We spent the rest of the evening playing different types of board games. During that time I did ask Ember a couple more questions. Her little range is 3-6 and she had slipped into her headspace the same day she met the King. Apparently the sight of the king scared her so much that she slipped before fully knowing what a little was. The neko's favorite part of being a little was the toys and cuddles, her least favorite part is the punishments that come with being bratty. Apparently she likes to keep Opa on his toes a lot.

"Alright little ones, it's time to get some supper. We can either play some more after we eat or we can watch movies." My caregiver announces after we finish a tough game of Jenga.

I pouted but focused on retracting my wings so I could help clean up the games. If I left em out, things would get knocked over and I did not feel like making cleaning take longer. A giggle escaped my lips as Ember tried making her ears and tail vanish. "Guess your stuck being cute." I teased lightly.

She playfully stuck her tongue out but stopped trying to get rid of them. The living room was back to being neat and orderly in no time. Opa then walked out the front door for a couple minutes before coming back with a box of pizza.

"Where did that come from?" I ask in confusion.

"We may or may not have already planned to be here today," he explained.  "Ember didn't want you feeling overwhelmed on your first day like she did. Pre ordering the pizza was also her idea."

I looked over to the neko who was now shyly playing with her fingers. "Thank you."

She nods. "Wanted to make new friend feel welcomed. Daddy says it had been a long time since you had pizza and that simply couldn't do."

Can you blame me with the price of pizza these days? Even a slice was almost four dollars and it didn't seem right to steal money just for that. Now I wonder how many people would already resent me for stealing if they knew. The guilt started to weigh heavy on me as I remembered the nice apple lady. It wasn't very nice of me to pretend to be younger than I was, taking advantage of her kindness towards children.

A pair of arms lifting me up broke me away from my thoughts. I looked at my caregiver who now held me as tears formed in my eyes. "I'm sorry I did bad things," I tell him in a whisper.

"You did what you had to little minx. The street life is hard, especially for someone so young without a high school diploma. You did what you could to survive." He answers back while wiping the silent tears falling down my cheeks.

"That doesn't make what I did any better."

"If you hadn't of done what you did, you would have starved to death, and you wouldn't be here in my arms where you can be safe and loved. Lots not dwell on the past right now, not until you have healed some OK?"

I nodded but hid my face in his neck in shame.

"Sorry I didn't mean to upset her," Ember says softly with her ears folded down.

"You didn't upset her little one."   Papa reassures her.   "Remember when you first got here and your emotions were a little all over the place? That's what's happening now. Let's go get some pizza and then we can all watch movies and get some snuggles yeah?"

We all go into the kitchen and I'm removed from Papa's arms and set into a chair. I whine at first but stop as a tray is locked into place in front of me. 'did I just get placed into a highchair?'  I think to myself in utter disbelief.

I look at the rest of the table and see Opa putting Ember in a booster seat. The pout on her face matched mine which made me feel a little better about the new arrangement.

The caretakers fix plates for everyone before making sitting down. The king slides his little a plate as he sits next to her. Papa sits down by me and holds up a fork with a small piece of pizza to my lips. "Open up Lil minx. We are going to do it this way for the night so you don't get sick again."

Without being able to argue his logic, I obeyed. The taste of pizza almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. It was delicious! The rest of our meal was spent with Papa alternating between feeding me and taking bites of his own food. My pizza was halfway gone when I gently pushed away the next forkful offered to me. My belly couldn't fit anymore food in it or else I just might explode. As my caregiver finished his dinner I looked over to see Ember's face covered in pizza sauce. Her tail was gently swishing back and forth contently. Her eyes traveled over to my plate and she gave a small smile. "You did great Shailyn, Geri's always slices their pizzas into huge triangles. Sometimes the slices are bigger than my face!"

"She did amazing," Papa agreed as he finished the last couple bites of his. "After our movie night we will try the nutrition shakes. Thankfully our local healer happens to know where to find the best tasting ones."

Ember nods. "Do you like nanas?" She asks me. "I sent over nana, chocolates, and cinnamon roll ones. I wanted you to has the best of the best flavors."

I nodded. "I do like bananas and cinnamon rolls. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate though but I'll still drink it so it doesn't go to waste. Does it got to be in a bottle though?"

"It would be ideal, yes. Drinking the shakes too fast could get you sick and I don't want my friend sick."

With a groan I decided to not say anything else on the topic and thankfully, no one said anything else on it either for now. The guardians cleaned up the kitchen before picking us up to head back into the living room. 

"What movie are we wanting to watch?" Opa asked as we all settled in on the couch. I shrugged and waited for Ember to decide since I only knew a small handful of movies. 

"How about beauty and the beast? Das a good one to watch." she suggests. Papa nodded and pulled the movie up on Netflix. 

Near the end of the movie, my eyelids began to feel heavy. I looked over to see Ember already zonked out and my caregiver nowhere in sight.

"He'll be back little one." The king whispered at my confusion. "He just went to make your shake."

True to his word, Levi walked back into the living room with a filled bottle in his hands. "Alright minx, let's get you into some comfy pj's and fed once more before bed OK?"

Knowing there was no way out of the bottle I nodded and allowed myself to be picked up.

Upstairs in my room he grabbed a light blue footie pj's that had clouds all over it and matching underwear.

"Am I allowed to put those on by myself?" I asked nervously.

He shook his head. "We need to get you used to me changing and dressing you."

With a groan I allowed him to dress me. To my relief his eyes didn't linger when he changed my underwear. He stayed focus on his task and was finished quickly.

"We only have a couple pairs of day and night clothes for you. Tomorrow we will go to the store and let you pick out some you would like."

Wonder if they have any little items on the darker color side. Pastel was nice and all but I prefer things to be as dark as my soul. "Do they have any horror themed onesie?"

"They do actually. Can't say I'm  surprised by your style choices." He chuckles whole picking me up. He carried me to the rocking chair in the corner of my room and sat down with me on his lap. "I made the banana flavored shake for you. At least give it a try for me please."

Hesitently, I accepted the bottle held to my lips. The taste was surprisingly pleasent and mellow. Papa gave encouraging words as he gently rocked us back and forth while I drank. The bottle was about seventy five percent gone when sleep decided to take over.

Sorry about the late update lovelies, life had a lot of changes happen at work, home, and with counseling. Was a bit difficult to take on so many changes at once :(