[Freezair]

It had been a long week for Darcy. Much longer than usual, even.

Reports were coming in from all over Evelon of sightings of strange... creatures. Things with bodies like fire and ice, nearly unseeable except in flashes, hard to pin down in one's vision even when looking directly at them. Those who had gotten good looks at them claimed they were... foxlike, perhaps? And he did have a tiny snatch of fur to study, granted to him by, of all things, a rock star.

Some people wanted the creatures "dealt with." But Darcy wasn't that kind of a guy.

No, he was interested in their magical potential.

[Freezair]

Darcy was a familiarologist--someone who studied the magic of familiars, and who helped wizards, witches, sorcerers, and all magical sorts find those creatures who brought out the best in their magic.

He was often alone in his office. Perhaps because it often... didn't smell so good.

But these new creatures were profoundly magical. What kind of possibilities did they hold? For those struggling in magic, who did not possess an innate link to the mystical forces--might these creatures be able to help them access their hidden powers?

[Freezair]

Keia's tails dangled over the shelf above his desk and swept lazily in front of his face. She looked over her shoulder at him and gave him a "mrrp."

"Yes, I do think they have potential," he said. "Think about how adept these creatures are at hiding themselves. They're obviously powerfully magical. You've seen the energy running through this fur!" He held up the sample in one anthropomorphic claw.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, we'll just have to figure out how to befriend them!"

[Freezair]

Keia twisted herself around, arched her back, and shook out her neck. She stared intently into Darcy's eyes, as if communicating with a look. (Because she was. Though she couldn't speak, as his own familiar, she had special privileges.)

"If they were malicious, you would have let me know," Darcy said. "You would have picked it up off the fur sample and told me."

Her entire body froze except for her twitching tails. Her ears flicked as if to say, You got me there.

[Freezair]

He waggled the tuft of fur in her face for effect. "But so far, nothing in the essence of this fur suggests anything dangerous. The only thing upon it is a powerful glamour. Something that makes them hard to look at directly, and hard to make out if you DO get a good look."

Keia twisted her neck, and her ears vibrated.

"Well... the glamour is powerful, true. But it's a wild, untrained sort of power."

[Freezair]

Darcy began to pace the room.

"Think of it like this. If you found a website that required all kinds of identity-obscuring tricks to access, such as VPNs, you'd naturally suspect it of being unsavory. But if it only required you to register an account before letting you view any of its content, well, you might wonder, but you wouldn't think too ill of it.--Yes, yes, I KNOW you don't use the internet, Keia, that's not the point. What I'm trying to say is, this isn't the kind of glamour that says these creatures have something to hide. Perhaps this is a magivolutionary adaptation to protect them from predators, perhaps."

[Freezair]

Keia sat herself down on the desk--right on top of Darcy's work, as she was so fond of doing--and began licking her front paw in an especially contemplative way. Darcy stopped his pacing and listened to her in his mind as she shared her thoughts with him. His shoulders slumped, and his expression turned dolorous.

"...Keia. You know me. Finding a familiar is... it's not like going to a pet shop. You know this and I know this. It's something that only works when sorcerer and familiar are of one heart and mind. ...I couldn't make these creatures do anything they didn't want to do. And I don't plan on it, either."

[Freezair]

She stopped looking and gave him a sly, sideways look, as if to say, That's what I wanted to hear. She popped back up on her feet, tails twitching, and held up her head in that smug way only cats knew how.

Her fur prickled. A shiver of magic ran up and down her spine, making her fur stick out in a wave. There was a twinkle at the tip of her nose.

The window suddenly opened. And a pink, glimmering creature poured itself inside.

[Freezair]

Darcy gasped. "Keia! You...?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, but her mouth seemed to have the faintest hint of a feline smile.

Of course! he thought. Keia's expertise as a familiar was familiars themselves. She was highly knowledgeable about all manner of magical creatures, including many who did not make themselves known to Evelon at large. It wasn't at all shocking that she would know of these creatures, but withhold that knowledge until she was sure Darcy would do right by them. And knowing him as well as she did, and hearing him say so without a trace of duplicity--

She had decided to show him.

[Freezair]

Darcy bent down over the little glowing creature.

"H-h-hi," he said. "It's... nice to meet you. I'm Darcy. I... I help magical creatures become familiars. And I help magical scholars meet those creatures who help them access their powers. I... are you intereseteded in becoming a... would you like to... that is..."

The cloud of indistinct pinkness seemed to nod. Darcy didn't think he was doing a good job of selling himself, but maybe Keia had already told this one that he could be trusted.

The pinkness shimmered. And the creature revealed itself to him.