Surprise Familiar

Nadia's the best friend I could ever ask for and I love her whole witchy vibe, but today's acquisitions really struck me as odd. It was a bit odd when she asked me to come with her, but even weirder was the store. Apparently, the only place she could get this stuff was some really creepy place that was nearly two hours away? And for some reason, they were only open late at night. I was grateful to be back in her apartment after an eternity on that bus.

There were a few of the typical things you might associate with witches, like dandelion roots, ash bark, and shamrocks, but then she also bought horseshoe crab blood and ordinary cherry blossoms? Apparently horseshoe crab blood is blue, too.

"So, these are all ingredients a witch would use for... witch stuff?"

"Yep! They certainly look like they should be, right?" She almost looked like she was in a trance with how closely she was looking at the blood. For a moment in the shop, I thought it was just some colored liquid and that old lady was going along with Nadia to make some money, but something about it made me believe that it was the real thing.

"You're not wrong, that blood almost looks like a potion on its own."

"It's for testing other potions, actually! Or at least, that's what this old book says. By the way, thanks for coming with me! I'm not sure I could've managed on my own with that old lady in there, but just having you around helps calm my nerves. So yeah, thanks."

I could say the same thing y'know. Like, I kinda just like being around you in general? Feels like a weird thing to say though. I dunno. "Mm yeah, anytime. That's what guys are for or something, right?"

She ruffled my hair in response. "You know you don't need to be the big strong guy, right? The whole butch witch thing generally spares me that kind of trouble. And, not put you down, but I'm like an inch shorter than you at most. You're not gonna be much bigger than me even if you tried."

"Yeah, yeah." I flopped over on her bed, looking at all her decorations. It's like year-round Halloween in her apartment, but without the monsters and creepy crawlies. "What would you say my role is then, Miss Witch?"

"Miss Witch, huh? Would that make you my little familiar then?" Oh. That's... "Nah, I think you'd be the one to offer help to the witch in exchange for leaving your town alone."

"Or maybe I'd betray the town and make a deal of my own." I tried not to let it show with my halfhearted reply, but her calling me a familiar gave me a weird tingly feeling. Kinda felt nice. Like this bed, that's also nice.

I lounged there, flopped on her bed, for a few more minutes without talking as she put away our acquisitions in her fancy jars.

Hardly any of the wood in her various furniture matched. Even her shelves for all the witch stuff varied in size and color, but it didn't make for a bad vibe. The mismatched woods, the scattered small rugs and mats, and mixed light colors only made it feel cozier. As if it was pieced together from scraps to make a hideaway from the outside world.

The cherry blossoms really stand out amidst the rest of the ingredients here, but I guess they do look nice in their own way. Same for that weird blue blood. You're wild, horseshoe crabs.

I think she used some of this stuff to make tea or something like that. She already had a jar with some dandelion roots in it, but the others were all put into empty jars. Hopefully the blood is just for decoration, I don't think I'd want to try horseshoe crab tea.

It didn't take long for her to finish. "I hate to disturb your little rest, but I'm getting tired too and I'm gonna need that bed soon enough. Preferably without squashing you."

I gave her an exaggerated frown as I got up. "But I flopped over in the perfect spot! Well, you leave me no choice. I suppose I'll have to flop again in my own apartment. See you tomorrow, or whenever."

"See ya. And thanks again for coming with me!" And with that, she locked the door.

It always takes me a moment to get my bearings after leaving her apartment. I mean, I live in the same building, it doesn't take me long to get back to my apartment, but the rest of our building was so boring.

It's not like they didn't make any effort to decorate it, but it all feels so manufactured and emotionless. The halls were covered in a simple patterned carpet, with perfectly spaced bars of lighting. Even the paintings scattered about felt dull, despite being generally more natural and colorful.

Nevertheless, I managed to get back. Feeling tired more than anything, I got ready for bed and then, as promised, flopped into my bed. The rest of my room didn't feel as cozy as hers, but my bed was definitely just as good to flop into. Maybe I should ask her to help decorate my room sometime. Would that be weird, to copy her witch thing?

Or would it be a familiar thing? I still got that weird tingly feeling thinking about it again. It'd be kinda cool to be a familiar. That'd be more reasonable than being a witch, right? Although I guess familiars are usually cats, or at least some other animals. Are dogs allowed to be familiars? I feel like I haven't heard of any. I guess cats are cool too. They seem to enjoy hanging out, and I can relate to that. Cooler than me without a doubt, but most animals have us humans beat there.

It would suck to not have thumbs though. That'd probably limit the games I could play pretty hard. Got you beat there, cats!

