Opening Soon and the Great Mighty Fur

Gonna be real, this chapter describes a dream of mine.

Maxine walked to work, whistling as she went. She'd managed to get to the war memorial before the people who walk their dogs early in the morning, leaving her plenty of time to do some improvisational laundry. Because long ago her sister had told her the best places to go dumpster diving (secrets she intends to keep to the grave), she had a couple of buckets with which to get water for her makeshift laundry. So long as nobody messed with the clothes she'd strung up under the bridge, she would have something to wear tomorrow. Maxine hummed to herself with the happy vision of getting free food at her work, because 3R1N was practicing how to make Calabi-Yau manifolds with potatoes. Her first attempts yesterday only resulted in eight-dimensional fries (rather than the proper 10 or 11), and 3R1N was bound and determined to get it right before the restaurant opened. Pocki was also a very generous boss when it came to using the sauces, so Maxine looked forward to a breakfast of ranch and nacho cheese fries.

As Maxine walked, she noticed that the orange cat from the day she was hired walking next to her. She hadn't seen it walk up, but there it was, walking alongside her and staring with its large, green eyes. Maxine reached down to pet it.

"You are definitely a good kitty. Thanks for getting me a job, by the way. I mean, Pocki's kind of a weirdo, but he's not so bad. Free food covers a multitude of sins, and he hasn't even sinned that much yet."

The cat purred, and narrowed its eyes in the pure pleasure of being scritched behind the ears. Maxine stared at it.

"You know, the other day I could have sworn that you talked to me. Any chance that wasn't a fluke?"

The cat continued to purr, and the girl continued to pet.

"You know, I'm a nice person. If you really don't want me to tell other people that you can talk, I won't. ...Okay, fine. It's really none of my business, I guess. It's just that I didn't want to be insane, and if you could talk, that would really relieve my anxiety in the matter."

"Purrrr...purrrrrrrr..."

"Oh, be that way." Maxine stood up again. "I have to go to work now, little kitty. Love you, but I gotta go get the monies. I'll bring you a burger after work. If you're still around, anyway."

Whether or not the cat understood Maxine, it followed her almost all the way to the Kitty Burger. However, about a block away, it suddenly stopped and sat in a very stern, straight posture, glancing up at Maxine with expectant eyes.

"Infiltrate the base, soldier. Report to the general."

"Huh?" Maxine turned around to see the cat staring at her intently. "Are you doing that weird thing where you only like to talk if I'm not looking at you?"

"You will not always see me," the cat continued. "I shall know you at all times. I shall watch you at all times. Except in the bathroom. I recognize human propriety."

"Huh? What? What does that mean? Who are you? What are you?"

"Fate," said the cat. "I am Fate. You will see my face again, ere the end."

The cat turned and took a few steps away. Then it paused and licked its whiskers.

"I request a medium rare burger, salt and pepper, no bun, with a thick slice of tomato on the top. For the side, please include sea salt and vinegar chips. I know he has them."

Maxine watched as the cat walked out of the empty parking lot and headed back in the direction of the park. She puzzled over his words, wondering what he meant by "soldier" and "infiltrate." Then she forgot all about it, because she was hungry and the smell of frying potatoes had already made its way outside.

"Hello!"

"Ack!" Maxine jumped back. "Who are you?"

Actually, to look at the man was to know the answer to her question. This large, goatee'd fellow in thin-framed glasses wore a giant cat costume, the kind that didn't cover the wearer's face. Given that the costume was teal and purple, just like the Kitty Burger logo, it was pretty obvious that he was hired to attract people into the restaurant. Sure, he was grinning much too largely for Maxine's comfort, but then again that was really nothing compared to all the other people Pocki had hired at this point. Maxine was just relieved that he wasn't another anime girl.

"I'm Ray! Or when I'm in cat form, Ray-ven the cat! Meow!"

"Um...aren't you way early? Our grand opening isn't for, I dunno, like a week from now."

