She wakes up to find Maddie curled up next to her, still sleeping, in a way that Vera finds extremely adorable. Sunlight is pouring through the scratched windows of the train car as they've slept late into the morning.
Vera doesn't intend to wake Maddie up prematurely, as unexpectedly pleased with the cute, physical company as she is. So, Vera reaches for the stack of papers beside them, intending to write some more notes down before she probably loses interest and doodles or something. Bloody curse.
She discovers immediately that she can't read what she wrote last time, however. It's clearly language, but it might as well be Indonesian. She yelps and kicks Maddie on her leg once, waking her up after all.
"Maddie, we need to get out of here immediately. I can't—read anymore!?"
Maddie awakens abruptly, jumping straight up out of the box, her tail completely straight in surprise.
"AAAA! What happened? Are you okay? Why did you kick me?!"
Maddie shouts out a string of questions, clearly alarmed by the sudden awakening. Then, she calms down after a moment.
"You can't just smack me to wake me up like that. It's really rude! And what's this about reading? If you're asking me to read, I can't do that! I don't know how to do that. Do it yourself or something!"
She throws the papers in the air between the box and Maddie, and so the pages fly with different velocities and then scatter the carpet.
"Allow me clarify. Your curse has made me unlearn how to read, Maddie." She growls. "So, all these notes are gibberish to me now, too. We're going, now."
She shakes her head, stands from the box, and then she scurries out the door. She throws the hoodie over her ears, and she stares back into the train-car, expectant.
"I feel so stupid. Just take me to the outskirts you talked about yesterday."
Maddie follows her out the door, hastily getting dressed the way she has.
"We can get to the outskirts through back allies and stuff. It's like a half hour walk."
She walks over to a hole in the wall, going through it and climbing over a rusty chain fence.
"C'mon, it's this way!"
Vera stops at the chain fence, studies the dim scene, and then climbs the fence after all. She approaches Maddie's side, and she keeps her chin low.
"I have—mixed opinions about last night. I can't believe how easily I slept after you joined me in the cardboard box. It's like I was cold and lonely." She almost chuckles. "Is that a sensation you feel sometimes, sleeping there?"
"Yes. Quite often, actually. I don't really get to hang out with anyone other than the occasional local kid. It gets pretty lonely."
Maddie walks behind an old bookstore, through an alleyway. This part of the city is mostly old buildings, few reaching more than a few floors tall.
"This part of town is quite nice. I like just hanging out on a rooftop here. Not as loud and busy as everywhere else. We should keep going, though. Maybe we'll find something helpful soon."
"Sorry," She says. "It's possible I understand now. Furthermore, I quite dislike children."
The noise even here is everywhere to her sensitive ears, but it really is much less. Maddie's behaviors are really all starting to make sense, even the casual insistence to climb a building to its roof. Even her erratic nature.
She swallows, and she continues her confession. "I'm bored. I almost would rather be sleeping. That's kind of scary, isn't it?"
"Wasn't the whole point of this to find you some help? Why are you trying to nap? I like myself a nap sometimes but definitely not now. Let's keep moving, there has to be someone or something that can help us!"
Maddie continues to lead Vera down alleyways and quiet streets until she reaches an old abandoned power plant next to a canal.
"Hey, if we're looking for other cat people, maybe that's a good spot. Abandoned buildings are easy to move into, as you saw with my home."
"Okay, yeah, you're right. Maybe cat people will be in that run-down place. It's possible."
She sounds less than confident, anyway. She grabs an empty styrofoam cup from a dirty table and tosses it back and forth between her hands with rather good reflexes. She then tosses it at Maddie. "Catch."
She sticks her tongue out slightly.
The cup misses completely, but Maddie is unfazed and immediately pounces after it with surprisingly agility. She grabs it and then tumbles while clutching onto it. She then brings it back to Vera, smiling.
"Okay, back to what we were doing please. You're cute but I want to get this situation fixed."
Maddie climbs over the fence and then walks over to the boarded up entrance of the power plant. One of the windows of the building, however, is conspicuously not boarded up. Maddie spots this window and climbs up to it, which is about 20 feet off the ground. She climbs through it, tumbling onto a metal catwalk below it. She moves to the window and then looks down at Vera.
"Come on up, let's look around. You can climb up here easily, right?"
She smirks, too, bearing her fangs. "Well, thank you. Okay, sure, we're getting me back to normal, right."
Vera climbs over this next fence without so much as stopping, and she then runs a nail on the rough material of the sheer wall. She tilts her head back and forth, and her tail waves behind her.
"I can totally do it this time, but can you come back down first? You know, in case I fall down so you can catch me? I believe they say 'safety first'!"
Maddie rolls her eyes and then without warning jumps out the third floor window, landing on her feet seemingly unharmed.
"Okay weak little kitty who can't climb on her own. Go ahead. I'll definitely catch you if you fall."
Maddie gives Vera a grin, waiting for her to begin climbing.
Vera screams. The harmless landing, though, leads her to stop and fold her arms. She then emphasizes a growl and starts scaling the wall as if it were rock climbing with many thin, unintended handholds and footholds. It's almost as natural of a 'sense' as the night vision.
