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She blinks at him in confusion. "I... I.... are you really that bad off, dulcha? I thought the hormones settle down a bit after warp..."

She kneels on the floor next to him and hugs him close, feeling the tension rising in his body, sighing she begins to undo the ties on her shirt. "If you need it that badly, certainly. I... I'd rather you come to me anyway... wouldn't want you jumping every cat in the neighborhood now would we, besides you are far to big to be doing that now anyway. We'll suddenly have a serious lack of female feline population around here iffin ye do, they'll all flee the town looking for safer places to live."

Ai gathers up her clothing and chuckles softly chucking it all into the laundry basket before shifting down into her lion form. She stretches as she thinks.

"I'm starved, so potatoes would be nice and a bit of desert. But I'm not so sure about 'chunks', whatever are you talking about?" She asks following him into the kitchen. They find Puss sitting by his dish, looking rather forlorn. Ai does an elaborate head smack. "Guess who we forgot to feed this morning?"

Ai's eyes get round as saucers and she eagerly sets the table. "Don't let them burn now. It doesn't take much to get them done just right." She starts a pot of water for tea and helps him however she can without getting in the way.

Ai grins. "Mushrooms, of course, but only iffin ye want to. Do we still have them in the cellar?"

Ai pops one in her mouth and sticks out her tongue, laughing. "I'll pay the forfeit... Mushrooms are best when eaten hot, silly cat. Besides... I saw the knots still in your fur down there and it's going to take far more than ten minutes of grooming for me to get it where I don't get snagged. Your fur might look pretty right now, but it still needs a bit of grooming to get them all out. Then you can do the same for me, fair enough? I can't remember the last time someone took a brush to me. Ma used to do it from time to time, but it's been ages since I"ve been home and felt comfortable enough for her to sit me down and do that." She adds, walking over and nuzzling him fondly.

Wrinkling her nose she gives him a funny look. "What kind of soap did you use at the bath? You smell so nice tonight. Kind of yummy, actually."

She mock growls at him and pounces on his back, pinning him to the floor, laughing. "It smells nice, that's all... brought back a few memories." she declares nuzzling him back.

In the back of her mind she wondered how many other little quirks and habits of her old friend would begin to show themselves as the personalities inside her young charge began their long slow mesh. When she first took on his offer, she had thought she'd only be raising a small but intrinsically identical version of her old friend, now she knew her original assumptions to be wrong.

Oh Kero was there, alright, and she knew she had been right in naming him after his former incarnation. But he had changed, not in a bad way, but the Kero she now held down in her paws was not the Kero she romped in the woods with so very long ago. Not even in his cub phase had he come close to being anything like the lion she had raised. This Kero was freer with his emotions, less inclined to be a loner, more apt to go to another if he needed advice or help, than his predecessor had ever been. Though they did have some very strong quirks in common... certain things they liked or the younger did, that brought back echoing memories of her old friend. In a way she felt a tiny bit sad, knowing that in many ways she would no longer be able to sit in a bar and drink with him or tease the heck out of her family with him at her side. The Kero she now rough housed with, her Kero, no matter that he had a great deal in common with the first and would someday have his memories, was a completely different entity.

Smiling down at him, she gave the young lion a good licking, cleaning some imperceptible bit of whatever off his face before letting him up. "Let's eat, ok. Everything is done and I'm starved."

The lioness smiles at him and climbs up onto her bench, making certain that there is room for Kero next to her. Then as he joins her she leans against him with a sigh, rubbing her face alongside his. "Thank you, dulcha, for being so attentive. This looks very good indeed. Now all I'm missing is the cider, but we both know I better lay off that for a bit."