"Hey, Janna?"
"Yeah, Marco?"
"My nose itches,"
"And what do you want me to do about it?"
"Nothing, just… I want you to know that I'm never helping you again."
Marco and Janna laid on the ground in Janna's room, their bodies bound together by a rope. They had been helplessly lying there for over an hour, waiting in the hopes that someone would come and save them.
"Hey, Marco?"
"Yeah, Janna?"
"That thing I feel pressing against my butt is your compact, right?" Marco didn't answer. He didn't want to lie to her, but he most certainly didn't want to tell her the truth. "I hate you Marco."
"I'm sure you do…"
- Hours earlier…
"I still can't believe you guys only have winter for one whole month," Marco said in disbelief observing their surroundings. The snow had cleared and the weather was comfortably warm, students were back to wearing light clothing as though not just two days ago it looked like the middle of winter.
"Yeah well, you know, the world cowers in fear knowing the Stump is about to reawaken," Star answers nonchalantly then shifts to a more serious and darker tone. "As it rightfully should."
"Come on Star, you can't seriously still believe in the Stump," Tammy said. "It's just an old wives' tale to make children behave. It's not real."
"You're lucky the Stump's gone back to sleep Tam, else we'd never see you again."
Marco learned all about the Stump and Stump Day from Star, and how he should fear the Stump. But he dismissed it as a fairy tale since it seemed Star was the only one to believe in it. Surely that will never come back to bite him.
"Anyway," Marco said trying to change the subject. "I'm going to visit Janna, she said she needed some help with something."
"Don't we usually agree to not help Janna with her private things out of principle?" Tam asked.
"Yes," he admitted, not looking forward to helping with whatever Janna had in store. But this time when she asked it seemed different, plainer and more forthcoming than playful and coy. He was a bit curious if Janna wasn't playing around.
"Hey, Janna?" He knocked on her door. "You in there? It's Marco, you said you needed help?"
The door opened on its own, Janna's room was dark and dimly lit.
"Janna? Are you here? Is there a light switch around?" He asked stumbling into her room. The door closed on its own violently, cutting off the only bit of light, Marco was only able to see what was directly in front of his nose.
The air felt chilly, but also stuffy, as though it was difficult to breathe. But the eeriest thing is that it felt like something unnatural was watching his every move. The darkness felt claustrophobic, and though he was invited inside by a friend of his, he couldn't help but feel nervous, like something was wrong. He felt something gently brush against his back and the sound of his name carried on a whispering echo. He abruptly turned around, his heart pounding in his chest, expecting to see Janna, or maybe some sort of horror she kept in her room. Maybe it was just because of the darkness that he didn't see anything, or maybe it was his imagination running wild. But he still felt those eyes, the eyes watching him, coming closer and closer.
"Hey Marco," the boy shrieked from the voice behind him. Janna held a candle to illuminate herself, and she looked rather unimpressed from his high-pitched cry. "You good?
"Janna?" He felt like his heart was about to leap out his throat. "Why is your room so dark?"
"My light burnt out. I have to rely on candlelight for the time being." She began going around her room, lighting more candles to brighten their surroundings.
"Is that what you need help with? Just report it to the front desk, they'll get you a replacement."
"Eh, that's a hassle." She shrugged. "But no, that's not what I asked you for. I have a contract up for expiry with one of my familiars and it's something of a two-man job."
"Expire? I thought witches and their familiars are bonded for life?"
"Most do, but there are exceptions. Some familiars make temporary contracts. When that contract expires the familiar and witch can renew their contract or negotiate terms of a new one. If neither side is happy with new conditions then the two split ways."
"So what do you need me for?" Marco asked as Janna handed him a book.
"This one can be pretty troublesome, even by my standards." Janna took off her cloak and undressed. Marco became embarrassed and covered his view with the book when she stripped down to her bra. "Aww, Marco, are you shy?"
"Why are you taking your clothes off?" He asked behind the book.
"All apart of the ritual,"
"Is it though?"
