By the time Maddie arrives back at the restaurant, it's quite late. The restaurant is closing up, with the last few customers on their way out. Thankfully, they hadn't been around when Vera had her meltdown, and don't recognize Maddie. She pushes open the door, looking for Ms. Guo.
"Hello? Ms. Guo? Irina sent me. I really need to talk to you!"
A side door creaks open in the hallway to the restaurant kitchen. A woman with as many wrinkles as a crumpled paper walks out, and she waves three fingers. She smells like sesame oil.
"Hi. Why of course. Please have a seat. Would you like a glass of water?"
She's casual taking Maddie into her office. She trusts Irina, Maddie, or maybe both of them. She has many framed pictures of cats. And a cat-themed clock on her desk, with the ceramic cat's white tail wrapped around its circumference.
"I need some frog's legs. Pretty sure any will do. Irina told me it's probably fine to get some if that's okay."
Maddie fidgets a little, a bit uncomfortable asking for something rather than simply taking it.
"Ah."
She opens a drawer and clenches a crowded key ring from inside it.
"Did Irina tell you about that...? I'm sorry, dear. Miss Irina told me it didn't work."
She reaches over Maddie's head and pets her.
"I'm sorry if you're unhappy too."
She reflexively closes her eyes and purrs a little at the petting and then regains her composure.
"I don't think eating them or whatever was the solution. I met a researcher who was similarly afflicted who is missing one piece of the cure. Vera and I think the frog legs might be the final missing component."
"Vera must be the other young lady who came in with you this noon."
Ms. Guo leads them to the aluminum door of the cold storage, and she wrestles into a yellow wool coat from the hanger. She unlocks the door, and one of the many frosty cardboard boxes soon slides onto the floor. She tears the tape open with the key. Frog legs.
"Please take as many as you need. A cure would be wonderful. I'll miss those cute little ears you all have."
"Oh, I don't plan on curing myself. I've been like this since I was six years old; it's just part of who I am at this point. But Vera desperately wants it."
She takes a large bag of them, making sure to seal the zip lock securely.
"Thank you so much. I really hope this works."
"That's nice, dear. It's kind of you to help your friend, then. You seem determined."
She shuts the walk-in fridge behind them, the box left on the ground. She rests on one knee and reties her boots.
"Please come by again. I could get nice clothes for you, or at least a warm to-go box. Be safe."
Maddie gives her a quick hug and then walks to the door.
"Thank you for everything. Have a good evening! I'll be sure to come by again someday."
With that, she steps out of the building and heads out.
--------------------
Walking through the dark, quiet streets, Maddie sees a faint light in the top floor window of an abandoned building, telling her that the researcher is there. She walks over, excited but nervous.
She peeks into the room full of cats, and sees that Caroline has fallen asleep at the keyboard of her computer. She steps over and shakes her shoulder.
"Hey. Wake up, I have important stuff about the cure!"
Caroline blinks sleepily a couple times, looking disoriented.
"Wha? Cure... what are you talking about..."
She yawns, blinks a couple of times, and seems to wake up fully.
"Wait, did you say cure? Did you actually figure something out?!"
Her fluffy tail wags, ears perked up.
"Yeah, I found an old friend and it turns out she had some old wizard scroll or something and it said you need frog legs. Apparently the curse was like actually made by an ancient wizard and the implications of that are really terrifying but I think it's fine?"
Maddie drops the bag of frog legs on Caroline's lap, and begins to head towards the exit.
"I have to make sure Vera isn't burning down a building, have fun figuring this out! Bye bye!"
She pets a cat on her way out.
--------------------
Maddie quietly walks up to the old train wagon, slowly opening the door. It's past midnight by now, and it's pitch dark out. She steps in, looking for Vera.
"Hey? Are you here, Vera? I have some good news for you..."
A tower of all of Maddie's blankets stirs in the center of the room. It's toppled over from inside, and Vera Hanley crawls out with both hands curled up like claws. All of her fingers jitter. She's been drinking too much coffee again.
"I do not care. Do you have a cure or do you not have a cure? Your ex-girlfriend did not inspire me. And I've been bored all day today. You left me alone all day."
