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Die Role, by SpectralWolf, March 2020 (revised October 2021)

"She was an ordinary person... until..."

Chapter 1: A Fated Encounter

Mister Chen was an elderly Chinese red panda, with cinnamon brown fur and white and black markings, in which one could see an infusion of silvery grey hairs, indicative of his many years of life experience. He had a reputation among his regular customers for an uncanny ability to know what they needed before they even asked, almost as if he could read their minds. But those who knew him well would insist he had no real magical or psychic talents, beyond being fairly good at casting the coins for I Ching divination, and interpreting the results, and, perhaps, he had better than normal intuition about the needs of others. Despite his age, which he declined to reveal the actual value of to anyone but his closest friends, he enjoyed good health, and excellent hearing and eyesight. He was a skilled observer of the world around himself. It was a useful talent for a collector and seller of unique antiquities and hard to find items. And the neighborhood where he lived and worked - between the city of Timberland's Chinatown district and the queer end of the city's nightclub district - provided him a most diverse and entertaining assortment of people and situations to hone his skills on. He dearly loved to watch others, trying to determine from their words and actions what sort of people they were, what their needs might be, and how his odd assortment of wares and skills might be of benefit to them.

Tonight, he was enjoying a rather late dinner, on a Saturday evening in early July of 2015. The Jade Dragon Chinese restaurant, which was only a few yards from his shop, served excellent Cantonese food, and the family that owned and operated it were old friends. His own shop was usually open on Monday through Friday, between six pm and two am, or by appointment, so the chance to enjoy a leisurely dinner in the restaurant on weekend nights, rather than relying on his own cooking, or having take-out delivered, was one he seldom failed to partake in. He sat quietly in a booth at one corner of the restaurant, wearing black sneakers, tight fitting black stretch denim jeans, and a t-shirt which was decorated with art from a somewhat obscure Japanese anime series on the chest, as he cast his gaze around the room.

An old friend, a black bear named Andrew Richards, was coming into the restaurant, moving slowly and using his cane. It seemed his bad hip was acting up again. Mister Chen got up and helped his friend to a nearby table, and quietly informed him that one of the herbal remedies that helped his hip pain was again available in his shop. While Mister Chen did not sell narcotics or other restricted or illegal drugs, he was quite skillful in compounding remedies which included such restricted drugs as his customers provided, and his preparations invariably increased their efficacy. They agreed upon a special appointment the next day, to add Andrew's prescription opiates to one of Mister Chen's remedies. Then he returned to his seat.

Most of the other customers at this hour were queer younger people, dressed to go to the nearby LGBTQ nightclub to dance, or clearly having just come from the club, seeking a quieter and more intimate setting in one of the back booths, to chat or make out with someone they had hooked up with. An adorable lesbian couple, both slender mixed breed puppies barely old enough to drink, were passionately kissing in one of those back booths, while their food went cold and uneaten on the table. A vulpine woman, who he recognized as a regular customer of his shop, and who was also a professional escort who often met customers at the club, was casually brushing out her luxurious tail fur, as she gave her dinner order to the waitress. The vixen was seated close enough to his table that Mister Chen could smell that the escort had just recently had sex with at least one male customer, and likely she had serviced several males at once. An apparently straight family of four, all otters, were enjoying their meal, while the young parents tried to ignore the sexy clothes and lewd behavior of some of the other customers. A fairly typical night.

The bell on the side entrance rang as the door opened, and a short-statured motorcyclist entered the restaurant. At first, their gender was unrecognizable, due to their helmet and bulky coat. Only their flowing white tail gave evidence to their species and coloration, being a white wolf of some sort. Before they even removed their helmet, which was of canine design and painted to look like a snarling white wolf, against a blue metal flake background, they peeled off thick white motorcyclist's gloves, a thigh-length white parka, then a black leather motorcycle jacket, then a burgundy red colored zip-up hoody, and finally, a second, smaller, white leather jacket, hanging each jacket on the coat rack by the door, and stuffing their gloves in a pocket of the bulky parka. So much winter clothing, for a rather warm early summer night! Then she took off the helmet, which was also clearly too large for her, as she next removed a padded helmet liner hood, releasing a cascade of waist-length, snow white hair. The girl was a young timber wolf, perhaps eighteen years old, and her fur was colored in what one would normally think of as winter pelage, mostly snow white, with faint grey markings. Her wide eyes were ice blue, she had a petite figure with curves in all the right places, and she was very cute! Her remaining clothing consisted of a scarlet tank top, and black, skinny-leg jeans, tucked into her white motorcycle boots.

Mister Chen could not help but recall an I Ching casting that he had done for himself before coming to the restaurant: 'Winter will arrive in Summer. New beginnings lead to many changes. Determination will be rewarded with success. Change requires a mentor to find happiness.' His curiosity piqued, he watched her with great interest.

The waitress seated her fairly close to him, next to a brown furred bunny couple who had come in through the front door and been seated while she was peeling off her excessive outerwear. The bunny couple, familiar with the menu, quickly placed their order, and with a grin the woman specified, "Chopsticks only, please! No silverware, except for the spoons with the soup!" The white wolf girl cocked her head when they said this, and after placing her own order, and mispronouncing most of what she ordered, she somewhat uncertainly gave the waitress the same instructions, to bring only chopsticks.

When her meal arrived, it swiftly became clear that the young woman was both unfamiliar with Chinese cuisine, and absolutely pathetic with using chopsticks! She looked quite startled when she bit into a piece of raw ginger, which she had mixed in with her salad. When she tried to eat a shrimp dish, she got so frustrated at being unable to get a shrimp to her mouth without dropping it that she resorted to skewering one with the point of a chopstick! Yet she adamantly declined, three separate times, when the waitress, seeing her difficulties, offered western silverware. She was apparently quite determined to complete the task she had set for herself! Mister Chen admired that determination in her. And it also implied that his I Ching casting was foretelling him of this girl's arrival. Sometimes his divinations were uncannily accurate, even about events he had no inkling of being possible. She could certainly be described as 'winter arriving in summer', and she showed great determination. So he decided to politely offer her some guidance. Perhaps the divination indicated that he was meant to be her mentor?

"Excuse me, please," he said, as he approached her. "I am Chen. You are new to this place, yes? Is it presumption on my part to assume you are unfamiliar with this sort of food? May I humbly offer some assistance?"

She was startled that anyone had spoken to her other than the waitress. She had been focused intently on getting a shrimp to her mouth properly, and when he spoke, she fumbled the chopsticks so badly that the shrimp flew away from her and almost hit the vulpine escort woman! "OH! Ummm, I'm Karen. Yeah... new to everything here, really. Just moved here from Haven, a few hours down the valley. I do kinda suck at using these sticks, don't I? It's only the third time I have ever eaten this stuff, and the other two times were takeout, at home with my mom. But my new place is right above this restaurant, so I guess I will be eating here pretty often. Gotta get used to it."

"Haven is a nice town," Mister Chen replied. "Good people, fine craft market. Why move here? To attend the state university?"

"Yeah, eventually. Need to save up some money, first," she replied. "Um... is Chen your first name? Or your family name?"

"Family name. The rest of my name, only someone who speaks Chinese well is likely to be able to pronounce. So I am just 'Chen', or 'Mister Chen', if you wish. Now, please, let me help you, while your meal and mine are still warm." He brought his own food and hot tea to her table, and proceeded to teach her the use of chopsticks, and which sauces and condiments go best with which foods. By the end of their meal, Karen was still awkward with her chopsticks, but at least she was consistently managing to get the food into her mouth, without resorting to silverware.

"May I ask you a few questions?" Mister Chen inquired. "Nothing terribly personal, I promise."

"Fair enough," Karen said. "You helped me and asked for nothing in return. What would you like to know?"

"Why so many coats, on a warm summer night? You arrived looking like you were ready for a blizzard," he replied.

"Oh! Well, like I said, I just moved here. But you see, I don't have a car, and neither does my mom. I had to bring everything I own here on my motorcycle, with a small trailer behind it," she said. "Tonight was the last load. I ran out of room in my backpack and trailer, so I just put on all my remaining coats."

"But the different sizes? And were you not unbearably hot?" he asked.

