Surprise Familiar

Huh. Waking up with a tail sure is a unique feeling. I guess I'll have to get used to it, but there's no missing that.

I leaned up and turned around to take a look at my new limb, and despite how big it felt, it was barely a tail at all! It couldn't even be six inches long. Although, how long will it end up growing? I guess that's added to the list of things to ask Nadia about.

Going through my morning routine, I paused as I was eating my cereal. Aren't cats actually lactose intolerant? I hope I don't become lactose intolerant because of this. What about other things though? How much of me is this gonna change? I don't think this milk tastes any different than usual, but could that change? Am I gonna become a huge fish fan? Huh.

Things seem to have settled down a bit, though. Things don't feel so big anymore, aside from my clothes… hang on. Nadia… was looking down at me at the door yesterday, wasn't she? I must've gotten shorter during the change. Maybe she can measure me!

Alright, I guess I'll call her before just showing up at her door, since she did say to call her. I picked up my phone and… oh. Apparently it's been… nearly a week since we went out to get her witch stuff. Good luck dealing with all those notifications, future me! I need to talk to Nadia about all this magic stuff first.

Not even a full ring after I called her, she picked up and started talking. "Hey! Look, I'm really sorry about, uh, yesterday in general. I uh, said some things I probably shouldn't have, but if you're feeling better I think I can explain. Although it'd probably be easier if you came over, if you're okay with that? If not that's fine, I can-"

Oh jeez. Not only was she talking faster than normal, but it sounded like she was talking using speakerphone mode! "Just, hold on, okay Nadia? It's fine, I promise. I'll be there in just a minute, okay?" I won't let weird magic stuff stop me from comforting my friend. I might be oblivious when it comes to magical changes, but not when it comes to my friends!

"Right, okay, I'll unlock the door for you then. Just come on in."

"I'm on my way!" I immediately ended the call and put my phone down. Pajamas are good enough for walking around inside the building, right? I don't want to keep her waiting, and changing would take minutes!

Two floors really isn't a long distance, and I thought I would be spared the embarrassment of running around in my pajamas as long as I was quick. Unfortunately, not only did I nearly run into someone and fall on the floor, I also had cat ears and a stubby little tail sticking out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you-" The surprise was rather evident on their face when they looked at me, and that's when I remembered my cat bits. My hair also seems to have grown a lot longer, some of it reaching my neck I think? Not the time, person staring at me.

So, I made the obvious choice to run away. On all fours. Turns out, I'm still not cat enough for that, and I only ended up making a bigger fool of myself before I got up back on my two ordinary human legs.

I got to Nadia's apartment and opened the door just enough to slip myself in before gently slamming it shut. Out of breath and probably looking rather messy, I gave Nadia the biggest smile I could manage. "Hi, I made it!"

She cracked a smile too as she pushed her rolling chair in front of her. Success! "Get over here and sit down, you doofus." I happily obliged, hopping into the chair. "You know, I was planning some great apology before you just jumped on in with that stupid smile and that tiny little tail." She gave my hair a quick ruffling as she was talking, which helped me calm down from my little accident. Felt nice too. "Clearly, though, you're not all that upset, so I guess I can give you the short version."

"I already told you it's fine though, didn't I? Or is this different? And why the heck would you use speakerphone when I just woke up?"

"What? I wasn't. Are you sure you didn't just forget where your ears are?" Bweh! I- whatever! I could feel my cheeks getting warm.

"Anyway, It's important, okay? At least, it's important to me." She spun me around to face the wall, then leaned up against it in front of me. "First off, I'm sorry for what I said when I tried to… demonstrate your familiar frenzy. Something inside me decided that was a good time to be weirdly possessive when it really wasn't and probably made the frenzy worse, so, I'm sorry." I wanted to say something, but as soon as I moved she shushed me. Considering I didn't even know what I was going to say, that might've been for the best.

"Secondly, I'm sorry for calling you a catgirl. I mean, that's not to say you can't be a catgirl or anything! You'd be a very cute catgirl, uh, if you wanted? I was a little surprised and I hadn't ever actually seen a familiar like you before and uh, well, my brain was messing with your gender a bit. So, sorry. Regardless of cat gender stuff, I think the ears are a good look on you."