She springs up on her socks, and she growls in front of Maddie.
"What if I had been injured in that time?"
"I didn't leave you. You ran away from me. But that's besides the point. What matters is that I gave that crazy researcher the missing piece of the cure and we're finally going to be able to get you fixed up!"
Maddie gives Vera a soft hug, mostly to calm her down.
"I'm sorry all of this happened. Just hold on a little longer, okay? I'm glad you didn't get hurt; you did the right thing just going here where it's safe."
"Okay, but you could have returned to check on me sooner."
Vera closes her eyes as she returns the hug. Her tail then flicks, and she wanders back purring like a low-power motor.
"It does feel safe here. And I'm comfortable, too. I've been just allowing myself naps. Naps, food, and drinks... I hope the cure works, Maddie. I can't become adjusted to this. I'd run out of money, and we'd both become poor. Then what?"
"I've been perfectly fine without money for over a decade now. I hope you enjoyed the naps, I love napping as well. Do you want me lie down with you? It's getting late and it's been a long day."
Maddie quickly strips down to her underwear, then reaches into a compartment in the ceiling and pulls out a set of pajamas. She puts them on and then flops down into the cardboard box-bed.
"C'mon. You look like you could use a bit of cuddles."
Vera averts her eyes from her nakedness and then settles in after her. She curls up pressed to the blanket and Maddie's waist. Her pale face peeks out like a raven's would from a nest.
"I did enjoy those naps—and yes, I think that would be nice. Thank you for trying to cheer my emotions up. You are making me feel better."
She touches Maddie's hand, closes her eyes, and then returns to cradling herself.
Maddie gently wraps her arms around Vera, giving her a soft hug.
"I'm glad I could help a bit. Just hang tight a little bit longer, okay?"
Her eyes close as she begins to drift off to sleep after a long and exhausting day.
--------------------
"We should recover a DVD player tonight. I haven't seen a movie in so long. Do you enjoy movies, Maddie?"
Vera slouches on the office chair she borrowed in Caroline's study, smiling. A small white cat jumps on her lap, and she rubs behind its ears in a way she has been pampered herself recently. It mews gratefully, of course.
"I can't read, but I can definitely enjoy a moving picture with guns or punching or something."
"I can't say I'm one for movies but I'm sure I could find you something. Were you into movies before you were cursed? You seemed like more of the book type."
Maddie is lying down on the floor, where about six cats are flopped against her or on top of her.
"You'll be cured soon enough. Will you really still want to watch a movie with me after that?"
"Yes. I would watch one sometimes after coming home from an assignment to assist in passing the time until my next one. There's other details about my personal life that usually I refrain from mentioning during work. But it seems likely that I'm not working anymore—unless Caroline's cure works."
A plume of green smoke rises from the vat that Caroline leans over. She's wearing a protective suit. It's certainly not a coincidence that it resembles a witch's brew, if it's some ancient curse after all. Vera rolls her eyes.
"Okay, you can watch a movie with me even if I'm cured, how's that?"
"Sounds good to me. You get to pick the movie, okay?"
From across the room, they hear a blorp from the cauldron, followed shortly afterwards by an "Ah-ha!" from Caroline.
"Looks like somethings happening over there. Wanna go take a look? I kind of have several cats on me and I don't want to get up."
"I was going to pick the movie anyway. Fine, though, I'll monitor her progress."
Vera grabs the cat atop of her with both hands and places it down. She's then inches from the surface of the boiling concoction, scratching her own cheek.
"That looks like chicken noodle soup. Thank you for humoring the frog legs. When will it be ready?"
Caroline uses a ladle to carefully scoop up a bit of the steaming liquid. She pours it into a thin vial and then turns to Vera.
"When will it be ready, you ask? Well, the answer is right now!"
She puts the vial to her lips, then chugs it. A few seconds pass, and nothing happens. But then, her tail begins to shrink, the fur thinning as the tail itself seems to collapse in on itself until it is simply gone. The ears on the top of her head rapidly slide down to the sides, turning back into human ones, as her pupils reshape into circles, like black droplets of water pooling from a stream.
