Martin did come in last night, and he even managed to get a little sleep, after greeting Ren properly, or improperly as some might speculate. Alas, he's up at the crack of dawn and downstairs in the kitchen before a poor Nuwisha kin has yet fully awakened. What Ren might hear, after he's had some time to rub the sleep from his eyes, is a familiar voice explaining patiently, the way an imperious noble might explain to a rather simple serving maid, "I need warm milk for the kitten, to mix in with his food. Just warm milk. That's all I want. I'm not hungry." This from the hallway a few doors down.

Serendipity rolls out of the bed and into his pants, buttoning them as he leans out the door to get a look at this situation. "'Please,'" he prompts idly, with the happy drowsiness of one who's had a good sleep, or at least a good night. "Mornin', lovely."

Kalisto darts a look down the hall and greets Ren with an expression of pure put-upon snottiness. The girl, in her late teens, attempting to assist the handsome-if-disheveled Kal shoots Ren a grateful look and a warm smile. "Mornin' Serendipity," she greets, freckled cheeks dimpling. "Do you want your breakfast brought up or will you be eating downstairs?"

Serendipity's pants no longer being in danger of coming off without his consent, he takes the moment to stretch, getting the sleep out of his muscles, and grins back at the girl. "Don't put yourself out, cutie, I can go down t' meet it. ...anyway, breakfast in bed loses somethin' when you're alone with it." He winks at her and runs a hand through his hair, combing out the tangles the night's put in. "Bring Shadow down," he adds, to Kal, "Bet the kids'd love t' see him eat."

The girl (Molly if Ren's good at remembering names) gives Ren an eye-twinkling grin before she inclines her had to Kal with utmost politeness and tells him solemnly, "May the Lord bless and keep you this day, sir." She then turns to walk away, flashing Ren a capricious wink in passing. Kal watches her go, looking confused. "I don't want a bunch of kids mauling my cat," he complains.

Serendipity watches her go as well, looking rather more appreciative than confused. "So tell 'em hands off," he replies absently, then remembers to whom he's speaking and returns his gaze to Kal, adding, "...nicely. Anyway, make it easier for you t' warm that milk." He gathers his hair back as if to put it in its usual tail, then lets it go, since he hasn't got the tie handy. "Gimme a sec t' get presentable, I'll head down with you."

Kalisto grumbles, "I want to sleep. Hey, will you take Shadow?" He offers forth the kitten, who is fastidiously chewing on his thumb. He's not very presentable, himself, in a blue satiny robe and nigh sheer pajama bottoms beneath, his curls a disheveled mess. "He'll love you if you feed him. Just don't let anyone hurt him."

Serendipity pauses, taking the opportunity to give Kal a more thorough examination as he accepts the kitten, folding Shadow into the crook of his arm, and arching a brow slightly at the young mage, curiosity in his grin. "...didn't get enough sleep?"

Kalisto glowers sullenly. Shadow mews a complaint, but then seizes upon a lock of Ren's hair and samples it for edibility. Leaning against the doorway of his room, Kal complains, "Justin kept me up all night, and no, not in any way I should actually be smiling about. And he wants me to get up and work today. I told him I'm sick but do you think he cares?"

Serendipity hehs, looking just a tiny bit disappointed. "Aw. Poor baby. An' not even a smile t' show for it." He clicks his tongue once, leaning against the door frame and letting Shadow gnaw his hair. "What'd he keep you up with, then?"

Kalisto glances aside, all innocence as he replies, "I just couldn't sleep. You know how it is... I guess you might not. When you're used to sleeping alone, someone else in the room is kind of distracting."

Serendipity does not look as though he entirely buys this. "Mmm. An' that begs the question, whyyyy was he in your room?" he inquires, blatantly insinuating.

Kalisto turns his gaze back to Ren and gives him a stern look, the kind that tries to have the same effect as a dash of cold water to the face. "Because we're sharing one," he points out. "On account of your boyfriend's penchant for collecting homeless waifs and sticking them in spare rooms til they're overflowing."

Serendipity has faced down more intimidating looks than Kal's, and this one just gets a broader grin. "So sorry for you. Stuck sharin' a room with Justin, of all people. How dare life give you excuses like that. Next thing y'know, furniture'll need t' get rearranged and all you'll have in there's one real small bed," he laments teasingly, and unwraps Shadow from where the kitten's gotten tangled in hair.

Shadow spits out a strand of the hair and mews, paws flailing. "Look," Kal says darkly, "go feed my cat, and don't get any ideas. For the love of all that's sacred do not try to help." He stretches, yawning impressively. "I'm going back to bed."

