The beauty is the beast

Fred had been playing the crystal on fast forward for a while, occasionally stopping to spy on some of the more interesting customers, when he noticed the time on the small recorded sundial approaching the time he remembered coming to the store. He set it to normal speed.

A shadow flickered across the front window, and a moment later the door opened. Fred was surprised to see a beautiful young woman enter the store. He couldn't remember seeing her while he was there, so she must have left before he arrived a bit later.

He watched the woman as she walked up to the counter and seemed (there was no sound) to ask the clerk (Mike again) something. After what appeared to be a brief whispered conversation, Mike took something from a small cabinet and handed it to the woman, who looked pretty happy at receiving it. She then continued with her purchases...

...which looked strangely familiar...

In fact she was buying the exact same things that Fred had bought that day!

"Stop," Fred commanded. "Fast, back." He waited for the scene to rewind to the woman's arrival. "Play, slow."

As the woman once again walked through the room, this time in exquisite slow motion, Fred circled the crystal ball scrutinizing her intently from all angles, including a few which would have earned him an earcuff had he been there in person. Not only was there something hauntingly familiar about her, she was also wearing badly fitting knight's garb...

Then it hit him. The woman was not just familiar. She was him. He remembered spending Monday night at a wild party where he had met a young wizard with a sense for practical jokes. The fellow had turned him into a woman for a lark, and then something had happened that made him leave without cancelling the spell. Fred, or Freda as 'her' friends had started calling 'her', had spent the night and half a day in this new identity before finding a counterspell. Fortunately the spell used had been one that could be countered by a general purpose dispell, so there had been no need to tell the clerk the exact nature of 'her' problem. The end of his troubles in sight, Fred had taken the opportunity to buy supplies for his forthcoming quest while he was at it.

All in all it had been pretty embarassing, and there was no way Fred was going to tell Mike that woman had been him. The fellow looked like a tattletale.

1. In the crystal, Fred sees Freda tucking the receipt into her cleavage. Oookay, so where did it go after that?
2. Fred decides to bite the arrow and try to convince Mike that he's really a woman currently disguised as a man.
3. Fred does or says something that makes Mike remember Freda.
4. Fred tries to destroy the embarassing recording.
5. Fred remembers more about Freda at the party. Oh my...
6. Fred remembers that the dispell came with an undo function...
7. Fred gives up and leaves.

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