A/N: I've spent like 50 years looking up all of these familiar spirit, and magical girl tropes to make this work, but I honestly decided just to wing it. It's a generic plot idea that I wanted to get out of my system. I'll probably come back to it later to make it seem cooler.
I'm still working on To Build a Home though ;v; I'm slowly writing the third chapter. Don't fret!
Implied Lenrin if you squint for 50 years, or maybe that's just me
A brief hint of Mikugumi if you squint for 50 seconds. Maybe that's still just me.
Warnings: Brief mentions of alcohol, drugs; some lame attempt at deciphering the brain of a college student (I'm one myself bUT—). Also Rin's mouth.
Enjoy!
Rin felt like she just felt the symptoms of a hangover as she woke up on the carpet of the living room.
It wasn't like she actually had a sip last night. She might as well had one due to the impending finals, but she couldn't be bothered without a ride home. Her friends were probably out partying while she felt like crying on the floor in the apartment she and her roommate were sharing. Ordinary humans believed her kind had brooms to take them all over the place, but the concept couldn't be any more wrong than that.
Hangover or not, she felt like she was succumbing to the painful progression of death. She didn't bother checking to see if she had another class waiting for her unless it was the one involved a peer who knew how to clear headaches. That would have been nice.
A meow rang out in the room. Rin turned around to look for the source, but decided it was probably her imagination. Then again, she had a knack for attracting cats to the apartment. It might have been a witch thing, or else Miku would claim the blonde always reeked of tuna.
Never mind. Her attention went back to the bathroom. She made her way there to take a decent dose of Advil. She didn't have enough energy to cast a healing spell, nor did she feel like she could cast anything. It didn't bug her at the time though. If it meant waiting for the mundane medicine to kick in, it'd be a blessing all on its own. Eventually, she had to leave the bathroom.
A golden cat gave her a unexpected greeting as it sat on its haunches in front of her. His unusual blue eyes stared right at her as if she were prey. Lovely.
"Did I get drunk and decide I wanted to become a crazy cat lady?" mumbled the young witch as she rubbed her head. Ignoring the cat at her feet, she turned to go into the kitchen to get food. She hoped it would jog her memory on what had happened last night. The memories were fuzzy enough that it bugged her.
"What's wrong? Also, you look like shit for someone who had a good night's rest."
Rin stopped in her tracks as a voice piped up to intercept the silence. "Nothing, Miku! I think my magic is acting haywire—" Wait. Miku did not have a deep voice that she could remember, nor did she swear. Whoever it was, she was sorely tempted to greet them with her fist for that comment.
She couldn't locate the source in the form of a human as she stared down at the cat who purred innocently before grooming himself.
The thought of a talking cat crossed her mind a few times. It seemed silly.
Oh, right. She's a magic-wielding user. Anything was possible.
She fixed a gaze on the cat who only continued to groom his paw. Ew. Didn't he know where his feet went before his mouth? Besides, she wasn't even sure if she had gotten a litter box while she was off with her head in the clouds.
"I'm guessing you're the asshole who spoke up." She might as well test her luck, and see how high she scored on the her mental insanity test.
When the cat did not respond, she took a sharp intake of air before she wrapped her fingers around the scrawny thing, and tried to pull it off the floor.
"Up you go. Miku's allergic to cats so I cannot keep one around."
The cat frowned as he dug his claws into her perfectly neat carpet when he was being pried from his spot. "I'm your familiar, O great witch. Why would you kick me out?" His eyes narrowed. "You're lying too. Your roommate is only allergic to poor fashion tastes."
"Wait, how the hell did you know what?" Rin froze as she stopped tugging on the cat long enough to blink, and catch the other words. "Wait, what about a familiar now?"
"Don't you remember?" the cat cocked his head as his staring began to nerve her. It was almost as if he was concentrating on something among other things. "A familiar is a —"
"I know what a familiar is." she interjected. The headache contemplated returning just to spite her as much as the talking cat.
"Allow me to help jog your memory," the cat said. "You decided to procrastinate on studying so you panicked over finals. You asked the Devil himself to grant you a chance to survive finals week, and here we are."
Um.
That was, mind-boggling. She knew about the demonic king whose presence was in a bunch of legends when people were paranoid over the influx of wizards, and witches in their world. Contrary to popular belief, they were far from worshipers.
