Arcana's Path Ch. 05

Nobody did.

Her fears were instinctual, primal.

What she could do with, right at this moment, was a witch. Someone she could talk to her, who could berate her so she could do what she really wanted which was to track him down and apologise.

After all, there weren't that many people who could handle a neko in heat and still be able to walk in the morning, let alone be able to get up first and start cooking.

She hissed at herself.

Going out in public right now would be a terrible idea. She'd draw out every male neko for kilometres around. People on their smoke breaks, lunch breaks. They'd abandon their work, mesmerised by her pheromones and drawn towards her unabating lust.

Which she would gladly accept and completely forget what she'd gone out to do.

Which was also exactly why contactless food delivery existed. She didn't have any reason to see anyone in person unless she was messing around. Which, technically speaking, she wasn't supposed to do in the first place.

The law was pretty clear that nekos were supposed to do what they could to avoid going around having sex with everything that breathes when they were in heat. Well, any race that experienced that kind of thing, not just nekos.

Helped to cut down on STDs, abortions, and just general misery.

Kina sighed and went and found her phone, to find a half dozen messages on it from her friends. Chelsea and Cole had clearly had a good time, by all the naked selfies.

She deleted that message thread and wished she could unsee her friend's face covered in cum. Damage done, she moved onto her other girlfriend from the night before. The far more promiscuous Ardet-lili, the love vampire.

According to her social media, somehow, suffering from a hangover, Lilith was already on stage and putting on a concert to her army of raging and horny fans. Not that they had a choice about being horny with her natural magic.

Kina smiled to herself, wondering. Echo had said that he'd met Arcana, once. It would have been fun to shock him by telling him that she and Kina had very nearly screwed, a number of times.

The neko's ears flattened and she looked at the scratch marks beside her on the floor. Not just because it was a rental property, but because it clearly marked her state of mind and the fact that she was missing someone she had nearly shit herself over a moment earlier.

Probably because of the invisible and guiding hands of their respective grandparents.

Kina hissed at herself, the world, and everything in it, before stomping off back to her bedroom.

Where she finally noticed that not only was the gross skin husk thing gone, but he'd made the bed. Fresh sheets, with the old ones somehow cleaned and folded and left at the foot of it.

She couldn't smell a single trace of him or their night before.

Somehow... That was worse.

She pounced on the bed, and howled.

---

Rin was exhausted and ticked off by the time they got back to her apartment and she could crash on the couch. Which seemed to suit Violet perfectly, because she silently curled up beside her with a new book.

Neither of them said anything for a while.

Eventually she looked up from the TV, and rolled onto her back. "Um... Is this really how you want to spend your time? Shouldn't we be doing something... Special?"

"This is special." Violet replied without looking away from her novel.

Rin frowned, thinking about the painting Violet had left her. It was true that this felt special, and was comforting in more ways than she could think to describe. It still felt like they should be doing... More.

"What do you do for fun?"

"Cook?"

Rin chuckled, "Walked right into that one. But I feel like we should... Oh! Idea! Let's do a slumber party or something. PJs, junk food and cupcakes, girly movies. And you dreaming about seven minutes in heaven which is never going to happen."

"You're mean." Violet put her book down, "But I suppose that sounds fun. I'll check in on Sara and Sam when I grab my PJs. Any requests for dinner, so I don't need to pick up ingredients later?"

She frowned, thinking, "Can't be too messy. So no Italian. I do kinda want tacos, but that's messy too. Uncomfortable in PJs. Um... Ideas?"

"I wanted to make a croquembouche for dessert, for you, but that's as far as I got." Violet shrugged, "Maybe... Beef bourguignon will be too messy. Steak au poivre?"

"I have no idea what any of that is."

The witch grinned, "Perfect! Wanna pick out a movie for us to snuggle under a blanket to?"

"You just want an excuse to snuggle." Rin eyed her.

Violet shrugged, "You seem less annoyed by that. Got to take it whilst I can, right?"

"Fine." Rin rolled her eyes.

The witch vanished, leaving her with her thoughts. She really was okay with the idea of snuggling up. She didn't know exactly when it had changed. Maybe the moment she thought she'd driven the witch off for good.

Or maybe it was because she was feeling guilty about the fact that Violet was dying, and wasting her final moments on someone who had quit their job and probably wouldn't even be able to pay her rent, because she was a terrible person.

