“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Bean cried, squeezing as tight as she could - not that the strength of a little girl amounted to much, really. “Bridge said you were, but she also said we couldn’t visit or nothing.”

“Bridge?” I asked, glancing over to Bridgette. “It sounds like the two of you are close.”

“Naw,” Bean denied, immediately. “I mean, she’s alright, I guess, seeing as how she helped my sis and all, but she isn’t… I mean, she didn’t…” she trailed off, toeing at the ground with a little blush on her cheeks.

“What’s that?” I asked, curious.

“Nothing!” Bean replied, far too quickly. “I mean… it’s just… she’s not a hero like you.”

“Not a hero?” Bridgette asked, looking a little offended. “You do know I’m the one who actually got your sister and all the others freed, right?”

“Only ‘cause I made you!” Bean replied, sticking her tongue out at the other girl. “If you didn’t want info on Lady Amelia, I bet you’d never have even given us or our problems a second glance.”

“Of course I would have!” Bridgette protested, looking legitimately hurt by the accusation. “I just… didn’t know you were in need…”

“Uh-huh,” Bean replied, rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at Bridgette before burrowing her head against me. “I’m really glad you’re okay, Lady Amelia…”

“It’s… Um… Amy, now,” I told her, trying not to laugh at the way Bridgette was puffing up her cheeks in displeasure. “Just Amy.”

“No way I could call you just Amy!” Bean protested. “Not after everything you did for us…”

“I don’t see why she gets the hero treatment,” Bridgette protested, with what almost looked to be a pout upon her lips. “From what you told me, all she really did was fall for your tricks.”

“And she still helped me!” Bean said. “Like… like a saintess! Unlike you, who only did it ‘cause you wanted info to hurt her. I heard all about how Lady Amelia was arrested, and gonna be executed, and stuff! Even though she’s so nice…”

“Yes, well, the execution’s off, at least,” I said, a little surprised that Bean knew about it. Was Amelia’s fall from grace truly such common knowledge?

“Bet Bridge didn’t help with that, though,” Bean muttered, looking discontent.

“Bean,” a voice called from within. “What have I told you about being rude to Dame Bridgette?”

Bean stiffened, straightening up at the spine and turning around with a guilty look on her face. “N-not to?”

“That’s right,” came the tired reply, as the voice’s owner came out of the shop. A brunette woman, with bright green eyes - and vertical pupils, I couldn’t help but notice. Atop her head was a pair of cat ears, and behind her was a tail that flicked back and forth behind her.

“A beastkin?” I asked, unable to help myself. I’d written about them existing in the books, but hadn’t really given them much focus. 

“That’s my big sis!” Bean informed me, smiling brightly. “You saved her!”

“Your… big sis?” I asked, glancing between her and Bean. There was a resemblance there, now that she mentioned it, but at the same time there was also a glaring difference - Bean had no animalistic features.

“Are you unfamiliar with how beastkin work my Lady?” Bean’s sister asked, no doubt noticing my confusion. 

“We ah… didn’t have any back where I’m from,” I replied, a little embarrassed.

“No?” the girl asked, before shaking her head. “I suppose I’m not surprised… there are few enough people who choose this life amongst commoners, let alone the nobility…”

“Choose this life?” I asked, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“She means that this is something she did to herself,” Bridgette replied, her tone carrying an edge of disapproval to it that I wasn’t used to hearing.

“Just so,” the brunette replied, nodding her head. “I beastialized myself - and I don’t regret it.”

“Huh?” I asked, glancing between her and the clearly disapproving Bridgette. “I feel like I’m missing something…”

“Do you know what happens when one forgoes the use of spells, Lady Amelia?” the catgirl asked me.

“No?”

“It’s the same thing that happens to animals when they turn into monsters,” Bridgette supplied, her voice tight. “Your core bursts, and all the latent magic surges through you, transforming you. You gain great physical strength, alongside animalistic features, but you lose the ability to cast spells outside your body.”

“Just so,” the girl confirmed, nodding her head. “The only magic I can manage these days is self-enhancement…”

“It’s a shortcut to power,” Bridgette continued, “but a short sighted one. Beastkin can’t handle any sort of specialized jobs, because they can’t compete with people who’ve developed specialized spells to do their work. The only thing they’re good for is pure brute strength - and their looks, I guess, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ve never understood why someone would do that to themselves.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t understand, no,” the brunette said, smiling gently even as her tail lashed behind her. “Still, I thank you for your help Dame Bridgette. While I might not have hated my previous position, I did quite miss the freedom to come and go as I pleased - freedom you restored to me.”

“And hopefully to the others, soon, as well,” Bridgette said. “I informed the guards as to what was going on in that place - forcing people, even debt slaves, into brothel work is supposed to be illegal.”

“As you say,” the catgirl replied, bowing her head. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure that the guards will do much. I’m sure you know that us beastkin are considered to be in something of a legal gray area - there are many who debate whether we truly count as human anymore, and whether the law’s protection should extend to us.”

“That still doesn’t excuse forcing you to work in a brothel,” Bridgette said, clearly outraged. “Nobody should have to work like that! Human or not.”

“As you say,” the girl again replied, bowing her head.

“Hold up a sec,” I protested, deciding it was time to interject. “Why would they be less human? Just because they transformed themselves?”

“Like monsters do,” Bridgette said, frowning. “It’s unnatural. The ability to cast magic properly is what’s meant to separate us from the beasts, to begin with, and they just… throw it away for the sake of power.”

“She doesn’t look all that powerful to me,” I pointed out, looking the girl up and down. She wasn’t as bone-thin as her little sister - in fact, she had quite a bit of padding, especially around her chest and rear - but her thin limbs didn’t exactly scream of strength.

