Rachel laid down on her bed and relaxed a bit, while trying to settle herself down. Some of her thoughts on how much things had just changed in the course of an evening were there, but her sharper ears were strong enough to notice other sounds in the house. Even in her human form, she'd found that her senses were much better than they were before she became a werecat. It was enough to let her know what all was going on. After a few moments, she could hear the soft snores from her mother's room and the rustle of the sheets in Jasmine's room as her sister rolled in her sleep. The only room that was quieter was Michelle's room, but then Michell had generally been the calmest member of the Covaks family and Rachel had found this out after becoming a werecat.
And in meeting the Richards' pride and finding out that Cynthia was bi and might be interested in her, that put a lot of her worries about being a werecat at ease. She still had her worries and issues regarding Leslie, but for the moment as Rachel laid down, her ex wasn't the most immediate thing on her mind. Her mind was racing with some things, but she was able to rest and listen to some of the other things in the house. This included some creaks and clicks as the house settled in the night and as a faint breeze blew outside. For the moment things felt, right, and Rachel was content with that. A part of her would have wanted to talk with Cynthia, but from what she could pick up from downstairs, Cynthia was probably still asleep, and she didn't want to bother her guest. And so, Rachel lay back and tried to rest and close her eyes.
Getting to sleep still took some time, as her mind was still racing. This left Rachel often rolling and twisting in bed as she tried to get comfortable. It ended up wrapping herself up in the sheets but eventually she did drift off so sleep. And while it took her a while to actually drift off to sleep, Rachel surprisingly felt in a much better place as she drifted off to sleep...
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Rachel's awareness came into a seemingly empty environment. It was like she was in a deep fog and she moved through it in her werecat form. A part of her was puzzled at this for a moment and thought this should scary, but there was no sense of fear. In fact, as Rachel walked through this fog, it was like she was walking on and through fog as though the clouds could support her weight. She moved through it and stepped up and had the feeling like she was rising up with each step. It was odd, but nothing frightening, strangely. She kept going until there seemed to be some light that was ahead of her. Rachel thought she heard laughter in it but kept moving toward the light.
As the light grew brighter, the fog seemed to thin out. Yet, Rachel was still standing on the clouds that made up the fog. It felt sort of like standing on a giant beanbag. The footing wasn't necessarily firm, but it was firm enough that Rachel wasn't fall through it. In a strange way it almost felt like flying and let Rachel lookout, and as she came through that fog and the clouds, Rachel found she was able to see for miles and to her surprise, while there was light, the sky looked as though it was at night. She could see the twinkling of stars through a brightly lit sky. However, the thing that seemed to radiate the most light was from an image of her own face... her human face floating before her and with her face shining light on her like the sun... or the moon reflecting the light of the sun.
"What?!!" Rachel said to the image.
"You're surprised to see yourself... your human self?" the other Rachel asked.
"In a way," Rachel answered.
"We are two sides of the same coin," the other Rachel replied. Her image then took on form of Rachel's head in her werecat form while Rachel turned back into her human form while the other Rachel continued, "human and werecat... the same thing."
"Yeah... strangely... meeting he Richards' pride has answered a lot of my questions and made me feel better," Rachel spoke and pointed to the black furred muzzle on the other Rachel's face, "like that form not being controlled by Leslie... or making me become like her."
"Great, isn't it?" the other Rachel smiled, her fangs glinting in the light of the starts and the light that seemed to radiate from the other Rachel, "you stay you... and can turn into me... and you retain control and will be nothing like that impatient kitten who couldn't wait."
Rachel and the other Rachel both gave an irritated hiss with bared teeth at the memory of Leslie, and there was no thought or worry on the action.
"And I've found friends... or at least a friend," Rachel said, "and... it feels good... like being a werecat isn't as bad with it anymore."
Rachel found herself back in her werecat form a gain, in a manner that was like a flash of light and then the sudden change. It wasn't like the gradual transformation that she felt when she changed between her human and werecat forms. It was like a flash and immediate shift, and as Rachel looked to the other Rachel, she found that that other Rachel remained just the image of her head in werecat form floating above and before her.
"It's like I can live with myself now," Rachel spoke.
The other Rachel smiled and nodded, "that's great... and as you make more friends and get the help needed... things will be better, and you'll be able to move into the light."
"And with my family?" Rachel asked, "or with Cynthia?"
"With mom, Jasmine, or Michelle... everything with them will be up to them," the other Rachel answered, "with Cynthia... that we'll just have to wait and see."
"You don't know?" Rachel asked.
"Of course I don't," the other Rachel answered, "I'm you and you're me. I'm just here to say things look like they're headed in the right direction."
"And they are," Rachel answered with a smile and was about to say more...
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When her alarm started to blare out. It got Rachel's eyes to flutter open and to find that the sun was starting to shine over the eastern horizon while the clock on her small short desk where her bedroom clock was flashing 6:00 AM. In this, she realized it was the start of a new day. She tried to reach out for the clock only to find that she was wrapped up in her own bedsheets and she ended up falling out of the bed while the radio still played for the alarm...