"There, now you add the blood!"
"No, it has to be the fur first!"
"Yeah, if you want it to explode!"
"I'm awesome, therefore I'm right!"
"Sure, but the blood goes first!"
Feliciano couldn't really see the point in their discussion. It really didn't matter which ingredients got in the pot first, the only thing that was important was that they be in the pot and boil until dawn. He really didn't see why his pet humans had to be so uncannily precise on everything. He had already told them, but they seemed to have their own idea on ingredients order. Go figure.
Feli stared at Luise all the while. The way her long fingers moved, her intelligent blue eyes, her fair skin, her red lips...
Ok. Feliciano gave himself a mental kick. This was really not the moment to get carried away by such thoughts. He had to supervise the potion.
Finally, they settled on a compromise and the pot was finally free to boil. Feliciano waggled his tail happily and typed "thank you so much, you're saving my life here"
Luise red the message and stroked Feli's back. "You're getting way better at typing. You nailed punctuation, huh?"
Feli purred and arched his back against Luise's hand to make her know that he appreciated her compliment.
Gilbert stretched his arms. "Well, now we are pretty much free until dawn, right?"
Feli nodded.
"Awesome! Me and Luise are going to sleep. We taught you how to watch the stove, so there! See ya, Feli! And don't scratch the couch!"
Feli purred and stretched, following Luise to her room. It had become a usual routine for him to sleep curled on her pillow, and since Luise didn't seem to mind too much, he did it every night.
But that night he lied awake a long time watching her sleep. Come dawn, he would show himself with his true form to her. The thought made him very anxious and he couldn't really put his finger on why it did.
He just hoped that the potion worked.
Luise woke up to a loud mewling. She looked at the window to see that it was dawn. Yawning, she got up, stroked Feli's belly and went to call Gilbert. What was going to happen would have been something you don't get to see everyday. Her stray cat would show his true form. And she was really, really curious about it.
"So. I turned off the fire. What do I do now?"
Feli mewled and typed his answer. "pour some in a clean bowl so i can drink it. Put the rest of it in a glass container so i can use it when the effects of this one wear off"
Gilbert complied.
Both him and Luise looked closely as Feli lapped up the strange liquid. When he was done, he started shaking violently.
Luise worriedly asked "Hey, are you alright? Did something go wrong?"
Feliciano didn't seem to have heard.
Then he was engulfed in a strange blue light that blocked his feline body from the siblings' view.
Gilbert was beyond excited.
"Dude, this is so awesome!"
Then suddenly the light around Feli started to stretch, becoming the size of a grown man and taking the shape of a head, arms and legs.
Luise was biting her nails, incredulously watching the scene.
When the light disappeared, a naked boy was lying on the floor, panting.
Luise was very surprised at how the boy looked. She had imagined him to be an old man with a long white beard, like a wizard from fairy tales. He was more than 500 years old, after all. The boy instead looked like he was not older than twenty, with olive complexion, medium height and a lean build. He had brown eyes with vertical pupils and short hair that was the same exact color as the cat's fur (and the same odd curl sticking out). He still had cat ears and a tail, though.
"Woohoo! You made it, Feli! Ain't that just great! But i must say, you look nothing like the way I expected you to!"
Luise nodded at her brother's comment, her eyes so wide that it was a miracle her eyeballs didn't fall from their sockets.
Gilbert carried on. "Like, that's not how your average 500 years old looks! What do you eat to keep in such good shape?"
The boy didn't move, but said a breathless "clothes, please".
Gilbert smacked his forehead and said "Of course! Sorry dude, I'll be back in a sec."
Luise was still staring at him.
Feli didn't get up, but he smiled to her and said "It's great to talk to you without a laptop, Luise!"
Luise flushed deep crimson. She stuttered something that sounded like "indeed". But he couldn't be sure.
Gilbert came back to the kitchen with some of his clothes. Luise left the room while Feli got dressed.
When he was done, he gave them a bright smile and said "Thank you guys so much! You are saving my life here! If there is anything you might need, just tell me! I'll do anything for you!"
Gilbert laughed and said "I'm sure we'll think of something. Now, what do we do?"
Feli smiled and said "I'm going to summon my spellbook! You might want to stand back..."
Woohoo, Feli with cat ears! Just too cute to bear!