"We can definitely get you snacks. And I think you'll find photography doesn't work in here. Just let me write this out for the records... Aaaand there."

It's carbon paper. She hands a copy of the receipt to Alex.

"Back to the consult room?"

"...Y'know, I forget if this is a one-party consent state for recordings, but I think that actively putting audio and/or visual recording under immutable forbiddance might pose an ADA violation.  Not that that matters right now, since I didn't anyway, but it came to mind.

"...Anyway.  Back to the consult room.  Sounds like a plan."

"I'm sure there is a reason for it. Maybe it's a side effect."

Back to the consult room! The mini-fridge apparently has snacks, too.

"Based off a first time reading above thirty, we can offer services worth up to 2000 Oghams of mana in deferred payments. I think that should cover most everything, so it might be time to start looking at what you want to be as an end result."

She is absolutely going to help herself to the (free!  right?) snacks.  She's a college student, that's practically a religious observance.

"Right.  I'm actually horrible with open-ended questions like that one!  So let's start with the broad cuts and work our way inward, shall we?  ...Now is really not the time to get sidetracked by fascinating experiments in VR-mediated proprioception, if I wanted to construct a try-before-you-buy spell I should have gone for it any other time than right now...  But anyway.  Uh.  Yeah, I'm going to need some handholding til we get to the part of the process where my opinions jump out from behind a bush and mug me."

"There's a lot to consider. For male to female transgender care, the gold standard is a cellular-level hormone and gene expression correction, a lot of body and skin sculpting sessions, and optionally conversion of the genitals to a vagina and womb. Depending on your preferences, the womb can be left largely vestigial- It still serves an important purpose in genetic regulation. This can include or skip a full genetic rewrite of all of your body cells, which has a fair few implications. It's important to note that your hormones affect many things about how your body, such as how it maintains growth, and how you feel. Some people are more concerned with the felt experience and signs of stress and emotion, while others are more concerned with their appearance, which is a hundred percent valid. Looking good is feeling good, in many cases. Typically we would finish today by taking a few nude or semi-nude photos of you and then use computer software to generate example final looks, allowing you to refine your goals. We do have a sort of doll program that can help visualize changes, too. There's actually a list of about 20 'standard' changes. Picking from that can help you get an idea, let me just bring that up real quick..."

Hair Removal (permanent)

Hair Growth/Recolor (permanent)

Eyes Recolor/Repair

Butt Lift

Feminine Shoulders

Soft Face

Feminine Voice

Flawless Skin

Feminine Arms

Hip Widening

Waist Thinning

Swimmer's Legs

Flat Belly

Emphasize Musculature ("Muscle Girl")

Breast Growth (any size within reason)

Skin Sensitivity Changes 

Hand and Foot Sculpting

Skin Color Treatment

Resting Body Weight Adjustment

Height Adjustment

Body Scent Adjustment

Genital Sculpting (aesthetic or functional changes to existing)

Genital Reconfiguration (consult with the team for details)

"You can be an amazoness, or a waif. A supermodel or the girl next door, or anything in between. These are focused on aesthetic changes, not functional changes. An example of a functional change would be increasing your core strength, as opposed to emphasizing musculature. A matter of the exact goal."

"...Right.  There are kind of a lot of functional problems with this miserable pile of lipids, though; is that - within scope?  Not that I am not intrigued by the idea that I could have some sort of aesthetically ideal form, but the amount that I care about aesthetics is...  Relatively small, compared to caring about whether I could maybe just be fit enough by default to run a mile without having to, at best, powerwalk most of it, or about getting a hole where my brain is utterly convinced a hole should be.  I guess there's boobs, on the midpoint of functional and aesthetic concerns.  ...Notably, I don't think I like what evolution came up with as regards cisfem-typical hormone cycles, if I'm being honest.  Not having anything resembling periods is one of the good things about getting my hormones from the grocery store.  And not doing -- well, I bet you've already heard all the shit I could possibly say as far as 'nonsensical HRT practices' goes, so I'll spare you the poorly delivered facts on why people need to stop pretending that injected estradiol valerate can actually last your system an entire week, et cetera.  But I have many things that I want to poke at on the functional level, even if I do also have a couple of aesthetic desires."

