Arcana's Path

Which did lead Rin to discovering that the local covens did publish something like research. She couldn't read anything but the summaries, but it was actually kind of fascinating. Most of what Violet had published had a half-dozen authors on the papers, and seemed focused on the construction and efficacy of something called a mandala.

Twenty odd papers on the variations of a cool looking geometric configuration of symbols. It was really weird to see such an academic approach to something that Rin would generally relegate to the land of fantasy.

Still nothing to suggest what Violet had done to upset her coven.

Rin shut down her laptop, and closed the screen.

She screamed and nearly dropped it as she saw Violet curled up on the end of the couch, cradling a steaming mug in both hands.

The witch sipped calmly, "Find what you were looking for?"

"No. I wasn't... Why the fuck are you in my house, again!?" Rin found her confidence and sat up, putting aside the computer, "There is no way you've already finished work. And you're not my roommate! You're not supposed to turn up three times in the same day! You're not supposed to turn up once."

"Lunch break." Violet shrugged, "Just wanted to check in on you, seeing how you were doing. Cyberstalker."

Rin rolled her eyes, "Screw me for wanting to investigate the random stranger who I literally can't keep out of my house."

Violet shrugged, the laptop somehow appearing in front of her and on. "I'll just login here and... Done. Here's my inbox. Go through the death threats, you'll find out what happened."

Rin took the computer slowly, looking at it in surprise, "So... They didn't close your account? Despite kicking you... Oh, wow. You weren't kidding about death threats. There's thousands. And they're mean."

"Witches can be bitches." Violet yawned, and put down her empty mug, which immediately vanished. "Well, I'm getting back to the cafe. Do you want me to bring you anything from the bakery for dessert tonight? We always have stuff at the end of the day. You liked the apple pie, right?"

She was about to tell the witch that she'd love her not to turn up, that it would be the perfect dessert, when she noticed what the complaint against Violet was.

Suddenly, she didn't feel like she could say anything mean.

"Uh... I guess."

It was an accidental death. Violet had been teaching some kind of advanced class to a kid everyone had thought was a prodigy, something had gone wrong, and the kid had died. Violet herself had spent at least six months in hospital, on a ventilator. There were photos of her, with various threats drawn on them, but she was... Messed up.

Violet jumped to her feet, "Don't let it get to you. I'm willing to tell you the story one day. Just not... Today. Everyone reminds me of it all the time, anyways."

"People come to your cafe to bully you about an accident?" Rin asked with concern.

The witch shrugged glumly, "They lost a son. They need someone to blame. Hardly hold that against them."

"Holy crap." Rin winced, "Is that why you came back here? Escape a toxic workplace?"

"Kinda."

She rubbed her temples, "Fine. I will try and be more open minded about the crazy stalker in my life. It isn't like you've tried to hurt me. You're just creepy like a ghost that's haunting me or something."

"Right." Violet laughed tiredly, "That's totally insulting. But I appreciate the effort, Rin. Well, I'm headed back to work. Is it just apple pie? Or do you have a sweet tooth for anything nice?"

"Sweet tooth." She shrugged sheepishly.

The witch nodded, and vanished.

Rin blinked and rubbed at her eyes. If Violet kept that up, she would end up booking herself an optometrist appointment. It wasn't like it felt magical. Things just appeared and disappeared, no flash or sparkle at all.

She looked back at the death threats, and wondered why Violet hadn't shut down her own account. This was... So bad. A lot of them had some really personal details in there, like descriptions of her bedroom mixed in with explicit processes of how they were going to kill her.

Rin logged out and re-closed the laptop, feeling sick to her stomach.

The witch was probably feeling lonely. At the very least, she deserved to be handled a little bit more gently. Turning up at the house was still an incredibly creepy thing to do, but it made a little bit more sense.

A bit.

It did make Rin wonder if Violet was anywhere close to taking care of herself. The woman claimed she wanted to treat Rin, because she was so bad at going easy on herself.

That might just be a teeny bit of projection there.

Not that Rin didn't hate almost every single aspect of her life. Every single thing she touched turned to absolute crap. Romance became abuse, work was dead end and depressing, plus she couldn't maintain a single friendship.

They were just a couple of self-loathing bitches.

---

Arcana tiredly pulled out her phone to see a notification from the bank that M384,453 had been deposited into her account. She stared at it and then opened it to read the attached memo in shock.

Compensation on behalf of managuise infection?