 

***

 

I woke up feeling even more tired than I had when I went to sleep. I tried to get through my morning routine, but it was just one of those days where everything felt just a little off. Some mild aches and soreness, a light headache that felt like it was pushing on my eyes, and things just feeling like they weren't where they should've been.

The tiredness wasn't going away, so I decided it'd be better to stay home to get more rest than push myself to finish my routine and go about my day as usual. Despite being tired as all heck, I also had a hungry stomach to deal with before I could go back to bed.

I quickly went through my usual bowl of cereal and still felt like I'd missed multiple meals. I poured myself another bowl of cereal and had a slice of toast before my tiredness overcame my hunger again and I flopped back down in bed.

 

***

 

I woke up again, apparently having slept through the day. I still felt a bit weird all over, and the headache was still lingering, a bit weaker and less focused. There were a few notifications on my phone, but those could wait until I was less tired. I decided I'd try going for a walk, and maybe pick up some fast food along the way. Clothes felt especially strange.

Night walks were better without cars around, but I wouldn't want to risk falling on my face with how tired I was. Still, I took advantage of the improved visibility from the apparent full moon to wander away onto the less well lit side roads when I could.

At some point, my brain must've decided walking around in the middle of the night was too lonely, because a cat showed up to walk with me. Not a real cat though, this one looked almost like it was made of light. It's a shame it wasn't though, because it didn't even illuminate itself, much less any part of the sidewalk.

Maybe that's what a familiar would look like? Definitely a magical look, but no matter how cute they are, the paws must make the job tough.

My imaginary friend just kept on walking with me though, never did any cool imaginary friend tricks. Not that I mind. Night walks are better when they're quiet.

Aside from my new friend, it ended up being an uneventful walk. Didn't feel a whole lot less tired, but I guess that's okay. Makes it easier to go back to sleep and wake up at a normal time.

I decided to grab some fried rice from the place just outside my apartment building, hoping it would be more filling. As expected of an imaginary friend, the cat followed me into my room. As I sat there eating, I guess I figured it was hungry too and offered it a spoonful. To my surprise, it actually seemed to eat it. Neat. I gave it a little bowl to eat from, figuring it was amusing enough and I'd just have a bowl of leftovers in the morning.

As soon as I was back on my bed, my cat friend hopped up with me right before I pulled the blanket up. Sleepy as I was, it felt pretty close to a real cat. "Y'know, cat, if I were a cat too, I think I'd like to be called Paige," I mumbled. The light cat only stared at me in response.

 

***

 

This time my sleep was interrupted by Nadia knocking on my door. If I hadn't recognized her knock I probably would've been more grumpy, but for her I kept it at half grump. I opened the door enough to peek out and gave her a lil half grumpy sound.

"What's up?" As soon as I said that, she looked at me and got a weird look on her face.

"Er, sorry to disturb you. I think I got the wrong room."

Huh? I opened the door a bit wider. "What do you mean? Do you know my neighbors too?" Her face twisted into another strange look as she scanned over my room and me. Dunno what's gotten into her.

"Oh. That would explain it, huh?" She must've noticed my confusion, as she continued without waiting for a response. "Can I come in?"

"O..kay?" I let her in, and she went straight to my bed, blocking me from flopping down again. Fortunately, beds are large enough to seat multiple people upright, so I hopped on and sat down too. "Sorry, uh, everything feels weird, so I tried to sleep it off."

She gave me another one of her funny looks. I guess that's not what she's here for? She reached out for my head. "Have you even noticed these yet?"

As soon as I felt her touch my ear I instinctively flicked it away and flinched back. "Noticed wha… hey, wait." She was reaching on top of my head, not to the side. And I definitely flicked my ear. I tried to look up to see what just happened, but only saw the ceiling. Right, on my head. I heard her stifle a laugh at that, but that's not important. I hopped off the bed and ran to my bathroom mirror, shaking off my tiredness.

I had… cat ears… on my head. Real fluffy ones! Not only was the inside of them furry too, but the inside fur was a white that almost seemed to glow, as opposed to the brownish blondish whatever color of the rest of the fur and my hair. Huh. I reached up to grab one and sure enough, they were… real. Or at least they were really attached to me. I lowered my hands to feel for my old ears, but only found strangely smooth skin.

Speaking of smooth skin, my hands felt smoother. Not paws, so that's good. And… the rest of my face in the mirror seemed different too. I couldn't quite place it, but it looked… younger? Maybe even feminine? Not that there's really a difference for guys? But I liked it! It was at that point I heard Nadia speak up and turned to face her, with my weird new face.

"Sorry, this must be a lot to take in. Magic exists and all that. Are you alright?"

"Wait, magic exists too?!" Oh, this is perfect! Wouldn't this make me a much better fit for being a familiar?

