The Friends We Fucked Along the Way

'And there it is,' Verdant Green projected, its new voice a strange mix of helium and gravel. 'Arch-Trickster. Not bad for a day's work. You're officially on the board, mistress. And now, the fun really begins.'

The pink cloud zipped around the room, a newly empowered entity. 'So, what's it to be? Want to learn your first Cantrip? Or should we go and find some unsuspecting but delectably fertile mundanes to mess with? Maybe a hot yoga class could become a whole lot hotter huh?

Emi looked down at the Breeding Pass, then at her own reflection in the dark screen of the TV. She was no longer just Emi Watanabe, office manager. She was something else. Something more. And as she stood there, a new, dangerous, and undeniably exciting future unfolding before her, she couldn't help but feel that she had made the right choice.

"Teach me. Teach me a cantrip"

"I will of course" said Verdant “but there are some things you need to know about magic. The power of magic is not unlimited, not even for one such as yourself. It is a resource and it has a cost. Think of it like your phone battery and your data. The bigger the magic the more of the battery and data it uses. But also think of it as being like a physical workout. The more you use it the stronger you get."

Verdant Green bobbed in the air with the pleased air of a tutor about to begin a very elementary lesson.

“Now, there are ways around that. Tricks, efficiencies, borrowed currents, collective workings, standing charges, old bargains, ambient leakage, and all manner of cheerful nonsense. But the principle remains. Magic is not a miracle tap you leave running while you wander off to make tea. If you overreach, you drain yourself. If you drain yourself badly, you make mistakes. If you make mistakes in Life magic, those mistakes tend to arrive squealing, loud, and permanent.”

Emi folded her arms. “Comforting.”

“I am not here to comfort. I am here to educate. The point is, a cantrip is a very small working. Cheap, useful, repeatable. The magical equivalent of stretching, not dead lifting a small car.”

He zipped closer and tapped one invisible point in the air in front of her sternum.

“You have raw potential. Quite a lot, in fact. More than is probably good for the structural integrity of this building. But potential is sloppy. Potential is a drunk woman with a sports car. Technique is brakes. Technique is steering. Technique is knowing which wall not to drive through.”

Emi looked down at herself, then back up at the pink cloud. “You really do enjoy hearing yourself talk.”

“I enjoy being right in complete sentences,” said Verdant. “Now. In practical terms, what we need is a proper spell book.”

“A spell book,” Emi repeated. “As in an actual book.”

“Yes, an actual book, a grimoire, a tome a codex of arcane lore. Pages, binding, diagrams, margins, the occasional stain of questionable origin. I know modern people always want glowing interfaces and soul linked crystal menus, but books remain excellent. They hold notation well. They impose order on panic. Also, and this is important, I would like one of my own. A Familiar cannot live forever on instinct, charm, and scraps of ancestral nonsense. I need somewhere to keep formulae, correspondences, observations, refinements, private insults, and triumphs.”

Emi laughed in spite of herself. “Fine. Spell book. Anything else?”

“Yes,” said Verdant at once. “You young lady, and despite your dubious relationship with sexual ethics are a lady need a Custos.”

She blinked. “A what?”

“A human, male, Custos. A retainer, an assistant, a goon, a henchman. Ideally loyal, reasonably fit, not entirely stupid, and possessed of that increasingly rare quality, useful hands. Someone to carry things, stand in doorways, keep watch, anchor workings, take instruction, and in extremis stop you doing something brilliant at a catastrophically wrong moment.”

“Isn’t that all your job as my Familiar? That sounds suspiciously like you want an assistant. Emi gave him a narrow look. “And why does this Custos have to be male human?”

Verdant made a tiny, scandalised spin. “Because you may or may not have noticed that you are now a Trickster Breeder Witch and you don't have the anatomy to breed. Manipulate sure but sometimes you want to get your hands dirty. And by hands I mean cock. A Custos, magically linked to you can be your stunt cock and siphon the magical payload of the impregnation to yourself. If you want to be the best Trickster Breeder Witch you need a proper cock in your toolkit.”

Emi stared at the ceiling. “Right. So, in addition to a grimoire, I also need a human male with good hands, and a meat stick who is prepared to function as a magical battery.”

“And an implement of chaos,” Verdant added. “And occasionally a meat shield.”

“You’re really selling this.”

“I am a Familiar, not a recruitment agent. However, a good Custos is not just a tool. They are a partner, a reflection, a second player in the great game of fuck and fuck-not. The more powerful and loyal the Custos, the more potent the Witch they serve.”

