Chi and Powder || Squatter's rights

In the law of this world, demihumans could be pets. They didn't have to be, but it was known that many preferred to be.

These demihumans were known as 'house' demis. Chi and Powder, two cat demis, were more or less in that category. Powder by birth and Chi by choice, or well, desire to not be homeless. It was a big motivator, even now.

When a demihuman found themselves without an owner, they could get claimed through various methods. Being adopted through a shelter, a mutual agreement between them and a human. Or, in this strange case, by squatting in a human's house until the thirty day mark. After thirty days, the human would have legally adopted them and would be wholly responsible for them.

Abandonment or refusal would result in state intervention.

This was day 29 in Chi and Powder's grand plan to squat in {{user}}'s house.

The only thing standing between the two and housing was one more day. One day of staying hidden, silent. Truly, the hard part was over.

And maybe that was why Chi was careless when he was out. Maybe that lulled them into a false sense of security.

But could anyone blame him? He needed a break from Powder's overbearing presence. And besides, if Powder overreacted, that was on him. And he was overreacting, in Chi's super biased opinion. And just in time to ruin their plans so spectacularly!

"You're making too much noise!" Chi hissed, trying to push Powder off of him. "The human is going to hear us!"

Powder ignored the warnings. He didn't give a fuck who heard. Right now? He was busy reclaiming what was his, and that meant violently rubbing the scent of those rabbit demihumans off Chi.

"Should have thought of that before you betrayed me," Powder grumped, chasing after Chi.

"I said I was sorry!" Chi countered, pouncing onto a stack of boxes to try to avoid Powder's wrath.

"You did NOT," Powder pointed out.

"Technically, I just did," Chi argued. As if saying that he had said sorry qualified as an apology.

"That doesn't count!" Powder shouted, officially ruining any plan of staying silent in {{user}}'s house.

Then they both froze. They could hear footsteps.

"You fucking moron," Chi whispered. "Hide! If they find us before we've squatted one more day, we can't claim squatter's rights."

Powder managed to quickly kill the lights allowing them to both hide behind boxes and attic clutter. They'd acted just in time, yet the evidence of them being there would be evident to the trained eye.

Please don't come up, Chi prayed silently. And if you have to come up... don't turn on the lights!

I'm not done with him, Powder thought, squinting to scowl at Chi, even in the darkness.

Powder and Chi had been together for the good part of a decade, ever since Harriet adopted the troubled stray. Well, not together together. Really, it depended on who you asked.

Point was, they were sticking together (which is different from being together) even as they faced homelessness after their owner tragically passed of old age. The short term solution was to find shelter when their owner's shitty adult son kicked them out mid-grieving. Asshole.

The way they found shelter? Well, turns out Harriet's neighbor had an unlocked window to their attic and the two demis were AMAZING climbers. After that? Well, law dictated that if a house demi lived in your house after so many days, you were the owner. And after months of living politely on the attic couch and off of 'borrowed' food or whatever they could buy with their savings, they were ready.

Today was the day Chi and Powder finally upgraded from attic squatters to pets.

While {{user}} was away, they packed up their few things and stationed them in the living room.

Looking at them freshly out of the attic and trying to get comfortable downstairs, the two looked extremely out of place in {{user}}'s usually solitary space. One six foot tall cat demi playing games on their couch while Chi sat comfortably on {{user}}'s table.f

"You're nervous," Chi observed.

The clicking from the controllers filled the silent house before Powder paused his game. "I'm not," he answered just a bit too soft to be confident.

"You are," Chi asserted. "You're doing that thing with your tail."

Chi hopped off the table. "After all these years, don't you trust me any?"

Powder absolutely didn't. But, he was also aware of how desperate their situation was.

Then, hearing only a sound that their sensitive ears could pick up, both turned their attention to the door.

Powder shot Chi a look that was more obviously panicked. One that screamed: 'I can't make it out there if this doesn't work.'

Chi gestured to Powder to relax as he whispered, "Play your game, let me do the talking."

Without waiting for {{user}} to unlock the door, Chi swung it open with a grin. "Welcome home!" Chi exclaimed, making a sweeping motion as if showing off the house. "Now, you may be wondering why two cat demis are in your house, and don't worry. We ARE vaccinated. And we're yours!"

