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Description
After about 10 great years of business, the XYZ Booksellers chain's formerly quite lucrative profits had started to go down. Very down. "Certain brand liquidation" level down. And to their newest owners, this sad fact made complete sense. "Why", the board of directors at Forward Thinking Inc loudly expressed to their underlings, "in the day and age of self-obsessed 'millennials' and the 24/7 meaningless social media output they all generated were young people still reading books, let alone physical constructs of paper and binding?". So in order to speed up human progress and promote a general homogenization of identity amongst a common age bracket, as the company always benevolently did with any company that became a part of it, a special pattern was utilized within the background on the "everything must go" type signs for a trial run of suburban XYZ Booksellers locations.

For any mature human above the age of 27 or any human youngling below the age of 17, no discrepancy would be noted if they were to glance at such a poster or three during their last time in one of these stores. For any human pupae within the ten ages between those two already mentioned, simple subconscious suggestions to do something a more social and self-promoting, and thus better, activity with their free time now that these stores were going away from their lives would pick at the back of their brains until they left. If one were to fight such an urge, the suggestions would be forced to reorganize the priorities of such a heterogenous outlier until they fit in with the respected model even more so than the base level of that model.

For example...

Lilian Todd felt like she should have worn black to this visitation she was having for this treasured and now mortally stricken constant that had been in her life for quite a while. She was, what, close being through her third year of university? She still had another year or so to go through after that before she'd finally achieve her dream since she graduated high school: teaching high schoolers how to stop complaining and enjoy reading for assignments. Lilian smiled as she pictured her ideal classroom yet again, then snapped back to reality as she got the first glance of the horror to come. The window display shelves at XYZ, her XYZ (!), were gutted and devoid of any sort of literature. That grotesque precursor was enough to wipe the smile off of her face and the cheeriness off of her spirits in an instant.

As a disheartened Lillian entered the shell left of the formerly nurturing establishment that had seen her through at least five well planned out finals cram sessions and so many more study/hang out nights, she noticed that other than her and a single cashier, the place was empty. But eerily, most of the marked down merchandize was still on the shelves. "That does not tend to happen when one arrives upon the last day of a store's existence...or that feels in fact what I would assume.", pondered Lilian she attempted to recall ever having been to a store closing before. The distant cashier was a college student that seemed much like herself. Well, other than that girl's possession of rail-thin form, presumptively Asian ancestry, high-perscription glasses, and the open calc textbook (as Lilian avoided most forms of algebraic math like the plague), she was exactly like Lilian in her studiousness. She passed the oblivious engineering student on her way back to the displays she treasured most: recent realistic fiction. Ooh, one of her favorite authors had put out a new book that she hadn't heard about! Heavens, what if she hadn't come today, and missed finding it in the wild entirely?! She didn't read on her smartphone, not at all, and the way that technology had been moving in the past decade or so had never endeared its digital replacement ways to her. As Lilian walked towards her favorite comfy chair in the mood to read her soon-to-be-owned novel for a bit in the quiet and calm of this place, she nonchalantly looked at a poster advertising 40% deals on all purchase. How depressing to think about-
"You shouldn't waste time not getting out of here."

That sounded like it came from a voice in the back of her mind. What? Of course she should waste time here! When else was she going to be able to lounge around here ever again? Ignoring that confusing thought, Lilian sat down and began to read. A small migraine seemed to be starting to occur, but Lilian didn't react to it at all, and actually decided to read more than she'd previously thought.

Meanwhile at the counters...

Christine Udogami blinked at her text book, then remembered she'd been reading the latest issue of her favorite lit magazine. There was this interesting comedic science-fiction play she'd been intrigued by...ooh, and her hair wasn't in her face anymore! She happily whispered "Sugoi!", which oddly didn't cause her to feel embarrassed like other times she'd reverted back to her first language with people other than her family, as her clothing continued to brighten and shrink. Only the arrival of a customer had convinced her to look up from her studying at the new ads her fellow wage slaves from yesterday's shift had probably put up, and she'd then been filled with an urge to "read something happy". Weird, but this magazine was her favorite for a reason, apparently. She began to giggle at the comedic adventures within the pages. Today seriously felt better than it had started. She'd been so reluctant to go to work at a place that was close to closing when, right after her shift, she had the most important final of the school year instead of just calling in sick like usual and hiding in her apartment, but now Christy felt things were really feeling kawai...er, great!

Meanwhile back at the books...

