I flicked my tail and then took an experimental stretch. "Thank you," I purred, remembering to want to be capable of speech. "Let's go inside! There ought to be something I can wear in there." I idly examined my new claws.
Karyn nodded, then brightened. "Just a moment -- I just realized what something I saw was good for." She darted into one of the equipment rooms while I fought the urge to lick and groom my own fur. Everything smelled different than from when I had been a horse. Some scents were stronger, some were weaker. I lowered my nose to the floor and sniffed. That was the scent of me as a horse, and that was Karyn's scent. I sniffed again. Something seemed odd about Karyn's scent, but I had no idea why I felt that way.
I glanced up as Karyn kneeled beside me. "What did you find?" I asked, then started rumbling in enjoyment as she began scratching my ears. Maybe being a feline was a mistake -- being stroked and scratched felt even better now than as a horse!
"Just this," she said innocently, and fastened something around my neck. "It's a pet collar with your name on it, Jon. Far too small for a horse, but a good size for you now."
"A pet collar?!" I sputtered indignantly. "I'm not your pet!"
Karyn scratched my ears more. "Wouldn't want people to think you're just a wild animal," she said breezily and started rubbing my belly. Before I thought of a good reply I found myself rolling onto my back as she rubbed my front more. It felt way too good to be rubbed -- even though I knew I should feel some embarassment from my rather exposed position. Karyn seemed to have lost all concern about letting me have any modesty at all any more!
I finally summoned enough will power to bat at her hand. "Let's go inside!" This was just not working out well! I mean, I was enjoying myself, but I was also bothered by how much I was enjoying myself, if that made any sense, and how much Karyn was enjoy myself. I mean, herself. I suppose it could have been worse -- I could have become a dog!
"Good idea -- I could use a shower!" Karyn grinned and stood up. She started walking out of the stables and towards the house without a backwards glance, leaving me to pad along after her until I could catch up to her side. From new position closer to the ground, the house seemed even larger than before. It almost seemed bigger than the high school! There were more windows than I could easily count. We followed a path from the stables to a back door that was almost lost in ivy that was growing up the side of the house. The door was unlocked and opened silently.
"Wow!" Karyn and I said at the same time as we entered the house. There was open space around the entrance inside, and a kitchen large enough to feed a small army through an open wooden archway. Peeking inside, we could see two normal sized ovens and ranges, plus a monster oven that looked large enough to cook an entire side of beef! Polished wooden cabinets lined the walls above marble counter-tops. Filled spice racks, pots hanging from racks... the kitchen was incredibly well stocked. An open doorway on the far side led down a short hall, and even from here we could see the door of another walk-in freezer.
"Holy... that was some wish I made!" Karyn murmured. "But why would I need such a large kitchen?" She shook her head and nudged me. "Come on, what I need now is a large bath!"
Just down a hallway outside the kitchen area we found a dining room and a set of stairs going up, with a polished wood handrail. Karyn barely glanced around at the huge dining hall but instead went up the stairs two at a time. I padded up after her as she ignored the long hallway of the dark second floor and kept going up, past the equally unlit third. The stairs ended at the fourth floor and Karyn stood there panting a bit from the climb, then pointed at a set of double doors just down the hallway, which at least had light coming through some windows from the setting sun. "There. That looks like a bedroom."
Inside was a suite that matched the scale of the house we had seen so far. A huge four poster bed, grand curtains on the windows, carved wood furnishings... Karyn brushed by them all towards a side door. "Oh, yes!" she murmured from the doorway as she looked at the marble bathroom with its large bathtub.
"Geeze, that's almost a hot tub!" I rumbled.
"I should hope so!" Karyn didn't look at me at all as she tried a light switch, turning on the lights, and then walked to the tub and tried turning on the hot water. "Everything's working," she murmured in wonder.
Ignoring me, she started to ...
