Arcana's Path

She found herself tucked into one arm as Kitty lay back on the bed, both hands behind her head and legs spread. Both of them were breathing hard, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to attach herself like a seasnake or roll over and starfish.

Mostly she was sweaty, exhausted, and beginning to panic that she had basically climbed into bed with a complete stranger in some misguided attempt to get them to move in with her.

Not that she'd breached that particular conversation.

"How was dinner, then?"

Kitty snorted and cut to the crux of the matter, "Yeah, I like you. We can give this thing a shot."

Arcana snuggled into her some more, wrapping her legs tightly around her. She briefly kissed her cheek, "I'm not... Crazy? For... I don't know. Overreacting? Showboating? With your own money, to boot. You know nothing about me."

"Breakfast. Exorcism. Dinner. Motherfuckin' dragons." Kitty shrugged, "You're a sweet girl, which I like. But you're also not boring, which I like more. So, we'll play it out. See where it takes us."

She grinned and kissed the woman's cheek again, and then frowned, "Oh. Word of warning, don't go sneaking out to see my dragons if you smell like... Well, me. Like... You know."

Kitty glanced over, "They don't like the smell of sex?"

"Jealousy." She shrugged sheepishly, "Had to help a dragon pass one of my ex's once. That was unpleasant for everyone involved."

"Pass 'im."

Arcana nodded.

Kitty took a deep breath, "So... If I'm reading this right... One of your dragons swallowed one of your ex's. I'm hopin' whole. And then you gave it like laxatives and shit to make it... Shit."

"Muscle relaxants and other stuff, too. It's... Unpleasant to talk about." She looked down sheepishly, and then mumbled, "And then he went and dumped me."

The woman burst out laughing loudly, "All covered in shit 'n food and whatever? Hilarious. Tell me he also didn't have magic."

"Oh, no, Tom has magic. He's a right dick about it when he wants to be. He trained as an anti-black-magic type. Wizard Hunter." She shook her head, "Probably more magic than I have left, which is annoying. I actually have to work to save up my mana... Well, until you."

Kitty's face fell. "The cop?"

"... Yeah." Arcana winced, "You really do hate him, don't you? He's not a terrible guy. He looks out for me."

"He still wants to climb into your pants. That's all he's interested in." Kitty rolled her eyes, "And if you can't see that, ya got problems."

"He is an ex. Which means you've got nothing to worry about. He might have dumped me, but I'm not someone who really tries to patch up the past. I more... Run from it?"

Her phone rang and interrupted their conversation. She rolled over and picked it up from the floor awkwardly, whilst Kitty shuffled to get more comfortable. "Arcana Astria."

"Hello, dearest."

She rolled her eyes and sat up on the edge of the bed, "Hi, Mum."

"I catch you at a bad time?"

She looked over at the naked woman spreading out tiredly and idly beginning to play with herself, "Uh... Kinda. Is this something that can wait, at all?"

"I am afraid not." Her mother's brusque tone informed her that this was yet another fight that she would lose. "I need you to get on a long distance flight, today. This hour. We need you at a research site nestled between China and Korea."

"Oh, fuck." Arcana swore, and rubbed her face, "He's waking up."

"Don't swear. I raised you to be better than that." The woman snapped, and then sighed, "He's not waking up, Arcana. He's up and moving. We are struggling to track him, and you are our best bet to find and take him down."

She laughed nervously, "Take him down? Mother, he's the god of all dragons. You're talking about hunting a creature that is strong enough to burrow into a mountain. Large enough he drinks rivers dry. Intelligent enough that everyone else knew to stay the fuck away. What were you doing?"

"We aren't talking about this on the phone. Get on a plane, today." Her mother ordered her, "Don't bring one of your pets."

Arcana rolled her eyes, "Oh yes, Mother. The expert in dragons was totally going to drag along one to meet its god and expect that she'd get any loyalty from it. I'm not an idiot. Notify the airport, I'll be there."

Kitty put her arms around her and nuzzled her neck gently. She rolled her eyes and shrugged her off, "But uh... Tell them to expect two."

She hung up rudely, and turned to kiss her, "Yes, I like you, too. But... So you know how I said my mother is a witch?"

"Sounds like you've got work. I'd be a drag." Kitty shrugged.

Arcana winced, "I want you to come. At least then I have someone to hug when it all goes to shit and I have to kill the dragon. Which it sounds like it might have already."

