Vera awakens a couple hours later to the sound of the door opening and the smell of freshly cooked steak as Maddie reenters the room. She seems to have gone in and out silently while Vera was sleeping as Maddie is currently wearing an apron that says "KISS THE COOK" that she probably had stored in the small wardrobe. The 'COOK' is crossed out and 'cat' is written under it in rough handwriting.
"Food's ready! Wake up, sleepyhead, take a seat at the table. Do you want some water with it? I got a bunch of water bottles while I was there."
Vera groans. It's like visiting her mother in Italy. She sits up, and a tiny smirk then crosses her lips, the first Maddie has seen. She sits at the table soon.
"Smells better than I considered it would. Did you season this, Maddie?—I would enjoy water to drink, yes. Thank you for feeding me."
The golden light from the ceiling of the station is mostly dimming now. They would be enveloped by moonlight or total darkness soon.
"Yes, of course I seasoned it. Just because I don't really participate in society doesn't mean I'm a barbarian. It's pretty good, right?"
Maddie pours out a bottle of water into a glass, and sets it at the table.
"I'd say the steak came out pretty good." she says while chewing.
Maddie and Vera finish the meal, and Maddie pulls out a garden hose from where it's clipped to the ceiling, and opens a window. She begins spraying the plates clean with the hose, holding the plates out of the window so the water spills down to the gravel below the train.
"You should really sleep for the night, I plan on doing it soon too. You can use the mattress; I'll curl up on the floor or something. Don't worry."
Vera confesses the steak is delicious. She's always had a slightly more carnivorous diet than some of her peers.
Sitting back on the mattress, Vera rotates her tablet in her hands and presses some of its discreet buttons. She sighs and places it back into her sash. And she grabs a tattered blanket she's been avoiding. Night is coming with a chill.
"I understand, Maddie, that you live here because it's inexpensive? I'm concerned it's missing some amenities. And, anyway, I have another question, probably more important. Why did you bring up the anecdote about the stray cat? I can't stop thinking about it. It seems—mundane."
"I don't know. I guess it reminded me of my current situation. I kind of just live out in the city, I'm also a cat to some degree. Maybe I remember the bite so well because it kind of reminds me of how I sometimes have a bit of a negative response to people. Like you saw. But I think you should go to sleep now. You can worry more in the morning..."
Maddie yawns, stretches, and then curls up in a large cardboard box in the corner of the room. It's padded with blankets and old cushions and to Vera looks surprisingly comfortable.
"I'm going to sleep now. See ya in the morning."
"Alright. Thank you for answering me. I find this interesting. Goodnight."
Vera lies still in the bed, patiently expecting Maddie to fall asleep while wracked with thoughts. Any attempt to sneak out would be probably foiled by the shoddy door for the subway car and Maddie's cat-like senses. That alone would be acceptable, maybe, but she doesn't want to destroy her image of being compliant and possibly harmless to someone who has quickly thrown her off her feet before. She could rummage quieter than the door hinge through Maddie's possessions, then. Although it is less delving into some deep insight for her job and more, well, acting petty to her captor.
So, Vera rolls onto her side, staring at the wall long enough that she can relax enough to fall asleep again. She despises sleeping in the same room as others.
--------------------
When Vera awakens in the morning, she is immediately greeted by the sight of the catgirl looming over her, staring down at her.
"Finally, you're awake. I've been waiting for you to wake up for a while now. I think you look pretty cute like this, honestly."
Goosebumps form all across Vera's skin, and she reels backwards onto the pillow, her hair falling over her eyes.
"What? Please don't do that! S-Staring at me while I'm sleeping, or saying that, I'm referring to."
"Oh, that's not what I meant. I think you'll find what you see to be pretty funny, actually."
Maddie pulls out a scratched old hand mirror with a slight crack in the middle. As Vera gazes into the mirror, to her horror, she has a pair of cat ears atop her head, her human ears gone. The ears are the same color as her hair, and have a bit of fluff to them.
All the color from Vera's face drains, and she screams in a higher octave than she'd ever speak. She snatches the mirror off of Maddie and pats down where her human ears used to be and where these new ones apparently are, shivering at the weird sensation of the fur not at all analogous to her other human features.
"What the hell have you done to me? Change me back! Please, you—lunatic, why?"
