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Itsuki had been hounding him to call Melody for the past two hours now, bouncing from bed to desk and back, standing on whatever Zach was trying to work on. Zach had been scouring Destiny City University's student guide for majors to pursue, and the Mau wasn't helping, weaving himself between Zach's bent arms and flopping over the book.

"Zee-chan, I'm not going to stop until you call Melody!"

There was so much fur all over his room now. Zach sighed.

"It's importaaaaant, Zee-chaaaaaaan--"

The boy had successfully (mostly) ignored the Mau's cries and obnoxious behavior up until this point, but this was too much. With a frustrated growl, Zach spun in his office chair to face away from the desk (and away from the cat, who had managed to ooze all over every bit of important information he needed to plan for a successful educational career, god dammit) and pulled out his cellphone.

"FINE, HOLY HELL." Zach spat, having dialed Melody moments before. It was around six in the evening, so hopefully she wasn't eating dinner or anything actually important. Melody would pick up the phone to hear the two boys arguing (or rather, Zach arguing and Itsuki chanting over and over, it's important~ tell Melody~).

"---yeah but at least tell me what this is about--"

"IT'S IMPORTANT ZEE-CHAN VERY IMPORTA---"

"WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT, HOLY FU--- oh s**t uh h-hi Mel!"

"MELODY-SAN IT'S VERY---"

"Yeah Mel I dunno what's going on but he's bustin' my balls about somethin' important and oh my god we gotta do something before I turn his a** into a pair of slippers."

If Melody could have seen him, she'd have seen Zach pinching the bridge of his nose like a parent on their last nerve with the most obnoxious child in the history of ever. Zachary Calloway had never experienced a migraine before, but he was certain that's what was building right behind his eyes. "You know, Mel, you have a better handle on this crazy talking cat thing, so maybe you'd be better at handling this than I would..."

"MELODY-SAN IT'S VERY IMPOR---" cried the cat in the background, Itsuki standing in the middle of the book Zach was trying to read not ten minutes earlier.

"God damn dude, just, HERE." A clattering of the phone meant Zach had placed it on the desk, near the cat, with the speaker pointed towards Obnoxiousness Incarnate. Zach could be heard huffing in the background, his frustration obvious and slightly exaggerated. While he'd never actually harm Itsuki, the temptation to dropkick the Mau was there, especially in times like this.

"Arigato~" More shifting and clattering occurred as the Mau settled himself in the traditional Cat Loaf position to talk to Melody. "Melody-san! It's very important! We need to go to space, right away! Onegai, can we go to Lacrimosa~? I bet it's honto utsukushii and that would be perfect! I have a very special announcement to make!"

"Why don't you just announce it here, little dude?" Zach's skepticism could be heard in the background.

"Becaaaause it's hijō ni jūyō so space is best!!"

"Heejo what now??"

"Melody-san, trust me, it's worth annoying Zee-chan! It really is, trust me~!" Meowing along happily in front of the phone, Zach could be heard sighing in the background and making his own unenthusiastic commentary. "Space is the safest place, Melody-san! And Lacrimosa must be beautiful, just like you, so it's extra the best place~!"

"What's so special that you can't just tell us what's up?"

More shuffling could be hear as Itsuki practically vibrated around on the desk, the poor phone sounding like Itsuku had either rubbed himself on it or the Calloway household had been struck by a tornado for a moment. "I can't explain here! Just trust me~ We have to go to space because it's the safest place and I'll explain when we get there! It's so special that I have to share it with my favorite people!"

Zach could be heard scoffing. "Melody is your favorite person, dork. I know how you work."

"You're my favorite person too, Zee-chan~ Melody-san, can we meet in the park? I'll cloak your signatures and see if I can help make the jump easier! I haven't been to space yet but this is super special and Zee-chan says Themisto is kind of spooky. I don't want spooky for this!"

Zach chuckled in the background. "Finally, he listens to me for once. If the park sounds okay to you, Mel, we'll be there in like... twenty? I could use a good stretch anyway. Been sittin' on my a**, starin' at books all day. It's not good for my health!"

Itsuki was practically vibrating with excitement from the folds of Themisto's fuku. Themisto, for what it was worth, was simply happy to be outside. It wasn't raining or snowing - a chill was about the worst it would get, and being in the park meant he could stretch his legs. If Itsuki fell out of his warm spot, well... that would be too bad.

The Mauvian spotted Lacrimosa first and waved to her with one paw while Themisto stretched his back. "Lacri-san~! Lacri-san~! Konichwa~!" Excitement and energy was evident in Itsuki's voice, though he still hadn't explained to either senshi the reasoning. Instead, he simply bounced up and down on Themisto's obi while the senshi simply laughed. At least the Mau was warm.

