Fortunes Written by & copyright of Earl Bacon Foxonian@aol.com Featuring Cassie, Rachel (Cassie's keyboardist) and Dominic & Xu (both created for the story) Cassie, the Rock & Roll Vixen http://www.cassietherockvixen.furtopia.org Please read the prequil, "Reaching the Limit" Featuring Cassie, Laretta (Cassie's rhythm guitarist), Slim (Cassie's chief roadie) and Cindy (Cassie's bassist) http://www.cassietherockvixen.furtopia.org/reaching_the_limit.txt Please read the sequil, "All In A Night's Work," featuring Laretta (Cassie's rhythm guitarist) and Cindy (Cassie's bassist) at http://www.cassietherockvixen.furtopia.org/all_in_a_nights_work.txt All characters created by & copyright of Earl Bacon except Laretta, who is created by and copyright of Andrew Cotton, Alex, who is created by and copyright of Donna Fritz, and Vixina & Cloudchaser, who is created by and copyright of Cloudchaser Shaconage It was a damp raining day. A lone figure could be seen walking toward the small shop, located in NYC's China Town. The figure stopped in front of a store that had written in both Chinese and English: "East Orient Trading Co." The Collie-morph looked at the store for a moment. It had in it's window all the typical oriental items that one would expect: small pagoda like lights, oriental-style furniture and various small jade Budda statues and so on. Dominic wondered what his old friend wanted him for now. As he entered the door,the bell attached to a cable under the floor mat sounded and a 5" tall Red Panda furry-morph femme,dressed in a white shirt and black pants walked toward Dominic. She had her long black head hair done up in a bun with a Chinese style comb. "Good day to you, Sir," The red Panda morph began, "Is there something of interest you would like to see?" "Yes. I've come to see Xu," the collie morph replied. The red panda femmes eyes brightened as she spoke. "Yes! Most Hounorable Xu is here. I will tell him you are here, also. Please wait." She then went into the back. Dominic looked at a black finished Chinese table, with various artwork done in gold paint along it's sides. How nice it would look in Rachel's Apt., he thought. "You have a good eye,my friend.That table comes from the Ming era" Coming up to face Dominic was a ten foot tall golden dragon-morph. Dressed in a blue suit, Xu cut an impressive figure. His long, snake-like neck came out of the suit and streched for about 3 feet to his long reptian like head. Xu had typical "whiskers" jutting from the sides of his snout and some from under his chin (like a goatee). His reptilian arms had four claw-like hands and he had two claw-like feet jutting out from his suit pants. Also, coming out from just above his suit pant seat was his long, scaled tail with it's spade-like tail tip. "How much?" Dominic inquired. "$1,200. Very reasonable for such an old piece as this, don't you agree?" Xu said with a toothy smile. The collie-morph thought for a moment and said "Xu, you didn't go to all the trouble of leaving me a message just to make a sale,did you?" The dragon morph chucked for a moment and replied "Alas, no. But if I can get one before we begin to talk, then I am a wise merchant indeed." Dominic let out a slight laugh at Xu's pseudo Confucionism. It was bad enough that most human Chinese and furry-moprh Chinese tended to look upon dragon-morphs(especially gold and white ones) as persons of wisdom and philosophy, but when the dragons themselves began to believe it, you knew you were in trouble. The collie moph knew that Xu had something important to tell him, else he wouldn't have bothered him. Xu tended to move in criminal circles. He also had dealings with the oriental vampires and kitsunes, so if something was going on that spelled trouble to Dominic, the dragon would hear of it first. "Tell you what,I will buy this table. It's just what my girlfriend could use". Dominic said. "Ahh. It is good that you mention her. She is the reason I have asked to see you." Xu the motioned for the red panda femme, "Please have this table prepared for shipping. Our customer will be taking posession of it soon." "Yes Most Hourable Xu." the panda femme said, bowing to Xu as she said so. Dominic just shook his head. If only that woman knew what that dragon was really like,would she still treat him with such honour and reverence? "Come, this way my friend.We must talk in private" Xu said as he went inot the back room, lowering his snake-like head to clear the entrance with out breaking stride. In the back room, Dominic found a table with a black, felt table cloth on it and two chairs. Xu sat at the chair near the door (to keep an eye on the shop no doubt). Dominic took the other chair. Xu then lowered his head so it was level with Dominic's and began, "As you know, I hear many things in my dealings with your kind and others. The attention that you have been giving this young "gothic" lady is getting noticed. Especially amoung your own kind. The Vampires have tried to keep their existence unknown to the goths, who try to seek them out. They think that the goths will, if they become like you, be dangerous and not respectful of the older Vampire clans." The dragon took a sip of some green tea that he had in a small cup on the table in front of him that Dominic hadn't noticed before he continued. "And that is not all. There is also an individual that once knew your girlfriend that is starting