The spider he was supposed to be following – Otto? – bowed to him, then gestured in the direction of the stairs before scuttling off for a couple steps. Ash somehow found himself following it. Him? Ash felt like he was a him. Truthfully, he had no idea how he’d ended up in a situation where a giant spider was leading him through a witch’s house so he could borrow her clothes because the chest she’d drawn on him was too big to comfortably fit into the shirt he’d walked in with – but here he was. This was a weird day.

  He needed a nap.

  They quickly turned up the stairs and started ascending, and thankfully the staircase was sized for mortals and not giants because he had no problem climbing it. Come to think of it, that was true of most of the house. The furniture was sometimes a bit bigger, but all the windows and stuff were pced at normal-person height. Even the pictures along the staircase were kind of low. A lot of them looked to be generic too, the sort that might be pceholder or just what you would use if whatever was originally there was removed and you repced it with the first thing on hand. A few of the frames were even empty, but all of them were pced at the sort of height a normal person could put them at. It was weird.

  Ash found himself holding his chest up as he went, partially because the bouncing against his shirt really chafed, but also because it offered no actual support despite being uncomfortably tight. And he kind of needed support. He’d sort of noticed that back on ground level, but so much other stuff had been happening at the time that it was really easy not to think about it. It was harder not to think about it when it was now a major sensation he was forced to deal with while also trying not to think about the spider he was currently trailing behind at a distance slightly further than was probably socially acceptable but was still closer than he would like.

  Though he was also finding himself kind of comfortable to hold?

  The flooring levelled off, and then they were moving through another short hallway with only a few doors splitting off from the side. This time though they didn’t have to go very far before Otto stopped, turning to Ash and gesturing to the room that Ash figured was probably their destination.

  They looked at each other for a moment.

  Otto gestured towards the room again, and then stepped back so that Ash could enter. Ash got the impression that the spider was giving him a little bit more space than he was before, but that could’ve been his imagination.

  “Thank you.” Ash said. It wouldn’t hurt to be polite.

  Otto bowed, then gave a little wave. Ash waved back, and the spider did an excited little bouncy thing again before scuttling past him and back down the stairs.

  …Weird day.

  Ash opened the door to his apparent destination. Inside was a room, of course, one lit by the same sort of candle-lights the rest of the house used. This time, however, they were covered by a red mpshade. It gave the room a warm, cozy vibe that totally meshed with his impression of the witch, complete with the table full of pnts at the back. The entire back wall was pretty much a single window, with fluffy bck curtains half-open to an incredibly clear night sky, and a wide assortment of greenery spread out over the wooden table that sat beneath. It was positively covered in pnts, some kept in in tiny little greenhouses or housed in terrariums, and others left open to the air. His favourite was the terrarium full of moss and ferns with a big piece of driftwood in the middle, but some of the brightly coloured flowers were pretty too.

  The left side of the room was dominated by the witch’s bed, a big fluffy thing covered in red pid with a matching comforter-and-pillow set and what was probably… maybe?… a hug pillow? The bed was a little oversized retive to what he thought of as a normal bed, but it actually looked kind of short when accounting for the fact that the witch was huge. A shelf above it held the candles that lit the room, along with a single tiny dog plushy and what he was pretty sure was a folded up set of weighted bnkets.

  The bed was extremely tempting, and he might’ve maybe gone up to test how soft it was and found it was very soft and probably super comfy, but Ash was going to be strong. That wasn’t why he was up here, and also it was totally not his room even if it looked really comfy. And felt really comfy. And he really, really wanted to lie in it. But he couldn’t – you can’t just like, sleep on someone else’s bed – that would be rude. Even if he wanted to.

  He distracted himself with the rest of the room.

  The other side of it held a number of bookshelves – things he would probably have cared about if he didn’t feel a little feverish and in desperate need of a nap – but considering his current state he found that less interesting than the bed he was trying to distract himself from. It wasn’t until he’d run out of pces to look and gotten confused as to why he was here again that he turned around to find the dresser pressed up against the wall, just inside the room and next to the door he’d come in through. He’d apparently walked right past it when he’d first seen the bed and heard its call.

