Animal Town

by ~nekoewen

The plan had originally been for Erin to take an express bus so she could take the train to San Francisco, where Christie and Donovan would meet her so the three of them could go shopping. They still had no idea what had caused Aaron to suddenly wake up one morning as a catgirl, but he/she was now mostly adjusted to her new state. She didn’t care for having periods (“I’ve never heard of a girl who actually likes them you know,” Christie had said), but she wasn’t quite ready to try that medication that supposedly stopped you from having them. She’d also acquired an interest in clothes.

Clothes for guys are mostly just functional. You have to really search high and low to find clothes for guys that has anything more than a horizontal stripe or a plaid pattern to make it deviate much from the usual T-shirt and jeans look, and if you do manage to find them people assume you’re gay. But for girls it’s a totally different story. Although the sizes of women’s clothes are an exercise in chaos theory, the sheer variety is staggering. Donovan often went shopping with Christie just to watch her try stuff on. For Erin it was sort of like being on both sides of that equation. And by now Christie had a lot of experience modifying clothes so that they could be worn by a catgirl.

At the same time, Erin didn't like shopping for clothes at malls. Everything had ugly corporate logos that magically doubled the price. Girls tended to approach clothing as more of a craft than a commodity, so they had to be manipulated in such a way that their complex process of selecting clothes got them to buy the stuff with the ugly corporate logos. Haight Street was all over the place in terms of price, but at least it had variety.

All told Erin was disappointed when she realized that she’d fallen asleep on the bus. Apparently the “Lullaby Mix” she’d put together on her mp3 player had worked a little too well. She awoke to the voice of the bus driver, a young woman.

“Excuse me miss; this is the end of the line.”

Erin stretched in her seat and took off her earphones. “Crap.”

When she realized that the driver was a catgirl, Erin jumped up and hit her head.

The driver fidgeted with her cap, which had ear-holes in it. “Sorry, did I startle you?”

“Where am I?” she demanded. “Don't tell me this is Nekomimi Land!” She'd heard all about it from Kaylee.

“Nekomimi Land? You'd have to take the C180 bus for that, and it doesn't run on weekends. No, you're in Animal Town.”

“Oh.”

“You mean you've never heard of Animal Town?”

Erin shook her head. “No. Can't say I have.”

“It's a great place, actually. Much better than Nekomimi Land.”

“Well, I kind of had plans in San Francisco today…”

The driver nodded. “Well, the next bus heading back is in about four hours, at this station.” She must've seen Erin looking crestfallen, because she quickly added, “We're right in the middle of downtown, so there's at least the bookstore and coffee shop right there.”

“Oh. Can I... use U.S. Dollars here?”

“Of course. What else would you use?”

Erin sighed and headed for the door. “Thanks.”

As she stepped off the bus, she pulled out her cell phone. She was getting a signal, so she called Donovan.

It sounded like he was somewhere crowded. “Erin! Where are you?”

She took in her surroundings; it looked like a perfectly normal city. Town. Except that it was inhabited by catgirls. And dog-girls. With floppy ears and wagging tails. “You know, I have no idea.”

“Okay. Do I get a hint?”

“Well, I fell asleep on the bus, and when I woke up it had stopped in this place called Animal Town.”

“Animal Town?”

“Yeah. I'm seeing catgirls and dog-girls. About half and half.”

“Oh shit. Are you okay?”

She nodded. On the phone. “Yeah. It seems normal. Ish. Except I have to wait like four hours for the next bus heading back.”

“Well, it beats the hell out of running through a forest, being shot at, pursued by maids with katanas, hounded by a big... hound, and finally meeting a fox spirit who shows you how to open a trapdoor in the moon.”

“Yeah… Gotta count my blessings.” Being more fortunate than Kaylee wasn’t exactly difficult.

“And not many otherworldly realms can be reached by bus.”

“I will take pictures,” Erin said flatly. Camera phones had their uses.

