Down the street, they see the library, the glass part facing the side of the street that they are on. They walk down the street without issue, Maddie silently following Vera as they approach.
"Aaand here we are! Boring building full of books. I'm not quite sure what we're actually going to find here that's helpful, but I'll just follow you around and act like I'm helping. I'm very helpful when I try."
The library interior is massive. Rows of shelves have considerable distance in-between, and yet most genres are represented. A second floor is accessible by elevator and stairway, and off to the far left is the other large area of the library mimicking a European castle. Vera, however, laps the wall of this glass area, reading the several pinned papers and notes from employees as well as library visitors in the more dedicated bulletin boards. She sighs.
"My society has many bulletins resembling this one and even some digital examples. Unfortunately, much like theirs, I can locate no information pertaining to magic."
She asks the desk clerk if she can dial a phone number. It rings dead.
"Do you want to try something, Maddie?" The field researcher rubs her temples, frustrated.
"Why don't we go look in the castley part of the library. That's where a wizard would probably be. I bet they'll be pondering an orb or something."
Maddie puts her hands together excitedly, clearly lost in the idea of meeting a stereotypical wizard.
"Maybe they'll have a magic staff and stuff! Maybe they'll even teach me how to be a wizard! Come on, let's go look!"
Maddie pulls Vera by the arm towards the medieval-looking part of the library, so excited that her tail threatens to slip from the coat.
"I suppose that was the original plan we had in mind. However, allow me to interact first with any wizards we meet. I'm not convinced they will be as friendly to delve in their arcana as you believe."
She comes along by Maddie's side, then, amused by the catgirl's imagination. Vera had similar perceptions of what the magical world resembled when she was just starting her training. Modern, civilian books and movies are guesswork at best, it turns out.
The large room is dark and moody for a library, almost resembling a cavern more than a castle. There are frequent lamps that resemble candle lights by different chairs, sofas, and desks, however. Vera quickly resumes scanning the postings even across unlit sections of wall.
"You may grab a book if you want," She says.
Maddie look around, seeing if there's anyone else in the room. Disappointed by the lack of wizards, or anyone in particular, she starts scanning the shelves. After a few moments, she stops abruptly while looking at the books.
"I just realized... it's been over 10 years since I last read a book. I'm not even sure if I remember how to read a book at this point..."
She walks over to Vera again, cocking her head in thought.
"You're a nerd, why don't you find a book."
Vera normally would easily be able to quickly look through the shelves and mentally pick out books that might be useful, but today she feels overwhelmed by the vast shelves of books. Concentrating in general has become harder as the morning has gone on, she has noticed.
Vera crosses her arms and shakes her head. With growing urgency, she then plucks out some books individually to read the title and back of. They're little use for her, even if she wasn't hexed.
"Maddie, I think I'm getting really stressed out, probably. Are we even in the right section...? None of the postings got me anywhere, so we'll need something else. Ideally a book discussing magic or a magic user. They must have something."
Vera breathes in deeply and shoves the books arbitrarily into gaps in the nearest bookshelf. Most are not even in the right category anymore. She walks out of the aisle.
"Anyway, I'm sorry you might not be able to read books anymore. Furthermore, while reading is something I enjoy sometimes, I don't really intend my visit to last long enough to justify reading, for example, fiction."
Maddie follows Vera out of the aisle, looking around for books that stand out.
"So... are we looking for books that look like they have arcane sigils or something on them? Magicy looking stuff?"
She looks up, and sees a deep purple book high on one of the shelves, about 10 feet off the ground. Rather than looking for a ladder, Maddie simply walks up and hooks her fingers around one of the shelves as if testing if it would topple if she climbed on it.
"Hm. That book up there looks magic looking. Want to go get that one? I can climb up, unless you want to go up and get it."
"Yes, 'magic-y looking stuff,' as you would phrase it."
Vera shares a toothy smirk up at the book Maddie singled out. She, too, places her hand on the shelf, lightly shaking it. It's firm.
"What kind of library keeps books on shelves that high? Just another example of our bad luck. No matter, I'll grab it."
She closes her eyes, washing out this overstimulation of the library's offerings again. And she plants her shoes on top of an empty pocket of the lowest shelf off the ground. She's pleased, and she then drops a few novels and a manuscript onto the floor to make room for her next step up the shelf.
