Rising Shards

I tried to not look smug, but I was so excited to brag about this as I sat down for breakfast. Zeta already knew what I was so hyped about, I didn’t want to drop this on her if she missed it. She also did superbly well during my announcement dress rehearsal. I listened to the usual chatter at our table, mainly a debate about whether or not the new Tower season would be a disaster based on the production being halted for a bit (Zeta of course on team “Any new Tower will be amazing”). When that conversation started to settle down, I knew it was time.

“Ah, I can’t wait any longer,” I said, standing up. “I have a big announcement! Huge, even!”

“You and Zeta break up?” Kalei asked.

“No, shut up,” I said. Honestly, I was pretty proud of myself for not blowing up more at that because Zeta and I had spent a lot of time telling Kalei we didn’t like the breakup jokes, but some still slipped past her own internal censors.

“You and Zeta get pregnant or something?” She at least balanced them out with jokes like that, which I enjoyed much more.

“Shut up and let me talk!” I said. “Because I got common shift sickness—"

“From making out with Zeta, I bet.”

“Genuinely, please stop talking!” I said.

“But it’s so fun,” Kalei said.

“At least let her finish whatever this is before you interrupt again.” Lillia said.

“Yeah, gimme a second!” I said. “As I was saying, because I got common shift sickness, I had a bit of the ol’ transformed into a cat time. And now that that’s done, I have been granted, nay, blessed, with a truly amazing gift! A drum roll, please.”

Zeta nodded and started drumming her hands on the table.

“I…finally, finally have a tail!” I pulled out my new beloved tail that I had hidden under my shirt.

Zeta cheered.

“Yes, that which I have desired for so long is finally here! I thought I was cursed to never have a tail for longer than a few seconds, but now, I do! So suck it, curse! Or whatever, I’m just really freaking excited!”

I sighed in relief at the news finally being out.

I got the ol’ common shift sickness shortly after Zeta had it. My ol' dad Berin wanted me to stay at home, so I was stuck at the ol' Kilander mansion, all bundled up as curiously, a bunch of movers were packing things into boxes.

“What’s all the, uh,” I coughed as Berin brought me a bowl of soup. His method for taking care of this illness was to make lots of soup for me. “All this about?”

“You know how we’ve been talking a bit about the whole family…” Berin tried to think of the right words. “Status? Finances? Some combo of those, the whole dwindling situation I’ve been bracing for?”

“Uh huh?” I said.

“Seems like it finally happened,” Berin said.

“Wow,” I said. “What did us in?”

“I think the show getting cancelled is the final nail in that coffin.” Berin said.

“The Kilander show got cancelled?” I asked. “I didn’t even get to be on it.”

“Which is a major win for us, in my opinion,” Berin said.

Berin had been warning me about the financial situation with the Kilanders for a bit now. And going by Kitty showing up more and more at school, his predictions about the Kilander family’s shrinking fame seemed to be happening even faster than he expected. I think he was more worried about it than I was, since I never really lived a rich lifestyle. But Berin never really struck me as a rich person either, or at least not the stuck-up kind I saw plenty around the house.

“So are we moving?” I asked.

“Yep,” Berin said.

“They’re not taking any of my stuff, are they?” I asked.

“No, all our stuff is good,” Berin said. “The extra stuff is…I dunno if you wanna hear me explain how foreclosing works.”

“I for one don’t,” At some point, Berin’s brother Reit (also the theater director at school) had joined us in the living room at some point, sitting cross legged on a chair across from me. “I see it as a very simple scenario. Those of us who weren’t blessed with the keys to the Kilander bank account will continue much the same as we have been, and those of us cursed with those same keys will have a much more difficult time.”

“I’m stunned Reit had some good advice for once,” Berin said.

“I give amazing advice regularly,” Reit said, taking his leave.

“Try not to worry too much about all that. Just focus on resting up, alright?”

“Huh…” I said. Even after over half a year with them, I didn’t understand much about the family I’d been adopted into. There was a lot to read into with Reit’s statement, a lot I would have mulled over if I wasn’t bracing to go through the same thing Zeta did. I had the adaptive gear we wore into the void on, set to pajama mode, as our school clothes were prepped to deal with sudden transformations. I decided to update the gang on our chat app, as I didn’t have the energy to do much else.

OkaOhri: So turns out the Kilanders are broke or something.

RainaStarlightFangirl: I saw the show is getting cancelled…

OkaOhri: Yeah, there are people here moving boxes already.

Kalei_the_Tyrant_Ranger: you mean we only got to use that pool ONCE?

OkaOhri: Yeah…

Kalei_the_Tyrant_Ranger: well actually now that I think about it the one time we used the pool it was like tons of rich jerks watching us so maybe this isn’t the worst thing

RainaStarlightFangirl: Are you doing alright?

Kalei_the_Tyrant_Ranger: Ill be fine, there are other pools in the world

Kalei_the_Tyrant_Ranger: I never got to ask Oka to make the kilanders buy me a horse though...

RainaStarlightFangirl: I meant Oka!

OkaOhri: I never really felt like I was rich so…? I guess?

OkaOhri: Hold on I think I’m about to go all feral

RainaStarlightFangirl: kay ily ttyl! :3

My shift into full cat form happened as quickly as Zeta said it did when it happened to her. But she had a normal sized apartment and I had a big mansion to run around in, and with my cold-like symptoms gone in cat mode, I maybe went a little wild and zoomed around so much that it was decided that I could manage at the dorms.

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