"... and when I wake up the next morning, I'm someone else. Ever have that happen to you?"

"Not really," the Cat replied.

"Oh, trust me, it's frightening. You think you're someone, then you look down, and you realize little bits and pieces of you are different. You're not the same person you were the day before. Oooo..." She gave a visible shudder.

"Different how?"

She thought for a moment. "You're... well... different. You're the same, but you're not. You're someone else. You might have been born a Cathi, but now you're a Marni, or a Jonni, or a Jenni, or a Lonni. Let me tell you, it does real hell to a girl's sense of identity. And you're... changed. Someone's put green lipstick on you. I hate green lipstick. I mean, do I look like a green-lipstick kind of girl? With these skin tones?"

"Not really."

"You got that right. I don't even know who I am anymore. Yeah, I was pretty then, and I'm pretty now, but I'm pretty different no matter how you look at it. I don't know if I'm supposed to be a warrior priestess or one of Santa's elves. I just can't get grounded inside myself. I'm, like, all these people -- Sybil would have nothing on me, y'know? If I could just get a sense of my own real identity for about fifteen minutes before I get traded off and rearranged and recoloured and relayered and God only knows what else..." She uttered a visibly silent scream. "I just can't connect with anything now. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The Cat considered for a moment. "Perhaps it's the stool."