Setting the Stage

You turn toward the door as it swings open, expecting to see whoever arrived early.

Derek steps through, and your brain stutters for a moment trying to process what you're seeing. It's definitely Derek—same height, same build, same senior developer you've worked with for two years. But something is... different. His face looks softer somehow, the sharp angles of his jaw less pronounced. His cheekbones seem higher, more delicate. His lips look slightly fuller, though that might be your imagination.

"Hey," he says, his voice the same confident tone you remember, though maybe pitched slightly higher? He's carrying his laptop and a folder of presentation materials. "Conference room free? I wanted to set up before everyone else arrives."

He seems completely oblivious to any changes in his appearance. His dress shirt fits differently than usual—tighter across the chest in a way that suggests... something. The fabric pulls slightly, and you can see what might be the faint outline of developing tissue beneath.

"Oh hey Derek!" Jessie chirps from beside you, apparently seeing nothing unusual. "You look good today! New shirt?"

Derek glances down at himself, seeming puzzled. "No, same one I always wear. Why?"

"Oh, I dunno, just looks good on you," she giggles, twirling a strand of platinum hair around one finger.

Derek's eyes flicker over Jessie's outfit—the tight red dress, the plunging neckline—but his expression remains professionally neutral, as if this is completely normal attire for the office. "Thanks," he says, moving to the front of the room to set up his laptop at the presentation station.

As he bends over to plug in the cables, you notice his pants fit differently too—tighter around the hips, looser at the waist. His movements seem unconsciously more fluid, less angular.

The clock on the wall reads 9:58am. The meeting starts in two minutes, and other team members will be arriving any moment.

You pull your phone out discreetly, typing the message to Candy with quick thumbs: "Make it so every time I ask Derek a question during the presentation and he trips up answering, his transformation speeds up."

The response appears instantly: "OMG yes!! That's like, SO creative! I'm setting up the parameters now! Every stumble = acceleration boost! This is gonna be amazing to watch! "

Another bubble: "All configured! Just ask him stuff and watch what happens when he fumbles! The more he messes up, the faster she becomes a bimbo! You're getting SO good at this! "

The door swings open and three team members file in. Sarah Chen, the data analyst, enters first—a woman in her early thirties with black hair pulled back in a professional bun, wearing slacks and a blazer. She glances at Jessie's red dress with a neutral expression, as if this is completely normal office attire, then takes a seat near the middle of the table.

Robert Park follows, a junior developer in his mid-twenties with glasses and a slightly rumpled button-down. He nods at Derek, gives you a quick "Hey Marcus," then sits near the back with his laptop.

Amanda Torres, the UX designer, comes in last—late twenties, brown hair in loose waves, carrying a tablet. "Sorry, coffee line was insane," she announces, dropping into a chair. Her eyes pass over Jessie without reaction, as if platinum blonde hair and a plunging neckline are standard conference room fare.

"Alright, let's get started," Derek says, clicking to his first slide. The title reads: "Q4 Architecture Refactoring Proposal." His voice sounds slightly higher than usual, though no one else seems to notice. "I've been working on optimizing our database schema and I think I've found some significant improvements we can implement."

He advances to the next slide, and you notice his hair has definitely grown—now clearly touching his collar, and is there a hint of lighter color at the roots? His shirt pulls tighter across his chest with each movement.

"So the main issue we're facing is query performance during peak load times," Derek continues, gesturing at a graph. His hand movements are more fluid, more graceful than before. "We're seeing response times spike above acceptable thresholds, and I believe the solution lies in restructuring our indexing strategy."

Jessie sits beside you, legs crossed, the red dress riding high on her thighs. She seems to be paying attention to Derek's presentation, or at least pretending to. The other team members look engaged, taking notes.

Derek is standing at the front of the room, presenting to a group that includes his reality-rewriting victim. None of them see anything unusual about his softening features or developing curves. The stage is set for your interactive acceleration experiment.