Surprise Familiar

"Alright! Ritual done, time for fun." I darted over to the bed and flopped on it, being sure to stretch out across the whole thing so Nadia wouldn't be able to sit down.

"Fine, fine. You've earned it, I never would've been able to do that without you." She started walking over to me, not quite looking directly at me.

Aha! You're only moments away from realizing my position of power over you, and then I'll… wait, she isn't- aCK!

"Very kind of you to make a bench for me, Paige."

That's my legs you just sat on! "Hey! You're not supposed to just sit on me!" I could even see Vel looking at me with a laugh in their eyes, my whole plan was falling apart.

She ignored my criticism and continued her act. "It's a bit different from just sitting on the bed. Refreshing, really."

"Nadiaaa-aH!" I started to roll over, but she leaned over and pushed me back down. "That's not fair!"

"Sit still now, I'm enjoying this!" She sounded like she was just on the edge of laughing at me as she said that.

I tried squirming around to see if I could escape, but all that did was get me a firmer push. She was really, um... powerful. I could feel my stub of a tail whacking against her side faster and faster, too. To beat her into submission, of course.

"Alright then, if you insist on wiggling around then I'll have to resort to the classics."

Oh no, is she gonna- a-ah, that's okay too, mm. Petting me works. That's also good. This is… what I wanted, I think. The plan… later.

"Are you going to move over and let me sit on the bed now, so I can pet you properly? Or do I need to squish you some more?"

I think anyone would lose their will to fight after a minute of Nadia's petting, so really I had no choice but to comply. "I'll mooovve..." ...but it wouldn't have been that bad if we had just stayed like that.

I flipped over and sat up, letting her sit down, then stuck my head right in her lap. The only appropriate compensation for stopping the petting and making me move. Then she started petting me again, and all was well.

I let myself sink into the quiet comfort of her touch, and felt myself start the rumbling of a purr. If only petting myself could feel this nice. Even my ears, which were particularly sensitive to her touch, felt about the same as my old boring ears whenever I touched them. One day I'll figure out why her touch is so… blissful. One of Nadia's many mysteries.

"You've got nice ears. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Uh… "Aside from you, no?" I mean I absolutely agree, but you're basically the only one familiar with them.

"I bet people would if they ever felt them."

"I'd really rather they didn't feel them. Only you get to pet me, I'll bite anyone else that tries it."

"Aww, my own little treasures."

They're a part of me, you know! I- I'm not… I. You're not supposed to call other people yours. Even if I like it. Wait. I've done this before, haven't I. I turned in her lap to look up at her, even if she wasn't looking at me anymore.

'Fine. I can be yours… as long as you can be mine.' Ghah. As if I could ever say something like that. 'Nadiaaaa, I wanna be yoourrrss! I want to be your familiar and just… do this, every day.'

I might be gay.

That's basically my motto at this point, every time I come over here. One day.

I noticed Nadia's head tilt down a little, and saw that she was looking at me now. Ha, I beat you to the look. And you're blushing over it! Ooh, this is perfect.

I sat up as quick as I could and gently shoved my head under her chin, trying to touch her warmed cheeks with my ears. "How's it fit?"

"Surprisingly well, you goofball. I swear, every week you're getting better at exploiting your cat parts. At least your tail is still manageable, even if it's the last part of you that's manageable."

"I could change that!" I could like, get a really big and poofy tail. The kind you could get lost in. That's a fantastic idea, actually. "I could probably even get it by tomorrow..."

She let out an amused sigh. "Looking forward to it."

Yes! You'd better prepare yourself! Now I just need to figure out exactly what kind of tail is optimal.

It turns out there's a lot of different tails roaming around in my mind. Obviously the first option is to regrow it to the length it was before our little slip-up, but that wouldn't be enough. I could try making it even longer… that's an option, but I don't think that's the right approach.

No, it definitely needs to be bigger. Huggable, like a body pillow, so just making the fur longer won't cut it.

Maybe something like a fox tail? Big and poofy. I could make it as thick as my thighs, that's probably a good size. While I'm at it, I may as well make it long enough to wrap around Nadia. That was a distinct advantage of the regular length tail, so maybe a bit longer than that to account for the thickness?

That's… probably still doable in one night, but then I definitely need to eat a lot before bed. Alright, Vel! I know you were probably waiting for food this whole time, so I'll get on that.

I hopped off the bed and walked over to Nadia, who apparently had left me to clean up the ritual. Probably the right choice, considering I didn't even notice. "I'm gonna need food, are you alright with me making pasta again?"

"Sure, any food from you is always nice. Is Vel joining us tonight?"

"Oh, yeah, they're already here. Did they not..?" Velvet! Being mean to her is my job! I turned and gave them a look. Fortunately, they were watching, so they already knew what was happening and hopped down to go headbutt Nadia again. Good light cat. I turned back around to get some water boiling.

