The Tea Shop
A tale of the obscure, the odd and the altered by LoquaciousJango
It was hot out today. Very hot. Excruciatingly hot.
Noah was practically panting. This wasn't a day for pushing past other people on the street, this was a day for heading over to your girlfriend's place, claiming to have done so because you just wanted to see her, but really because she has a pool and then convincing her to go skinny dipping with you. Instead he was stranded outside, melting from the heat of one of the driest days on record in the middle of smoggy downtown, bouncing from store to store trying to find an obscure hunk of electronics that could be used to fix a friend's toy that he had recently broken and promised to repair.

The toy in question was a large, ovoid, vaguely humanoid and altogether unsettling robot that his friend Zeke had picked up for cheap from an underground import store. He collected weird crap like this. It was bizarre and unsettling in only a way that Japan could accomplish and was intended to be a form of fully computerized missionary, complete with settings for Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Scientology. It even had a Jehovah's Witnesses subroutine. Zeke had managed to pick it up wholesale, as the aptly named Convertron never made it past the prototype stage. No matter where it was taken, the locals always ended up smashing it to pieces for being an affront to nature, from the remote tribes of New Guinea to Downtown New Jersey.

The trouble started when Noah got into an argument with the robot over the theory of evolution. Noah, who was used to defending his beliefs, managed to outlast the Convertron, which burned out within minutes. Zeke was beside himself and immediately ordered Noah to fix it.

So here Noah was, hounding through Little Japan (It was an obscure district) in search of a replacement circuit board, his shirt drenched in sweat and his boxer shorts slowly but surely riding up his body as though they were hell bent on wrapping their waistband around his neck and throttling him.
An anthro female slid past him, clad in little more but a pair of short, shorty short pants and a bikini top, not even wearing shoes. She looked like a sort of wolf, with orangey, light tan fur and a white belly.

"Dingo" he muttered under his breath as a click of recognition was made in his mind.

The girl's ears swiveled in his direction and it was made doubtless that she heard him. Afraid that he may have annoyed or offended the canine, Noah made for the other side of the street.

"Oh to be female" he mused, silently this time, "and to be able to wear revealing, well ventilated clothing without being considered flamboyantly homosexual" Noah's garments on the other hand, were feeling more restrictive by the second, compounded by the fact that he was sweating like his uncle in a confessional.  He watched in envy as another anthro, a male cat with grey and black stripes weaved through the crowds on the far sidewalk wearing nothing at all.

Clothing laws were pretty slapdash for anthros, the general ruling in most districts was that if you had enough fur, feathers, scales or whatever to hide your erogenous zones from public view; you could get away with wearing nothing. Of course, there were reformists on both sides of the issue, some preaching that the nakedness of any sapient species was offensive, others demanding that all bans on public nudity be lifted. Noah couldn't decide which group was creepier.

Noah snapped out of his reverie, noticing a small out of the way shop with garish Japanese lettering. The young man ducked inside as he read a smaller, taped to the window translation of the above advertisement. It read "Kuyowsota's Electronics and Tea Shop" He idly wondered how much property damage per year was caused by an occasional spill.

Wandering in, Noah's prayer that the building was air conditioned went sadly unanswered; it was just as sweltering as the sidewalk. The shelves were lined with half assembled computers, disembodied LCD screens, blank media and numerous vases, tins and jars full of various packages and tea bags. A weathered, but not ancient looking man sat behind the counter. His skin was the texture of a shoe that had been buried at the beach for a few days and his thinning hair was streaked with grey, the same of which could be said of his thick, well trimmed mustache.

"Welcome to our humble shop" the man said, looking up from a crossword. His voice was gruff, but his tone was warm. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, thank you" Noah replied, sensing that this man offered a respectful demeanor and expected one in return "I'm looking for-" He fished a small piece of paper out of his pocket. "An Ethic-mat memory board SCX series with contradictory dampers" he continued, reading the technical specifications aloud.

"Ah" the owner's face twitched in what could only be assumed as a smile "I think we have one of those"

He turned to one of the two doorways behind him and fiercely barked something in Japanese up the stairs. A younger sounding voice wafted down in reply, again in Japanese. The owner scowled and shouted back upstairs, louder and angrier. Finally, a great stomping of feet heralded the arrival of a young man about the same age as Noah, looking about as bored as a boyfriend at a screening of the latest Twilight movie. He muttered something under his breath and shot Noah a disdainful look. Noah countered it with a glare of his own. The man behind the counter, whom Noah assumed was Kuyowsota, repeated his last foreign verse and sternly pointed at the young man and then the other darkened doorway behind him, covered in a beaded curtain. The newcomer sighed and stomped off through the frame and down the preceding steps with the same grim determination to accomplish his task as miserably as possible.