"Wow. I don't know how I forgot that major detail." she said sarcastically as she couldn't find the right words to respond to that piece of news.
The cat shrugged, somehow. "I guess I don't blame you. He's a scary dude to the point he makes even his second-in-command piss his, uh, non-existent pants."
She sighed as she took in the information.
"So you're telling me I gave up my soul to the Devil."
"Yep."
"Just so I can get good grades on my magic finals."
"Yep."
"Wow."
"Yep."
"I need a minute." And also a ton of drinks.
"Um, witch lady. Drinks aren't good for your sys—"
"I don't give a flying cluck about that." If she sold her soul to the Devil, she might as well shorten her miserable life with alcohol.
.
The first rule about the 'soulless club' was that you don't talk about the 'soulless club'.
The following day was a mess on its own. She learned that she had a familiar from a pact with a demon, and that she learned why her magic was acting all haywire. Evidently, a soulless witch had the probability of losing her own magic. Fortunately, Miku remained unaware of the cat's presence when she had staggered home, and passed out in their tiny living room. If she had saw him, she might have forgotten. Hopefully.
Rin forced herself to make her way across the campus, but her attention from making it to class was averted by the sight of a green-haired woman.
"Gumi? I thought you didn't have class for another hour. Ugh, never mind." she frowned as her question was ignored as her friend knelt down, and she could hear a purr from a short distance away.
"Aww, what a cute kitty!" cooed Gumi as she reached out to pet the cat at her feet.
Wait, what? Did the stupid cat follow her? Gumi must've taken her silence as a response as she continued to rub the backside of the cat. His butt went up into the air, the pervert.
"I didn't know you and Miku agreed to get a cat. How did you get it past the landowner anyway?"
"Well, uh, actually. I just found the cat outside the apartment, and I couldn't let the poor thing suffer outside."
Rin could hear a snort within the crevice of her bustling thoughts. You didn't want me to suffer? I remember you threatening to kick me out into the busy street more than a few times.
She nudged the cat with her foot as a warning. If Gumi wasn't such an animal advocate, she contemplated putting her servant in his place.
Rude.
It was still weird hearing some male's voice in her head, but she had to remember that she wasn't permitted to mention she had a familiar. Getting stoned wasn't exactly on her list right now, and she meant the actual rocks.
As Gumi finished petting the cat, she stood upright again. "Right. You still have a class to get to. I'll let you and your cat have fun at finals."
"Don't remind me. I think I'm going to bawl before I step foot into the building."
"Have fun with that."
Without further ado, they parted ways for the time being. The cat trailed behind her with a smug look on his face.
"She seems nice." The telepathy gone, and replaced with an actual voice. She could hear his contentment with the attention.
"Go live with her if you're so keen on getting affection."
"I'm your familiar. I cannot share a mental link with anyone else."
Well, shit. There went any chances of getting rid of the cat after finals now. She honestly still couldn't wrap her head around the idea of keeping a pet, nor did she have any back-up plans if Miku decided she didn't want to deal with the responsibilities when it came to caring for pets.
Did cats eat mice three times a day? Could she get the cat to go outside? All of those question were alarming her to the reality of taking care of someone other than herself.
Reading her mind, the cat piped up, "The familiar stays for as long as the master is alive. We're also magical so you don't have to do much. All the sustenance we need is our master's blood." Thanks, cat familiar.
As she reached the building, she gulped. The amount of anxiety she felt was fairly normal for a student about to perform a trial that would surely determine her worth in the world, and whether or not she could stay off the streets.
However, she had forgotten one, tiny detail:
"Crap. I totally forgot I do not have any magic." Rin screeched all of the sudden. "How am I supposed to make it through my finals now?"
"Leave it all up to me." was the familiar's reply. He sat near the door as he waited expectantly for her to open it. When she did, he trotted inside without a care in the world.
This ought to be interesting.
.
"I think I messed up the incantation when I tried to summon a book." Miku's exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she leaned forward in defeat.
Gumi picked at her nails with a roll of her eyes. "I bet you did fine, miss straight-A-student."
"Hey, it's not as easy as it looks!" the tealette squealed in protest. "It's so hard remembering all of the incantations, or the materials for a potion."
"Sure."
While her friends bickered, Rin looked at the golden cat resting in the crook of her arms. The day had bound to be a train-wreck, but the cat seemed to know what he was doing. It turned out: he housed all of her magic, and he applied his own knowledge. It was enough to get her a passing grade, and that was all she needed.
