Yulia
"Alright, come on, let's go for that walk. I got you some snow gear so you should be pretty warm while we are out there. I will need to assume my true form while we are out and about, so don't freak out too much, okay?"
"Okay…" Ashley said hesitantly. "What does that mean?"
"Just give me a second." I closed my eyes and concentrated, and when I opened them, I could see so much more than I had previously. Time seemed to be practically at a standstill, with my reflexes quick enough to cause my perception of reality to dilate. Ashley looked even shorter than she had previously, and she was somehow far sweeter smelling.
Ashley was looking up at me with very wide eyes, so I sat down on the bed again to appear less threatening. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I had literally doubled in mass, so the bed nearly gave way beneath me. I was stuck giving the appearance of sitting on the bed while actually supporting my weight with my thighs and hips. I wonder if Moira would say anything if I had the bed in this room reinforced with the steel bracings supporting our own bed.
"Alright Ashley. I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to be able to keep you safe if anything were to happen while we are out on our walk."
"Okay. You are very pretty. Why aren't you always like this?"
I glanced in the mirror hanging over the armoire, and for a moment I could see what she meant. Rather than just seeming plain and even a little on the ugly side, I could see my perfectly smooth skin and the graceful lines in my face adding up to something better than you might imagine. My eyes were every shade of brown, but there was an inner ring of gold and an outer ring of onyx in my irises. If I had been feeding as much as I should have been, both would be gold. My pupils subtly reflected the light in a prismatic rainbow, with far more colors than mortal eyes could appreciate. My hair, rather than "just" being brown, cascaded down my back and around my ears in a rich, blended wave of ebony and mahogany. My wings were every shade of blue found within the avian family tree, and a couple shades of black as well, on the undersides. They glowed and shimmered subtly in the overhead light.
The only flaw in my appearance was my too long and dangerous looking nails on my otherwise gracefully proportioned hands, and the over-long canine teeth that would make an appearance whenever I smiled or otherwise opened my mouth more than part way. They were retracted now, so they were only obvious if you knew what to look for. Descended, I couldn't hide them even with my mouth fully closed.
My figure had always been my best feature, but it didn't hurt to appreciate it once more. I even liked how my bulging and rippling muscles further accentuated it. More than half of the volume in my chest was actually a set of pectoral muscles which were very much needed to operate the enormous wings on my back. Those wings folded up way more than made any sense physically, but that was magic for you.
"Ashley, you may not mind my appearance, or even find me pretty, but many in the mortal world will look at me and only see a dangerous predator. One that they would prefer to see put down, if possible. It's easier when interacting with the public to take on my relatively safe human form. I have a special magic aura that makes people see me as normal, but only when I am not moving, or rather when I am only moving the same amount mortals do when they are remaining still. As soon as I start moving, it registers in their mind that I am something different. Something other. That's usually when the screaming starts, and the torches and pitchforks soon follow." I conveniently didn't mention that I could easily take on any mortal army and win. That wasn't the point. I did not enjoy that level of bloodshed, and so it was easier to lie low.
"So people are big meanies so you pretend to be just like them?" Ashley's question once again caused me to lose myself in thought.
"I'm afraid the alternative is a lot of people getting hurt, and I don't really want that." I replied quietly.
"Come on, let's get you in your snow gear."
"What about you? Aren't you going to get cold?" Ashley asked. I was touched by her concern. But also…
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Ashley started to get a hurt and offended look, so I cut myself off before I could make it worse.
"Alright. Feel the skin on my arm?" Ashley dutifully did so.
"Wait. You are kind of cold even now!"
"Yes, Ashley. Unless it is subzero temperatures with a significant windchill or very humid heat, I will not feel much different than I do now no matter how long I spend in that environment."
"That's kind of cool." Ashley said.
"Literally, I suppose. That's why I can wear just normal clothes and a light jacket even in blizzard conditions. My size also helps keep my body temperature stable. You, on the other hand, are a tiny little girl who will get cold even in heavy gear. Luckily, I can just carry you on my shoulders and shield you with my wings when that happens."
After some finangling and Ashley pouting until I admitted that she was actually a big girl, I finally cajoled her into a heavy jacket, snow pants, and a decent set of gloves and boots. She didn't seem to question why her snowgear seemed suspiciously new, and unless confronted I was not going to come clean about the fact that I went and got them real quick when I was thinking about how to fix this. Of course, I had to move a couple of time zones to find a store that was open at night and selling winter gear, but it wasn't too bad of a hassle.
The next problem? Ashley was not even 4 feet tall, and it would require her to stretch and for me to lean over quite dramatically for her to take my hand. We finally settled on her keeping a hand on my calf when we were outdoors in unfamiliar areas, that way I could roughly gauge her position relative to my own in the span of a heartbeat. I also schooled her on what to do if she gets lost somehow.
"So if you wander off and somehow can't find me, what do you do?" I asked for the third time, just to make sure.
"I will stay where I am and call out for you so you can find me." Ashley replied, slightly smug and exasperated in equal measures.
"Unless…?"
"Unless I am in danger, in which case I should try to hide and make as little noise as possible." She said this part like a choirboy might recite a bible verse, so I figured she got the point and there was no need to further stress the issue.
"Alright then. Just to be sure. Last thing I want is for you to get hurt somehow." I said this with slightly more feeling than I had meant, and she looked at me with an odd expression on her face.
"I'm not worried. There is nothing scarier than Aunty Yulia out there!" Ashley said this with a tone of voice indicating she was proud to be accompanied by one of the scariest women on the planet, and not in the least actually scared of me.
"Actually, Ashley, it's a big world out there. I am quite powerful and fast, but I am not especially durable. Sufficiently concentrated gunfire or powerful superhumans can hurt me, and if they do that would leave you vulnerable. So please be careful, ok?"
Ashley stared at me with those wide eyes staring out at me from underneath the unicorn hat I had bought her. Truly one of the best purchases I have ever made, if I do say so myself.
"Okay, Aunty Yulia. I will be careful."
There was companionable silence as we left through the front door, and we had walked about halfway through the yard, with my massive and heavy footsteps breaking trail for the little girl behind me, when a new question popped into her head and immediately out of her mouth.
"Aunty Yulia, how much gunfire would it take to hurt you?"
I thought about ignoring her question or straight up lying, but I decided to tell her the truth.
"Honestly Ashley, a lucky shot from a hunting rifle can hurt me. The damage will most likely be superficial or light, but it will still hurt. However, I can become seriously injured by multiple rapid-firing machine gun emplacements all firing on my position at once, and that can take some time to heal. This gets worse if they are using silver bullets. Luckily, silver tends to ricochet off of my skeleton and therefore not linger in the injury to further poison me. It would take an armored battalion or a sizable army of infantry to produce this effect, so you don't have to worry as long as we don't piss off anybody sufficiently important and petty."
I looked back at her to gauge her reaction, and she had a surprisingly fierce expression on her face.
"I won't let them hurt you! Not ever!"
Girl, I am describing events that have already happened, and it's hardly the worst thing to have happened to me. Despite thinking this, I picked her up and held her close all the same.