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"Hun? What are you doing outside with nothing but a towel on?"

A voice from just beyond Robert's back caused the black and white Maine Coon cat to instinctively jump in fear. And why wouldn't he? He had woken up to a horrific sight, with zero idea on how he even got outside, and now his husband had just caught him in his bewildered state. Robert would have to explain what had happened, but he was confident that it sounded so ridiculous that his husband would call him a madman, even if it was, astonishingly, the truth. He stood deadly still as he heard the door open from behind him, quickly realizing that his husband was coming right this way.

Robert only looked at the large forest in front of him. He had no idea how badly the damage he did to the area was, but what he was aware of was that the cabin where he somehow ended up in last night was gone. It would have to be reconstructed, but there's no way Robert was doing that in secrecy. He was but a simple carpenter, not a miracle worker! Fortunately, whatever damage he created wasn't immediately visible from where he stood, so at the very least his husband wouldn't realize what had happened. But that still leaves distracting him away from wanting to go to the cabin...

The cat turned around to face his husband, a silver raccoon by the name of Lars, who had just left the front door of their shared abode and was descending the steps of their porch. Quickly, the cat threw around his thoughts until he came up with a reasonable, albeit strange, excuse: "Uh-- good morning, Lars! I, uh... wanted to take a simple shower in the lake! Haha... y'know, like you sometimes do."

Lars cocked his head to the side in a curious manner, shifting around the robe he wore. "Huh, so you finally got the courage. I, personally, would have chosen a better time for that; it's nearly winter and the cold is starting to settle in."

Robert nodded, attempting to reply to this but coming up short. "I-- don't really feel it. In fact! The water was SO warm for me. Very weird."

Lars slightly chuckled at how nervous his partner was getting. "Sure, Rob. Speaking of, it has been a bit since I visited the cabin..." The cat began walking past the cat as he spoke, prompting Robert to haphazardly turn around. "I wonder how that thing's held up the past month--"

"You can't go there!" The cat zipped in front of the raccoon and stopped him in his tracks with his hands held up to the side. "Because! There are...!" Still unable to see any exit, Robert resigned himself to just pushing Lars back inside the house while he explained why he should not go to the forest. "Uh, cryptids. They're roaming around the forest this time of the year, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt..."

"That's a little strange," the raccoon replied. "I didn't think you would be one to complain about 'unexpected' company." Lars moved backwards, as he was forced to by his cat, but kept a playful mood as he watched his partner fumble his words. "Especially since last Halloween, you remember that? You took on that huge werewolf like--"

"No, I do NOT want to remember that!" Robert began to blush, quickly turning his head away from Lars as the raccoon chuckled some more at this. The cat then began to shove the raccoon towards the house a little faster. "Don't you need to go to work today, anyway? You should get yourself dressed, have some breakfast... I'll drive you there today, too!"

"Alright, alright..." Lars scoffed and turned around to head back inside, as the cat was correct. If he didn't hurry now, he would probably be late. The raccoon was partially up the porch stairs with his husband right behind him before he turned around to Robert with a slight glare. "...is it just me, or are you a bit taller than usual?"

This sent a shiver down Robert's spine, and he tried to suppress his eyes from going wide with fear. "Ah-- no! You're probably imagining things! Please! Go! Inside!"

The raccoon burst into laughter as he was practically thrusted up the remaining step by Robert. "Okay, I'm on my way now, you scaredy-cat..."

Lars walked past the front door, which gently closed shut. As soon as Robert had confirmation that he was gone, he immediately turned around and dashed into the woods in a panic. This was really, really bad...

---

Robert finally got a good look at just how bad the damage he made last night was: A giant, irregular circle of downed pine trees laid on the ground, and at its center, a completely destroyed cabin. The cat had no idea how it happened... Last night he simply had the urge to go to that cabin, and then, out of nowhere, his whole body grew to an incredible size late at night. It not only caused the cabin he was in to break apart from the inside as his body expanded to impossible dimensions, but it also left an expansive imprint on the foliage around it as well, his new size allowing him to break down the wood like toothpicks. It also tore apart his clothes, because obviously it wasn't designed for sudden expansion. He was just lucky to have mostly reverted size by morning, let alone finding a spare towel within the rubble to cover himself up.

Robert had to pace around in a circle to calm down and try to figure out what happened. Property damage was no concern -- he had inherited these lands from his late father, and the cabin was a joint project constructed by him and Lars in their spare time. The cat was instead solely focused on who could have made him grow to such a size, and why. He was absolutely certain there weren't any witches or other strange hex-givers around these parts at the moment, and the only other species that could make them grow in size, possibly the werewolves, haven't migrated to this area yet.

He then turned his attention to what happened just before he went to the cabin. It was quite difficult to remember right now... but he was certain that all he did was work on the computer for a bit, share a cup of warm cocoa with Lars, and then tend to his greenhouse before he closed it up for the night. It was right after he finished doing that that he felt a weird weight in his stomach... Could it have been one of the plants, then? Robert didn't know of any adverse side effects that the flora he kept in his garden had. The most concerning thing were the strange looking tulips that a wendigo left for him, but those didn't seem to pose a threat despite their petals looking kinda shriveled.

Of course, none of this was true, as a few meters behind the cat, still thinking he was all alone, stood Lars, silently observing the cat from behind a tree with a cocky grin on his face, and holding a small vial with an even smaller amount of a white liquid inside it.

"So it works... This stuff is pretty strong!" The raccoon chirped up as he eventually skipped back home to get dressed. "I only had to put in three little drops and Robert grew larger than I could imagine... and its effects still seem to linger even long after the growth spurt is reversed. I gotta thank the mage that hooked me up with this!" Sure, the cabin would be incredibly hard to replace now, but it was so worth it... He would have some more fun with this soon.