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“What am I going to do with you?” Areylia scolded the cat she was holding by the scruff of his neck, very much aware of the fact that with all four of his paws holding her forearms, he was making a conscious effort not to claw her. She turned back to survey the damage he’d caused. “I’m so sorry. He’s usually much better behaved. He’s just been cooped up too long in my room. He really is an outside cat, I’ve just been keeping him in my room to avoid this.”
None of the supernaturals in the room looked content with her apology, but no one said anything to her. They had been working on repainting the room, except Socrates had walked through the paint, and now there were paw prints everywhere, and the cat had managed to get himself covered in the stuff and knock over all the paint containers trying to escape.
“After you finish cleaning up, let me know how much it cost to fix the damage he caused, and I’ll pay for all of it,” She offered, inwardly wincing at the damage that was going to inflict on her bank account.
After they agreed, Areylia carried Socrates back to her room without lessening her hold on the scruff of his neck. When she reached her room, She made sure her door was completely shut, and looked at her cat.
“Don’t look at me that way!” She told him, referring to his large eyes and attempts to look cute and regretful. “You know what we have to do now right?”
The cat’s eyes widened further, and he started trying to push himself out of her grasp. This time she did feel his claws, but he avoided breaking skin, and once again, she marveled at how much self control the animal had. Socrates succeeded in breaking her grip, and ran under the bed. Areylia huffed, and followed him, pulling him out quite literally kicking a screaming. Well, kicking and meowing.
Once the cat was back in her arms, she carried him into the bathroom, shut the door, and removed her jacket. This was going to suck, but he deserved it. When she turned on the water in the tub, she heard his meowing protests increase in volume. She shook her head, chuckling grimly.
“This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's gonna hurt you.” She told her, actually fairly certain the words were true. She had a decent chance of getting scratched, while the water was harmless to him. The cat glared at her as she dragged him into a tub. “This is all on you ya know. If you hadn’t been running around wreaking havoc, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Socrates growled and hissed when she finally got him in the water, and he fought tooth and nail to get out of it. At one point he scratched her face, breaking skin for the first time that evening. Areylia cursed, but continued to hold the animal in the water, glaring. It didn’t take long for the bath water to be more on her and the floor than the cat.
“Areylia!” The woman turned at the muffled sound of her name.
“Yeah!” She yelled back refusing to open the door.
“Are you alright in here?” The voice grew louder and distinguished enough that she could tell it was Felix.
“I’m fine!”Socrates chose that moment to make another swipe at her face and another scratch mark appeared parallel to the one he’d made earlier. “Aggh.”
“You don’t sound okay,” Felix disagreed, opening the door to the bathroom.
“Felix don’t…” Areylia protested as Socrates evaporated into a streak of grey fur, escaping her grasp and darting out the door. “Skiddley Whiffers!”
“You look like you just survived a hurricane,” Felix remarked looking over at her, a wide grin spreading across his face.
“I did. Hurricane Socrates. I was giving him a bath, and you let him escape! Now you have to help me look for him.”
Without waiting for an answer, Areylia marched out of the room, still half soaked with two cat scratches on her face still bleeding, and a couple others on her arms. Felix followed, but she was pretty sure it for his own amusement rather than any altruistic reason.
“You take that way, I’ll go this way,” Areylia instructed, pointing out the indicated direction.
Meanwhile
Adam read over the report he had just finished, scanning it for any errors before he handed it in to Agent Albright. He refused to give her anything less than perfect. Satisfied that the report was correct, he set it in the pile of finished paperwork, and leaned forward to start on the next one.
His stack of paperwork had built up more than he would have liked over the past few weeks. Adam didn’t even have a good excuse for it. He’d had the time, but more and more the past few weeks, his attention span had been captured by Areylia. Even the thought of her name alone was enough to keep him from putting pen to paper.
Adam gritted his teeth, and forced himself to focus on the task at hand. In the quiet of the warehouse he was able to prevent his thoughts from straying to the detective long enough to finish three more papers. The interruption that forced him to pause, however, was not the detective; it was her cat.
Adam lifted his head when he heard the pattering of Socrates’s footsteps, and was surprised to see the cat dart in through the small crack Adam had left in the door. Socrates rushed under his desk, and rubbed against one of Adam’s legs, revealing how wet he was. Adam frowned and looked down at the small creature, huddling under the desk. In addition to being soaked, his grey fur was slightly matted, covered in splotches of wet beige paint, and had hints of blood.
“What are you doing?” He asked the animal, not really expecting an answer.
As expected the cat didn’t respond, so Adam reached down, gave him a pat on the head, and went back to filling out his reports. After a couple moments, he felt a solid lump in his lap, and looked down to see Socrates, curled up in his lap, getting his pants sopping wet. Adam frowned, but allowed the creature to stay, especially when he started purring. In fact, he may have given the cat a few more head pats, and strokes.
“Socrates!” An angry female voice called, making Adam once again lift his head from his work, and the cat tense in his lap before jumping to the ground and crawling as far back as possible under his desk.
Areylia pushed his door open slightly. “Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you’ve seen Socrates anywhere?”
“Detective you’re bleeding!” Instead of answering her question, Adam jumped up from his chair to get a better look at her wounds. “And soaked?”
She rubbed at hand behind her neck, chuckling. “Socrates decided that the painters needed some help and made a mess, so his punishment was to take a bath, mostly so I could get the paint out before it dried, but he was making such a ruckus about the bath that I’m the one who ended up with battle scars, then Felix tried to check on me and set him loose.”
Adam turned to look at the desk, and folded his arms. “I know you heard her.”
“What are you talking abou?” Areylia asked, looking at him.
Ignoring her question, Adam moved around the desk, and fixed the cat with enough of a glare that he came out from under the next and sat down in front of Areylia, hanging his head.
“How long has he been in here with you?” Areylia asked, mouth hanging open slightly in disbelief.
“About 10 or 15 minutes,” Adam answered.
“I’ve been looking for you!” She glared at the cat, scoping him off the ground. “We are going to finish your bath.”
Socrates looked about ready to flee again, but when he saw the look Adam was giving him, he settled back into her arms meekly.
“Are you certain that is wise, Detective?”
“No, but what else am I supposed to do, let him ruin his fur by leaving the paint in to dry? I’ve half a mind to drag out the bathing process as punishment for running all over the warehouse, but I think that would punish me more than him, so I’m just gonna try to get this over with as soon as possible and find a different way to punish him.”
“You seem quite scratched up, Detective. Would you like my aid? I will likely be able to control him better than you, and I’ll heal from the scratches faster.”
“They’re just cat scratches, Adam not an aneurysm. I’ll survive, but if you’re volunteering to be the one forcing him into the bath water, I won’t complain.”
“Then I shall assist you,” Adam declared, stepping out with her once more neglecting his work for this vexing woman.