Oh. Kitty.

She'd been mean to the woman before she left, but if this was what Kitty was being offered, then it was hardly her fault for being a bitch. If Arcana had that kind of weight leaving her shoulders after that long...

She considered spending some of her new funds to get the heraclaide out, but it felt wrong to use Kitty's mana without asking her about it first. She'd just have to settle for the payment plan they were drawing up.

The public defender would do their best, she'd just have to wait and see.

Her phone buzzed violently, almost causing her to drop it, and she answered, "Um, hello?"

"Wow. Did not expect this to be your actual number. Cops came by your apartment. One of them said I should ring you."

Arcana felt herself smiling nervously, "Kitty. Sorry I wasn't there to back you up. Our kind of cops tend to be a bit more... Hands on."

"Noticed. Being paralysed is an asshole move." Kitty replied, "But he did give me your number. So that's somet'in'. Look, I won't be there when you get back. Probably won't see me again. I'm not good at goodbyes."

She winced, "Look, if it's this morning I -"

"We're not friends." Kitty interrupted, "You're just someone I happened to run into. Rather not fight. Oh, uh... I got some mana or some shit. They sent it to you."

"Yeah. Noticed when my account got a few extra zeroes." Arcana said sheepishly, "Look, at least let me buy you dinner, if you're going to give me three years of a very decent wage."

"I'm not great at goodbyes. We should leave it. It has been wicked."

"I'll let you ride a dragon." Arcana dangled the offer.

She heard the breathing change and the conflict in it for a while, "Eugh, fine. What girl can turn down an offer like that? I'll be hanging around midtown for a while. Call me if you want to pick me up later."

"Will do. Expect it." Arcana found herself being forceful.

"Gotta go. Boss is glaring."

The phone hung up, and she lowered it slowly, feeling an uncomfortable sadness. She wasn't just acting out of pity. Part of why she found Kitty's relaxed attitude insufferable was because she found herself expecting to be able to come home and find them sprawled on her couch.

She had been annoyed to wake up with an arm around her waist, but she hadn't found it gross or full of regrets. She had been more irritated that she couldn't remember sleeping with Kitty, than the idea that they had done anything.

Now she was full of regrets for not taking full advantage of last night to actually do something about it. She didn't want Kitty to just disappear out of her life without anything meaningful. She wanted to at least try kissing the wild thing.

"We're ready for you." The defender poked their head out of an office.

---

Kitty felt her hair stand on end as the creature landed gently in front of her, despite the enormous size of it. It was smaller than the last one, but it was still freaking huge and capable of wrecking cars, but didn't even scratch the pavement.

The woman on its back flicked up the visor on her helmet, "Hey, Kitty. Ready to go to dinner? Got us a reservation at a nice place."

She smiled slowly, "I thought I was the one supposed to be hitting on you, girl. Also, why are people staring but not freaking the hell out? That's a fuckin' dragon. In the middle of the street."

"Eh, they can't see it. Kinda." Arcana shrugged, "It's a thing. Just go with it."

"Complicated magic shit, got it." She said and grasped the outstretched hand, swinging up onto the saddle of the enormous lizard-like beast. She could feel it breathing with her legs, the massive amount of muscle just beneath her roiling like it was about to explode. "So... What do I hold onto?"

Arcana flicked her visor down, "Me."

Kitty heard the determination in the line and grabbed the woman in a bear hug, before she was nearly ripped free. She found herself laughing like a maniac as her hair trailed out behind her. The two shot skywards.

She looked around in amazement at the city far beneath her, feeling the dragon rising and falling as it flew through the air. It sort of reminded her of riding a wild horse, but the size of a small truck. Also, flying.

She was riding a motherfucking dragon!

"Fuck yeah!" Kitty screamed out into the night sky.

She felt Arcana tense up, and her eyes lit up as the dragon suddenly shot directly towards the ground, spinning as it dropped through the air. Accelerating wildly before suddenly pulling up and pushing her throat into her stomach with a crazy amount of force.

It was like skydiving and rollercoasters had been shoved together into some kind of orgasmic mess designed to make every adrenaline junkie have an overdose.

She was loving it.

The dragon levelled out into a calmer flight, and Arcana yelled over the wind to her. Kitty still had no idea how she could hear her, but she could. "Building ahead. See the parking?"

It was one of the taller buildings in the city, a casino that had been way too rich to let someone like Kitty through the door. But from here, she could see a platform near the roof and it was covered in dragons of all kinds of colours, shapes and sizes.