Lilly Ann Tahdd bit her lip again while trying to muscle through this semi-boring tome of a novel. Why did she pick this one again over a nice easy paperback romance? Those were always cheap, pleasant, and quick, almost exactly like her ideal one night stands-WHAT?! She blushed, pushing her back and her newly shoulder-length hair against the seat. Wasn't she really vocally against casual sex or something? She tried to remember why..."Self esteem issues? No, I wouldn't not be proud of having so many experiences. Um, worries about pregnancy? Who cares, I'm young and have condoms! Discomfort around other college kids? ...yeah, that's probably it." Geez, she was a frosty bitch for no reasons sometimes, huh? Free love was good enough for her folks back in the hippie days, so it would it still be good enough today, she concluded.

Speaking of cheap love, Lilly Ann could see the Troubadour spinny rack of romances pretty close by. Faster than she ever had moved before, Lilly Ann bolted to the self, and tossed the thick realistic fiction book onto a vacant self with no sense of security. Oooooh, they had the new MMA fighter romance books! She'd been checking their release dates online daily for months now, and somehow she had run into them here. Squee! Now she could imagine kind of beefy and really tattooed hunks fighting for her trust and proving their commitment without just skipping to the steamy parts. It was hard sometimes to-

"Maybe you could go out and try to find some actual human males to intercourse with."

Nah, not at the moment, brain. Lilly Ann wanted to check to see if this book was good before hand. Plus, the bars wouldn't open for...um, like, uuuuh...two hours still!

Meanwhile back at the counter...
Chrissy Warugaki stopped playing with her hair for a sec to pick up the latest issue of Cosmo. "Ooh, '12 Tips to Make Butt Stuff Bearable'! Benri for any relationship I'd find myself in, ho ho ho..." she said with a stereotypical "anime classy femme fatale" accent that hadn't been her voice that morning. As she blushed at the wonderfully vivid advice, a customer holding another of the same magazine walked up to her spot. "Ah!", Chissy exclaimed, with a larger blush covering her face, as she threw her magazine to the floor and stated most professionally "Konichiwa! You now ready to purchase?". The blonde girl with pink style nodded with a smile. "Oooooh, so, like, this issue IS worth it!", she squeaked out in a nasal SoCal timbre. "Nani?" replied a confused Chissi. "Oh, like, duh, Lilly! You can't read my mind, babe! Uh, ummm, I meant that 'cause you were readin' it, then it means that I should actually buy it, chyeah? Y'know?". Chissi was missing something. "Where else could read articles without a magazine?". The blond shrugged. "Internet, mostly.". They both giggled, then the customer opened her mouth to spea-

"Then why aren't you reading it on the internet like a cool person?".

The start of the final change was immediate. Both girls started to recognize that the other chest was swelling up as if each girl had gotten some work done in there. Chikakou got a little worried at Leelee's skin darkening into a deep tan, and likewise Leelee felt the same about her cashier's skin becoming more Okinawa-y. Both cooed at how awesomely styled and volume rich and long and different colored the other's hair became, with Leelee's stunning platinum dye job and Chikakou's vivid red stripe. Both gazed for a bit at the newly exposed cleavage and bare legs their shrunken clothing had allowed to go into the outside world. Both noted that they wanted a pair of the other's cute heels for an outfit that was different colored. Finally, and right before everything they had just seen change in front of their eyes became how it/they had always been, they recognized the Foward Thinking Inc. service-provided smartphones each girl was holding one handed out at their faces.

Leelee Anie Tahtahs was "looking soooooo cute today!!!!" (as the selfid post she'd just made had stated) and she wanted to share her opinion with her hawt Japan worker girl friend (whose name she'd just forgotten for somr reason)...just as soon as that luscious totes BFFestie finished her own selfie. "I'm sexy right now, right?" she dimly gushed at the now free to talk cash lady, and received a super shiny lip only smile in return. "Yezz, you ah veddy veddy zexy nai, Leelee-senpai! Ohohoho..." said, like, ummmmmmm...Chicky! That was her name! "Mucho appreciado, Chicky-chan! You charmer, you..." She raised a well plucked eyebrow with suspicion at her friend. "Tryin' to get into our town's brand new club tonight 'cause, like, the bouncer's my cousin?" Chicky bowed rapidly. "Yezz, Leelee-senpai! Is that all OK for you?" Leelee stupidly smirked. "Yeah, totes rad with me, hotstuff! We leavin' after you clock out?!" "Yezz, an' dat will be veddy soon, OK?!" "Totally wizard!" Both girls giggled like hyenas together as Chikakou signed out of the register.

Her black girl coworker Daphne walked into the store 10 minutes before she had to work, and was awkwardly privy to the geisha skank she worked with tongue-kissing some bleach blond 90210 reject. Anyway, reading would take that image right out of her head, and it would also help pass the ti-

"You want something like that kiss to occur to you. You want to be like them, 'cause they're cool, kay?".

And the shifts began once again.