"Another out of control? Ain't it going to cause way much damage before you even get where we're goin'?" Kitty said sensibly.

She nodded, "Yes, but this isn't... What you saw was a baby heraclaide. This time around its Marduk. He's the last of his kind from what we know, and I think my mother was experimenting on him when he woke up."

"God of all dragons. Are gods really real, too? That'd be wild. Isn't your mum meant to be one? Suppose I'd be... Headed for the fiery place." Kitty frowned, and didn't seem that put out by the thought.

"Mum's just a minor goddess. She can make a city full of people bend to her will, but that's about her limit." Arcana stated, "Marduk is similar, but for dragons. They get within a few hundred kilometres and they start shaking their heads and pawing at the ground. Any closer, and they go quiet. Just start acting like ants."

Kitty winced, "And someone was fuckin' wit this thing?"

"Obviously." She said through gritted teeth, "Sorry. Um... You and I see a dragon, we see something... Fun, cute. An animal to be respected. Governments see things like Marduk and they see a weapon. One that they think they can build a harness for. Sometimes, they're right. Most times... People die."

Arcana tossed her wardrobe open, and began pulling on a tactical set of clothes. She slammed her feet into heavy boots as she tried to harden herself, to find the cold determination she would need to even think about approaching a dragon that had a wingspan that made it capable of creating fully fledged storms.

"We going into a kaiju fight, princess?"

She paused and smiled nervously, "Uh... I guess? I mean, you're going to be at a hotel. I like you. That doesn't mean you get to try and ride Marduk. That's my job."

"You're going to try and ride the fuckin' god of all dragons!?" Kitty exploded, "I know you wild, girl, but what the fuck?"

Arcana turned around with a nervous smile, "There's no one else who can. This is what I do."

"You take on the biggest and baddest?"

She shrugged, "We'll worry about it when I find out what Mum did to make him wake up from a thousand year nap. Get dressed already, we need to get to the airport. And I can't risk letting any my dragons out of the cages if he's out there. Need your bike."

Kitty sprang to her feet, "Awesome. Where are we going?"

"China." Arcana shrugged.

---

Kitty half expected to be arrested when two military types came sprinting into the airport terminal to grab her and Arcana. They turned and escorted her at a run onto the tarmac and towards some sleek plane that looked like it was supposed to be a luxury.

Before they had even closed the door it had started taxiing down the runway. She was beginning to feel like this wasn't just a little crisis. The army dudes shoved her into a seat, and then her head was jerked back violently as the plane hit the air.

Arcana smiled at her, a hand closing around hers, "Concord. Hypersonic flight for the rich and famous, before they screwed it up."

The rumbling boom came out behind them with a crash of awe-inducing noise and her face split into a massive grin, "Fuck yeah. Did we just? Fuck yeah."

"We'll be there in two hours and twenty minutes, ma'am." One of the soldiers reported, and laid down a file in Arcana's lap, "This is what we have so far on the incident. Excuse me, I need to check in with my commander."

Arcana waved him to go away, as Kitty stood up slowly to walk over and stare out of one of the windows. It didn't feel like she was going that fast from up here. Like she was riding down a highway, world drifting by her.

She poked around the plane for a bit. It wasn't that big, and it was barely furnished. The other army dude just seemed to be grimly waiting for Arcana to finish reading stuff that Kitty wouldn't understand.

She was just along for the ride, this time.

Kitty walked up to the dude and shoved him a little to get his attention. He looked up at her with irritation, and she shot him back a sneer, and then nodded, "You been on a dragon hunt before?"

"You're mundane, so I'll be nice. Shut up, and sit your ass down."

She sneered at him, "Not good enough for you? Not tough enough?"

"Kitty. Not now." Arcana said with irritation, and turned over another page in the file she was reading over.

She glared at the woman, but walked over and knelt on the row of seats in front of her. Kitty dropped her head into her hands and looked at the concern on that pretty face. The way the eyes kept seemingly flickering between those of a killer, and those of a stressed out girl.

It was annoying, feeling useless like this.

If she didn't like Arcana so much, she never would have agreed to tag along on this magic adventure, or whatever the fuck it was.

The blue-eyed woman closed her file slowly, and looked over at the soldier. "Now, before you call Kitty weak again, jerk, there's one thing about her you should know. How long did they say you carried the managuise again?"

Kitty shrugged, "Is it really that big a deal? I don't feel much different."

