Chapter Text
You are [YOUR NAME], or [Y/N] for short. You are FEMALE. You WERE NOT assigned this gender at birth. Thanks to supportive parents and the miracles of modern medicine, this was A MINOR INCONVENIENCE. You weren't planning on having kids anyway.
You work at A CRAPPY RETAIL JOB, and use the money to pay for COMMUNITY COLLEGE COURSES. Good thing your parents are letting you live with them! Being a millennial sucks, even in states with free health care.
Your favourite thing in the world is WRITING FANFICTION. You have TWELVE published stories for PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR LUNA, and ONE published story for CAMP PINING HEARTS. You wrote it for someone called OceanGem in a Secret Santa exchange, and became fast friends with her afterwards. Who knew turning 80's French-Canadian stereotypes into magical girls would be so much fun?
Your STAR JEWEL is shining brightly, in its usual place on a chain around your neck.
You are open-minded, but you really prefer GIRLS.
You DO NOT have any transformations.
You DO NOT have a familiar.
You are A VIRGIN.
* * *
Right now you are at your parents' house in the state of NEW ENGLAND, up in your room on the second story. It has windows on two sides, and they both rattle when it gets windy outside, like now. You have a really good view of the Commons, though, surrounded by older colonial-style houses and overlooked by hills covered in trees with red and gold leaves.
You look out the window from your computer desk, and try to imagine a scene more New England-y than this. Nope. It just isn't possible.
Your laptop pings. OceanGem replied to you in chat.
OceanGem [17:52:03]: I'm just saying, Rebellion was underrated. Homura didn't betray anyone, she was saving Madoka from an inescapable fate.
OceanGem [17:52:25]: #HomuraDidNothingWrong
You're glad that you got your friend into magical girl anime, but she has some CONTROVERSIAL VIEWS.
[Y/N] [17:53:15]: Homura had a very evil smile on her face for someone who wasn't betraying anyone ^^;
OceanGem [17:54:18]: Where's the betrayal? Her friend was trapped. She saved her. End of story.
You hear the door creak open slightly, behind you, so you make a spot near your laptop for your brother's cat. He loves sleeping next to the fan.
OceanGem [17:55:12]: Being a fundamental force of the universe has to be like being a chair, or a mirror. You don't have any free will, you just are.
[Y/N] [17:55:48]: I suppose if you look at it that wlhjsafd
"Excuse me?" an unfamiliar voice just asked. You turned to look, and there was a FLUFFY WHITE FOX standing right next to your chair. Not only did you fumble the keyboard when you saw it, you also jumped up on your chair and made the girliest squeak you have ever made in your life.
OceanGem [17:56:33]: Cat-like typing detected.
Your friend thinks your brother's cat jumped on the keyboard. (He has been known to do this before.) She doesn't realize the truth: That your brothers must have left the back door open, and let a WILD ANIMAL into the house. You eye the fox warily, keeping one hand on your desk to steady your swivel chair, and hope that it doesn't have rabies.
"Excuse me," the fox repeats, still looking up at you. It's very polite for a fox.
"B-buh?" you respond. You appear to be unable to form actual words.
"Good, you can hear me." The fox talks without moving its mouth. You are pretty sure its voice is coming from your Star Jewel. It sounds feminine, but you haven't asked the fox for its pronouns, so maybe you'd better use neutral ones. It? They? It seems rude to use 'it' for someone who can talk, unless they specifically ask for it. 'They' it is.
[Y/N] [17:57:58]: THERE IS A FOX IN HERE AND THEYRE TLAKING TO ME
You're perched on your chair and hunched over the desk, typing with both hands and using your knees to steady yourself. No way are you letting your feet dangle near this strange creature.
OceanGem [17:58:32]: Did you ask them what they want?
"Who are you?!" you blurt out, staring down at the fox. "What do you want? Why are you here? What are you going to do to me?!"
The fox answers your questions in sequence. "I am the fox spirit who lives in your Gem. I want nothing more than to sleep inside it, and listen to the rain and snow outside your window. A corrupted Jasper is making its way towards your village, and will cause great harm to the forest and creatures around you. I would like for you to fuse with me, and become a magical girl."