"I know," he said, still with incredible enthusiasm and exaggerated hand gestures. "But I have to keep practicing. Besides, I just handed out a bunch of advertising pamphlets at the mall, and man, I'm PUMPED. I am SO excited for this cat cafe! I LOVE cats."

"Um, yeah, I kinda noticed." Maxine rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Um, I'm Maxine, and I'm the busboy."

"Nice to meet you!" Ray bounced from foot to foot towards the restaurant door, as if he were playing an abnormally large game of hopscotch. "I've got to go get more brochures and coupons anyway. You want to help me pass them out?"

"No, I think I've got to spend all day doing stuff for 3R1N." Maxine jogged to keep up with the cat-wearing man. "And I have to make sure that Pocki actually stocked pickles instead of just saying he was going to."

They reached the door at that point, and Marlene let them all in. The burg-girls were in the dining room, each practicing some skill for the customers. Darlene was practicing setting dishes on the table without messing up her perfect posture. Faline zipped around a table on her roller blades while balancing several bowls on a tray. Irene was up at the front counter, practicing being awkward and apologizing shyly. Marlene, once she let Ray and Maxine inside, went back to chopping wood for the burger grill.

Ray went to a stack of papers (brochures, presumably) on the front counter, where Irene stood. Ray pulled the cat head off of his own, revealing a mop of sweaty, brown hair. He slumped into a seat near the register and shoved the mascot head aside. A deep gutteral growl emerged from somewhere in the depths of his person, and he scowled at Irene.

"Are these all the brochures you folded for me?" he snapped. "How am I supposed to hand these out? Don't you know that it's crowded at the mall? It takes thirty minutes just to drive to the mall. I don't want to have to drive there and all the way back after only a short time, especially not in this outfit."

"I'm...I'm sorry, Ray." Irene cowered, taking a couple of steps back. "I meant to do more, but..."

"Alright, alright, quit it with your excuses. I need a break anyway." Ray shook his head. "You've got something to wipe off my sweat with, or what? It's hot outside, and I've already spent three hours out there."

Irene's shaky hands held out a pink lace handkerchief, and Ray wiped it over his face and head. For a second, it looked as though Irene might say something about the state of her hankie, but she resisted, and bit her lip quite adorably. Ray tossed the hankie back on the counter.

"Aren't you guys going to say something?" Maxine shoved a thumb towards Irene. "She's one of you guys."

"Oh please, she's fine. She's always like that. And Ray's just grumpy 'cause he's too hot." Marlene lowered her ax and yelled toward the kitchen. "Yo 3R1N, be a good baby 'bot and get our boy Rayven somethin' cool to drink. And me while you're at it, mm'kay?"

The wall, which formerly had looked completely solid, lifted upwards to reveal the kitchen. From it, the android cook snarked back.

"I'm programmed with over 45,000 drinks listed under the 'cool drinks' category. How many times do I have to tell you manga geeks to be specific?"

"If a guy could get a pineapple-lime smoothie around here, that would be great." Ray called out.

"Yeah, yeah. If anyone else wants a drink, you're gettin' the same thing he wants, because I've got better things to do than take orders from the likes of you."

The burg-girls apparently missed the snark in her voice, as they all squealed and begged for the same. Except for Darline, who shook her head and muttered something about reprogramming under her breath. Maxine just pulled up a seat next to Irene.

"C'mon," she said to the pink and black Burg-girl. "Let's get this going."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Irene said, her voice pale and watery. "I'm just so clumsy sometimes...and it's so hard to do this on my own..."

She glanced expectantly at the other Burg-girls. Marlene wasn't even looking her direction, but clearly she was busy enough chopping wood. Faline skated by, but she frowned and skated by into the kitchen.

"I'll help," Darlene said. "I am very good at folding."