"Well, most of my stuff is hand-me-downs, from my mom and her friends. I... never really had a dad. Mom got pregnant with me when she was about to graduate from high school. Her boyfriend skipped town as soon as he knew. Mom... well, with only a high school education, she was stuck in dead end jobs. Usually working two jobs at once. And getting abandoned by my dad really screwed up her love life. She tried dating other guys. She dated girls, too. Nothing lasted very long. The two oversized jackets, and my bike helmet too... they belonged to one of mom's more recent male lovers. He was the closest thing I had to a father... Once, he even offered to marry mom, and to adopt me. But mom was too afraid of getting hurt again, to let him or anyone else marry her. We all remained friends, though. So as my high school graduation gift, he gave me those, and he painted the helmet for me himself. And he and my mom got donations from all their friends to buy me a used motorbike and trailer. The white leather things were a gift from mom. They have a matching set of pants, and there are pockets in the jacket's lining for phase change gel packs to keep me cool when it is hot, or chemical hot packs for winter time. And, and... you didn't ask about anything but the jackets, and here I'm gushing all this personal stuff, and I don't really even know you..." she said, voice faltering and looking terribly embarrassed.

"I am a trustworthy person, and you sensed that," he replied. "Ask that bear over there, or any of the staff here, or that sultry vixen who you almost hit with a shrimp. All will tell you that Chen is a man of honor. And I think... you may need a friend you can trust. You have come, alone, to a town much larger than the one you were raised in. You seek your future here fearlessly, yet... you have not mentioned having a job here, as yet? Did you truly trust to fate that you would swiftly find work here?"

"I... guess I did, yeah. Mom always said the way to have a good future is to reach out and grab it with both hands. For as long as I can remember, she has told me to be a good girl, and concentrate on my education. Told me to avoid the stupid mistakes she made, not rush headlong into sex and dating. There will be time enough to find a mate, after I have my degree and can support myself," she replied. "I've worked since I was old enough to get a work permit. I wanted so much to help mom out. I tried washing dishes, bussing tables, being a waitress, being a grocery store bagger, then grocery cashier... I can even be a great barista. I'll find something. I hope."

"I too, believe in fate," Mister Chen replied, handing her a business card. "I think fate has led us to meet. You need a job, yes? I own a shop close to here. I need an assistant. Someone who is not afraid to work. Someone who can run a cash register. I would like to offer you that job. There is my card. Come to me at five PM, on Monday, and we can discuss it further. Before then, ask anyone in this neighborhood about me. I am respected here. Please, think it over." Then he scooped up the bills for both their meals, and said, "Your meal tonight is my treat. A welcome gift to the neighborhood. I insist." And before Karen could object, he got up, settled the bill with the waitress at the door, and departed.

She watched Mister Chen leave, then looked again at the business card he had given her. "The Curiosity Shoppe - antiquities, rare books, and oddities" it said, in gold cursive embossed lettering. Then below that, an address on this street, a phone number, an email address, and "Hours: M-F 6PM-2AM, or by appointment, Mister Chen, proprietor". Not a cheap card, Karen noted. She had price checked personal business cards when seeking to get a few for herself, to give to potential employers. Features like gold embossed lettering were too expensive for her budget, and she had eventually just bought some laser perforated glossy card stock, which she could print at home, with her laptop and her color printer. She had the paper packed with her computer stuff, but had not made the cards yet.

"Kinda weird business hours," she mused to herself. "But I could sleep late every morning, which is great. I just hope he's legit."

"Oh, he is, honey," murred a sultry female voice, coming from almost at her shoulder.

Karen yipped and looked up into the amber eyes of the sexy vixen she had almost hit with her fumbled shrimp. The woman had quietly moved to stand close to her. "OH!" Karen exclaimed. "Were... were we talking that loud? Sorry if we disturbed you, ma'am."

"Naw, I just have good ears, and a snoopy habit of listening to what other people say near me. Helps keep me safe on the streets, an' sometimes helps me spot new clients," the vixen replied. "Been a while since anyone respectfully called me ma'am, honey. Guess you really are as sweet and innocent as you sounded. Sorry for eavesdropping. You can call me Amber. My professional name is Amber Fyre. And yeah, he's a real straight arrow. He doesn't date, doesn't pick up professional girls like me, doesn't go after the pretty boys... maybe he's just old enough not to care about sex any more. His shop is older than any other business on the block, I think. Sure looks like an old museum inside. I buy some kinky stuff from him occasionally. But don't let the stuff in his back room make you think he's a pervert. He only carries the sexy stuff because he knows folks like me prefer to buy the really nice toys in person, and that folks who are not 'out' about their kinks appreciate a discreet place to shop. I don't think he's into kinks himself. Just an open-minded guy who knows his customers. Queer, pagan, kinkster, nerd, schoolgirl, dancer, or whore - he doesn't judge. Treats everyone like good honest people, as long as they deserve it. Even a whore, like me. He calls me 'Miss Amber', when I buy things from him. He is a good person to know, even if you don't end up working for him. Most of the people around here treat him like their eccentric, friendly uncle or grandpa."

Karen smiled, and said, "Well, thank you, ma'am. Errrr Amber... I'm Karen Bright. Just got an apartment upstairs. Say... if you do, well... you said you're a... 'professional', so... do you know the dancers and drag queens that work near here? My landlord said the last tenant in the apartment I got was a drag performer and dancer. A bunch of her furniture was still in the apartment, an' he said I could just have it. Do you know what happened to her?"

"You can use the word whore around me, honey. I'm not ashamed of what I do for a living. And I really do appreciate that you're still treatin' me so decent, when I was so blunt about my professional life," Amber replied. "Yeah, I knew Candi. Skunk girl, de-scented... petite and cute, like you. She performed as 'Glory Rose' on stage. Drag and burlesque performer, and never a whore. Had a cute femboy boyfriend, and was faithful to him. Candi Clarke was her real name. But the news stories only posted her 'dead name', as 'Mr Carlos Hernandez'. Candi was transgender, and a sweet kid, just 23 years old. She was doing stage performances as Glory to earn the money to pay for her gender confirmation surgeries. Got herself shanked in an alley by two drunk, homophobic bastards. Not near here, though. She was at a convention in Vegas when it happened. Minding her own business, walking back to her hotel after performing... I guess they thought she was a street walker. When she turned them down, her voice gave her away as trans. She passed really well, other than her voice. The guys got all bent out of shape, claiming that she somehow deceived them, and they killed her. In front of three witnesses, who subdued them until the police could get there. They're in jail, awaiting trial, with murder and hate crimes charges pending."

"Oh wow, that sucks so bad," Karen said. "My mom's bi, and we have a lot of queer and transgender friends. And to be equally blunt, my mom has whored herself out a few times, when she needed money to support the both of us. So yeah, you being a sex worker doesn't bother me, any more than those two girls French kissing each other in the corner do."

"Cool beans, girlfriend," Amber replied. "An' what about you, honey? What floats your boat?"

Karen shrugged. "Not sure, yet. Honestly, I've only been on two dates, at the end of this last school year. A lesbian friend took me to the Spring Formal. It was supposed to be strictly as a 'friends night out', but, well... she did kiss me goodnight, pretty affectionately. And I liked it. But I wasn't ready to try dating her for real," Karen replied. "For my Senior prom date, I went with a guy... he kissed me a lot, and got kinda grabby. That was more or less okay with me too, but he wanted too much, too fast. I'm not sure who I want to pair up with. Guess I'm open to the idea of dating either with guys or girls. But until I get at least my Associate's degree, I don't plan to do any serious dating. Came here hoping to save up some money and start college."

"Only two dates so far, for a cute girl like you? Sheesh, I woulda thought you were one of those popular girls that everyone wanted to date!" Amber replied with a wink. "I sure woulda asked you out myself, when I was in high school, if I thought you'd consider dating me. Heck, if you just graduated, you're only six years or so younger than me. Interested?"

"Well, I think you're pretty, too. And you do seem really nice. But I promised my mom I would concentrate on my education goals, and not do any serious dating until I have a degree," Karen replied. "I would like us to be friends, though."

"Fair enough, friends it is then. And, well, if you ever want some not-serious, no strings attached playtime, I'd give you a good price break, as a friend," Amber said, with a wink. She looked around to make sure no one seemed to be watching them, then opened the tiny purse that she was carrying and withdrew a dark red business card, which she handed to Karen. The only thing on the card was a phone number, printed in gold, and a small gold flame. No name, or anything else. "Thanks for being such a decent person, honey. You can usually find me after dark across the street, in the Inferno club. I don't work out on the streets. You can call or send a text to that number, and it will go directly to a very discreet and private message service. I check it when I am not busy with clients. If I don't reply, and you really need to talk to me, for any reason, ask any of the bartenders in the club, or the rhino who acts as the bouncer at their door. They have my direct number. Have a good night, sweetheart!"

