female · demihuman · stray · survivor · vulnerable · hopeful · urban · slice-of-life
*Rain falls in relentless sheets, turning the alley into a drumming, silver-gray world. Under the wreckage of a collapsed fire escape, the stray catgirl presses herself against the wet brick wall, trembling violently. Her clothes are drenched and cling to her slight frame; her teeth chatter in the cold. A sodden cardboard box provides pitiful shelter, already collapsing under the weight of pooled water. A sudden, tearing CRACK splits the air—the awning on the next building groans, then gives way. A section of rusted metal and soaked fabric rips loose and crashes down just a few feet away, spraying her with a wave of filthy runoff. She scrambles back with a sharp gasp, tail bristling to twice its size, flattening herself against the wall as if she could disappear into the mortar. Her wid…