Following the dapper man into the shop, the two girls looked at the various costumes as they followed the clerk up towards the register. And as he took out a ledger, Emily asked, "What did you mean we were expected? And what exactly did you mean by us being late?"
Instead of answering, the dapper man flipped through a couple pages and after a moment, he commented, "Here it is. Kitsune costume. Female," and looking up at Samantha and Emily, he said, "What I meant was that you were expected earlier. By my records, you tried on the Kitsune feet three weeks ago. You should have come to me sooner." and flipping to another page, he sniffed, "Oh well. It's not like you have the rest of the costume. For that wearer it has only been about eight hours. Maybe nine."
"Excuse me," Samantha cut in. "What do you mean, three weeks? Emily only put on the paw-like feet a couple hours ago."
The dapper man looked at them as if they were being dense and then said, "Yes. Well. From your perspective, maybe. But from the shop's, it has been three weeks, while at the same time eight hours. Time, being a man-made object, is rather tricky like that," and flipping another page, he glanced down at the spidery-scrawl printed, nodding every once and a bit.
"So how I take off the feet?" Emily asked, looking at the book, but unsure as to what she was looking at.
Closing the book, the dapper man replied, "Quite simply, you don't. Because you tried them on, you engaged and accepted the contract. Even it was not your contract."
"What," shrieked out both Emily and Samantha.
The dapper man glanced at the two girls and after a minute, ignoring their outburst, he said, "A contract was designed with the one you call your brother. He bought the Kitsune costume. He was expected to put it on, eventually. But, he did not put all of it on and now he must deal with his choices."
Pointing at Emily, he sniffed, "You, however, fall under the coverage of people who accidentally meddle in that which is not their business. Since you put on the Kitsune feet, and they cannot be removed unless the original buyer had agreed to the rent-to-own, which he didn't, it is my duty to inform you that you're stuck with those feet. But, as I said, there is an option. I am prepared to give you a discount on any costume in the store. You and you alone. Your friend will have to pay full price if she wishes to purchase a costume."
A look of outrage crossed Samantha's face and thinking, "After everything happened," but instead choose to keep her mouth shut and looking away from the dapper man, she glared at the costumes hung up, blaming them and the clerk for what had happened to her brother and Emily.
Emily, turning away from the dapper man, glanced at the costumes and whispering to Samantha, "It's okay. If you want something. I'll pay for," she began to search through the nearest rack, noting that it contained a lot of animal costumes, ranging anywhere from dogs, cats, household birds and pet mice, to barnyard animals including pigs, goats, chickens, horses, cows and ducks.
As Samantha muttered thanks, Emily drifted down the aisle and turned the corner. Seeing a whole selection of Hollywood and Bollywood monsters, she stated going through the various choices. Behind her, the dapper man watches the two girls start their browsing and after a moment, he closed the ledger, placed it back underneath the counter and stepped into the back of the store, where another customer is waiting, sure that the two out front wouldn't try anything suspicious.
Out front, Sam browsed the stuff on the wrack nearest to the register and when she did not find anything appealing, she moved on to the next aisle, passing Emily who was looking at a costume that looked like it was straight out of a nineteen fifties horror film. Wandering down another aisle, she eventually finds an exact duplicate of the costume her brother had bought, only knowing so because the tag said that it was of the species Kitsune and that it was a Tod. Taking it off the hanger, she held it up in front of her and wondered if she could do what her brother did and give up not only her species, but also her sex.
"There is no way I could do that," she thought as she put the costume back, thought about looking at the vixen option and instead and headed down the aisle and over one.
Still in the Hollywood and Bollywood aisle, Emily put back the werewolf costume, thinking that it was to vicious and exiting that aisle, she began to wander down one marked "Fantasy", thinking that a lot of what was being offered was rather cute.
Selecting a unicorn costume, she looked at it and found herself disappointed that it was quadruped and not biped and placing it back, she began to look to see if there was a version of the costume that stood on two legs rather than four. As she browsed, Emily could have sworn that she heard voices coming from some of the costumes and that every so often, a feeling of being drawn to something would come over here and for a moment, she would forget what it was she was doing.
A couple aisles over, Samantha found herself also being called by something and sure that it was the costume, she found herself thinking that maybe buying a costume from this shop might not be such a great idea. Picking out a costume, she ran a hand over the material, liking how smooth it felt, knowing that if she were to buy a costume, that it would be this one. Closing her eyes, she weighed the pros and cons of making such a purchase and opening her eyes, she glanced at the price tag and the words "Epicene Anime-to-Reality character" she flipped it over and read that the costume included body suit that included hands, feet, torso and leggings, one petticoat, one skirt and blouse and full-head mask.
Heading out of the aisle to find Emily, she wondered what the word "Epicene" meant and why the costume was called "Anime-to-Reality character" and when she found her friend, she indicated towards the costume she was holding and said, "Found something I like," to which Emily nodded and held up the costume she was holding.
As Sam gazed at the detail of the costume her friend was holding, Emily commented, "It's called "The Cursed Princess" and on the back of the tag, one the things it explains is that this princess was placed under a curse. Only she attempted to stop the curse and that her intervention caused the curse to be altered."
"Do you know what the curse is?" Samantha asked.
Shaking her head and lowering the costume, Emily explained, "The tag doesn't say. And I wonder about that and also, if she is a princess, why is she wearing clothes that you and I would wear. Is she trying to hide herself from whoever put the curse on her?"
Unsure how to answer, Samantha looked at the tag and after a moment, flipped it over. As she looked at it, reading the print, a voice from behind asked, "Are you finding everything all right," and letting go of the tag, Samantha glanced over her shoulder to find the dapper man strolling down the aisle toward them, a look on his face that hinted that something with him was not all right.
Before Samantha could ask about this, Emily stated, "Yes, sir. In fact, we found our costumes."
"Very good," the clerk sniffed and beckoning them, he said, "If you will follow me, I can ring up your purchases. Would either of you be interested in our insure policy," and continuing on with the same speech he gave each customer, he led Emily and Samantha up to the front, were he began to ring up their costumes, explaining a few things about returns and a couple other items of importance, including more on the insurance policies his store offered, to which both Samantha and Emily declined due to only having enough money between the two of them purchase the costumes.