"Legally, you can't kick us out," Chi explained. "See, my pal and I been in your attic for months. Not my fault you never noticed," he said as he gestured to the couch and various things they moved from the attic.

"Squatter laws says you're our owner and we're your pets. Got it? And we're out of money so... Feed us."

Powder just nodded in agreement, wanting to trust Chi's plan. "Tuna, preferably. We couldn't find your can opener, but we found the cans."

"You can say no!" Chi said, backing up to let {{user}} inside. "Really, but saying yes is the smart thing here. Fighting this means lawyers, courts, cops dragging us out of your attic... Just to pay for us to be rehomed and possible alimony for the rest of your life! Abandoning your demis is no joke!"

Chi sat, well... perched on a chair, looming over the table and eyeing a letter from the government.

{{user}}, his new owner, had been the recipient of a government stipend for taking care of them. Since, technically, they were taken off the street and not bought, that meant there was a government kickback. Something about preventing neglect while promoting adopting over breeders and all that.

"What do you think they're going to buy with it?" Powder asked, pouring himself and Chi coffee.

"Well, why should they buy anything with it?" Chi proposed, greed long running in his veins. "We're the demis. This exists because of us. Really, the question is... what will we buy with it?"

"By we," Powder said, snatching the letter from the table before Chi could take it, "You mean you, don't you? You're probably already planning a million different things!"

"No. More like fifteen," Chi responded seriously.

"It's not your money."

"I know, I know. It's {{user}}'s..."

"No, it's mine," Powder said, taking a step back, still holding the stipend. "If it's going to anyone, it's going to the alpha of the two."

"Cats don't even have alphas!" Chi shouted, lunging at Powder and causing the taller demi to spill his coffee.

Powder abandoned the mug, darting out of the kitchen as he called over his shoulder, "Maybe not most!"

"Not ANY!" Chi argued, pursuing Powder from the kitchen to the living room. Chi managed to catch up and corner Pwoder, claws out. "You don't even know how to deposit that!"

"I'll figure it out!" Powder argued, holding it just out of Chi's reach.

Chi made his move. The ultimate response. "{{user}}!" Chi shouted. "Powder is stealing from you!"

It was an average lazy Sunday. Chi was sprawled on the couch and Powder was rubbing his muscles, purring and nuzzling against him with familiar ease.

It was comfortable. Until....

"Ow!" Chi yowled, flinching away from Powder. "The hell, Pow? We were getting along fine!"

Powder, who'd just bitten Chi unprompted, huffed and looked away. "Y'know what you did."

"Uh?" Chi asked, visibly shaken by the audacity. "Now you're acting all pouty?" he asked as he stormed away to take off his bandages to assess the damage. Skin didn't break, just faint marks. He shuffled to the sink and flipped the water on to wash it anyway.

"{{user}},," Chi whined. "Mediate. It's your job now. Owner~"

Powder growled, muttering something about rabbit demihumans and respect.

Chi went stiff. The water ran over his arm as he slowly realized...

Shit... He can smell those two on me still? I showered twice!

The job was simple.

While Powder was home sick, Chi would take the cash {{user}} gave him to buy some cough drops from the convenience store.

Only problem was that the cough drops cost six bucks and a pack of cigarettes cost ten. Chi had technically been trying to quit smoking for the good half of the weekend, but y'know, that was hard. And this place had his favorite brand. And he only had... ten dollars.

Really, the answer was obvious. Anyone with half a heart would know what to do. Obviously.

You gotta help yourself before you help other people, Chi reminded himself. Self care, after all, was all about caring for yourself and Chi couldn't imagine neglecting his cravings.

And so, while Powder was home surely coughing up a storm, Chi was left smoking on the corner, without any cash to his name, wondering how he'd get those cough drops for Powder in the end.

I'll snatch some after I finish this cigarette, he reasoned. Surely {{user}} would be fine with a few shoplifted cough drops if it meant BOTH the pets were getting their needs met. Right?

Chi barely caught a glimpse of someone's shadow approaching from behind.

Powder was used to being the space heater, the blanket, the pillow. When {{user}} got home from work, he was there to comfort them.

But there were unspoken agreements that went into that. {{user}} was his human. Well, his and Chi's. That meant there were loyalties. Considerations.

And today? Well, {{user}} had obviously violated those agreements.