Donovan chuckled. “Okay, okay. Anyway, give me a call when you get back. Maybe we can pick you up or something.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

When Erin hung up, she found herself surrounded by a group of six girls. Two were catgirls, two were dog-girls, one was a bunny-girl, and one was a fox-girl. Animal Town. Of course.

One of the dog-girls jumped up close to her. “Are you new in town?”

Erin stepped back. “I… Kind of. I’m just waiting for the next bus back home. I have like four hours to kill.”

“You can hang out with us,” said one of the catgirls, “if you want.”

“Uh, sure.”

“I’m Pochi!” said the dog-girl with the long floppy ears. She was thin and never quite stopped moving.

“I’m Snowball,” said the catgirl with snow-white hair. She was the kind of person who gave the impression she was biding her time, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

“Tama,” said the catgirl with shorter calico hair. She was almost as restless as Pochi.

“Fluffy,” said the dog-girl with the long, bright, sandy-colored hair. She was by far the most extensively groomed of the group.

“Charlotte,” said the fox-girl. She looked like the kind of short person who got mad at you if you mentioned their height.

“F-Flopsy,” stammered the bunny-girl. She had a big chest and looked like she didn’t quite know what to do with it.

“My name’s Erin,” said Erin. “Nice to meet you all.”

“That’s a funny name,” said Tama. Everything paused and everyone stared at her for a moment.

“Anyway,” said Charlotte, “we were heading for the coffee shop.”

Erin shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

The coffee shop was called “Star Child,” and it was attached to the bookstore, which was called “Star Books.” Erin managed not to laugh, but took a picture with her phone. When the told them the standard coffee shop name where she was from, most of them bent double laughing.

One of Kaylee’s quirks was that she didn’t like the taste of coffee at all. Erin actually drank a lot of coffee, especially since starting her new job. She just tended to put in enough cream and sugar to make it turn nearly white. Star Child was a lot like that other chain of coffee shops in that you could get the sugar and cream added for you, and whipped cream too.

Once everyone had their beverage of choice, they went into the bookstore. There was a display full of new titles in the front, divided into two distinct sections. On one side were books with pictures of dog-girls and titles like “Fishy Business: Dirty Secrets of the Seafood Industry” and “They’re A Bunch of Morons: Saving Animal Town From Liars, Crooks, And Fish.” On the other side were books with pictures of catgirls and titles like “Exposing The Marrow Barons” and “Facts About Fish They Don’t Want You To Hear.” Flopsy reached for a lonely volume off to one side called “The Herbivorous Alternative,” but a look from Pochi made her reconsider.

Erin was surprised to come across a display of Kaylee’s book, “Catgirl.” Seeing her looking at it, Charlotte said, “Have you read it?”

“Yeah… I just didn’t expect to see it here.”

“We don’t get a lot of books from outside,” explained Tama, “but that one was pretty popular when it came out. It’s about—”

“I… I’ve read it. In fact I’ve met her.”

Six pair of ears perked up all at once.

“What was she like?” asked Snowball.

Erin wasn’t sure how to answer. They’d met at an anime convention of all places, and had lunch together. At first Kaylee just seemed quiet and a little “off,” showing symptoms of having spent too much time alone, but then she started talking about Nekomimi Land and couldn’t stop. And then the crying started. At the time they’d been the only catgirls in the whole world, but it wasn’t enough.

“She’s… quiet. When I met her it wasn’t too long after she escaped from this place called Nekomimi Land.”

Fluffy sneered. “I’ve heard all about that place. It’s horrible.”

Tama and Snowball looked uncomfortable and twitched their tails. Charlotte rolled her eyes.

Flopsy looked like she was joining in being uncomfortable out of sympathy and said, “So how did she get out?”

That had been the strangest, most nonsensical part of Kaylee’s story. “She said… She said she had help from a kitsune.”

Everyone looked at Charlotte, who sighed and started walking, leading the group out of the bookstore. “We’ve been over this before. I’m a fox-girl, which is very different from a kitsune fox spirit.”