Unfortunately, while the shelf itself holds, its supports pop on both sides, and it crashes down to the ground with all of its contents in one brief flurry of pages.
"Why did I ever think that would work?" She grabs her own head and pulls on it. An audience of a few people gathers at the end of the aisle, including a library staff member. "Please, this can't be happening—"
Maddie, watching the disaster unfold, reacts quickly. She grabs Vera's arm as she's panicking and begins to pull her with her, away from the growing group of onlookers.
"We have to get the fuck out of here, come on. I have no idea why you would do something that stupid, but please just move."
Maddie pulls her along, trying to escape the library as quickly as possible. Worried about moving in such a hurry, Maddie glances back at Vera and herself to check if their tails have accidentally poked out from under their coats. To her horror, Vera's tail, unaccustomed to being tucked beneath a coat, has slipped out from under it, waving far too naturally from the lower part of her coat. There are still people turning to see the commotion as they rush out of the library.
"Come on, let's just go. Keep moving please."
"You're the one who said I could go up and get it! Whose stupid idea was that?"
A low growl bubbles from Vera's throat, but she coordinates with Maddie's escape. They run through the front door of the castle themed area of the library, and they dart into a side alleyway after passing by a couple of small businesses.
She frowns, stares into Maddie's feline eyes, and pushes the woman backwards into a stumble. She watches her fingers curl up afterwards, like a paw.
"Maddie, I hate you. Obviously this curse isn't just a cosmetic change. And I could be stuck like this forever. I'm going to be, regardless, at this rate."
She sniffles.
Maddie catches her balance, and over at Vera, noting that her eyes now looked as feline as her own.
"I... I really didn't know it did that much. I didn't expect it to do so much to you. I don't even know where to begin on fixing this. I've never been able to so much as consider it, every day for me is just focusing on surviving until the next. I don't have a real home, I don't have a reliable source of food and drink. I just hope that I can keep living as I do. Biting you was a panic decision, I had to deal with you somehow and it was the fastest way to do that. I'm sorry if you get stuck like this. Maybe you'll just have to learn to live with it."
Maddie looks down, no longer willing to make eye contact. She takes a deep breath, trying not to succumb to Vera's infectious panic.
"But I do have to try to help you now. Both because if you get taken or whatever they'd do to a cursed cat person, they'll probably get me too. And also, because it's the least I can do after what I did to you. I'm sorry."
Vera rubs her eyes with her knuckles. She walks deeper into the alley, and she removes her raincoat. Her tail thrashes about.
"You don't seem to know anything, Maddie... I wish this could all be over like a bad dream. Regardless, I hear you, and—I'm going to make sure you have a lunch and dinner every day, as long as I'm here. You should be sorry, however. You should have done something else. I would have a hard time adjusting to this state of being. It'd take years. I'm not kidding you when I suggest I'm unsure I would be accepted home, either. Even if I lied about the infectious nature of my being, it wouldn't change that I know I could infect my peers someday. I'm not willing to put Town at risk of this curse. So I'm staying here unless—no, until I'm cured."
She reaches the wall at the end of the alley. She grabs her own shoulders and slides her back down the wall.
"Just take me to the subway again and don't talk to me."
"Alright... although we can't move through the street with you... like that."
Maddie gestures to Vera's tail, free from the coat and waving, reflecting Vera's motions and thoughts.
"We'll need to find an alternate way back. Maybe we can climb a building, and go across rooftops until we find our way back."
Maddie glances up, looking for a suitable section of wall to climb. She sees a fire escape a few feet off the ground, leading up to the roof on the fifth floor.
Vera gazes at the section of the wall Maddie notices, and she tilts her head. Moments later, however, Vera slumps even lower on the wall and grabs her forehead.
"No. I can't climb anything, Maddie, if I can't climb a bookshelf. We should just wait until it's less crowded outside."
She closes her eyes and starts to lie across the asphalt. It's unpleasant.
She can't help but to see herself as a woman in a monster's skin. Shape has a point about first impressions. Maybe Vera should stay out of sight.
Maddie paces back and forth across the alleyway, her own tail freed and waving back and forth, reflecting her motions.