"It is. Tell him, and watch the fucker cower." She glared at the soldier with a deep-seated hatred that made up for telling Kitty to back off.

She looked over at him and shrugged, "Somethin' like seven years?"

"A managuise? Nah." The soldier laughed, "Must have been something more like a -"

"I killed it." Arcana interrupted him.

The man suddenly sat up straighter, and stared at Kitty with something a lot less like the respect she was used to beating into people and a lot more like awe.

She'd seen hero worship before, of course. There was always a lot of that in groups like her father's. People who idolised the strong and somehow thought of them as these perfect things worth more than anyone else. She detested it.

Kitty sneered, "Don't look at me, if you're going to look at me like that, shitheel."

"Get used to it." Arcana yawned, and turned to lie across the row of seats. "I'm going to get some sleep before we land. Try not to cause any trouble, 'kay?"

She smiled at the woman, and then her face fell again, "What do you mean by `get used to it', exactly?"

"Managuise kill. Suck the joy out of the host. Everything they touch turns to shit." The soldier said, "Most people are out in a week or two. Never heard of anyone lasting longer than a month without sucking on a pistol."

Kitty frowned and shrugged, uncertain of herself. She really didn't feel that different, now.

A little bit lighter, and maybe a tad fixated on seeing Arcana naked again. Most other boyfriends, and girlfriends for that matter, she could barely connect with. Sex ended up feeling like a chore in a day or two.

With her, she didn't even have to try. The two of them fell into sync instantly, whether it was laughing over food or making the other one beg for more.

Maybe this was what it was like to live without bad luck, or maybe the universe was trying to balance out seven years of shitting on her.

Kitty didn't much care, didn't seem to effect her either way.

It did seem to make people stare, and that she hated.

Was it really that big a deal she hadn't slit her own throat? Plenty of people learned to deal with depression in their own way. Learned to stand up and fight for themselves, even when they couldn't care less.

Then there were people like Arcana, who could smile and grin even when everything was going wrong. No. Not just that. When the world blew up like a fireball in front of her, Arcana grinned and walked into the flames.

And that... Made Kitty think about waking her up with a kiss.

If she hadn't said something about a god of dragons, then she probably would have done it.

Instead she just watched the woman sleep, smiling.

The first soldier came back, and saw Arcana and went to wake her. Kitty stepped in front of him, leaning her head back and sneering. The man looked at her blankly, "Mundane, get out of my way."

"Corporal. Don't."

He looked at his counterpart, "Huh?"

"She carried a managuise for... I didn't believe it. Arcana said she killed the thing, she'd know." The soldier shook his head.

The corporal smiled at Kitty, "Got a managuise pulled out of you. That why you're acting all confident? Feeling on top of the world? The world doesn't care. World, right now, is burning. Step aside."

"Seven years, sir."

The soldier took an awkward half-step back from her, and Kitty sneered at him, "She's sleepin'. She'll deal with your shit soon enough. Til then, I'm the one dealin'. Clear?"

"Cute. Not asleep." Arcana yawned and sat up, "What's the news from China?"

"Markduk has been spotted over the water headed for Japan. We're diverting to Akihabira." The soldier replied.

Kitty dropped onto the seat beside Arcana, and swung an arm round her shoulders. She yawned and looked up at the soldier, waiting for her girlfriend to make her decision.

Arcana laughed and kissed her cheek, "You didn't even think before trying to protect me, did you? Adorable. Really. But when we get to Japan, try and do what you're told, would you?"

"Do you not know me, yet?"

The woman giggled, "I do, I really do. But... I have a dragon to tame. I don't want to be worrying about the untameable girl I brought with me."

"Mmm." Kitty smiled, "Callin' me a dragon. I downright love that. I'll behave, not like I want the Yakuza up in my face. That'd get dad callin' me, beggin' me to be his heir and shit all over again."

Arcana lay down again, into her lap. Kitty didn't quite know how to handle this. She'd seen it in movies, but never had it actually happen to her before.

She was meant to pat her head or something, wasn't she?

"Ma'am, one question." The corporal stated, "How can a mundane hold off a spirit for seven years? It doesn't make sense to me. A wizard's will can bend reality, and they barely manage weeks."

Arcana snuggled in, "That's so simple, its stupid. Wizards' will bends. Her will doesn't. Never breaks, never falters."

Kitty gave a small smile, "Ya insultin' me? Or complimentin'?"

"Both?" Arcana yawned. "'Nuf talking. Sleep."

---

"Poke!"