"I don't mind waitin'." Themisto lifted his arms to stretch his shoulders. "My a** was goin' numb from all the sittin'. Alright, little dude, what's this about? You dragged us all the way out here and you won't say why."

The lilac point fluffed up like a little grey-purple cloud. "We have to go to Lacrimosa first, Themi-chan~ Then I can show you something special~!"

Themisto couldn't transport them to anywhere except his own moon, which was spooky and creepy in comparison (to the mental image he had of what Lacrimosa must look like, complete with swaying fragrant cherry trees). With a sigh, he shrugged at his senshi companion. "Sorry, Lacrimosa. I got nothin'."

"Oh my gooooood," came the disgruntled complaint, Themisto leaning back in an exaggerated fashion to cry his lament to the heavens above. "My a** is going to be three feet wide from all the sittin' I've been doin'. I'm so ready to run around and stretch my legs or somethin'. I might lose all this beef I've been workin' hard on."

Itsuki nodded in agreement, though not for the same reasons. "Hai! Themi-chan isn't so soft now so snuggling in his fuku isn't as comfortable. You're much more comfortable, Lacri-san."

Themisto scoffed for a moment, appreciating the veiled compliment from the cat that usually gave him more Hell than anything else. "That's right. I'm workin' from sad and flabby to get the soap, we're doin' laundry. I think I'm closin' in on my end goal." Lifting an arm, Themisto flexed to show off the bicep, not realizing his fuku's long sleeves covered most of his arm. Nonetheless, the gesture was meant more for show. "That's one of the great things about this whole senshi business - you can get some rock-hard abs from all the runnin' you gotta do."

Itsuki shook, fluffing himself up in preparation for space travel. While he'd never ventured to space himself, the Mau could understand the apprehension. However, Lacrimosa simply must be beautiful like its senshi! Anything was better than the spooky ghost town that Themisto described his own moon as resembling. If Itsuki's imagination was correct, Lacrimosa was an asteroid full of rolling sakura trees, the scent of cherry carried on a warm, gentle breeze.

Heavenly.

"Hai!" was Itsuki's answer. Mauvians, by nature, knew a least a little bit about space travel. "Listen for the song of your asteroid, Lacri-san~ If you focus on the music, you'll be able to transport yourself there. Just push the button on your senshi phone, and... Themi-chan, we have to get closer for this to work! Okay, perfect. We're ready, Lacri-san!"

Themisto gently bonked the Mau on the forehead. "No pressure, okay Lacrimosa? Take your time. Space is weird. Took me a little bit to tune in and make the trip."

"Hell yeah you can experiment. Cleanest clothes this side of the laundromat." With a chuckle, the Mauvian jiggling against his stomach, Themisto had to laugh. Melody had a good sense of humor, as far as he could tell, which was appreciated. Itsuki fluffed up from the motion, turning around on the eternal's obi and pap pap pap'ing a squishy paw against his chest.

"Focus, Themi-chan!" came a harsh whisper. Itsuki was excited, pratically vibrating, as they made the ascent into space.

---

Themisto always found space travel unsettling, in that, to him, humans were not meant to be out here. Away from Earth, away from familiarity, away from oxygen (though Themisto was never unable to breathe, but the momentary panic didn't seem to subside, regardless of how often he'd traveled or how many different places he'd visited). The scent of Lacrimosa was a sweetness mixed with a wet, earthy scent of rotting wood and damp earth.

The sakura tree, devoid of petals as it was, was still impressive in its age and height. Itsuki squeaked with delight and oozed out of the folds of Themisto's fuku to plop onto the ground. Darting around in front of the two senshi, the Mauvian seemed right at home. "Sugoi!! Sugoi~~! This is perfect, Lacri-san~ Maybe someday, this tree will blossom again! The torii could use some love, but... Will you come back soon? You should, it's very pretty, just like you, Lacri-san~"

Themisto rolled his eyes at all the sticky-sweet praise, but followed along behind the Mau as he wandered towards the tree. Tiny feet were taking tiny strides, and Themisto found he had to slow down significantly to keep from running the lilac point over. It was a leisurely stroll and afforded the senshi the opportunity to really get a gander at the world of Lacrimosa. It was wholly different from Themisto's own world, with some oddly specific similarities - namely, the ropes and paper charms hanging from the trees were somewhat like the ones he'd seen previously. What that meant, he wasn't sure, but it was an item to file away in the back of his mind for now.