"We're in the downtown part of the city. It's not going to become less busy anytime soon; we can't sit here all day long."
Maddie stalks over to the moping woman. She reaches down, and shakes her shoulder.
"Get up. Just because this sucks doesn't mean you can be so whiny. Honestly? This is stupid. Let's just walk back to the subway. It's a big city, no one will remember us or care in the slightest."
Vera grumbles and collects herself from the floor. She grabs her tail in her hand, studying it. It's not fluffy.
"I've earned the right to be whiny. I'm going to remind you that I don't really feel like talking, and that this is all your fault. Okay, though, let's walk back. Call me Carrie if anyone asks, obviously."
The cat girl then walks back out of the alley, not waiting for Maddie. Her chin dips down, her face follows the sidewalk, and her hands move to cover her ears.
The crowd notices her. Most are too bewildered to respond more than staring or even reaching for their camera. Some strangers start shouting, however.
Maddie rolls her eyes, remaining in the shadows of the alley for a moment longer before darting out of the alleyway, running towards Vera. She grabs her arm, pulling her with her away from the crowd of onlookers, down the busy street.
"You're just about as stupid as I am, huh. Come on, safety's not too far away. Just run with me."
Maddie pushes through crowds, not caring about the onlookers and running through active traffic, barely avoiding people and cars alike.
"I'm not an idiot!" Vera pants. She darts along with Maddie, somehow maintaining her quick pace. She presses down on her ears, and she tries to just focus on what's directly in front of them. She's threatened, again, by being overwhelmed...
Thankfully, no one at all halts them in their chaotic path to the subway entrance, and they slow down in the abandoned tracks leading up to Maddie's overgrown home. It's much brighter here in the tunnels than Vera remembers, however.
She tugs her arm away from Maddie. She wipes a tear from her eye and, after some minutes, she grabs a piece of equipment from the gravel. Her taser hasn't been confiscated or damaged. But she groans at it anyway.
In the darkness, Maddie slowly and silently creeps up behind Vera, much like she did when they first met. However, this time, rather than grabbing her arm, Maddie gently puts a hand on top of Vera's head, patting and petting between her soft ears.
Normally, Vera would object to this sudden contact in such a situation, but it feels strangely calming and relaxing, and her worries, while not washed away, are eased.
Maddie simply stays with her, gently petting her head wordlessly, soothing her.
Her muscles deflate, then, and her head limps backwards into Maddie's hand. A confused smile grows from her tight lips. And she hardly walks forward at all.
The catgirl purrs and mews. Her tail grazes Maddie's stomach and side. Her ears twitch sometimes. Her taser dangles from just a few fingers.
Eventually, she mumbles, "At least this feels nice."
Seeing Vera has calmed down, Maddie begins to walk with her, bringing her down the tunnel towards the dilapidated station.
"Let's get you back to the house. You look like you need to sit down and process all of this for a moment."
Maddie's tail brushes against Vera's, an interesting sensation for Vera and one that Maddie hasn't felt in a long time, having not interacted with another catperson in years.
She walks back to the station with Vera, and Maddie once again leads her inside of the carriage.
"Do you want something to eat or drink? I don't know if I can go out and get more things with the chaos we caused, but I can try to get you something."
Vera nods, and she walks always within Maddie's reach. Vera isn't even really sure why cats have tails to begin with, but maybe one reason is because it assists cats in communicating nonverbally with their peers?
In the subway car, Vera sits down on the mattress, places her taser to her bedside, and plants her cheeks to her curled up fingers. It's almost an impression of ignoring her fellow cat girl, but she then follows through with an answer.
"I'm not that hungry. It's okay. Thank you for helping me back here."
Although Vera did not and does not want the first-hand experience, she has today now anyway. This is life in a city as a different sapient species from humans.
"Actually, Maddie, do you happen to have a writing instrument and paper?"
Maddie stops and thinks, racking her brain trying to remember if she has anything like that.
"Hm. Let me check the boxes. They're full of random stuff I've collected over the years."
Maddie steps over to the back corner of the room, and begins digging through an impressively large pile of boxes. Eventually, she lets out a triumphant "Ah!" and tosses something to Vera.
It's a pink pen, with a weird smiley face drawn on a small sphere attached to the back of the pen.