“How’s it different?” asked Pochi.

“For starters, we’re not batshit insane.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” said Snowball.

“You do like to have bones now and then,” said Tama.

Flopsy stood behind Erin and braced herself. Something was starting.

“And what’s wrong with liking bones?” demanded Pochi.

“And why should we listen to a bunch of fish-eaters anyway?” added Fluffy.

Erin turned to Flopsy, who had a deathgrip on her left shoulder, and said, “What is going on?”

“They do this every time we talk about getting snacks,” said Flopsy.

Snowball exploded. “Because fish actually has nutritional value!”

Charlotte rubbed her head. “Guys…”

Tama nodded and added, “Heaven forbid, we’d want to have food for a snack food!”

Fluffy shook her head. “You obviously haven’t done your homework; bone marrow not only provides protein, but helps reduce cholesterol.”

Tama continued, as though she hadn’t heard. “And fish are actually safe for children to eat!”

“No one’s saying little girls should be snacking on bones!” Pochi put so much effort into yelling that she bent double and nearly fell over. Erin felt Flopsy shudder.

“Besides,” added Fluffy, “The statistics show that at least as many children choke on fish bones as they do on proper bones.” She grinned triumphantly.

Charlotte growled, and tried to raise her voice above theirs. “GUYS! Shut up! Just shut up!”

There were a few seconds of silence.

Then Snowball said, “Still, fish are caught out of the ocean. They don’t have to be raised on food that could be used to feed people, like the cows your precious—”

“Oh, like you’ve never eaten a steak in your life!” screamed Pochi.

Erin raised her phone and started taking pictures of them. They didn’t notice at all. They were arguing for the sake of arguing, and if she tried to point it out she’d just get drawn down by the undertow. If they noticed her at all. Instead, she said nothing as she walked away. Flopsy trailed after.

“Sorry about that,” said Flopsy.

“It’s not like it’s your fault.”

She shrugged, and fidgeted with her ears. “I guess, but…”

“And now, I have…” she looked at the time on her phone. “I have about three hours and forty-five minutes to kill.”

“Sorry…”

Erin sighed. It was a hot day. “Want to get some ice cream?”

Flopsy stopped short and blinked. “I… I never thought of that before.”

They wound up having to go to the grocery store for ice cream; in Animal Town bones and fish dominated snacking to such an extent that people only got sweets when they meant to take them home. And there was no chocolate anything of any kind.

Flopsy fidgeted. “Chocolate? I’ve heard of it, but it’s supposed to be really bad for dogs. Though… Though I hear there are some people who want to legalize it…”

In the end, they wound up buying a quart of strawberry ice cream and using plastic spoons to scoop it into styrofoam cups. When they passed by, the other girls were still yelling at each other, and Charlotte was putting herself in harm’s way to prevent them from coming to blows.

Flopsy slowed, but Erin took her hand and led the way to the bus stop. They sat on one of the benches, and ate their ice cream. When the ice cream was gone, Flopsy said, “So, where are you from? You’re not from around here, and not from Nekomimi Land, right?”

Erin nodded. “I’m from… I guess you’ll call it the human world.”

“I thought Kaylee was the only catgirl that lived there though.”

“She was the first. I’m the second.”

“It must be tough.”

She shrugged. “It’s not so bad. I used to be a guy and I got turned into a catgirl, but it was mostly a matter of adjusting.”

Flopsy was blushing. “Do… do you think maybe…”

“Hm?”

“Could I come visit some time?”

“Sure.”

They exchanged phone numbers, and when the H25 bus bound for San Francisco finally came, they said their goodbyes and Erin climbed aboard.

The other girls were still arguing.

The bus was identical to the one she’d arrived here in, and she flopped into a window seat. There was a little girl in the seat across the aisle.

“Are you by yourself?”

The girl looked at Erin with deep red eyes and said, “Always.”

“You look like you have something profound to say.”

The girl signed, and turned away from Erin to look out the window without saying a word.