Chapter Text
"Get back here, scum!"
The deities above so love their fair share of drama, you thought as you dashed inside the town's old library. A shout followed you through the doors to the building as you dashed away victoriously, knowing instantly that you'd won the race.
The guard that had been chasing you outside would be entirely reluctant to enter the library, and you were no stranger as to why. Rumors that the library was haunted seemed to hang around the building like the permanent mist that crept through its overgrown gardens, present even on the sunniest of days. Residents forever seemed wary of the place, whispering words of warning to each other as if the old building would hear them should they speak any louder.
You, however, paid the strange gossip no mind. The intimidating exterior was limited to the outside— a regular like you knew better than to judge a book by its cover, considering the building was indeed a library.
A blue fairy gave you a curious look as you slid around one of the shelves and collapsed to the floor, grasping at the satchel at your side. You huffed happily, wiping the sweat from your face and giving her a wink as you patted your loot. You'd have to thank the gods for an empty library today, you supposed.
Hardly anyone visited the place nowadays, outside of scholars and the occasional visiting mage. You could perhaps boast you were the only person that could expertly maneuver around the shelves— not to mention the fact that you were already quite friendly with the odd assortment of stray familiars that seemed to haunt the place.
One of them was padding over to you currently, his black fur shining in the dim mage-light that floated through the enclosed space. A small cat with crystalline purple eyes and a cheeky attitude, the stray had become a favorite pal of yours while perusing the dark stacks of books for anything you could find on herbology and alchemy.
“Good to see you today,” you murmured as the magical creature bumped his head into your hand. “How’re things with this old place, hm, Paige?”
You weren’t technically supposed to name stray familiars, as it was considered rude to their former or future owners, but you knew all too well that strays had hard times finding new mages to bond with. Most magic-users wanted to summon their own familiars, which was a typical show of strength. Others that abandoned the creatures were obviously on your bad side, so you could care less about disrespecting the previous name they’d given to the familiars.
The cat couldn’t answer you in full, since he wasn’t your familiar, but you could understand him well enough. Poppy and Thyme, the air around him seemed to whisper, and you resisted the urge to smile.
Those two parakeets were birds of a feather, always making trouble for the magistrates that visited on the weekends. In fact, you could hear the faint sound of them calling to one another somewhere across the library. Another pair of abandoned familiars that you had named.
You closed your eyes for a moment, rubbing the cat’s head as you rested in the comfortingly dim hallways of the library. The sound of rain was just barely reaching you through the walls of the library, and even though it had been sunny earlier, you couldn’t be surprised. After all, you’d been able to smell the damp weather on the wind this morning as you’d set out to gather ingredients.
It was a bad bit of luck that you’d run into that knight at the wizarding academy’s gates, since it meant you’d had to run before you could finish collecting the rare feverfew flowers that grew in its decorative gardens. It was a waste that such an important herb was just sitting there, unable to be used for good.
The security of the academy had probably grown used to you sneaking around the outer wall to steal herbs by now, as it wasn’t an isolated event that you had nicked flowers from them today. You enjoyed making a nuisance of yourself to the high-and-mighty mages that liked to hoard their money and resources for themselves.
Unfortunately, that had also meant that the moment you’d laid your hands on the flowers, you’d been spotted by a blue-haired knight that was already familiar with your thieving face. He’d chased you for a great deal of time; you’d be damned if the man didn’t have incredible stamina.
It was only luck that allowed you to escape him by disappearing into the library. If he’d followed you in, you’d have been caught immediately since you had collapsed just inside the doorway with exhaustion.
You didn’t expect him to truly chase you all the way to one of the satellite villages, to be honest. Most guards at the school figured it wasn’t worth it to expend so much effort to catch a petty flower thief; besides, if they caught you, what would they do? Arrest you? The thought was laughable. The most you would get would be a slap on the wrist for tampering with the pretty decorations on the outside of the prestigious academy.
You peered into the pouch at your side as the blue fairy began to hover over Paige, dangling her tail in his face and darting away when he batted at it. There were only a few stalks of the feverfew flower in there, as well as a collection of common wild herbs you’d picked up on your way through the forest that surrounded the wizard academy.
Perhaps you’d plant this batch so that you could keep it in your own garden and not have to make mad dashes to odd places.
Another reason the guard had probably been so averse to chasing you inside would be the largely negative stigma surrounding the library, despite its large nature and wide range of useful books. It had to do with the mage responsible for the place.