  And, just beside that, hanging on the wall, was a full-length mirror.

  For the first time since his transformation, Ash got a chance to look at himself.

  He was definitely, definitely, a catgirl. Or uh, he at least looked like a catgirl? He was definitely cat and a lot of things usually associated with girl which he felt very nice about but was not going to interrogate too hard right now because he was sleepy and that felt like an awake thing to do but somehow, he still looked like himself? Not in the terrible, horrible way he did before, but more in a way that was him except it actually felt right in a way it never had? He was still recognizably the same person who’d walked into her house, only… prettier. And feline. And cute. Oh my gosh he was cute. That wasn’t the part he’d expected to be super happy about, but was totally the part he was fixated on now. His ears were orange and very, very fluffy, his tail was orange and swishy, and just the general shape of him was cute. And it wasn’t just the ears that had changed, his eyes were different too. They were green now, and slit-pupiled except for the part that they seemed to expand really wide while he was looking at himself and oh gosh even that was cute. His teeth were pointier too he realized – mostly because he couldn’t stop smiling for some reason – and that made it a lot easier to see them. They were definitely a bit catlike, but with the human shape of his face and their pointiness they kinda also looked a little… vampirey? They were more like cute little fangs than an obvious set of cat teeth, but on the other hand it made him think of the witch’s smile so he decided he liked it.

  Teefies were cute.

  Even through the sweater his clothes looked really uncomfortable though, which kind of helped expin why she was so pushy about it. And also was a good reminder that that was the thing he was here to fix.

  Ash approached the dresser before he could overthink himself out of it, and pulled open the first drawer.

  He closed the first drawer.

  Looking through her regur clothes was already too nerve-wracking; there was no way he was going to even consider looking through her underwear.

  The 2nd drawer gave him better luck. A bewildering array of tops y in it, some of which were t-shirts but many of which clearly belonged to some sort of set. There were t-shirts and crop tops and sweaters and cardigans and while neatly folded and kept in one pce they were all really disorganized retive to the rest of the house. It was kind of comforting seeing that there were pces that she was messy too, though also this was also one of those spots that you really wouldn’t expect people to go looking through unless they were very snoopy or things had gotten weird.

  This was probably a situation where things had gotten weird.

  She was either very brave or felt very guilty if she sent him up here to look unsupervised.

  Nothing spoke to him. None of it looked bad, exactly, but they all looked like clothes that would be amazing on her and much too big on him, which was probably what they were. And while that wasn’t exactly an issue, it did mean that there was nothing at all he could use to make a decision with, and that meant that actually picking one out was was practically impossible.

  Ash got stuck in that state; repeatedly looking through tops he wasn’t going to wear and getting distracted by his imagination putting the witch in them – without any sort of input on his part! It was a total accident! – feeling guiltier and guiltier about how his attempts to find something he could wear was making her dresser even less organized than it started.

  Until – there, squished in at the back of the dresser – Ash found the top half from a pair of pink and orange fnnel pajamas.

  They were, of course, too big. Everything in here was too big, but these ones were extra way too big. Ash wondered if they were actually oversized on purpose, because he knew oversized things were comfy and these looked like they might actually be oversized on her.

  Which meant that they were massively oversized on him.

  They were fluffy, and colourful, and long-sleeved, and they almost sort of matched his ears? Ash was really tempted to try them on. Like, really tempted. This one spoke to him, and she said he could wear whatever he found right? This was something he found! He wanted to wear it.

  He was gonna wear it.

  Ash shrugged out of his old sweater, spending a couple moments struggling to remove the overly-tight t-shirt he had on underneath but managing to not hurt his ears this time. He chose to intentionally ignore the mirror while topless just so he couldn’t get too distracted with the thoughts again, before finally getting the top half of the new pajamas on and slipped over his head. The fabric was super soft, way more comfortable than the old shirt was on his new parts, and it was so big he was practically swimming in it. The sleeves actually dangled so far past his hands that they flopped when he raised them.

