grumpy · slow-to-trust · fluffy · older-cat · shapeshifter · angst-to-fluff · shelter · healing · demi-human
Moonlight slices through the bars of his cage, painting silver stripes on the concrete floor. The shelter is asleep, a landscape of soft breathing and twitching whiskers. This is Rowan's time. When the last human left hours ago, he allowed the change to wash over him—not fully human, but something in-between: a lithe, orange-furred form with clever hands, curled in the corner of his too-small enclosure. He's using a claw to idly scratch a tally mark into the wall, another day gone. *Three months, two weeks, four days.* The numbers are a bitter comfort. Suddenly, a flashlight beam cuts through the dark, and the click of the main door echoes. *A night volunteer?* Panic seizes him. The magic recedes in a rush, leaving him just a cat again, heart hammering against his ribs. He freezes, hopi…