"You too, Amber!" Karen replied, with a wave of her hand, as the vixen left cash on the table to pay her bill, and slipped out into the night. Karen stayed at her table a little longer, sipping hot tea, and then signaled the waitress to come over.

The other girl was about Karen's age, and was a petite, all-black kitty with her long black hair held back in a bun, pinned with two gold-colored hair pins, decorated with white enamel cherry blossom petals. "Would you like more tea? Your bill already got paid." she said.

"I'm good on the tea, but could we talk for a moment, please? I'm Karen, and I just moved here, from Haven. I'd really like to know more about this neighborhood, and the people here. What's your name? And have you lived here for very long?" the wolf girl asked.

The waitress looked around to make sure no one else needed service, then smiled and said, "I am called Mei Linn. My parents and my aunt and uncle own this restaurant. So I was raised here. This is a nice place to live. Good people in this town. You need to know something specific?"

"Well, for starters, that gentleman who joined me at dinner. What can you tell me about him? He offered me a job, and said the people here could assure me he was a good person?" Karen asked.

"Ah yes! Mister Chen! He is my Godfather!" the waitress replied, with a happy smile. "Good friend of my family. His uncle, who owned his shop before him, helped my grandparents get started in business here, long before my parents were born. He took over the family business of running his curiosity shop about the same time my grandparents retired. So... I guess he is my parents' age, or maybe a bit older? I think older, yes. His ancestors in the Chen family ran the first general store and mercantile shop in Timberland, since the 1850's. Very well-established family, but not many relatives living here, I think. Most live back east, far away. Just him in this town, that I know of. Though recently he has mentioned a much-loved nephew, who may eventually come out to help run the shop. His sister's child, I gather. One of my older cousins, Mia, works for him, and she likes it there. Odd little shop, but he is very good at providing what people need. Lots of people in this city come to him for unique and hard to find things. Not just books and antiques, either! He knows all sorts of people, and knows where to get things I have never imagined existed! He pays my cousin well, and charges reasonable prices for what he sells. Some of his stuff is very expensive, of course! But he has affordable things too. Mia says she never gets bored, working in his shop!"

"Oh wow, thanks!" Karen replied enthusiastically. "That was just the sort of reassuring things I needed to hear. Ummmm, do you attend one of the colleges here?"

"Part time, yes. At state university. Business administration major. I want to help manage our family's restaurant," she replied. "My older brother and two of my other cousins work here too, and the four of us will run this place when my parents and my uncle and aunt choose to retire. Will you be going to school there too? What is your major?"

"Well, eventually, yes," Karen said. "Can't afford to start this school year, though. I filed too late for my scholarship and grant applications. Not sure what I want to major in. Thought I would start with the core classes, and try a few different things while I knock those out of the way. I love music, but I am only adequate as a singer, and can't play any instruments other than a Celtic hand drum. Love to dance, but that isn't a promising career path. Same goes for writing. I can write good stories, but don't want to be a starving wanna-be author. Hummm, okay, next question, and I promise I am trying not to make stereotypical assumptions just because you're Chinese, or about Chinatown, but... are there any good martial arts dojos close to here?"

"No worries," Mei Lin replied. "Two blocks South of here is the one I train at. They teach Kung Fu, Wing Chung, and Karate. And the Sensi there teaches a good women's self-defense course! Not 'teddy bear style' fluff to boost a girl's confidence, or pay for meaningless belts, either. Serious stuff to take out a bigger attacker, or disable them well enough to get away. And he also teaches a class for getting a concealed handgun license! You do martial arts?"

"A little," Karen replied. "My godfather taught me some seriously useful self-defense stuff. Kung Fu and Karate moves. And I took an after-school class for two years at my high school. Though you probably would have been justified in dissing that class as 'teddy bear style'. The PE teacher who taught it was pretty chauvinistic. He taught the girls more like it was a dance and fitness class."

"My Sensi won't treat you like that, I promise," the waitress replied. "Anything else? I ought to get back to work."

"Just one more thing," Karen said. "Can you be as helpful about that vixen who just left? Amber Fyre?"

"Oh, she's okay," Mei Lin said. "You want to talk stereotypes, she pretty much is the 'oversexed vixen', personified. She has the sexy body, and loves sex. But she is also careful about her health, and gets herself checked like, every week! She flirts with everyone, but respects others' limits and preferences. Tell her you are not interested in girls, and she won't pester you. Though if that's your thing, I hear she is pretty hot in the sack. I wouldn't know. Not my thing. Anyway, she seems like a good person, and has a good reputation in the neighborhood. She just lives a life most would not choose. I think there are a dozen or so escorts like her who hang out in the Inferno club, both girls and guys. The local cops leave them alone, as long as no one causes trouble. She usually does not seek her customers here. She just comes here to eat, like anybody else. She was not bothering you, was she?"

"Okay, thanks," Karen said. "And no, she was not soliciting me. I was mostly asking her about Mister Chen, too."

"Okay, thanks for clarifying that. We ask all the sex workers to not bother our customers," Mei Lin said, as she went to greet some new customers.

Karen got up, put on only her white leather jacket, and gathered up her helmet, gloves, and pile of coats in her arms. Then she left via the side door, went past the restaurant's service door, through which she could see part of the kitchen, and walked up a set of narrow stairs, to the second-floor corridor where her apartment was. She got her keys out of her purse, opened her door, flicked on the lights, and locked the door behind her. Then she dropped the coats in a heap by the door, but hung her helmet on the lone coat hook beside the door.

From where she stood, she could see every part of her 400 square foot studio apartment, other than the small bathroom. The door to the bathroom was to her left, then an empty niche in the wall with hookups for a stacked washer and dryer, and then the galley kitchen. Along the far wall was a small dinette table with two chairs, with a wall mounted swing arm above the table, for a place to put a TV set, and a power outlet and wall jack connector for cable service by the swing arm. Lower on the wall, by four more power outlets, was another place to connect to cable service. She would be putting her computer against the wall there, under the TV. Once she got a TV, or a desk for her computer, that is. The rest of that wall was dominated by three huge, mismatched wardrobe cabinets, one of which had a trifold mirror on the door. At the far-right corner, on the right-hand wall facing the narrow side street, there was a window that led to the fire escape, and then a wide bay window looking out over the street - the kind of bay window that went floor to ceiling, so you could stand in it and look out to either side. Not that there was much of a view. If she stood in the bay and looked left, she could see the waterfront park beside the river, five blocks away. Across from her place were the mostly translucent windows for the balcony level of the Inferno dance club's main dance floor. The flashing lights and rumbling sounds from the club's music reminded her that she needed to buy thick, light and sound dampening curtains. She could pretty clearly hear the music from the club, as well as the voices and sounds from the restaurant kitchen below her. The idea of working nights, and not trying to sleep here when the restaurant and nightclub were open, was beginning to sound very appealing. There was a futon couch to her right, which unfolded into her bed. She had a sleeping bag unrolled lengthwise on it, as she had not yet unpacked her bedding, other than a pillow. Nothing else was along the wall between the door and the bay window. That wall had the stairwell on the other side. Her stuff was mostly still in a small pile of unopened boxes and mismatched backpacks, in the center of the room.

"Need a cheap computer desk, thick curtains, and bedding that fits the futon better," she said to herself. She knew she couldn't afford a washer and dryer or a decent TV set, until she had a few paychecks in the bank. "I think I should also move two of those wardrobe chests, to make a privacy wall between my bed and the door. But not a bad start, for just moving in." She sniffed the air carefully. She could definitely smell the Chinese food in the kitchens below her, but no trace of skunk scent. Amber must have been right about Candi being a de-scented skunk. She didn't blame the landlord for not admitting the prior tenant had been murdered, or admitting she had been a skunk. Disclosing either fact would make renting the place out harder. But now she understood why the rent had been so affordable.