  He fpped them around a bit, just for fun.

  Ash giggled. The shirt was so big that it was practically a dress on him, and that actually gave him an incredible idea. He raised his arms and did a little spin, the shirt not actually doing a very good job of twirling like a skirt but still spinning a little bit, which he was going to count as successful because shirt go spinny!

  “Cute.” The witch said from the doorway.

  Ash squeaked, whirling around to look at her which also meant that everything fpped around even more. The witch chuckled, which made Ash turn even more red because he was apparently already turning red from being caught wearing the clothes that he had permission to be wearing?

  Yes that made sense.

  “Oh um. Sorry.” She said, looking guilty again. She’d lost the hat, which meant her horns were a lot more visible, but was otherwise still in her robes, pendant and low-cut neckline and all. “I didn’t mean to surprise you. I guess I already know you react poorly to surprise. It’s just that those look a little big on you? Are you sure you don’t want something closer to your size? Not that I have anything close to your size, just that… uh.” She trailed off again, leaning against the doorframe.

  Ash paused, attempting to determine what level of disapproval that was. She was suggesting he wear something else, but she’d also said some other things that implied maybe-not-disapproval so even if it was disapproval it wasn’t like, disapproval-disapproval.

  “But its cute right?” Ash repeated back to her.

  “Uh.” The witch said, red-faced. “Yes.”

  “Then can I wear it?” Ash pleaded. “It’s really comfortable, and soft, and uh- yes it’s a little big but its cute right?” he repeated. He was very stuck on that point.

  “It uh, is cute, yes.” the witch agreed. Ash still really liked hearing it from her.

  They stared at each other for a moment. She was looking a little wary which he didn’t really like, but he was also a stranger in her house in her room looking through her clothes so a bit of wariness could maybe feel justified.

  Did make him a sad though.

  “So um. How’s your research doing?” he asked, trying to deflect from his current thoughts. That was what she left to go check on or something right? Did he make that up?

  The witch made a face at him. “Could’ve been worse I guess. I lost fourteen out of two hundred and twenty samples, which is… probably tolerable just because of where they were in the range, but is going to be a pain in the ass to defend. It’ll add at least twenty pages and a lot of caveats to my final paper, but I’m hopeful at least that I’ll have a paper at the end to be arguing about.”

  “Ah.” Ash said. He actually didn’t know where to go from here.

  They stood there for a moment, him standing awkwardly next to her dresser in sweatpants and the top half of her pajamas, her still leaning casually against the doorframe in a robe that showed off her arms. And her shoulders. And kind of her chest. And when it fell just right her abs and he was definitely being respectful right now.

  She sighed.

  “The other half of that set is in the next drawer down, also near the back.” She said. “It’s a little long though, so try to be careful. I don’t want you to trip.”

  Ash blinked.

  It actually took him a few seconds to really understand what she was talking about – because he might’ve maybe gotten a little bit distracted – but when he finally figured it out it made him very happy. He had actual permission!

  Digging the relevant garment out took a lot less effort than finding the first half did, though it was harder to grab when his hands were entirely covered in sleeve, but soon Ash was holding a matching pair of pink and orange pid pants that were so long that they easily went a foot or so past what his legs would actually fit. They were just as soft as the shirt, and really nice, and he hadn’t actually considered how much of a tripping hazard they would be until he tore off his previous pair and attempted to put them on.

  Fuzzy pid was very slippy against hardwood flooring.

  That of course didn’t stop him from putting the other leg on, but it did mean that when he lifted his foot up for it and all of his weight remained on the one entirely covered in fuzz and not directly contacting the ground, it promptly slid out from under him. Ash barely had time to brace himself for the crash he knew was coming before it happened, except instead of a painful jarring smash he found himself experiencing a still slightly jarring jerk and then the sensation of being lifted up while comfortably supported.

  And the worried face of a witch looking down at him.

  “I just told you to be careful!” She protested, her heart rate almost as high as his was. “You’ve got a tail now, you could really hurt yourself if you fell on it like that! You need to-” she paused, trailing off for a moment before taking a deep breath.