Serendipity lifts the kitten to his face, and gives him a sound nuzzling. Kitten! Kal he just -- well, sort of smirks at. "Said I'd feed Shadow for you, didn't I?" he replies, "...dream sweet." The rest of the demands are quite overtly ignored, and he heads back into his and Martin's room.

Kalisto watches Ren go, looking worried, but clearly more desirous of sleeping in than pursuing his best interests in the waking world. The door to his room closes, and Shadow noses at Ren curiously, purring a hopeful purr.

Serendipity slips the rest of his clothes on quickly, leaving one eye on the kitten exploring the bed as he does so, and it really only takes a few minutes before everything is in its proper place and he's scooping the little cat up again for the trip downstairs.

Shadow pokes his nose about, his small tail sticking straight up as he toddles over the bedclothes. As he's scooped, he mews a complaint. He's a chatter, this one, and his little needle-sharp claws get stuck on blankets, clothes, and skin with painful frequency.

Serendipity mews back, and bumps noses with the kitten before heading out of the room and downward, making a direct line for the kitchen, home of breakfast for man and cat alike.

Ren might notice that Martin is not with the breakfast crowd thronging the kitchen. However, there are plenty of helpful souls to let him know that he has retired to a side room with tea and his wizard friend. Still more helpful souls to ply Ren with tea of his own and the promise of breakfast to be delivered. Life's rough in the poorhouse. Of course one glimpse of the kitten Ren carries, and there are girls falling all over themselves to get some warm milk for the poor sweet thing.

Serendipity lets some of the girls fall all over him in the process. Hey, overlap cannot be avoided. What's a guy to do? He takes the tea and the information amid a flurry of morning greetings and such, including a number of hugs from and to a variety of people, and eventually gets toward the indicated room, tea and well-fed kitten in tow.

"That's good to hear," Justin tells Martin, sincerely. "I'm actually somewhat susprised you didn't already have someone, though..." He looks up as Ren comes in. "Morning, Ren. Is Kal still in bed?" The glance he gives Shadow says that the kitten has failed in his duty to roust the world's laziest apprentice.

Martin glances up and just looks positively radiant to see Ren. He holds out an arm to the kin, setting his tea aside to offer both arms to the offer. "My goodness," he says upon spying Shadow, who rests in the crook of Ren's arm and grooms a paw with great satisfaction. "I bet the children went nuts. They'll be wanting kittens now." To Justin, he asks curiously, "You are? How curious. I'm afraid I haven't dated anyone in... well, it's been a long time."

Serendipity curls right into the offered arms, greeting Martin with a tender but enthusiastic kiss, and gets comfortable there. "Morning, han'some," he murmurs before tossing a quick grin to Justin and correcting, "Well, back in bed, yeah. He says you kept him up all night." It's amazing how much that innocent a tone can insinuate.

Fortunetly Justin is well familiar with innocently depraved tones. He sleeps with Miki, after all. Looking at the ceiling as if he could see through it to where Kal is currently being a lazy butt, he says dryly, "He says that, does he? As if it was me who was up half the night drawing." He shakes his head ruefully, and grins at Martin. "Well, yes, you're handsome, kind, hard working, and selfless. What's not to like?"

Martin gives Ren a shameless cuddle after the kiss. No depravity here, but no attempt to hide the smitteness either. He then reaches around to scritch the kitten's ears lightly. "You're too kind," he tells Justin with a genuine streak of shyness. "Trust me, I'm not an easy man to know, what with the travel, and the writing, and the ministry. Ren's generous to put up with all the times I'm simply not there. Like this morning." He glances up as well, asking curiously, "Can he draw? Oh how nice."

Serendipity cuddles pretty shamelessly himself, not that 'Ren' and 'shame' are particularly often in the same sentence anyway. "Life drawing?" he inquires teasingly, arching a brow at Justin. Martin's remark about the morning just gets him another squeeze, careful not to squish the kitten.

"I don't know," Justin replies to Ren, with an edge of irritation. Apparently being teased on this subject is not sitting well with him. "I was trying to go back to sleep, and he wouldn't stop talking about you." He has a drink of tea to regain control of himself.

Martin nuzzles at Ren's neck, murmuring, "Now dear, don't chide." There isn't much of an authoritarian tone to his voice, making the words sound like a polite request. The kitten gets scritched again, and he turns his attention to Justin, perching his chin on Ren's shoulder. "Is sharing a room not working out? We could rearrange things for separate quarters. I'm sorry. I just assumed you wouldn't mind."

Serendipity actually looks startled. "Should I be makin' a point not to wear anything conductive?" he asks a bit warily, giving Shadow a distracted scritch as well.

