today's progress

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.
+