to get some of my underworld freinds involved via money. I have heard that this person wants to cause a lot of trouble to her and all those whom she calls friends" Dominic thought for a momemnt as Xu continued to sip his tea. The Vamp clans he was aware of already didn't like him all that much, since he was a furry-morph and he also knew that he took a great risk by persuing his relationship with somone who followed the gothic culture, which most vamps considered a perversion of their own. He could handle them. It was the latter threat that had him worried. Aside from the fact that she had been in a bad relationship once, Rachel hadn't talked about her past all that much. He knew so little about this area that he wasn't sure what to do about it. From what she did say, about that former boyfriend, the collie-morph didn't think he had the intelligence to carry out something that would have gotten Xu's attention. He could be wrong,but he didn't know. This threat wasn't just against Rachel,but also against him and the rest of the Cassie's Band. "Is there anything you can tell me about person who wants to get some of your underworld friends to help them?" Dominic asked. "No. I can, however, find out for you, but it will take time. You must understand, it's the nature of my friends business not to give out clients' identities. I will have to offer them something that will change their minds." the dragon said with a straight look on his face. "You know I can pay whatever price you need. Just let me know how much and when," Dominic replied. "Agreed. And now, I believe your table is ready." The dragon waved to the red panda femme, who returned the wave as she waited on a another customer. A human looking at pagoda lamp. It was just as well he was leaving, the collie-morph thought, It was getting near his feeding time and the two small non-sentient rabbits he had in his house kitchen waited. He stll hadn't told Rachel about his true nature. He didn't know how she would respond to him. Worse,what if she believed that her love for him was due to his "influence" over her and not real? At first, he did use his powers to contol her will, but he stopped when he saw that she responded to him so easily. Most females didn't. Then he found his own heart begin to open to her,in a way that it hadn't since Carmilita, his human vampire lover ended her long life. All these questions ran through the collie-morph's mind until Xu distracted him by asking "I will send the table to your lover's address. I know where it is. Remember, as a gold dragon, I see all things," he said with an almost evil grin on that snake-like face. "Here," Dominic said as he handed the address on a piece of paper he had written on earlier." Let's do the honourable way, okay?" "As you wish, my friend. I will stay in touch concering that 'other matter,' of course." the dragon said as he showed Dominic out of the shop. As he walked away into the rain, the collie morph felt something in his pocket. Stopping, he reached into the pocket of his raincoat and pulled out a fortune cookie wrapped in plastic. A joke from Xu? He wasn't the type to go in for such humor,so it must be important. Opening the cookie, he read the fortune inside. "Beware the Winter Solstice. All signs point to great misfortune on that day. Your lucky lottery numbers are 3 12 25 36 41." Munching on the cookie for a moment, Dominic started down the street to the car he had parked around the block. What did this mean? Beware Dec. 21? Why? More Riddles. Damn that dragon-faced soothsayer! Why can't he ever tell you a straight answer? In a small garage in lower Manhattan, a doe-femme in gothic dress spent considerable rubbing polishing compound into a dark blue 1958 Chrysler New Yorker convertable. Stopping to see her deer-like face, covered white make up and dark eyeliner around her large blackeyes, Rachel seem pleased with the wax job and the look of the finnish. She still had one area to do on the hood. Taking the rubbing compund, the doe-femme begins to apply the paste like substance to the surface, her long, black head hair braid getting in her way as it worked it's way over her shoulder, forcing her to push it back over her back as she continued to polish. Another thing that was happening was that she she continued to reach over the hood over her car, the bust of her black "beer-maids" dress began to lower, revealing two large, white-furred,human like breasts. After pulling up the front of her dress twice, Rachel just decided to let the thing drop. So what if her breasts were exposed? This was her private garage that she was spending a fortune to house her car. The door was shut and there were no windows. Besides,she thought, they could probably help in the polishing, since they were big enough. Having made up her mind, Rachel pushed the top of her dress down to her waist, so she was naked from the waist up and continued to lean over the long hood and polish. Unknown to the deer-femme,a tall figure stood in the garage, entering without making a sound. As he stood and watched, Dominic was startled and a little embarassed watching Rachel polishing her car topless. But then he began to admire her as an object of beauty. The way her upper torso and breasts moved in a sensuous motion with her polishing was so lovely. At this momoent,Rachel looked up and hurredly pulled up the front of her dress, covering her