You aren't sure how to process that.
You slump back down into your chair, your feet hitting the wooden floor with a THUMP, and type a reply to your friend.
[Y/N] [18:01:03]: They want me to 'fuse' with them
OceanGem [18:01:10]: NO
OceanGem [18:01:13]: NO WAY
OceanGem [18:01:18]: DON'T DO IT
The fox swishes their tail, and looks up at you expectantly.
[Y/N] [18:01:45]: They say I'll become a magical girl
OceanGem [18:02:37]: THAT'S EVEN WORSE. Don't make any contracts, don't do anything they tell you, don't listen to anything they say.
The fox remains silent while you talk to your friend. They sure are polite. Assuming they aren't actually an INCUBATOR who wants to trap you in a SOUL GEM and harness your DESPAIR to reverse entropy.
"Uhh ... " You flounder for something to say, while breaking into a sweat. "Your name isn't 'Kyubey,' is it?"
"It is not."
"What is your name?"
"I don't have one."
"Um, what are your pronouns?" You might as well ask.
"Female pronouns are fine." She nods respectfully to you.
[Y/N] [18:03:45]: She says there's a 'Jasper' coming this way
OceanGem [18:04:02]: Oh.
OceanGem [18:04:03]: My.
OceanGem [18:04:05]: STARS.
Apparently your friend knows what Jaspers are. Besides a kind of rock, and a town in BRITISH ALBERTA.
OceanGem [18:04:55]: Tell me where you are. I'll get you to safety. Just give me a minute to get there.
[Y/N] [18:05:15]: Umm, can you actually do that o-o;
OceanGem [18:05:34]: Yes! Just tell me where you are!
You hear crashing somewhere in the distance, carried to you on the wind, like trees falling over and splintering. On the hills past your window, a path carves through the forest, heading your way.
You give your friend your address.
OceanGem [18:07:15]: Okay, I looked it up in Maps. I don't have a phone, so I'm going to be AFK until I get there. Just meet me in that grassy area in front of your house.
Your friend wants to pick you up in the COMMONS. That's a New England-y word for PARK.
OceanGem [18:07:23]: I'll be five minutes.
[Y/N] [18:07:44]: I thought you lived in Delmarva D:
OceanGem has left the chat (disconnected)
You sit there for a moment, thinking about what your friend said. Perhaps she was taking a FALL FOLIAGE tour, and by sheer coincidence was only a few miles away. Perhaps she has WONDROUS WOMAN's invisible jet, and can fly anywhere in the world in a heartbeat! You think you could forgive her for not mentioning an invisible jet, much more easily than if she'd been visiting New England and hadn't told you so that you could go out for coffee together.
On the other hand ... you glance down at the fox, who hasn't said anything and is still looking up at you with wide, hopeful eyes.
What if your friend is a real, live MAGICAL GIRL? With a Gem that grants her amazing powers, a cute pet that follows her everywhere, and a wacky friend like Lucca from CHRONOLOGY TRIGGER? What if she's doing her TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE right now, and is going to fly here on magical wings and save you with the power of love and justice?!
You try to imagine that, then shake your head. Your friend wouldn't be that kind of magical girl. She'd be the dark and brooding type, like HOMURA AKEMI or FATE TESTAROSSA. She might even be a redeemed villain, who threatened the world with her powers but was befriended by someone like NANOHA.
If she really is like Homura, though ... does that mean she knows something about this fox that you don't? Is she trying to save you from an eternity of despair? To prevent you from becoming a magical girl, so that you don't end up like her?
The thought of being the Madoka to your friend's Homura makes you feel warm inside. You're pretty sure you are blushing.
You hear a SAVAGE ROAR, echoing off of the hills, that shakes the windows and floorboards. A second later your brother's cat thump-thump-thumps up the stairs at lightspeed and runs into your room so he can hide under the covers, only to skid on the floor and run back out when he sees the fox.
Seeing how scared he is fills you with DETERMINATION. You close up your laptop, toss it in your handbag, and swing it over your shoulder, before pocketing your wallet and phone with shaky hands and tiptoeing around the strange fox. The rest of your family is out right now, but you need to get the cat carrier ready so that both of you can escape.