"No!" Ray said. "Don't you come over here. The last time you tried to help I ended up with nothing origami frogs to hand out -- the page half torn off, and no coupon either. The information's more important than the looks, alright?"

Darlene, affronted but still dignified, straightened up and restrained herself from any hasty talk. After a moment, she let out a breath.

"Very well," she said. "I shall leave you to it."

"Whatever," Maxine said. "Okay, so it's just a brochure and a coupon, right? It looks like you've already stapled on all the coupons, so we just have to fold the brochure into thirds, to judge by the stack you already have."

Faline skated out of the kitchen holding a tray of yellow drinks. "3R1N says the busboy has to go help her in the kitchen."

"Can't she wait a minute? I've got to help Irene with all this stuff-"

From the kitchen, a metal arm reached out and pinched Maxine on the shoulder. She tensed automatically.

"What was that, plain one?" 3R1N said.

"Uh....I mean, I'm gonna go do stuff in the kitchen now." Maxine sighed with relief as the claw retracted. "Sorry, Irene."

"It's okay," Irene sighed a deep sigh. "It is great fortune of ill tidings to spend my life in deep despair. I am quite accustomed to being alone....oh, what was your name again?"

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you guys that yesterday. It's Maxine."

At this point Maxine had already waved and headed for the back of the store, so she didn't see the wide-eyed staring of the four anime girls. They each stared at Maxine's departing back with some obscure combination of shock and horror.

"Faline?" Ray said. "My smoothie?"

---

"Alright, User Maxine, you sit at that table."

3R1N pointed to a small, metal table and chair that was placed just outside the kitchen, on the other side of the vast complex of dishes Maxine had spent the previous day washing. Three of those plates lined the front of the table, with three little sauces next to each plate. She noted with glee that the first were nacho cheese and ranch.

"Yus!" Maxine did a fist pump. "It's potato time. Oh hey, I know technically coffee doesn't go with fries..."

"Yeah, yeah, I analyzed your digestive preferences yesterday." 3R1N dropped a mug and poured the black liquid into it. "No creme, no sugar."

"Uh...I didn't get a coffee yesterday, but uh, thanks." Maxine grinned at the steaming liquid. "Hey 3R1N, being an android and all, why do you wear hair? It's probably more sanitary to go without."

"It's called being pretty. You should try it some time." 3R1N snapped. "Don't worry about sanitation. My hair is fully sterile synthetic fiber, so I don't want to hear about it."

The android dropped a larger plate of crispy potatoes of various shapes on the table before Maxine. All of them where sort of spherical, but looped around in various bends, thicker and thinner at different points. Maxine made a point of not staring too long.

"Alright, here's the deal, Plain One." 3R1N pointed at the potatoes. "You're gonna try my fries regular, and with all these sauces. Not having taste buds, I'm forced to rely on fleshbag observation for tasting stuff. I'll know I've succeeded when you do that dumb little dance you do every time you eat something you like."

"Uh...I don't do that."

"Yeah, you do." 3R1N headed back towards the kitchen. "Less talk, more eat."

Maxine obeyed, if only because there was small chance she could disobey an order to eat. The more she ate, the more happy 3R1N seemed to be, so Maxine made sure to eat a lot. Of course, there was the existential philosophical problem of an android being happy because it was programmed to be happy when someone liked its food, but fried potatoes took priority over philosophy in Maxine's heart. She ate, and quite according to 3R1N's prediction, wiggled with pleasure at the best flavor combinations.

The door to the dining area opened, and by the sound of the clumsy jingling of cups, it wasn't one of the anime girls who was holding the tray of empty glasses that came back through the door. Ray, still in his headless cat-suit, blundered in.

"Yeah, so, where do I bring this?" he asked. "Those burg-girls or whatever --"

"Stay out of my kitchen while you're wearing that sweaty, linty scrap of polyester!" 3R1N shrieked, swinging her knife for emphasis. "If you catch on fire, you'll ruin the sanitary stasis of my kitchen!"