"Well... that was the whole thing with the bite."
Maddie giggles.
"I'm cursed! Why do you think I would've mentioned being bitten by a weird stray cat, and then biting you afterwards? You were asking so many questions about me, I figured the best way to show you would be to bite you and let you figure it out firsthand. In hindsight, that probably wasn't the best way to go about doing it, but it's pretty funny so I don't regret it."
Maddie reaches down to Vera and pets her new tail.
"Oh yeah, you have this now. It's actually pretty fun to have, I think you'll come to enjoy it! Also, I'm not entirely sure how to, uh, uncat you. You're pretty smart though so I'm sure you'll figure out how."
Vera shakes her head over and over, and her black, sleek tail awkwardly dips away from Maddie's touch. She stands up from the bed, then, and paces around the room, her hands curled into fists.
"Of course you're cursed—why didn't I think of that? Don't answer that, I don't want to hear it. You're right: this is far from the best way you could have shown me your personal history. I've engaged with too many magical beings playing tricks on me—and now this innocent assignment has transformed me into a cat person! I'll never hear the end of it. I'm figuring this out immediately. I'm not okay with this."
She sits down abruptly on the smaller of the two chairs. She closes her eyes. "What do you know about turning me back to normal?"
"Hey hey hey, calm down a bit! I really don't know how to change you back. I just got bitten by that cat one day when I was a kid and just... lived with it ever since. I'm not too sad over it, it really isn't bad. Plus being able to see well in the dark is neat!"
Maddie opens a cooler with another cooler inside of it, with an even smaller cooler inside of that one, eventually pulling out a miraculously still frozen breakfast sandwich, which she unwraps and puts in the microwave.
"Here, have some breakfast. We can try to figure out a solution when you're less hungry."
"Maddie, I'm an adult woman with a job for a guarded society. Even if they allow me back inside its borders, I'll be mocked forever. Forever. I don't want this."
The visual comedy of the coolers is lost to Vera. She unfurls her fists so that she can press her face into her palms. Her new left ear twitches.
"Give me kibble and milk, that'll cheer me up. That's a lie. Just... Okay, let's work together. You're my best odds here. Please."
Vera takes the sandwich at the soonest opportunity from the microwave. She eats it quickly, although she ate a lot last night too.
Maddie paces around the room, and stops to look out the window at the morning sun shining through a hole in the ceiling.
"Well, you said you've dealt with magical creatures a lot before, right? Surely you've dealt with a cursed person before; do you have any experience with fixing something like that?"
Maddie pulls out a slightly stale chunk of bread and begins munching, as she moves over to the other chair and sits facing Vera.
Vera sighs. She'd rather not bother with finding something to brush her hair with. She stares at Maddie.
"No. No personal experience, I mean. Shape has told me anecdotes of people with curses, and what I understand is that they are inconsistent. Magic, at large, is inconsistent. If we find the right person it could be trivial to fix or essentially impossible. However, how do we find the right person? I can't even contact Shape. He's been missing for about two months. I doubt that's changed. And some curses are based on time. I don't want to wait and be trapped like this or have it become worse."
Maddie puts an elbow on the table, and then rests her chin on her palm, thinking.
"I really don't know how the curse works. I've only spread it to one other person before you, and it was how I learned about the way it spreads. A couple years ago I met this girl, and she hung out with me for a while one evening... things escalated a bit, and, uh, I kind of bit her. She really wanted me to bite her, we were having a nice time together. If you know what I mean."
Maddie, clearly lost in thought, stares off into space for a moment.
"I hope she's doing well. I miss her. But in terms of knowing who actually can fix this... not a clue. Why don't we go outside and get some fresh air now that you've calmed down. We can take a walk through the city; it'll be fun!"
"Your story is appreciated, Maddie. I wish, however, it gave us more information we could work with. I suppose it informs us that we should not bite someone. Maybe this curse spreads through blood? Shape always tells me his blood carries his magic."
She buries her head into her arms on the table. Her tail drags down.
"There's no chance I'm going outside in a public space like this. I wouldn't for fun, either. You'll take me straight to somewhere where we can begin to investigate who can help me. And I'll need a big coat to hide—this."
