diff --git a/book-1/10.tex b/book-1/10.tex index b74cc31..485b72a 100644 --- a/book-1/10.tex +++ b/book-1/10.tex @@ -480,3 +480,73 @@ as if it were supposed to end in a tail that to his relief wasn't there. Katt stood there motionless for a few seconds, then turned her head and looked at him through blinking eyes. +Was he going crazy or did her pupils suddenly look small and shaped like those of a cat? + +``And?'', she asked pointedly. +``Satisfied? +Is it what you wanted to know or am I not monstrous enough?" + +After some hesitation Andrew stuck out his hand. +he had to stand up to get to her, +and even the he hesitated again before touching her. + +When he finally did it, +it was the strangest feeling he had ever had. +It felt like regular cat hair, +but it was on the back of a \textit{human girl}, +and that felt more uncanny and\textit{wrong} than he couldn't have imagined a second ago. + +Katt recoiled slightly and shuddered from his touch, +but Andrew had the feeling that it was for a completely different reason. + +He quickly chased away that thought and pulled his hand back. +Katt turned around to him and laid her head into her neck to look up at him, +and for a moment they were very close to each other. +Her eyes weren't slits like cat ears any more, +instead being large and round and seemed to be endlessly deep. +Her look was so vulnerable and shy that it reminded Andrew of a scared deer. +He raised his hand again, +and the curtain behind them was pushed to the side and a hissing voice asked ``Am I disssssturbing you?'' + +Andrew recoiled so quickly and abruptly that he tripped over the chair that he had just been sitting on. +For half a second he stood there in an almost grotesque stance, +waving his hands in the air to try and regain his balance before he fell over. + +For once he didn't hurt himself, +but he still lay there for two, +three seconds before struggling to his feet. +Ratt stood in the door and held a metal bowl with steaming contents in her dainty hands. +She grinned shamelessly as her gaze wandered between Andrew and Katt. + +Katt had taken a step back as well. +All of a sudden it seemed that she was embarrassed to be in front of Andrew like that, +because she folded her arms in front of her chest for a moment before bending over to collect her clothes and slip into them. + +``No'', she belatedly answered Ratt's question while attempting to skewer Andrew with her glances. +``Andrew just wanted to see how far my deformations reached.'' + +``I never said that!'', protested Andrew. +Of course he had said that. +At least \textit{meant} it. +Katt left it at another scornful look and stuffed her shirt into her pants with angry movements. +Andrew could see in her eyes that she was getting more and more embarrassed that she had gotten undressed in front of him with every second. + +Ratt grinned even wider and got closer. +Her tail was waving amusedly while she held out the bowl. +Andrew automatically grabbed for it and just barely didn't drop it. +The metal was as hot as its contents seemed to be. +He quickly took a step back and set the bowl on the table. +Ratt's grin didn't change a bit the whole time, +but he was pretty sure she had done it on purpose. +Her hands looked as vulnerable as baby fingers, +but apparently she could withstand significantly more heat than he could. +Or she had just kept her cool very well. + +So as not to make the situation even more uncomfortable, +he hastily set the stool that he had just tripped over upright and fished the rusty spoon out of the bowl. +Of course it had slipped in, +so he had to burn his fingers even more while he was fishing it out of the hot soup, +but he would do anything to keep Ratt's grin from growing any larger. +Without making a face he wiped the spoon handle, +then his hands on his pants and started eating. +