It read: "Thou who shall be the master of this lamp, be a gorgeous woman". Kate huffed, sorely disappointed. As if that helped her, well, him, any further! It would have been so much more helpful if only it had been readable and less incrusted with grime and dust un the first place! If anything, Kate might be still Kaine right now! However, she reflected that she might not have heeded the warning and viewed it as a silly hoax and stupid joke. She groaned in frustration. What now? Everyone saw him as a girl now, the whole world taking this mammoth change in stride and as a normal part of life. Except for him!
"Could you please quiet down?" grumbled the genie from the depths of his lamp. "I'm trying to rest. If you cannot think of a useful or pleasant activity, well, ponder what your wishes might be."
Kate sighed. The worse was that the genie was right. Except that she could not really think of something to do. What did girls do? He had no experience in the matter! Or rather, he had no incentive to try any girly activities. Watching a sappy or princess movie didn't appeal to him, or listen to a boys band, or drawing pink hearts, playing with dolls, having a tea party with his teddy bears, or making bubbles or trying on clothes. Anyone could have told him that his notions of what girls do were rather stereotypical, not grounded in truth and that even if it was true, there was nothing wrong with it per se. Also, it meant Kate had not even bothered to look through her new belongings. If she had, she would have realized that her new identity pretty much stuck to his own tastes as Kain, just with tighter, shorter and more elaborate clothes, and more make-up, though by no means expensive or hyper-feminine or tacky. Kate was struck by an idea, though.
"Hey, genie, what if I wished myself a male animal, like a lion? Or a little kid? A little boy, I mean?"
The genie gave thought to her question.
"This would not work," he said calmly. "The lamp's curse has forced you into a female form, and as that you shall stay. But wishing yourself a little girl or a female animal would be possible. You'd still be gorgeous, whether a female gorilla or a female frog. A you would be a pretty child growing into a beautiful young woman. Although being a hermaphrodite could work, in theory. Like a snail. But you'd be a beautiful snail attracting all members of your species to mate. If you are interested."
"A snail? Ugh, no thanks," grimaced understandably Kate.
"And I take it being a female animal doesn't attract you either?" asked the genie.
"No. Neither does returning to diapers appealing in any way either," scowled Kate.
"How about a more masculine body, even if female?"
"The lamp says 'gorgeous', mistress. This means gorgeous for the male population. Most of it, at any rate. This was made before acknowledgment of more 'diverse' tastes really entered mentalities, I am afraid."
Kate scowled again. Another dead end... Yet it got him thinking. Okay, he had to stay female. On the other hand, he could wish herself riches, intelligence, a super career, never-ending luck or even eternal youth and life. Heck, he could even wish himself a life in a world of his own making, even as a woman. The mind swimming with possibilities, Kate scribbled them down and started thinking about what to wish in oder to get a very easy life, even as a woman. This could work out much better than assumed at first.