The shadows began to grow long as the sun started to dip below the roofs of the city's skyscrapers. The number of people walking the sidewalks had thinned significantly by the time a figure hurried past them. Keeping towards the buildings, they avoided large groups and held the hood of the torn and battered robe pulled around their head, holding it in place.
The sound of bare feet slapped the concrete as the figure dodged between buildings, making themselves more obvious in their fumbling attempts to remain inconspicuous and move quickly. Despite this oddity, others walking the streets largely ignored the unusual person. They glanced in their direction at most before they hurried towards their own destinations.
This happened again nearly an hour later as the hooded figure hurried back in the opposite direction only to arrive at a small motel. But the city was no stranger to odd individuals, so this unusual event was lost in the cacophony of the city's day-to-day.
James tossed the bag containing her bounty on the floor inside the door as she locked it and swung the locking bar in place. Suppressing a sigh, she pulled her robe off and tossed it on the chair in the corner. Despite her attempts to clean it, it didn't smell terrific. Her undergarments were in a better state, most of the stench apparently having stuck to the robe instead. She wasn't sure how a card game monster had gotten such a pungent smell clinging to her clothing, as she was certain this body hadn't produced the smell, but nothing about all of this made sense.
Her last vestiges of cash had gone further than expected at the thrift store she had visited. The checkout employee had given her more than a few odd looks. Still, capitalism was alive and well, and money was money.
She had gotten two shirts, a pair of baggy fabric pants, a pair of jeans, a beanie, a half-dozen socks, and a pair of flat-bottomed shoes. She was sure the type of shoe had a proper name but wasn't sure what it was. All that mattered was that they fit, well, mostly. She hadn't been brave enough to try getting any kind of underwear.
However, if her plan didn't work, she would definitely have to figure that out eventually. She shuddered at that thought. The implications were... well, they weren't good. Sure, the idea of this kind of transformation sounded fun, but the realities sucked.
The only other thing in the bag had been raided from a bank of vending machines in exchange for her last bit of cash. She had a bottle of water and some peanut butter crackers. They had been among the healthiest and cheapest things in the vending machine. She really hoped she wasn't allergic.
She tried on the jeans first. She had only bothered to get them because she always wore jeans. As a man, she did anyway. They were the most expensive clothing item, but not by a lot. Unfortunately, she quickly determined they wouldn't work out. They were a little tight, and there was no way she could stuff her tail down one of the legs.
The baggy fabric pants had no such issue. Again, James had no idea what they were called, but they slipped on easily, and a little finagling hid her tail down one of the legs, though it looked a little odd. But she doubted anyone would care if no one had made a fuss about her robe.
The other clothing had no issues until she got to the beanie. She had been sure to get a large and well-worn one to ensure it would fit over her ears. She flattened her ears, slightly depressed she had gotten the hang of doing that, and pulled the beanie down over her head.
It wasn't exactly painful, but to call it comfortable would be a massive lie. What was worse, when she stopped paying attention to the ears, they tended to return to their normal behavior and pushed against the fabric of the beanie.
"Well, whatever. I will only have to deal with it for a while," James said to herself as she pulled it off and tossed it on the nightstand. She stripped out of all but her underwear and shirt and put them aside as well.
With shopping done and feeling slightly more optimistic, James moved the robe aside and checked her phone as she snacked on her peanut butter crackers. The taste was slightly off, but she put that down to having a completely different mouth and tongue. Given their source, it was certainly possible the crackers had an issue.
She checked the hours for the card shop and the nearest ATM to the store. Apparently, there was inside, but she wanted to avoid any trouble. She had decided to withdraw cash as an ATM wouldn't immediately be able to compare her face to her name. She wanted to avoid any issues with the employees checking her ID, which they might do if she used her credit card. It wasn't likely, but she was in a situation where weird shit happened, so she didn't want to take any additional risks.
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But there was another issue: her battery was down to about 30 percent, which wasn't surprising given how modern phones had somehow gotten shorter and shorter battery life year after year.
