As I slipped back in the ... well, pet door, I briefly thought I remembered originally Karyn and I entering the house through another door. I shook my head and looked around the kitchen, tail swishing.
Though she hadn't used the food dish, at least, Karyn had set out the matching water dish on the floor beside a plate of ... something. I sniffed at it reflexively. It certainly smelled good, at least good enough to make my stomach growl, but it looked like... "Canned cat food."
"Only the very best!" Karyn grinned from where she was sitting at the table. With only the bathrobe on, a lot of leg was showing where she sitting by the table. A box of bran and nut flakes was sitting on the table beside her. "Unless you want some twigs and leaves?" She shook the box with one hand and went back to eating her cereal.
"Bleah!" Even when I was human, I didn't much care for health food. I wrinkled my nose at the cat food again -- which was a mistake because I got a stronger whiff of it and shortly there after I was chowing down. I had to admit it tasted pretty good though a lousy texture to it -- the pile of it on the plate disappeared quickly! I lapped up water from the water dish while Karyn cleaned up after her own breakfast and then washed off the plate she had used for me. I absently noted I had licked it clean.
"Not so bad, hmmm, Jon?" Karyn leaned down and scratched my ears until I purred. "Come on, pet, let's see if there's some clothing around here."
"Karyn, I'm not a pet," I complained -- which is hard to do while purring.
"While you're wearing your collar, you most certainly are!" she said, and tweaked the said item where it fit around my neck. With a mischevious grin, she let her robe slip 'accidentally' off her shoulders, letting the sleeves bunch up around her arms as she gave me another show. "Right, kitten?" She started scratching my chin with her other hand.
Darn it! This wasn't fair! I had a full stomach, she was scratching my ears and my chin, and she looked awfully sexy with the robe half-falling off of her like that... I just nodded. It was about all I could do! She just laughed and leaned over to kiss my nose. "You just like the situation, admit it!" I managed to sniff and tried to pull some feline dignity around my self. I began studiously grooming one paw, though my eyes kept wandering back to her body. I wanted to... to... I wasn't sure what I wanted any more!
Laughing quietly, Karyn pulled the robe back up to her shoulders and walked out of the kitchen. I did a big, long satisfying feline stretch and then trotted after her with a fully belly -- it did take some effort to follow her instead of going back outside and finding a sunny spot to lie down in, though.
I shook my head to myself. I needed to stop being a cat for a while! I was thinking way too much like one!
Karyn looked around in the hallway outside. "Hmmm. It looks like the first floor is mostly offices or empty. I think the east wing is mostly animal clinic from these signs. We're in the west wing, sort of. Looks like my bedroom was in the main part of the mansion." Karyn considered. "This place is just unbelievable huge, though! Let's go back to the fourth floor with the bedroom and start from there." She grinned. "I bet this place even has attics, too, but heaven only knows what's in them! Or maybe even secret passages... and we should definitely check the basement out to see if there are dungeons!" She giggled and started walking back towards the staircase.
"Dungeons? What would you need dungeons for?" I scoffed.
"I was just being silly! For you, I'd just lock you in a cage, if you were a bad kitten." Karyn grinned cheerfully as I sputtered, then bounded up the stairs after her. It looked like only the first floor had signs on the walls. At the top of the stairs, Karyn looked around the hallways that stretched out. "Well, I think we're back in the main part of the house here. Let's see... there's my bedroom at the end of that hall," Karyn murmured, speaking mostly to herself it seemed. She turned and started walking towards the fourth floor of the west wing. I shrugged and padded after her, once again admiring the sway of her hips. The hall turned a corner after a half dozen doors, and a short way down ended in a single large wooden door. Karyn hauled it open and a rush of faintly stale air came out of the room beyond which made me sneeze.
"Goodness. What is all this stuff?" Karyn walked into the large room beyond. The walls were painted but the lightbulbs in the ceiling had no light fixtures around them. Most of the room was filled with boxes, crates, and trunks, and a few old fashioned wardrobes stood against the walls. High round windows in the walls let in the sunlight and illuminated motes of dust which I fought the urge to try to bat at.
Karyn walked to the nearest trunk and tried to open it, but it was locked. She frowned. "Why would it be locked?" she muttered, then tried the next, which opened easily. Inside the trunk was a mound of folded curtains, faintly pink tinted. "Nope, that won't do." The next trunk held actual silver silverware. "Neat," Karyn murmured. She gave up on the trunks and tried the wardrobes. The first held a dozen very elegant and expensive looking formal gowns and dresses in various styles. "Oh, wow!" Karyn pulled one out and held it against herself, then frowned. "It's a bit large for me."
"Maybe it's for later on, when you've grown up, little girl," I suggested innocently.
"Maybe so!" Karyn put it back and tried the next. "Oooh... lace!" I blinked and padded over. The second one was filled with women's underwear and lingerie, and a few other items. "Feels like really good silk, too," Karyn murmured. "A couple of corsets... even your stereo-type French maid outfit!" She laughed.
"I wonder when you'll need that to take care of me," I wondered, purring. I made a show of looking her up and down -- hey, she seemed to enjoy the attention, after all. I could show her I could be less shy.
Karyn looked startled, frowned slightly, then made a face. "I suppose I deserved that remark." The outfit drew a puzzled look from her. "Though you have a point -- why would I need it?"
Ahah! "Why don't you put it on, Karyn? I bet you'd look lovely in it."
"Jon! It's not really my kind of outfit," she protested.
"But there's no one around to see you but... your pet cougar," I pointed out and began grooming my paw innocently.
"Touche," Karyn muttered. "I'm not going to let my pet tell me what to do, though."
I looked smug. Cats are good at that, after all. "Uh-huh! I'll make a bet with you -- if you can't find anything else to wear in here beyond what we've already found, you wear that!"
"Hah! I'm sure there's got to be more outfits in here!"
"So it's a bet?" I asked.
Karyn put her hands on her hips. "Even if I lose, I'll only wear it around my pet cougar," she muttered.
"So it's a bet?" I grinned, swishing my tail lazily. I was pretty sure she'd find something else -- there were four other wardrobes to go through, and many chests and boxes. It was something to remember to tease her about, though!
