The next few days settled into a nice routine for Mar. Wake up, move whichever kitty had made her into a bed that night, head off to work. Sometimes she volunteered to stay later, the upcoming renovations constantly on her mind. Go home, make sure the cats hadn't broken/set fire to anything, or mauled a poor trespasser to death. Yes, after the first botched break in there were others. Two others, to be more specific, and both times Mar came home to find trails of blood weaving a drunken path back to the nearest exit.

And then there were the frozen dinners. Mar was thoroughly tired of all the frozen meals. If she had to look at one more, Mar was sure she'd flip the eff out. The contractor, who had sworn up and down that someone would be out before the end of the week, had yet to make an appearance. So she still had no functioning stove, which drastically limited her choices. Staring into the freezer once again, Mar slammed the door shut with enough force to make it bounce back open. Silent, who was sitting on the counter behind her, jumped at the sudden noise.

"No. I refuse." With that little declaration of war, Mar grabbed her keys and headed for the door. Immediately Brat and Orange raced off after her. Mar's lip twitched as they started walking on either side of her. Every time she'd left the house, other than going to work, she'd always had an escort. Guess that first time wasn't just a one-time thing. Shaking her head, Mar started off down the street. After two blocks, she hooked a left and went another half block before approaching a house.

"Momma! Feed me~" Mar announced, opening the door. Two streaks shot past her before she could get the door closed. There were already two people sitting on the couch, a couple judging by the way they were sitting, and the girl had her eyebrow raised. "You know two cats just followed you inside, right?" Mar nodded, smiling at her little escorts, before her head whipped back and forth. "Where is he? Where'd you hide my adorable nephew?"

A small child appeared from thin air, and promptly tackled Mar to the ground. "Auntie Lena!" Brat took advantage of the situation and claimed the perch on her shoulder. "Auntie, there's a kitty on you."

"I know, Kayden, I know."

"Why is there a kitty on you?" Kayden asked, giving Brat an appraising type of look. He was clearly thinking 'is it worth the risk?'. Mar glanced at Brat out of the corner of her eye. "I'm not really sure, Kayden. He just likes it up there, I suppose." Brat's motor started going, and he rubbed his face against hers. Orange had made his way onto the back of the couch, where he could see everything that was going on.

Getting a grip under Kayden's arms, Mar got herself back up onto her feet. Brat dug his claws into her shirt to anchor himself in place. Walking as smoothly as possible, to avoid having claws shred her poor shoulder, Mar walked into the kitchen looking for her mother. "Mama, I'm hungry." Mar whined, leaning against the counter. Brat's ear twitched at her tone. "Go home and make something." Her mother responded, washing dishes.

"While I would normally have nothing against this, I'm afraid that... Well... My kitchen kinda got... Burned down?" Mar said, slowing down as she went. Her mother turned around slowly, her hands dripping from the soapy water. "We didn't hear any sirens." Mar fidgeted even more. "Yeah, I didn't call nine-one-one, I put it out myself." The look of horrified disbelief on her mother's face would have been funny had Mar not felt guilty about the stupid stunt she'd pulled. Brat seemed to agree, seeing as he lifted a paw to bat her on the head.

"Did you just hear your sister?" This was directed to the two on the couch. "She put out a fire by herself." Mar flinched as a finger was pointed dramatically at her. "So, Auntie's a fireman?" Kayden asked, crouching on the couch in front of Orange. "No, Auntie's just a scarecrow." His mother said, giving Mar a 'how could you be so stupid' look. "Mant, only daddy can call me that. It's our thing."

"How did you manage to burn down your kitchen. I thought you learned that some things simply don't belong in the microwave." Mar shrugged her unoccupied shoulder. "One of the cats managed to turn on the stove while I was out." Mant looked from Orange, perched behind her head, to Brat. "Which one did it?" She asked, wagging a finger between the two. "Oh, no. It was one of the other kitties still at home."

"One of the other kitties? How many do you have?" Mant asked, giving her a flat stare. "Nine males, and one perfect little lady." Mar saw her about to comment and held up her hands. "Wait, wait! I saved their fuzzy little butts, of course I would keep them after that." Mant continued to give her a look, "Saved them how?" Mar continued to hold her hands up in the universal sign of surrender. "Whoever owned them before tried to drown them in the lake near my house. I pulled the little darlings out."

"Tried to drown them?" Mant asked in disbelief. "We didn't even consider that when we had the crazy cat factory going." Oh yes, the crazy cat factory where kittens were constantly being born. "I know, right?" Mar agreed, rubbing Brat behind his ears. "Wait, you jumped in to save them? Mar, you can't swim." Orange lifted his head instantly and stared at Mar in a rather unnerving, unblinking kind of way. "Yeah, well, when a sack is moving omits own it usually means there's something alive inside." Mar said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Well, I hope those cats appreciate being alive." The other occupant of the room finally said. He had been listening to their conversation silently, as he's known to do. "I'm sure they do, Nate. They haven't left me alone since." Mar said cheerfully. With that last comment, the conversation soon changed to the gossip her family's more prone to.

Kayden, much to her amusement, couldn't quite seem to get up the courage to pet either of the cats. He claimed it was because they didn't want him to, because it was demeaning. Mar was impressed that her three year old nephew knew a word like that. His parents said he'd never used that particular word before. He must have picked it up somewhere. After she was fed, and had listened to enough of her sister's moaning and groaning about co-workers, Mar gathered up her escort and went home.

There was another blood streak to greet her at home.