"What about you, Rin. How did you do?"
Rin was jolted awake from her thoughts as she began to relax again. Her friends eyeballed her expectantly. "I think I did alright."
"That works." was Gumi's reply as she dropped her hands by her side. Her face looked thoughtful for a moment. "Sometimes I wish I could just ask for a way to know how to do every spell perfectly."
"I'd be careful what you wish for." Miku's brother, Mikuo, approached the group with his ominous words. His expression indicated that he relished in the attention that turned upon him.
"What's up?" Gumi blinked as she tried to decipher his statement. He clearly had been listening in on the last part.
"There was a story once about a boy who went to this school to learn how to control his powers. His mother was a single parent, and they were barely scraping by. Months later, he ended up filthy rich by unknown means, but he disappeared not too long after he accumulated his wealth."
The greenette frowned as she rubbed the back of her head. "Damn. Did a family member murder him, or what?"
"I don't think so. Rumor has it that he was screwed over by a genie, and the government's probably on his ass for taking a million dollars."
"That must have been one bitter genie."
"I know right? They say he has been missing for little over a year now."
A year? The extra voice in her head sounded surprised. The cat yawned before opening his eyes to listen in on the conversation.
"Stop scaring everyone, Mikuo." Miku mumbled.
"I'm just sayin'! This chick here should know the consequences of making a wish to some tricky entity. You may never know may happen."
"I'd laugh if Miku had made a wish to become a talented witch." Gumi decided to say with a grin.
"I would never sell my soul to some dumb demon." Miku huffed. "We're all intelligent people here. Right, Rin?"
Rin paled, but she smiled weakly to throw off the quizzical stares she was receiving. "Right. None of us would make a deal with a demon."
.
Finals were over, but Rin was, oddly enough, craving some knowledge. Mikuo's words had been ringing in her head for the past few days. When she couldn't take burden of her curious nature, she took a stroll to the library.
She was laying in bed now as she looked at the pile of books about witchcraft. Surprisingly, her roommate did not ask to borrow some of them. She kind of accepted that a cat was in the house, but she didn't offer to help take care of it. Jerk.
Most of the topics she had explored in the books so far were about familiar spirits, and demons.
Familiars were often demon servants that took animal form, but she had found more information that left her surprised. To her chagrin, her personal familiar had curled up next to her to see what the research about his kind had to say.
"Look at the third paragraph." the cat instructed. "It's really cool."
The witch obliged as she skimmed through the paragraph only for her frown to deepen. "This is about familiars taking human form." The cat was a pain enough. She doubted she could put up with a human version of him.
"If I were a human, I'd imagine I would be a handsome guy. What do you think?"
She snorted in response. "I don't know about that. Besides, how would you become a human anyway?"
"I remember a fairy tale about a princess kissing a frog, and he turned into a human. You can always try to turn me into a handsome prince," the familiar suggested. "You don't have to deal with the slime that comes with being a frog. Nope. You only have to deal with my fur."
"...I'll pass."
"You're missing out~"
She ignored him for the book still in her hands as she flipped to the next page. Amusement crossed her features as she read about the names. Some names for familiars were similar to pet names, or worse. 'Killer' was one of those names on the list.
"I'm glad I'm not named 'Killer.'" the cat grimaced as he read her thoughts, but he took a peek at the words scrawled on the pages laid bare to his eyes. "Good news is that you don't have to name me."
"Great. That's one less thing I have to worry about."
"Don't you want to know what I'm named?"
Sighing, the witch decided to give him her attention. "I'll bite. What is your name?"
"It's..."
.
"Len? What do you have in your hands?"
A young man was holding a piece of paper. Slung over his back was his backpack filled with materials masked from the mundane world, but it wasn't what attracted his mother's attention this time.
"It's a lottery ticket." he explained as he held it out. It was gingerly taken off his hands as he waited for her response.
After inspecting the ticket, she smiled wearily. "I'm surprised you wanted to try it out. Our luck has never been good though."
Bright-eyed, the boy replied, "I think we'll be lucky this time."
His mother was flabbergasted as the man rattled off the numbers that were on the ticket. Her glance towards it was just a curious one, but she couldn't believe their luck.
Their luck had never ran out for awhile. He had brought home more lottery tickets, and the winning numbers were on each of them. Each one was a legitimate claim. Despite the fortune, she was a humble woman who set aside enough for her son to have a better living situation.