You’d been thus far exempt from meeting the cynical owner, but you’d heard enough to at least know what the hesitation was about. The man was notoriously rude to others, going so far as to ban anyone he didn’t like from his library.
That wasn’t so much why people avoided him, however; a rude personality was easy enough to overlook. Instead, it was the fact that he was a warlock, you had heard. Plenty of the residents of the town were loath to trust a warlock in any form, due to the dark nature of their power. Girls tittered that he would use his dark powers to coerce them into devilish acts, men swore that he was trying to turn the village into mindless minions.
Personally, you couldn’t care less. Dark powers or light, any mage was just as capable of dumbassery as you were. You didn’t mind the man, so long as he kept his infamous rudeness away from yourself. If someone allowed stray familiars a safe place to stay, you couldn’t find them to be that terrible, evil roots be damned.
Paige purred as you scratched under his ear, rolling onto his back to reveal a soft underbelly to you. The blue fairy you’d shooed earlier had given up teasing him, instead giggling and chasing the cat’s tail as you rubbed the fur on his fuzzy chest.
You gladly took the chance to attack his tummy with pats and tickles, grinning as the purring became louder. How anyone could have ever severed the bond with this familiar left you bemused.
You closed your eyes again, sighing contentedly as the dim light and isolation of the library allowed you to rest. The smell of paper and dirt filled your nose, as well as the undertones of lavender, a plant you used often in your own tea to fight insomnia.
Perhaps it was okay for you to rest here for a bit, with the friendly cat, before you braved the wet weather outside to run back to your home. Just for a little longer.
You didn’t get the chance to before more trouble pursued you.
“I certainly hope you’re not trying to seduce my familiar for nefarious reasons.” A bored, deep voice startled you and the cat out of your relaxation, and both of you blinked up at the man now towering over you.
He was the tall, lean type of man you expected to see in a library, with dark bags under his lavender eyes. His robes weren’t the usual pristine fabric of wealth that you saw on the spellcasters that normally visited, but rather casual clothes that seemed deliciously comfy. Purple hair framed his handsome face as he stared down at you expectantly.
You looked down at Paige, then at the man again, noticing that their eyes seemed to be twin sets.
“You bastard, Paige. I thought you were a stray! ”
“... What did you just call him?”
Ah. You froze, looking between man and cat as both stared at you with those bewitching purple eyes. Paige- er, the man’s familiar, stood up and shook himself off before walking over to the newcomer and climbing up his back to rest on his shoulder.
You rubbed the back of your head sheepishly, knowing you’d been caught naming a mage’s familiar. “Paige… uh, what I’ve taken to calling him when I visit the library. Sorry. I thought he was a stray familiar. Apparently not.”
The man’s eyes were intense, latching onto yours with a sort of focus that refused to let you pull away, so instead, you stared back, enamored by the strange aura surrounding him. He crouched down to your level, and you scrambled to sit up straighter as he brought his face down to your height.
“How incredibly conceited of you,” he said disapprovingly. “To name a familiar of any type. Were you foolish enough to think you owned him?”
You blanched at his harsh words, instantly recoiling from the assumption he seemed to have already placed on you. “Never,” you insisted. “I just… he just plopped himself down on one of the books I was reading one day. I meant to tell him to get off the page but, uh, he seemed to like the name, so…” Your cheeks were starting to burn in embarrassment as you struggled to redeem yourself.
He gazed at you for a moment more, peering out from under his long lashes as he analyzed you in all your exhausted, ruffled glory. You probably had grass stains all over your clothes.
“So you’re the visitor that’s been making my cat believe he has two names.” He frowned at you in contemplation.
You gave him a sheepish smile. “I won’t call him that anymore… though I would like his real name. Uh, you know, so I don’t have to call him Paige anymore.”
The man stared at you, his proud figure looming over yours in such a way that the blue magelight floating behind him encircled his head in a halo of blue, the color mixing with his violet hair in a way that made you want to reach out and touch it.
“Calcifer,” he said. “His name is Calcifer.”
You breathed a sigh of relief at his answer. You hadn’t really been expecting the stranger to tell you, since he didn’t owe you anything, but a proper name for the cat was enough to make you smile. You’d been officially introduced to the furry feline you’d come to associate as a friend within the library.