"Pfft, no, I just enjoy making you feel uncomfortable." She sat in the center of her room and told Marco to read the bookmarked page. Marco did as instructed; unable to understand the jumble of words written down, but able to read them none the less. A bright yellow spiral began forming around Janna, the boundary ending just before Marco.
"Now, no matter what you do, do NOT let her touch that book." She demanded and began muttering something under her breath. It felt like the air was sucked out of the room, and despite the candles not dimming or being extinguished the room seemed to grow darker. What was this familiar Janna was summoning? Marco felt nervous, even scared. Whatever Janna was summoning was dangerous.
Without warning, an ominous flash of light shown from Janna, birthing a humanoid cat-like creature covered in an aura that floated behind her. Its body looked to be feminine; sporting a dark violet colour fur with red zig-zagging lines running across the body and what looked like plating covering its breasts and crotch with a feline tail that split into two ends. The limbs of the familiar were completely different from its body, the arms and legs were made of a combination of aqua blue and golden coiled tubes. The familiar had cat ears but no mouth and four eyes, each a different colour; the top left was red, bottom left was blue, top right was green, and the bottom right was yellow.
Marco was left speechless looking at this amalgam that looked like a design between a robot combined with abstract art given consciousness.
"WWWRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" It cried out bending its knees and leaning far back.
"Alright Pussycat Doll, that's enough out of you," Janna said a bit annoyed. "Do you have to do that every time I summon you?"
"Oh come on Jan-Jam, you love it," it responded despite it not having a mouth with a sultry, echoing voice. Its eyes spied Marco and zipped over to him, stopping short of spiral Marco stood outside. "And what do we have here? Another toy Janna? What happened to the last one? Did he run away or did you break him?"
"Cat, the contract is expiring! Are we renewing it or not?" Janna asked sternly. She was different, Marco had never seen Janna not relaxed before. Whatever was going on was serious business if Janna wasn't playing around.
"Oh I don't know Jan-Jam, you haven't been playing with me as often, I need more stimulation in my life," The familiar said playfully looking back to Janna.
"Pussycat!"
"Fine," she sighed, clearly not getting anywhere with Janna. "Let me see the print."
"It's the same as it ever was since our first contract." Janna scowled.
"I'm sure it is, but it's not that I don't trust you, Janna, I just have to see with my own eyes. I don't want to agree without confirming, after all, what if you were to take advantage of me?"
"Okay, fine. Marco, turn to the page with the green tab and let Pussycat see it." Marco did as he was instructed and faced the page towards Pussycat Doll.
"A bit closer boy, I can't see it all too well," He did what was asked of him, only getting as close as he would allow, stopping short of the circle that he surmised was for his protection. "I'm am an old familiar boy and my eyes aren't what they used to be, bring some light over!"
Marco grabbed a nearby candle and held it next to the pages, careful not to let them burn. Marco thought the circle kept Cat from getting out, that was the wrong assumption. Cat outstretched a hand past the circle and flicked the candle onto Marco. He panicked as the flame bounced off him trying desperately not to catch fire. In his panic, the arm that held the book moved towards Cat and into the circle, just enough for her to take the marked page.
"Oh no!" Janna exclaimed seeing what happened, silently cursing herself for not taking bet precaution. She jumped at Pussycat Doll, aiming to steal the page back. Tragically, the familiar was too fast for her and uttered a phrase.
"Stop! ZA WARUDO!" Marco never blinked, but he had no idea what happened next. He was suddenly on the ground, tied up to Janna. He never felt anything grab him or being pushed over, but somehow, they were in this situation.
"Pussycat! Untie us now!" Janna demanded, face down to the floor
"Not happening Janna," she teased, waving the page like it was a fan cooling her off. "But I have the contract now, so if you want me to free you then we're going to have some serious alterations made to it."
"Not happening!"
"Then you're out of luck,"
"Ha! I never had luck in the first place!" Janna countered proudly. "And you know what's going to happen if to you if you don't have someone bonded to you. I may be tied up, but you're the one tied down!"