“Looks can be deceiving, Lady Amy,” the catgirl replied. “I’m stronger than I look… though, I must confess, it wasn’t a desire for strength that led me down this path…”

“Then what?” Bridgette demanded. “Looks? I’ve heard beastkin tend to be attractive - especially the ones who stay mostly human - and I get why the… exotic look might have been an advantage for you, in your prior line of work, but throwing away your humanity just for-”

“I was born a boy, Dame Bridgette,” the catgirl interjected, her voice containing a trace of ire for the first time. “I gave up my humanity, as you put it, because I decided it was better to live as a monster woman than a human man.”

“…What?” Bridgette asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. “But… that’s… In school, they always said-”

“That beastkin are nothing but power hungry, and vain, shortsighted fools?” the catgirl asked, her tail now lashing back and forth at high speed. “Yes, they said the same at my school… but it’s funny. Every beastkin I’ve met, since changing, has had a story similar to my own. None of them expressed any desire for power, or a will to throw away their morality… They just wanted bodies that suited them. Even if it meant giving up their right to be treated like a human being.”

Bridgette didn’t say anything to that. She just stared at the catgirl, her mouth agape.

“Big siiiiiiiis,” Bean complained, breaking the tense standoff. “You’re making Lady Amelia uncomfy! I can feel her tensing up!”

“…My apologies, Bean,” the catgirl said. “I’ll be heading back inside to work on some sewing - can I trust you to look after our guests, and show them around?”

“Of course!” Bean said, puffing out her chest.

“Wait!” I called out, as the brunette turned to go. “I um… I never got your name.”

The catgirl hesitated a moment, looking me up and down. Then she greeted me with a small smile and replied, “Lilith,” before heading back inside.

“I… I think I need to go have a word with the guards,” Bridgette said. “Wanna make sure they’re following up on that brothel problem I told them about. Will you be okay here for a bit?”

“Of course,” I lied, repressing the tingle of fear that went through me at the thought of being left alone, in this place. So close to where I’d been stabbed… but I wasn’t going to force Bridgette to babysit me, just because I was a little anxious. Not when she clearly had more important matters to attend to.

Bridgette took a deep breath, before letting it out in a sigh. “I’ll be back,” she said, and just like that she was gone.

Leaving me standing in front of a shop, with a sign depicting a patch-work shirt. 

“Come on!” Bean said, detaching from my middle so that she could snatch up one of my hands and tug me towards the store. “You’re here for clothing, aren’t ya? I bet we can find something that’ll look real pretty on you!”

“I’d love to, but… Bridgette took the funds with her, I’m afraid,” I confessed.

“Really?” Bean frowned. “Knew I shoulda stolen her purse when I had the chance…”

“Bean!” I all but shouted, narrowing my eyes at the little girl. “I hope you aren’t stealing things? You’ll only make trouble for you and your sister if you are.”

“Not if I don’t get caught!” Bean pointed out, puffing out her chest again - only to deflate when I glared at her. “Big sis said the same thing… Even though she’s the one who taught me all the tricks of the trade to begin with…”

“Yes, well, now she seems rather invested in forming a proper, stable life with you. Something you should do your best to support her in.”

“Yeah, alright…” Bean replied, kicking at the ground. “But I still wanna find some clothes for you! We can just make Bridge pay for them when she gets back, right?”

“I… suppose that would work,” I confirmed, glancing nervously at the interior of the shop. I felt some trepidation at the idea of going inside, in all honesty. The idea of shopping for clothes - it was silly, really, but… so far I’d only worn clothes that Amelia already owned. I didn’t even pick the clothes, as a rule, simply wearing whatever Clara told me to.

Now? Now I was being asked to pick clothes for myself. To purchase things that would remain in my closet for who knew how long. It was silly - it was only clothes, really - but… it felt, in a way, like I was taking my first real step towards claiming this body - this life - as my own.

I wasn’t just some schmuck in Amelia’s body - I was Amy, a girl(?) with a life of her own to live. A girl’s life. One I had never expected to have… and which I could apparently give up, I suddenly realized, if I truly wanted to.

All it would take was giving up my rights as a human being, and taking on some animal features, in return for a male body that I… was starting to realize that I didn’t miss. At least enough to throw away the promise of magic and status for.

Was that weird? Was it strange that I didn’t miss being a man? Or was it just because I was in the body of a cis woman that I didn’t particularly care for my missing masculinity?

I didn’t know. I didn’t know if it even mattered, really… but I was starting to realize just how lucky I was to actually feel content with the body I was in.

~~~
Author's Notes

If any of you have wondered why I've been babbling about how "All Catgirls are Trans" of late... WELL NOW YOU KNOW.

The idea for this chapter honestly hit me like a bolt from the blue - I was minding my own business, making myself some dinner (warm anchovies on a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese) when it just hit me straight in the face. Before then, I'd intended to have "beastkin" - or The Kin, if you prefer - be... similar in nature to this, but more something just done by certain People's? But then this idea hit me like a mouthful of warm anchovies (before I even had a chance to take a bite, mind you) and I just had to run with it...

Been waiting to see the public's reaction ever since, and now I finally can! (Ah... not that that's why you're getting a double release or anything... No. It's to celebrate hitting trending on Scribble Hub. Obviously.)

Also because I've currently written up to chapter 28 on Patreon, and am likely to write more before Friday besides... If you're eager to see more, please do consider supporting me! You can read all the advanced chapter for as little as a dollar~! Excluding the NSFW quasi-canon 23.5, which is currently restricted to the $5+ tier, that is.)