Once Itsuki had managed to march himself to the base of the tree, he turned around to face the two senshi. Fluffing himself up in pride, Itsuki bowed to both of them, furry feet stretched before the cat in the way a Japanese person might deeply bow while on their knees. "Domo arigato! Lacri-san, thank you for bringing us here! I have something very important to show you~"

Clearly his throat, the Mau continued. "Ash-denka is the greatest Mauvian I've ever met, and she showed me something so beautiful that I knew I had to work hard to make her proud~ And on Christmas Day, my soul told me it was possible now! I haven't tried it yet, but you two will be the first to see it!"

Itsuki took a few deep breaths and Themisto glanced at Lacrimosa. "...you... think he's gonna fart out a new item for us, or...?"

"Ichi... ni... SAN~!"

With a tremendous backflip, the Mau launched himself into the air in the same way Lacrimosa had seen when Hypatia was awakened. The one major difference was that Itsuki's tiny, furry body was glowing with a sparkling lilac light. On the back end of the flip, the Mau's physical body and silhouette distorted and became increasingly larger in an incredibly short amount of time, until the form that stood before the two senshi was no longer recognizable as Itsuki.

Instead, it was a human.

"YATTA!" shrieked the boy (with cat ears and a familiar, fluffy lilac tail), bouncing around on bare feet in front of the sakura tree.

Themisto looked like he might faint at any moment.

"Uwah~ Domo arigato, Lacri-san~"

Itsuki's voice hadn't changed at all during the transformation, which was one of the first things that Themisto had found so surprising. One would thing, in a cat so small, their voice might be higher-pitched or squeaky to match. While Itsuki did have a wide range of inflection, and squeaked a fair bit, he sounded exactly the same as he was in cat form.

But now he was a human. Shorter than Melody, but walking and thumb-wielding all the same.

Itsuki embraced the sakura senshi in the happiest (and very first) human hug he'd ever given. A fluffy lilac tail wagged just like a dog's behind the very human form of the Mau they'd come to share custody of. Itsuki himself looked between 15 and 17 years of age, with some facial maturity and high cheekbones, but the energy of someone even younger than that. "Ash-denka showed me her lovely human form and said, if you work hard enough, you can do this too! I wasn't sure exactly what I needed to do, I just continued to do my job and hope that one day, I could be as beautiful as Ash-denka..." With stars in his eyes, Itsuki looked to the heavens, human hands on human cheeks.

Themisto, meanwhile, stood there, utterly stunned for a few moments.

"You knew about this? How... how did... you... he... got... HE'S A PERSON!?"

If Themisto were a computer, he'd have blue screen'd by now. It simply Did Not Compute.

Itsuki, on the other hand, was delighted. "Hai~ I didn't tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise! Ash-denka said it's dangerous for us to assume a human form on Earth, but it's safe to do in space! OH, this means I can open all those tuna cans!!!"

Without much of a pause, Itsuki began to pull tuna can after tuna can out of his own pocket of subspace in a hyper frenzy of movement. Eight cans and one can-opener later, the Mau stood over his bounty, beaming. "Lacri-san, now I can open all of my own food! ....in space, where it's safe. I wish I could be a human on Earth, but I don't want to put you two in danger. OH I CAN'T FORGET THE CRACKERS."

A sleeve of Ritz crackers was pulled from subspace, along with three water bottles. Thankfully, subspace was about the size of a backpack, and Itsuki had stuffed it full as best he could for maximum utilization of space. "I brought water and crackers! Celebratory dinner~!!"

Themisto, shocked as he was, wasn't upset by his ignorance, but he was genuinely surprised. Perhaps the fact that Itsuki had many habits in common with your standard, non-verbal Earth housecat made him forget that Mauvians were actually cat-shaped aliens, and that assumption of a human form wasn't all that strange when they got down to it. Wordlessly, mouth slightly agape, Themisto followed along to sit with Lacrimosa for the strangest picnic he'd ever attended.

A picnic with a cat that could turn into a person, eight cans of tuna, three water bottles and a sleeve of Ritz crackers.

Leave it to cats to think only of the tuna.

"So, he's not really a human? Just... human-shaped... Oh, yeah, still got the tail and the ears." he mumbled, gesturing to the familiar lilac tail as Itsuki-as-a-human handed him a cracker covered in tuna. Already, the Mau had eviscerated three of the tuna cans with enthusiasm. So pleased with himself, Itsuki's ears wiggled. "Who did you see that could also do this, Lacrimosa?" Well, now he had to know. "Can all cats do this?"

Itsuki's tail shot up as he realized he'd forgotten something. "Ash-denka says there's one more thing, but I don't know what it is just yet. I'm going to enjoy my thumbs in the meantime. Another cracker, Themi-chan~?"

:3

Today was so, so weird.