"Jan-Jam, this is a high school! How many students do you think would be willing to make a contract with the likes of me? It won't be that difficult."
"You're right, but we both know there are few people out there that are capable of forming a contract with you. And soon enough, without an anchor to hold you to the material realm, you'll be forcibly ejected back to the spirit realm where you'll be trapped."
Pussycat Doll leaned in closer to be face-to-face with Janna. "You want to bet on that?"
Even though she had no mouth, Marco could swear the familiar smiled, and without warning, she disappeared.
"… So Janna, what just happened?" Marco asked, utterly confused.
"Nothing great Marco, but to sum it all up in the shortest form: there's a rouge familiar on the loose looking to get her freedom, or the closest thing to it, that a spirit can get."
"We're both tied up, how do we get out of this?"
"No problem, I have a solution," the tattoo on Janna's right shoulder began to move and peel off, turning from 2D artwork to a living creature. It was the flying eyeball that Marco saw on his first day and the one familiar he'd only seen up to this point. He was no longer bothered by seeing it, given that Janna keeps it around regularly, but it still weirded him out.
It's an eyeball with wings. All it does is fly around and stare at you.
"Lolo, we're tied up and Pussycat Doll is loose, go get help!" The eyeball starred at the two before flying off. "See Marco, now we just have to wait for Lolo to get help and they'll come to untie us. After that, we can hunt down Pussycat Doll. Simple."
Janna's self-assured plan came to an abrupt halt as a thudding sound came from the door. The two looked over to see that, due to Lolo being an eyeball with wings, had no capability to operate a doorknob; the best it could do was repeatedly bump into the door, either doing its best efforts to break it down or get someone's attention.
"We're going to be here for a while, aren't we?" Marco asked.
"We could very well die like this."
-00000
"Okay, okay, now just slide your legs forward along with mine," Janna tried guiding Marco as the two desperately tried crawling across the floor to a near-by candle in hopes that they could try burning the ropes off. A plan Marco was firmly against but had no better plan.
"Janna? Marco? Are you guys in there?" Star's voice could be heard from the other side of the door as it opened. She walked into the sight of Marco mounted on top of a half-naked Janna, tied up together and their pelvises lifted in the air.
There was a brief, and very awkward, moment of silence as the three stared at each other.
"Am… am I interrupting something?" Star asked confused.
"Star, no! This isn't what it looks like!" Marco quickly tried clearing up the misunderstanding.
"Star, this is whatever you think it is and you have to live with that knowledge now. But in the meantime, please untie us." Janna said, doing what she does best and hijacking the situation for her own amusement.
"What is happening?" Star asked freeing them.
"We were tied up by one of Janna's familiars," Marco said.
"And then she bolted and is who-knows-where, we need to get her back before she causes too much trouble," Janna added, putting her shirt back on.
"Oh no, don't tell me it's Pussycat Doll," Star groaned.
"It's Pussycat Doll," Janna confirmed.
"Ugh, I hate her. She's the worst!"
"Yeah, okay, can someone clue me in here? Like, what the hell is going on specifically?" Marco asked, bearly able to keep up.
"Okay, I'm going to give you the shortest version I can," Janna began to explain everything for him. "There are two types of spirits, low-grade and high-grade. Low-grade spirits are like Lolo here, given form by magic and the will of the summoner. The summoner acts as a beacon and anchor, guiding a spirit from the spirit realm to the physical and keeping them locked in so they don't disappear. Pussycat Doll is a high-grade spirit, she already has a form, and unlike low-grade spirits, she has sentiency. All spirits have their own conscience, but only high-grades have a will of their own, and Pussycat likes to exploit that whenever she gets the chance. If she's left to her own devices who knows what mischief she can get into!"
"Let me get this straight: you're worried about someone out there who could cause an unknown amount of problems for you and you'd never know what it would be or when it'll come?" Marco asked trying to clear things up.
"Yes," Janna answered, oblivious or ignorant to the irony of the situation. "We have to go and find her before things get out of hand!"