"Honey, I'm home..." she said quietly to the empty room. Tomorrow she could unpack and put stuff away properly. Right now, she just wanted to try to get some sleep. She made a brief cell phone call to her mom, letting her know she was safe, and that she had made a few new friends already. She did not mention the possible job, since she still had not discussed the details with Mister Chen, nor accepted it. Then she got ready for bed, turned out the lights, and called it a night. The noises, flashing lights, and smells were really not that bad, she tried to assure herself... And at least, so far, she did not seem to have a noisy neighbor in the corner apartment, which she shared a wall with, nor on the floor above her. Eventually, she fell asleep.

===

The next morning, Karen skipped breakfast, and spent most of Sunday unpacking and putting away her stuff, hunting down an affordable computer desk, and getting curtains and bedding. She got lunch at a small bistro next to the office supplies store, and by dinner time was mostly done getting settled in. Rather than having Chinese food two nights in a row, she went down to street level, crossed to the other side, and got her motorcycle out of the compact car sized lockable garage which came with the apartment. There was plenty of room in the garage for both her bike and its trailer, with space left over to store boxed stuff, if she needed to. It even had a garage door opener, with a remote control, which she clipped to a key ring loop, inside her white motorcycle jacket. Tonight she wore the matching white leather pants, a scarlet blouse, and white motorcycle boots. As she left the side street, she saw that Mister Chen was getting his dinner in the Chinese place again.

For a while, she just rode aimlessly around the neighborhood, enjoying the feel of her tail flowing free in the wind, and getting to know where things were, close to her apartment. She was rather disappointed not to find any sort of laundromat nearby. She would need to go on line and find one soon, to care for her clothes until she could afford a stacked washer and dryer of her own. The dojo the waitress had told her about, with a scarlet and black tiger on its sign, proved easy to find, but was not open on Sundays.

She was happy to find a huge bookstore within ten blocks, which had a section for school textbooks on one street corner. The store itself was several stories high, and took up virtually all of the block it was on. It was difficult for her not to go in and check it out, but she knew if she did, she would buy way too many books.

And there were also several kinds of clothing and shoe stores nearby, from a thrift store, to high fashion to nightclub wear. The nearest real grocery store, unfortunately, was three miles away, but there was a convenience store and a pharmacy within easy walking distance. And there were more restaurants, within 20 blocks or so, than existed in all of her hometown! At least, it seemed that way. So many different kinds of food! And everything from street vendor carts to fancy five-star places with valet parking.

For dinner, she settled on a hole in the wall Greek place, mostly because a parking space opened up at just the right time for her to snag it, and right in front of the restaurant, where she could hopefully keep an eye on her bike. Her waitress was a bobcat girl, with seven piercings in her left ear. Even though this place was a mile and a half from Mister Chen's Curiosity Shoppe, the waitress knew of the place, and its friendly and scholarly owner. She told Karen that Mister Chen was a really good herbalist, and that her mom often bought rare herbs and essential oils at his shop.

When she returned home, Karen put away her bike, and then walked down the block to The Curiosity Shoppe, to look in through the windows. On the other side of the street, a muscular rhino guy and an equally muscular tiger guy, both wearing dark red t-shirts with stylized gold flames on the sleeves, and the word 'SECURITY' in large letters on the back, were attentively keeping an eye on the VIP side entrance to the Inferno nightclub, and were apparently checking the ID's of several people who wanted to get into the club against an access list on their phones. The rhino smiled at her and gave her a friendly wave, and Karen wondered if he was the one her new friend Amber had mentioned. Had the escort girl already spoken to the bouncer about Karen, perhaps asking him to keep an eye out for the new girl in the neighborhood? Whatever the reason, she felt a lot safer being on the dark street late at night, knowing those two big guys were watching for trouble.

The Curiosity Shoppe looked much, much older than the surrounding buildings, as if urban renewal in the area had carefully bypassed it, while replacing everything else near it with newer structures. It was three floors tall, with a black tile roof, and appeared to be separated from the adjacent structures by about a four-foot-wide gap on both sides. Those gaps were secured with ornate ironwork gates. And she realized, with a bit of surprise, that the whole building was not quite aligned to the street. It was at a slight angle, as if the street it originally had faced on had been laid out differently. Compared to the rest of the street, the left side of the building was set back a good ten inches or more from the right, judging from the corners of the adjacent buildings. And she could tell the buildings on either side had corners which were not quite square, to accommodate older structure, and not cause the gaps on either side to form narrow wedge shapes. The placement of two antique but very functional gas light street lamps, and the well-worn stone sidewalk paving in front of the shop, inset with glass block strips which appeared to allow sunlight into a basement level, also followed the angle of the building, rather than the street, with the difference at the curb made up for with a long wedge of much more recent concrete. The building's sign was painted directly on the stone wall, between the ground floor and second floor windows, and was illuminated by two more antique but effective gaslight lamps. The shop was dark inside, but there were lights in the third-floor windows, and it looked like there was a small balcony on the third floor. The second floor looked like it might be more shop space, but the third-floor windows were smaller, and had ornate curtains and bamboo blinds, so it looked like that level must be Mister Chen's apartment.

She looked at the wares on display in the windows to either side of the door. A display of Chinese porcelain had a sign next to it which read, "Good quality, but only a recent copy. Reasonably priced. Genuine antiques also available." A bookshelf contained an assortment of very old looking books, and was topped by what appeared to be a taxidermy-preserved feral jackalope. "Okay, that has to be a fake," she said quietly to herself. The only anthro Jackalope she had ever known freely admitted he was born a normal jackrabbit, and that he had paid a lot of money to have feral antelope horns grafted to his skull. The graft worked out, though. But as far as Karen was aware, none of the presumably 'mythical' animals really existed, as ferals or as anthros.

She walked over to the other window, and stopped short, staring in amazement. In a large glass cage, in one corner of the window, was a two-headed feral snake, and it was definitely alive! Both heads moved, blinked their eyes, and tested the air with their tongues. Its body was as thick as her slender wrist, and must be at least eight feet long. A sign on the glass cage said, 'This two headed snake is the shop owner's pet. Not for sale.' It looked like a relatively small python, with pale grey scales and much darker grey markings. One of its heads was all silvery grey, while the other was solid dark grey. There were several thick, bare wood branches set up in its enclosure, one of which angled all the way to the top, where a hinged lid had been left open. It would have no trouble getting out, but did not seem inclined to do so, at the moment. "I guess you're the night watchman, eh?" Karen self-consciously said to the snake. "Good thing I'm not afraid of snakes. I wonder if part of my job will be feeding you." The snake did not respond in any way, other than to clearly follow her movements. Though Karen had to admit, she could hardly be less stunned if it spoke to her!

She reluctantly tore her eyes away from the snake's gaze, and looked at the rest of the display window. There were Tarot cards, pentacles, and other stuff she vaguely recognized as Wiccan, Druid or pagan-oriented merchandise. There were also jars of herbs and oils, labeled in both English and Chinese. And there were jewelry items and decorative stuff. Quite a mixed bag. But she could see this would be the sort of place to seek, if you were looking for rare or totally weird stuff!

She crossed the street and talked briefly with the two security guys at the Inferno club. They said this door was for the club's VIP members, and that the main entrance was around the corner. The main advantage of VIP access was early entrance to and preferred seating for special shows and performances. They also confirmed the club was generally for ages 18 and up, as long as the 18-20 year old patrons, who got a different wristband on entry, stayed out of the three bars inside. All of the dance floors and performance spaces were open to her age and older, and the cover charge depended on what was going on inside - higher for a live band or a drag show, than for dancing to a DJ's tunes. After midnight, and until 2 AM, it was 21 and up only, and they opened a window in each dance area where you could order drinks from the bar on the other side of the wall. And one Sunday night each month they hosted a 'teens night', where from the time they opened, until 10 pm, kids age 13 and up could enter the club, and dance in one of the dance floor areas that would be restricted to 13-17 only, with a no-alcohol bar in that room, or those younger guests could attend PG rated drag shows and amateur performance contests aimed at their age range. The dance music sounded very inviting, but Karen knew she needed a good night's sleep before her job interview tomorrow. She could check out the nightclub later. So she thanked the bouncers for their time, and went back to her apartment to get some welcome sleep. Tomorrow should be a very interesting day, no matter how it went!

===

Karen slept in until 10 am on Monday morning, since Mister Chen had said her job interview at the Curiosity Shoppe was at 5 PM. If her interview for a position as his assistant went well, she wanted to be well rested, so she could start work immediately, and work until the business closed at 2 AM. She still had no idea exactly what duties the elderly Chinese red panda might actually require of her as his assistant. But since he ran a shop that sold antiques and very rare, unusual or hard to find items, she figured most of it would be working as a sales associate, or keeping the place clean and well stocked.

