The neon lights of the city always looked a little softer through the twitching, tufted ears of a calico.

She dropped three stories, landing with a silent thump that didn't even startle the local strays. In the shadows, she found a young kid, barely out of their teens, shivering and holding a broken tablet. They looked up, eyes wide at Maya’s pointed ears and the elegant, striped tail swishing behind her. "You're... one of the Free-Folders?" the kid whispered.

The kid was a runaway, a "glitch" in the system trying to find a safe haven called The Garden. Maya knew it well; it was where she had first felt safe enough to transition, both in gender and in species. "Climb on," Maya said, gesturing to her back.