Part 5 - Pictures, Pokes, Friendly Folks, and Old Places

Slowly, I slipped my left hand out of my pocket and placed it next to theirs. I had to do it gently, like I wasn’t touching a person at all. But I managed to do it. She…I figured no matter how the figure started….that was how it was going to be, gave a delighted squeak, and urged me, “Oh my gosh! Look at it!”

With much reservation, I did look. She became much smaller in shape and height. Those brilliant blue eyes took on a slightly-greenish but similar hue. The heavy hoodie peeled back into a similarly-colored dress that looked like something between a fancy gown and a maid’s outfit with an assortment of white lace that sprouted everywhere.

She turned in place and delighted as her figure filled out in a way that complimented her outfit and begged me to take a picture. She had dainty fingers. Her hair, once like my neighbor’s, still had the same sort of wave to it but took on a bright tone of fuchsia between pink and purple. It still appeared realistic in the same, anime-like way as I’d seen before with these transformations. She embraced her long, skinny tail and batted it around as she played with her ears.

In another moment, she turned her attention back to me and asked, “You want a picture, don’t you?”

She gave a sly wink like she’d plucked that directly out of my brain. My dangling mouth was answer enough for her as she took her phone out of a rearranged pocket and snapped a few poses which I tried to hold with my gaze. After that, she asked for my email and I carefully recited every odd character for her and watched as she inputted my address. I nearly had to turn away and quiver when the phone gave a firm beep that the images were received.

And then, she didn’t leave. She stayed around and asked me about how I came into this power and how it worked. I kept my distance as she leaned closer to me, which only flared her curiosity higher. I blurted out what I’d done to my landlord with a grimace and the uncertainty of the magnitude of a second touch.

“Oh! I almost want to try it myself. Though, I wouldn’t want to completely lose myself. Still, I can feel….I’m not sure what the best word for it is but…like the catgirl is inside as well as outside.” She batted a hand for emphasis like a paw with a giggle and a smile.

I wore a heavy frown as I asked, “Is it okay?” She raised an eyebrow at that to ask, “That you did something I love? It’s quite fine.”

Twirling a bit, she played with her outfit and then turned to look over at me before saying, “Thank you.” I gave her a nod and a nervous look across her entire shape, before I resolved, “I suppose I’ll be going…”

She took a few steps in the direction I started towards, asking, “Eager to look at those pictures?” They were on my mind, but I certainly wasn’t going to admit to that directly. I told her, “I figure that’s it…”

With a cute, small sound, she muttered, “Doesn’t have to be. We can walk together. Talk a bit, no reason to just poke me and run.”

“Oh…I didn’t mean to do anything like that…” She assured me not to worry.

I wasn’t much at conversation, especially when walking, so I let her lead it. I clung to fragments about interests I didn’t quite understand. She did seem to be a big reader, which didn’t help me in the least because every title she rattled off was met with a blank look and a nervous nod from me.

I learned to call her ‘Allison’. She also mentioned “Moon”, but I wasn’t exactly sure if that was supposed to be her last name, a name she wanted to take up since her transformation, or a nickname. It seemed important to her though, so I kept it in mind.

The whole ordeal was exhausting, but I found Allison surging forward with quick steps and moving her cat ears and tail at random times. She sang a few songs I didn’t know either. She brought up anime and TV shows. In the latter, I only had a few snippets from online but anime was something I could finally feel comfortable mentioning.

I felt like I contributed a little there even though the types of shows we each saw didn’t really match up. There were one or two. But it kinda went like discovering one which we both knew, a little flash of recognition, and she’d say something about what she liked and then my reaction was to agree with her in a passive sort of way even if my feelings weren’t quite the same. So, the feeling flattened until another show was chanced upon. Despite this disjointed method, we passed the time till I got back to my apartment complex.

She admired it and noted from what I’d told her, “There are two adorable catgirls tucked away somewhere in there.” And there was another standing before me.

After giving my address and number (I couldn’t remember if I’d given them), I turned towards my apartment, but she called me back.

“I just wanted to say again. Thank you. Thank you so much. The ears and tail are a bonus along with the desire to hunt small prey…heh. But your touch…you’ve changed my entire life. I just don’t have the words. I feel like I’m finally me…I owe you so much. Thank you.”

I nodded to that. I was doing it just because I wanted to make catgirls. I didn’t know if anyone would actually appreciate it, especially after how uneven things had been so far. I didn’t really tell her how I felt, but I did manage a hopelessly generic, “I hope you have a good afternoon.” To which she answered, “I will.”