Pushing to your feet, you bowed and dipped your head politely. “I’m terribly sorry for being so rude to you and your familiar, uh…”
“Shinsou.” The man introduced himself, seemingly having already lost interest as he turned to the shelves in front of him.
“Right. Sorry, Mr. Shinsou. I’ll just go back to…” You glanced around you frantically, realizing you had just been lying on the floor with no intention of looking at books. You picked up a random book from next to you. “... Quantum physics for morons.” You winced. Very convincing. Turning to flee the opposite way down the aisle of books, you were stopped by the stranger’s voice.
“I guess you really are rude, after all,” he drawled, still not looking at you. “Hearing my name and not returning yours.”
Crap! Where were your manners? In your flustered panic, you’d totally forgotten to treat the man with any morsel of respect. You told him your name, offering a polite smile and another shallow bow. Your forehead bonked against the shelf next to you and you winced, stumbling back.
“Ah, crap, not again,” you muttered as you turned away in embarrassment. You really hoped the man hadn’t seen that. No dice. You heard his quiet laughter as you retreated deeper into the library, where the floating orbs of light grew dimmer and more plants seemed to grow out of the woodworks. A perfect place for you to sulk and pretend the entire encounter didn’t just happen.
You hurried past a mouse sorting through nuts on one of the shelves. Another stray familiar you’d found while perusing the stacks, who you’d taken to calling Mustard. You gave him a small wave as you turned down the aisle to hide.
How embarrassing. You weren’t sure if you’d ever met Shinsou before, but something about his face was vaguely familiar, besides the eyes he shared with his familiar. Perhaps you’d seen him in the library before, which would make sense if his familiar was often found here as well.
A small meow drew your attention to the entrance of the row of shelves you were in.
“Pai- uh, Calcifer?” you asked. “What are you doing back here?” You peeked around the corner to see if his master had followed. To your relief, he hadn’t.
The black cat pawed your leg before leaping up onto the sturdy overalls you were wearing, climbing up your back and perching precariously on your shoulders as you strained your neck to give him a look. Sorry, his aura seemed to whisper. Sorry about him.
You frowned at Calcifer. “You got me into a boatload of trouble today, mister. Why didn’t you ever tell me you had a master?”
If a cat could shrug, you were sure Calcifer would have done so just then. Instead, he settled down, wrapping his tail around your neck and closing his eyes.
“Hmph. No catnip for you today.” You turned to the shelves instead, knowing that the titles back here were actually ones that you were interested in. Most books on alchemy got pushed to the back of the library. The practice wasn't banned like in other countries, but rather uncommon and frowned upon here. Most only visited your tiny shop on the edge of the woods for pretty flowers or medicinal herbs, but every once in a while someone would grow desperate enough to beg for your alchemical help.
Your fingertips danced over the spines of the books as you muttered out the names, pulling titles and categorizing what each book would contain. Your current project demanded you review your knowledge of the chemical makeup of certain plants and their natural auras. It was one that you’d been working on the side for, so you’d exhausted almost all your resources researching it.
You landed on a specific one; Spagyrics: A comprehensive alchemical guide to plant extractions and their health benefits. Hm. Close enough for what you had in mind. You pulled it out and flipped through the first few pages, noticing notes written neatly into the margins with ink. It seemed someone else had found this book before you. The name written on the front page was “ Shouta” in curly, looping letters that seemed perfectly spaced out .
The trek back to the front of the library was long. Calcifer insisted on riding your shoulders the entire time, nipping at your fingers when you tried to shoo him away. You kept checking around corners, making sure you didn’t run into his master. It would be pretty awkward to run into the man, considering you had his cat wrapped around your neck like a living, lazy scarf. His familiar.
The desk at the front was vacant as per usual. There was technically supposed to be a clerk that would log your name and the book you were meant to take home with you, then file away the card for later, but nobody ever sat behind the majestic desk. You took the liberty upon yourself, writing your name and the book and tucking the slip into the slot for the day. No other papers were in the little organization system, but you felt better about putting it in there, even if nobody else cared to.
Paige, no, Calcifer was reluctant to let you leave in the rain, hissing and scratching at your head when you approached the exit, so you slumped into one of the comfy chairs in the main space instead, tugging the purring familiar into your lap as you stared up at the ceiling.
The dome-shaped roof was one of your favorite parts of the building. The library always had a cozy feeling to it, and the claustrophobic way the tall shelves were placed together always made you feel like you were in a small space, but sitting in the main area always reminded you just how truly large the library was.
