Previous: Chapter 21 Next: Chapter 23
Delia and Gillian's Apartment - A Day Later - Morning
Gillian has been spending the past day after she and Delia returned home resting, as it turns out transforming into a strange form and sleeping in a pool while trying not to panic is quite bad for actual restful sleep. Still, being back home, with Delia resting snuggled against or on top of her, she managed to sleep quite deeply.
Feeling more herself this morning, she's decided to attempt to get back to her usual morning ritual, getting up early to cook Delia and herself a hearty breakfast. But first, she needs to get cleaned up and dressed and...
The shower. She had prepared to run the water, and stopped in mid-reach. Slowly, she pulled her hand back, the same cold panic in her stomach. Water had changed her in the pool. What if it changed her again? What if she lost her legs on the shower and dropped down into the tub? She'd be trapped... She'd be... That thing again
...no legs, stuck, hideous. That alien feeling in the water except here she wouldn't even have the room to swim or move hardly at all... Just... Trapped. Changed and trapped...
Her hand was shaking again, and she tried to steady it, the faint glimmer of the small scales grouped up between her fingers only made things worse as she tried to keep her breathing steady, to take deep breaths like Delia had told her.
W-would she ever be normal again? Would she ever be able to shower again? Not without changing... Was this what Delia meant by fighting the changes? Was she failing even now? She felt so trapped, barely able to move. Just staring at her shaking hand, face contorting as she went through ever worst case scenario in her mind.
The feral corgi of the house walks behind Gillian in the hallway, yawning very wide. "Mornin'."
She shakes her head as she attempts to wake up still, tail drooping behind her. She walks past, and... blinks.
"...Gillian?" The dog turns to look at the slightly shaking Satyr, confused.
Gillian makes no reply for a moment, staring ahead into the shower. Finally, her voice comes across, quiet and shaky, "I- I can't do it... I can't.... I can't take a shower Delia. I- I'm failing so badly... I can't even make myself take a shower b-because something might happen."
Delia walks next to Gillian, brushing against her legs as she looks up: "Nothing failing about it. The fear is a legitimate one, since we do not know for sure. But, sooner or later you need to face it, don't you?" The corgi glances between the Satyr and the offending shower as though attempting to divine how things might go.
Gillian finally lowers her hand, letting out a frustrated sigh, "Yeah... but... what if I get trapped in the tub with a tail? Wh-what if transforming again makes it worse? I just... you said I should be embracing this, and I just feel panicked at the idea of those changes... especially here. This is our home! I- I should feel safe here..."
Delia looks up at her lover, then sits down. "'Embrace' doesn't mean you have no control over it. Your body wants to change and... well again, I can not be certain but let me explain." She steps forward and pounces onto the toilet seat to be more up. "Think of it this way. What I imagine you have tapped into a reservoir of sorts. Of change. There's an amount of change it - for lack of a better word - needs in a month, or week."
She glances towards the tub: "Water is obviously a trigger for you, but I have to believe you can still be in control. Accept the change, and you have a better chance to say when it happens - or doesn't." There is a weight in the small dog's voice that hints at more than one of these lessons learned the hard way.
Gillian half slumps / half sits onto the bathroom floor, quietly listening to Delia. Her brain is trying to work that into a metaphor she better understands, "Like a tea kettle building up steam? If you leave it on the stove, it'll boil over, but if you listen to when the kettle whistles, you know when to relieve the pressure before it goes too far." She sighs, "I'm just... I don't know. I just can't stop worrying that I won't have control. Ugh, we don't know anything yet, good or bad, but I can't stop thinking about the bad."
Delia nods with a bit of a grin: "Honestly, better analogy than mine. And I won't lie, there will probably be times it'll happen without any control on your part." She jumps down and sits in front of Gillian: "It's going to happen, I'm pretty sure, whether or not you want it to. Question is, do you want to live in fear of water until the point comes where you have a better grasp?" She waves a paw and looks at it.
In a lower voice, she adds. "I feared for a long time. And now I will never be human again."
Gillian reaches her hand out to Delia as the corgi sits with her. "I... I don't want to be afraid. Not of water, or these changes... But I am. I want... I want to just live like I have been, but I think that's impossible now, and... I'm not sure what to do."
Delia nuzzles into Gillian's hand: "One step, or in this case shower, at a time."
Gillian gives Delia's head a good pet, letting it calm her. "Okay... One shower, just to start. I can... I can do that. I've taken showers before."
Delia smiles as she pushes Gillian's hand upwards: "That's the spirit. I'll be right here with you."
Gillian takes a deep breath and gives Delia one more scritch behind the ears before she gets up to reach for the water again.
She hesitates again but after a moment she pushes through and turns on the water. "Ha! It... It's a start."
Delia smiles as she looks at Gillian, proud of her girlfriend. She gives an excited little 'woof' to punctuate her point.
Gillian giggles, turning back to hug Delia. "I must sound so silly, when you've been through all of this and more. Th-thank you for helping me through this."
Delia giggles into the hug and shifts towards human just enough to be able to hug back: "Nonsense. I've been through it so I know how harrowing those fears can be. You have all the time in the world, love."
