Hello there readers! Once more, I hope you enjoy my writing, and as usual, I happily accept any and all constructive criticism, advice, and etc., so please, feel free to leave a review!

 

 

Daso sighed as he looked through the last of the boxes that the previous owner of the boutique had left behind, and found nothing other than several sundresses. He had searched through all of the racks, shelves, and, as of now, all of the boxes of clothes for any kind of pants or shorts, and found none whatsoever.

 

Apparently, Ms. Zalcha was not a fan of anything that could even be remotely considered masculine, Daso thought as he looked around one last time, his eyes settling on the lingerie section of the boutique. A chill ran down his spine as his much baggier clothes were once more made apparent to him, especially the boxers that he had to continue to pull up with his pants every few seconds.

 

Screw it. I can deal with this all in the morning. Daso yawned before turning to look at the timetracker he kept in his coat pocket. The clothes search had apparently continued from evening to nearly the middle of the night. He yawned again, wincing a little at the sound of his voice once more, and started to make his way towards the stairs. While walking, his pants and boxers fell off, and choosing not to deal with it, he just kicked them off, electing to go to bed in just his shirt, which was long enough for the sake of modesty. As he was halfway up the stairs, Daso heard a loud crash, and stopped in his tracks, waiting and listening. There was another crash, followed by a couple of hushed voices and muffled movement, coming from the front of the shop.

 

Daso started to walk towards the source of the noise, coming upon a scene of three men dressed in dark clothing, each wearing a black mask on their faces. They were pawing through Daso's belongings, right where he had set them down after bringing them inside the now clearly broken door.

 

"I'll give you three idiots this one opportunity to put down my stuff and leave, and save yourselves a beating," Daso said, steel in his now feminine voice. The three burglars paused and looked at Daso.

 

"Well, well, lookie what we gots us here boys!" the one closest to Daso said as he strode up to him, towering over the young lady he was leering down at. "A pretty little thing, all alone in the big city!" His voice was scratchy, and had a slight wheeze to it. He reached out and lifted Daso's chin with his fist. "A very pretty little thing indeed. Here's what's gonna happen missey. Me and my friends here are going to take you upstairs, and welcome you to Pharanx. Then we're going to take what we want when we're done and leave. And if you try to scream or call for help, well I'll just have to cut that tongue of yours out of your pretty little mouth, understand?"

 

Daso said nothing as he watched the burglar pull out a large knife with his free hand. Instead, he waited for the wheezy burglar to inhale, and slugged him in his diaphragm as hard as he could. The knife fell from his grip as the wind was knocked out of him, right before he received a knee to the throat. The other two were stunned as the girl before them then proceeded to pick their cohort up and slam him face first into a nearby wall, leaving an impression of his face in the plaster, his now broken nose gushing blood, as Daso slammed him face first into the wall two more times. His limp body crumpled to the floor, unconscious, just as Daso faced the other two, who were only now recovering from their shock.

 

One savage beating and a call to the local authorities later...

 

"So... you... fended of these three here?" The confused looking guard, a tall and lithe elf with light brown hair and bright lavender eyes, asked as he took Daso's statement. It had taken fifteen minutes for a patrol cart to arrive, and when it did, the guards were all stunned by the sight of the three unconscious burglars before them, with a young woman wearing a large man's shirt standing over them.

 

"Yes sir. They gave me no choice after they broke into my shop."

 

"Ah... and you said that you just purchased this place earlier tonight?"

 

"Yes sir," Daso smiled as the other guards loaded the three injured men into the back of the large red cart, having all of their weapons confiscated and their hands bound before they were carried.

 

"Ah... may I look at your paperwork them... uh... M-Miss?"

 

"Sure," Daso said casually, a little miffed at being referred to as Miss, as he walked over to a folder containing all of his legal documents, grabbing the deed and the proof of purchase form, promptly handing them to the guard. He looked them over carefully before speaking.

 

"Do you have an identification card on you?"

 

"Oh, uhm, no sir."

 

"Well, it's not too big of a deal just yet. It's a new law that was passed last month. Basically, if you want to own a piece of property in Pharanx, or join up with any of the Guilds, then you're going to need to head downtown and get yourself a proper identification card, as well as a license to run and operate a shop." Daso nodded in understanding.

 

"So, it says on your form that you're from Ruhk."

 

"Yes sir."

 

"I actually have a great uncle who lives there. You ever meet an older man by the name of Feltcha?" Daso's eyes widened in surprise.

 

"Well... about as well as anybody else in town. He runs the general store after all." Daso decided to be careful about how he answered.

