“When you say pastries, you mean the ones with pecans?” Aarav said, reminding Haemish of what he had to look forward to and that he was a man that delivered.

“Indeed!” Again with the drool, Aarav thought, quirking an eyebrow at Haemish, which made the man refocus his attention on the conversation. “Ahem, I was saying that you will need to slim down your legs, arms, and torso somewhat, then a sharper nose and pointed ears. Then add translucent wings, even if you don’t or can’t use them. That is the gist of it, then we can fine-tune it a little.

Thinking it could be a fun experiment of his limits in this department, Aarav began moving the slime around. He moved material from his tummy and legs to his shoulders, neck, and upper arms. He was going for some replica of musculature, having never had sculpted muscles in this life or the last. It was hard to picture it.

After about five minutes of faffing about with it, Haemish took pity on him and brought a drawing of a fairy. It was excellent. The sketch had a precision Aarav had thought reserved for photographs. The best part was the level of detail and how easy it was to understand what a fairy looked like. It was more like a pixie from folklore or a fairy, like Peter Pan's. He had forgotten the name.

“Right, what do you think?” Aarav did a twirl to the oblivious Haemish. In the few minutes it had taken for Aarav to work on his appearance, the insufferable man had already turned his back. He was continuing his experimentation with the four slimes in the dishes.

Aarav had to admit, it was an investigation he also had a hard time turning his attention from. All of them had taken on traits of the various materials added to their dishes. It meant that just as he could, they could gain features of other beings as well. It was a remarkable revelation and something that opened up a world of possibilities. If he didn’t like how any of them were developing, he could just reabsorb them and no time wasted!

“Haemish, I was asking you what you thought!” The Slime come fairy raised his voice to get the older man’s attention.

“Hmm? What did you say?” Haemish asked, annoying the hell out of the fairy-Slime.

“Look!” Aarav half yelled. Haemish jumped and whirled to see the finished product, and Aarav strutted about with transparent wings. The appendages had a similar consistency to fly wings for regular fairies but magically strengthened. In Aarav’s case, they were all for show, completely useless otherwise. He still couldn’t fly with them, and he had tried, and he was just too heavy.

“You are a little on the big side, aren’t you?” Haemish said, a little flushed from being startled.

“That is what I said to you in the first place. How heavy are fairies normally?” Aarav asked for context, and Haemish shrugged and grunted non-committal.

A fat lot of help you are! Aarav thought. “I can’t go any smaller than this, and I can’t compress myself into a smaller space very well. I don’t have air in this body to squash!”

“Hmm, okay, then I suppose it will do. Anything else you need to know?” Aarav opened his mouth to start the slew of questions he had prepared for just such a moment, and Haemish forestalled him. “About this fairy situation!” Aarav closed his mouth with a click. “Good!”

Now that Aarav had his body a little more under control and would be able to move freely in the city, it was time to explore!

“Okay, so now that I am done getting to this point, I need more practice walking. How about we explore the city a little? You have told me some, and I had seen some when we flew in, but I haven’t seen anything!” Haemish gave one more longing look at the four dishes on the counter before sighing and closing the lids.

“Very well, child. I will accompany you to the city.” Aarav snorted at this apparent lack of enthusiasm.

“You know you don’t have to come with me. Just tell me where to go, and I have a walk around.” Aarav said. He had grown up on the streets in all parts of the world, and he could handle exploring a city in this world where things seemed so quaint. Also, it might be good to be without his chaperone for a few hours. Most likely, that is as long as he would be out for.

“No, I should come. You have not been to the city before, and it is a little complicated when you first start out. Brewyn is bigger than people realise.” Aarav could see that Haemish was really on the fence about going into the city. His dislike of crowds was coming into play again.

“Honestly, Haemish, I am fine going into the city by myself. I promise you! You said that crime in Brewyn is basically non-existent right? So during the day, it should be fine.” Aarav nodded like the matter was settled.

“Okay, very well! However, before you go, there is one thing that you absolutely must do,” Haemish said, a small smile creeping onto his face. What was he going on about now!

The smirk on Haemish’s face was growing by the second, and it was really becoming more than Aarav could handle before he said. “You need to put some clothes on. The average citizen might not like seeing you stark naked, walking in the street, and that sort of thing can get people arrested!”

Aarav jerked as if he had been slapped. He had completely forgotten that something so rudimentary would be needed. But who could blame him after spending the last eight months without the need for clothing? It was a purely sentient thing, maybe human. He was built like a Ken doll now. There was no need to do all that when he didn’t need to go to the bathroom. Or have any other urges to speak of.

“Uh, right. Aarav quickly walked over to Haemish, stumbling a little in his haste. He still couldn’t run. Grabbed the man’s shirt and, using Strong Camouflage, copied the material. He did the same for the pants. To accommodate the two new textures, he had to get rid of others; choosing Gryphon Feathers and Gryphon Skin seemed appropriate. So he added Cloth and Leather for the shirt and pants, respectively.

Now clad in his new shirt and trousers, he was ready to move. “So now?” Aarav asked. Haemish was a little taken aback by the change, but he knew not to underestimate the Slime by now. Anyone looking now would never be able to tell where Aarav had started from. It was incredible how much he had transformed in the short week since coming to the palace.

The one thing that had been a constant damper was the Queen, following up with him constantly on what things Haemish was up to and just buzzing around. Luckily it had just been check-ins at the moment. Aarav dreaded the moment when she decided to take more concrete action to “motivate” him into doing her bidding. He had seen their type before, and his previous life had been full of them. The difference here was that the Queen had the power to back up her claims.

It was like this dark cloud hovering over his otherwise great time. Luckily he knew that Haemish was in the same boat, having seen a few of his run-ins with the woman. Indeed a formidable woman. If she was trying to make sure we protected her family, she was heavy-handed with it. One of the great things about getting out of the palace would be getting away from her. As for what she wanted to know, Aarav and Haemish had been relatively open with her. Honest to a degree about what they were working on. Since they were working on the experiment together, there was no need to spy on Haemish. He didn’t do anything these days apart from monitoring the Slimes. It was almost becoming an unhealthy obsession.

“Haemish, you know you need to take a break from watching those. At least to sleep!” Aarav said, concern evident in his voice.

“Aarav, thank you for your concern,” Haemish said with an eye roll. “I do sleep and eat and relax from time to time, but this is my job, and I am here to understand the capabilities of you babies!” Aarav started at him, calling them his babies. Then again, that was probably the most accurate description, like how earthworms could reform even if cut into pieces.

“Okay, enough talk, I am off!” Aarav said and walked away from Haemish, stumbling only a little. Then he was out the door of the lab. It was still mid-morning, and he had plenty of time.

Haemish chuckled at his eagerness to be off. “Take this with you. You are not going to get far without some coin in your pocket!” Aarav sighed, now he would have to make pockets in these clothes to keep these coins, but money made the world spin.

“Thanks, Haemish.”