"I'm not a 'weak little kitty'. I'd like to remind you that I'm essentially an agent. This curse complements my training while I have it. Where's your training?"
She passes through the window frame, and she continues, "At the bare minimum, you could have told me I can land on my two feet like a real cat can land on four unharmed."
"The two feet thing actually took a lot of practice. I landed on all fours for years, but finally managed to start doing it on two. And my training was successfully shoplifting for years without getting caught and shipped to a lab or something."
Maddie gracefully climbs back up the wall, much faster than Vera did. She stands next to her and surveys the interior. There are multiple turbines, which would have spun using a water wheel in the canal when the power plant was in use. There's also a metal door on the opposite side of the building leading into what is labeled as a control room. Scratched and fogged up windows make it difficult to see into the control room, however.
"Let's go check the control room. Maybe someone's in there or we'll find something cool and breakable. I'm kinda bored."
"Speaking of laboratories, my society has a state-of-the-art facility that would probably love to conduct some trials on you," She says. She puts her hands on her hips, already walking to the control room.
"We won't hurt you, and we can reimburse you. You should consider it. Except... We are trying to cure me soon, in case this is like a time-limited cure or something, of course. It would have to wait, if you volunteered. Anyway, I'm bored too. I even instructed you that this was boring earlier. Told you so. First breakable thing is mine."
They make it to the door, and she struggles with the metal handle. It's heavy and locked. She meows and steps aside.
Maddie rattles the lock a bit, and then her ears perk up as she has an idea. She pulls out a set of lock picking tools and then begins to work on the lock. Her tongue pokes out slightly as she's concentrating, poking expertly inside the lock. A few minutes later, it clicks open, and Maddie gives Vera an over-the-top bow.
"After you. You're welcome."
"Do you always have a lock picking set with you?"
She shakes her head, her ears suggesting she's still rather amused, and pulls the handle again. Then, a cat with black fur immediately darts out of the room. So, Vera glances at Maddie with hope, drags her into the room with her, and closes the door behind them.
It's a large control room. Countless levers and buttons are deactivated, judging by the sea of scruffy cats squirming all across the panels. And a tall woman with cat ears and an especially large and fluffy tail turns around to face Maddie and Vera from her office chair beside a desk with a yellowing computer.
"Oh my goodness you let Johnifer escape. Wait... how did you even get in here? I thought the door was locked."
She adjusts her circular glasses, looking at the two women who entered.
"Hold on. You two have the curse too! Is that why you're here? I'm doing important research right now, you know."
One of the cats climbs up onto the keyboard where she was working and she shouts a name, picking up the cat and setting it down on the floor.
Vera nods. She scurries to the monitor the stranger is working at only to be reminded that she can't make any sense of the text, and she leans on some nearby equipment.
"Yes. We're here to cure me of the curse. Will you be able to help me? What's your name? Please, I really can't go on like this. I'm worried I'll be stuck like this forever. Mrow..."
"My name is Caroline. I got bitten by one of these cats—" She glares at one of the cats in particular. "—and got this affliction a few years ago. Much like you two have. I've been researching it and looking for a cure. What are your names? I could use some help, and it'll be mutually beneficial if you want to be cured as well."
She turns back to her computer, looking through some files.
"I think I'm close to getting it, but I'm not certain. I think I'm still missing something; my prototype cures seem to purge the mind for a few minutes, but it reverts quickly after, and the physical changes won't go away."
Vera winces, and she then turns around and scratches her nails against a metal surface.
"You've been searching for years? There really must be no cure, is there...?"
She rests her face against the same metal.
"Vera Hanley. She's Maddie. Do you have any clues as to what you're missing for the real cure? I don't. It's probably some magic thing. That's my theory. It's also possible we're too late."
Caroline spins her chair back around in response to Vera's laments.
"I don't think it's incurable. I've done a lot of work and gotten close so close. I've narrowed down the origin of it as well. Seems like some wizard in the middle ages created it as a sick prank to play on people who annoyed them. I have narrowed down most of the ingredients for the cure serum, but I can't quite find the last thing. If you two find anything out, please tell me. The cure must be within reach."
She pets one of the cats, which jumped up onto her lap. It then bites her finger and leaps away.
"I wish I could meet this wizard and claw his or her eyes out. I hate magic so, so much... I'll do something to figure out the last ingredient of the magic serum myself, eventually. So is that it? Maddie, have any ideas? I don't have any suggestions. I'm just... Not feeling up to it."
She wanders back to Maddie and leans against her with this kind of wistful pose admiring the ceiling LEDs. Her tail drags across the floor.
"I'm... really not sure where we should go. Maybe we could find that dude from before? He might've discovered something by now. Other than that, I have no clue."
Maddie absentmindedly picks up a cat, holding and petting it. It meows at her, and she looks down at it and meows back.
"But anyways, thanks for the help, Caroline. Vera really isn't taking this whole cat thing very well."
Maddie pats Vera's head as she says this.