"Ungh..." Ray groaned. "Why did I take this stupid job?"

"Just bring it on back here, Ray." Maxine pointed back towards the sinks. "I'll get those in a bit."

"Yeah, thanks. The burg-girls decided that they'd rather just sit in a circle and gossip rather than do their jobs." Ray sighed as he passed Maxine's table. "I told Pocki that he should have just gone with regular maid cafe waitresses, but does that guy ever listen? Nooooo....he had to go off to the anime dimension..."

"Anime dimension?"

"Yeah, you heard me. And now I'm off to the 'sweat to death and pretend to like it' dimension."

Ray replaced the cat head part of his costume. His posture straightened. His arms, once limp and lifeless, swung with exaggerated movements. Ray spun around in a circle, then posed dramatically.

"Me-ow!" he said. "Rayven is back! Spreading joy and coupons! Me-oooow!"

"Get out of my kitchen!"

Ray winked, and with a surprising speed for a man of his girth, hustled back out into the dining area. Maxine stared at him a bit, but then shrugged and went back to her food. She tasted a fried calabi-yau potato in the spicy cheese sauce, then did her little happy dance without realizing. She then tried the spinach, but didn't do the little awkward wiggle so characteristic of her "dancing." 3R1N raised an eyebrow.

"Uh....." Maxine said. "If I tell you that your spinach is good rather than truly blissful, you're not going to kill me, are you?"

"No, no, of course not." 3R1N huffed and stirred some garlic salt into a bowl. "Food is art, and all art needs criticism. Plus, you're a user of the system and I'm programmed not to kill users."

"That's...good to know. So yeah, not blissful. I think the sauce needs to be a bit thicker, or something like that. Maybe don't add as much spinach..."

3R1N slammed her hand against Maxine's table. "Don't offer me solutions, only impressions. Tell me about the spinach dip. TELL me."

3R1N's purple eyes stared deeply into Maxine's own, narrowing into a dangerous, yet honest glare. Maxine swallowed hard, determined not to lose the stare down.

"The spinach gets stuck in the narrow parts of the calabi-yau," she said. "Pulling the spinach away from the rest of the dip, which then proceeds to drip everywhere."

3R1N nodded. "That's the kind of response I expect from you."

The two continued to stare each other down. Maxine wasn't sure what 3R1N wanted, but she didn't dare look away. She wasn't sure why she needed to have dominance over an android, but 3R1N was the one with the knives, so she couldn't let herself be intimidated. Or was that how robot psychology worked? Taking a risk, Maxine narrowed her eyes.

"You have food on the stove."

3R1N's mouth twitched. "So you'd better give up quickly before I get REALLY mad."

Maxine's eyes widened, but she didn't look away. What if this was a test? What if it wasn't? Maxine wasn't so great at figuring out humans. How could she be expected to figure out androids? Thankfully, a hand on Maxine's shoulder put a stop to the impromptu contest.

"Now, ladies, don't fight," Pocki said, teasing them. "Anyway, I need Miss Huff to help me with the cats now."

Maxine straightened with delight. "Kitties?"

"Ha, ha, ha, yes!" Pocki patted her on the back. "We're going to be having our catwalk next week, and I need all the cats to be de-stressed and used to people before then. Some of my cats are trained, but others are going to need help. And one of them, well....she's going to need a lot of brushing."

"...I can brush a cat."

"I sure hope so." Pocki sighed. "The last person I hired to do the job just couldn't handle it. He kept getting overwhelmed by the fur."

"I am horrified and intrigued," Maxine stood up, confidently putting her hands on her hips. "And I am definitely ready for cat petting."

"I bet you'd like a pet, for a pet is what you'll get!" Pocki snapped his fingers. "Follow me to my office. I need to make sure you have the industrial strength hair brush."

"Industrial strength...?"

