Suzie and I found Le Paul's Salon without much trouble. It was the only shop on the city's market square that was painted pink, so it stood out quite a bit.
Suzie hung on my arm as I walked through the open front door. The interior was every bit as flamboyant as the exterior. Tropical plants and tall mirrors all over the place. Aside form that, it didn't look much like a real world salon at all. Along each wall were a series of booths, divided from the main floor by waist-high counter tops. Inside each booth as a single salon chair and a floor-to-ceiling mirror.
The guy who had given me the coupon earlier came up to me with a big smile on his face.
"Ah, Misty!" he beamed, "Welcome to my Salon! How can I help you today? Do you wish to cash in your Free Makeover now?"
"Sure," I said. "How does this work?"
"It's very simple my friend," Le Paul smiled. "First, you sit - or stand - in one of my special makeover booths. Then while you are in the booth, you or your teammate here can adjust your appearance using the console. Once you are satisfied with your new look, you can choose to make it permanent. If you don't like the changes, you can choose to discard them no problem."
"Okay, sounds easy enough," I replied. "Can I change anything?"
"Almost anything," the owner of the salon conceded. "Your age, race and gender are fixed of course, as are your statistics. You are limited to cosmetic changes, but that category is nearly limitless in itself!"
Suzie smiled and nodded, "This is going to be fun!"
"What about my Charisma bonus?" I waved the coupon Le Paul had given to me.
"That will be added automatically after the procedure. All makeovers we at Le Paul's Salon provide come with a temporary buff to Charisma, because we leave all our customers glowing!"
"So it's only temporary," I nodded. "Figured as much. Ah well, can't complain if it's free!"
"Good, good, Misty!" Le Paul beamed. "Come this way, the third booth has been specially prepared and is ready and awaiting your beautiful form now."
"Er, thanks," I bit my lip and walked to the booth in question. I shut the stall door behind me and looked around for the console.
A screen was built flat into the counter top and when I touched it it whirred into life. It read my profile and brought up a range of options not dissimilar to those FoG provides at character generation. Suzie watched the horizontal screen from the other side of the booth.
"May I ask what Misty plans to enhance today?" Le Paul stood there, still grinning.
"Misty's going to look like a pornstar!" Suzie yelled out, to my complete surprise.
"Good, good, it will suit her very well!" Le Paul actually applauded! "She will look stunning!"
"What??" I glared at Suzie.
"Relax, 'Misty'," Suzie smiled. "I was just poking fun at the NPC. It's just his stock response. Just look: Misty is going to look like a pregnant Dungbeast of Skarazmount!"
"Wonderful!" Le Paul applauded. "All the girls will envy Misty's figure, and all the men long for it!"
"Oh," I said. I was ashamed, I hadn't realised Le Paul was an NPC at all! The speech recognition software had worked so well, at least until Suzie had opened her mouth.
Suzie must've seen the expression on my face and read it perfectly, because she giggled. Turning to the salon owner, she asked, "Give us some privacy please, Le Paul."
"Of course, my lady," and Le Paul wandered over to the other side of the shop.
"I'm so glad you're here, " Suzie smiled sweetly to me. "We have so much fun together."
"Yeah, me too," I smiled back. "I'm guessing you said that because you want to choose my new look?"
"At least I'm not in love with an idiot," Suzie grinned, "or should I say bimbo?"
"Do your worst," I laughed, despite myself.
"Do you really mean that?" a mischievous glint appeared in her eye.
"Well, maybe I should rephrase that," I gulped. "Show me what you had in mind Suzie, then I'll decide whether or not to keep it."
"Deal!" Suzie giggled as she rapidly tapped her way through the options on the touchscreen panel...