Rin's teeth snapped at the hand that dared to disturb her slumber. She opened one eye blearily and groaned and rolled over, "Fuuuuuck. You actually exist. God, damn it."

"You're going to be late if you don't get up. I ironed your uniform for you. I've also got some more pancakes going in the kitchen. Don't take too long or I'll eat them all myself." The witch giggled and skipped away.

Rin slammed a pillow over her head, mumbling and groaning to herself. Of course the damn thing was a morning person. Everything about Violet was irritating.

She slid her way out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen, yawning and stretching and walking into the corners of every wall with a dull thud. She flinched at the aggressive light in the kitchen, before falling onto her couch nearby. "Five... Minutes..."

"Coffee."

Rin rolled over painfully and sat up, taking the warm cup before suddenly waking up. She looked from the cup to where Violet was still standing in the kitchen and back, "Still trying to convince me that you're magic, then."

"Still trying to convince yourself magic doesn't exist, then." Violet retorted.

She sipped at the warm liquid, and felt shock hit her. It wasn't the cheap and bitter taste she was used to. This smoothness could only be achieved by a practised hand, and beans that were worth more than she could afford to pay.

Maybe having someone who ran a cafe around wouldn't be so bad. Every cloud and all that.

Rin was humming to herself contentedly, when she glanced at her clock and had a heart attack. "Oh hell. I overslept! Why didn't my alarm go off?"

"Turned it off. And sit down. You haven't had your pancakes yet."

Rin snarled, "It takes me a half hour to get to work! I don't have the time, because of you."

"Settle, petal." The witch said condescendingly, "I'll get you there in time. And then we'll see who thinks magic isn't real anymore. I brought my port stones with me after I finished setting up this morning."

She glared, and shook her head, "Setting up? What trap am I going to spring?"

"No, my cafe. You're not the only one with work." Violet replied stiffly, "I just popped there and back whilst you were sleeping. The port stones make it easier."

Rin was still panicking about being late, but if these were anywhere as good as the last lot, then the pancakes might be worth it. So she settled as the witch insisted on pouring the syrup, and then snagged her fork before Violet could try and feed her again. "Why do you do that? Kinda weird that you act all romantic on me. You know that, right?"

"Is it? How?" Violet asked in confusion.

Rin rolled her eyes, "Strangers. Remember? Even if you are pampering me for non-obvious reasons. Also, before you get your hopes up, I've never once been attracted to women."

"Neither have I." Violet shrugged, "I just like making you smile. Is that really such a terrible thing? It isn't like I'm trying to see you naked."

She rubbed her temples, "You are... So... Confusing."

"I'm a witch."

Rin sighed heavily, "Yeah, that'd be your excuse for anything and everything."

"Oh good, you're beginning to get it." Violet grinned at her, and wiped at her mouth gently with a napkin, "You made short work of those. Well, ready to do your first port?"

Rin shrugged, "This meant to make me believe in magic?"

Violet pulled her to her feet, holding her hand in one, whilst she stretched out her arm with the other and dangled a chain of what looked like cubic magnetic stones of some kind. "What was the name of your workplace again?"

"Never told you." Rin replied, gritting her teeth.

The witch nodded as if she'd understood something, "Winds of change, resonate! Make the two in one, and one in three. Break and bind, and take us to NeighbourTel!"

Rin regretted devouring her breakfast, falling to her knees as she gagged and tasted maple syrup coming back up. She tried, struggling not to let herself throw up.

Violet patted her gently on the head, "Whoops. Might have forgotten to warn you about that. First jumps can be a bit whack, but you get used to it. Well, I'm off to work, too. Someone has to open the door. How long do you get for your lunch break?"

"No... Food." Rin groaned and pushed herself upright, rubbing the side of her head and looking around in confusion. She really did seem to be standing outside the concrete blob that was her workplace.

Even if Violet had changed the clocks and drugged her, it shouldn't be possible. The sun hadn't moved in the sky, at all.

She looked over at the witch who was smiling happily at her, and waiting for an answer. She sighed heavily and shook her head, "Fine. You win. Magic might exist. Motherfuck... Uh... I get fifteen minutes. But I usually skip it."

"That doesn't sound legal."

Rin shrugged, "Probably isn't. But it pays well enough. Not like there's a lot of work going around."

"Fine. I'll bring you a tea when you take your break. 'Kay?" Violet smiled happily at her, "Don't work too hard, now. Stay cute."