She turned the phone off to preserve the rest of the battery and sighed. A particular smell had once again begun to assault her nostrils as she was no longer distracted.
She got up, picked up the robe, and chucked across the room and into the attached bathroom before walking over and closing the door loudly. She had had enough of smelling bad things. The city was full of terrible smells that had bothered her the whole shopping trip.
While she had somewhat acclimatized to the enhanced senses, they were still overwhelming sometimes.
"I shouldn't have gotten so worked up. I need to control myself," James said, admonishing herself as she went around and switched off the lights in the room.
She wasn't physically tired, but she decided to at least try to get some rest. She wasn't even sure if she could sleep, but given how mentally exhausted she was, she wanted to try anyway.
She set the provided alarm clock to go off an hour before the shop opened, climbed into bed, and switched off the light.
James sat in the darkness as she reviewed the day's events in her head. She could hardly believe everything that had happened had it not happened to her. She shifted to her side as the base of her tail pushed into the hard mattress, causing an uncomfortable pressure point.
She just hoped her plan would work, but there was no guarantee it would. She only had the most basic understanding of how the devices worked with the cards. It was possible some cards just didn't work or worked vastly differently. With a grimace, she shifted her position and moved her pillow so that her ears hung off the edge. They had been pinched a bit after she had shifted to her side.
She supposed a monster wasn't really designed to lay down comfortably. She would have to have a word with the card's designer if she ever met them. A fox girl was undoubtedly cute, but living as one was impractical. They wouldn't even be able to wear a dress because their tails would get in the way. Not that she wanted to wear a dress, just...
She took out a mental gun and shot that entire train of thought dead in its tracks. That wasn't something she was going to think about right now.
Instead, she mentally reviewed the cards she would pick up and any alternatives until she finally drifted off to sleep.
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James hummed happily to herself. A nostalgic and catchy tune she couldn't quite place. She sat at a table in front of the window into the garden. The early morning sun shone in and warmed her. In the distance, a watercolor of vibrant trees in splotches of blues, greens, and purples spiraled up from the ground.
Her hands moved carefully and delicately snipped the stem of a flower before neatly placing it in the vase beside a dozen others in a range of vibrant colors. The mix of scents from the flowers was sweet on her nose, and she couldn't help but smell the arrangement.
The door creaked open behind her, and she turned to see a figure step in. She waved to the older man, joy bubbling in her chest to see him. His brown tail swished behind him as he stepped over to her. She spoke with him, but James wasn't sure what was said.
The man placed his hand on James' head and petted her on the head, even running a finger beside an ear. James' face flushed, and she batted the hand away. She wasn't a child anymore.
She nodded eagerly to the man before turning to grab the vase. The sun had hidden its face behind a bank of clouds. She ran to the door and slid on her sandals, only for the man to speak from behind her. She frowned, she knew. She grabbed the vibrant blue traveling cloak from the peg and hurried out the door of her home.
She stepped through the door into the small cottage and pulled her hood down. The interior was cluttered with all kinds of little knick-knacks and smelled of rosewood incense. An older woman whose ears drooped with age sat in a rocking chair within. She spoke to the woman as she placed the vase of flowers down on the table in front of them. James was offered a drink, and she accepted happily. It was her favorite. The liquid was warm and sweet. Its flavor was of a cheerful time. She talked with the woman for some time before it was time for her to leave.
She stepped outside as the storm brewed in the distance, the world turning dark and indistinct as she hurried home. Fear gripped her heart. She wasn't sure why she rushed but knew she had to get home. If she got home in time, everything would be okay. But a bolt of red lightning struck the path before her, and she fell into the chasm just as trumpets began to blare in the distance.
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James' eyes fluttered open as the alarm clock buzzed angrily, pulling her back into the waking world. A headache assaulted her, and she reached for the bottled water on the nightstand.
She drank it down as she tried to recall her strange dream, but the dream slipped through her mental fingers as she regained lucidity.