Keith tried to keep a cool head.
She had heard of voodoo curses... people claiming all kinds of witch craft. But this? Her manhood... taken? She was panicking even as she felt the emptiness in her crouch, not helped by the clothings she wore. It couldn't be denied.. it.. it was gone. Gone!
She had to play this smart... first of all, she absolutely had to get her horse, as quickly as possible- while she could still be recognised as the same man- indeed as a man. What would happen if this continued? Though it had already taken away the very definition of what made her a man...
She punched the wall as hard as she could, and bolted out of the hotel. Damn it! Damn... Damn.. damn...
She still had one overpowering instinct... a gun. She needed a gun. But could she really afford it? It would require sacrificing at least one of her special coins. Also they might actually 'know' it was stolen money... the empty feeling in her pants however made her realise just how badly she needed some kind of... 'substitute'.
She walked in to the gun shop, the acrid smell of gunpowder in the air.
"Hello there," Said the elderly male. the same elderly male that grabbed her earlier.
Keith bit her lip. "I need a gun..."
"What sort of gun?"
"I'm going hunting." She said steeling her eyes.
"Aint you a little young for that?"
Young? What in the hells did he mean by that? But then... she did feel... shorter. "Just give me something that's worth this..." She put the coin on the table.
The old man whistled, and took a bite from the coin. "Gold eh... fine. But I'm gonna need two."
"That's worth more then enough!"
"True. but if I get questioned on where this gold came from, I'm gonna need one for myself, to give this one to the feds."
Keith muttered something but handed a second coin.
The elderly men looked more agreeable with the two coins. "Now then... think you can handle this one?" he handed a basic weapon to her.
Keith nodded. "That'll do. Bullets too?"
"Four dollars."
Keith groaned. "Okay.. why the hell is everything four dollars?"
The old man chuckled. "Comes from the name of the fort. Fort Bucks. So it kind of became a lasting joke. A lot of cheap things became four bucks worth. Get it?"
Keith rolled her eyes. That was a very bad joke... and she wasn't sure if it was true. But who cared? She had her gun...
She left the gun shop, and bought a few other camping supplies. Food, A new tinderbox, rope, waterskins, a knife... she had to travel light though. She realised she wasn't quite as strong now... but hopefully, she would last long enough for her trek back to the wilds of Hedge.
Her long black hair started... touching her shoulder. She grimaced angrily, and used her knife to cut the long hair back to where it used to be. It was a very poor hair cut, but it did the job. She spent the rest of her money on a hat... and anxiously put it on. Locks of jet black hair were strewn on the ground before her.
She stole a quick glance at a mirror in the shop... the effect of this was surreal. The hat definitely help made her look the man she was, and it covered up the colour change. though now she felt like something was pressing on her ears. The swellings of her chest were small, and clothing seemed to cover it up. Though they still itched a lot, and the bare nipples were sending very strange signals to her brain.
She shook her head of the feeling. At least this way, the stable master would recognise her, and she could get her horse back. Before she changed any further.
Keith returned to the stables and showed her receipt. "My horse."
The stable master nodded. "Yep. All yours. I outfitted her with a saddle. Though she complained like a bi-" He glanced at Keith as if thinking something wrong but couldn't really tell what. He shrugged and gave the horse.
Keith sighed. Finally a little luck... the stable master didn't seem to notice anything amiss.
The bandit quickly rode the horse back to those natives... the horse itself, seemed to know the way back, and was quite anxious to return too.
Keith rode the animal as fast as she could. She could feel.. the skin on her nose become dry. She rubbed it off, only to get a large flake of her skin fall off. She kicked the horse as hard as she could, to make it go faster...
"You want me to join on some sort of protest?" Asked David uncertainly.
"Not exactly a protest. More like... an affirmation," Said Rachel. The devil girls tail sways back and forth playfully.
The two had now gone into the hallways of the school. The various changes students barely batted an eye to either of them any more, unlike the outside world. It was a little strange to David, but she dismissed it as 'one of those things'. What was normal any more?
"That priest nearly hurt you Rachel," Said David.
"Aw, I didn't know you cared," the devil girl grinned, leaning just that little bit closer. She was still trying to redefine that personal space between the two of them.. she didn't want to hurt David again, but it was so hard not to at least be a little playful with her friend.
"It was my fault though! I... shouldn't have brought you there," David said upset.
Rachel now looked confused and tilted her head. Her long hair moving slightly to the side. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I... brought you there. To explore our place. I didn't realise... didn't really think about it at the time." The devil-changed treated David so kindly.. Yet a priest was so preoccupied with purifying them. The priest did it out of fear that Rachel was corrupting her? It made no sense... but she did feel a crushing feeling of responsibility.
Rachel shook her head. "You're cute when you take undue blame. But don't make a habit of it. I'm responsible for all that happens to me." She giggled again.
"How can you be so calm about this? people-"
"People are people. That can never changed, even with the new bodies we have," Rachel reminded. "They might hate us if we are white, black, purple green or red now. So what? That's hardly your fault."
David had to admit, Rachel had a point. Still, she wished the Devil-kin didn't have to endure such things.. maybe she would join this protest. Just to show Rachel was her friend. It was the least she could do, to make some kind of amends.
David wrote on a piece of paper the situation, then placed it around her wrist. There was a flash of light on her halo.
"What are you doing?" Asked Rachel curiously.
"Spreading the message to my sisters.. if any of them want to come."
Rachel giggled. "Clever..."