breasts. "Honestly, I wish you would let me know when you are coming into a room!" the doe-femme said in a started voice. "Sorry." Dominc began, "I'll try to remember. Everything okay?" Rachel put her compound on the floor next to the car and walked toward Dominic. Wrapping her arms around the collie-morph and giving him a long, passionate kiss, she replied "Not now. Everything is just fine. Why do you ask?" "I don't want to worry you.Let's just say that I'm keeping my eye on some things on your behalf," Dominic said. Rachel let out a laugh and said "You know, sometimes you sound and act just like one of those suave heroes from a romace novel! Listen, Cassie's in town today. She had to go to a meeting at the record company's headquarters. We were going to have lunch together before she goes back to Massacusettes. Wanna tag along?" Taking the doe's hand,Dominc leaned down and kissed it sayng "whatever My Lady desires." "Oh, you" Rachel said as she kissed him on the forehead. "Come on, help me get the garage door open,so we can go over. It's almost 12 now." Phil's Eatery was a new place over near Greenwich Village that Cassie had taken a liking to during her last trip to the City about two months ago. The Rock Vixen was dressed in her stage outfit (sleeveless lightblue dress, slitted to the thigh on her right side, light brown nylons stockings and garters on her legs, light blue pumps on her feet), beacuse her meeting was also a photo op with various bigwigs. Rather than bring a change of clothes, Cassie just decided that if she was recognised, it wouldn't matter. She was going home right after lunch with Rachel. "Hey,Cassie! " a voice called out over the low mumur of the place. The long black haired vixen turned to see the gothic doe-femme wasn't alone. Next to her came a handsome collie morph with slightly long, but neatly styled reddish head hair and wearing an expenisve Armani suit. "Hi Rachel. Dominic! I didn't know you were comnig. What a nice surprise!" "Thank you, Cassie," Dominic said as he and Rachel sat down at the table. "How is Foxonian doing?" Dominic asked. "Quite well," Cassie began. "He's spending this time off from all the stuff involved from running the band to take up a hobby." "Like what?" Rachel asked,holding Dominic's right hand on the table. "Well, he starting collecting vintage shortwave radios. He has about 20 of them so far. He finds them at flea markets and spends the evenings fixing them and cleaning them up. You should see him! When he finds one that he thinks is neat, it's like a kid seeing a gift at Christmas! His eyes just light up! We spent the whole evening one night listening to programs in countries all over the world. I even heard one of our songs "The Night Has Come" translated into Russian!" "That sounds nice, Cassie. I'm glad that you and Foxonian can spend this time together. You both could you use it." Dominic said. "Thank you and I'm just as glad that the same applies to you and Rachel," The Rock Vixen said with a sly smile. The doe femme and collie-morph gave each other a smiling glance before Rachel said, "Cassie,thanks for giving us all this time off. How did it go with the record label guys?" "I would be lying if they were thrilled with us going totally off "on hiatus" like this, but they are going to release a sort of "re-mix" of some of our greatest hits for the fans, so that should keep them happy for now. Mind you, I can't guarentee that we will be able to take the whole time off, but a year and a half looks like a sure thing." After Cassie finished taking, the waiter brought the menus. After they had finnished eating, Rachel said that she had to use the bathroom, this left Cassie and Dominic alone for a moment or two. "Cassie," Dominic began. "Can I ask a favor from you?" "Sure. What is it?" the Rock Vixen replied. "If you hear of anything that you think could be a real threat to yourself, Rachel or anyone else you both care about, please let me know at once, okay?" The collie-morph said in a low voice. Startled, Cassie said "Uh, sure. Is there something you know or heard that could make you worry like this Dominic?" "Possibly. But I'm not sure. If I'm lucky, it's nothing. Thanks for agreeing to my request," Dominic said. "Anything I should know about?" Rachel said as she sat down next to Dominic. Upon seeing Dominic shake his head, Cassie replied "Oh, just small talk. So what are you two going to do now?" "Rachel told me that were are going for a ride in her ancient vehicle," Dominic said as he placed his arm around the gothic doe. "Translation: I'm taking him for a ride in my car. Doesn't he sound almost Dickensian at times?" Rachel said with a laugh. "Oh, yes and you love him for it, don't you?" Cassie replied "Well, I'm off to Mass. Gotta get home to see if my lover fell asleep at his workbench, with a screwdriver in his hand. Goodbye you two! Have fun! "With that, the rock vixen turned and with a final wave, walked over to her red-orange 2002 Corvette parked out by the side walk in front of the eatery and drove off. As Dominic and Rachel walked out of the eatery tword the New Yorker arm in arm, the doe femme said "What did you ask Cassie to do for you?" "To keep her ears open" the collie morph said. "But, why?" Rachel asked as she got in the car. Upon sitting down next to her, Dominic said as he kissed her passionately on the neck, "To see if my forune comes true." THE END