Witches didn't ride brooms apparently.

They rode motherfucking dragons.

Arcana expertly wheeled the one beneath them down and into a space where it gently touched down with a clack of claws. Kitty reluctantly slid down the beast, and put a hand up against the heavily breathing side, "Goddamn, you sexy thing."

"You really have a thing for girls." Arcana pulled off her helmet with the same perfect hair flick, "This is Rita. She's one of my best. Well trained, sweet natured. Wanna give her a treat?"

Kitty dragged her hair out of her eyes, "You are totally trying to get some tonight, ain't you?"

Arcana went bright red and looked away, mumbling, "No... Just... You were nice to me. And I wasn't."

"I don't really mind if you're trying to get in my pants. I want in yours." Kitty replied, "So, how do you feed a dragon?"

The woman unzipped her leather jacket and pulled out a pouch from inside it. She opened it and produced a small and glittering gemstone. "Toss this in the air. Don't get close. She'll eat your hand by accident."

Kitty stepped in front of the dragon who snorted, and the eyes softened. The pupils spread out until it was just two black spheres, and she saw the crazy huge tail wagging excitedly like a dog or something.

A puppy more than twice the size of her first apartment.

She tossed what she'd call a piece of jewellery, and the dragon snatched it out of the air with a crash of jaws that she felt in her chest as they boomed together. "So metal. This is crazy cool. You've almost earned freaky stuff, if that's your thing."

Arcana coughed nervously, "Uh... Why do I feel you mean more than sex?"

"I did." Kitty replied and tossed her arm around her shoulders, "But whatever. This place going to let me in like this? They look like snobs."

She frowned, "... Yeah. So, notice what I'm wearing under the leathers?"

"A freakin' sexy dress with a crazy low bodice." Kitty checked out her chest until the girl felt nervous enough to look away. "You own it, girl."

"Um... There's a changeroom, where I'll drop off this gear... But... I brought something for you, too? Please?"

Kitty's face dropped, and she looked at her jeans and t-shirt, and shrugged, "Aw, what the hell. You let me ride a dragon. Magic has to come with sacrifice or whatever, right?"

Arcana pulled a shopping bag with a brandname slapped on the side from her saddlebags and handed it to her, "Um, can you check the sizes? So I can adjust them? I had to guess."

She glanced inside, and back up, "Are you seriously telling me you're not trying to sleep with me? There's panties in here."

"And a bra. But it's just because I didn't know if it would fit! The dress is meant to be some popular thing, but I couldn't wear my bra with it so I didn't know if..." Arcana screwed up her face, on the edge of tears, "I have no idea what I'm doing."

Kitty rolled her eyes and kissed her cheek lingeringly, "Lets go give some guys the hardest boner of their lives, girl."

"Ew."

---

The concierge greeted Arcana by name and the two were escorted to a private dining space at the top of the restaurant, looking down at an artificial waterfall that was twisting around to split the air into shimmering sparkling light, giving an impression like faery dust.

The dress she'd let someone else convince her into buying was distracting. It clung to Kitty, seemingly held in place just above her nipples, and... And that was all that Arcana could think about.

"Ya starin'."

She looked away guiltily and mumbled, "Sorry."

"Kinda like it. Eat it up. Just leave some room for your food, right?" Kitty laughed at her.

A waitress with a cloth over her arm approached the two of them, "Madames. What is it you desire, this evening?"

"Well, she wants to fuck me." Kitty embarrassed her further, "So something to set the mood? Wine or some shit?"

Arcana took a deep breath, and tried to face the bemused woman, "I suggested a menu when I made the booking, earlier. Can the chef accommodate us?"

"Ah, yes. Miss Astria." The waitress nodded, and looked between them, "Is this to be a surprise? Or would you like a rundown of the menu as it has been assembled?"

She shrugged, "Sure. Though, don't be surprised if Kitty... Is herself."

"But of course, madame." She replied smoothly, "For our starter, we have shaved mandrake served on mana flakes. For a wine pairing, I would suggest a crisp white, our house wine is quite palatable for this."

"Isn't mana ya money?"

The woman barely hid her amusement, "It is also a food, madame. You might think of it as a sort of wafer or biscuit, but one that fills you warmth and delight as you eat."

Kitty nodded slowly, "So we're basically eating tasty gold. Rich girl."