;-) (Wink) — Description
After about 10 great years of business, the XYZ Booksellers chain's formerly quite lucrative profits had started to go down. Very down. "Certain brand liquidation" level down. And to their newest owners, this sad fact made complete sense. "Why", the board of directors at Forward Thinking Inc loudly expressed to their underlings, "in the day and age of self-obsessed 'millennials' and the 24/7 meaningless social media output they all generated were young people still reading books, let alone physical constructs of paper and binding?". So in order to speed up human progress and promote a general homogenization of identity amongst a common age bracket, as the company always benevolently did with any company that became a part of it, a special pattern was utilized within the background on the "everything must go" type signs for a trial run of suburban XYZ Booksellers locations.

For any mature human above the age of 27 or any human youngling below the age of 17, no discrepancy would be noted if they were to glance at such a poster or three during their last time in one of these stores. For any human pupae within the ten ages between those two already mentioned, simple subconscious suggestions to do something a more social and self-promoting, and thus better, activity with their free time now that these stores were going away from their lives would pick at the back of their brains until they left. If one were to fight such an urge, the suggestions would be forced to reorganize the priorities of such a heterogenous outlier until they fit in with the respected model even more so than the base level of that model.

For example...

Lilian Todd felt like she should have worn black to this visitation she was having for this treasured and now mortally stricken constant that had been in her life for quite a while. She was, what, close being through her third year of university? She still had another year or so to go through after that before she'd finally achieve her dream since she graduated high school: teaching high schoolers how to stop complaining and enjoy reading for assignments. Lilian smiled as she pictured her ideal classroom yet again, then snapped back to reality as she got the first glance of the horror to come. The window display shelves at XYZ, her XYZ (!), were gutted and devoid of any sort of literature. That grotesque precursor was enough to wipe the smile off of her face and the cheeriness off of her spirits in an instant.

As a disheartened Lillian entered the shell left of the formerly nurturing establishment that had seen her through at least five well planned out finals cram sessions and so many more study/hang out nights, she noticed that other than her and a single cashier, the place was empty. But eerily, most of the marked down merchandize was still on the shelves. "That does not tend to happen when one arrives upon the last day of a store's existence...or that feels in fact what I would assume.", pondered Lilian she attempted to recall ever having been to a store closing before. The distant cashier was a college student that seemed much like herself. Well, other than that girl's possession of rail-thin form, presumptively Asian ancestry, high-perscription glasses, and the open calc textbook (as Lilian avoided most forms of algebraic math like the plague), she was exactly like Lilian in her studiousness. She passed the oblivious engineering student on her way back to the displays she treasured most: recent realistic fiction. Ooh, one of her favorite authors had put out a new book that she hadn't heard about! Heavens, what if she hadn't come today, and missed finding it in the wild entirely?! She didn't read on her smartphone, not at all, and the way that technology had been moving in the past decade or so had never endeared its digital replacement ways to her. As Lilian walked towards her favorite comfy chair in the mood to read her soon-to-be-owned novel for a bit in the quiet and calm of this place, she nonchalantly looked at a poster advertising 40% deals on all purchase. How depressing to think about-
"You shouldn't waste time not getting out of here."

That sounded like it came from a voice in the back of her mind. What? Of course she should waste time here! When else was she going to be able to lounge around here ever again? Ignoring that confusing thought, Lilian sat down and began to read. A small migraine seemed to be starting to occur, but Lilian didn't react to it at all, and actually decided to read more than she'd previously thought.

Meanwhile at the counters...

Christine Udogami blinked at her text book, then remembered she'd been reading the latest issue of her favorite lit magazine. There was this interesting comedic science-fiction play she'd been intrigued by...ooh, and her hair wasn't in her face anymore! She happily whispered "Sugoi!", which oddly didn't cause her to feel embarrassed like other times she'd reverted back to her first language with people other than her family, as her clothing continued to brighten and shrink. Only the arrival of a customer had convinced her to look up from her studying at the new ads her fellow wage slaves from yesterday's shift had probably put up, and she'd then been filled with an urge to "read something happy". Weird, but this magazine was her favorite for a reason, apparently. She began to giggle at the comedic adventures within the pages. Today seriously felt better than it had started. She'd been so reluctant to go to work at a place that was close to closing when, right after her shift, she had the most important final of the school year instead of just calling in sick like usual and hiding in her apartment, but now Christy felt things were really feeling kawai...er, great!

Meanwhile back at the books...