The witch was actually dying, and she was looking out for Rin, and Chelsea and Sara and running a cafe... She seemed to be doing so much in the world, not wasting a single moment.

When Rin had been doing nothing but the same repetitive and pointless work at a dead end job with exactly no prospects for advancement.

"Gross, gross, gross!" Violet appeared, an arm in front of her face, causing her to trip over the low table and sprawl out on the ground. She threw a fluffy onesie into the air as she did.

Rin caught the outfit, more by accident than on purpose, "You okay, there?"

The witch sat up, face flushed, "Eh... Sara and Sam are coping. Don't worry about it. What do you think of my outfit? I have been looking for an excuse to wear it. Something fun."

"Onesie. Fluffy." Rin held it out at arm's length, "What exactly is it? A cat?"

Violet giggled and lifted up the hood by the end, revealing that it was a witch's outfit. Because of course she wasn't enough of a witch all of the time. Rin laughed.

The witch swung it over her shoulder and frowned, "Uhm... I was going to try and get you one. But I left the address for the shop in my kitchen which is... In use."

"Oh." Rin realised why Violet had come back the way she had, "That's hilarious. The kitchen? I don't really wear cute stuff like this. My nicest set of PJs are silk, though."

Violet glared at her, "Boring."

She shrugged, "Yes, I am a very boring person. I'm sorry I can't live up to your ideals of fun."

"Oh, don't pout." Violet rolled her eyes, and pulled two things out of the pockets inside her onesie. "Do you want the unicorn or the dragon?"

Rin raised an eyebrow, "I don't really play with soft toys anymore."

"They're clearly for cuddling." Violet replied stiffly, "Also, made from crazy soft materials. I've got a friend who makes plushies. If I'd had like a week, I would have ordered the two of us as plushies. One for each other."

She couldn't help but smile at the witch's excitement. It might not be her own thing, but it was fun to see Violet embracing this cute side of her. It was downright adorable. "I guess... Unicorn?"

The witch put the dragon down beside her and handed her the insanely soft and definitely cuddlable unicorn. Rin had to restrain herself from squeezing it to her chest and undercutting her earlier statement.

Thankfully she was completely distracted from that thought before Violet could pick up on it, because the witch was suddenly stripping down. Rin felt... Odd things, as Violet was standing there in her underwear for a moment before she stepped into the onesie.

Rin only ever wore plain, comfortable, and practical underwear. Violet, apparently, dressed up. The purple and black lace bra pulled in tightly, emphasising the witch's heft. Smooth and flawless, without sag.

Her panties matched the bra, but around the back had a little black ribbon tied in a bow above a circle of smooth skin. Rin couldn't help picturing tugging the bow undone, letting them fall down to Violet's flawless knees.

Somehow, there wasn't a mark on the witch. No bruises or scars, despite her being a chef. Flawless from her ankles, all the way up to those charming eyes.

She felt like her own underwear was downright grandmotherly beside the witch. Rin would wear that kind of thing if she was expecting to get lucky with a guy, not as day to day. Too uncomfortable.

"Makes me feel better about myself." The witch said, tossing her hair backwards out of the onesie and looked over her shoulder, winking at her. "Like what you saw?"

"You are so mean."

Violet shrugged, and jumped onto the couch beside her, "Only to you. And am I not treating you to everything you could possibly want? So what movie did you find for snuggles?"

"Eh... Nope." Rin remembered and pulled up the menu on her TV and flipped through quickly, "Vampires? That's scary and snuggle movie-ish, right? That isn't weird is it? Are vampires real?"

"You're weird. Stop worrying about stuff." Violet yanked a blanket from the floor, that hadn't been on the floor, over the two of them and curled up into her side.

Rin became acutely and instantly aware that the witch was much better endowed than herself, which had the great benefit of making her both jealous and irritated. Violet never failed to find a way to annoy her.

The witch snapped her fingers to pull the curtains shut, from where she was leaning on her, and mumbled quietly, "Stop being weird."

Rin leaned back onto her head as the credits began to roll with some dark and instrumental music. "We need popcorn."

"Cooking." Violet said quietly, "Caramel coated, for little miss sweet tooth."

They both flinched at the opening jump-scare, and Rin felt Violet just about crush her hand. The tension didn't exactly fade as the scene shifted to a quiet family in a suburban street.