"Okay, let's go then!" Star said with determination as she reached for the door.
"IS WHAT I WOULD SAY!" Janna cried, taking a fabulously dramatic pose. Her legs spread apart slightly and her toes pointed inward, her right arm slightly outstretched behind her and left hand in front of her face with her fingers spread apart. "In reality that is just what she would want us to do! Pussycat may be a playful spirit, but there's always an underlying order to what she does! After all, leaving my room unguarded is just what she would try to make me do!"
Marco and Star stared at the witch, completely perplexed and astonished by what just happened.
"Janna did… did you just grow incredibly muscular for a moment?" Star asked.
"Show yourself Pussycat!" Janna demanded, ignoring Star's appropriate question.
"Ho-hum," a sigh echoed. "You always were a clever one Jan-Jam. How'd you know I'd stay?"
Appearing out of no-where was the spirit, her arms crossed dissatisfied that her plan failed.
"I have to stay on my toes to always be ahead of you," Janna said proudly. "You may have the paper, but you still need the chalk, and I've kept it securely hidden. You'll never be able to find it."
"You know the power I wield girl," Pussycat Doll said in an aggressive tone. "What makes you think I can't find it? What makes you think I'd even need it?"
"Star, what're they talking about?" Marco asked his friend in a hushed tone.
"I don't know, I'm just as lost as you are." She answered.
"You are powerful, Pussycat Doll," Janna replied, ignoring the off-handed duo. "But you know where you are. If you try anything other than the chalk, you'll be noticed by the Magic Highchool Commission for sure, something you'd desperately avoid. And do you really think I wouldn't take then necessary precautions when dealing with you?"
Pussycat Doll looked contemplative for a moment.
"Clever, very clever Janna," she finally said. "Okay, I have the page, you have the chalk. How do we settle this?"
"Simple, with a game."
"A game?" Marco and Star repeated, a bit doubtful that Janna was making the right choice.
"What kind of game?" Pussycat Doll's ears stood straight up, her curiosity piqued.
"Easy, we'll play echo act 1." She said smugly. "All we have to do is guess what the other person will say. If guessed right, you win. Simple."
"Sounds fun," Pussycat Doll purred. "Okay, I accept. Why don't you start us off."
"I'm guessing you're going to say: knick-knack-paddy-whack."
"Are you even trying?" Pussycat laughed. "You will say: stop that!"
Pussycat Doll extended her tail out and began tickling Janna on the nose.
"Hey, quit it!" Janna cried as she slapped the tail away. "You're going to say: ha! Missed!"
Janna jumps towards Pussycat Doll, trying to grab the sheet of paper from her hand. The spirit easily evaded the girl's attempt and dangled the sheet in front of her face.
"Ha! Miss-" Pussycat caught herself, not fully finishing the sentence and tried to smoothly transition to more natural without admitting she was about to say exactly what Janna expected her to say. "-judged your opportunity. Okay, now we're starting hard mode. I guess you'll say: yikes."
Their game continued for nearly twenty minutes. Star and Marco were left on the sidelines, safely away from the chaos as they learned that the game was less about trying to guess what the other person would say, but rather, manipulate them into saying it. Janna was starting to get annoyed, she'd been caught in a number of Pussycat's traps, nearly losing several times. And other than the first time at the beginning of the game, Pussycat hadn't slipped up once.
"The next thing you'll say is: not my colour." Janna proceeds to remove a ring from one of her fingers and threw it at Pussycat, who effortlessly knocked it to the side.
"Really Janna, this is getting sad." Pussycat pitied her. Janna's guesses and attempts at manipulating what would be said were becoming less accurate and more desperate. "My turn, I guess you're going to say: don't you dare."
Pussycat proceeded to slowly push a glass of water off a table, not breaking eye contact with Janna through the whole process until it tipped over and broke on the floor.
"Pussycat!" Janna groaned, annoyed by the action. The constant mental abuse, the idiotic game, the situation itself. It was all getting to her. She needed to do something, something that would for sure win her the bet. If only Marco had just listened to her-
Marco!
