Cycle 26:

Dorothy woke up in a strange room. And yet, it wasn’t strange. She knew it was her room, in the inn she owned, and her name wasn’t Dorothy.

It had been Dorothy. Now it was Gigi. And her hair was the color of cantaloupe. Aaaand she was part cat.

She sat down on the bed, rubbing her face. How did she get here? Well, she’d been on her way to work… And then her truck had left the ground. That was about the extent of her memory. She had vague memories of an inn, two inns, of people, of magic? Statistics, a sense of duty, ice cream cake and burnt fries. A feeling that two things were happening at once. Marbles were important, and yet they weren’t?

What had happened? Possibly unrelated, but why did she have bangs? Sure, cat ears and a tail were all new and unexpected, but suddenly having bangs was weird. 

Gigi frowned at her hair, heading out of the room. The room didn’t have any answers. Automatically, as if she’d done this a hundred times before, she went to the end of the corridor and down a flight of stairs. At the bottom was a desk, with her chair behind it. That was where she was supposed to be.

But that seemed boring. Sitting behind a desk all day, with no one to talk to. Somehow she knew there were five other shops outside. Shops with catgirls like her in them. A diner, with a gr- pi- catgirl named Sa- Ni- who worked as the chef. And there was a general store, with a br- re- catgirl named Ki- Al- who ran it. The more Gigi tried to remember, the more confused she got.

The only way to know for sure what was going on was to find someone and ask them. She got to the front door and opened it. A wave of emotion hit her out of nowhere, and Gigi knew she wasn’t supposed to leave. She was the owner of the inn. She wasn’t supposed to leave. But… that only raised more questions.

Steeling herself against the sirens in her conscience, Gigi walked outside.