Maxine began to follow Pocki to the office to the right of the dishwashing area, but before she could get far, a metal tentacle reached out and clutched her by the shoulder.

"Don't expend too much energy on the cats, User Maxine," 3R1N growled. "I'm not doing the dishes for you."

The claw retracted, and Maxine hustled off to the office door that Pocki held open for her. Inside the office was a desk. It looked like an ordinary desk, and it surprised Maxine how disappointed she was at its boring design. Somehow it didn't make sense that it would be so ordinary if it belonged to Pocki. Much of the rest of the office was also boring. A couple of filing cabinets hung out in the far corner, a microwave and a mini-fridge kept a set of mostly empty shelves company on the far wall, and the wall behind the desk sported one of those monthly calendar schedules with the rippable pages, as well as the old "Hang in There" poster depicting a cat hanging for dear life from a branch. The only particular oddity about it was that someone had drawn a little ladder in blue pen underneath the cat's lower paws.

Pocki saw Maxine looking at it and nodded. "It stresses out Mitzy to see a cat in dire straits." He winked. "She doesn't think cats should be a part of that band."

Maxine rolled her eyes. She knew about the band Dire Straits. She'd seen the Weird Al parody. "Aaannyway, um, um..."

Before Maxine could ask her question, Pocki had shut the door behind him -- which sent a little flurry of worry in Maxine's heart at being shut in the same room with him -- and then he opened a different door, one that had previously been hidden behind the office's door. As he opened it, he turned back. It was that devious grin on his face that cut Maxine off mid-question.

"So Maxine," he said. "What do you call a bunch of irons all lined up in a row?"

"Uh...I don't know."

"You could call them...a fe-line!"

Pocki opened the door, revealing another room. Maxine followed him through the door, and this room opened up into a world of cats in repose. They all relaxed, dangling over various cat trees and cushions. A small room towards the outer wall was closed off, but other than that, it was all an open room.

Maxine followed behind Pocki, and what had cut off her question so suddenly was the appearance of cats. So many cats. The room opened up into a world of cat leisure, with the many fuzzy creatures napping, washing themselves, or just lounging in various states of repose. All, that is, except for Rasputin. He had been rolled up in a ball, both back legs pointed straighted up in the air. At the sight of Maxine, however, he hopped to his feet, rolled several times on his side, then popped up like popcorn to bounce over by the newcomer.

"Rasputin!" Maxine called out, in the exact voice one does when one's heart is melted by the adorable. She reached out her hands. "Come here, baby cat!"

Rasputin actually listened, and as he approached, his galloping hops settled down into little bitty teeny jumps, almost like vibrations. He wiggled his little butt --

"RASPUTIN!" Pocki clapped his hands sharply. "No jumping on people."

"Maaoow."

"Rasputin, do you need to take a little visit to the punishment corner?"

The cat shrank back, stepping away from Pocki. It glanced once more at Maxine, did a spinning flip, and stalked away. Maxine pouted.

"You didn't have to do that," she said. "I like Rasputin."

"I know, but he has the bad habit of just jumping on people and running away. Honestly, he's probably not going to be ready for opening day. He's a great circus cat, but Rasputin," Pocki shook his head. "He's just not right."

"I express disappointment. Anyway, which of these little kitties needs its fur brushed? Or do you want me to get all of them?"

"No. The cat you need to brush is right here."

Maxine turned to face where Pocki was pointing. Her eyes widened, and she stepped back in shock. Then she stepped forward, to get a closer look at the awe-inducing sight before her. Pocki's office had been small, so it didn't run the full length of the wall. That left plent of room for a large, cavernous opening. Large as it was, it was near to full with the largest cat Maxine had ever seen. It was larger than a tiger, but instead it was a domesticated Persian cat, almost entirely white, except for the bits of cream-brown that streaked it here and there. A purple, sequined collar circled its neck, and great green eyes observed the girl with the hairbrush. A look of studied concern appeared on its face as it took in every detail of its attempted brusher. Maxine didn't notice this. She only noticed the fluff. The amazing, cloud-like-puff of fur invited Maxine into its fuzzy depths. She bit her lip.

