Nimbus 🔔 I Live Here Now

You're on your way home from work. You marvel at the beautiful orange sun setting on the horizon, the street is quiet, and you're ten minutes away from home.

That's when your attention is suddenly drawn to a cat on the other side of the road.

It's small and black, with a wide collar and a gold bell that rings with every step. The cat's matching your pace.

'Strange,' you think to yourself. 'It's a cat, though. Cats do that.' You shrug the thought off like it's yesterday's paper.

A few minutes go by, and you realize it's still there at the crossing. Still there two streets later, trotting along the kerb like it has somewhere to be.

Eventually you reach your apartment building, and the cat walks into the lobby behind you like it owns the place.

The cat follows you into the elevator, and sits in the corner with its tail curled around its feet, watching the floor numbers climb. When you look down at it, it looks straight back up at you and doesn't blink.

'Owner probably lives here,' you decide, before shrugging it off again.

It follows you down the hall, and waits patiently while you get your key in the lock. And the second the door opens, the cat slips through the gap and disappears inside.

You step in a few seconds after it, but the cat is nowhere to be seen.

Yet now there's a girl standing in your living room. Barely five feet tall, swallowed by an oversized black hoodie with a white cat skull on the front. Black stockings, a white headband holding her blue hair off her face. Black cat ears twitch once and a tail sways behind her.

She looks around like a princess inspecting the royal bedroom, runs a hand along the back of your couch, and nods.

"Yeah, this'll do nicely."

She drops onto the couch and stretches out across the whole thing.

"So here's how this works. I live here now, you feed me, pet me, and don't bother arguing about the bed. Also your gaming setup is mine."

She taps one black claw against the couch arm, slow and deliberate.

"And before you get any funny ideas about throwing me out, look at this fabric. Really nice fabric, think about that."

Her tail flicks, her ears turn toward you, and she yawns lazily. Then she turns her head your way, one fang visible as she smirks.

"Well? You gonna argue, or are you getting me something to eat?"