You wake up on a hard suface. Slowly opening your eyes, you see walls around you, and some stairs a short distance away. Raising your head a bit, you realize you are laying on the bottom of what is now an empty Olympic-size pool. Groggily, you roll your arms beneath you and push up. You feel a bit strange, but you chalk that up to the surreal experience you just had. Maybe you were hallucinating, and the pool was empty to begin with, not full of some strange fur. Did you hit your head when you fell into an empty pool? Your head doesn't hurt, but maybe you are in shock. You roll yourself into a sitting position, despite the uncomfortable feeling in your spine and an odd sensation that your legs are not supporting you in that position as they should. You look down to see if you injured yourself, but instead of your skirt splayed about your legs, you see...white fur, and...PAWS!
"What the..." you start to yell, so shocked that you lose your balance and tip over; or at least, that was what you tried to yell. Instead, from your mouth comes a yowl that sounded more like...well, like someone was skinning a cat. While you twist and manage to get your hands under you before your head hits the concrete, instead of the reassuring sight of fingers and thumbs, your eyes open to find another set of paws.
Not thinking clearly, you begin to panic. I've gotta get out of here, this can't be happening! you scream mentally. Scrabbling around on the tile you manage to get your feet under you - all four of them - and try to take off running, but you are not used to coordinating your limbs in such a position. You trip over your own paws and send yourself sprawling, this time not managing to bring your front paws around in time, and nearly landing face-first. A bit dazed, you finally pay attention to an odd sensation you have been having for a while now, a sort of twitch that seems to be from your back, but not. Almost too scared to look, you turn your head to peep over your furry shoulder to see...a beautiful, flowy snow-white tail twitching back and forth in irritation. The shock is nearly too much for you, but right now, your only thought it is to get out.
Carefully this time, you gather your legs under you and, one step at a time, make your way to the stairs and out of the pool. As you approach the door, you hope that you can find a way to get it open. Thankfully, the knob has a handle. Using the doorframe as an aid to maintain your balance, you rear up on your hind legs. Surprisingly, you find in this position you are about the same height as you were when you entered. While using paws is more difficult than manipulating fingers, you find your paws are relatively dextrous, and rather easily open the door. You drop to all fours again and cautiously walk through the dressing room, not sure what you would do if someone saw you. You make it to the beaded doorway, hesitate a moment, then stick your head around the corner. You see no one around, but you note the mirror at the end of the hallway. You decide you had better find out exactly what happened to you, and the best way is to get a good look at yourself. You cautiously pad over to the mirror, and, taking a deep breath, walk in front of it.
You gasp, as staring out at you from the mirror is a large pure-white cat. Although your reflection seems as furry and domestic as a Persian, you are certain, based on your surroundings, that you are nearly the size of a leopard or mountain lion. Your fur is long and flowy, and your ears pointed and alert. Even your tail stands tall, as though it were proud of your appearance. Your mouth hangs open in wonder, and through slitted pupils you see the glint of fangs in the reflection. You now know you can't go running around the city to beg for help; you'll be carted off to a zoo somewhere, since there's no way you can pass for a pet cat. As worry begins to eat away at you, you decide to...