The small bell over the shop door chimed as Chris stepped through, shaking off the rain. He stomped on the corner of the mat, infusing it with a bit of magic that sent a ripple of warmth rushing through his body and drying him from head to toe.

“Evenin’, #sh#,” Cay said from behind the counter.

“Evenin’!” he replied cheerfully, crossing the rustic storefront and leaning on the counter. “How’s business tonight?”

“Same old same old. Slow. Couple college kids came in looking for hexes. Told them to fuck off.”

“Heh, should have sold ‘em some. Always fun seeing the officials get all rumpled sorting shit out.” Chris grinned.

“Someone’s feeling dark and dangerous tonight,” Cay teased. 

“Always,” Chris let loose a sultry chuckle, tracing one sharp black fingernail on the glass countertop.

“Anyway, boss was looking for you earlier, cutie.”

“That so?” Chris asked, straightening up off the counter and stretching. “Guess it’s time to get to work then.”

“Mhm. Aiden coming to pick you up after work again?” Cay asked.

“Yep, said he had something big planned~” Chris said, swaying his hips as he circled around the counter to the back. 

“Oh boy. Save your charm for him then, girl.” Cay laughed, returning to her tablet to keep reading.

Chris let out another sultry chuckle as he made his way through the door to the back halls, heading for Nathaniel’s office. The sharp click of his boot heels on the marble reverberated sharply off the walls, announcing his presence with each step.

“Evening, Nate,” Chris said as he opened the door.

However, it wasn’t Nate sitting behind the desk.

“Good evenin’, Ms. Gray,” Boucher drawled, a sharp, sinister smile on his frog-like face.

=====

Chris sat up gasping in the closet, chest fluff surging with panic.

Boucher in Nathaniel’s office. Why? Boucher very rarely visited the shop, and when he did he never came into the back halls. Nathaniel refused to let him further than the counters.

‘It was just a dream,’ he told himself, trying to shake it off.

Reasoning that some breakfast would wake him up and get rid of the lingering heebie jeebies, he rose from his closet bedspread and reached for the knob to open the door. 

‘Huh?’ He realized that unlike the night before when he had just barely reached the knob at full extension of his arm above his head, he was now at head level with it, and could easily turn it and open the door. 

‘Yes! I’m taller!’ He cheered to himself and jogged to the hallway mirror to see what else had changed about his Knot. 

His body was still made of the same sackcloth, but where before it had been mostly a shapeless bag of fluff for the body, now he had a defined waist, which swept out into hips, and down into long(er), slim legs. 

Turning this way and that to inspect himself, he nearly missed the fact that his face had changed again. His eyes had shifted from black buttons to doll-like eyes that blinked and moved like normal human eyes. Long, jet black hair had sprouted as well, just barely reaching past his shoulders. 

He smiled, and found that his jagged metal teeth lined up more like a human smile now, and weren’t quite as jagged and uneven. 

‘I almost look like a normal girl,’ he thought, chuckling at himself for a moment.

Then the gravity of his thought struck him.

‘A normal girl? What?’  He looked himself over again. The dip of the waist, the swell of the hips, the beginnings of his backside, and even some extra fluff over his chest area. 

‘Oh Goddess…’ He took a step back from the mirror, shaking his head. ‘This can’t be right. Something is wrong. Very wrong!’ He bumped into the wall behind him, still transfixed in horror at his reflection. 

“Hey, what’s all the–” Cay came around the corner into the hall and saw Chris backed against the wall, staring at the mirror. “Woah. That’s a hell of a growth spurt…”

He turned to look at Cailyn, and if he could have cried, he most certainly would. “Cailyn, I’m a freak… I’m sorry, something has to be wrong with the Knot! We have to fix it…”

“Huh? I thought Nate said he cleared up everything that was going on with your Knot?”

“He did, he did say that, but look at me! I’m a freak!” He stepped away from the wall and held his arms out at his sides, indicating his new form.

“Er, well, you’re definitely girly, but I wouldn’t say you’re a freak…” Cay cleared her throat, looking him over more thoroughly. 

“I can’t be a girl, Cay! I’m a guy! I’ve always been a guy! I mean, how am I supposed to go back to my life like this? Nobody’s going to know it’s me, not even my family! And anyone that does believe me is just going to believe that I used the Knot to transition!”

