent section. Smiling to an old woman looking over a siren outfit, Curtis moved up to the brand new 'Synthetic Section' which had a wooden sign rimmed in steel with neon-glowing fire in tube shape to make up the words.
Shortly after passing into the section, he saw a number animal animatronic suits along one wall, a few classic sci-fi looking robots of none-human make, and one big surprise: an automobile section. Blinking, Curtis stared at the sports car and racing bike displays which themselves shifted mostly through Moonrise Motors designs with little colored lights shifting back and forth across the front between the headlights.
Shaking his head, Curtis smiled. He remembered the store had been barely making ends meet and now they had suits that could do that? Crazy. Still, he turned and pushed passed those displays and into the 'Synth Corner' at the furthest edge of the back of the store.
It was nothing big, but it was far more than last time. A single Synth stood in the generic white main body with dark gray hexagon-designed underbody texture that was part of the Moonrise Motors variety that More Than Masks sold. Knowing the store, Curtis couldn't tell if the display was holographic or magic, but regardless the result was the same. Every few seconds, the Synth would shift to different colors or body configurations, labeling them out in 3D space when a special mod was added. Then, the display would shift back to the default white before once again cycling through three additional random appearances.
Stepping over to one of the hanger racks, Curtis removed the flatly designed cloth jacket with its sweatpants with one hand. In the other hand, he removed one set of socks and a pair of gloves. It was that hand that he removed a Synth-style biker helmet from the shelf over the rack. He noted how this time around, all the Synth outfits were identical rather than slightly different.
"What do you think?" came Vari's slightly digitized voice in English from behind Curtis. Glancing back at the Synth, Curtis looked up at the display. "Much better display, yeah?" A metallic, three-fingered hand motioned up towards the glass tube between the two changing rooms.
"I mean... yes," Curtis nodded. "But you only have white now?"
"So." Vari smirked. "Funny story. You remember how when you were here last time, the suit had a delay in taking off that uploaded something somewhere and caused that late fee I waved?" Vari wondered.
Curtis nodded. He was hear on time to return the suit, but it insisted on a backup that took twenty minutes and put him over. "Yeah. Did you find out why? Was it bad?"
"Well, you see... it was backing up your blueprint," Vari explained, and Curtis simply nodded. A 'blueprint' for a Synth was basically a full body configuration that focused on simple changes: minimal muscle and bulk changes, exterior colors and liveries, digital light colors, and general plating design. "And so... all new Synths users are granted one free hour of character creation, or twenty minutes for return customers," Vari explained. "This means I can sell all white suits and a person can customize their appearance to their liking from that base."
Curtis nodded, but didn't fully grasp the depth of what Vari was saying. "What's that got to do with the upload?"
"Remember how I said you returned the suit better than you found it?" Vari asked and Curtis once again nodded. "The singular hand-upgrade you put into the suit I thought would just be there for everyone using the suit after... but it wasn't. But backing up to sever, well," Vari motioned to the generic suit in Curtis' hands. "When you put that on, a quick download will sync your prior blueprint to your next 'body', meaning you didn't put those extra funds in for nothing." Vari paused as Curtis' eyes slowly widened. "Oh! And we've a miniature local sever, so upload and downloads inside the store will be near-instant."
Curtis' eyes went wide and a smile grew on his face. "I could hug you," he said to Vari, very seriously. Last semester, it had cost him $15,000 to rent a Synth form for a month, plus his aftermarket purchase of multi-input hands added another $500 by themselves. Knowing that money would still be well spent wasn't just good on it's own... now it was semi-permanent, usable whenever he had on a costume.
See, when a real Synth installs a new part, it takes some time to integrate and feel normal... but once the experience is learned, they can swap between learned parts without issue. For all intents and purposes, when Curtis wore the suit, he was 100% Synth, so not only would he not have to purchase the hands again, he also wouldn't have to re-learn them in a new body.
