The New Additions

Anna’s eyes popped open instantly, looking straight up towards the purple ceiling. Considering the light, it must’ve been morning. Although… Colors seemed to be blurred, especially at the corners of her vision. It took a few moments to adjust before her sight went back to normal, if a bit more vibrant than usual.

The surprise was immediately overshadowed by a sudden calm that took her without warning. She just felt… Not quite sleepy, but more like things would just glide off of her right now. Like she’d lost her ability to feel concerned about most things.

She did remember her dreams this time, though. This warranted telling Lucie about them. “Lucie.” she called. “Hey, Lucie, wake up.” She stood up and shook her friend for a bit, who slowly emerged.

“...Wha?” Lucie slurred. “Whazzapening?”

“I just realized I had a dream last night, and I also had one this time too!”

“...Waitaminit…” Lucie grabbed her phone on her nightstand and looked at the time, then sighed. “Anna, iz the middle of the night.”

“...You’re kidding right? It’s bright as hell right now.”

Lucie jolted awake. “Wait, what?” She reached for the lightswitch in an instant and turned the lights on. Anna felt blinded and had to close her eyes for an instant, which quickly adjusted to the sudden brightness. But Lucie… Lucie was speechless when she caught a glance of her friend.

“Err… Are you okay, Lucie?”, Anna asked, leaning her head on the side.

It escaped her lips before she could think. “Oh god my hunch was right.”

Anna quickly grabbed at her ears -why did she reflexively reach for the top of her head?- and found them fluffier than usual. They were triangular, and covered in fur. She looked down at her back and found a tail, slightly swaying left and right, having managed to snake its way out of her pajama pants. Glancing back at her friend, she found herself plainly saying “Oh.”

Lucie was doing her best to keep it together. “ ‘Oh’? That’s all that inspires you?”

Anna thought for a moment. “...I guess?”

“This is a pretty fricking big deal, Anna.”

“Yeah, I know… It’s just, ‘oh’, you know.”

“No I don’t! I don’t get it! How are you so calm about this!?” She did her best to silence her voice, not wanting to wake her parents up.

“I honestly have no idea.” Anna replied, her eyes fixated on her friend's face.

“Wh… What?”

“Seriously, I don’t know.”

Lucie took a few minutes to just process it all, her mouth agape. Anna was glaring at her with little conviction, occasionally licking the back of her hand.

“Oh my god you even act like a cat.” Lucie muttered.

She paused to process what she was doing. “I guess I do, yeah.”

“C’mon.” Lucie pulled her blankets aside, grabbed Anna’s hand and dragged her to the bathroom.

“Yep, these are cat ears.” Remarked Anna as if that was the peak of her analysis. She’d been looking at the mirror for a while, just taking in her new elements. Like, the ears and tail she’d already noticed, but thanks to the mirror she could see her eyes had changed too, her irises had become green and her pupils had taken the shape of a slit, like Qelhatat’s. Even her hair had changed texture, feeling a bit more spiky to the touch. Opening her mouth, her teeth had become pointier and her tongue was covered in little backwards-facing spikes. “Heh heh… I’m cute.” She smiled and playfully touched her cheeks a bit.

Lucie was looking away, slightly blushing. “Urgh…” She sighed and calmed herself. “If only I had listened to my hunch. We could’ve prepared for this. I mean, the evidence was right there…”

“It’s fine.” said Anna, turning around and jumping to sit on the sink countertop, a little tingle escaping her collar. “Anyway, I guess it’s that ladycat’s doing? She looked pretty concerned when I left her.”

Lucie's gaze snapped back to her friend “...Who?”

“You know, the lady from my dreams.” Anna replied, lightly tapping her noggin.

Lucie exhaled a mighty sigh. “Okay. No. You haven’t told me about that yet. Back up a bit, please.”

“Okay, so, yesterday when I went to sleep, in my dream I found myself in some sort of weird pink room…”

“...And then I told her ‘But the portal’s broken!’ and she was like ‘You’re kidding right?’ and that’s when I woke up.” Anna finished her explanation with a toothy smile.

Lucie had to hold herself on the towel handlebar to keep herself from falling in shock. “So our adversary is a body-snatching catgirl queen from an ancient Egypt in another universe. Just… Wow.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Hey, catgirl! That’s what I am now, isn’t it?” Anna replied with a little satisfied hum.

Lucie finally cracked a smile. “I guess, yeah… It’s really disconcerting how bubbly you’ve become, though.”

“That’s fair.” The shorter girl started swinging her legs back and forth. “I actually really wanna feel worried right now, but I just can’t somehow.”

Her smile didn’t last long. “Excuse me to say that again, but wait, what?”

Anna shrugged.

Lucie’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought of something. She looked at Anna. “I think I’m having another hunch.”

“Ah?”

“Yeah. Not gonna keep this one for myself though, one mistake was enough.” She raised her hand to her face and pointed her index up. “What are you thinking right now? Like, just blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind.”

Anna dropped down from the counter. “I wanna hug you.”

“Oh, uh…” Lucie blushed and coughed. “Anyway, what else?”

Anna thought for a bit. “No, that’s it.”

“Really? Nothing else?” The other girl asked.

She nodded negatively.

“What if you focus? Does anything else pop to mind?”

Sure, she could do that. Anna closed her eyes and tried to look for other thoughts she could be having.