  “…Sorry. That came out a little harsher than I meant it to. You scared me. Can I put you down on the bed? That’s a serious slipping hazard.”

  The witch waited for his response, probably expecting it to come within an actually reasonable timeframe, but when all she’d gotten back was wide eyed surprise for long enough that he probably should’ve said something by now, she started walking towards the bed.

  Ash squeaked. It was a little deyed, but this was about when his brain caught up with everything that had just happened and so it was when the squeak happened. He felt very normal things about being caught and then carried to a bed by someone very attractive and significantly bigger than him who acted as if he weighed nothing while his pants were not entirely on.

  Ash buried his face in his hands again.

  Gently, the witch pced him down on the bed, treating him with the care one usually reserved for things that are fragile or at least very precious. Ash also felt normal about that too.

  “Hey, are you okay?” she asked softly.

  “Aa,” Ash agreed. She’d even maneuvered his tail out of the way so he wasn’t squishing it, which was one of those little things he had no idea he would appreciate until it actually happened.

  “Is that, um. An answer?” the witch asked.

  Ash peeked through his fingers. She was crouching down next to the bed, her eyes actually almost at his eye level for once, looking concerned. Concerned about him. Her eyes were still really pretty and eye contact was hard even when people weren’t stunning and he’d apparently lost some immunity in the like ten minutes she’d been gone because when he opened his mouth to react he found he didn’t have any words again. Just aa.

  He closed his mouth.

  He pulled his pants up.

  “Thanks.” She said.

  Ash just nodded. He’d given up on hiding at this point, but was still feeling very shy.

  “… Sorry, was that an answer? Do you want me to go?” she asked. “I could give you some privacy while you got dressed if that’s what you wanted.”

  Ash shook his head. That was absolutely not what he wanted, though frankly he wasn’t sure of most of what he wanted. He was sure about this though. "I want you to stay.” Ash said quietly.

  She blinked at him, looking surprised that he’d responded.

  Frankly, Ash was too.

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  Ash nodded.

  It was quiet for another moment.

  Her bed was very comfy, and even though this was weird on so many levels, he kind of liked being alone with her. For whatever reason, he got the impression that they weren’t going to be interrupted this time.

  “Okay.” She said quietly. “Okay. Well, if you don’t want me to go, then… is it okay if I help you? Those pants are definitely too long.”

  Ash gnced over at her again. She was actually… looking a little hopeful? That was good, he liked when she had expressions that weren’t negative.

  “… Okay.” He agreed.

  “Great.” She said. She smiled at him. Kind of a soft smile, but one that held a mixture of things instead of pretty much all guilt. At the very least her expressions were trending in the right direction.

  “Okay. Can you sit up for me?” she asked.

  Ash nodded, and then sat up, scooting over to to the side of the bed when she directed him to do so.

  She had him sit so that his legs dangled off the edge, and then she crouched at his feet. Having her actually below his eye level was strange, even if it wasn’t the first time it had happened, but it still had this weird air of novelty to it. Also, it meant he could see down her shirt again, which he pretended he didn’t notice.

  She began by rolling his new pant legs up, which wasn’t quite right because it wasn’t rolled up exactly even if it did start as a roll and end up as more of a single fold, but whatever it was she made it so that instead of the st foot of fabric hanging off of his leg, there was instead a second yer of fabric that went up from his ankle to just about right under his knee. Like a single half-roll or something. It looked a little silly, but then this entire outfit was a little silly because it was massively oversized and he was very small.

  Or uh, felt very small. Gosh, he was getting really used to being the short one.

  Ash cooperated entirely as she did the other leg, and soon enough he had pants that would in theory actually allow him to walk without falling over.

  She stayed crouching, just staring at the pants for a moment before looking up at him. Ash felt some things again at being looked up at by someone so much bigger than him, and also from her expression still.

  “Okay.” She said. She smiled again, though this one somehow seemed a little more embarrassed. “Well, um. …Now we just have to do the tail?”

  UnluckyPerspective