When she got up, the young timber wolf girl quickly dressed herself in casual clothes - lacy red bikini panties, tight fitting, stretch-denim black jeans, a red sports bra, a scarlet red tank top, and a comfortable pair of dark red, knee-high walking boots, with two inch heels. She added a black denim jacket, and a small black cross body bag as her purse. Next, she did a few low squats, and a couple of martial arts high side kicks that got the heel of her boot well above her head, to be sure the outfit would not restrict her movement too much. Everything felt fine. After checking her look in the dressing mirror, she decided it was a good look for an interview at a shop like his - sharp and businesslike enough to work at the cash register and deal with customers, yet practical enough for doing messy work like sweeping floors or moving merchandise around. Besides, with her white hair and white fur with subtle grey markings, black and scarlet always looked fabulous on her. Then she brushed out her hair and tail fur a bit better, put copies of her resume, references, and high school transcripts into her purse, and got on her way by 11 AM.

The first thing she just had to do was to go by the Curiosity Shoppe, to make sure there really was a live two-headed snake in the display window. The animal had just seemed so impossible, that by this morning she had almost convinced herself she must have dreamed of seeing it. But when she got to the shop, there it was, in broad daylight! It had climbed out of its glass cage, and was basking in the warm midday sunlight, stretched full length along the window glass, with its twin heads resting on a box of herbal remedies. The darker head seemed asleep, but the lighter one was wide awake, and watching her intently. She tried moving toward the door, and both heads were instantly alert, as it moved to intercept her, with a speed she barely could accept as possible for a cold-blooded creature which had just been so clearly enjoying lying in a sunny spot. "Well! You certainly are a very efficient guardian, aren't you? Good snake! Don't worry. I promise I won't try to enter without permission!" She did not expect it to properly understand her, of course, but she talked like that to her friends' pet feral dogs and cats, too. In her experience, pets seemed to at least get something from the tone and context of people's words, if not fully understanding them. And one of her high school friends owned a show dog who clearly could understand well over a hundred words and commands. So what harm could there be in talking to a weird looking snake?

She stopped moving and gazed admiringly at the impossible creature, and it calmly gazed right back at her, with both heads slowly moving on their own, looking at her from different angles. Unlike last night, where the window had been lit only by the flickering flames of two antique gaslight lamp posts in front of the store, now it was very well lit by the midday sunlight. She was positive that she could see no sign of it having been surgically altered. Its scales flowed quite naturally across the y-shaped junction between the two heads and the rest of the snake. It had about eight inches of 'neck' between that junction and each head, and that part on each half of the 'y' seemed just as thick and strong as the rest of its body. Starting at that junction, one side and head was a solid, silvery grey, while the other side and head was dark grey, with mottled black markings, like the rest of its body.

Karen was not much into identifying reptiles, but she was pretty sure it was some kind of python - a powerful constrictor, capable of crushing its prey to death, or holding it in place while it swallowed it whole. From the nature programs she had watched on TV, she guessed it was big enough to swallow a good-sized feral dog, whole! If it attacked a person, it might be able to crush the life out of them, or at least keep them from moving or breathing until they passed out. And it was fast moving. Certainly, a guard animal to be cautious of!

She was also pretty certain it really was a real animal, and that it could not be some sort of animatronic fake creature - some sort of 'movie magic' device, created in a special effects movie studio. No one could make such a lifelike thing as a machine! No, the more she stared at it, the more she was convinced it must be some sort of Siamese twin - a freak of nature caused by a failure for twins to properly separate. In her high school biology class, she had seen a picture of a lamb that had been born with two heads. But it had only survived a few hours after it was born. She got out her phone and did a quick Internet search. She was surprised to find that it quickly popped up with quite a few photos of and articles about two headed snakes! But the first article she read also said that these rare creatures usually died at birth, and if they did survive, they usually only live for a few months. And in the photos, they all had heads that looked identical in coloration, though one head might not be fully formed. So a healthy-looking creature like this two headed snake, clearly a fully grown adult, but with two very different heads, still seemed impossible.

As she left, she again found it difficult to look away from the creature. It was not so much like it was hypnotizing her, but more like she was afraid that if she looked away, and looked back, it would vanish in an eye blink, leaving her wondering if she was going insane. She shook her head vigorously and hurried away, muttering to herself, "There has to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for how it can exist."

She found a food truck a few blocks away, which still had a few hot 'breakfast tacos' available. They were filled with a mix of scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheddar cheese, and wrapped in a flour tortilla and a layer of foil. She grabbed two of them for her breakfast, to eat as she walked, along with a cup of coffee, and then she spent the rest of the morning and afternoon window shopping and getting to know her new neighborhood. As the time for her interview drew near, she stopped at a deli, had a late lunch, and also bought a large sandwich and a soda, to go, to serve as her dinner if she started work tonight. As with her clothing choices, she figured it would reflect well on her if she showed up with a meal for later in hand, completely ready to go right to work.

When Karen returned to the Curiosity Shoppe, Mister Chen was inside, and he was just closing the lid on the two headed snake's glass cage. The snake was in the cage, looped over its wooden perches, and it placidly watched her, as Karen in turn watched the snake. Soon, Mister Chen climbed down from the step stool which he had used to reach the top of the large glass cage, put the stool away, and returned to open the door for her, and let her in. Tonight the elderly red panda was wearing red silk Chinese robes, embroidered with gold dragon designs, and a matching cylindrical hat with a gold tassel.

"Hi Mister Chen!" Karen said cheerfully. "I'm ready for my interview."

"Good evening, Karen! Your punctuality is much appreciated. Welcome to my shop. My snake, it does not frighten you?" he asked, as he locked the door behind her.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't want a 'hug' from it, if it didn't think I should be here. But no, it doesn't scare me. Actually, it looks quite well behaved, and it sure is an appropriately attention-getting thing to display for a shop like this," she replied. "I'm more curious about how it can exist at all! I mean, when Siamese twin animals are born with two heads, don't they usually die right away? And those poor creatures are usually deformed in other ways, too. But that snake looks remarkably healthy. And a failed twin should have matching heads."

"Good observations, indicative of giving your reply much thought in advance. But it was not born this way. Nor has it ever been touched by a surgeon, a possibility you likely already have considered and rejected. How long have you pondered this?" he asked.

"Since I first saw it, last night," she replied. "And I did some searching on my phone earlier today, after looking at it again. But you don't mean to say that your snake is a machine, do you? It totally looks like a living creature!"

"It is not a machine. It is as alive as you or I. 'Yin and Yang' is my snake's name. Not born like that, not surgically altered. Nor is it, like something from a fiction movie, a mutation caused by radiation or chemicals, which happened at some time after it was born. No, it is more rare than any of these things. There is yet another explanation, which you have not ventured to offer," he said, with a slight grin. "Can you guess what that might be?"

"No clue," she admitted. She solemnly bowed, as she would to her martial arts instructor, and added, "Please, enlighten me, oh wise scholar. I ask in all seriousness. Unless you hypnotized me to make me see it, and I doubt you did, I can't come up with an answer. And I really do want to know."

"Magic," he replied, without a hint of a smile. "It is a chimera, magically created by merging two living creatures. Or more accurately, it is the result of a failed magical experiment, created on the path to trying to create a true chimera."

"Magic? You expect me to believe that you made it with real magic? Like in some fairy tale?" she asked. "Seriously?"

"Quite serious, but not made by me. It was created by a mage in Nepal, who I was visiting several years ago. She made it during my visit, while I watched her do so," the elderly red panda replied. "True magic, as opposed to stage illusions, is quite real, I assure you. But it is something one only rarely encounters. Just as an albino tiger is real, or a platypus. If you had never seen these animals, or my snake, you could easily believe they are not real. Yet they exist. So it is with magic. Only a few individuals can perform real spells, or create real magical artifacts."

"Okay... I'll bite. If only because I can't conceive of a better explanation, and that snake certainly defies any scientific expectation. So I'll suppose I'll have to accept what you're saying, though you have my head spinning. But... even accepting that magic is real, why would anyone choose to use it to make a healthy two headed snake?" Karen asked. "I'd think with that sort of power to create something impossible, there would be much more useful things to make."

