"I see!" Peta exclaimed. There was a flash of magical light, and Robbie could tell that now it was functional.
"Planning to test it?" she asked.
Robbie shook his head.
"So, why did you want to invent a machine capable of changing someone's sex?"
"Just theoretical. Wanted to see if it was possible."
Peta gave the costume tubes a significant glance. Out of the five tubes, two showed women's clothing. Robbie felt his face heat. That hadn't even occurred to him.
"It's not for me. I just like dressing up."
"But wouldn't a temporary body change be the ultimate dress-up?" Peta asked, a sparkle of mischief in her brown eyes.
"I suppose..." Robbie said, and before he could object, she pointed it at him and pushed the button.
"What did you do that for?" he yelped. A quick catalogue of the changes told him that he was shorter and had smaller feet (his pants were now too long, and his shoes were loose), the seat of his pants and his vest were both tighter, and a pat down his body told him that his pants would be falling down if they weren't high-waisted, as his natural waistline had shrunk, though his lower abdomen was a lot rounder.
It was then that he heard the hatch opening.
"Turn me back now!" he hissed, which Peta thankfully did, then put it down.
There was the thump of somebody landing, and then a voice that was unmistakably Ætherian-accented said "Hello, Robbie." Unless the person was a very lucky Icelander who'd made it out past the magical curtain, he was an elf or a pixie, and while the tone was somewhat seductive, it wasn't the magically-enhanced enticement of a pixie on the prowl.
"Sportacus!" Robbie replied joyfully. That was an elf name, Peta knew, that of the elf who kept an eye on borderland Slothshire's villages for the Ætherian government under the guise of protecting them. She felt sick. Robbie, who she'd thought to be quite a nice warlock, was a filthy elf-shagging traitor.
She pasted on a smile and turned around to greet her elven overlord.
"Did you get Robbie's thing finished?" Pixel said as he got into the car. Peta sighed. The last thing she needed to think about now was that traitor and his predilections.
"Momma?" Pixel asked again, as they drove out of Lazytown.
"Yes, we got it finished, but well, after we got done, his boyfriend showed up."
"What's wrong with that?" Pixel asked.
"He's that elf that hangs around Lazytown, that's what's wrong with that." There was silence, so she glanced over at Pixel, and saw his eyes were wide and hurt.
"Kid-Pix, what's up?"
"You know I like Stephanie," he said accusingly.
"That's hardly the same thing. The biggest danger with pixies, assuming their elven friends don't take offense to you and try to break your head, is getting your heart broken, which can be easily avoided by remembering it's inevitable. Sex with elves, on the other hand, is a dominance game from beginning to end. Mr Rotten has allowed himself to be prey to that elf, even if he doesn't know it yet, and he ought to, being a warlock."
"Momma?" Pixel said quietly. She glanced over, and he was staring at his hands, bottom lip caught between his teeth.
"Yes?" Peta asked. She glanced over again when he didn't answer. He had his eyes shut, and was shaking his head. She pulled over.
"Pixel? Come on, mini-me, what's the matter?"
"That's what she said," he said very quietly. "That I was prey."
"She? What are you talking about?"