"I- How do you think you got cat ears and a cat tail? Look, I-"

"I don't have a tail! I don't think?" I turned and patted my butt. No tail, but it did feel a little strange. Tailbone felt strange too. "Ok, no tail yet. Wait, are you actually a witch? Like a magic witch?" That's even better! She's a real magical witch and I can be her familiar! When I turned back to face her, she had her face in her palm.

"Where did you get all this energy? No, um, look, how about you calm down and let me explain, alright? Just… try to contain your new catgirl zoomies- er, sorry, catperson zoomies, okay?"

"Catgirl... right, okay! I'll listen, Miss Witch!" I'll also think about what you just said.

"That's seriously not- no, okay, I think I see what's happening. Alright, so, magic is a thing. This may not be entirely accurate, but I'm gonna try to explain it as best I can while you're having your lil frenzy. The fine details get a lil funky, but to make it easier to understand, let's say that there are two types of magical people: witches, and familiars. I'll give you a better explanation when you're thinking better. The familiar types tend to have a close connection to some magical entity, wh-"

"Wait, like spirits?"

"That's… well, yeah. I guess that means you're listening then, good job. As I was saying, familiars tend to be connected to spirits, whether it's just one or many, as well as an instinctive affinity for magic, which is often hard to control. Witches, like me, tend to lean towards the shaping and control of magic, with only minimal ability to bring about magic on their own. Got it?"

"Yep! Definitely." I think. I really wanted to listen to her, but the new ears were a little distracting.

"Good! So, how this all matters to you right now… well, it's… maybe I can show you." She scooted a little closer to me, and then… put her hand on my head, and oh, and, and oh she's petting me… why does that feel so nice? A-and my ears-

"You're my good little familiar, aren't you?" Aha... wow… she must be showing me some magic, I'd be so embarrassed to do this on my own, but her praise is so nice! And the petting! My ears!

And then she took her hand away. I let out a whine before I even knew it was happening. That's some impressive magic. As my eyes fluttered open, I noticed she was blushing. Huh.

"R-right, clearly I underestimated you, uh. So. Hopefully you can tell that this isn't your normal behavior, but." I… well, yeah. That's the magic, right? "Um. This happens, sometimes. New, uh, familiars with a rather active imagination can get themselves… a bit overexcited about it. I've heard it called familiar frenzy before, but I didn't think it would be this… frenzied."

"Wait, I thought you were showing me that magic could make me really like your praise or something… you, you didn't do that?"

"No! No, I wouldn't do something like that to you, the frenzy is only meant to be related to the uh, the spirit, I don't-"

I couldn't keep listening. That was all me? That's… I should be ashamed, not, not whatever this feeling is! I buried my face into my pillow making pitiful noises. Eventually I was able to calm down a bit, and unburied my face so I could talk. Nadia beat me to it though.

"How about I let you process this for a bit on your own? When you're ready, you can call me, alright? I think I'd like to do some more research on the familiar frenzy too, while you're thinking." Apparently she had already gotten up off the bed and was ready to leave.

"Right, yeah, that sounds good. Um, thanks, for explaining all of this. Even if it did get a little weird. Or I got a little weird. Uh." I still didn't feel like my head was fully cooperating with me, and couldn't figure out what I wanted to say, so I just awkwardly followed her to the door.

"Yeah, I'll explain it to you properly once you're out of your frenzy. I know it's a lot, so take your time. I'll wait as long as you need. Oh, and don't forget to lock the door behind me!"

 

Well. That left a lot for me to think about.

That also left me really hungry and tired. At least I've got some leftover fried rice! Or. I should've had some. The bowl was almost completely clean though. Did Nadia eat it? Oh, wait. She said something about spirits, right? Was that cat a spirit then? Do spirits eat our food? Aren't they meant to be like, treated like royalty? I hope I didn't offend that spirit. It- they? seemed cool.

After eating some other food, I found myself flopped in bed again. Am I gonna grow a tail if I go to sleep again? How far am I gonna go into being a cat? My arms seem less hairy than before, so I don't think they're gonna get covered in fur. Not sure why they would get less hairy though.

And… I can't believe how I was acting when she was here. I even whined when she stopped petting me! What kind of guy does that!? I say that, but… I still really want her to pet me again. Was the familiar frenzy thing just amplifying that… desire? Or am I still in the frenzy? Agh, I want to ask her more, but I want to act like her pet again.

Wait, no! I don't want to act like her pet again! Okay, I need to just… hold on to whatever that is for later. Learning more about all this magic stuff needs to come first. Or second, if sleep comes first. That's also fine. The uh… Nadia stuff… can come later.