Things didn’t change a ton after Amelia found out I was a shifter. Well, okay, that wasn’t entirely true. Several things did change, but not huge changes. First, Amelia did figure out I could understand how to use the toilet instead of a litterbox, so we did away with that particular feature, and she got me a cat little house thing that looked like a chest or trunk large enough a person could fit in. She put it in the living room and set some things on top of it, making it look just like a fixture, but there was a little door for me to enter.
“Everyone needs some privacy sometimes,” she explained. “That can be your room, and I won’t invade your space, okay? I wish I had another actual bedroom for you, but hopefully this will do.”
I rubbed my head against her in appreciation, because I really did feel grateful that she was trying to offer me something as simple as privacy. It was nice.
Zahara also got me a tablet that I could reasonably navigate with paws, although sometimes it was a little hard because I’d tap on too many things at once. Still, it was enough that I could actually play some simple games and even get on the internet and find out what was going on in the world. I mean, if I wanted. I wasn’t sure I wanted, because I was terrified that I would see my face plastered all over the front news. Sure, it had been a few months now since my disappearance, but I couldn’t help but fear that it would be one of those cases that might never fully go away.
However, the tablet had something else that was more interesting to me. Zahara had loaded it in with programs that dealt with all the normal subjects I’d be studying – math, English, history, science, and so on. They covered most of the grades from 6th grade up, so I was able to start into the apps at my level and keep learning the subjects, potentially up through high school level. When Zahara caught me actually using the programs, she seemed pretty pleased, and told me to ask either of us if I had questions, even though we both knew that would be kind of complicated to do. But it was still nice of her to think about my education and try to provide a way for me to basically homeschool myself while staying in cat form.
Another thing that changed was that Amelia started talking to me like a person. She’d kind of already done that, but now she actually started asking me for my opinion on things and expected an answer. She also wanted me to join them on movie nights and made me sit on the sofa with them, even if I’d kind of rather sit in the window and watch people walk by – Shakespeare plays were not my thing. I figured out, though, why Zahara went along with it even though they clearly weren’t her thing, either. It made Amelia happy to have us watching with her and Amelia would light up, gasp abruptly, or make exclamations about stuff that was going on, clearly expecting some kind of response from both of us, which was kind of amusing in its own way to watch. At the end of the day, it was kind of nice to just watch her while she watched the movies, because she was more entertaining than they were.
Now that she knew I was a shifter, Amelia also plotted a way to let me attend her final play for the semester. I was kind of curious, to be honest, because while plays usually weren’t my thing, this was different. This would be watching someone I knew act out everything in costume. Sure, I heard her rehearse here, but that was without the set, costumes, or rest of the cast. Apparently cats weren’t commonly allowed to attend plays, though, so Amelia was trying to figure out if Zahara could smuggle me into the theater anyway.
My food changed, too. While I was actually okay with eating cat food, Amelia was determined to make sure I ate more normal food, after confirming with an amused Zahara that it probably would be best for me to have proper nutrition for a human rather than a cat. That meant she expanded what she made for dinner and I got to sit at the table and eat with them. That was kind of fun, even if initially I had to figure out how to make that work. Amelia also had to cut my food up pretty small for me and nearly freaked out the first time she saw me start to eat chocolate cake, before Zahara reminded her that chocolate actually wouldn’t harm me.
For obvious reasons, Amelia did not end up taking me to the appointment liked planned. She did talk over whether or not I’d need vaccines as a cat, and Zahara agreed to ask the shifters she knew about what the long-term implications would be of me remaining as a cat and whether there were things like vaccines that they would need to deal with. Apparently the answer was no, because we didn’t end up going back to the vet at all.
So, for the first time in years, I found myself in a home with people who were truly looking out for me, taking care of me, and allowing me to just be a cat without pushing me to shift back. I was so appreciative of that last bit I could have cried. In fact, the longer I stayed with them, the more I wondered if it might be okay to tell them the truth, but…no. I couldn’t risk that. I’d tried in the past to tell adults the truth and they didn’t believe me. No – no matter how nice Amelia and Zahara were, I couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t change if they knew who I really was. I couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t send me back because, like everyone else, they’d think that my aunt was the heroic caregiver she appeared to be.
And I wouldn’t ever risk going back to her. No matter what, that wasn’t an option.
~~~~~
I yawned and stretched, then curled back up in the sun.
Amelia looked over from the couch, where she was going over audition lists. Now that she had graduated with her master’s degree, she was throwing herself headfirst into trying to get roles in plays and musicals. I wasn’t too familiar with the performing arts options in town, but apparently this city had more options than some places and she was doing her best to audition for anything that seemed remotely interesting.
“Sometimes you really act like a cat,” she observed. “I know you’re supposed to not do that too much because you might go feral, but just sleeping in the sunlight is fine, right? I mean, sometimes I feel like doing that.”
I kind of rolled over a bit to show my spotted belly, curling my paws a bit as I did. Amelia was, predictably, unable to resist and immediately began petting me gently. While in human form it might have been a bit weird to have someone pet me, in cat form it felt nice, so I responded with a happy purr. Sunlight and pettings. It was a pretty nice life.
“Don’t worry about him,” Zahara grunted from the other side of the couch, where she was going over some files. “He’s not at risk of going feral, not when he’s also studying his schoolwork and making progress, I might add. It’s okay to enjoy some aspects of your shifted form as long as you don’t give into them.”