"Did it work? Stuff sounds a little different now..."
She pats the top of her head, and finds no ears there.
"Oh shit! It really worked! Amazing!"
She gets another vial, and passes it to Vera.
"Cheers!"
The exit to the room is unobstructed by the other cats, which is great because Vera doesn't want to be here if this old recipe goes awry with some unintentional effect on the scientist. She meows and steps once backwards as Caroline does change after all, and her excitement skyrockets until she just leaps back forward, hugs Caroline's side, and laughs.
"You actually did it! Wow! Maddie, Caroline figured it out!"
She swallows from her vial as well. She traces one ear as it morphs back to its human form and position, and she swipes at her own tail as it shrinks into nothing along with its sensation.
She's embarrassed that she played with her tail like it was a cat bell. She gives Caroline some space and rubs her face with her hands as she then spotlights the past few weeks in her mind.
"Maddie, why didn't you inform me I was being—weird? Although, I suppose I already recognize the answer you're about to give me."
Maddie tilts her head for a moment, seemingly contemplating the question.
"Because it was funny."
Maddie giggles, and begins to walk out the room.
"I assume you want to pick up your tablet and clothes, so you should probably follow me back to my home."
The field researcher groans at the catgirl.
She exchanges a safe contact number for Caroline, pleasantly surprised to be remembering this number. She requests to Caroline that she should provide the antidote to Vera soon so that an incident like this could never escalate again. And she joins Maddie outside, taking the stairs.
"Are you referring to the clothes you bought me? I'm not sure I will wear them anymore. Town's tailor will refit me a new uniform. Sorry."
She types a message to Town on the flip phone about their triumph.
"Were you still interested in returning to my home? Town's leading team of scientists will find you interesting. Furthermore..."
"Hm? What were you saying? And sure I'll go with you. I'm not really doing much here anyways. You're still cute by the way."
Maddie continues walking with Vera towards the old train station, now wondering if it's the last time she'll go there.
"I hope I can stay there. I've never really had... friends, until you showed up, really. I kind of feel like most people think I shouldn't exist, so I never really tried to meet anyone. Apart from Irina, of course."
"Please don't call me cute anymore. Maybe your choice of word could be 'intelligent' or 'brave,' but it definitely cannot be cute."
Her poor night vision came back. Bummer. She stays close behind Maddie.
"Thank you for helping me return to normal. You did not have to do anything, but you did anyway. If it's assuring to hear, you should know that you deserve to exist. I understand your perspective and... You are not a monster. Because a cure has been invented, you're a homeless woman rather than a cursed, homeless woman."
Maddie also has a good heart to begin with, her chaos notwithstanding. Some charity should be in order.
"I'll get you assistance on your paperwork for long-term immigration to Town."
"Oh about that. I don't think I'm going to take the cure. While it has its downsides, I really do enjoy being this way. It's just part of who I am. But thank you for the reassurance anyways, Vera."
They finally arrive back at the station, where Maddie enters the wagon and sits down in her box.
"I can take this with me, right? I'm going to miss my little home..."
"Yes, I understand that. I'm speaking more in terms of the possibility that you could accidentally curse other residents of Town and that the antidote makes this stay in Town safe."
Vera gathers her taser and busted tablet from the corner of the room. She sits on the floor.
"You can take whichever items you want. Except that item."
She points at the microwave rigged to that set of batteries.
"I believe that would qualify as a hazard. Anyway, Maddie, I suppose it's possible you could return here on visitations sometimes. You would need proper clearance, but you could see this train car and Irina again."
Maddie goes to her freezer, pulling out the smaller nested freezers until she finds the smallest one, which has a smiley face drawn on it in marker.
"I'm taking Lord Albert with me. He's important."
She starts packing some of her clothes into her box, as well as a couple of other personal belongings. She takes one last look around, then steps to the door with her box.
"So, are they just gonna appear now?"
She places the hoodie on that Maddie bought her before. Truthfully, showing the street wear is better compared to showing off her messy hair. It's almost grown enough to touch her shoulders. She shakes her head and then smiles briefly.
"It's a small road trip to the 'pills.' Have you been outside of the city?"