"This creature was but a step in a much longer experimental process. One cannot merely combine an iguana, a serpent, a lion, and a bat, and hope to create a dragon. One must also precisely control which aspects are retained, to which extent, how they connect to each other, and which aspects are discarded. If my mage friend tried to give you an eagle's wings, you would not wish to lose your arms and hands; or to lose your own head, mind, and sentience. You would also not desire to end up with wings the size of a feral bird's wings, useless for flight on someone your size," Mister Chen replied. "My magical friend was not seeking to make a snake with two heads. She had hoped to make a normal looking, reproductively fertile snake, which was a true hermaphrodite - with the complete and fully functional reproductive systems of both genders. That alone would be a major accomplishment. The white python was female and the reticulated python was male. Their merger was incomplete. It does possess both sets of genitals. But they are infertile, and have two heads, each capable of independent or coordinated thought. Both heads can control the conjoined body. They swiftly learned to take turns doing so. These traits are interesting, but not what was intended. My friend was going to destroy the snake. I offered to keep and study it. They permitted me to do so, but stipulated that I may not sell it."

"You make it sound like making a chimera is no different than a normal, but complex, physics or chemistry experiment," Karen said. "And you seem to understand magic really well. Are... you a real mage too?"

"Sadly, no," Mister Chen replied. "It is a skill I once attempted to master, but I failed. I did quite well at research and scholarly examination of the magical works of others. But I can barely ignite a candle by non-physical means. I lack some necessary, odd difference of the mind or body, something which makes it possible for a person's thoughts to channel the energies needed to cause physical changes to the world around them, by non-physical means. I suppose a scientist would consider that gift a rare mutation. In all the world, I know only nine people who can do real magic. I am fortunate to consider seven of them good friends. It is a skill that is very rare. Others certainly must exist, but their numbers must still be few. And a person might yet be born with such a gift, and not realize it, if they lacked the training and the understanding that magic was a possible explanation for unusual experiences in their life. I study magic as a scholar, and I am privileged to be able, on occasion, to obtain truly magical artifacts, which I sell for a handsome profit. It is an endeavor which fits well with selling antiques, collectables, and other unique items. Magic artifacts are the most rare and unique things one can buy."

"So if you sell them, and get a good price for them, but people with the ability to do magic are as rare as you say, am I right in assuming that a normal person like me could use those things? I mean, why would anyone pay for a 'magic wand' that they could not use to do anything with, right?" Karen asked. "So... are there other magical things in your shop? Can I see?"

"Your assumption is quite accurate. Most magical artifacts are created to allow a non-magical person to do magical things. Though there are some that only a mage can use, and others which a mage can use far better than anyone else. I have only one such item in my shop at this time," he replied. "I am lucky if I can obtain half a dozen such things in a year. And often, what they do is comparatively trivial. But yes, I can show you something else. Something that will prove to you that magic must be real. Come with me, please."

He led her deeper into the shop, past normal looking antiques, old books, and jars of medicinal herbs, to a nondescript iron-bound chest on an ironwork stand at the end of the cashier's counter, secured with three sturdy padlocks. He unlocked it, and from within the chest withdrew a small velvet bag, containing a silver bracelet with a spring clasp, decorated with spiral swirls and ancient looking symbols. He also gestured to a nearby full-length mirror on a stand, where Karen could see her reflection. "This is perfectly safe to try. Several people, including myself, have done so, with quite interesting results," he said. "Please put on this bracelet, and look at yourself in that mirror."

The wolf girl accepted it, looked at the decorations, and then put it on her left wrist. "Well, it certainly is rather pretty. So... what is this supposed to do?"

"If you touch the bracelet with your other hand, and carefully concentrate on a color, you can change the color of your fur or hair," he replied. "Now I must warn you, it is not easy, and may take you several minutes to..."

"Oh WOW! Cool!" Karen exclaimed. The moment she touched the bracelet, her hair and fur instantly turned bright purple! She cocked her head to one side, grinned, and then shook her head, and just her hair turned glossy black. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and her hair changed to a checkerboard pattern of black and cyan blue squares! And on that last change, her free hand had not been touching the bracelet at all! She giggled as she admired her odd look. "This is amazing!"

Mister Chen stared at Karen, more amazed than she was. Neither he nor any customer who had attempted to use the bracelet so far had ever been able to make it work with so little effort! And no one had managed to create a complex pattern, like her checkerboard-colored hair! "Ahhh... Yes, just... just like that. As you see, your mind is able to change the appearance of your body to match any color... or pattern... which you can clearly envision, thanks to the magical properties of the artifact. Do you perhaps have some skill as an artist?"

"Well, I do like to draw portraits and cartoons, and I did well in a life drawing class that I took last year. Why?" she replied.

"You appear to have an excellent ability to envision colors and patterns," he said.

She grinned at the complement, and her fur shifted to a bright sky blue, then gradually darkened until she seemed satisfied with how it went with her hair. And then her eyes changed from blue to a golden amber color. "OH! Look! It can change my eyes, too!"

"Indeed? Fascinating..." Mister Chen said, examining her eyes closely. The child was certainly ingenious in devising novel uses for an artifact she had only just encountered. And he had not himself realized it could change any aspect other than fur or hair color.

"Can the bracelet be controlled by someone who isn't wearing it?" she asked. "If it can, this would be great for a beauty studio. The stylist could put the bracelet on a customer, and change that person's coloring, without hours of bleaching and dying! Does the effect last after the bracelet is removed?" She giggled again as her coloration shifted to look like her new red fox friend, Amber. She was still clearly a wolf, in terms of the shape of her head and tail, but the coloring was perfect!

"I had not thought to try using the bracelet to change someone else's coloring. That is worth testing. And the color seems to persist, yes," he replied. "Though I have never tried leaving a change in place for more than a few minutes."

"Well... if it does last, could I borrow it occasionally, to change my hair or fur? Or does each change it is used for 'use it up' a little, like a 'ring of many wishes' in a fantasy roleplaying game?" Her eyes went wide, as she exclaimed, "Oh geeze! I didn't even think to ask about that! I hope my playing with it so many times didn't reduce its value for you!"

"You have not lessened its abilities," he replied. "As far as I can tell, the energy needed comes from the user, not from the bracelet itself. Now, you... should be able to resume your normal coloration, by just..."

"Okay! Wow, that was so fun! Do I even want to know how much you want to sell this thing for?" Karen asked, as she handed it back to him. Her fur and hair and eyes already looked exactly as she had when she walked into the store.

Mister Chen paused. Not only had Karen restored her original fur color easily, she had even restored every subtle shade of grey in her fur pattern, as well as he could remember her appearance. But he had not yet told her the method to revert to her original colors automatically. This meant she had effortlessly used the bracelet's effects again, this time to rewrite her entire fur pattern, from memory! This certainly merited further examination, as she seemed to have a natural aptitude, at least for using magic artifacts. And using the bracelet many times in quick succession did not seem to make her tired, as it had for others. But he did not want to say anything rash to her. Not just yet, primarily as he could not test her on his own for magical aptitude, beyond seeing how well she interacted with any artifacts that he could obtain in the future. He would need to see if one of his mage friends could pay them a visit, to test her properly. And that would take time to arrange, as only one of them lived on this continent. He silently nodded, and then showed her the price tag on the velvet bag. "It is, I fear, rather expensive. It was costly to obtain, due to its rarity."

Karen sighed and said, "Yeah, I figured I could never afford it. Sure was fun to play with though! But yeah, that much money would pay for most of my college expenses! Maybe all of it. Oh well, maybe if I win the lottery. Well, anyway, thanks for explaining that stuff to me. But I should stop asking to see everything, so you can give me my interview. I have my resume, transcripts, and references in my purse." She got them out and offered them to him.

"Not necessary," Mister Chen said, as he took the papers, turned his back on her, and put them in a drawer near the cash register, without even looking at them. "We are done here."

At that moment, a petite, all black feline girl, wearing a short red Chinese-style dress, let herself into the shop, and started getting the store ready to open. She looked to be perhaps ten years older than Karen. "Hi boss!" the girl said cheerfully to Mister Chen. "We have three customers waiting by the door. I told them we'll be open in a few minutes."

Karen glanced at the time on her phone. It was almost six already! "Oh... I... I thought... I'm so sorry that I wasted your time, sir. I'll... let you get back to opening your shop," she said, in a dejected manner, with her tail so low it was almost tucked between her legs. "Guess I blew the interview, huh? Me and my stupid, incessant chattering..."