The dome peaked above you, soaring to a height of at least forty meters before curving back down to the regular ceiling, which stood at a still very impressive height of somewhere just under thirty meters. The light that filtered in through the darkened panes of the glass dome was soft and inviting, casting blue light down on you no matter the time of day. It contrasted nicely with the warm yellow glow of the lamps beside you.
Plants also seemed at home inside of the sleepy building, crawling along the windows and down the wooden shelves, sticking their vines in every open crevice. The result left the library looking like the inside of a plant shop, but it wasn’t like you minded.
Ladders and orbs of magelight shifted between the tall shelves, moving due to magic far beyond your understanding. It was gorgeous to you, the silent mechanisms of the living library, in all its slightly messy glory. It looked as if no living, breathing human worked here, instead leaving all the work to some invisible being that moved all the books through the building. Large stacks of tomes piled up next to aisles, and the occasional book flew off of the top to find its home on a shelf.
Fairies tittered as they weaved between the pillars surrounding the dome for support, letting out mischievous giggles when they drew close to the rare stray familiar. They were hardly the evil, spiteful little characters that the public normally made them out to be. You’d actually easily made friends with most of them when you’d first started to visit, and the playful beings kept the rough play to a minimum around you, though there was the occasional bout of hair-pulling.
Nobody else seemed to be combing through the piles of books today, you noticed as you started to pull out your borrowed book. It seemed like it was just you and the cold Shinsou that were the only patrons, which didn’t surprise you. There weren’t often many people inside the beautiful place, just you and one or two other visitors that entered and left quickly, hardly taking the time to admire their surroundings like you liked to do.
The lamp beside you illuminated the pages as you thumbed through the index and table of contents. Near the back of the book seemed to be a study on the breeding cycle and genetic makeup of exotic plants, which interested you. If you could use breeding and genes to your advantage by hacking their natural programming, perhaps you could… no, no, that wouldn’t work. You muttered to yourself as you started reading through the pages of small text.
To your surprise, the notes had continued through every page of the book, all the way to the back. The neat handwriting laid down ideas similar to yours, explaining the thought process behind each and drawing conclusions from the text you hadn’t even noticed before. This ‘Shouta’ was quickly turning into your friend the more you read their ideas.
Hours passed. You hadn’t meant to spend quite so long pouring over the contents of Spagyrics , but the concepts that had been laid out piqued your curiosity. When you finally pulled yourself out of the textbook, your legs were stiff under the weight of the sleeping familiar.
“Calcifer,” you murmured, poking his shoulder. “Wake up, buddy. I’ve got to go home.” The rain had let up outside, and you could finally make the trek back to your little cottage.
The cheeky cat opened one eye to stare at you lazily before closing it again and turning his back on you, snuggling further into your thighs. You groaned.
“You butt. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You began to roll his body off of your legs as you struggled to stand up, whining at the pins and needles that spread as feeling in your feet slowly came back. The cat squawked in surprise and quickly turned to latch onto your arm with his claws and teeth, making you wince. “Not this again, little man. I swear one day I’m gonna wrap you up with string and a pretty ribbon on your cute little head.”
You gingerly tried pulling his teeth out of your arm, careful not to hurt him, but the familiar’s jaw prevailed. Sighing in defeat, you slumped back and allowed the cat to go back to napping on your lap. Where was his master now? You could use the help of someone that knew how to talk to the animal and tell him to get the hell off before you took away catnip privileges for a week.
Speak of the devil, and the devil will come, you guess. A head of messy indigo hair peeked out from behind one of the shelves as Shinsou stepped out into the rest of the library, carrying a stack of thick books. He paid you no attention as he carried the knowledge to the front desk, sitting behind the mahogany wood and setting them down before him. You watched in amazement as he opened one and began to write on the inside of its cover.
“Ah,” you stuttered, trying to get his attention. “Mr. Shinsou?”
Shinsou’s head turned toward you in surprise, as if he half expected you to have left by now. Well, you’d been meaning to, before his familiar decided to make you his personal napping spot.
“Do you mind telling Calcifer to get off my lap?” You pointed helplessly at the sleeping cat. “I tried to get up but, uh.” You held up your arm, which was slightly starting to bleed out of where Calcifer had accidentally bitten too hard.