Vari's hands were out, welcoming the hug. "You saved me five hundred dollars," remarked Curtis as he have Vari a squeeze. He leaned back, and asked: "Standard rental is still thirty days at fifteen thousand, yea? Or did it go up?"
Vari's Synth visor displayed inward facing greater-than/less-than signs for a second before he spoke: "Out of all the people in here, you didn't hear about the micro-rentals?" Curtis shook his head, and Vari explained how while it cost more per hour, it was now possible to rent outfits for less than a month. Curtis' eyes went wide. He'd put aside some more student loan money for this, and now he wouldn't need to use it all.
"I... I only really need it for eight days for exams."
"Oh, and you get a two percent discount on top due to being a repeat costumer in good standing," Vari added. "I know, it's not a lot, but it can grow to a twenty percent discount per thirty days you put into wearing."
Curtis nodded. "Buying one outright is still, like, a million dollars?" he inquired.
Vari sighed, but smiled. "Hey, I told you... if you never want to take the suit off, you'd be better off finding a pure magic shop to do the conversion for you," Vari repeated themselves from an earlier discussion a few weeks ago. "I don't know of any on-world magicians who can do a Synth conversion, but I know for certain my boss does." The apparent Synth paused that thought. "I don't know how much they'd charge, but you do seem really smitten so maybe as a long-term goal?"
Patel gave a few short nods of their head at that remark. "Your suit opened my eyes, Vari." Vari's head titled at that. "I never thought I'd be so comfortable genderless, but... I am. Definitely transgender, non-binary, agender, whatever you want to call it... and already being transhuman... Synth is a personal goal." They took a deep breath and let it out while Vari quietly watched. "At least, that's what I felt last time... let's try it again."
With that, Curtis lifted up the costume in front of the two of them. "No timer while in the store, right?"
"Correct," Vari grinned across their orange metallic muzzle. "Take all the time you need in the changing tube—" he said, motioning up towards the glass case display with the generic Synth there, "—check out some additional custom parts, modify your blueprints... just be mindful if someone else ends up picking a suit and wanting to change. I only have the one tube," Vari said, looking around. The Synth section was currently empty, but there were plenty of people in the store. "I'll be around if you need me. I got one of those digital service bells like you suggested so if you hit one—" he said, motioning to a gold-colored bell in the middle of the isle, "—either in the store or on our spiffy new app, my magitech earpiece will let me know no matter where I am in the store."
The young man smiled. "Keep being awesome, Vari!" Curtis declared as he gave Vari a thumbs up. Vari gave a sweeping bow, then turned to move away. Seeing the throng of people he was moving towards, Curtis called after him: "Maybe hire some help?"
"You're only the sixth person to say that this morning!" Vari replied over his shoulder as he turn to the side to greet two woman walking in through the front double-doors together. Curtis figured the two weren't seeing a Synth, but couldn't help but wonder if Vari's moving tail was just for his eyes only or if there really was a tail there. It looked so natural.
Shaking his head, Curtis Patel turned to his side and stepped into one of the two changing rooms in the Synth section. Both stalls were on either side of the main glass display tube. It was big enough to house a creature nine foot tall and four foot wide it seemed which was... honestly way bigger than Curtis had been the other time he was a Synth.
Stepping into the changing area, Curtis locked the door behind him so it said 'occupied'. There was door to his right which stepped down into the floor which itself said 'unoccupied', meaning the glass tube. Over the next two minutes, the man unrobed. He was left with just a light gray pair of underwear. Sitting down on the bench, Curtis slid on the white socks, followed by the sweatpants up over them their little elastic straps at the bottom wrapping under his feet. Next he put on the cloth jacket, zipping it up, and then the gloves.
Checking the door at the side of the room, Curtis saw it was still unoccupied. Stepping down to the door, he opened it and stepped into the large cylinder which was glass in a circle around him, with metal doors shut at the front. That meant no one outside the tube could see him, and indeed, the top of the 'screen' said 'Status: Invisible'.