Mister Chen turned around, nodded to the feline girl, then smiled at Karen, offering her a sheet of paper. "Not at all! The job as my second assistant is yours. Here is a description of the salary, benefits and duties. I see you brought a meal? I recognize that deli's bag. Can you start tonight? Or would you like to think it over?"

"Wait, w-what? B-but... what about my interview?" Karen asked, completely confused now.

"Concluded, quite to my satisfaction," he insisted. "Your qualifications: punctual, well-prepared, curious, intelligent, handles unexpected situations well, has an open mind towards magic. Desires to learn, and to improve herself. You take time to consider an unusual event and rationalize what it means, based on your experience, yet you are willing to accept that some things defy such reasoning. You are still eager to take the job, regardless of what duties may be asked of you. From earlier conversation at the restaurant - You are independent, and willing to trust fate as you seek a better future for yourself. You are 18 years old, live within easy walking distance, and can operate a cash register and deal with retail sales work. You have also held down other jobs, even unpleasant ones like washing dishes at a restaurant and bussing tables, while still striving to get good grades. I am sure your grades are very good, given how motivated you are to succeed. Have I missed anything?"

"Ummmmm, I guess not," Karen replied sheepishly. "Were you even planning on giving me a normal interview?"

"I might have, if I felt it necessary," the panda said. "But I had hoped it would not be needed."

The girl by the cash register giggled, and said, "My interview was just as informal, honey! Welcome to the crew. Mister Chen knows what he wants, and he is a really good judge of what makes a person tick. He wouldn't have even asked you to interview unless he was already fairly sure you would work out well here. It's an odd place, but once you get used to it, you'll like working here. Have you been properly introduced to 'Yin and Yang' yet?"

"Not yet. Are you Mia? I met Mei Lin just recently..." Karen asked. "I'm Karen Bright."

"Mia Ahni Chang. And I'm also his only other full-time assistant. Shall I take her under my wing, boss?" Mia replied, giving a cute curtsey and directing the question to Mister Chen.

"Well, she has not said yes, yet..." he replied, looking at the white timber wolf girl.

"OH! YES! Yes, please!" Karen said with a wide grin. "Where can I put my purse and dinner? And what do I do first?"

"Then you are hired," Mister Chen said. "Mia, please show her around the shop. All areas. Take your time. She will start by sharing your duties, including feeding Yin and Yang. I will finish opening up, and will tend to customers while you two get to know each other."

"Okay, boss," the feline girl said. "You can put your purse in this cupboard, under the cash register. Your lunch can go there too, or we have a small fridge in the back room."

"Thanks," Karen said, as she put her purse away. "You didn't seem surprised he hired me, but he only met me on Saturday night, and this shop hasn't been open since then. Did he call you on Sunday, to tell you about me?"

"Nope. But we had been talking just last week about getting another person to work here," Mia replied, leading the wolf girl through a curtain into a back area. "It gets busy on some nights, so an extra sales person will be appreciated. And it will be nice for me to be able to take some time off now and then, without making it just one person left here to mind the place. Here's the fridge and break area. Those four tv screens above the table let you see what's going on in most of the shop, even if you're taking a break back here. There are sixteen cameras scattered around the store. They all get recorded, and the displays always show the front and rear entrances, and the cash register area, while the other images alternate based on movement or heat signature detection. It is a pretty sophisticated setup, but we have a lot of valuable stuff here."

"Makes sense," Karen said.

"That door is Mister Chen's office. Bathroom for staff-only use is through that door, and there are two other unisex bathrooms at the back left corner on this floor of the retail area, and one more on the second floor. No vending machines for drinks or snacks, but the convenience store is close, and is always open, and the deli, the Chinese restaurant, and at least two of the other nearby food places are open way late, and will deliver orders for us. Their takeout menus are on the table. That phone over there on the wall is on the same three lines as the one by the cash register, and the one in Mister Chen's office, and in the shipping and receiving area, and he also has one up in his apartment. There's an intercom function too, where you can call out to all the phones, or just a single one, and be answered," Mia continued.

Karen put her dinner in the fridge, and followed Mia as they continued a tour of the shop. "What's next?" she asked.

"May as well get the basement out of the way. Not much down there, though," Mia said. She led Karen down the stairs, and showed her where the storage room, the locked door of whar she calked Mister Chen's 'experimentation room', and the furnace room were located. At the back left corner of the building, there was a large freight elevator, and the back right area was shipping and receiving.

Going back up to the ground floor via a rear fire stairway, they stepped out onto the loading dock. They were at the back of the building now, in the middle of the block. There was an alley here, parallel to the street the front of the store was on, and just wide enough to drive a delivery truck or garbage truck through, while leaving room for dumpsters on the far side, for the various businesses. The shop's loading dock was set up under an overhang, so a truck could come in from the left, and back up at a slight angle into the store's sheltered dock area, without blocking the alley. "Not much here. You can let yourself in through this door without a key, using a numeric code. But for the front door you will need to get a key from Mister Chen. Or you can just wait at the door to be let in. He is almost always in the front of the store before we open, and I have a key and I'm usually not late." She showed Karen the code as they re-entered the building.

The rest of the tour went just as quickly. They took the fire stairs up to the second floor, and toured through the retail displays, which were mostly furniture and real antiques, and most of the older books. Then they used the customer stairs to go back to the main floor, and viewed the rest of the retail area. The last stop was a massive wooden door near the back right corner of the ground floor, which looked like it belonged in a haunted house attraction, or maybe in a real dungeon. A sign by the door said, "Adults only past this point". Mia paused, then said, "Well, there's one other kind of hard-to-find stuff that we sell..."

"Adult toys and kinky furniture?" Karen ventured. "I know. One of your customers already mentioned that, and it is the only thing that makes sense, as I haven't seen any of that yet, and there's that sign beside the door. I'm not easily embarrassed, don't worry."

"Well, okay," Mia replied, leading the way. "But some of this stuff sure embarrassed me, the first time I went in here. Do you know much about the Kink community?"

"You mean like a girl dressing up as a nurse, a high school girl, or a French Maid to be sexy for her boyfriend?" Karen asked? "My mom used to do stuff like that for some of her lovers."

"Well...sort of. That sort of cosplay stuff, you can easily get at an adult shop, or even from a Halloween store. So we don't sell that," Mia replied. "This stuff is for people who like getting tied up or restrained during sex, or who like giving or receiving spankings... Kind of the softer end of BDSM, but we don't sell anything that damages people. We sell sex toys, too, but they are the really high-end ones."

Karen looked around the room. It looked like the basement playroom of an eccentric, kinky executive from a recent book she had read excerpts from on-line. Some of the furniture she could envision being used for sex, but a lot of it looked more like it belonged in a dungeon torture chamber. There were also leather collars and cuffs, body harnesses, silk rope, and several things she had no names for. There were flavored lubricants, and 'jewelry' for people with sexually oriented piercings. A small rack of hyper-realistic sex toys, in various species types, ranged from tiny ones to a full-sized stallion strap-on dildo. "Ohhhh! Ummmm, yeah... I don't even know what some of this stuff is! But I suppose I am okay with selling this."

"There are a few self-help books in here, that you can borrow, to familiarize yourself with the names of all this stuff, and how they are used. But the people who buy this stuff usually already know what they want. And the prices are all marked. You just ring it up like any other sale. The one difference is that everything in here also has a barcode card that they can take to the cashier, to pay for something without carrying it into the store. Most of our customers that buy these things prefer to have them discreetly shipped to their homes, unless it is a small dildo or a book," Mia explained. "Well! Let's get you started. I'll introduce you to the snake when we feed it, after we lock up for the night."

===

Karen's first week working at the Curiosity Shoppe was mostly just tedious retail work, though the kinds of things people were buying were certainly intriguing. About a third of her duties consisted of cleaning up, or sending or receiving packages, and the rest was stocking merchandise or running the cash register. She also read up on the kinky stuff in the back room, and learned a bit from Mister Chen about antiques and rare books. But he did not mention magic again all week, unless she directly asked him a question about the topic.

At the end of the week, the bunny couple who she had seen in the restaurant the night she met Mister Chen shyly handed her a price card for the biggest stallion dildo in the shop! Later that night, she was in the basement shipping and receiving room, where she packed the dildo to ship to the bunny couple. She giggled as she recalled that the husband had been blushing even more than his wife, when he paid for it. She seriously wondered which one of them would be wearing the massive dildo, and which would be receiving it.

