-- Vivian POV, Police station --

  Being stuck in a cell drove her crazy. She wanted to run, but there was just no space. Calisthenics were more or less the only options in here. Right now she practiced a version of the human flag with the iron bars, and pretended to be a very pretty feline flag.

  "Vivian, you do fitness from morning to evening", came the voice of the guard who was looking over her now and then.

  She bounced down, "I want to run and jump. Is there no way I can run at least for a while during a day?"

  He came a few steps closer, "The uppers are looking into options. Maybe you can join training with us. Maybe someone from the sports club will pay the fee for you, now that Tom doesn't pay anymore. Then you can go there. You have friends there, you know. But for the next days it will be tricky. We'd give you a treadmill but your claws shred the belt."

  "I'll try to be patient. Any news from Tom?", she asked.

  He shook his head, "Nope, the man is like dropped off the face of the earth."

  She pressed her forehead against the metal bars and closed her eyes.

  "What will happen to me now?", she opened her eyes again.

  "It's a bit difficult to say. At the moment your guardian is just missing. Until he is confirmed dead, the contract is still active. If we find him, you'll be returned to him. If he can't be found, at some point a judge has to decide about the contract. Chances are, it will be declared invalid if he is gone long enough. The stupid point there is that it takes a real long time till judges make such decisions", he told her.

  "And I'll be jailed all the time without ever having committed a crime?"

  "Well, you do have committed crimes a plenty, but that's all been in your former life. So yeah, we can't hold you in here forever. But we can't just let you out either unless you pass the instinct and impulse control test. You know how that went last time. Best short term outlook for you is to find a temporary guardian while Tom is missing", he explained to her.

  "How would I do that?" She looked at him.

  "There are forums on solnet where people advertise themselves for companion contracts. You should have real good chances there. With a body like yours you'll rather see yourself swamped in offers and your problem will not be to find someone, but to find the right someone. On the other hand, most want a long term companion, so finding a temporary guardian might be not be so easy, actually."

  She nodded, ears not quite as drooped anymore, "So there is a way."

  A whole day had passed since, but she had found a way! Not in terms of a new guardian, but in terms of sports. She had convinced Frank to pay the sports club fee for her, at least for a month. And he had picked her up from the police station to act as temporary guardian.

  She stood on the sports field, a few steps ahead of Frank. It was more challenging not to see the throw but react once the ball came in sight. Would be a be a high throw or a low? A long throw or a shorter one?

  There! Right field and fairly high. Not too fast. She already knew she had this one, when her claws dug into the grass and tore groves into the field from the sheer force of her legs. Three steps and she was up to speed, closing in on the ball. The field was even and empty, she didn't have to look out for obstacles on the ground and cold fully focus on the balls trajectory. Now the ball came down and into the range that she could jump. Another step and she propelled herself upwards in a powerful jump. That was a crucial moment always, if she wanted to catch the ball with her fangs, the jump had to be exactly right, and this one was a bit low. She tried to spin, using arms, legs and tail to twist herself in the air, till she could look upwards to face the ball. Yes! She stretched and snatched. It squeaked! Oh the joy! The dying scream of caught prey. She loved it and bit down once more to make the ball squeak another time.

  She still had the momentum to spin further in the air, but she was coming down rather lopsided after the maneuver. No issue. She curled up a bit and tried to protect her head. Her shoulder hit the ground first, then she rolled over her back. Now was the moment to straighten and bounce up again. Perfect! And she was on her feet sprinting in a wide arc to return to Frank.

  She just dropped the ball and bowed down, hands on her knees, heavily breathing.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  "Vivian, it hurts me some to do this with you", she heard Frank's voice.

  She didn't have the air to speak yet, just shook her head and waved a hand to calm his worries.

  "Don't think about it. I stopped to think about it either. It feels good and it's good fun. Just give me a minute to breathe and then we'll do this again", she managed to get out between deep breathes.

  Frank picked up the ball that she had dropped, "Got any news from Tom meanwhile?"

  She shook her head again and stood upright with another deep breath, "Nope, just gone. I'll have to look for someone else to take me in." Another few deep breathes, then she nodded at him, "Alright, I'm good. Let me get into position and throw again."

  Two hours later she was one sweaty and very happy Vivian on the way to the showers of the sports club. Officially Frank had to be with her all the time, but he couldn't enter the woman's shower for obvious reasons. She really hoped the cops wouldn't make a fuss about it.

  The water felt good. She had soaped herself from head to toe and was now rinsing it all out of her fur.

