(Saturday, 24/10/1058)
(3rd person PoV)
Laying together on their bed, after having changed the blankets before tucking Shira in it, Henryk woke up. He felt powerless and his body deprived of energy.
He stared at the ceiling, lost in thoughts.
'What should I do now?' His heart swelled with joy and relief. Although confused on what to do, he was over the moon with Shira's safety mostly ensured.
"Shira, are you awake?" Henryk asked her even though he expected her to remain asleep.
"What? Where am I?" Shira bolted up with messy bed hair and a drooling mouth, her eyes flitting around. They finally landed on Henryk. "Henry!" She dove onto his chest and laid on top of it.
"Shira!" Henryk said with a hollow, struggling and faded voice. She knocked the wind out of him. Nonetheless, he wrapped his arms around her.
"Shira, do you remember your family members?" Henryk wanted to confirm the most important thing from his perspective.
"Yeah, I think I do. I have father, mother, my late brother, you and Fey. I don't remember who Fey is, though" Shira's brows furrowed. She was confused as to why she adored this "Fey" but did not remember her.
"Thanks" He hugged her closer when she so naturally included both him and Fey into who she called family.
"Why did you give me some sudden thanks just now?" Shira asked, her four ears at attention and her tail swishing from side to side under her gown.
"Well, you'll be fine. Just remembering this is enough. The rest could be improved on or built anew" Henryk said. He attempted to change the subject.
"Not today, Henry" Shira looked at him knowingly. "Tell me" Her pupils sharpened into vertical slits as her face adopted a curious expression.
"You weren't... this insistent" Henryk said. "This is actually better. Ask me about my intent whenever you want. I should tell you unless it's something I know you wouldn't want to hear"
"Thanks" Shira said as she laid on top of him again. She was completely relaxed.
"Right, so, I thanked you for considering me and Fey as a part of your family so naturally" Henryk said softly. He was still tired.
"Papa~ Fey'll come in~" Fey arrived at the door.
"Just a quick question! Fey isn't a child that is as large as you are, right?" Shira said fearfully. "Right?!" Some inner voice was telling her to be alarmed by the discrepancy between the softness and cuteness of the voice and the height at which the voice originated from.
"She's as tall as I am, and she's only 9 years old" Henryk said with anticipation. 'I wonder, how would Fey and Shira come together now that Shira forgot everything but Fey's name'
"Recruit Tiona Hiryute! Reporting for duty! Sir!" Tiona entered the room behind Fey and saluted Henryk out of the blue.
"Not again!" Henryk groaned as he dragged a hand over his face.
"Tehee!" Tiona acted all cute before Henryk regained a sudden burst of energy, stomped his way to her, then grabbed her by the neck.
"Wawawawawa!" Tiona, having an average height, was lifted off the ground. "What are you gonna do to me?" She played along since it is not going to hurt her physically, no matter how much strength Henryk puts into it.
"I'm tired at the moment" He said with an annoyed expression before gently lowering her to the ground outside the room. "Go! Shoo! I want some quality resting time with my wife and daughter!" He then calmly and slowly closed the door.
"What was that about?" Tiona just stood there, questioning why he lifted her off the ground, by the head might she add, if he was going to put her down then close the door as gently as he did.
(Inside the Room)
Fey gasped. "I forgot your breakfast!" Fey, talking out of character, rushed out of the room to bring what she forgot. Of course, Henryk knew that meant bringing Tiona back in.
'Is she finally going to stop the deliberate cute act?' Henryk thought. 'I mean, I did feed into this behaviour by going along and spoiling her, but it didn't hurt anyone yet... I think it should be fine to let her be'
"That was... Fey?!" Shira asked in shock and disbelief, failing to comprehend what her eyes and thoughts were telling her. "Who was your previous wife again?!"
Henryk frowned. He did not at all like how her memory mixed up too many things the wrong way.
"I haven't been in love before you, Shira! Nor was I involved in any relationships with a woman growing up!" Henryk pinched and stretched her cheeks in petty revenge.
"Sowwy!" Shira tried to pry his hands off of her and succeeded after some effort. "Mean bear!" Shira pointed an accusatory finger while her other hand cradled her comically swollen cheeks.
"Well, being a bear, I might just eat you right now" Henryk looked up as he scratched his chin, seriously thinking it over.
"Can I take back my words?!" Shira felt genuine fear. Something in her, some new part of her body, told her that he was not joking about biting her, that his arms and legs were ready to help him pounce on her to bite.
"No take backs!" Henryk lunged at her and playfully bit her arm. He let go quickly before any visible bite marks had shown up.
"Henry! That genuinely scared me!" Shira pouted with her eyes closed, pummeling him with her kitty paws.
"I'm glad" Henryk said without elaborating. He simply gave Shira a tight hug and leaned on her. Shira slowly calmed down and understood what he said.
'The condition of her body's highly unusual. Her currently energetic body is unnatural. She was in the same position for whole days. Some soreness' supposed to be expected, at least if this were a normal situation. Maybe some divine intervention was in play here since the whole transformation thing was a decision of the gods' Henryk theorized. 'But no matter. There isn't a real way to confirm this'
"Henr- *rrrrrrrrrrrr*..." Shira's face gradually turned into a healthy shade of red. She looked away in embarrassment while clutching her still-growling stomach as if to try to silence it.
