“I told them I was going out tonight. My mother gave me a hard time about not staying out too late. Aside from that it went smoothly. I don’t think I’ll have trouble with them again,” Lily finished her recount of everything that happened with her parents. 

Willis had listened to it all, eyes focused and ears alert, in spite of his current position. He was transformed, lounging around in his large cat-like Moonlight form. He had been that way when she arrived. She was tempted to comment on it. Yet she held her tongue. Even if it was quite distracting.

“I’m glad everything worked out! I’d hate for you to get in trouble because of me,” Willis said, doing a full body stretch. His paws kneaded the blanket. “It’d ruin all the fun.”

Agreed. “I’ll be fine,” she assured. Her eyes followed the hypnotic sway of his spade tail. The gold rings near the end glittered in the moonlight. She shook her head. “What about you though? Does your father know you come out here?”

He tilted his head. “Maybe, maybe not. I’m sure he or Velvet has noticed. But they aren’t ones to bother me about what I get up to,” he said. “I wouldn’t get in trouble for coming out here.”

His eyes narrowed, a big smile on his face, “You’re the trouble.”

“I’m the trouble?” her ears pulled back. She leaned forward, “You’re the one that nearly went for a dip in the lake last week.” She thoughtlessly reached her hand out, putting it on his head to pet him.

His ears shot up, eyes widened. “Hi.”

She yanked back like she had been burned. “I am so sorry I do not know why I did that,” she squeaked. Her face rapidly reached boiling temperatures. His fur was so soft.

He snickered, “I’m very petable, I know.” He sat up, stretching his back. There was a clean crack. He shifted, slipping into his Lunaris body smooth as butter. His usually fluffy cape was missing. His tail remained through, curled around him lazily. He ran his now hands through his hair, shaking it out. “You aren’t the first or last person to pet me.”

Lily’s ear flicked. “You seem pretty casual about shapeshifting like that,” she pointed out. 

“It’s fun to do. Makes it extra nice to enjoy a sunbeam on a warm day,” he shrugged. His tail was ever present, swaying side to side. He waved a hand. “Though I guess you’re more conservative about it.”

“Rightfully so,” she retorted. “It’s a sacred form. Not something to play with.”

“Do you actually think that?”

She flinched. “What?” She couldn’t help but blink a few times.

His ears drooped. He leaned back, rubbing his head. Cyan gaze drifted elsewhere. “Not asking to be rude. You said things before that made it seem like you didn’t believe in the whole ‘descendant of gods’ ordeal.” He held out a hand. “Wouldn’t that mean that your Moonlight form isn’t anything special?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. It’s about what the people think,” she explained. “Our subjects see it in a holy light, so we must treat it delicately as such.”

“I care about what you think. What do you think about it?”

I’m not sure why it matters. Still, she answered with a click of her tongue, “I think the form is simply an aspect of our species and magic. There’s nothing divine about it. Not in the way Lunarkin see it, at least.”

They grinned at her, “Well then you should be able to take it. If it’s just another aspect of you.”

She returned with a frown, “That’s not how that works. It’s for ceremonies and emergencies only.”

“Says who?”

“My mother.”

He snorted at that. “Why does your mother get to decide who you can be?”

Lily was quick to open her mouth, yet as fast to snap it shut. Why does she? She pushed the feeling down. “Because she’s my mother.”

“That’s stupid,” Willis replied. He stiffened, eyes wide, as if surprised he said that. Though a moment later he added, “No I’m right. That’s stupid. You’re your own person. No one gets to tell you who you are.”

That’s not how life works, she bit her tongue. “Why do you care?” she asked instead.

“Curiosity,” he admitted. He popped up from the blanket. He waved a hand at her. “Plus I think it would be good for you! Cmon! Get up. Get moving.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Whenever I’m stressed out, the easiest way to get it out is to move around! There’s been plenty of times I've shifted and wrestled with Velvet to blow off some steam,” he said. Once more urging her to stand up.