"This is Her Majesty, Princess Trixie Puff," Pocki said. "She's our star attraction here at the Kitty Burger, though we'll have to keep people back from her. She doesn't like being overwhelmed by large numbers. Royalty can be exclusive that way."

"Yes..." Maxine stared at the fluff and wigged the brush in anticipation. "Is this even a cat? Or is it some kind of scientific experiment, gone horribly, horribly right?"

"Hold on, Maxine." Pocki clutched at her arm. "Her fluff is powerful stuff. Don't let it overcome you. You must be stronger."

"Stronger than the fluff, got it." Maxine nodded.

Pocki let go, and Maxine approached the mighty beast of a Persian. She curtsied clumsily.

"Good morning to you, your grace," Maxine said, a little jokingly. "May I please brush your fur?"

"Mrrreowww..." rumbled the pleasant beast.

Trixie Puff nodded her head, and Maxine began brushing before she realized that Trixie had conciously understood her question. But then all such questions fled from her mind. The fluff was just as poofy as it looked. It was soft and inviting. Maxine brushed the cat along the ears, shyly at first. She gained speed as she began to brush down Trixie Puff's back and smooth out the miniature forest of perfect white and cream strands of floof. A mighty need to shove her face in the fur took hold. Maxine, remembering Pocki's words, blinked and made sure to pull her head a little farther away. But it was just so...floofy. Maxine blinked hard, thinking for a moment that she had never in her life seen anything more comfortable looking.

Without realizing it, she lowered her face into the fur. Instantly her senses were brought into a world of pleasant-smelling softness, a world of eternal peace and comfort. All the stressors Maxine had gone through in the past couple of years made themselves felt, and Maxine realized how very tired she was, how overcome by life. She gave up her weariness and allowed her heavy eyes to close. The fluff filled her mind, and she fell limp into its clutches. Trixie purred, and it was to this feline song that Maxine gave herself to sleep. All was well, all was good, all was fluff...

And suddenly all was cold. Maxine woke with a start, realizing that she was being pulled away from Trixie Puff, and outside the bounds of the all-captivating fur. She looked back just as Pocki dropped her ankles.

"No sleeping on the job, okay? She's just trying to exert her dominance." Pocki winked at Maxine before addressing the cat. "Please, Trixie, stop teasing Maxine. She's only trying to tease your hair. It is beneath your majesty."

Trixie Puff still purred. She twitched her tail rather haughtily, looking quite pleased with herself. Pocki just shook his head and handed Maxine a black trash bag from under his arm. She accepted it with a blush.

"I remembered what you said, but...she's just so fluffy..."

"Yes, yes, that's just the Princess' way. She likes to exert her dominance over anyone new she encounters. I thought that maybe she'd get over it once we hired people, but you can never trust the royal temperment. Tempurrment."

Pocki winked. Maxine rolled her eyes, despite knowing that if she kept rolling them every time he made a pun, she was going to find out the hard way whether people can get tendonitis in their eye muscles. This little thought-pathway distracted her briefly, until Maxine realized that there was another, more pressing question.

"Um, you're acting like Trixie can control her fluffiness. I mean...um?"

"Her Majestic Majesty Princess Trixie Puff," Pocki corrected. "You don't have to say her full title, but make sure you refer to her majesty by at least her full name. I'm not joking about her being a princess. Anyway, I just came back to give you that." Pocki pointed to the trash bag he'd given her. "Make sure that you collect all the loose fur that you brush out of her. Anyway, I've got to fill out some more forms with the state to register my business. Good luck!"

With that, Pocki walked through the back door, into his office, leaving a confused Maxine standing there, with more questions than answers. After a moment, she shrugged and retrieved the brush from Trixie Puff's fur.