"We don't know where he lives, and I'm not convinced he's ever coming back. He probably is glad we didn't kill him or something."
Vera purrs and nuzzles into Maddie's hand with a complete absence of shame. The gesture comforts her when little else does. She then points at the exit and tugs Maddie into it.
"We'll come back later, Caroline. I have some—stuff to think about?"
Caroline's back remains turn, using her computer.
"Good luck. For both of us."
Maddie follows Vera out of the room, petting her as she goes. She remarks on how soft Vera has gotten.
"You seem to really like getting petted now, huh. Well I like petting you. So I'm going to keep petting you. Where are we going now?"
She nods, and she only breaks away from Maddie to climb back down the side of the power plant.
"Let's go back to your home. I'm going to lay down. That was really disappointing. I think I'm really doomed. We're never finding whatever Caroline needs."
She kicks the styrofoam cup they played with earlier to a crevice in a patch of dirt, and it tumbles and then rolls inside.
"I'm still not going back to my society unless I know there's a cure. However, I don't want to get used to this either. But I have to."
Maddie walks with her back home, not quite sure how to comfort her.
"I really don't know what we're supposed to do. But really, I think this isn't so bad. Are you sure you can't go back like this? You could take me with you! It'll be fun!"
Maddie pats Vera once more, enjoying how she nuzzles into it. It's adorable.
"I'm not sabotaging Town with a curse!" She growls. "I am supposed to protect Town from my findings—not join my bloody findings!"
She then remains quiet for some time, continuing her pet-like behavior despite her outburst. They enter the dark subway.
"I guess I couldn't even protect myself. I'm a pretty bad field researcher, aren't I? I hope you don't mind me being your roommate."
"Well, it's not your fault I'm a skilled urban hunter and master of misdirection and stealth. You truly stood no chance."
She chuckles and then gives Vera a gentle hug.
"It's been nice having you as a roommate. I was pretty lonely for a long time. No one to talk to aside from the occasional kid on the street."
Vera considers, again, when Maddie's presence made her sleep so easily. She returns the hug and stretches her arms behind Maddie, which causes a few nice muscle cracks.
"Well, I'd be lonely too. Cursed to be lonely."
They arrive to the subway car, and Vera settles inside the cardboard box again. She breathes in a meditative fashion.
"What do people like us do, again? Seek comfort and fun like... like some kind of hedonists?"
"Well... what does anyone do? Generally, people try to be happy. And simply lounging around and hanging out makes me happy. It's not like society wants me, so why would I work or something like that?"
Maddie sits down at the table, getting some cheese and crackers. She begins munching on them, thinking.
"How's your job? I've never had a job before. It seems like you like it a lot."
"Interesting. And when you say it that way, I suppose no society is really going to want me either, so I suppose I'll just try what you do for a while. With less stealing. Why not, since I'm an outcast now?"
She could worry later about her assignment funds running out. Still, though, she sighs.
"My job isn't important anymore. Not unless we find a cure to this curse. Yes, however, I love being a field researcher and interviewer. I'll miss it a lot."
"Once you're cured, and this is all over... do you think I could go back with you? I don't really have much here. I don't want to be alone again."
Maddie wistfully looks out the window, thinking about how much of the world she can't be a part of.
"I promise we'll get you cured. It's my fault all this happened, anyways."
Maddie walks over to the box and curls up next to Vera. It's comfy.
"If we find a cure, we can take you back with me, yes. Just don't bite people anyway. Our scientists would appreciate your participation in trials and study, like I said. I hope that's fine."
She meows softly and accommodates for Maddie. She could get used to this part of the routine.
"That's a big promise to make. Are you sure you want to make promises like that, 'skilled urban hunter'? Anyway, don't apologize anymore—I get it. Maybe I would have done the same thing. We are creatures of circumstance and impulse."
She bears her sharp teeth to Maddie, and taps one fang with her fingernail.
"Well, I'm clearly more skilled than you. You're the one who got bit. And you probably shouldn't bite anyone. Unless you get lonely and want more catpeople to hang out with. That's kind of part of why I bit you, in truth. But mostly because it was funny. You are pretty funny like this, you know."
Maddie snuggles against Vera, tail waving gently. She wraps her tail around Vera's, and begins to fall asleep.
"Mmmm. Wherever you work sounds nice. I'd love to see it."
"I won't become lonely as long as I reside here. Nobody else needs our curse. I'm sorry you were lonely before, by the way. Like I was saying, I understand now... Anyway, yes, it is nice. Town is a society for some of the greatest minds and their families. We have any food and drink you could want. We have a movie theater, a library, a virtual reality pavilion, a park—anything you could want. If you live there, it's all free to access."
She yawns and pulls down her hoodie from her hair. A long nap, please.
Maddie thinks over Vera's words as she falls asleep. To Maddie, who spent her whole life stealing just to scrape by, Town sounded like heaven. A comfortable home, food whenever you need it, and many places to hang out? Maddie considered it utopian.
"That sounds like a wonderful place. I swear I will get you back to your old life. Have a good nap, Vera."
She soon falls asleep, snoring softly as she cuddles with the other catgirl.