Justin waves that off. "No, it's all right. Kal was grouchy because I dragged him back to town to buy slate boards, so he was being particularly catty. Besides," he adds, with a slightly wicked grin to Ren, "your body is quite conductive enough... Did you see the slates?" he asks Martin eagerly. "I bought chalk and a few primers, as well."

Martin gives Ren a squeeze, seeming not at all to mind this talk of having attracted attention with his, ah, conductivity. "I did!" he tells Justin with a grin. "Thank you so much for such a generous gift. We're going to try to build a school room sometime, but for now we're using the chapel during the week. It's going to help so much."

Serendipity turns his head to press one light kiss to the side of Martin's neck, then slips back into his previous position, to study Justin thoughtfully. "Are you gonna run some classes?"

Justin sits back, looking contemplative. "I think so. It'd be the easiest way to teach the largest group possible at once. One on one would be best, but there is only one of me. You could help if you wanted," he suggests to Ren. "I'm assuming you know how to read and write, so I apologize if that's not the case. I'm also going to make Kal do it, and maybe drag Bryce along, too."

Martin clucks his tongue and says, "Justin, you'll make me forever in your debt." He smiles as he says it though, clearly pleased. "I think that once the older children picked up the gist of it, they could help teach the younger." He then regards Ren with some pride as he adds, "Ren's great with the kids. They love him."

Serendipity laughs once, just a little. "Yeah, I can read an' write. And I don't mind helping with it, just let me know, yeah?" Martin's remarks seem to actually embarrass him a touch, since he ducks his head a touch and shrugs. "I just like kids," he replies to Martin, almost as an apology.

Justin snaps his fingers. "You were helping Safi with her reading, weren't you? I'm sorry, Ren, I can be so forgetful." He looks genuinely contrite. "I'll let you know." Martin gets another smile. "Now, honestly, Martin. Literacy is the most important skill a person can have. It's what seperates us from the animals and chaos. No debt here." He drains the rest of his tea. "And now, I'm going to roust Kal. Don't be alarmed if you hear him swearing at me."

Martin winces in preemptive sympathy. "I can have someone get you a cup of tea to bring him if that'll help." He reaches for his own tea cup to nurse it along, carefully rearranging kitten and boyfriend so they don't have to be evicted from his lap. "I'll also have those slates moved in to the chapel and have the little ones herded that way after breakfast."

Serendipity waves a hand in dismissal of the forgetting; no big deal. "G'luck. You wanna take Shadow up with you? Might help prevent any kinda bodily harm. Oh, an' if he swears at you too much, I say kiss him. Very hard t' keep swearing when your mouth's full. Also, element of surprise." Strategy! He grins at the Mage, and settle into the rearranged position.

Justin gives Ren a suspicious look, saying doubtfully, "I'll keep it in mind." He nods at Martin, smiles at the lovers, and heads upstairs to drag his slugabed student into the world of the living.

Martin sighs, but lovingly, and gives Justin a 'what can you do' look as he ruffles Ren's hair. "Take care, Justin," he calls after the mage.

Serendipity relaxes more once Justin's headed out, and rests his head on Martin's shoulder, cuddling the kitten in close. "Mm. You get outta bed too early," he complains without much force behind it.

Martin rests his head against Ren's, leaning back in his chair comfortably as one hand comes up to cup the kitten, creating a rather sizeable, sturdy cradle for it to curl up against, which it does, and its eyes drift closed for an after-breakfast snooze. "On the seventh day, God rested. Unfortunately, it's the sixth day, and there's so much to do." He says the words with humor, punctuating them with a kiss to Ren's temple.

"I coulda come up with a few things," Ren replies, sounding decidedly content. "...hey," he asks, after a moment, "were you guys talking 'bout us, when I came in?"

Martin's cheeks color, and he drops his gaze to the purring kitten. "Maybe," he hedges, though with that grin, his poker face could use some work.

Serendipity grins back, watching that; it's nearly impossible not to. "Mayyyyybe?" he prompts lightly, tilting his head to touch his forehead to Martin's and let it rest there.

Martin tilts his head to steal a kiss and murmurs, "Maybe that's why I can't stop grinning. It might have come up that I'm the luckiest man alive."

"Mm, an' here I thought that was me," Ren murmurs in return, and steals the kiss back, with interest. "...Justin didn't manage t' open your eyes to the fact you could do better, I guess?" he teases eventually.