“Okay, so we just let the process finish, then get you another Knot and you go back to normal. Not like Nate won’t let you get one on employee credit.”

For some reason, the idea of going back was at once comforting, and yet repulsive. His stomach fluff squirmed at the notion of being what he had been… again. 

“Fine… as soon as this is over. The sooner I can go back to…  to being me, the better!” He folded his arms, winced when he hit the somehow tender chest fluff, and then folded them slightly lower down his body. 

“Not a bad look for you though, Chris. You’re kinda cute this way,” Cay teased as she slipped back towards her room. “Gimme a shout if you’re hungry or whatever. I’ll nuke something for ya.”

‘Hmph… cute. As if I could be cute! I’m a guy, after all!’ He stomped down the hallway into the living room area in protest, though his plush feet didn’t make much of an impact.

The growling in his stomach fluff reminded him that he was in fact starving after such a massive transformation. He could call Cailyn, sure… but she’d also fed him pet food at least twice since he became a Knot. 

After discovering that he could now reach the counters and the stove with the aid of a step stool, he set about making his own breakfast. A few eggs cracked into a hot skillet, slices of Canadian bacon, and some bread into the toaster. Finally, things felt like they were starting to get back to something approaching normal. At least he could cook his own meals again!

Cooking with nothing covering himself seemed like a quick way to end up getting his cloth body all kinds of messy, and it wasn’t as if he could throw himself into the laundry to get clean… well, not anymore with as tall as he’d gotten. Regular showering might work, but he wasn’t sure if his body would just absorb any soaps and shampoo he used, much like when he ate or drank anything normally. 

The hiss of food in the skillet brought his mind back to the present. He swiftly grabbed one of the aprons that Aiden sometimes wore when cooking, and tied the cords a few times around his body. 

With as big as the apron was on him and the way the strings made it cinch in at the waist almost made it look like a dress. If he could blush, he would have, but there was no time to find something else to put on to protect himself. Food was already cooking!

He grabbed a spatula from the crock of utensils and started stirring up the eggs, turning them into a chunky scramble.

‘Perfect!’ He smiled, grabbing salt and pepper and adding a few generous dashes… then adding some red pepper flakes just for a little heat and flavor.

“Someone’s getting fancy,” Cay said. She was leaning on the doorway to her room, arms folded, watching him cook.

“Eep!” he eeped shrilly, almost dropping the spatula.

“Hah! That was cute,” Cay grinned as she moved closer. “Think you might have worn that girl glamour for too long. You even kinda sound like one now.”

“I do not!” Chris protested, suddenly not sure if his voice did indeed sound girly or not, now that it didn’t have the weird scraping harsh metal sounds mixed in.

“Mhm, sure, sure… Maybe I should call you Chrissi full time?” She ruffled his hair as she moved past, saving his toast from sitting idle in the toaster.

“Tch, seriously, Cay. I might look different but I’m still a guy. When this whole Knot Thing… thing… is over with, I’ll be back to normal, and we’ll see who’s ‘Chrissi’ then!” He swatted at her with the spatula.

She giggled and deftly dodged his short reach. “I called you Chrissi before, I’ll call you Chrissi after, Chrissi!” She swept away with one of his pieces of toast, retreating to her room to get ready for work.

“Dammit, that was my toast!” He shouted, sighing as her door closed.

‘Ah well… at least I’ve still got eggs and bacon… Wait, why am I making eggs? I’ve gotten sick every time I ate non-meat recently… ah, fuck, guess it’s worth a try, at least.’

He grabbed a plate from one of the lower pantry shelves - paper, of course. He couldn’t exactly do dishes without soaking up the sink water. He plopped the eggs and Canadian bacon onto the plate, shut off the stove, and grabbed a fork from the drawer. Sitting at the kitchen table still made him feel like a kid, but at least he didn’t feel like a toddler anymore.

He speared a hunk of egg on his fork, and took a tentative bite, expecting the usual nausea. 

It never came. Only the taste of the eggs, the spices, the heat of the pepper flakes.

He let out a content hum of happiness that came out as a breathy “Mmmm”, which sounded far girlier than he’d admit.

‘Whatever… girly sounds or not, these eggs are great… I can cook myself food again… I can be useful again! Things are finally looking up!’