Gillian holds the hug for awhile while the water runs in the tub. She reluctantly lets go, and takes another breath, "Okay... Shower. I can do this. Just stay close, just in case."
Delia smiles and jumps up to give Gillian's cheek a loving lick even as she shifts more towards anthro. "Like you'd be able to tell me off if you wanted to."
Gillian laughs again, "I know, no need to ask, but... Thank you. I love you in every form." She gives Delia another pet, then makes room to push herself back upwards, standing at the edge of the tub and staring at the water.
Another deep breath... And another. And at last, she steps into the water, taking a moment to turn on the shower, and waiting for anything to happen.
Delia finishes shifting fully into anthro form, leaning against the edge of the tub as she watches with curiosity and love.
Gillian stands still as the water washes over her, and other than the patches of scales shimmering a little brighter, there's no appreciable change in her body. No fins, no tail.
Still, the Satyr is concerned, waiting for something... She glances at Delia, "Anything? I don't... Feel anything."
Delia looks Gillian over: "I don't see anything changing. And if you don't feel anything, perhaps it won't happen this time."
Gillian nods, "That's good! I... Think? Maybe my kettle is empty right now? Or maybe... This isn't enough water to trigger anything? Or... I don't know."
Delia hums as she leans on the edge of the tub: "We won't really know until we try. Trial and error and just you growing a kind of feel, an instinct on what works and what doesn't." She smiles warmly: "But one step at a time. You get yourself clean and see if those scales change on that department."
Gillian smiles, growing a little more confident and a little less afraid as she begins her usual shower routine, lathering up and washing her fur, only seeming to pause when she scrubs over a patch of scales, the unfamiliar sensation throwing her off for a moment before she continues. At last, she turns off the water and lets out a much more content sigh, "There. Already feel much better."
Delia nods: "Yup. Knowing you, getting clean helps a lot."
Gillian blushes a bit, but certainly doesn't deny it. "The scales still feel weird to touch... I didn't even realize how many there were... Little patches on my hips, the sides of my chest, I think I felt one on the small of my back. They don't seem any different than before though, I just hadn't touched them before."
Delia nods: "They're just kind of... part of you, now. Benign reminders of your newly acquired second nature." She chuckles: "Look at me, getting all philosophical. It's a big change."
Gillian smiles faintly, at first, then reaches for a towel to dry herself off, very careful when it comes to patting the scales, "They're not too bad, are they?"
Delia gets up to touch Gillian's back and the scales on it: "I think they're actually kind of pretty, looking in better light. And they're not that visible from farther off."
Gillian blushes deeper, from the compliment and the touch, "Uh- um, oh! W-well... That's all good, then." She lowers her towel and glances at the patch along the side of her chest, reaching out a hand to touch it more gently. "They're shiny when they're wet... Kind of a pretty pink, it does match my fur a little..."
Delia smiles, lifting her hands wrap around Gillian's sides: "They kind of do, yes. So you're still pretty~." She leans closer to her lover, mmm'ing softly.
Gillian hums, nuzzling down against Delia's head, "I wasn't- I... ahh, you're sweet... Thank you. Shower... Complete. What's the next step, I wonder... Other than cooking us breakfast."
Delia shifts around to Gillian's front without letting go of her entirely. She reaches up to kiss the Satyr. "That~."
Gillian is still caught by surprise, but happily kisses back, giggling, "That's a pretty good step..."
Delia giggles, then takes Gillian's hand in hers: "But as far as your changes go, I think we want to go catch up on some reading." She glances at them both rather lacking clothes: "Er, after breakfast and some clothes, probably."
Gillian grins, taking Delia's hand tightly. "Guess the more we know... Finding whatever we can about these changes can only help."
Delia grasps Gillian's hand tightly for a second before letting go: "Someone, somewhere, has surely written about your specific brand of changes."
Gillian lets her hand drop aside, nodding, "I can only hope so..."
Delia touches her hand back to Gillian's hip, pointedly to a part with scales: "I'm pretty sure. If were-canines weren't the most common type of shapeshifter, or close thereof, I'd be considering writing a book." She hums: "Heck, I still might anyway."
Gillian blinks, and quickly her expression grows into a wide smile, her own concerns forgotten in the face of supporting her partner, "You should! If you could help or inform others half as well as you've been guiding me so far, then I'm certain it would help others!"
Delia blushes a bit: "I don't know if I'm all that great a writer, but..." She reaches up to kiss Gillian again: "File that one up for later. Thank you, love~."
Gillian shakes her head to deny the thanks, but ends up giggling, "Always, but thank you too. We're in this together. It would be easy to think I'm alone but... here you are. You've been with me the whole time."
Delia smirks: "Where would I go? Find another lovely Satyr who might take to task to make a proper social person out of an outcast werecorgi loner? Not likely." She tilts her head: "Come. Let's go get a breakfast going."
Gillian kisses her girlfriend once again before nodding, "Breakfast sounds good, love."
Delia returns the kiss, then bounces a bit in her step as she goes, her tail wagging.
Previous: Chapter 21 Next: Chapter 23