“That seems dangerous… and unfair,” she noted. Obliging his request while she did. His eyebrows raised, tail curled.

“Huh? Why?” 

“You’re a big beast with claws and fangs and they’re…” she gestured vaguely, “normal?”

The gears turned slow in Willis’ brain. Face blank as he processed her words. Eventually they seemed to click into place. His ears shuddered as he shook his head. “Oh! Right- it’s not as bad as it sounds. Velvet is stronger than you’d think. Much stronger,” he assured. He held his hands, tapping them. “We aren’t that rough when we tussle anyways.”

He suddenly smiled, his fangs peaked out, “This isn’t about Velvet though! This is about you!”

She shook her head, “I thought you would forget.”

“It’s too late! This is our fun activity for tonight. I will not rest until I get you to let loose! If you want,” he muttered the last part. “Think about how fun it would be! We could wrestle, run on the beach, play in the ocean.”

Play in the ocean? She frowned at the idea, though after a second thought it shifted to a smirk. “You want to go drown in the freezing cold ocean in the middle of the night?” she leaned forward, arms held open wide.

She got a baffled look in response. He almost looked ready to argue before he seemed to realize what she was doing. He crossed his arms, leaned in as well. “Hey, now you’re doing it on purpose.” His tail lashed back and forth. 

“Doing what?” she asked innocently.

“Making my ideas sound bad.”

“I’m not, I'm not,” she gasped. Hands held up in false surrender. “I’m offering a fair and honest description of how it sounds.”

“You are noo fun,” he said. He stepped closed, standing to his full height. “Now we have to wrestle so I can get you back for being so mean to me.” He made a grabby motion at her face. 

Another time, she might have been alarmed. Scared of their proximity. Yet they were farpast that point. Instead, she laughed at him. She closed the distance between them, bringing them impossibly close. “You don’t want that. My Moonlight form is much bigger than yours.”

“Doubtful.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. She gave him an incredulous look, “You can’t be serious. Surely you’ve taken a history class?”

His frantic tail froze. Shoulders drooping. “Well, yeah. Still don’t believe you though.” He took a small step back. “I bet you’re like, this big,” he held a hand flat as far down as he could without crouching. 

“You’re the one being mean,” she huffed. Giving him a nasty scowl.

“Prove me wrong,” he dared.

Damn it. Willis had checkmated her. Either she comply with his ridiculous demands, or suffer the consequences of not being able to prove him wrong. An awful dilemma, truly. One that, unfortunately, only had one answer. “Fine. But only because I want to prove you wrong. Not because you asked.”

“That's usually why you should do things.”

She rolled her eyes. Before taking a healthy step back. They needed distance if she was going to do this. “It may take me a minute,” she said. She closed her eyes. Deep breath. “I need to focus. I’ve only done it a handful of times.”

“No rush!”

At that, Lily focused on her breathing. The way energy flowed through her body. The brush of the breeze against her face. Bathed in the precious moon and starlight. The ocean, the tides, the sand beneath her. She shivered.

And then she dropped.

In an instant she was anew. Powerful jaw snapped with predator fangs. Large paws accented with thorn-like claws. Tail long and slender tipped at the end with long curled cream fur. A mane thick and heavy, longer than she remembered. It's grown in, she mused to herself. Lost to the moment. Lost to the buzz of power throughout her beastly form. She might not have been a descendant of gods, but this certainly felt close.

Willis’ voice pulled her back, “Ah- you're- you're huge.”

She blinked, confused. The motion of tilting her head down to look at him made her dizzy. Strangely a bit nauseous. Thankfully the feelings did not linger. She worked her jaw, testing out how it felt to move. Her words came out strained, “I told you I was big.” The noises felt odd in her throat. Shapes strange against her tongue. 

“Yeah but-” he tried to defend himself. He gestured her up and down. “You're huge. I’m pretty sure you could fit my head in your mouth and you're not even full size.”

“I warned you,” was all she offered.

