Kim tries to get some help in her job

The autumn wind played with the auburn leaves of the forest. A weird duo walked the dirt road outside of the small village hidden in the trees. Leading the march was a giant blue bird wearing an orange suit. Kim strolled behind him, she was a regular human with a cute round face, green eyes, and a chestnut ponytail. Dressed in a pink kimono three sizes too small for her, she was carrying a heavy box in her hands.

The bird’s neck twisted 180° degrees to address Kim. “We are near the exit.”

“Yikes, can’t get used to that. Are you sure this is it? No toll to pay with clothes? No trickster troll guarding a bridge? No river of honey to ford across? Not even a herd of tickling goats?”

“What? No. Just take the package across the portal and give it to Morpheus.”

“Oh thank goodness. You won’t believe the stuff I have to deal with on this job.”

“Trust me, we know. Why do you think that we hid our village away from all the other weirdos?” The duo reached a clearing in the forest. The only thing standing amidst the grass was a Japanese sliding door that seemingly led to nowhere.

“Well, thanks for the dress. I’ll be going now-”

“Wait!” Another bird identical to Kim’s guide flew from the treetops and landed next to her. As soon as he did, the guide disappeared in a poof of smoke. “Thank goodness I caught up to you. We forgot to give you the receipt!”

Kim was pale, too preoccupied with the disappearing act to care for a piece of paper. “W-what happened to your partner? Is he dead?”

“Partner?” The bird stared at Kim, and then at the emptiness next to her. “Oh, that wasn’t my partner, it was my clone. Our village perfected a spell to make temporary copies of ourselves. In fact, you are delivering a special necklace that lets anyone use our technique. Cool, right?

“Yeah. That sounds pretty useful.”

“It is, believe it!”

Kim walked the halls of Morpheus’ dream palace with the heavy box in her hands, she crossed paths with a myriad of fantastical and magical creatures on the way to her boss. A giant yellow snake stopped her. “Hey Kim, the bozman had to leave in an emergency, zomething about arbitrating a rock-paper-zcizzor match in another realm. You’ll have to give him the box when he getz back.”

“Yee and I wanted to offload this heavy thing. Thanks, Gertrude.”

While the snake slid away, Kim frowned thinking about what to do next. She should go and leave the box in her quarters before going to her next task, which was… “Dealing cards at the casino, then cleaning the storage room, and doing inventory on the library.”

Kim placed the box on the ground and sat on it, propping her head up with her hands. “So much work, I can never get a break!… Hmm, Harako’s still too cranky about that succubus business to lend a hand. If only there was another way to get help...” The deliverywoman grinned. She got a wicked idea.

Kim coughed. There was no space in the cramped closet for the smoke to dissipate. In front of her stood a beautiful woman with a cute round face, green eyes, and medium-length brown hair. It worked! Kim giggled, and the woman followed her lead. It was like looking at a mirror.

“Yes! I can finally talk to myself without being called a weirdo!”

“Yes!”

“Hi, Kim Two!”

“How do you know I’m Kim Two?” replied her doppelganger. “Maybe I’m the original.”

“Well, for one, you don’t have this.” Kim pointed at the necklace of feathers that hung under her neck. “And secondly… jump!” The other Kim did a little hop, yelping as her head hit the lamp above them. “The clones have to obey the original, ergo, I’m the original.”

“Ok, I guess you are. How should we divvy up our jobs?”

“Well, I was thinking that you can go to the casino-”

“While you go to storage? Good, I hate dealing with enchanted items.”

“Yeah, me too.” Kim put a hand on her doppelganger’s shoulders. “Which is why you are going to the storage room and the library after you are done at the casino.”

“What? But then what will you do?”

“Dunno. Was thinking about relaxing on the hot springs and eating some pizza.”

The other Kim stomped her feet. “You can’t give me all of the jobs. That’s not fair!”

“I disagree. Get to work!” Kim pushed her clone out of the closet. The other Kim grumbled, but her legs moved on their own towards her first task. She soon found herself behind a blackjack counter.