  Another woman entered the showers and turned on the one just besides hers, apparently also sweaty from exercises, "Hey, I saw you running out there. Why do you do this?"

  She was about to shake herself dry, but stopped the futile attempt while the shower was still on, "It's good fun. And I need the exercises to stay healthy."

  "Don't you feel humiliated to play pet for the man?", the other woman opened a bottle of shower gel.

  She turned off her own shower and went over to fetch the towel. Shaking herself dry now would only annoy the other woman, "Nah, it's rather that he feels bad about it. I must encourage him to do it. I'm thankful that he brings me out here."

  "I saw you here with another man before", the other woman said while she soaped herself.

  "Yeah, Tom. I was living with Tom, but he's gone. Just vanished. I don't know what to do. I haven't even got a proper home now. I can't stay in Tom's apartment, the police says", she tried to explain.

  "Where do you live now?"

  "Sounds crazy probably, but in a cell at a police station", she had to grin against her will.

  "Yeah, that sounds crazy. Would you like to stay with me for a while? I can make space for a second person in my apartment", the other woman offered.

  She stopped rubbing herself dry with the towel, "I kinda would, but I have no money, nothing. And I'm not sure if the police would accept that."

  "Why's that?" The woman inquired.

  "I'm still in a companion contract with Tom, even that he's vanished", she explained

  "That's no reason. If he's gone you can do what you want."

  She shook her head, "Actually I can't. Failed a psych eval badly and now need someone to supervise me. Frank's doing that right now."

  "And if I do that for you?" Trisha offered.

  She continued rubbing herself dry with the towel but more slowly than before, "How about this. I'll wait in the change room till you've showered and we exchange contacts?"

  The other woman was rinsing herself now, "Won't be long. I'll meet you there."

  Drying her fur with the hair dryer took about five times she had needed when she still had had her human body. There were some spots that were really tricky to get dry, even with an flexible body like hers, so she was still drying herself when the other woman came in, wrapped in a towel.

  "I'm Trisha, what's you name?"

  "Vivian", she was trying to dry her tail to fluff it up again.

  "I still don't believe you live at a police station and play fetch with Frank cause it's fun", Trisha was searching for something in her sports bag.

  "Trisha, just scan my transponder", she requested.

  "You wear a transponder?"

  "Yeah, the dog tag", she pointed to the darn thing that she was required to wear all the time.

  "I thought that is just another piece of your pet routine."

  "Nope, that's from the police. It's embarrassing so better just scan it", she put the hair dryer back with the few other things that she had brought. Most borrowed from the one or other police officer cause she had nothing and could buy nothing.

  "Oh", she heard Trisha. "How can they do that? I mean, classify you as an animal?"

  "I never found out if Tom was just stupid when he selected this body for me, or if this was intentional, so I'll depend even more on him. But now I'm stuck with this", she began to dress herself.

  "No, I mean. You look like one, but you're still a human, aren't you? They can't just call you an animal and put a dog tag on you", Trisha insisted.

  She shrugged, "They didn't. See, it's just stupid. This body makes me feel different, makes me think different. I didn't like it from the start but can't escape it. Now I like to eat raw meat, I like to play fetch, and I like it so much that I beg people to play fetch with me. I can't even feel bad about it because it feels good."

  "I still don't think that is right." Trisha put emphasis into each word.

  "Blame Tom", there was anger in her voice.

  "But the police did this, you say? Not him", Trisha countered.

  "I had to take a psychological evaluation. Nothing particularly bad. Any sane human will pass, I tell you. I still have my old memories. I failed like three of six tests and some badly. Attacked a police officer three times even if warned about what will happen and given time to prepare myself. They don't let you get away if you tried to kill a police officer just because he poked you, not after he said he will poke and asked you to prepare to be poked and you told that you are ready to be poked."

  "That's crazy", Trisha remarked.

  "It is. I've given up to fight it. It's easier to go with the flow and play fetch. Cause it's easy and feels good." She shrugged a little.

  "That still doesn't explain why you can't sleep at my place", Trisha didn't relent.

  "I need supervision. You'll have to sign some legal stuff to look over me before the police will allow me to stay at your place. And then more crazy stuff. Frank out there has to carry a stun gun while he's supervising me, cause he can't stop me if I try to run away and he can't hold me if something triggers my hunting instincts", she tried to explain.

  "I'll come with you to the police station. Just let me dry my hair and get dressed." Trisha sounded very serious now.