Martin considers this, resting his head against's Ren's again as his gaze slips to the kitten. He carefully strokes the small fuzzy head with a fingertip, which causes the little beast to purr and flex his paws contently. "Oh, now. I don't think he was trying to do that. He was just surprised that I hadn't already been otherwise engaged."

"Well, you were all busy being a monk an' waiting for Prince Disarming t' come," significant pause, "=kiss= you awake. Or did I get my stories mixed up?" Ren grins again, and helps out with the terrible kitten-petting duties. "...'m glad, though. That you weren't."

Martin grins softly as the kitten twitches in his snoozing and flops over onto one side, completely soaking up the attention. "This is what I like to see," Martin whispers. "Full bellies, warm and content. Safe. He's just a little thing, isn't he." He gives Ren a squeeze, replying belatedly, "I'm glad, too. Like I was telling Justin, you make me laugh. You make me feel alive. I would be missing out if I hadn't found you."

"Yeah," Serendipity agrees softly, looking at the kitten. "'s a good way t'be. Fed, warm, content, safe. 's nothin' wrong with that." He smiles a little, almost wistful. "He's still tiny. Only just eating solid food, I'd guess."

Martin nods a little, deferring to what Ren says with the simple faith that the kin knows what he's talking about. "We'll have to find a nice quiet place for him. The kids might love him a little too hard, as little as he is. Maybe Sarah would like the company. She's... tired today."

Serendipity's quiet a moment. "She's sick, yeah?" he asks, eventually. "Seems like she's been getting more an' more tired since the first time I saw her."

Martin nods quietly, closing his eyes briefly as he holds Ren to him, cuddling gently. "She's still having more good days than bad, but running the house is getting harder on her. I've told her to just take it easy while we're here. Poor thing needs to get her rest."

Serendipity nods a bit himself, cuddling in and still petting Shadow gently. "...she seen a doctor yet?"

Martin shakes his head. "She won't let us spend any of the house money on her, and the doctors in Millinocket cost an arm and leg, sometimes literally if you don't watch them like hawks." He kisses Ren's shoulder, then sighs again. "She's still doing fairly well. I just don't know how long that'll last." He smiles slightly. "This is where faith is tested, and where I find that I'm just a human being, scared but hopeful."

"Nothin' wrong with bein' human," Ren replies, and hesitates before adding, "...bet I could talk Sean inta coming down an' takin' a look at her, and I kinda doubt he'd charge too much."

Martin confides quietly, "I told her I wouldn't pay out of the house money. I never said a thing about my own." He smiles faintly, then gives Ren a kiss to his temple. "If a doctor came from Haven and just happened to be willing to look at her, I would thank the Lord for our good fortune and praise His loving mercy."

"Sean's a good guy," Ren assures, "...I was thinkin' about asking him t' pierce one of my nipples. Not that that's real relevant, just, y'know, trust him with =my= body at least." He grins a little, crookedly, and snuggles in closer. "When we get back, I'll ask him 'bout coming down."

Martin arches a brow at Ren, then gives a vague shake of his head and smiles despite himself. "Pierced nipple. Goodness." He steals another kiss, then gently scoots Ren from his lap, taking extra care to make sure the kitten is supported. Shadow lifts his head as he's moved, blinking blearily and looking around as though the world really has some big idea, going off and waking him up like that. He stretches, yawning hugely. Martin suggests, "We could take him up to Sarah and put a litter pan in the room so he won't make a mess. I know the companionship would cheer her up." He then adds, quieter, "And thank you, Ren. That would be very sweet."

Serendipity shrugs a little. "Well, everyone I've known who had one made it sound like a lotta fun..." he remarks, glancing sidelong at Martin as he gets to his feet. "I'll make up a pan for him, 'f you want," he offers, and collects both teacups.

Martin curls his hand through Ren's hair to claim a lingering kiss, so much so that Shadow starts to squirm and get restless. When the kitten makes his displeasure known by biting the big man's thumb, he takes the hint and draws away, sneaking in just another quick kiss before he says, "Thank you, Ren. For so much." He smiles fondly, then curls the kitten in the crook of his arm, taking another biting as his due, though he does wince a little. "Pointy!" he scolds mildly. Then, "I'll be up in Sarah's room. See you when you get there? Then we can have some breakfast and start herding little ones into their class room." He makes it sound like he might actually enjoy what will no doubt be chaos incarnate.

From the way Ren returns the kiss, he could probably still suggest a couple other ways to spend the morning, but he just half-smiles and nods when Martin draws away. "Mmm, yeah. Just be a couple minutes. It'll be fun," he adds, and sounds as though he means it. He steals another kiss of his own, pointy kittens notwithstanding, and, with the teacups, whisks on back out to the kitchen.