"Meh. I don't really bother hiding it; people just assume I'm just a person who thinks it's funny or cute to walk around like I'm cosplaying a catgirl. I make sure no one can see under my hair and realize that I don't have human ears. As long as I keep my tail down so it looks like it's fake. It's a bit awkward, but hey, better to have people think I'm just crazy than for them to realize I'm both crazy and unnatural!"
Maddie digs around the wardrobe, pulling out a beanie and a large raincoat. She walks over to Vera and tries to pop the hat onto her over her ears, but it falls off.
"Hm. This might be a bit of an issue. Not quite sure what to do with your ears. Although you look so adorable like this I think you should just rock the look."
Vera's ears perk up reflexively upon being told she looks 'adorable'.
"Flattery will not improve my mood about any of this, Maddie. You did this to me, after all."
Vera also tries fitting the beanie on herself. And, while the raincoat prevents her tail from being obvious, there's still the impression of a tail on its fabric.
Vera grimaces, showing her teeth. Four of her existing teeth became savage fangs overnight.
"I hope nobody will recognize me. I don't really feel like going, but I need to find help."
She stands up and steps outside the door, maintaining a stare at the ground. Her white uniform has stains from sleeping on the old mattress with it.
"We can go. Lead me downtown, please. Lie about who I am when necessary today."
"Hmm. We'll need to think of a fake name for you. We can do that later, though. When we go out, mostly keep to quiet streets and alleys. The less people, the better."
Maddie grimaces slightly with discomfort as she pushes her tail under a much smaller coat than Vera's and with ease that comes from years of practice. Then, she puts on a headband with holes for her ears so it looks like she's wearing fake cat ears.
"Alright, let's get going. Downtown shouldn't be too hard to reach; it's only about a 20 minute walk away."
She nods, and they head back into the abandon section of the subway where they had their first encounter.
The city is still crowded with the same traffic from yesterday, and even the side alleys are populated. Vera stands close behind Maddie in order to dissuade onlookers from closely examining her cat ears, and she sometimes bumps into Maddie. One man sitting at the steps to a set of doors flicks his cigarette by her feet, and Vera then pushes Maddie forward. She's not anywhere near as confident as yesterday.
"Is there a library or university nearby? I would envision magic users congregating there..."
"I don't usually go into places like that very much, as you could probably guess. I think there's a library in the downtown, but I'm not exactly sure where. I remember passing by it a few times, it looks like it's half castle and half modern glass box. Neat place."
Maddie looks around, checking down some alleys seemingly searching for something.
"Maybe if we can get onto a rooftop it'll be easier to find. I hope you like climbing!"
"Good idea. A building resembling a castle should capture the imagination of young magic users, at least. I assume you're not an avid reader? Where do you frequent here instead?"
Vera shakes her head, and she leans on a brown wall. Her tail curls away in her raincoat.
"Can't we just ask someone where the library is? I'm not climbing a big ladder. At least find us a stairwell."
She stares up at a metal awning.
"Ladder? Stairwell???"
Maddie lifts her hands and curls her fingers slightly, showing her sharp, slightly oversized nails, a little reminiscent of a cat's claws.
"I just climb the walls. There's usually enough little protrusions and the like to do so. But if you really want to be boring, yes, I suppose we could just ask someone."
Maddie glances around, looking for a suitable passerby.
"Vera, you seem great at introductions. Go ask that lady over there for directions to the library."
Vera frowns. She examines her own fingers, and she exhales seeing that her fingernails haven't changed.
"I don't want to climb any walls. I can't, see? Okay, I will be boring as you claim and ask her. Please just stand nearby."
She approaches the older lady, and she waves with stiff muscles. The stranger glances behind Vera inexplicably, and then she says, "What?"
"Hello. I'm new to this area. Do you know where the library is? I have been informed it's half castle and half modern décor."
"Go that way. Take a right at the breakfast café." She walks away and her wrist shakes as she retrieves her purse from her shoulder.
Vera shrugs toward Maddie. "I believe she meant forward from here?"
"Yeah, that makes sense. I don't usually get such a cold reaction, maybe I'm just more trustworthy looking than you."
Maddie gives a mischievous grin.
"I'm very trustworthy, you know. I would never do something rash and dangerous."
Maddie begins walking down the street following the directions, turning back to make sure Vera is following her.