"My worthless nephew" Kuyowsota shrugged "His parents thought that working in the city with me would teach him a few things, but all he's managed to do is put a dent in my electricity bill and an imprint in my sofa."

"I've met some people like that" Noah smirked, uneager to mention that before he had gotten his life together a few months ago, he had been one of those people.

"Your inquiry, it's for one of those ridiculous robot priests, isn't it?"

Noah nodded.

"Sometimes I think the world is moving a little too fast for me. There was a time when the year 2010 was considered to be a distant, alien future, now it is behind us" He sighed "It will take him forever to find that circuit board. Would you like some tea?" Kuyowsota offered.

Noah was as hot as ever, but he figured that any type of hydration was ideal, so he said yes.

"Well, pick something you like from the shelves and I'll get the kettle ready."

Noah started to browse the multitude of options available to him, trying to find something that caught his interest.
Earl Gray? Too standard
Orange Pekoe? Still a little dull
Monkey Pomegranate? Interesting…
Wormwood? Maybe a little TOO interesting
Chai, Ginger Snap, Gourd, Minscere's Delight, they all looked enticing. Noah noticed a worn, rusty looking box shoved behind a bag of transistors. Curious, he pulled it forward, noting the fading Japanese letters printed around the perimeter. Below on the box was a strip of masking tape with a hastily scrawled translation "Madame Ko's Revitalizing and Corrective Infusions for the Well-Formed Young Lady"

With a title too intriguing to pass up, Noah sifted through the box, searching the similarly labeled individual teabags for one to drink. Dragon Breath, Cat's Eye, Lion's Roar. This stuff belonged in a potion shop on Middle-Earth. He paused on Tiger Tail and his thoughts turned to an orange and liquorice flavor. Yes Please.

Unwrapping the sac of dried leaves, Noah plunked it into the steaming pot. Within minutes the tea was ready. Politely, Kuyowsota offered Noah the first cup and he took a single, fateful sip.

"Um" Noah grimaced "I wouldn't drink this if I were you. Can tea go bad?"

Kuyowsota sniffed his cup and mirrored Noah's expression. "My apologies, this smells awful"

"Hey, it's not your fault" Noah smiled. Ever the one eager to reconcile, he took another sip. "Hey, actually…"The latest sampling tasted much better than the last one. "It's not bad"

He took another, fuller gulp. "It's not bad at all!" indeed, with every taste, the tea continued to sweeten. "Don't worry man, this tea tastes great."

Suddenly, as the last drop left the cup, Noah felt a shudder pass through his body. Swallowing dryly, he felt a pins and needles sensation ripple under his skin and a sudden tugging sensation at the base of his spine. His entire body started to twitch involuntarily and his heart began to pump at a mile a minute. "I- I feel weird"
"Is it the tea?" Kuyowsota asked concernedly, while simultaneously pouring out his own cup. "Which did you choose?"

Noah doubled over as his gut began to spasm, pointing over his shoulder at the shelf holding the offending box of infusions. He felt his cheekbones crack outwards as the stubble adorning his chin forced its way into a full beard, then began to spread across his face. He felt the few hairs on his chest begin to replicate in a similar manner and if all of this wasn't enough, he was somehow sweating even more than he thought possible. Every drop of perspiration seemed to solidify, growing from his skin, growing all over his body. As the tugging sensation on his spine finally reached a climax, a ropey mass of bone and skin punched through Noah's skin just above his butt and the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.
He was growing fur. He was developing a tail.

Noah's first instinct was to freak out, but he reigned in his panic before it could erupt as a stupid, impulsive action "Calm down" he told himself "It's not the end of the world. You're obviously becoming an anthro, but that's not terrible. It might even be reversible"

"Hmmm, interesting" he heard the store owner say, looking over the box of tea. "I didn't even think I had any of that" He turned to the rapidly changing young man as soft white fur over took his entire body "I am dreadfully apologetic young man, but you may be in trouble"

"You don't s-say" Noah gagged as his tail slowly threaded its way out of the bottom of his shorts, covered in the same white fur as the rest of his body.

"What am I supposed to be?" Noah wondered aloud as he attempted to regain his composure. "It's worth knowing what species I'm blending my DNA with" But the metamorphosis wasn't done yet. Something shifted inside his abdomen and his chest heated up like a stove. An odd sensation crawled across Noah's crown as his ears migrated up his skull and with a jarring POP, they assumed a round, slightly triangular shape and his hearing seemed to clear up immensely, as though he had had cotton stuffed in his aural canals for his entire life until now.

Looking down at his forearm, Noah saw the fur on his arm start to darken, developing a reddish hue, then grow richer in tone and luster. It was turning a deep orange. As he watched, black stripes developed on top of the orange like an old photograph. Tiger Tail, of course. Strangely, his fingers and hand started to become more slender as his fingernails darkened and sharpened, becoming narrower as they disappeared into his fingertips.