She realised what Lucie must’ve been thinking - she was assaulted by little thoughts of immediacy. Trying to brush them off and they only reappeared elsewhere, slogging her ability to reach further. Still, she said aloud a few of them for Lucie to hear. “I want to be warm.” “I like the smell of this room.” “I’m kinda hungry.” “I like being like this...” This one was trailing off. She tried to grasp onto it, use it as a lifeline to plunge deeper into her mind. “I like being like this, but… But what if… What if it’s the collar that’s making me enjoy this? What if I stop enjoying it?” She could feel her eyes growing watery. This process was surprisingly exhausting, but she felt like if she just reached further… “Will it be okay? Won’t it cause trouble? Won’t I cause trouble? I don’t want this to end. What if it does? I’m scared.” She felt so close to the deeper end. If she just dug a little more… “I’m scared my parents will make it end. I’m scared of what people will say. I just want to be myself...” She managed to grasp onto her thoughts by the tip of her fingers. It was as if a tornado in her mind was trying to get her off, but she held on and tightened her grip.

She was about to collapse onto her knees, but Lucie managed to grab her before she fell. She was heavily panting, tears pouring over her face. But, most importantly, she felt in control of her emotions again, and she was determined not to let go.

“What just happened to me…?” Anna asked, desperate for an explanation.

“Must be part of that lady’s plan to take over your brain, I bet. She’s trying to prevent you from thinking or something.” Lucie was seething.

This didn’t sound right, but… She had no idea what it could actually be. “I… I’m just glad to be in control of myself again.”

They bent down on their knees and hugged for a while, letting one another’s head rest on the other’s shoulder.

“The trouble just keeps piling up, doesn’t it?” Lucie sighed and closed her eyes, slowly caressing Anna between her new ears.

It was soothing beyond a level she ever expected. She felt a wave of relief wash over her, bringing her tense expression back into a smile. “Aah… Whatever you’re doing, please don’t stop…”

“Mmh?” Lucie reopened her eyes and glanced at her hand. “Oh wow, I didn’t even realise I was… You really like it that much?”

She felt Anna’s tightening grip as her only response, a relaxing vibration reverberating in her body.

“Anna…” Lucie smiled tenderly, interrupting it only to yawn. “Anna, you’re purring.” But while she did get a glance of acknowledgement, there was no further answer. Anna wanted to bask in this feeling, so she let her, for a while. Ultimately though, the time of the night caught up to her. “I need to go back to sleep.” She accompanied with another yawn.

And so, they’d moved back into their bedroom. Lucie collapsed nonchalantly on her bed, scuttered towards her pillow and swiped her blanket over herself again.

Anna was standing back, feeling a bit concerned. She was afraid to turn back into carefree kitty mode, and so made sure to keep a small part of her brain focused on not letting that happen.

“Uuuuh, I need sleep so muuuch…” Groaned Lucie in her pillow, before lifting her head up again. “Though, I kinda wanted to ask something first, Anna…”

Anna hesitated for a moment, and went to sit on her sleeping bag. “Sure, what is it?”

“Want us to be a thing?” Lucie asked plainly.

It took her by surprise, and she blushed immensely. “What do you mean?” she asked, pretending not to have understood it correctly.

“Like, you know, a couple, girlfriend and girlfriend, cute lesbians...”

Anna grew redder with each description, hiding her face behind her hands. A lesbian? Her? That word felt forbidden to her. She hadn’t even been a girl for more than two days! Yet, she could do that? Just go and call herself a girl that loved girls?

...But that was what she was, wasn’t it? What she’d always been, but just didn’t know. Anna, the girl with a crush on a friend which also was a girl. Well, and also one on…

She muttered something, muffled by her hands.

“Mmh?” Inquired Lucie, slightly lifting her head up.

“I want to, but…” She repeated.

Lucie turned herself on her back and looked at her.

“I think I… Sam…” The words came out with difficulty.

Lucie showed a pained expression. “Ah… I thought you were…”

She’d misunderstood. Anna tried to clarify what she meant, but her thoughts were too difficult, too embarrassing to say. She jumbled some more words out of her mouth. “No! No no, I meant, Sam, too! Like…!” Her face was culminating towards red beet. She’d never done that before, fall in love with one person… Even less so two…

“Gosh, and you’re polyamorous too?” replied Lucie with a lack of tact fueled by her exhaustion.

Anna felt relief wash over her. Once again what she was had a name? So it wasn’t bizarre, then? It wasn’t unheard of? It wasn’t abnormal, or wrong? The words could come out now. “Yes. I love you… And I love Sam too.”

“I am so happy for you, girl.” Lucie replied with a smile, as well as somewhat uncharacteristic fingerguns. “And now I feel like I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t ask you what about them charmed you.”

Anna hesitated. “I don’t… know… They’re pretty? And protective? And kind, and smart, and gosh they don’t let anyone walk them or their friends over? Maybe it’s not enough and I shouldn’t be liking them… but…” Her train of thought was interrupted by a somber realisation. “And what if I’m being unfair to them? Like, only their appearance changed, that’s always who they’d been, why didn’t I love them before? Wouldn’t it be unfair to love them only after the change, when I couldn’t do it before despite the fact they were the same person, only in a different body?”

Lucie snappily replied with an angry tone. “Anna, what would be unfair to them would be to not let go of what they used to look like and to refuse to date them because of the past.”

Anna fell silent, guilt overtaking her for ever thinking it in those terms.

Lucie sighed in her pillow. “Sorry. I shouldn’t even have asked why you were attracted. It was none of my concern.”

Anna swept the palm of her hand over her face. “No, no, it’s fine. I needed to be taught that.”

“Really going back to sleep now though. See ya in the morning.” Lucie turned around to face the wall and stood immobile.

Maybe it was time for Anna to do the same, but… Sleeping on her butt was impossible with her tail, and the covers didn’t feel right. She pulled them aside and contented herself with the mattress, though she discovered with a bit of uneasiness she felt the need to curl up into a ball to fall asleep.