"They're gonna die." Rin whispered.

Violet snapped her fingers, causing her heart to leap into her throat, and a steel bowl full of caramel popcorn appeared on the table in front. "Shove some popcorn in it."

The atmosphere was set to awkward drama with a sick little boy stuck at home, and parents whose marriage had obviously gone well beyond fraying from all the stress in their lives.

"Say, `ah'." Violet ruined it, and quickly placed a piece of popcorn into Rin's mouth when she went to tell her to stop it. The gooey mess was neither too sticky nor too hard, and still warm.

She glared for a moment before turning back to the movie, where it was suddenly her turn to grab the witch's hand when a creepy girl appeared out of nowhere, and considered biting the little boy, who didn't see her stalking him.

The boy hears something in the distance, and the girl is gone when he goes to look. Rin felt more popcorn against her lips, but didn't want to look away. Seemed that the witch had won this particular battle.

Yet, Rin couldn't let the victory be completely one-sided. "Just because you finally confessed does not mean you have shifted my opinion at all."

"Nope." Violet whispered, "Just your thoughts do."

Rin paused the movie and turned to glare daggers at the witch, "What the fuck was that?"

"Did... You not notice?" Violet shrugged, "It's not exactly a small deal to go from barely tolerating someone's existence to actually craving their touch."

Rin screwed up her face, "It's a scary movie! That's the only reason I'm grabbing your hand!"

"Hate it when you lie. Especially to yourself." Violet pouted, "The bath. When we went to Chel's. You wanted more contact, so I'm giving it to you. I haven't overstepped. I haven't done anything that you haven't thought about me doing first."

She blinked, "Holy crap. No. I didn't notice. And now... We should just watch the movie."

Violet grabbed her chin, making her look her in the eye. "Fine. I don't know what you feel. I can't. Hearing thoughts still isn't enough context. So I'm going to say something, and I want you to describe how it makes you feel."

Rin cringed, "Please don't."

"I love you, Rin."

Her heart went crazy at the second word. Her palms sweated, her mouth went dry, and the world began to spin. When the last word hit her, when she heard her own name, she felt drawn.

She became hyper-aware of Violet's bright and fierce eyes. She could see the witch's nostrils flare. Her gaze was drawn down to the shape of her lips, barely separated, a deeper red than they should be. Plump, soft.

She wanted to reach up, to touch them.

Rin winced and turned away, "You confuse the shit out of me. Always have. There. Make you feel happy?"

"No. Not if that's what makes you want to cry." Violet whispered, "I don't want to hurt you. At all. Ever. Do you need some more space? Maybe this was a bad idea. I'll go cook lunch."

"Sit your ass down." Rin snapped.

The witch obeyed her for once. Meekly sitting by with a concerned look as Rin stared at the frozen image on the TV screen and tried to piece her thoughts together into a cohesive whole.

She bit her cheek, "What I feel is... Jealousy. And guilt. Confusion about what's real and what isn't. Angry that I can't figure it out. Angry that you violate my space and privacy. Angrier that if you stopped then I'd hate myself more. Angriest that I like it when you ignore me and do whatever you want."

Violet didn't say anything.

"I hate you for knowing me better than I do. I hate that in the space of a few days you have become the centre of my world. I hate that I used to be the centre of my world." Rin felt hot tears beginning. There was going to be a flood soon, and she wouldn't be able to stop it.

"I hate that everyone notices you and that I'm just a shadow. That everyone assumes that if you're paying attention to me, that you must own me or something."

"I... I hate that I sort of want it, too. I feel like your pet half the time. And... I'm fine with being your pet. Which is creepy and confusing and makes me hate you and me and everything!"

Rin looked as far away from her as she could, "I'm a slave. You're some god like Zeus interested in toying with me. And I like it and hate that I do."

The silence stretched out painfully long, just their breathing and the frozen TV.

"You're... Wrong." Violet whispered.

Rin glared at her, "It's how I feel! You can't tell me what I feel! That's just the way it fucking is!"

"Still." The witch insisted, "Wrong. I... I'm drawn to you. You tell me to go, I go. Tell me you want something, I get it for you. Telling you `no' is exhausting and soul-wrenching. It's my turn to talk, so just listen. Please."

Rin shrugged dejectedly, and went back to staring in the other direction.

