In the early afternoon, there weren't too many people in the hotel lobby. Behind the front desk, though, two women in thick makeup and teased-out hair wore tight red leotard-like uniforms. Sitting nearby, a twenty-something woman in a sequined bra and microskirt tended to a baby in a carriage next to her, putting a tiny high-heeled shoe back on the baby's foot.
Lina tapped across the lobby floor to the hotel restaurant, where she was greeted by the hostess, who wore a tiny white top tied off just below her breasts, a black miniskirt, and stiletto-heeled shoes similar to her own. The hostess led her to a table next to a window. Nearby, a table of businesspeople were finishing up a lunch, the men in normal-looking suits and ties, but the women in tiny jackets that barely covered anything, bikini-style tops, extremely short skirts, and extremely high heels.
A busboy brought her a glass of water as she looked out the window. Every woman she saw, walking by or riding in a car, was dressed in super-sexy clothes and shoes, plus heavy makeup and lush, lustrous hair. Lina even saw a woman going by on a bicycle in a tiny two-piece lycra outfit, managing to pedal in what looked like half athletic shoes, half stripper platform heels.
Changing the maid and myself shouldn't have changed all women, should it? Lina thought to herself as the businesspeople got up from their table -- they were still chatting, apparently as equals, but to Lina it looked more like a couple of hookers accompanying a group of businessmen.
Lina suddenly realized what happened -- not wanting to attract attention, she'd wished that everyone would see her as normal, so the medallion's magic had made it so all women looked and dressed like she did, and then she'd exacerbated the situation by wishing in the elevator to make herself look even sexier.
A waiter stopped by her table and she ordered a half-pound cheeseburger. He raised an eyelid -- she'd forgotten for a moment that she was smaller than she used to be, but she was hungry anyway -- but showed no other apparent reaction to the fact that he'd just taken an order from what looked like a pre-teen dressed as a porn star.
She looked out the window again. Along the sidewalk came what was obviously a father and daughter, the man holding the hand of the girl even younger than her -- but this girl was wearing a tight gold lamé minidress and gold high-heeled sandals sized for her little feet, plus she had a decent amount of makeup on.
Lina shook her head, pulled the medallion out of her purse, and...