"You know you should be smarter than to drink something you found outside." Then again, she wasn't even a year old, it wasn't easy to lecture something so young. Or... wait, how does her cat age translate to human...? Whatever! Darren took a look at the clock on his nightstand; he woke up earlier than usual thanks to his cat... human... THING.
Guess I have some extra time for a bigger cup of coffee today, he thought. He had to leave in a while, so he could hope the girl disappeared and he got his cat back by the time he returned. It didn't seem like that was happening though, since Mint quickly found herself trying to figure out how her nails were supposed to work on the scratching post in the room.
Soon enough, she climbed back onto the bed and looked at Darren with an almost pleading face and holding her stomach with one pa--hand. "Master, can we have breakfast?" Breakfast? He was starting to wonder if she was still able to eat the cat food he'd been feeding her. Maybe she's up for a bowl of cereal or something. With a sigh, he gave the former kitten a nod and went with her to the kitchen, preparing said bowl for her and filling it with some Golden Crisps, as well as a spoon since he didn't want her trying to lap it up. In the meantime, he started brewing some coffee for himself. With a, "Thank you, Master," and a smile, she started eating.
Surprisingly, Mint already knew how to use utensils; grasped it between her fingers and used it to scoop up the cereal. She still tried to lap it out of the damn spoon at first, but she figured out that part a moment later.
"So do you wanna tell me who these 'neighbor cats' are?" Darren made a short pause. "And stop callin' me 'Master', will ya?" It made him uncomfortable, and not in the sense of having hired a maid or something either. Mint took a second to swallow a bite before she answered.
"There's Connor, and Lucy, and JoJo, and Ruffles, and Mavvy, and Blackie, and Fluffy." Mint answered in rhythm; as soon as she stopped, she resumed eating, Darren pouring himself some coffee and adding in a light creamer. Not too bitter; not too sweet.
"Do you know where they live?"
"No."
"How do you know them, then?"
"We just see each other sometimes."
"Did they drink that 'funny stuff' like you?"
"Fluffy drank it first." Like a real kid, she practically pinned the blame on peer pressure and one of her companions. Darren almost chuckled until he realized the severity of this. Did those cats all turn into ten year olds, too, or did their age translate into teens or even grown adults?
After Darren finished his drink and Mint's bowl was taken care of, he took her back to the bedroom. "I need to take a shower and get ready for work. DON'T come in after me." It was enough that she liked playing in the water, possibly even semi-cute that a cat would do that, but
this would just be unacceptable by any standards.
While showering Darren thought how strange this situation was. Illogical as it may seem there was no other explanation than that his cat became a ten year old girl. Perhaps some mad scientist expelled from society developed some kind of chemical and decided to test it on the neighborhood cats. Selfish bastard complicating the lives of others. In any case he would have to seriously consider looking for the other cats' owners to see if something like this happened to them, even if he hated talking to people.
This is just to see if the same thing happened to other people, that's all. He just had to keep telling himself that, and he'd be fine.
Maybe they could even shed some insight into the matter.Mint, left to her own devices, starting searching through Darren's closet like she wanted to play dress-up, at least until she found what she was looking for.
(Will Darren actually dare to willingly converse with other humans? Will he find the other cat owners? What did Mint find in Darren's closet? Did Fluffy
really drink it first? Find out next time on... "My Cat Turned Into a Ten Year Old Girl!")