Janna looked to the boy. Marco got her into this mess, and he was going to get her out of it.
Marco was worried when he saw her signature mischievous smile and what looked like a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"Oh, Marco~ Come here." She not-so innocently called to him. Marco's face scrunched up into an expression of dreaded but obeyed nonetheless.
"Wait, what?" He asked puzzled after she whispered something into his ear. "You can't be serious Janna. Can I even do that? And I have to say that too?"
"Listen here Diaz," she said through gritted teeth and gripping his jacket in her fist. "This is all because of you! Now man up and do as I tell you or so help me, I will curse you with procreational impotence and use you as a plaything! Constantly having my fun, but no matter how kinky it gets you'll never get off!"
He stiffly walked towards Pussycat Doll terrified. This was brought on by him having to face a high-grade spirit and only relying on a half-baked plan with questionable outcomes; that, and the whole sex threat thing Janna made. Marco really wanted to avoid such fate.
"Mm? What's this now?" Pussycat eagerly eyed Marco, curious as to what he will do.
Marco felt hot, his knees weak, palms were sweaty. Thank god he didn't eat mom's spaghetti. Not like last time.
"So, what are you going to do?" Pussycat Doll giggled, truly curious at what a weak being like him could do to her. What could he possibly make her say that Janna will predict? She floated close to him until they were face to face. "Well… go on boy."
She couldn't have done anything more stupid than that. In one quick motion, Marco raised his hand and grabbed Pussycat Doll by the back of her head. Not aggressively, but more of a forceful caress; something that was strong and gentle at the same time. And quite astonishing, she found her face pressed up against his, Marco's lips embracing around the mouthless area of her face.
Star's jaw dropped, eyes bulged, and her wings extended outward. She was too shocked to say anything.
Pussycat was too stunned to do anything, not even having the strength to pull back until Marco removed his hand, freeing her. She fell to the floor, unable to keep herself aloft.
"What was that? What did you-? Why would he-?" Pussycat Doll stammered.
"You thought your first kiss would be from Janna?" Marco declared in an arrogant and confident manner. "But it was me, Diaz!"
That struck Pussycat to her core.
"And your next line will be: but how did you know that?" Janna cried out.
"But how did you know that?" Pussycat Doll asked. But then it dawned on her, she had said it, she said the exact thing Janna had predicted her to say. She lost.
"How?" Pussycat asked, lying on the floor. "How did you know that would work?"
"Simple," Janna smiled with pride and pointed at her forehead. "I knew everything that would happen. All of this was just according to my plan. I knew from the beginning that Marco would screw up and that you would expect me to panic when you got loose. I knew what you thought I would try next and I knew that you couldn't refuse a challenge when presented as a game. Even me struggling near the end was an act!"
"This was all apart of your plan?"
"You're damn right it was!" Janna proclaimed. "Everything went according to my plan from the very beginning!"
There was dead silence in the room, nobody could have predicted this. To think that Janna had planned all this from the start. But one question still remained in everyone's mind.
"But why go through all this?" Pussycat asked. "Why did you set all this up? We've renewed our contract plenty of times before without assistance. Why did you involve him if you knew this was all going to happen?"
"Because Pussycat," Janna said, looking more like her relaxed and confident self, like nothing in the world could phase her. "I knew that time and time again you would try to gain your freedom at any chance you'd get. So I had to set up a scenario where you were so close to it, only to have you fail at the most critical time. Face it girl, we're stuck with each other, it's best that you accept that now."
A light chuckle began coming from Pussycat Doll until it became full-blown laughter.
"So all this was a game you set up to trap me?" Pussycat calmed down. "I always did like you Jan-Jam, you're able to keep things fun and interesting. That's what I love about you. Okay, you won, I'll renew our contract without complaint. After all, I know that so long as stick with you, you'll keep things fun and interesting."
She handed the page she stole back to Janna.
"I, Pussycat Doll, accept Janna Ordonia as my master and agree to renew the master-servant contract that binds us."