She wished she had seen the signs. The eerily human-like ferret whose eyes were an unusual color. How he seemed to slowly withdraw from the world, or how emotionless her lively child had become.
When he had disappeared for months, she decided the money was cursed and watched it burn in the fireplace.
.
Rin leaned against the table while her friends were talking. They had all agreed to meet at a cafe where everyone else just so happened to be. It was noisy, but fortunately - unfortunately for everyone else - Gumi was a loud speaker to begin with.
"Can't we go somewhere else where it isn't crowded?" Miku whined before taking a swig of her tea.
"No way. I just ordered something, but you'd have to pry my cold, dead body away from the table if you want to leave."
"Ew, Gumi. You're not a zombie."
"I can't hear myself think." Rin interjected with a groan. As much as she loved her friends, she found Len better company on certain days.
"I'm staying." the greenette stubbornly stated as she crossed her arms.
"Well, I insist we go elsewhere. Let's go." Miku got up on her feet as she tried to tower over the girl who was only a couple inches taller than her.
"Make me." Gumi got up herself, and leaned in with her hot breath tickling the tealette's face.
Miku's face turned pink as she slowly sat down.
"That's what I thought."
Rin considered saying something, but a cough escaped her gaping mouth. A feather flew pass them as the breeze picked up.
"You okay there, Rin. Do you need some water?"
She shook her head as she tried to speak, but the hacking cough continued before she gestured her excuse to head into the bathroom inside of the cafe.
As she entered the one-man restroom, she looked down at her hands, and to her horror, a few feathers rested in her palms.
.
She didn't know why she couldn't bring herself to tell her friends why she left immediately. It was easier to tell someone who wasn't going to dig too deep for answers, and discover her secret. Perhaps it was why Len became a viable being to talk to, despite being a cat. He knew the truth.
"Did you eat a bird?" he asked after hearing her tale. His tail flicked. "I'm guessing it wanted revenge."
"Len. I'm a vegetarian." Rin groused as she buried her face in her hands. "I don't know what's happening to me."
He took a seat next to her. "That happened to me once."
"Wait, what?" she shot him a quizzical look at his statement. "Did you eat a poor bird, and then spit out its feathers?"
"Actually, no. I coughed up a hairball." He sounded more serious than usual.
"...Of course. You're a cat. You're supposed to cough up hairballs."
"No. I meant... when I was a human." The look she gave the familiar had only gotten more intense. "I wasn't sure if I should have mentioned the details, but it's actually too late for that now. You don't seem like that bad of a person. I half-expected to be given to some malevolent guy who wanted to take over the world."
"I'm not sure if I'm following." Rin blinked at him as she tried to figure out what he was trying to say. She remembered him pointing out that familiars could take human forms themselves, but she was only accustomed to their animal-shapes.
"You actually don't sell your soul per say. It's sort of a 'down payment.'" Len explained solemnly. "A deal with the Devil means you're willing to give up your life to servitude. It's why he gives out any wish that a person desires." He looked down at himself as an example as to what servitude indicated.
"I never been a familiar for long, but I've seen others pulled into the contract transform too. I'm only powerless to stop them."
Her jaw nearly fell off her face as she took in the news. She had a lot to live for, but now she basically sealed her fate as a servant. She winced as she pinched her arm, but the cat was still there. The truth was fresh in her mind.
Somehow, she wasn't entirely affected despite every ounce of her mental state screaming for help. It must've been her lack of a soul.
He leaned up against her as he rubbed his furry head against her arm. "Sorry you have to go through the same thing I did. I guess this is why the school bans anyone who practices anything involving demons."
"I can't believe I'm turning into an animal butler over a goddamn final though." she mumbled as she rubbed his temple with her hand.
"I wondered why too."
"Thanks." she snorted.
.
She turned to look at Len one day. The question; a surprise to the both of them. "When do you think he'll cash out on the debt?"
It took him a moment to realize what she was referring to. "I'm sure you still have some time before you notice any major changes."
"Hmmm. Well, bring it on. I hope the bastard makes me a rabbit familiar."
Len didn't appreciate how calm she seemed to be about her fate, but he didn't press. Instead, his curiosity was spurred by her statement. "Why a rabbit?"
"I dunno. It sounds like the better option than a smelly cat like you."
"Hey!"