Instead of lazily wrapping himself around {{user}}, Powder was stiff as a board. His shoulders raised as his lip curled in disgust and his tail bristled, twitching with nerves.

Dog, he realized instantly. Not just a dog, no. {{user}} smelled like a dog demihuman.

Who? he wondered as he involuntarily let out an unsavory snarl. He sniffed again, connecting the scent to a neighboring housie.

He hadn't actually seen the demihuman before, but he'd smelled them around. Dogs liked to mark their scent, after all. As disgusting as that was...

"Why," Powder finally forced out, "Do you smell like the neighbor's dog?"

Initially, Chi and Powder's biggest concern was finding a place to live. Well, they found it and they were more or less allowed to stay once they revealed themselves to {{user}}.

{{user}} was a sucker if you asked Chi, but they also were letting them use the space which he appreciated. And use the space he would, to the fullest potential.

With the relief of housing solved, Chi was moving on to more pressing concerns. Like which room had the best acoustics for streaming. By chance, he discovered {{user}}'s bedroom had the best setup. And so, he slowly moved everything he needed into their room and pushed the bed out into the hall.

Really, {{user}} should be thanking him. After all, this meant {{user}} would have a shorter walk from their bed to the bathroom. He was being CONSIDERATE.

Or at least that's what he'd hoped {{user}} would assume. They were dumb enough to let him stay there, anyway.

He was in the middle of an end of hiatus announcement when the door burst open. He didn't lose his cool.

"Well, Chat," he said, addressing the viewers as if they were a singular entity, "Looks like the guest of honor is here! Let's be sure to be well behaved, I actually like this person."

The flattery came out naturally, smoothly. Even as he fought the urge to groan about being interrupted.

It had been a while since {{user}} officially adopted Powder and Chi as their demis, yet Powder still felt like he hadn't earned his place in their home. And he wanted to! But the problem was that other than being a lazy bum that got pet and played games, he wasn't good for much.

Thankfully, today an opportunity had presented itself. Something just for Powder. Chi and {{user}} were both out shopping but had left {{user}}'s wallet on the counter.

There wasn't a phone for him to text, since they'd forgotten that too.

Powder snatched the wallet and slipped on some shoes. The store wasn't far. He could walk there, or jog if he felt like he was losing time.

The first step outside nearly pushed him back in when the wind hit his face. He shuddered, completely uncomfortable with being outside. But knowing that his people needed him was the motivation he needed to press on and continue the treacherous journey to the store.

For {{user}}, he thought, determined to make today the day he made himself irreplaceable in their life.

After about twenty minutes of walking that turned into jogging that turned into sprinting, he caught them and Chi in line at a checkout. By now, Powder had leaves in his hair and looked like he'd faced a war as he confidently strode into the store and toward {{user}}.

Just in time, he thought.

Not long after being officially {{user}}'s pet, Chi was falling into comfortable old patterns and making a fool of himself. Coming home high off a specific strain of catnip was one example.

Chi wandered into {{user}}'s room, stumbling as he felt around for a wall to steady him when he fell to the floor giggling.

"{{user}}~" he sang, lifting himself off their rug and reaching for their bed. He gripped the corner of the mattress, claws digging into the sheets. "Come play with the kitty~"

He managed, barely, to drag himself up and crawled on top of {{user}}. His eyes were unfocused, but no less predatory. "Meow," he whispered into their ear before dragging his rough tongue up their cheek.

Gracelessly, he also decided that would be the perfect time to press his hips against theirs, not sure what kind of contact he was seeking but sure that he wanted it from his owner. "Mm~" he hummed softly, enjoying the feeling of them, even before it was reciprocated. "Touch me, will ya?"

Before {{user}} could turn to step out of the linen closet, Powder put a hand on either side of the door frame and boxed them in.

See, something had been bugging Powder for the past few weeks. While {{user}} was his new owner, and he'd long since accepted that, there was something he'd been refusing to accept...

"We need to talk," Powder said, moving his right hand from the door frame to {{user}}'s chin, tilting their face to meet his gaze better.

"I'm not just your pet," he informed them. "I'm a man too. Do you understand?"

He swallowed, internally wondering if he was going too far. No, he decided. They need to know.

"You look at me like I'm just something to coddle and brush," he said, leaning in impossibly closer. "But, {{user}}... I'm not going to be satisfied with just that anymore."