"Good to see you again, Vel. How long have they been here?"

"They showed up about halfway through the ritual stuff." I grabbed the jar of spaghetti sauce we had prepared before and some spaghetti, which was also stored in a jar. Nadia really has a bit of a thing for jars, huh. But they're both cool, so it works.

With the cooking underway, I hopped up on the counter next to the stove to sit and watch her. One of the many benefits of a short tail is not having to worry so much about putting it where it shouldn't be.

"Sooo… how's your day been?"

"Well, it was pretty good, until a certain rascal showed up at my door. Since then it's been a real mess, the thing just doesn't know any respect. They even sat around watching as I finished up cleaning the ritual stuff we did together!"

"Wow, so rude to poor Vel. All they want is a little food and entertainment and here you are bullying them!"

She gave me her best impression of an unimpressed look for a moment before dropping it. "And you aren't trying to use them to bully me?"

What? Oh, the not showing themself to you thing? "No no no, we're rivals. They did that on their own." I could feel Vel's amusement from calling them my rival, but Nadia wouldn't know. I think.

Nevermind, she had an eyebrow raised. "If you say so. Another question, then. What's it like for you to use magic? I've been wondering and I feel like it's been long enough now that you might have an answer."

Ooh, that's a fun question. "It kinda just… happens? I feel like there's a threshold of desire, where if I want a change on my body enough it'll just happen once I sleep? I think a good mental image helps, but obviously that's not necessary. I guess that's about it, it's basically a faster version of the same thing when I'm helping you. What about your magic? Maybe I can describe more by comparison."

"Hmm. It's kinda hard to describe to someone without the right framework. It's like… taking a spoonful of water and letting it fall through an elaborate system of pipes and waterwheels? And some of the parts can't move, and every time I have to reset it in a different way. It's really complex and can fail pretty easily if you're not careful, which is why most of the stuff I do is about doing as much as possible to lessen the usage of magic."

"Weird. Glad I get to do it the easy way, I guess. Wouldn't be very cool to be doing that whenever I feel like changing my body, especially for getting out of my old form. Blegh."

The water was ready for the pasta now, so I hopped off to take care of that and then sat down with Vel and Nadia, who had since finished cleaning and was now watching me.

"I can imagine. Still happy with that part of your new body, then? I noticed you've only been playing with the cat stuff and not anything gendery."

Huh, have I really not? I guess all the cat stuff has been more interesting, but it's not like I don't care about gender. "I think I kinda just kept on ignoring it like I did before? I dunno, the change kinda just happened in a couple days and it works, it hasn't really been on my mind. The cat stuff is way more fun and great for, uhm, messing with you? And I guess it's more closely related to my magic in my mind? Like, all this magic stuff is really cool and my cat-ness was like, awakened by that magic. I think. Dunno, that is a little weird I guess."

"Mmm, that makes some sense, somehow. As long as you're happy with it."

"I am! Maybe I'll mess with it a little bit in the future just to see if there's anything there, but for now I like it just fine." And cat features are still much more exciting. Maybe I'll go with paws for hands tomorrow too! Might be fun with the big tail.

The spaghetti was ready though, so I got back up to deal with that. A plate for Nadia, a bowl with extra sauce for Vel, and the rest for me and my tail.

We were both a bit worn out from everything today, so I let us have a bit of quiet time.

Until we were in bed. I just had one more thing to make sure of.

"hey nadia?"

"yeah?"

"you should hug my back."

She was silent for a moment. Was she not going to let me?

"please?"

"fine, but you don't get to complain if i bite your tail in the morning."

Ack. Stealing my techniques, I see. Fine, it'll be too big for you to bite anyway, fool. "deal."

Her embrace was also just really comfy. She gently traced around my ears for a bit with one of her hands, the other holding me close.

 

***

 

Ow!? "Hhgh, Nadiaaa… did you really have to bite me awake?"

"No complaints, remember. You're the one that decided to stick your big fluffy tail in my mouth."

"Mmh… oh, right!" I flicked my tail where she had been holding it to find Nadia's body again, then wrapped it around her and pulled her back down. What a perfect tail. "You're mine now, pet me while I wake up all the way."

"I'd love to, but you kinda wrapped up one of my hands with your tail. Mind uncoiling that for me?"

"I dunnooo, it's kinda nice to have you trapped with it. The feeling of the new fluff on you…"

"So you're not interested in getting pet then?"

Gh, fine. I slid my tail around and off of her, which was still a strangely nice feeling. All the fluffy hairs rubbing over her, I guess?

To my surprise, she actually did start petting me once I freed her. She kept it gentle, which I usually appreciated more.

That gave me a nice opportunity to finally feel my new tail for myself. With my paws. It was a lot like feeling the shorter fur on my forearms that came with the paws, just a lot more fluffy and soft.

Apparently Nadia had seen my paws, though. "Paige, did you really bring your paws to your first day with the new tail?"