 

"Yeah... from what I remember of him... he wasn't exactly the most... friendly person in the world..." Unsure of how to answer, Daso remained silent as the situation became more and more awkward. Eventually, the guard cleared his throat and handed Daso's papers back. "A-Anyway, if you ever need help again, you know to call us, correct? A young lady like yourself is considered a prime target by thugs like them." He said while gesturing to the back of the cart as it was closed and locked. Daso simply nodded as he took the documents back, that feeling of frustration returning. He stamped it down, however, knowing that nothing good can come from antagonizing any authority figure.

 

"Well, thank you sir."

 

After bidding him good night, Daso watched as the guards climbed into their cart and head off. Daso looked the door over and grumbled to himself. He looked through his supplies, and found his trusty tool set. He got to work on repairing his front door, to the best that he could. It only took him a few minutes, but he was able to get it to the point of where it could shut and lock once more. As an added precaution, he set a stool with some of his canned food right in front of it, just to alert him of another possible break-in. Daso made his way back upstairs, finding the master bedroom, and collapsing on his new bed, drifting off to sleep almost immediately.

 

 

The next morning...

 

 

Daso stretched as he made his way to his new bathroom. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he stood in front of the toilet, almost immediately being reminded of his current condition.

 

Riiiight... that... Daso grimaced as he reluctantly sat down. Once he was finished, and pulled the chain hanging in front of him to flush, he got up to use the shower.

 

One speedy shower later...

 

Daso quickly made his way out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his body. He looked around the room for his suitcase, and made his way over to it after spotting it near the bed. Being used to his small one-room shack with the lumpy mattress back in Ruhk, Daso was pleasantly surprised at the size of the living quarters above the shop. The previous owner had apparently decided to keep it as neat and tidy as possible until she left, in addition to it being fully furnished, which suited Daso just fine. The floors were a dark hardwood, that ended in a simple white tile at the bathroom and at the kitchen. He started to pull out some clothes, until he remembered that they were no longer going to fit.

 

I can't show up to get an shop license or an id naked...and these clothes keep falling off... Daso thought with a sigh, before he stood up.

 

I'm not going to let something like this stop me!

 

Letting the towel fall, Daso marched downstairs, and looked at all of the different clothes.

 

Better get this over with.

 

He walked over to the register, correctly assuming that any measuring tape would be located there. He hesitated a few times as he measured himself, but was able to jot down the numbers that he figured that he would need. Then he turned to the nearest rack, and after a few minutes of searching, found a simple aqua colored blouse, with white trim, and a matching skirt. He held both up in front of himself as he looked into the full-length mirror in the shop.

 

I suppose that this blouse is fine...but I guess that this skirt is way too short to try risking going commando.

 

Daso spent another few minutes looking through the lingerie section, finally finding a white bra and panty set that was not too... riske, for his needs. He wasn't too happy that they were both very lacy, with a similar floral pattern to them, but they would have to do. Closing his eyes, Daso stepped into the leg holes of the panties, and slid them up his bare and hairless legs. Next came the bra, which turned out to be a little trickier than he was expecting. Eventually though, he was able to fix it on himself. Seeing himself in this underwear in the mirror, only further drove home the fact that he was now female. Steeling himself, Daso wasted no time in getting the blouse and skirt on. After he checked to make sure that his new outfit was on correctly, he then groaned as he realized that he still needed some new footwear.

 

A half an hour later, Daso was still grumbling to himself as his cart chugged along. The only things in the store that would fit his now much smaller and more delicate feet were a line of heeled sandals. The ones he was wearing matched his outfit, and had a butterfly design. As he drove along, he would notice the stares that he received from the various pedestrians as he drove by.

 

Hopefully they're just staring at this outdated cart, and not at me, He thought as he finally found the building he was looking for. The Bureau of Guilds and Merchants was emblazoned in large gold letters across the entrance of the grandiose building. There were columns in front of the great double doors, a set of large marble steps. Intricately carve stone gargoyles were perched on the roof, glaring down at those passing by. There was a series of fountains and perfectly manicured hedges all around the building, and around the outside of the parking lot. Daso pulled into an empty space, and set up his own personal automatic security system, not that he was expecting someone to actually try and steal his cart.

 

Better safe than sorry.

 

As he strode up the large steps towards the entrance, he started to feel a little uneasy. He turned to see a man following her, dressed in a slightly disheveled, otherwise nice-looking business suit, staring at him. When Daso turned around, the man's red rimmed eyes drifted up from where they had been staring, and instead stayed right on his chest. Daso quickly turned back around and entered through the large oak doors, and almost ran right into someone's back. Looking around the spacious room, where various paintings of some battle or another hung along the walls in gilded frames, with several chandeliers dangling high above, Daso realized that he was standing at the back of a massive line. He sighed as he started to wait. He heard the doors open and close a few seconds later, and felt a presence behind him.

 

"Well aren't you just a pretty little lady," A husky voice whispered, slurring the words slightly.

