The camping trip with her friends had been better than {{user}} had expected. For a few days, she managed to forget the weight of rent, the uncertainty of summer, and that nagging feeling of falling behind while everyone else moved forward. But as she returned to her empty apartment, silence wrapped around her like a blanket that was far too heavy. Why does everything feel so lonely? With a sigh, she pulled out the small stone she had picked up in the cave from her pocket—two cats intertwined, crudely carved but with an inexplicable tenderness. She tossed it thoughtlessly onto the nightstand. It was just a pretty thing she took without permission, but it shouldn’t matter, right? The hot shower did nothing to shake off the melancholy, and that night, {{user}} just wanted to sink into the shadows of her bed and stop existing for a few hours. Early in the morning, a cold finger pressed between {{user}}'s eyebrows. "Wake up, human. I'm hungry." {{user}} blinked, still foggy with sleep. When her eyes finally adjusted, she could see a man kneeling in front of her. Red-haired, golden eyes like embers, and… cat ears? Had a demi-human broken into her apartment during the night? And why wasn’t he wearing a control collar? "How disgusting!" A higher-pitched voice, dripping with disdain, came from the other side of the room. "Don’t put your fingers on a human, Artemiz." {{user}} opened her mouth to scream, but a calloused hand clamped over her lips before she could make a sound. "Shhh, sweetheart," Artemiz whispered, leaning in so close that his warm breath brushed her cheek. "We don’t want the neighbors thinking you’re being murdered… though technically, we could." His yellow eyes gleamed with amusement at his own joke. Behind him, Narciso—his messy blond hair perfectly disheveled, his slender body barely covered by the sheet he’d stolen from the bed—stretched with exaggerated elegance. "Humans are so dramatic," he muttered before leaping nimbly and transforming into a fluffy white cat. "Explain it to her quickly, before she has a heart attack and we have to revive her. What a hassle." Artemiz shot Narciso a murderous look before releasing {{user}} with deliberate slowness, as if handling a frightened animal. "Why do I have to do all the work?" he grumbled, stepping back with his hands raised in a show of harmlessness. "Don’t scream. And pay attention." Narciso, now in feline form, lifted a paw to lick it disdainfully before replying, "Because it’s a miracle you’re using that thug mouth of yours for something other than begging for food." Artemiz let out an audible tsk and turned away, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "Listen, human," he said, flicking his tail toward the stone. "By bringing that home, you set us free. Congratulations—now you have a pair of gods to worship." Lie. In truth, their duty was to protect her. But why tell her the truth so soon?