"C'mon, let's go check out the library. You're the one who wants to go there so badly after all. Although it'd be nice to stop at the cafe. I'm kinda thirsty."
Vera rolls her eyes and follows after Maddie.
"I suspect you're just fortunate with who you talk to. However, I'm here trying to trust you, so maybe you just are trustworthy, despite your appearance. Anyway, a drink of water could help us, yes. I won't need to show my identification, but if someone asks for who I am—the story is I'm Carrie, and that I'm visiting the area. Evidently, as well, I like cats. Unless you have a better lie?"
They arrive by the glass door to the cafe. She grabs Maddie's shoulder, delaying her from entering and allowing a young couple to slip out.
Maddie waits for the couple to pass by and then continues on into the cafe. Then, realizing she doesn't have any money and that Vera probably wouldn't approve of stealing, she turns to her and quietly asks her,
"Hey, uh, v- Carrie, you're going to pay, right? I don't exactly have any money on me."
Then, without even waiting for a response, she gently grabs Vera's arm and leads her to the cashier, clearly just wanting Vera to get on with it so she can get her drink.
"Hiii can I get uhhh medium frozen hot chocolate?"
Then, she turns to Vera, waiting expectantly for her to order something.
She nods, and she faces the cashier with little fuss. That's what the money is for.
"I'll take a black coffee. Two cups of water in addition. The order is for Carrie."
The woman takes their order and Vera's cash, staring at their cat ears. She folds her hands and smiles.
"Oh, is the convention happening again already?"
Vera hazards a guess. "We wanted to—wear the costumes early."
"They look good! They look cute."
Vera turns away and says, "Okay." She sits down at an empty little table nearby, and she shies from Maddie's attention.
"This is really embarrassing..."
Maddie sits down next to her, and she smiles at Vera.
"I don't know, I think you look pretty cute wearing cat ears too. It's not that embarrassing, come on."
Maddie leans back, relaxing while she waits for her drink.
"Do you drink anything more exciting than black coffee? It's kind of boring in my opinion. Why don't you try something else for once? You seem to be having a lot of success trying out new horizons lately."
Maddie giggles, clearly enjoying teasing Vera.
Vera shakes her head, but her ears flick once and her tail stands and waves for several seconds.
"I'm not like that, Maddie. I'm not trying to be cute. I'm not trying to excite anyone. That's not the point of any of this. This costume is too many problems. And, please, it is bold of you to assume I don't ever order other caffeinated drinks... Are you familiar with the energy drink?"
She returns a weak, but genuine, smirk. Hers are fleeting.
"I persisted with those during my career training courses."
Maddie cocks her head, thinking.
"Hmm... I'm not sure if I've had one of those before. Actually, maybe that one time a few years ago when I had 13 cans of some drink in one afternoon and I couldn't stop moving for the next day and a half. Those might've been energy drinks."
Maddie looks and notices that their order is ready. She walks over, picks up the cups, and then sits back down and passes Vera her drink.
"I like hot chocolate. It's just tasty, there's not much more to it."
Maddie then takes a big slurp from her straw, clearly enjoying it immensely.
"You could have died, you know. You're only supposed to enjoy a maximum of three of those a day. One would be more medically acceptable... Read what the contents of the can are next time."
She sips from her coffee. She plants her elbows on the table, and she watches Maddie's glass empty.
"Black coffee is okay. Really, I simply need caffeine in the morning, and I don't have much of a 'sweet tooth'... Drink your water."
"I usually drink water. It's very accessible, compared to something like this. Plus if I drank hot chocolate consistently I'd probably end up dying getting the microwave plugged in. It's dangerous work, but very rewarding."
Maddie continues to slurp, not caring in the slightest about the obnoxious noise the straw is making.
"Caffeinated things tend to just make me a bit too hyper. I usually try to avoid them."
"You're reasonable when you want to be, Maddie. I believed you were simply ignorant to the fire hazard that thing posed, but now I know you're simply reckless in favor of treats. Likewise, you're right to avoid that family of drinks."
Vera's new ears are more sensitive, so she downs her cup of water and then sidesteps from the table with her coffee.
"We're done talking. The library will help us end this soon enough. 'This' being this costume."
She leads them around the corner outside the cafe. The impressive glass box area of the library is close, after all.
Maddie gives a smile and a wave to the cashier before following Vera outside.