Wait, did she even call me a catgirl yesterday? I didn't even remember that, but I uh… huh. "Wait, how does this transformation even work?" You're not saying I'm doing all this again, right?

"Well, the… what were the words we used? Spirits? The spirits you've bonded with have a small part in it, but since the spirits only bond with similar familiars, basically all of the transformation is controlled by your wants. Like I said, familiar magic tends to be very instinctive, given direction by your imagination."

Huh. I mean, I admit that I can relate to cats. They're cool, and I guess I like the ears, but… all the fem-

"Oh, and I actually was making something that I think might help you, before you went all sleepy cat on me."

"Wait, before all this cat stuff? It's not a magic thing, is it?"

"Well… remember our shopping trip to get the horseshoe crab blood? I had planned on just calling it a special tea, but I guess now I can tell you that it's a potion. I think it would help with your transformation too, which is why I mention it."

Seriously? "You actually want me to drink that stuff? I knew it looked like a potion!"

"What? Oh! No, no no no - the blood is actually just for making sure other potions are safe, like I said. The potion itself is pretty similar to ordinary tea, I just wanted to be extra sure it wouldn't do something weird." She pulled out a jar with a mix of the things she bought along with the crab blood, as well as some other things I couldn't recognize.

"Oh, okay. Is it just made like tea then? No, there must be some magic stuff involved too, right?" Otherwise, wouldn't anyone be able to make potions?

"There's generally a thin line between an unusual tea and a potion. Some take a lot more effort, but fortunately, this one only takes a pinch of magic to work right. I already did the preparation for this mix, so it should be fine for you to treat it like an ordinary tea mix." That's… surprisingly simple. I expected it to be more… mystical?

"Oh, and it's a dream altering potion, so you should drink it before bed. Right, uhh. I don't think I should say too much on what exactly it does, but I promise it won't do anything bad." Oh, right. The effect. Makes sense.

"Of course, I trust you. Honestly, I forgot to even be concerned about what it would do. I guess... well, I just trust you, y'know?" I mean, she's still the same Nadia I've known since moving here. Just some actual magic in her witch stuff. Still has the same cozy decor.

"I'm glad you still trust me, even with all this magic mess, though it might not just be that. It seems to be different for everyone, but most of the witches I've talked to mentioned that their familiars have some magic related sense that comes as naturally to them as magic itself. Maybe whatever it is for you was able to tell you it wasn't dangerous?"

I guess that's neat. There's so much magical stuff she just mentions in passing that I'd love to know more about. I think she said something about familiars belonging to witches too? Maybe it'd be easier to just sit here and listen to her talk. Or sit on her bed. "That's cool. Am I allowed to get up now?"

For some reason, asking that seemed to bring a tinge of a blush to her face. "Yeah, that- well first, of course. I only wanted you to sit down to make sure I had your attention for the apology. But that also reminds me of something else." Cool. Hold that thought.

I took my chance to run over and hop onto her bed before she continued. "I swear, your silly little tail…" My silly little tail! I forgot about that thing. It was admittedly pretty silly, but I still had a strange sense of pride for it anyway. It'll grow to a more proportional size eventually! Oh, and I wanted to ask her how long it would get too… gah, that's not important right now.

"So, familiars tend to be the type that likes to help others, which is what I wanted to demonstrate. And, obviously, I got a little possessive about it, which was weird, but it didn't even faze you? Which…" She paused, seemingly unsure of what to say next.

"I uhh. If it matters, I think I liked it? Or at least the petting? It was a lot, I… agh. Understanding this stuff is hard. I get the familiar thing at least." And so I flopped down and shoved my face in her much less hard pillow. It smells nice. Is that weird? Yeah, that's probably weird. Pillooooww! Why are you making things difficult too?

I turned my head back to looking at Nadia to get my nose out of the pillow. It's a lot comfier to lay like this with my ears on top of my head. She's smiling again! Is my pain entertaining to you, you weirdo?

"I suspected you did, but it's good to hear you say it. I was going to tell you about, uh, a different frenzy, but I'm not really sure it's accurate. As long as you're happy, we can talk about the magic stuff, alright?"