Lilly Ann Tahdd bit her lip again while trying to muscle through this semi-boring tome of a novel. Why did she pick this one again over a nice easy paperback romance? Those were always cheap, pleasant, and quick, almost exactly like her ideal one night stands-WHAT?! She blushed, pushing her back and her newly shoulder-length hair against the seat. Wasn't she really vocally against casual sex or something? She tried to remember why..."Self esteem issues? No, I wouldn't not be proud of having so many experiences. Um, worries about pregnancy? Who cares, I'm young and have condoms! Discomfort around other college kids? ...yeah, that's probably it." Geez, she was a frosty bitch for no reasons sometimes, huh? Free love was good enough for her folks back in the hippie days, so it would it still be good enough today, she concluded.

Speaking of cheap love, Lilly Ann could see the Troubadour spinny rack of romances pretty close by. Faster than she ever had moved before, Lilly Ann bolted to the self, and tossed the thick realistic fiction book onto a vacant self with no sense of security. Oooooh, they had the new MMA fighter romance books! She'd been checking their release dates online daily for months now, and somehow she had run into them here. Squee! Now she could imagine kind of beefy and really tattooed hunks fighting for her trust and proving their commitment without just skipping to the steamy parts. It was hard sometimes to-

"Maybe you could go out and try to find some actual human males to intercourse with."

Nah, not at the moment, brain. Lilly Ann wanted to check to see if this book was good before hand. Plus, the bars wouldn't open for...um, like, uuuuh...two hours still!

Meanwhile back at the counter...
Chrissy Warugaki stopped playing with her hair for a sec to pick up the latest issue of Cosmo. "Ooh, '12 Tips to Make Butt Stuff Bearable'! Benri for any relationship I'd find myself in, ho ho ho..." she said with a stereotypical "anime classy femme fatale" accent that hadn't been her voice that morning. As she blushed at the wonderfully vivid advice, a customer holding another of the same magazine walked up to her spot. "Ah!", Chissy exclaimed, with a larger blush covering her face, as she threw her magazine to the floor and stated most professionally "Konichiwa! You now ready to purchase?". The blonde girl with pink style nodded with a smile. "Oooooh, so, like, this issue IS worth it!", she squeaked out in a nasal SoCal timbre. "Nani?" replied a confused Chissi. "Oh, like, duh, Lilly! You can't read my mind, babe! Uh, ummm, I meant that 'cause you were readin' it, then it means that I should actually buy it, chyeah? Y'know?". Chissi was missing something. "Where else could read articles without a magazine?". The blond shrugged. "Internet, mostly.". They both giggled, then the customer opened her mouth to spea-

"Then why aren't you reading it on the internet like a cool person?".

The start of the final change was immediate. Both girls started to recognize that the other chest was swelling up as if each girl had gotten some work done in there. Chikakou got a little worried at Leelee's skin darkening into a deep tan, and likewise Leelee felt the same about her cashier's skin becoming more Okinawa-y. Both cooed at how awesomely styled and volume rich and long and different colored the other's hair became, with Leelee's stunning platinum dye job and Chikakou's vivid red stripe. Both gazed for a bit at the newly exposed cleavage and bare legs their shrunken clothing had allowed to go into the outside world. Both noted that they wanted a pair of the other's cute heels for an outfit that was different colored. Finally, and right before everything they had just seen change in front of their eyes became how it/they had always been, they recognized the Foward Thinking Inc. service-provided smartphones each girl was holding one handed out at their faces.

Leelee Anie Tahtahs was "looking soooooo cute today!!!!" (as the selfid post she'd just made had stated) and she wanted to share her opinion with her hawt Japan worker girl friend (whose name she'd just forgotten for somr reason)...just as soon as that luscious totes BFFestie finished her own selfie. "I'm sexy right now, right?" she dimly gushed at the now free to talk cash lady, and received a super shiny lip only smile in return. "Yezz, you ah veddy veddy zexy nai, Leelee-senpai! Ohohoho..." said, like, ummmmmmm...Chicky! That was her name! "Mucho appreciado, Chicky-chan! You charmer, you..." She raised a well plucked eyebrow with suspicion at her friend. "Tryin' to get into our town's brand new club tonight 'cause, like, the bouncer's my cousin?" Chicky bowed rapidly. "Yezz, Leelee-senpai! Is that all OK for you?" Leelee stupidly smirked. "Yeah, totes rad with me, hotstuff! We leavin' after you clock out?!" "Yezz, an' dat will be veddy soon, OK?!" "Totally wizard!" Both girls giggled like hyenas together as Chikakou signed out of the register.

Her black girl coworker Daphne walked into the store 10 minutes before she had to work, and was awkwardly privy to the geisha skank she worked with tongue-kissing some bleach blond 90210 reject. Anyway, reading would take that image right out of her head, and it would also help pass the ti-

"You want something like that kiss to occur to you. You want to be like them, 'cause they're cool, kay?".

And the shifts began once again.