"...Insert some sort of quip about transhumanism here, I guess.  I'm fresh out.  But...  I'm really hardly one to create a body like an artist, overall.  I know this clinic is, like, extensively done up for the people who will get annoyed if their nose is a millimeter too thick for their cover shoot or whatever, but I came here because there's nobody in the mundane world who would have the first idea where to begin if I told them it would be really cool to see the shrimp colors, and because five years is way too fucking long to wait for the minimal results I expect my genes to produce, based on my egg-line.  ...Though, apparently, shrimp colors are mostly the same spectrum as human ones, just driven by a bunch of smaller-range cones instead of the three most of us have, so I probably wouldn't bother with that out of my limited budget.  ...Ooh, the human sort of tetrachromacy would be cool, though, come to think...  Uh.  Anyway.  Yeah.  Like I guess it would be cool to be a gymnast?  ...Strike the 'guess', I did in fact use to do gymnastics when I was like, five, and it was pretty cool, it just never went anywhere.  Story of my fucking life, that.  Promising start, but there's no real follow-through.

"...And another thing!  

"...Actually, no, even though I damn well wish I had a magic wand to wave at my neurochemistry to fix its reward-system failures, I am not going to throw magic I don't understand at it, especially since the brain itself is so poorly understood.  Disaster awaits in that direction, I should think, and I've read enough sci-fi to know."

"Oh, so you're way over on the functional side of the functional/aesthetic curve. You probably want a body that basically doesn't get sick, doesn't have allergies, doesn't need to sleep so much and wakes up easy, is nice and flexible, doesn't get joint pain, cleans up minor injuries well, doesn't get addicted easily, is clean of any inconvenient known genetic defects, gets and keeps muscle and cardiovascular health easily, promotes neuroplasticity without actually touching the brain per se... The Olympic Package, basically. Truly transhumanist options are something you'll have to talk to the doctor directly about, but I'll definitely note your interest."

"That sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, yeah."

"A gymnast style look, and the Olympian treatment, okay. I'll start working up an estimate on that?"

"Mmhmm.  Sounds like a plan.  ...I will admit to some interest in tweaks of a more overtly prurient nature, as well, though given what Olympians legendarily get up to, I expect there's little more to add save perhaps making sure there's no inconvenient gag reflexes."

"So noted. Skin sensitivity tweaks are popular. I also know that Dr. Halthis can get them - bioreactive, to only show when you're affected by a specific spell or chemical. Also, as far as genital configurations go, 'both' is a possibility, but an expensive one since it needs a lot of extra work. Most clients end up deciding against it, historically, not that I can get more specific than that. I hear there are, ah, magic devices that serve a similar purpose with much less hassle."

"Good to hear; I'll definitely keep that in mind.  ...Hm, I suppose it would be harder from a conceptual angle than the physical surgical one..."

They chat about what Alex can expect for a while longer- Major external changes won't happen at first, but she should notice the exercise-related benefits starting right away-

And then a meeting with Dr. Marleth, a tall and slim woman who's just a little bit perfecter than the rest of the staff (but managing not to be in the uncanny valley about it), with slightly glowing purple eyes, who introduces herself and goes over a detailed, twelve-session treatment plan set to take place over three weeks.

"It's always good to see a new mage around to fund us. We'd actually die without you, you know... So our total fee for all the tuneups and follow-ups, before any additional requests, I'm going to say... Eight hundred Ogham. Bottom work will add another hundred. More exotic bottom work, up to four hundred."

"...You have very pretty eyes."

"...Er, I mean.  So it never quite came up what sort of timeframe I would be expected to make up the credit in?"

A slight smile, and then a shrug. "We want repeat customers- There's no planned obsolescence but bodies do require occasional maintenance, and people tend to get injured or want more changes over time, and mana isn't exactly something traditional financial institutions deal in. So we try to be generous with our terms when we can afford it. As long as you're paying back at least four percent of what you owe per week, we'll be fine with it. No interest."

She nods, and pulls out her phone to run some numbers.

"Right.  I can make that work, I think.  And there was something about spells?  I haven't exactly gotten them up and running yet, but I do have a couple ideas for things I could probably do with a bit of time and effort.  ...Also a couple wildly speculative off-the-wall artifice or magical plant breeding ideas, since apparently dryads are solar-powered and I see no reason you couldn't splice that into a plant or reimplement it as an artifice like a solar panel, but that's more of a general thing."

"...Well, if you have something useful already refined I'd love to hear it, but you sound newly awakened?"