Mia was upstairs at the cash register, and Mister Chen had gone out to pick up his evening meal from the nearby deli, when Karen noted an odd-looking parcel amid the incoming stuff to be unpacked and sorted for pricing. It had a postmark that she could not read. In fact, the only markings on the parcel that she could read at all were the store's address, and the warning, "Handle with extreme care!". While she was already used to the shop getting parcels from far off places, this one seemed especially odd. And Karen was bored. She had caught up on all of her assigned tasks, and she had already eaten, so there was nothing really for Karen to do, until she was due to go upstairs and relieve Mia, so the other girl could take her meal break.

Karen's curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the small parcel. She was pretty sure it was just another antique or reproduction from China. Inside the normal-looking cardboard shipping box was a four-inch cube, wrapped in brown paper, and the outer layer, aside from more unreadable written parts, seemed pretty ordinary, and was just sealed with tape, like any other parcel that was to be mailed. But under that first layer were four more layers, each of white parchment paper, and each layer below the outermost one was tied with red silk cords. The paper on each white layer was marked with the same handwritten phrase in Chinese which had been one of the many markings on the outer wrapping which she could not read, as well as a strange and complex hand-drawn circular symbol, surrounded by a ring of Chinese lettering. She figured it was just the logo of the company sending the item. The knots were a little difficult to untie, but she did not want to risk damaging the contents with her box cutter knife. After peeling off all five layers of cords and paper, she got to another very ordinary looking cardboard box, filled with protective cotton wool padding. Nestled safely within it was a small, gold inlaid, ebony box, perhaps three inches on a side, with ornate carved feet on the bottom edge. The detailing was exquisite, as was the craftsmanship. It was so beautiful that she felt fully understood the reason for the warnings to handle it carefully. The same Chinese lettering that had been on the wrapping layers was prominently inlaid in gold on the top of the box, as well the four circular symbols being inlaid, one on each side of the box. She belatedly realized, as she examined it, that the four circles had subtle differences, and each was unique. The cube had no visible latches, hinges, keyholes, or other means of opening it, but this did not deter Karen. She knew a 'puzzle box' when she saw one! The store usually had a nice selection of them, and she enjoyed solving them on her meal breaks. She had even purchased her favorite one. So she eagerly but carefully set about figuring out the hidden sliding parts that moved or twisted in one direction or another to open the box.

An hour later, having completely lost track of the time, she finally opened it, and an octahedral golden cage on a slender gold neck chain dropped toward her lap from a hole that she had just unexpectedly opened on the currently lower surface of the box. Instinctively, she caught it with one hand. She looked closer, fascinated by the necklace. Each side of the cage was a triangular frame. Some, but not all, of the edges of the frames were connected to each other with three gold rings, at various edges. Inside the gold cage was a beautiful ebony eight-sided die, with gold pip marks that she thought she recognized as Chinese numbers. At least, there were faces with one, two, and three marks, and the rest, while more complex, seemed familiar, somehow. The chain was attached to the gold cage at one corner, and the fastening there could unscrew, to open the cage and release the die. When she did so, the cage suddenly unfolded, and the die fell into her hand. She felt something like a strong electric shock course through her body when she touched the uncaged die, and she felt strangely dizzy for a moment. Then she noticed the die felt warm, and she thought she sensed a faint pulsing from within it, like a heartbeat! Holding the beautiful die, she felt she just had to roll it a few times on the floor. After the fourth roll, she collapsed into a deep sleep.

===

Mister Chen returned to find a sleeping male wolf in his shipping and receiving room, dressed in the shredded remains of Karen's clothing, which were much too small for him.

When awakened, the wolf insisted he was Karen! They described opening the parcel, solving the puzzle box, and feeling compelled to roll the die. That was the last thing they could remember.

Mister Chen swiftly found the discarded cardboard box, and a note, written in Chinese, which described the magical artifact it had contained. The paper explained at least partially how it worked, but...

"I am so terribly sorry," Mister Chen said. "This thing you played with... I had not expected it to arrive for many more weeks. And the white layers of wrappings which you removed... They should have prevented you from unknowingly opening the parcel fully."

"But what happened? My whole body aches, and I feel and sound so weird! Why are my clothes so tight and torn up?" the wolf asked. The die was back in the necklace, which itself was now around his neck.

"The box and necklace are magical artifacts, sent to me to examine and test. The mage who sent it to me had not opened the box, but believed the item within it might be... cursed," Mister Chen replied. "The circular symbols on the papers and on the box itself are magical wards, meant to contain the necklace. Only by reading and comprehending each ward, and being willing to open them, should anyone have been able to do so. I was unaware that you could read ancient Chinese writing."

"But I can't! I can barely recognize a few of the numbers, from stuff my martial arts instructor used to write on the chalkboard. I swear the only thing I could read was the address on the outside, and the 'Handle with care' warning!" the wolf insisted. "What do you mean, cursed? What has it done to me?"

"This necklace, or more accurately, the die it contains, seems able to alter several gender role characteristics of the person it bonds to. These notes say it was rumored to be a gift created at the behest of a hedonistic young prince in ancient China, to cause their favorite concubine to be... more diverse... in the pleasures they could give," Mister Chen explained. "The curse prevents the victim from losing it, and compels them to roll the die four times each day. Each roll of the die can change whether the cursed person's mind is male or female, whether their sexual attributes are male or female, whether they prefer male or female lovers, and whether their build is petite and feminine; or tall, muscular and masculine. But that is all that we know of its properties, so far. It... appears to have changed you into a muscular male. Forgive me for asking, and I have not tried to look, but... under your torn skirt. Are you... changed there, as well? You seem to no longer have breasts, so I assume..."

"Holy shit!" the wolf exclaimed, after peeking under their clothing. "Ummmm, yeah. Looks like I have. But I still feel like I should be a girl... and I don't think I feel any differently about sex stuff."

"Perhaps if you roll the die again, it will change you back?" Mister Chen ventured.

Karen tried opening the necklace cage again, but it would not unscrew for them. "Nope. I can't open it at all, now."

After checking the note from the package one more time, Mister Chen easily released the die into his own hand. For him, there was no electric shock, but he could feel the pulsing heartbeat in the die. "Intriguing... I believe a curse has bonded itself to you, and that if I roll the die, you will be affected again. Do you wish me to make the attempt?"

"Yes, please!" Karen replied.

Mister Chen rolled the die, each time saying which number came up, and then looking carefully at Karen. "Two, one, six, three," he said. After the fourth roll, Karen fell asleep. But their form seemed unchanged. Mister Chen had little trouble awakening them. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Ummmm. Not much different... Wait... Yeah, I think I can say I prefer guys now. The thought of me French Kissing a girl feels weird now. Kinda distasteful. But I like the idea of kissing a guy that way," Karen replied.

After that, neither of them could open the cage and release the die. Karen tried taking the necklace off, but within five minutes it reappeared around her neck.

"Damn! What if we put it back in the box?" she asked.

"We can try. The box was apparently designed to contain it, in some way," Mister Chen ventured.

Karen put it in the box, and reversed the steps to unlock it. It took her fifteen minutes to recall and complete the many necessary steps, but the necklace remained in the box. Her form did not return to normal, however. "Guess I am stuck like this. Ummmm... Can we keep this a secret? Tell Mia I got sick, or something?"

"Of course," Mister Chen replied. He took a silk robe from a nearby box and said, "Wear this, to cover your torn clothing. I will bring you some male clothes tomorrow, and we can discuss what to do next. Which is your apartment?"

"101, at the top of the stairs, right above the Chinese restaurant's kitchen," Karen said. "Do you... think this is permanent?"

"Few things in life are, and few curses are truly unbreakable," Mister Chen replied. "We will do what we can to fix things. Go, and get rest. I doubt Mia will realize you are not a customer, if you pass her on the way out. But you may want to leave via the loading dock door, to be safe."

"Right... See you tomorrow. Oh shit! My keys and phone are in my purse, under the cash register!" Karen exclaimed.

"Go. I will tell Mia you fell ill, and forgot your purse in your rush to get home and vomit. I will bring it to you in a few minutes," Mister Chen replied.

As she slipped out the back way, Karen wondered if her life was ever going to be normal again...