"I, Janna Ordonia, accept Pussycat Doll as my familiar."
The two pressed the palms of their hands together, an ethereal chain wrapped around their hands and tightened itself to lock the two together. The chain then disappeared, sealing the contract.
"That seemed almost anti-climactic," Star said, now back to her senses.
"Yeah, I was kind of expecting more lights and maybe some wind," Marco added.
"Oh? And I'm sure you were expecting much more, like how I'd just gloss over the fact that you laid your filthy hands, and not to mention your lips too?" Pussycat floated to Marco until she was in his face, glaring at him with cold, angry eyes.
"Janna forced me into that!" He immediately answered. He was terrified. "It's not like I wanted to do it!"
"And you think that excuses you! To think I received one from you and not my beloved Janna!" She shouted angrily. Marco shut his eyes and tensed up, awaiting whatever horror that may follow a spirit's wrath.
Something soft gently pressed against his face and he felt himself being embraced.
"But I don't think I mind it all too much," Pussycat purred. She held Marco tightly, nuzzling him affectionately. He could feel her tail brushing against his leg playfully. "I may love my Jan-Jam, but I do have enough in my heart for two people. What do you say, want to make an unofficial contract with me?"
"Hey! Hey! I'm the only one that teases Marco around her!" Janna cried, pulling her familiar off him. "You keep your hands to yourself."
"Oh poo," Pussycat Doll pouted. "Well, if there's nothing left for me to do, I'll be dismissing myself then."
She faded out of reality behind Janna, probably becoming a tattoo on her body.
"So, is everything okay now?" Star asked.
"Yup, thanks for showing up Star."
"No problem, guess Marco and I will get out of your hair."
"Actually there's something I need to discuss with Marco first."
"Okay then, I'll catch you guys later." She left Janna's room, leaving Janna and Marco alone.
"What did you want to talk about?" Marco asked.
"Two things. First:" Janna raised her hand and slapped Marco across the face.
"OW!" He cried, holding his reddened cheek. "What was that for?"
"Do you have any idea how terrible things could have turned out because of your carelessness!?" Janna screamed.
"I thought everything was according to your plan?"
"Are you nuts!? The plan was to renew my contract and keep the book away from her! Everything flew out the window the moment she got away! I was just doing everything off the top of my head!"
"I'm sorry," Marco said feeling guilty.
"Yeah, well, being sorry isn't what fixed everything." Janna crossed her arms in frustration and refused to look at him. She was beyond angry and for good reason.
"What's the second thing you want to tell me?"
"The other thing? Well…" Her words drifted away, it looked like something was on her mind. She grabbed Marco's coat with both hands and pulled him into her, forcing their lips to meet.
"The other thing is that if you tell anyone about that then I'll deny it immediately!" She said after she pushed him off her when she was done. She glared at him, but with an expression Marco thought he would never see from Janna: embarrassment.
"I know I was the one who told you to but I don't think it was fair that Pussycat was the one you got to kiss," Janna blushed, her eyes breaking away from his, unable to keep her composure or look at him. "But even if you tell anyone and they believe you, you know that I could spin this to my favour. Now get out!"
Janna shoved Marco out of her room and slammed the door in his face. He stood there speechless, his mind still processing what just happened. Only one word was able to come out his mouth.
"N-nani?"
I did not enjoy writing this. At all. Okay, that's not completely true, I did have some fun. But compared to how long this chapter took compared to all other thus far, this took me way too long to finish. But it finally is and hopefully the next one will be out soon (fingers crossed).
Anyways, in other news, did anyone else see Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss? I watched Hazbin 3 times in the first 24 hours of its release. I enjoyed it that much! I even decided to change my profile pic from Tokita Ohma (Kengan Asura, best martial arts manga I've read and really recommend you check it out; but skip that horrendous Netflix adaptation. It was like watching Berserk 2016 all over again. My heart broke.) to the "Radio Demon" Alastor. It was either that or demon-face Charlie but Alastor won out due to him being a total boss!
That's all for this update.
Bye.