"Yes! If you're really worried about it, you can see what happens if you pet me again? But it's been long enough, I wanna learn more about magic!"

And so she spent the next few hours showing me her stuff and answering all my questions. She didn't take me up on the petting offer at first, but eventually I got up off the bed and tempted her into it.

Turns out, the "proper names" for witches and familiars were real long and snooty sounding, so I'm just gonna stick to calling myself a familiar. I had already forgotten the proper names by the next question anyway.

Familiars are also apparently usually ordinary people? Like, no cat ears. Maybe I would've felt weird about that before all this, but it just feels so right.

That led in to my next question, too - if they're not even animal-like at all, then how does that relationship work? Probably should've guessed that it would be the most boring answer possible by now. Despite the implications of the names we've been using, witches and familiars don't actually have any special bond. Most of the time they're friends, sometimes they're hired help. Either of witches or familiars, that is. And only a few get into more special relationships.

It was nice to sit around in her apartment and listen to her talk. I probably swept up a few spots on her bed and floor real nicely with my tail.

She explained a lot of her potion tea ingredients, too, but it was a little much for me. Still, I smiled and nodded along. I'm sure I could figure it out if it mattered, I just didn't have the space in my head to think about all that.

There's so much stuff in here, but it somehow was less confusing than other rooms. Or maybe it's not confusion, it's just… easier to think in here? Everything just seems to make more sense here. More right.

I found myself laying on her bed again at one point, with my tail sticking up so I could lazily wave it around. It's not every day you get a new limb to play with. It was getting harder to keep it going though, I could feel the tiredness approaching again.

"Hey Nadiaaa? What time is it?"

"A bit after three, why?"

"Can I just take a nap here? I don't wanna get up and go back to my apartment yet."

She took a moment to think about it. "That's fine, but are you just taking a nap or are you going to end up sleeping through a whole day again?"

Oh, right. I've been sleeping a lot, haven't I? "Uhh. Not sure?"

She sighed. "How about I make you that potion before your nap then? Might even end up working better if I'm the one making it."

"Kay. Thanks!" I probably would've remembered it if I was leaving, but it's nice that she remembered. Then again, I didn't even think about how long my nap would last.

I rolled over to face the ceiling so I could think. Sorry, tail. She only said this potion was to help with the transformation. Am I gonna have another dream about being a cat? Oh! "I wonder, do you think I can purr?"

She turned just to show me her raised eyebrow before going back to her witchcraft. "I think you would've been purring already if you could. Although, maybe you could try purring manually?"

She laughed, but that wasn't a bad idea! Alright, so… ah. How do cats even purr? It's related to breathing, I think. Do they just… vibrate? Yeah, okay. I see why she was laughing now. No idea how to even try to do that. That's too bad.

The transformation is also making me smaller and… more feminine though. She said it's mostly driven by me, but it's not like I'm transgender or anything, so why? I mean, being shorter has been fun. At least for everything but clothes. More space! But that's not really a gender thing, is it? Although I feel like I could say that about all the "feminine" changes. I mean, the shape of my face doesn't make me any more or less of a man, right? But it still feels like I'm becoming more feminine… How does gender even work? What's the deal? I haven't really thought about it much, but most of my body hasn't changed much, I think. Am I like... a femcatboy? Although some trans girls are happy with that. Is there even anything about gender that makes sense? How is this so much more complicated than the cat-

"Hey. Your potion's ready."

Ah. "Thanks! Er, again." Good plan, deal with the hard thoughts after a nap. Nice and warm too. I gave it a sip, and the first thing I noticed was how decent it tasted. Strange too, don't get me wrong, but not hard to drink. Certainly better than I had imagined a potion would taste, although I guess it helps that it's basically tea.

It didn't take long to get it all down. "Is that it then? Do I just… go to sleep, or is there some ritual thing to do or something?"

"Nah, I did all that when I was preparing the mix. All you have to do is enjoy your catnap!"

I guess that made sense. I just nodded and rolled back over. Sleep came quickly in the comfort of her room, even with a spectator.