"I... Don't know how to explain myself. Not properly. I'm not good with people." Violet said quietly, "So I'm going to... Show you. You're probably going to hate me, but I need you to understand. To know me."

Rin glanced back at her, "Show me what?"

Violet smiled nervously and flicked her lightly in the middle of her forehead.

Rin cried out and grabbed at her eyes as she was suddenly blinded. She wheeled, stumbling and falling as she found herself standing and not on a couch.

She looked around in fright, and then stood up and dusted herself off, "Why are we in your cafe?"

Violet didn't seem to hear her. The woman was behind her counter, meticulously pouring another cup of tea. Razor-eyed focus, as always when she was touching tea.

Rin rolled her jaw angrily.

The witch finished pouring the tea and walked over to one of the customers, placing it down gently, "This one is a little different to your normal. A teensy bit sweeter, but still light and fluffy."

She stared in shock at her own face as the customer looked up at Violet in surprise, "Oh. Thanks. I guess I do have a bit of a sweet tooth."

The witch smiled down at another Rin, "Nothing wrong with taking care of yourself. Everyone deserves a treat."

Rin's jaw dropped as she stared. She remembered this, vaguely. The her from the past sipped at the hot tea, closing their eyes and sighing contentedly, trying to savour the moment.

The her which was witnessing the event saw something new. She saw Violet pause as she was walking away, bite her lip and look back. There were tears in her eyes.

Why was Violet bursting into tears right then?

Rin followed the witch back into the kitchen, where she barked a handful of orders in a stronger voice than she'd heard. She flinched, and then she saw Violet stumble for a moment. The witch whipped her handkerchief out and dabbed at her nose. Bleeding.

One of her workers stepped up beside her, "You okay, chef?"

"Fine, Tim. Don't worry about it." Violet said quickly, shaking it off. "Oh, and the woman at table two? She wants to take home a piece of the chocolate slice. Make sure she gets two. Not as a purchase."

He laughed and elbowed her, "So... When you going to ask her out?"

"What would be the point?" Violet muttered bitterly, and then shook her head, "Forget it. She's a customer. Lets not do anything rash. Doubt she came here to be hit on."

Tim laughed some more and went back to cooking, "Come on, chef. It's been what, two years, since you last had a date? Take a little risk."

"Tim, you feel like keeping your job?"

"Yes, chef. Shutting up, chef."

Rin scratched her head in confusion, "Why are you showing me this? I figured you liked me before you decided to invade my home. Seemed like a prerequisite."

She was blinded again, momentarily.

This time she found herself in a hospital room. There was a younger her in the bed, reading a book with her leg in a cast. She remembered this as well.

She'd broken her ankle, playing a game of soccer at school.

Rin looked around and didn't see anyone else, but she did hear them. Hushed but angry voices debating. She hadn't noticed that when she was a kid.

She walked over and opened the door slowly. There were four people out in the hallway, trying not to scream full-volume at each other.

One was her mother, two were doctors or nurses, and the last was... Violet. Younger, slightly, but only very slightly. It was her. Had she been stalking her, over her whole life?

Her mother was the most irate, "This is all your fault, bitch! You and your magic. You should have been there for her!"

"You agreed to raise her." Violet snapped, "Accidents happen. Right now, she needs you to be her mother, so be it. Magic is not a toy to deploy anytime you feel uncomfortable. You need to focus on her. Not on your own goddamn failures."

Rin reeled, falling against the wall.

What the fuck was this?

"Violet." She hissed angrily, and the light washed over her.

She punched a wall, and looked around at the stone room she now found herself in, "This is not what I meant!"

The memory or whatever it was continued to play out, ignoring her.

A circle of twelve stone thrones, with witches seated in each of them, looked down at another witch. All of them were in classic garb, not exactly trying to hide from the trope, but embracing it.

One of the witches spoke accusingly, "You were once a valued member of this Council, a leading light that we thought might lead us out of the dark. Instead... You have become nothing but a monster. The infamous Witch of Violence. You have led us into darkness!"

"You're an idiot." Violet's voice echoed out, as full of derision and arrogance as always.

The accusing witch leaned forward, "What would you call it then, destroying the coven of Thule?"

"Overtures for war." Violet sneered angrily, "A justified response to something you have been ignoring for far too long. The mundanes will kill each other. That we can't avoid. But that doesn't mean we should let them do it with our magic."