He didn't come home for a week. In the space of time he was gone, Damon worked with Chronivac programme in an attempt to better understand it and how it not only changed the individual, but had ripple effects on reality. When he wasn't doing this, he spent his time as a tomcat, living out his fantasies.
Still unable to understand why he could spend months on end as a cat, yet return to his human self at the point in time he transformed himself, he also discovered there was too many complicating factors to explain why, when he changed one thing in his life, it had the effect it did on his mother's life, or why, when he changed his mother, it shifted his life in ways he hadn't foreseen, including he'd been, until his eighteenth birthday, a ward of his aunt. Thinking about all the things he failed to comprehend about the Chronivac, and the power he had at his fingertips, Damon eventually returned to the apartment he shared with his Aunt June. Letting himself in, wanting nothing more than to take a long hot shower and to get some sleep in his own bed instead of the bed he'd been sleeping at Jack's place, he didn't get even a couple feet into the apartment before his aunt accosted him with, "So you decided to finally come back. Suppose you're going to make some flimsy excuse as to where you’ve been and why you haven’t gotten a real job. Done something with your wasted life."
A glance at the woman, and Damon was suddenly aware this was another change he hadn't taken into consideration, as his relationship with his aunt had soured even more than it already had been. Shrugging, he muttered, "So what's your problem. I pay rent. I can come and go as I please."
"Don't you cop your attitude to me," the woman snapped. "Just because you pay rent and still have a room here doesn't mean I can't have you removed from the lease and have you thrown out on your lazy ass."
Damon gave her a withering stare, which had no effect on her, and replied, "So what do you expect of me? You've made some complaint about one thing after another all my life. Why should now be any different," and trying to push past her, he was stopped as she told him, "I complain because you have no idea how much a burden you are. How much it took from me to be saddled with the likes of you, all because my sister up and disappeared when you were young and I was your only living relative. If I had known then what I know now, I would have placed you in the foster care system and not looked back."
"Whatever," Damon spat and pushing past her, he started to head for his room, but stopped midway. Looking back over his shoulder, he shouted at her, "You know what your problem is. You're just a bitchy old woman who no man would touch, let alone stick around with, obsessed with making sure everyone around you lives the same life you do. It's no real wonder why Uncle Nelson left you all those years ago. If I was married to you, I’d duck out the first chance I got upon learning the type you actually are."
"You ungrateful little fuckin' hooligan," Aunt June screeched, but whatever else she was going to say, Damon tuned out as he headed for his room.
Inside, he took from his bag his laptop, tossed the bag on the bed, set the computer on the desk, collected a change of clothes, and headed for the shower. Thinking as he took a shower how this might be the point where he moved out, find his own place, he still hadn't resolved anything by the time he was finished. Climbing into bed, kicking his bag off as he did, he was soon asleep.
After their row, Aunt June went and sat at the kitchen table. Mulling over her options, hating her nephew even more than before, unaware of how her feelings toward him had worsened because of a computer programme, she considered the first thing she was going to do was kick his punk ass out and have him removed from the lease. Thinking this over, how much rent cost, and how he paid most of it, she revised her decision and considered maybe removing herself from the lease and moving out. Looking about the apartment, thinking how she'd fist rented it with Nelson shortly after they'd been married, her mind went back to how Nelson had left her sometime after it was learned she was unable to conceive. Wanting a child of her own, not some punk the state forced on her, June listened as the shower turned off and Damon headed for his bedroom.
Not moving, she waited a bit before she stood and crept toward his room. Pressing an ear against the door, she listened as something heavy fell to the floor and her nephew moved about in his bed. Knowing the boy was a heavy sleeper, her mind flashed from one option to another as she considered what she ought to do about Damon. Toying with the idea of blackmailing him somehow, or even turning him over to the police, as she felt certain what income he didn't get from his trust funds and such came from illicit gains, June felt certain what she needed first before going to the law was proof. Wanting to be certain, she continued to wait until she was certain Damon was asleep before she opened the door and peeked in.
The usual mess Damon kept his room in greeted her, and not caring the least bit about his cleaning habits, she glanced at his sleeping form before stepping in. Unsure where to start, she crept across the room, even though she really didn't need to, as she could have stomped across all whilst lighting off fireworks and Damon wouldn't wake, and stopped in front of his desk. Lifting the screen and pressing the power button on his laptop, she watched the screen blink and a log-in screen appeared. Thinking about what he might have set his password to, she tried his birthday, her sister's name, combinations of Damon's full name, and a few of the hobbies she knew he had. None of these working, she began cycling through different combinations, hoping as she did the thing wouldn't lock up, and was surprised when the password 35cAtfanc1er worked. Looking at the programme already pulled up, not sure what it was she was looking at, she considered closing it, but decided to leave it alone. Turning away from the desk, she began a slow sweep of the room.
Careful not to disturb things too much, June finished her search by going through his bag. Not finding anything of use except the remote thingy he'd been mucking with the last time she'd seen him, June almost put it back, but stopped when she accidentally pressed a button and the message "Scanning" popped up on the screen. Watching as it displayed something similar to what she'd seen on the laptop, her curiosity got the better of her. Pulling out of the bag the USB cord, she took it, the emitter, and the laptop and headed back to the kitchen table.