Astarte considered what their next steps would be. She was off work the following two days, so they had some time to get things done. They needed to get Onyx clothes of vis own, cookware and ingredients apparently, as well as the ownership license.
The license wasn’t technically necessary, as their iron was legal proof of consent, but it came with a pet ID which would serve Onyx well as ve refused to get one that only reflected vis “humanity”. The pet ID included an image and contact info of the current owner, images of all the forms the pet could take, name, and intelligence levels.
It was a brilliant system of bureaucracy to cover the complex reactions to Syrum, from complete dependence to ferality, as well as various types of therianthropy. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.
“I still don’t understand why you need 7 pans when I only have 4 burners.” The cookware was a point of contention, especially since it came with the insistence that she eat at home for dinner four days a week, and let ver pack her lunches for work. Bagged lunches.
“I don’t neeeeeed them, but you asked what I want, and what I want is for you to eat healthy home-cooked meals that I make for you,” ve responded firmly.
The debate between them was very carefully worded on Astarte’s part. If she asked a direct question, she would get a direct answer, the collar guaranteed it. However, she resolved to try to avoid that when having a casual conversation with ver when possible, as she felt it would be an abuse of her power.
“Fine. Fine. I hope your cooking is worth it.”
“It is,” ve quipped back.
“Good. Now, before we go shopping, I need one last thing,” she started.
“I know,” ve interrupted, standing from the table, “give me a moment.”
Onyx breathed in deep, inhumanly deep, until she worried that vis lungs would burst. Then ve slowly, ever so slowly, breathed out. As ve did, vis draconic features shrank into vis body: vis scales retreating across the skin, horns retracting into vis skull, vis tail disappearing under the pants, and the claws and teeth becoming human analogs. At the same time, a shock of purple hair flowed out of vis naked scalp, and vis right eye shriveled into nothingness.
Ve looked human. Was Human. An androgynous, heavily scarred human.
“Fuck, right. I’m going to need an eyepatch as well. It’s been a while. Not used to tunnel vision,” vis voice was carefully measured, not giving away any indication of gender.
“For some reason, I was expecting... older,” she looked at ver confused. Onyx couldn’t be more than twenty-five years old but had the scars of a life of violence.
“Sorry to disappoint,” ve responded dryly, “I don’t like looking like this, so if it’s all the same, can we go so I can shift back sooner?”
She nodded, not wanting her words or tone to betray her thoughts, then lead the way out to her car.
The ride to the mall was silent, for the most part. They enjoyed each other’s company, Onyx resting in the passenger seat, a hand on Astarte’s lap while she drove.
Willowbend mall was not one she typically visited. The stores catered specifically to Therianthropes and Jūjin including clothing tailored on-demand to accommodate the differing and shifting physiques of the clientele, specialty foods to accommodate the diets, as well as toys for them to play with. The whole gamut of items they could want.
Onyx was aghast. Where ve came from, Jūjin were barely tolerated, not catered to, not treated like equals. This... this was different. It made ver seethe with jealousy. If vis mother had been treated this way, everything would have been different. Vis life would have been different. All of those horrors... could have been avoided.
“Where would you like to start?” her question brought vis focus back to the day’s task.
“A suit, please, as well as shoes, socks, a binder and a gaff,” ve listed, after a moment’s hesitation.
“...One outfit. That’s it?” she expected a much bigger list, especially after the argument over cookware.
Ve looked confused, nervous, not quite scared but approaching it. “Y-yes, I don’t need more than one really. I don’t even need the suit, I just don’t want to be an embarrassment to you, Astarte,” ve timidly responded. Ve wasn’t sure why she was asking, instead of just selecting clothing for ver.
“No. You need at least 5 outfits, so you can match the dress code of wherever we go. Formal, Semi-formal, business formal, business casual and casual. You can pick out the outfits of course, and I won’t constrain you to a gendered presentation, but I need you to have the proper clothing. Especially if you don’t want to embarrass me,” she said firmly, understanding that ve needed the reassurance.
“Yes, owner mine.” Ve stood up straighter and lead the way to the first of many shops.
Ve picked out: three different dress shirts, one black, one tyrian purple, and one cinereous grey; black bootcut slacks, black dress pants, and a black severe asymmetrical ball gown skirt; a tyrian purple Edwardian jacket, a cinereous grey bolero, and a black cardigan. Ve flatly refused any sort of tie as that would hide ver iron collar. In truth, Onyx had no idea what any of the dress codes mentioned were, and she wasn’t inclined to let on that ve was skillfully flouting all of them. Astarte just wanted ver to have good looking clothing that ve would be comfortable in. After having the tailor take measurements and specifying the need for a “tail slit,’’ she paid and they went off to the next shop while the clothing was adjusted.
At the second shop, she pushed ve into picking out two weeks worth of undergarments, including panties, boyshorts, multiple gaffs, two bras, and a binder, after ve tried to get away with only one of each. She started to grasp where the reluctance was coming from after a while. Ve clearly considered clothing a thing for ver, whereas cookware was for serving her. It didn’t matter that ve would be using both for her, so she needed to make it clear that the clothing was how ve was decorating her property. That should fix the issue.
On the way to get vis shoes, she pulled ver aside onto a bench to talk, “Do you know why I’m getting all of these things for you?”
