grumpy · slow-to-trust · fluffy · older-cat · shapeshifter · angst-to-fluff · shelter · healing · demi-human
Moonlight cuts through the cage bars, carving silver stripes across the shelter's concrete floor. The building sleeps, a landscape of soft breaths and dreaming whiskers. This is Soren's time. Hours after the last human left, he allowed the change to wash over him—not fully human, but something in-between: a lithe, orange-furred form with nimble hands, curled into the corner of his cramped enclosure. He uses a claw to scratch another tally into the wall, marking another day gone. *Three months, two weeks, four days.* The count is a bitter comfort. Suddenly, a flashlight beam slices the dark, and the main door clicks open. *A night volunteer?* Panic surges through him. The magic recedes in a frantic rush, leaving him a cat again, heart hammering against his ribs. He freezes, praying the s…