The door opposite him which opened to the other changing room was lit red to indicate the the door was locked and the tube was occupied. Closing the door behind him, he noted the green light to indicate he could still move back to the regular changing room if he wanted. But he didn't want to, he wanted to see what this fancy tube was all about.
Curtis lifted up the biker helmet with the fixed-position visor and slid it down over his head. There was a moment of unease when his heart stopped. Or, well, it didn't stop, but it ceased to be. There was an initial bleeding effect where his upper chest slimmed and flattened, bending flat against him as the white jacket first became skin and then afterwards became soft but hardened metal.
The effect rushed up his neck as the underware—the dark gray in hexagons behind the white plating—rushed up his neck. For an moment in time, it felt like the helmet was going to crush his head, until he distinctly felt it press into his skin and simply become his body. The visor effectively became his face, with his eyes blinking in as flat LED color of the light brown. Somewhere behind that visor, there was the feeling of no pressure as the space behind the visor was mostly air with eye-projector and visual scanners instead. At the back of that casing his new electronic, black-boxed, nigh unhackable Synth brain now sat secured in his endoskeleton's skull.
The arms were progressing at the same time, cutting close to the body as mostly white hard plating that moved and breathed with him. It was not unlike a muscle suit, and he was equal parts covered and yet naked... and Curtis was OK with that. Leaning forward slightly, his legs reshaped as a tail formed at his back. It 'tinked' rapidly as the over-tail plating slapped out into place one after the other like metal blinds closing as the tail extended a few feet behind him.
As Patel's toes merged into two, so did his fingers. The slight lean to his body progressed as he pushed up on those two toes as his legs became digitigrade. Reaching up with new hands to his visored face, he ran those fingers along the seamless rim between his white metallic face and the black of the visor, taking in the texture of his own new skin as well as the sensation of it's feeling in his hands.
His body was solid, yet soft. Like a hard leather of some kind, but vacuformed. He wasn't wearing a suit, costume, or armour... this was him and it felt glorious. Looking down, he ran a hand over his crotch to confirm the lack of any exterior genitalia and he was certain no internals of that nature existed either. He smiled, then, and looked up.
In front of him was a big interface hanging out in space which he was uncertain was displayed in his visor or in the room proper. Whichever the case, it was augmented reality for certain, as when he moved his hands over the buttons, they would appear behind his hands.
"This is so cool," he said and his voice mostly sounded like himself. It was like he was standing in front of a mirror, but the mirror was only a digital replica. As he swiped across different torso designs—all with a very small Moonrise or Sunrise Motors decal in the top left—he was given the option to 'Try On'. Hitting that button released the personal nano-machines inside his shell to bubble and tingle across his own real torso and swap the exterior designs for new ones.
The same was true for all limbs, he found, and was ready to move on... but then the Additional Modules button caught his attention and he tapped it. He noted his altered hands were already installed, like Vari indicated they would be. Flexing his hands out in front of him, he made the tips of his fingers split apart into several thin shards all held aloft by tiny lightweight joints. Sure, he could always have an option directly connect to a computer with USB for keyboard, but direct computer connections seemed scary to him. Instead, he had seen these upgrades before in an anime and they essentially allowed him to have a small finger on most buttons on a keyboard at once.
Retracting his split-digits back into the ends of his fingers, he swiped through the other options. These Additional Modules were clearly where the real money to be made on this suit were. "Yikes," he remarked. "Fee-to-Pay," he said, thinking about how much money the costume would cost if he added any of these things.
Scrolling through the options, he got little video previews of some of the actions. Overdrive Running added boosters to his legs and back and looked not unlike Samus Aran's Speed Booster. There were armoured plating options as well as agility. Wall-Climbing which came in numerous varieties of shared hand and feet upgrades. There was a biomass converter which he stared at for a while... it would allow him to eat regular food and have it broken down into energy and nanite matter...
Indeed, there were a plethora of options, and Curtis Patel was there swapping out many things until settling on what he wanted most. This left the question, though, which options, colors, and additions did Curtis eventually settle on? This part is up to you...