Amelia looked at her hesitantly. “And, uh, what about normal growth and stuff? If he’s a teen, depending on what age, wouldn’t he go through a growth spurt at some point, if he hasn’t already? I’m guessing that it wouldn’t show up in cat form, but does he need to switch to human form at some point to deal with that? Not that I’m trying to talk you into shifting,” she added swiftly as she looked at me, clearly noting that I’d stopped purring, “but just…is it something Ari needs for health and all? We could, uh, leave for a few hours and give him the apartment if he wants to do it on his own, maybe?”
I hadn’t actually thought about that and whether it was necessary to switch to human form every now and then to deal with the realities of going through teenage years. I’d just planned to not switch back until I was a legal adult, minimum, and even though I appreciated that Amelia was trying to offer me a safe option to shift if I needed it, I was still scared to accept it. Complications of not shifting while a teenager or no.
Zahara didn’t even look up from her file. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, as far as his body goes, it shouldn’t be a problem. It’ll still basically grow and do what it should, even if he’s not shifting into it. When he does shift back, it might be a bit of a shock if it has been a while since his last shift – a bit of an adjustment period, at least, especially if he’s taller than he was or whatever. But it shouldn’t affect whether or not he goes through puberty if he hasn’t already. I checked with my shifter friends, just to make sure – they’re not aware of a kid not shifting back for years, but none of them thought it would be an issue. Some of them did know of kids that would deliberately stay shifted for long chunks of time to basically skip puberty, but yeah, it can be an adjustment once they finally shift back. That’s the main thing. But apparently if shifter kids do that and are prepared for the change, it’s not particularly shocking.”
I hadn’t realized that, but it was kind of a relief. Actually, skipping the worst parts of puberty sounded nice, but I did wonder if that meant my human body would basically be a stranger to me once I finally shifted back after I turned 18. Probably, but it would be worth it.
“Oh, good then.” Amelia rubbed my ears. “I don’t know much about raising shifter kids.”
“That reminds me.” Zahara finally looked up from her work. “Ari, I bought you a harness. I know, I know, not fun, but you should probably be leaving the house and running around a bit – most shifters like to run, depending on their species, and I imagine as a Bengal you’re likely to feel a bit cooped up sometimes. Amelia here is our classic nerd, so she probably won’t take you anywhere, but I go running regularly, so you can come with me.”
I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of wearing a harness, but I didn’t entirely mind being able to get out of the house some. I understood that the harness was more for humans who might see and complain about the idea of walking a pet without a leash. Maybe I should wear a collar, after all.
Amelia made a pouty face at Zahara. “I could take him on walks! We could go down to the river and I could read him my script.”
“Oh, uh, sure, that…hun, that’s not exactly exercise,” Zahara admitted with an indulgent smile. “Not saying it wouldn’t be fun for both of you to get outside more, but reading in the park isn’t really going to fulfill that need for him.”
Amelia made another face at Zahara, then turned her attention back to me. “But it sounds fun, right, Ari?” She asked hopefully.
I wasn’t 100% sure it did, but she seemed to really like the idea and it didn’t sound bad, so I went ahead and nodded. As Amelia turned her attention back to her audition list, clearly happy with that result, I caught Zahara’s eyes behind Amelia’s bent head. Zahara looked a little amused and raised her eyebrows at me. If I’d have been able to shrug, I probably would have, but I made do with a tail flick that seemed to get the impression across.
As it turned out, I enjoyed my outings with both of them. Zahara ran faster than I was prepared for at first, but over time as my muscles got more used to running regularly I got faster on my feet and could keep up with her, even for several miles, which always seemed to surprise other people we ran past. They’d kind of gawk at this woman running her cat on a leash, but any time someone actually asked, Zahara would just point out that Bengals were high energy cats and add that she closely monitored me to make sure I was able to handle everything. She sometimes let me perch on her shoulders if she went shopping or ran errands afterwards, which also tended to get a lot of attention. I found, on those outings, that I actually liked Zahara a lot more than I’d initially thought. She was tough and fully willing to dive into fights if she had to, but when I discovered that she was a lawyer this suddenly made more sense to me. She was aggressive verbally when she had to be and quick to discern potential inconsistencies in others’ statements, but she also knew when to back off. Now that she and Amelia had decided they weren’t going to force me to shift back, she seemed invested in making sure I had everything I needed to still grow up properly despite being in cat form. She wasn’t as openly demonstrative as Amelia, but I could still tell she cared. Even if her form of affection was in practical stuff like giving me homework or making me get physical exercise. It was kind of nice to have someone care about stuff like that.
Amelia was clearly more nurturing, but sometimes a little more scatterbrained. She did take me on walks to the park where I sat obediently and listened to her give her speeches before her auditions, but usually this devolved into her sitting on a bench with me and just randomly talking to me about whatever. Sometimes she told me about her childhood growing up in a small city – she made me crave apple pies thanks to one of those stories – or about her friends in college, or about how she first met Zahara. That story involved Amelia running to class because she overslept after trying to pull an all-nighter to memorize lines, crashing into Zahara and spilling coffee all over both of their class materials, and then Amelia bursting into tears because she was too tired to deal with it. Apparently this had alarmed Zahara, who thought she was hurt at first, and by the time she figured out Amelia was fine, just emotional, she’d gotten interested enough that they’d stayed friends after that until Amelia asked her out on a date.
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