There was a moment where it looked like she might hug me, but I wrapped my arms because I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about a normal hug with this catgirl touch on top of it. I did have a series of photos from her email when I got back to my apartment. They went into a special folder on my computer before being carefully backed up along with all the artworks of catgirls I liked the most. I flipped between them more times than I’d really like to admit, and that evening was filled with fresh fantasies that tore me in several different directions. For one, I wondered if she would’ve become even cuter if I’d tried a second or longer touch or something else. The unknown of it delighted and terrified me in equal measure.

Allison sent me plenty of messages and I replied to a few politely. She even rang me to mention things in her life which really delighted and excited her. Some of it involved shopping and the same things we’d mentioned in passing during our walk. Before her call ended though, she told me something which surprised me, “I know someone else I think you should make into a catgirl.”

I tried to dissuade her from the idea. It had been a little time since her transformation and I’d never even gotten close to touching another person. I wasn’t entirely sure how she got this person’s information. Apparently, they worked a job not too different from mine, although Allison characterized them as stressed whereas work was one of the few places where the tedium and repetition of not having to think about customer service freed me from my anxiety.

It took several days of prodding and persistence from Allison before I even considered it. I pushed back with questions about whether she was wrong. I didn’t want to revisit memories of the landlord, wherever she was now. Her answer was to find the librarian I’d only shared a few words with. I had to catch my breath when I saw the two of them together as full catgirls.

Allison presented Alexis as proof that what I was doing was a good thing. Alexis was quiet and very polite with an anime kind of mood to her. Knowing what I wanted, Allison had gotten her to take photos and she’d even done beautiful artwork from them, which rivaled much of my private collection.

I received assurances that neither had become a medical test subject or were being hounded by the press. How and why, I wasn’t entirely sure. It seemed most people responded with a shrug of uncertainty or a sigh of indifference. I only found local news topics about Alexis, and they barely even mentioned her cat-like features. Considering all the interest which had surrounded her in the library, I found that hard to swallow and I also feared there were aspects to this ability beyond what I’d seen so far. Was I altering reality itself?

I didn’t pose this question to the girls, but I had tried to return to Gloria’s apartment more than once to talk to her mysterious friend. But, every time I went to where Gloria’s apartment should’ve been, it was like there was one less room than usual, even though the building hadn’t gotten smaller. Eventually, like I was in the same not-quite-trance I was in when I was around her, I’d find myself in my own apartment without any clear memory of what I’d been doing between searching for Gloria and returning home. This happened from time to time, but I tried not to worry about it too much.

Still, I had to admit, as far as I could interpret someone else’s emotions (and that’s not saying much), Allison and Alexis both seemed very happy. I only knew them briefly before, but I still took a lot of thinking/procrastination time to consider the proposal of touching someone else.

Eventually, I caved. Despite my fears, I agreed to go with her to the location. It was in the older part of town, which people I knew from work all said was haunted. I doubted it, but I did remember the years when particular streets put on impressive Halloween displays. I remembered watching from the car in my fireman costume as my parents stopped to admire one in particular with a tall man dressed as Dracula looming in the front yard.

The houses all had large backyards, which led to a connecting alley for trash and adjoining garages. Their roofs looked like worn, irregular cobblestone roads. They appeared like squat birdhouses stretched into colorful dollops. I heard they all had elaborate basements, like places further east, to make up for their small size. Brilliant oaks, which had been growing for over a half-century, swaddled them. Most wore square box A/C units near the tops of their roofs with a pair of thin metal legs splayed out in front of them. The best thing you could say about them was they looked cozy. The one on the end had been turned into a tea room business, which I’d never bothered to check out. I also saw a real-estate company and a notary.

Some of the oldest ones had been bulldozed by the city not too long ago but most still looked as good as possible for places which had been around for so long. I’d been expecting a local business, but Allison noted the acquaintance was working out of their home. I readied myself for the encounter, but I wasn’t ready when they met up with me ahead of the location.

They’d been out walking. and Allison pointed vigorously to them. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but he looked about as nervous as I felt. His first words to me were, “You know, you don’t have to do this. It’s okay…I got a chance to see that it’s real.” He gestured to Allison and Alexis in all their catgirl glory and offered a reserved glance.

I folded my arms, as he seemed to drift stealthily away from us, and put forth, “So far as I know, if I touch you…you will turn into a catgirl. Do you want that?”