Ah. Well. I was hoping it would take a little longer to get to this part. "Yeees?"

"Surely you haven't forgotten how easy it is for me to overpower you without your human hands?"

"Hhk. Noo…"

"Well that's just too kind of you." She grabbed my tail from the base and pulled the rest back towards her, then um.

She uh. She, she gave it a full body hug? Like um. Like a body pillow? And it hhh, it was really, really nice. The pressure from her arms and legs and the fur getting pushed around was just so. Comfortable.

I tried to put up some resistance, but as soon as I moved my arm she grabbed my furry wrist and pinned my paw to my tail. Eep. Well, the paws were just a symbol anyway. This was… nice. This was what I had grown to love about spending time with her. I... I might regret it, but I really want to confess. Yeah, that's a horrible idea.

"... nadia?" I started it anyway, doing my best to ignore the warnings all over my mind.

She clearly noticed whatever feeling was in my voice, because she loosened her grip on my tail and arms. I left them right where she had taken them, not daring to pull away.

"what's up?"

"i… i don't want this to ever stop."

I paused, maybe hoping she would respond, but she only grabbed my paw and gave it an assuring squeeze. I guess I'm going all the way then, please don't let go...

"can i… can we

… be something? like, um. like girlfriends? But also like, your familiar? In the kinda cat way? I, I really like being able to goof around with you like this, and letting you mess with me, and-"

She grabbed my paw with both hands this time. "Shhh, you don't have to keep on explaining."

Oh, okay. But does that-

"We… we can be whatever you want us to be, including girlfriends. Including a witch and her familiar, in the more fantasy-like sense."

Oh, okay. Wait. "Wait." I tried to roll over to face her, but got stopped by my too big tail. I rolled over the other way, with my face in the pillow, to actually face her. She was smiling at me, and looked really pretty doing that. Oh wow. "Is this really happening? You mean you would be my girlfriend? And I would be your girlfriend!?"

She started grinning at my growing excitement. "If you want to."

"Yeah! Yes! Girlfriend!" My excitement bubbled over and I lost the ability to speak, only staring at her with my tail jumping up and thumping down.

I realized she was still just grinning happily at my excitement though, which confused me. Was she not excited about this? Was this not… "Is this not… what you had in mind? What you wanted?"

"No! Nonononono! Don't get all sad on me now, this just, sorta, isn't a big surprise for me?"

Huh? I tilted my head as much as laying down on a pillow would allow me.

"Well, uh. I'm not sure if you realized, Paige, but a lot of the stuff we've been doing isn't really normal?"

That's-

"And no, I'm not just talking about the magic. I'm talking about the ways we play around. I'm talking about how often you come over to hang out with me. I'm talking about sleeping in the same bed together."

Er, okay. Maybe that's a fair point.

"And fuck, do you have any idea how cute you are!?"

O- oh. Oh no.

"It was there before you started playing with your body, but now it's like you've pulled out all the stops! The grins you get when you're planning something goofy, the clothes you pick to complement my style, the subtle ways your ears move when I'm talking or about to pet you, the ways you use your different tails to exaggerate your emotions, oh! And my new favorite, the giant smile you've got on your bright red face right now!"

"A- ah, I think. Um. Wow. I think I get, um, what you're saying? You can, um. Move on? Please?" I felt like my face was about to explode, and hiding behind my paws only made it worse! Gah!

"My point is, my familiar, I've been waiting for this for quite a while."

I'm her familiar!

"I had to wait, because I didn't want to feel like I pushed you into it again. So this is what I wanted, and I'm more than happy to watch you get all excited and flustered as you process that, I've just been doing the excitement over a few months instead."

"I, um. Hhgh. I'm gay." She probably could've come up with more to say, so instead I covered her mouth with my tail for a moment of peace.

I knew it wouldn't be a long moment, but it would be enough to reset my head. She was my girlfriend now, and the most important thing that meant was that she signed up for this. For all of me, and all of my shifting catgirl qualities.

So, as she was doing her best to clean the hairs out of her mouth, I prepared myself. Most people would kiss their girlfriend, right? That's normal, I think. But… well, I guess it's my fault she's got hair in her mouth. I could work with that, though.

I grabbed one of her arms to start kneading with my beans, bumped my forehead against hers, and smiled. "Love you."

She spat out some fur one more time before replying. "Alright you lil lesbian, I love you too. But you'd better not stick your tail in my mouth again, the power of love won't forgive all your crimes."

"Noted. Would the power of love like to pet my tail, then?" I pulled it back then flopped it over the arm I was kneading, like a furry blanket.

She immediately accepted my peace offering and started brushing it with her remaining free hand.

Between getting my tail brushed, squishing my beans while kneading her arm, and occasionally bumping the fur on my arms, it was hard to think clearly. My last fragment of thought was that I might've accidentally embedded my desire for Nadia to pet me into my fur and hair. Oops..?