“I guess you did,” he relented, chuckling softly. He leaned, looking around her. She let him take in her appearance. He stepped closer. His hands came up to her face. They cupped it gently. “You're soft.”

“That's how fur works, yes.”

He gave her a look. Though it melted into something mischievous. A finger booped her on the nose, “Tag.”

Willis dashed away. Form flowed to something beastly, four legs carrying him down the beach. He didn't get far before he paused. Nearly tripping over himself in the process. He turned to her expectantly, calling out, “You know what tag is, right?”

Yes, she was familiar with the game of cat and mouse surprisingly. She hadn't registered the action fast enough. Her processing was still sluggish. Then she had an idea. “No, I don't,” she lied. Tilting her head for emphasis. 

He trotted back to her. Coming up within reaching distance. “It's really simple,” he began explaining, tail held high. “When you are ‘it’, you want to-” 

She cut him off with a forceful paw to the face. “Tag,” the words didn’t come out as playful as she hoped, but she didn’t have time to linger on it. Instead, she took off past him with large strides. 

“Whuh- Hey! That’s cheating!” he yelled after her. 

Her paws hit the sand in a way that didn’t feel quite right. The rapid thundering of pawsteps came up behind her with increasing intensity. She glanced back right on time to catch a glimpse of him hopping on her back. He jumped from there straight to her head. She stumbled to a halt, dazed, “Ack!-”

Willis landed with a hunter’s grace. “That’s what you get for cheating! You’re it! You forgot to say that last time.”

“It was a tactical decision-” she forced the words out. The world spun in a way it certainly should not have. She barely had time to shake it off before he was sprinting back towards the border. In spite of her disorientation, she followed suit. He can’t be that hard to catch.

The distance between them grew more and more by the second. He ran swift as the wind. Even if his legs were much shorter than hers. I need to close the gap somehow. She zeroed in on her target. Even from this far, she could surely light step to him. She teleported.

Her snout met the ground, legs tripped over themselves with a muffled thud. Sand made its home in her mane.

Willis turned on his heels at the sound. He trotted right back to her. “Are you alright?” he asked, ears pointed.

“I tripped,” she replied flatly. Slowly sitting up. Oh gross. She grimaced at the scratchy feeling in her fur.

“I can see that. Are you alright?” he asked again. He came closer, raising a paw to shake out her mane. “You seem a bit out of it.”

“This does feel odd,” she admitted. She joined his brushing. Having to strain her neck to see him. “I was serious when I said I’ve only been like this a handful of times.”

He frowned, “I’m sorry.”

She thoughtlessly leaned down, “What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I thought it would be fun,” he muttered. His ears pinned back. “You don’t have to do this, you know? You can shift back.”

“I know. I wanted to experience it. If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have,” she said. Her tail twitched. “Plus, I still need to beat you up.”

“Beat me up?!” Wills gasped at her. A mischievous look returned to his feline face. “You can’t do that, I’m a little guy. I’m the short one now. That would be so mean.” He fell on his side, paws stretched out to grab one of her legs. He bit lightly.

She lifted the paw, putting it over his chest. She pressed down gently. “I win.”

“Not how that works!” he squirmed. She pressed harder as he did. He kept it up for a few seconds before he huffed. Which turned into a wheeze. “Okay I actually can’t get out. This isn’t fair.” He coughed. Alarm fell over his face.

She relented, freeing him. “What’s wrong?” she asked, leaned over him. Her eyebrows furrowed. Did I hurt him?

He coughed a few more times. Hacking as if he was going to throw up. Eventually he settled. “I have breathing problems sometimes. They don’t usually act up like that,” he wheezed. He took another moment to catch his breath.

“Oh,” she frowned deeply. Her ears flattened, tail limp. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to press so hard.” She nudged him with her snout.

“You didn’t, it’s alright!” he assured. Returning the gesture. “I think they acted up because I ran so hard before. You were fine.”

Her jaw was tense. I’m not sure I believe that. She didn’t argue. Instead letting herself fall over like he had, despite the coarse sand. The discomfort was oddly grounding.