"Hey, um, Princess Trixie Puff, as much as I really, really would love to have a nap in your fur -- you really are an amazing cat, I gotta say -- I feel it is a matter of ethical professionalism to not fall asleep on the job. Since you really can control your fur, I guess, can you keep the incredibly intimidating softness under control?"

The princess meowed, and to Maxine's ears it sounded almost like a chuckle. To add to the sense of oddity, Trixie patted her on the head with a paw before stretching out and relaxing, awaiting the upcoming brushstrokes. Maxine shrugged and got back to it.

Maxine ended up spending most of her time with Trixie Puff. As much as she wanted to brush all the cats, Pocki claimed that they were having a rest day and that their practice would continue later. He did not make it immediately clear what this meant, but he did make grilled burgers with bacon and extra cheese, so Maxine kept her mouth full of these rather than questions. After lunch, she had the rather boring task of cleaning out the kitty petting area , while the cats had been taken away elsewhere. There was a little, walled off section in the far right corner, and it was there the cats could apparently rest and get away from customers, if they needed to. It was a necessary area, but Maxine internally fussed about it anyway because she didn't get to see the kitties.

Alas, the day ended. Maxine washed up the last few dishes, snagged the burger Fate wanted, and went through the dining area, thinking of some way she could get Fate the cat to snuggle with her that night. Only the presense of four colorful girls, each glaring or sneering in her own particular way, snapped Maxine out of her trance of self-contentment.

"Uh...what?"

Marlene shoved a finger in Maxine's face. "You weren't lyin' to us, were ya? Your name's really Maxine?"

"Well, yeah."

The girls gasped simultaneously, and Darlene fluttered a little blue and yellow fan against her face as though she might faint. Faline shook her head angrily, gesticulating wildly before settling into a folded arms position.

"Great!" Faline snapped. "Just great."

"Uh, you guys got a problem? Does 'Maxine' mean something really offensive in anime land?"

"Um...well," Irene blushed furiously, twisting with her toes together in an admittedly pretty adorable pose. "What we mean to say is, your name rhymes with ours."

"Huh, oh yeah," Maxine grinned slightly, before she realized how unpleasant it was to have any sort of association with these weird girls. She shrugged. "It's just a name."

"You don't get it," Marlene stopped her boot against the tile. "If your name rhymes with ours, then everybody'll think you're one of us."

"I doubt it. I don't really look like you guys."

"But...but, you work with us..." Irene tugged on Maxine's sleeve. "People like to make assumptions, you know."

"Yeah, sure, but that's no reason for any of you guys to care." Maxine tugged her shirt out of Irene's grip. "It's just a coincidence."

"We can call her Max," Darlene offered, nodding over the top of her hand fan. "Yes, you will be Max and you will not be associated with us."

"Now wait a minute--"

"Nah, shug, you're gonna be Max, and you're gonna like it!" Marlene grabbed Maxine by the arms and turned her around, and the latter winced at her grip. "You go on back there and you tell Manager Pocki that you're gonna be Max, and you're gotta get your name tag right. Now git!"

Marlene shoved Maxine through the double doors. Maxine glowered as the doors shut behind her, upset at the loss of the precious few minutes of sunlight left in the day for food, cuddles, and the various inconveniences of being homeless. For this, Maxine marched right back to Pocki's office, ever more determined that her name tag -- if she was even going to get one -- would bear her full name.

"Pocki!" Maxine pushed open the office door. "Pocki, you won't believe what I...uh?"

Pocki sat at his desk. He wasn't filling papers or making a phone call. His desk was instead covered by a load of fluffy white and cream cat fur, still half-unloaded from the black plastic trash bag. From what she could tell, Maxine had interrupted him making a little pillow of it on his desk. He stared at her, still holding a bit of white fuzz against his cheek.

"Uh...so, uh...." Maxine backed out of the door. "I'm...ah, my problems can wait. Bye."