"You paid for it." Arcana rolled her eyes at her, "I wasn't... Forget it. Next course?"

"We have a soup of Ymir, with chunks of Ennedi Tiger, harvested from the surface of the Underworld within the week." The waitress continued onwards, "Served with the traditional side of Yeti horn, which, my lady, is more of a kind of bitter ale in a Yeti's magical horn than a food."

"Is he sayin' words that make sense to you?" Kitty raised an eyebrow.

Arcana felt crushed. "Um... They're all mythic animals. Stuff you didn't think was real until you met me? I... Its special."

"Oh, cool. That's sorta wild." Kitty gave a lopsided grin, "You're the bookworm, Arcana. I've never really read about myths and shit. But there's no way I've tasted any of this, is there?"

"Depends. Ever had street food in Asia?" Arcana said honestly and shrugged, "Never had this quality though, promise you that. Continue, please."

"For you main meal, we have roasted amarok. A legendary wolf that makes a dire wolf look smaller than a chihuahua. The taste is delicate, and infused with chips of the Yggdrasil, the world tree that binds dimensions together." The waiter followed his instructions, "We serve these with ice-stake carrots, Ifrit-infused potatoes, and... Well, magical beans."

Kitty grinned over at her, "Damn. You asked for all this? Looking to impress, much?"

She felt the effort of the comment. Kitty still didn't recognise anything other than the magic beans, but she did seem to appreciate the effort. Arcana had mostly just asked for amarok, and a meal built around it for someone who really like mythic foods. The chef was the one who pulled this out of his hat.

"This is followed by a light sampling of pheonix wrapped in hydra." The woman continued, "Before finally your desert. Will-o'-the-wisp served atop of charybdian eggs."

"Sounds perfect." Arcana smiled.

The man looked to Kitty for approval, and the woman gave a shrug, "Yeah, chill."

He left to begin arrangements, and Arcana found herself alone across the table and without anything to talk about. Kitty knew this was a date, but Arcana didn't seem to be able to vocally accept it.

Arcana wanted this to work. She just had no idea how to actually get there. Wasn't like she actually knew anything about the biker other than she was a thrill seeker.

"People are staring at us." Kitty said suspiciously.

She blinked in surprise, "Have you seen the way you're exploding out of your dress? You are... Wow."

The biker shook her head, "Nah, they're lookin' at you. And not just because the fact is I can see your belly button down the middle of your boobs. Fuckin' sexy dress. Its you. Why does everyone know your name? Ya mum that rich that even these assholes know ya?"

Arcana winced, "You noticed. Um... It's more of a third date conversation, but... My mum is Astraea. She's not just famous in magic circles. She's like... The celebrity of celebrities. Immortal, eternally youthful, beautiful, had a string of lovers that include all the rich and famous... And she's crazy good at magic to boot. Invented half her own spells."

Kitty glared at her for a moment, "Heard you use that name like ya were cussin'. Your mum is a swear word?"

"More like..." She hesitated and then stared down as she forced the word out, "... Goddess?"

"Your mum is the god of witches?" Kitty said, clearly disbelieving.

Arcana shrank in further, "Kinda."

"Magic. Demons. Dragons. 'Course there's freakin' gods, too." Kitty laughed loudly, "So that makes you like one of those demi things, doesn't it?"

"A demigod?" Arcana asked in surprise and looked up, "Um... No. Just an average magic user. Mum always expected me to be amazing, and I always failed to live up to expectations... Didn't stop her parading me in front of the media for most of my life."

Kitty nodded slowly, "So that's why you hate her cash. Why you wanna make a thing of the dragons and be on your own. I see you workin' at it. Workin' hard. That's got to make her proud, right? You, takin' on the world on your own?"

"I'm an embarrassment." Arcana winced and sighed, "Well, that's why people know me. But... Can we not talk about my family?"

"Could always talk about how you want me to take that dress off you at the end of the night. Ya could do the sexy slip off the shoulders... Or I could tear it off."

Arcana went brighter red, "Um... People can hear you."

"Never much cared about what other people think."

She sighed and looked up at her, "I... I was hoping to end the night with a kiss. Maybe. I dunno. Never really kissed a... Girl. Something to keep you interested in me."

"Didn' have ta take me out for that. And even if you get me in bed, I wouldn't assume you're a one night stand." Kitty shrugged, "We can do more. I mean, I want to do more. And you're not foolin'. So, go red like a bull's flag and tell me what you've fantasised about."