The tired-looking man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Calcifer, get off the guest, please.”
Calcifer, to your dismay, didn’t budge. The bastard merely yawned and rolled onto his side, kneading his paws into the flesh of your knees.
Shinsou rubbed his face in exhaustion. “You’ll have to bear with it a little longer before I finish cataloging these books and can convince him to get off of you.”
Your jaw dropped. Calcifer had his master absolutely whipped! The man showed no signs of the controlling relationship most mages had with their familial animals, instead talking to and treating the cat as a friend. No wonder the cat had seemed like a stray to you initially. He had the free spirit of one, that was for sure. You guess it made sense now why the cat was free to roam the inside of the library rather than staying by Shinsou’s side constantly.
Well, you could hardly protest that. You merely sighed and resigned yourself to watching Poppy and Thyme chase each other among the floating lights and books, chattering up a storm. A soft twitch of whiskers against the skin of your neck told you that the mouse from earlier, Mustard, had found you, and was now curling up on your shoulder. You closed your eyes in defeat.
A few minutes passed in that manner before you heard snickering coming from in front of you. You opened your eyes to see Shinsou standing there, arms crossed as he smirked down at you.
“I see it’s not just my familiar you’ve managed to steal away,” he commented.
“Oh god, please tell me these aren’t other people’s familiars too. I’d have so many apologies to hand out.”
“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “Just mine. The others are all strays.”
You sighed in relief. Mustard leaped away as Shinsou leaned in, glaring down at the still dozing cat. Calcifer peeked open an eye and stared up at him.
The two seemed to still for a moment, and you realized they must be communicating through the familial bond. To your surprise, you could almost tell what Calcifer seemed to be saying, just like whenever the air around him seemed to be whispering things.
The air murmured around him, and though you tried not to make it obvious that you were listening, the softness of the words made you almost imperceptibly lean in. Smells like… plants, he seemed to say. Like dirt. The rest was unintelligible mumbling that sounded less like a real language and more like ancient speech from the dips and lilts in the dialect.
A few more seconds passed before the cat leaped off of you with a yowl, launching himself into Shinsou’s arms. You winced as his paws dug into your stomach, drawing a small ‘ oof’ of surprise from your lips.
“It seems we came to an agreement,” the man observed. “You can leave now if you’ve checked out the book.”
You laughed. “I have. You sound like you own the place when you say that,” you chuckled playfully. You fully expected him to joke along with you.
“I do own the library,” he deadpanned. Calcifer looked down at you now, too, two sets of crystalline eyes watching as your smile froze on your face. Oh, no.
You sighed and dropped your head in your hands. “At least let me say goodbye to all the creatures before you kick me out,” you implored him.
Shinsou’s eyes narrowed as he furrowed his brow in confusion. “Who says I’m kicking you out?” he asked.
“Well, I heard you, er, kick people out you don’t like? I figured I’m not really that high up on your list since I was going around calling your familiar an alternate name, which is, uh, you know, kind of offensive to the both of you.” You blubbered on, not noticing the man rolling his eyes.
“You’ve hardly disrespected me, so relax. I don’t dislike you. Calcifer didn’t mind the name, so there was no harm done.”
You looked up in surprise. “You mean it?”
“I won’t if you keep asking stupid questions like that.”
Duly noted. You rose to your feet and bowed to the lavender-haired man. “Thank you, Mr. Shinsou, for saving me from your cat. And not kicking me out, I guess.” You felt Calcifer’s paw bat at your lowered head and lifted your face to wink at the familiar, who winked back.
Shinsou waved you off. “Just call me Shinsou. I don’t care for titles. Please leave.”
You nodded and quickly gathered your belongings before taking off for the entrance as the sun began to dip behind the trees in the distance. You disappeared out the door as the duo watched you with their unnaturally bright eyes.
“Didn’t even bring up the fact that I was a warlock,” Shinsou murmured in amazement. “It's hard to believe that the rumor hasn't made its way to everyone by now. Only a fool would have been so comfortable around either of us with that knowledge.”
Calcifer snuggled into Shinsou’s hands before responding. ‘The plant human knows every rumor, Hitoshi.’
The man sighed as he looked on for a second more before turning away and leading himself and the cat to a hidden door in the wall of the building. “We’ll see if your friend returns,” was all he said as he opened it and trudged up the stairs to a bedroom in the tall tower connected to the library.
You did.