"Should we improvise some of your clothes then go to eat?" Henryk said. He tried to redirect her attention away from her embarrassment. He looked through the crack in the curtains and saw that it was likely mid-morning.
Just as they were getting up, Fey barged in carrying some food in her beak, some bread and a slightly large bowl of salad. They were dangling from a cloth wrapping, so her drool would not touch them.
"Papa~ Mama~ Fey brought breakfast~!" Fey put the food in front of them then stood at attention, saluted Henryk then went out. They also noticed some more things put right beside the door.
"Tiona probably had a hand in Fey's salute" Henryk deadpanned as he picked up the bowls beside the door. 'But why? Why take this joke so far? Does she want to make it a running joke between us?'
"That was cute, though" Shira forgot her previous embarrassment and was fawning over Fey instead.
"Can't deny that" Henryk said as he redirected his focus on the food.
'Thanks, my daughter' Henryk sent to her through the link.
'Papa! You're welcome! Papa!' Fey's reply caught Henryk off-guard.
'What she said sounds so out of whack. The format just doesn't mix well with her choice of words' Henryk huffed a mirthful laugh while thinking of this.
After eating, Henryk spent some time altering one of Shira's sets of clothes. She insisted on doing it herself, but Henryk decided to pull out the "Let me spoil you" card. Shira accepted that with a mix of emotions between feeling warmth and feeling a tiny bit bitter. She really wanted to do this herself.
Henryk observed her from the corner of his eye, witnessing her going through being down, starting to have some thoughts, picking up her determination and finally bursting aflame.
'I should let her ride her determination this time without any comment on how cute she looks' He thought as he was done with adding a tail hole to one of her outdoor outfits.
He examined the pair of pants and had a negative opinion of his final touch.
'I should add a sash to it to hide the trousers' tail hole. I may need to see actual cat-people compatible clothing before being able to make satisfactory alterations myself' He then grabbed a vibrant red sash to contrast with the light blue of the T-shirt and pants.
"Would you wear this for me? We'll go shopping for cat-people's clothing for you, seeing as they might be more comfortable than clothes I alter by hand" Henryk was inspecting his work and was satisfied with it, for now.
"Actually, I want to go to the dungeon. I know it sounds recklessly hasty, but I just get the itch when thinking of going there. I want to move my body" Shira explained her desire for an activity while doing some overly dramatic gesturing.
"Shira, let's stop on the 4th floor tops today. We'll go starting tomorrow. What about that?" Henryk said as he approached her and patted her head. She leaned into it with closed eyes.
Henryk froze.
"Shira, did you actually enjoy this?" Henryk asked, both his hand and voice shaking.
"I... don't know why but I want you to continue. It makes me feel a good type of ticklish" Shira looked him straight in the eye and made an honest request. Henryk held her close by the shoulder with a hand behind her head, bringing it closer into his shoulder.
"Shira, you feeling 'a good type of ticklish' when I do things like that is good for me" Henryk said while rubbing the back of her head, which caused her to feel relaxed to some extent.
Later, when Shira looked in the mirror as they both got ready, Shira thought that her transformation did not look so bad. She retained most of her looks except for the ears and the tail... and some fur and pawpads on her arms and legs... and extra thick and sharp claws... and especially that tail...
"This woman in the mirror still looks beautiful to me" Henryk put his hands on her shoulders as he whispered into her lower pair of ears. 'Thankfully, the animalistic features were kept to a minimum. I can put up with the fur-on-extremities while the extra ears appear purely aesthetic when I remember cat ear accessories from my past life' He looked at her tail with a silent grudge and envy. 'That tail's gonna take some serious getting used to, unfortunately. But I envy her. She could now use it for better balance on high-speed movement'
Shira's face gained a pink hue as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger, looking away. "Thanks"
Henryk gave her shoulders one last pat before pulling out a brush. "Ready?"
"Can I brush my own hair today?" Shira said, unsure of why she wanted him not to brush her hair for her.
"Sure" Henryk raised an eyebrow instead of an argument. He gave her the brush.
When she took the brush and lost focus on him, Henryk seized the opportunity to rub all of her ears, startling her.
"NYAAA!!" Shira freaked out and bolted away from him, face red and ears carefully guarded with her hands. Her hear was in her ears. She glared at him for a good minute before stomping towards a mirthfully laughing Henryk. "Why?!" She tried to seem intimidating, but their height difference and her puffed-up fur made her look much less threatening to Henryk.
"Come on! I was just playing with you!" Henryk wiped away a tear as he gave out his last laugh over this matter. "Try to be more aware of my hand movement. You can take this as awareness training. But to be honest, this is a game for me to have fun more than it's training for you" ... At least he is honest.
"Don't play this game first thing in the morning or during meals. Deal?" Shira pouted while still guarding her ears against Henryk's hands.
"Deal. I'll limit when to play this game" Henryk conceded. 'Those were the best opportunities to surprise her with this game. Now they are gone'
"... After some thought, I want you to do my hair today" Shira said with a huff. She threw herself on the chair and produced an audible thud.
"Alright" Henryk said. He was pleased with Shira's words. "How do you want me to do it today?" He said as he started brushing the notes out of her hair.
"Hm... How about braiding a part of it while letting most of it flow down?" Shira said. She wanted to have her hair made similar to the way her mother did it when she was younger.
"Alright then!" Henryk said enthusiastically as he picked up the pace a bit.