The tingle of coloration spread to his hips and legs and he felt them grow thicker and firmer as his buttocks swelled and rounded out, making Noah look downright voluptuous. He had a very ominous feeling that the changes occurring to his body were going to be even more drastic than he previously thought. Noah's new tail was long enough to brush the ground, curling slightly upwards as the orange and black hue spread along its length, leaving the tip white.

"Don't focus on the scary stuff" Noah thought "Calm down. Think about the weird stuff, like the tail. You have a tail now, that's neat. And tigers are cool too. For god's sake, you LOVED Calvin and Hobbes when you were growing up." The fur on his face thickened, becoming whiskery as his skull began the change shape. His nose flattened and shrunk, resembling a feline's. The young man's entire face grew thinner and rounder. More feminine.

Kuyowsota was determinedly searching the box of tea for any kind of instruction or procedure that could help Noah.  "This is very old stuff" he informed "haven't seen its effects in decades. It's illegal pretty much everywhere, and for good reason. Bad side effects for those it wasn't intended for"

"Who WAS it intended for?" Noah yelped as something in his crotch gave way. Now, feeling anything grab hold of your balls is jarring at the best of times, when it's an unknown force that has already warped your body to its own ends, you are fully in your rights to panic. Noah doubled over again, feeling his testicles being pulled up, into his body. The rest of his tackle soon followed. Oh god oh god oh god.
A loud, whooping cackle sounded out from the basement. The young nephew stood past the beaded curtain holding an insulated bag containing the much sought after memory board, laughing his head off at Noah's ridiculous predicament.

"Ha…fucking…ha" Noah muttered through gritted teeth, which were growing sharper and more needle-like. The last of his male organs slipped away, reforming into something built more for…receiving.
Noah's breath started to slow as she (For the former human was now definitely a she) felt the last of the changes overtake her. The tiger-stripe pattern closed around her head, leaving the fuzzy area around her muzzle white. Her waist collapsed into itself, narrowing out to accentuate the curvature of her hips. Twin muffled pops in her chest sounded out and she sighed in resignation as her breasts inflated outwards with little other fanfare, growing large, firm and round against her torso like water balloons on a hose. At least they were very nice breasts, of considerable size and heft.

Noah blinked as her eyes turned a rich shade of amber, her pupils forming thin ovals.
The change complete, Noah collapsed heavily onto the floor, landing on her round backside. A look of dread wrote itself across her face as she closed her eyes, wishing that this was all a bad dream.

Kuyowsota cleared his throat and said tenuously "Of course, the purchase you came here for will be of no charge"

"Thanks" Noah replied weakly, rising to her feet "Thanks ever so much"
The nephew snickered again and the store owner boxed him around the ears with his rolled up crossword. Noah distantly grabbed the package and left the store.

It was still very hot.

Noah tried to grasp the extent of what had happened. She had changed genders and species in a matter of minutes. The fallout would be pretty extensive and she'd need to make some changes. Nothing major though, as altered as she was, it wasn't any sort of impediment. On the contrary, her senses felt as though they had been upgraded considerably and she felt more vigorous than she had in years. It wasn't like she had lost a limb. Well, in way, she had, but she'd also sprouted a new one, so that might be fun.
All of her ID would have to be changed. Noah dreaded the coming mountain of bureaucracy headed her way. There were protocols for dealing with exactly this kind of bizarre conversion, which happened more often than one would think, but it still would be a hassle. New photos, another driving test, tons of paperwork and even more standing in line. She was sure that Zeke and most of her other friends would get a hoot out of this, but not much would change. Damn, how the hell would Maggie react? It would say a lot about the strength of their relationship if she chose not to bail after discovering that her boyfriend had become a girlfriend in the extent of a shopping trip. What would she think of the tail?

Noah exhaled, frowning at the heat which was making her sweat again. She tugged at the collar of her t-shirt, then paused. Inquisitively, she peeked down at her chest. Her new boobs were there, certainly no doubt about that, and her front torso was covered in the same soft white fur on her face and the tip of her tail. Noah couldn't see anything scandalous though. Excited, she checked the contents of her boxers. Noah felt a twinge of loss looking at the white tuft of hair between her legs, but she also felt a wave of exhilaration. She couldn't see anything.

A lot of words filled her head. Change, missing, new, furry, tail, cover, hot…strip.
Freedom.

"I can do it" she muttered feverously, yanking at her suddenly restrictive shirt. "I can!"
Muscles she didn't know she had flexed, and claws popped from her fingertips, making short work of her shirt and pants, underwear, socks and shoes followed.

"I'm free" she cried, the last shreds of her sticky, wet clothing fell away. "I'm free!" she whooped. "I'm free!" Noah held her arms up in triumph, exposing her striped curvature to the world.
Several people from the crowd that had gathered around her during the performance gave a short round of applause.