Phoebe

I couldn’t believe what I was doing.

However, I could believe even less that, somehow, things were still working out alright. Every time Cadence displayed the slightest bit of discomfort, I immediately blamed my rash actions. Was me being so open a consequence of finally being free? Or had I always been like this, just unable to express it? But then, she always insisted that it was okay. And I really hoped this wasn’t from me pressuring her into things.

Before I could think about this any more, I felt a soft hand rest on top of my head. It stayed there for a while, before it slowly started moving around, carefully ruffling my hair. She got more and more confident as time went on, scritching me around my ears, bringing me total bliss. I’ve felt great ever since I woke up like this, sure, but this feeling was so comfortable. I tuned everything else out, everything but the tender ruffles and pats.

Cadence’s voice dragged me out of this trance. “Oh my gosh, did you start purring?” I opened my eyes, realizing that, yeah, in this comfortable position I just… did that on my own. “Oh… sorry for being weird.” I started blushing and was about to pull my head back when she firmly rested her small hand on it, stopping me from retreating. I looked up at her, something I was used to from when I was bedridden, but now it felt like such a weird thing to do.

“Phoebe, it’s okay. You really shouldn’t worry about this. It was incredibly adorable.” My cheeks started to heat up even more.

“Is that okay, though? For me to be… that. Adorable.” We just stayed like this for a while, Cadence petting my head while I was lost in thought. “I’m just… scared I’ll do something weird now.”

She smiled down at me, and I could recognize a smile that has given me the strength I needed to go on so, so often. “Listen, Phoebe. It’s okay to be yourself. It’s okay to be adorable, if that’s what you wanna be. I…” She glanced away from me. “I’m still working a lot of stuff out for myself. About… what I wanna be like, now that I’m not shackled by anything.”

She held my head firmly in her hands. “But I know that if purring or being affectionate or anything like that comes to you naturally, there’s a chance that might just be you. And if you personally don’t dislike it, then, hey, that’s great!”

That was reasonable enough. “Okay, but, please, tell me if I ever mess up, alright?” She giggled a little bit. “Absolutely. You can trust me on that.”

Kara, who had been lost in her thoughts for a while, spoke up. I completely forgot she was here for a while. “Okay, I’m glad you’re doing alright, but there’s some stuff to sort out now that it’s clear you’re okay physically.”

We both turned to look at her. She continued. “Okay, so, a witch having multiple familiars is pretty unusual, but there’s some documented cases of that occurring so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now, I prepared some clothes for Phoebe, but that didn’t account for the changes, and I don’t have anything for you right now, Cadence.”

I sat up straight again and looked at my friend with concern. “I guess I could just wear the stuff you already prepared, but she’s gonna need something to wear other than this dress!”

“Yeah, I was getting to that. I could order some new clothes, should be here pretty soon thanks to teleportation. I’ll just wing the sizes for now, and then tomorrow or something we could go out, get you measured and buy something that fits better, what do you think?”

My wardrobe was never really exciting, especially in the past year, so going out to buy stuff felt kinda scary. But, at the same time, it felt exciting. There’s so much I’d like to try, so I nodded towards the witch. It was a shaky nod, the thought of going clothes shopping scared me a little bit, but I really wanted to do this despite my fears.

Cadence considered the offer for a bit longer, but eventually also agreed to it. “Alright, cool, I’ll get to that right away then. Also, I do have a room prepared, but it’s got just one bed.” Cadence and I looked at each other. “Would you be alright, erm, sharing a bed for the time being? I know that might be a lot to ask, so I could definitely crash on the couch and one of you can take my room if you wanna?”

For me, this wasn’t really even a question. I’ve known Cadence my whole life and trusted her immensely, and wanted to be close to her now more than ever. “Yeah, I’d be fine with that.”

Seeing me agree to that, Cadence immediately gave her consent as well. “If she’s alright with it, so am I.”

“Alright, cool. That’s all the essential stuff down, and in a few days when you’re all settled I’ll fill you in on some of this magic stuff. Does that sound okay?”

I got up from the couch. “Yeah, thanks for doing all this for us.” I approached Kara and hugged her, startling her for a second before she returned it. “And just, thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

I could hear little footsteps approaching behind me, and then I felt someone embracing both Kara and me. She stayed speechless throughout, but it was obvious how thankful Cadence was for all this.

Cadence

After a quick tour of the house, showing off both the more mundane parts as well as giving us a glimpse at what we would be in for soon with a glance at her study, we were introduced to our room.

It looked pretty bland right now, consisting of a single bed, a wardrobe that was currently empty except for the few clothes Kara has ordered for the time being and a desk with a computer. All-in-all, pretty mundane stuff.

A quick glance at the clock hanging from the wall told me that it was almost 12 am, a fact that I’ve kinda forgotten throughout everything that happened today.

I yawned and faced Phoebe, who was busy looking through the currently empty drawers. “I think I’m just gonna go to sleep now in this. I don’t plan on ever really wearing this old shirt again anyway, so I might as well use it as a makeshift pajama top for the time being.”

Phoebe nodded. “Yeah, I think I might just do the same with this gown.”

I crawled into bed, making myself comfortable on the new pillow that Kara thoughtfully got us. It didn’t really fit with the rest of the bland aesthetic in this room, having a tie-dye pattern on it, and was a little stiff, but at this point I was so tired I could probably fall asleep on a concrete pillow.

After Phoebe was done assessing all the space we now had available, she joined me under the sheets. “From what I can tell, this might not be enough space for both of our clothes if we get full wardrobes? So we’ll have to think about that at some point.”

She turned to her side, facing me. I could feel her breath on my face now. “But for now, I’m incredibly tired so I’ll just head to sleep if that’s alright.”

I nodded silently, being thankful that Phoebe turned the lights off since the darkness hid my cheeks turning red from being so close. Though… cats could see in the dark, couldn’t they? Did Phoebe gain that ability now, too? The exact nature of what all this even meant was still a little nebulous. We have been kinda busy this whole day just finally figuring out our identities.

Cadence… that was me. That’s been me all along, and I finally realized it now.
And so, being next to the person closest to me, I fell asleep, in some way ending my old life, but at the same time ushering in my new one, being able to fully be me for the first time.