"I've never actually used it. It was called a 'Keerbo Pen' whatever that means, I just grabbed it because I thought it was cute. Now let me find some paper."
Maddie digs around some more, eventually pulling out an entire pile of blank printing paper.
"Here we go, I nabbed these from an office building. I was bored and saw people using the printer, so I snuck in and took out all the paper as a prank. They got so confused when they had no paper in a printer they had just restocked!"
Maddie walks over to Vera and plops down the papers, seemingly satisfied with her handiwork.
Vera catches the pen. She squishes the pink ball of the pen between her thumb and index finger, and it squeaks. She shakes her head, then. As soon as the papers are at her feet, she presses one of the pages against the back of her busted tablet and writes furiously.
"Thank you, Maddie. I would say to not steal from an office, however I find on many of my assignments that offices have some of my most important intel. So, anyway, I'm documenting mostly what I've learned about your curse of becoming a catgirl, about you, and about how it's affecting me... I suppose this is how I want to process this, making notes, as I always do."
Vera writes slower, however, than when she types on her keyboard on her tablet. And she reviews her writing even more slowly than the writing itself. She bites her lip.
"What were you like before you got bit by the cat?"
Maddie stops and cocks her head, thinking back.
"I... don't remember much. I was pretty young, but I think I always was a bit chaotic, even before the curse. I got into trouble fairly often; that's actually what I was doing when I found the cat."
Maddie turns to the microwave, once again preparing it for use.
"So yeah. I don't know if the curse changed me as much as it changed you. The real reason I live alone like this is because... my parents kicked me out when they saw what happened to me. Thought I was a demon or something, they screamed at me. Threw me away. But hey, I'm better off without them now I suppose."
"The curse hasn't changed the way I behave dramatically, has it?—Other than, well, apparently making it harder for me to read... I suppose I'm going to stop proofreading soon. Who should care about a few typos?"
She groans, though, and she stops writing to address Maddie with more focus. Staring at what she wants to think about works better now. Vera's black hair hasn't been brushed since this all began.
"I'm sorry your parents rejected you after your transformation. I wonder if my own mother and father would have done the same. I can assure you that you're much better than a monster. The truth is that I still intend to help you when I'm fully human again."
Vera's tongue slightly peeks past her lips as she continues writing.
Maddie looks at Vera, slightly confused.
"What do you mean by 'help' me? I can't exactly just become a part of society. I don't think money or whatever you have will solve that."
Maddie finishes fixing the microwave, and puts in a piece of steak from the night before. The microwave sparks for a moment and then hums to life.
Vera shrugs.
"If we figure out how to cure me of the curse, we'll probably figure out how to cure you too. That should work."
The field researcher cups her chin and blinks slowly. She then shoves aside the stack of papers, and she lies on her stomach. Her tail wiggles behind her.
"Okay. That should be good for the present moment. That's not even all my recent thoughts on paper, but I—need a break. A break to do what exactly?"
Her low growl fills the railcar.
"I don't know what you want a break for. Why don't you take a nap or something? Maybe you should lie down for a bit; it's been a pretty hectic day so far."
Maddie puts her steak on a plate, and moves over to the table. She begins eating, enjoying the delicious microwaved meal.
"Plus you'll look really cute napping. I'll probably nap as well, I do it pretty often. Probably a bit of a cat thing."
Vera's ears automatically register the compliment with a perk. She grabs the pillow behind her on the mattress and digs her nose into it, apparently content to sleep on her chest after all.
"Some refer to it colloquially as a 'catnap,' after all. I likely have no other choice. Even my coffee earlier couldn't save me from this, it seems."
She guides the blanket over her back, and she yawns.
"Maddie, I'm choosing to trust you. I think I'm still changing. Please don't let me do anything stupid. I need to stay focused. If you have to put me on a leash, please don't hesitate. I'm serious."
"You'll be fine. I've been cursed for over a decade and I'm okay. Don't worry, we'll get you returned to how you were soon enough."
Maddie, having finished her meal now, walks over and sits down next to Vera.
"Just rest now... you will need it," Maddie says in a soothing tone.
She gently pets Vera along her back, comforting her. It helps her fall asleep.
She nods, lazily.
"Okay. Thank you, Maddie."
Vera, physically comforted as a cat girl, sleeps easily.