"...Well, yes, and?"  She seems genuinely confused at what this could possibly have to do with spellcraft.  "I'm not sure what it's like for you, but magic from a sorcerous perspective is all about thinking the right way, at least in my experience - and that I dare say I have plenty of practice in.  The rest is just... set dressing."

"Magic is extremely detail oriented and requires knowing exactly what you're doing, having a clear understanding of the moving parts of the systems and excellent visualization. Forgive me, but most new sorcerers aren't capable of doing it to my standards. Then again, most new sorcerers are young teens. By all means, pitch me with an idea and impress me with an elevator pitch, and perhaps I'll decide to give you a hefty discount for a prototype."

She nods.  "Right now, I'm tossing around a couple things - the one I'm pretty sure will be easier to work out is a body-map projection, focusing on the consonance and dissonance of a patient's body compared to the expectations of their mind of that body.  I need to find or make a good interpretive layer between the biofeedback and the actual intended result - I'm thinking some sort of holographic projection - but once that's done it should be fairly simple.  The other idea that keeps coming back to me is a bit of artifice that ought to allow a sort of try-before-you-buy experience - discount astral projection into an illusory mannequin of sorts, with relatively detailed simulation of gross physical traits.  Possibly that ought to outright hijack the sensory cortex, but then I'd hardly be able to use it myself...  ...Hmm."  Pad of paper, where are you -

Sketching ahoy; she pulls out her blue ink pen and gets to work diagramming.  First off, some of the core connective anchors...

It's a relatively thorough blueprint, given that she's barely had half an hour to think of what ought to go there.  There's clearly some sci-fi and classic lit inspiration at hand, too, in the vision helmet and the design she figures makes the most sense for imparting control.  But the actual parts manifest doesn't seem to require any high-grade Bullshit.  Just some adjustable, well, parts, some Orbs(tm), and an exam chair.  The actual simulation engine she sketches out is genius, if she does say so herself - it's an adaptation of the TIS-100 onto the forms of the Vitruvian Man, punning off of things like 'heartbeat' and 'uplink' to keep the system alive and in good order.  Admittedly, the note of 'source of ectoplasm?' is less inspiring, but she's working on it.

Dr. Halthis watches a tad skeptically.

"The illusory mannequin idea is good. Especially if it's highly customizable, but we'll want to try for a minimum viable product first. A generic female form with some properties that can be adjusted by a non-magic person. Let people create their own target body. The notion of drawing out what someone expects into an illusion is also good, but perhaps secondary. We can do body sculpting to get close to their ideal. I don't want to fuck with astral projection, it's a succubus magic subskill to give people detailed false sensations. We do that sometimes already."

"Oh, good, we can definitely work with that.  Possibly it works better for this setup; there's plenty of memetic weight behind some similar ideas..."  Scribble scribble.  "And I did say discount astral projection; goodness knows I don't want to go throwing souls about willy-nilly either.  So yeah, sensory hijack - actually, could you test a small one on me real quick?  I want to see if and how it offends my anti-mindfuck ward.  I'll pay you back."  Say, she heard magic grows with strong emotions - how's the !!excitement!! of !!making a cool thing!! for !!pretty doctor lady!!, doing for her recharge rate?

"I'm saying don't bother with the sensory replacement because I won't pay for that feature. Maybe later if the MVP works. Give me more information on this ward. How retaliatory it is, for example."

Excitement seems to be helping!

"Yeah, but it's still a protocol layer I should leave proper hooks for, even if they're dummied out for now.  If we're just doing the adjustable mannequin part, though - hm, where do I want to wire the I/O..."

"Oh - hm.  Shouldn't be at all; I did ask."  Though she does nudge the sense-of-Foundation in her head that she's organizing a drill and [they] should moderate [their] response so as to avoid harming allies, just in case - she's sure [they're] professionals who know what [they're] doing, but it's important to have redundancies.  "It mostly acts by isolating and dissecting the spell, though if you actually enter my mindscape as a part of the process that could get a bit more hairy at baseline; someone snuck into my dreams last night and got a bit surprised.  Though, like, she's fine even so, by all accounts."  She's pretty sure she saw [them] wielding confoam sprayers, actually.  Very non-lethal.  "I don't like the idea of hurting people.  I don't expect my magic to do it without severe provocation."

"Don't overcomplicate it if this increases the risk of issues. I am going to keep saying things in that vein until you acknowledge."

She holds out one hand.

"...Grab my hand to test the 'illusion' effect."