“Nope, nope, nope!” Yuki noped out of the mystery room. Desperate, she dove into the first hiding place she found, the crevasse between the wardrobe and wall. She wanted nothing with whatever that in the room was. Did she stumble on a forbidden witch ritual? No, it couldn’t be. She smelled no power there. Yuki tried to move deeper, only to realize she was stuck. She couldn’t go any further, and she dared not go back.
“Biscuit! Come here cutie.” The witch’s voice called out from behind. Yuki froze, praying to whatever god out there that Jenny wouldn’t find her here.
“Biscuit?” The voice called again, uncertain. “Where did you go?” Jenny paced the room, closer then further away. “Biscuit?” She called one more time before heading back into the cult room.
Yuki waited a few more minutes, and when nothing happened, she unstuck herself from behind the wardrobe. She looked about, trying to find another place to hide. Inside the wardrobe was risky; Jenny always went to great lengths to keep her stuff organized. If Yuki hid there amid the clothes the chances of discovery were high.
She cast her gaze about, looking for other places.
The room had no restroom, and the furniture was sparse. An ideal place of hiding was near the door, so she could leave once it was open, but the walls there were bare, with nothing to hide in. In the end, Yuki huddled in the darkest corner beneath the bed. The plan was to wait until Jenny tried to leave, then use that opportunity to run away.
Hours dragged on and Jenny didn’t leave. Yuki wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the sunlight had turned orange, and the room was cast in gloom. The boredom of the wait was made worse by how tired her eyes felt. She hadn’t tried to stay still after becoming a rabbit, it was hard, and it made her sleepy.
When the mystery door finally opened, Yuki jolted, sleep forgotten. She perked up and crept closer to where the bedroom exit was.
Jenny didn’t leave immediately, she walked here and there, near the room’s corners and places where a rabbit could hide. Yuki watched in trepidation the feet approaching the bed. Jenny knelt and peeked under it. Her eyes locked with Yuki’s. “Ah, there you are!”
Yuki took a step back, deeper into the darkness.
Jenny beckoned. “Come here Biscuit.” Yuki didn’t budge. “What’s up with you boy?” Said the blondie.
Yuki heard the lilting in the words that indicated a question, she had no idea what Jenny was asking.
Jenny called Yuki over a few times, but when the rabbit refused to budge, the girl gave up. She went to the cage, took the water bowl, the nibbled carrot, and placed them under the bed. After she got up and went to the wardrobe.
Yuki’s fear softened a tad. Was she overthinking stuff again? The mystery room had no window and was dark, illuminated only by the flickering light of a candle. She might have seen things that weren’t there. Rabbit eyes weren’t the same as humans. It was difficult to put into thought, but it wasn’t the same as how she saw things on the before. Jenny wasn’t any different from normal. Granted, Yuki hadn’t known the girl for more than a few days, but the blonde seemed normal now, not like whatever Yuki saw inside the cult room. The rabbit sighed and looked at the carrot and water again. No, it was best to leave.
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Jenny finished whatever she was doing in the wardrobe, then walked closer to the bed. She placed something on top of it, before moving to the room’s exit. Midway there she stopped and looked under the bed again. Satisfied, she got to the door, opened it quickly then left, closing it behind.
Yuki watched all this from her corner. Her mind churned with the possibilities. She would leave after it was dark. It was too risky to cross the manor corridors while everyone was still awake and about. She had a plan, a good plan this time. She crept closer to the bowl, drank water, and ate the carrot. With a quick jaunt to the cage, she pooped and took a leak. Yuki would never agree she was a domesticated bunny, but she had standards. No need to pee the whole room when she had a place reserved just for that.
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It didn’t take long until Jenny returned, but she soon left again. When she next came back, it was smelling of soap and flowers. Yuki snuck closer to observe the witch. She watched while Jenny undressed from her uniform and underthings. Then, in fascination, she gawked while the blonde wore white bloomers and a chemise, followed by a light blue corset. After that, Jenny tied the hoopskirt over the bloomers, and finally, the petticoat to finish the ensemble.
Jenny fixed her hair, applied makeup, and put on a pair of sandals in the same light blue color as the corset. She double-checked everything and smiled satisfied, took a small pouch from a drawer and after one last glance in the mirror, left the room.
Yuki wasn’t going to lie and say she didn’t enjoy watching the whole thing. One because Jenny was gorgeous, the uniform didn’t do her justice, and second, because she was fascinated by the dress style. If she wasn’t mistaken, that was straight out of the Victorian era. It also raised a lot more questions.
Who was Jenny? At first, Yuki thought she was just another servant, but things weren’t adding up. A servant didn’t have a whole noble bedroom to themselves. A servant didn’t wear noble dresses. Yuki shook her head, she was getting distracted again, now wasn’t the time for that, she needed only wait until the manor went to sleep.
An image of a medieval house, drawn in comic style, with z’s floating over it, and a drool bubble leaving one of the doors sent Yuki snorting in laughter. Outside the sky was already dark. In a few more hours, after Jenny returned and went to sleep, Yuki would escape this place.
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Jenny never returned. Hours passed, the manor descended into silence and Jenny didn’t return.
Yuki had a bad feeling about that. She wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t jealousy, far from it. It was like a bad smell, sickly sweet and nauseating, or when the teacher made you stand in front of the whole class to present homework you didn’t complete. She felt uncomfortable and restless. She shook her head, she needed to leave, and the more she waited, the worse it would be.
With small and quick hops, Yuki left her hiding place. Without further delay, she ran to one of the corners and picked up one of Jenny’s hairs.
Material component secured, she chanted the spell, low and steady. She moved her paws in the required arcs, and decided to invest all her four… no, it was five now, five points of shaping into the duration. That would keep the spell for two hours. More than enough to flee this place. Yuki came up with this plan after seeing the hair on the ground when fleeing the mystery room.
With one last push, she cast [Shapechange].
The world blurred and distorted. Yuki’s bones creaked and popped. Her flesh squirmed, like worms under her skin, her body writhed and warped. The fur receded; her eyes moved from the side of her head to the front. Her arms elongated, legs popped and twisted.
When it was over, Yuki panted, face on the floor. She blinked and shivered; it was cold. She sat up and looked at her hands. They were small and delicate. She pulled a strand of hair in front of her eyes. It was milky white, almost transparent. She looked around; everything was still too big. She got up, wobbly legs barely enough to support her. She compared herself with the bed height.
Yuki looked at her hands again, then flexed her new fingers. “At least I have opposable thumbs now,” she said in a high-pitched voice. “So, what if I look like a toddler?”