 

"I know you can hear me, sweet thing." Daso continued to ignore him, and the strong smell of booze coming off of him, the line slowly starting to move forward. "You look like you've got some nice a smooth skin." Daso felt someone grab his hand, and start to pull. With his left eye twitching again, he squeezed down hard, hearing a few cracks, before letting go of the now broken hand.

 

"OHMYGODS!!!" The drunk said as he started to sway from side to side, clutching his injured hand in his uninjured one.

 

"THA CRAZY BITSH JUSH BROKE MY HAND!" He screamed, pointing at Daso. The people around them started to back away, as several guards ran up.

 

"Mr. Veloz, we have warned you before about coming in here and starting trouble. We are asking you to leave," The guard nearest to him said in a stern voice.

 

"BUT THAS THERE DAMN GIRLIE JUS BROKE MY HAND!"

 

"Mr. Veloz, I will not ask you again to leave. You are no longer welcome on the premises."

 

The drunkard looked like he was about to argue, a few tears rolling down his face, but instead just nodded, picked up his suitcase, and left. He was escorted by two of the guards. The third turned to Daso.

 

"Miss, are you alright?"

 

Daso internally sighed yet again at being referred to as Miss. "Yeah. He said some creepy things to me, but you guys chased him off after he tried to grab my hand," Daso elected to leave out the part of actually breaking his hand, wanting to just get the last of the proper documents needed and then leave. The guard nodded and turned to head back to his post. It took a full hour before Daso finally reached the desk, was able to be properly signed in, and sent down a hall. It was another half an hour wait in a small office, before she was able to speak to someone, a bored-looking dwarf, who didn't bother to hide his surprise at Daso's request for a license to operate a thaumaturgy shop, in addition to an id, but gathered the appropriate documents.

 

Daso carefully read and filled them out, unenthusiastically marking himself as a female in the appropriate boxes. It was another twenty minutes as the paperwork was processed, before Daso was leaving, stowing his new id card and shop license in his satchel. Stomach growling, Daso decided to head home for lunch. As he was driving through the much more crowded streets, he took in the sights. He took note of a few interesting looking cafes and shops, before he was forced to come to a stop.

 

In front of him, in the middle of the street, was a man. He was wearing an opened linen shirt, holding a bouquet of roses. He brushed his long blonde hair away from his deep blue eyes, behind his pointed ears.

 

"My beloved Carola! I have come again to ask you for your hand," he called up loudly to a balcony.

 

"I said, GO AWAY!" A woman's voice screeched out from an open window on the balcony.

 

"Carola, my sweet! I fell in love with you, the very first moment that our eyes met! I know not what I shall do without you in my life! My love! I shall win your affectio-" His voice caught in his throat as he looked at Daso approaching.

 

"Be still my beating heart. The dark haired vision approaches, her enchanting gaze-UMPH!" Daso slugged him in the gut, dropping him.

 

"You're holding up traffic. If you're going to bug someone, do so from the sidewalk, dumbass," Daso said simply as he walked back to his cart. Daso waited as the man shuffled over to the sidewalk, before speeding by. As he drove by, the man watched, amazed, watching as a gust of wind blew up Daso's skirt,  allowing the elf to catch a brief glimpse of Daso's panties.

 

"Truly a beauty beyond all compare... I must know her name... for I have now met the woman I shall spend the rest of my life with. Today is a glorious day... for I, Arono, have met the one!" Arono declared, before cringing from the pain again.

 

"Arono!"

 

Arono turned to see an elf guard stride up to him, a look of disapproval on his face.

 

"Afternoon Tietro! I have some wonderful news!"

 

"Save it! Do you have any idea how many complaints we've received of you blocking traffic in the last hour?! Not to mention the calls about you harassing some woman?"

 

"Tietro, that was just a misunderstanding, you see, for I have finally met my one tru-"

 

"I've heard it all before Arono," The guard sighed and started to massage his temples at the sight of the hurt look on the other elf's face. "Look, Aro, I know that we're cousins and all, and I get that you think of yourself as something of a romantic,"

 

"But I-" Arono tried to continue, before being cut off by Tietro.

 

"However! I had to stay up almost all night last night doing a mountain of paperwork after arresting three burglars, and having to re-subdue them after they came to their senses half-way to the station, so I am not in the mood. Now, please just go home, and don't make me have to come back."

 

Arono said nothing and simply nodded, before his cousin stormed off.

 

I'll tell him later, Arono thought as he stood up, his stomach still somewhat sore. It did nothing to bring down the joy he was feeling now, after seeing the face of his future bride.

 

And that, dear readers, was chapter 2 of my newest project! I would like to thank everyone for their helpful advice, as well for their wonderful and kind words. As always, please feel free to leave a review.