Emi considered it, a slow, thoughtful smile spreading across her face. “A partner. A reflection. A meat shield.” She paused. “I think I know someone who might be perfect for that job.”

“An excellent start,” Verdant approved. “Custo-acquisition is a core competency. Once you have a proper grimoire and a decently muscled servant, we can move on to things like minor curses, public perception alteration, and the fine art of persuading a man to breed a specific woman through interpretive dance.”

Brandon. The thought was a spark in the darkness, a perfect, beautifully flawed solution.

Brandon from Sales, with his earnest smile, his hopeless crush on her, an average but serviceable body. He was handsome in a bland, all-American way, the kind of guy who'd never been on the receiving end of a real trick in his life.

His loyalty was a given; Once she’d sunk her pussy onto his cock he'd follow her into a volcano if she asked nicely enough. His hands were certainly useful she'd seen him hauling around heavy display equipment with an easy strength he probably didn’t appreciate he had. And he wasn't entirely stupid. vAnd she thought a little wickedly he'd be a ridiculously easy mark for the 'Sow the Seed of Doubt' cantrip if he ever got too big for his boots.

She told Verdant her choice.

'Brandon?' Verdant Green's gravelly voice echoed in her head, a touch of curiosity in its tone. "The dweeb from Sales with the crush on Aina?

"The very same," Emi murmured, her mind already racing, piecing together the angles.

Not Grant or Tyler? Brandon? Not exactly Conan the Barbarian in the muscles department."

"Let me worry about that" Emi says

"Ok but he's the one who'll need to do the...ahem...breeding" Verdant Green says "You need to know if he has the...ahem...equipment for it?"

"I have been to the company pool party," Emi says with a smirk, "and I saw the CCTV he ended up breeding Aina. So he has some edge"

"Ok" says Verdant Green "but just because he's not a quick draw in the showers doesn't mean he's got any staying power."

"You really are a pervert" Emi says

"I am a magical being designed to facilitate conception, of course I am," Verdant Green replied.

"Anyway," Emi continued, changing the subject before the conversation could descend further into the Familiar's personal kinks, "he's perfect. Eager to please, easy to manipulate, and now, thanks to the Life Coven's little party, he's got a taste for the game. He's already got a notch on his belt, so he's not a complete novice."

"Aina was a good choice," Verdant Green mused, its pink form pulsing thoughtfully. "A little high-strung, a little too obsessed with her own perfection. Fucking her and knocking her up must have been a delightful little power trip for him. He'll be hungry for more." The cloud zipped around the room, a flurry of excited pink energy.

‘Now, for the… let’s call them the maintenance requirements,’ Verdant Green projected, its gravelly voice adopting a slightly uncomfortable, business-like tone. ‘To establish and maintain the magical link between a Witch and her Custos, there needs to be a regular… exchange of life energy. Think of it as charging the battery. The most efficient way to do this is through sexual contact. We’re talking skin-to-skin, the whole messy, wonderful shebang. Once or twice a week should suffice to keep the connection strong and the magical transfer efficient.’

Emi raised an eyebrow, a slow, knowing smile playing on her lips. “So I have to fuck Brandon?”

‘Well, yes,’ Verdant Green confirmed, its pink form pulsing with a faint, apologetic light. ‘But there is a significant trade-off. The most important one. As your officially designated Custos, Brandon will be magically warded. No known magic can break it. He could be ****, enchanted, compelled by a dozen Breeding Passes, and he would be physically incapable of impregnating you without your explicit, conscious consent. You will hold the ultimate power over your own womb. The very thing the Life Coven and their warlcocks want to take from you will be yours to command. So…’ The cloud paused, its core glowing with a sly, questioning light.

‘Is Emi Watanabe willing to give a little head and a bit of pootang to Brandon from Sales once or twice a week in exchange for a magically-bonded stud to do her bidding?’!).’

Emi let out a short, sharp laugh. "A little head and a bit of pootang?" she echoed, the words feeling both absurd and strangely empowering. She leaned back on the couch, the towel slipping slightly, a calculated move that even had Verdant Green's ethereal form seeming to blush. "Deal," she said, her voice firm. "I'll keep my Custos charged. But on my terms. Now, how do I find him?"

'Ah your first Cantrip. Simple. Elegant. Efficient,' Verdant Green purred, its gravelly voice tinged with approval. 'The basics of sympathetic magic. You don't need an app. You just need to focus. Picture him in your mind. The earnest eyes, the slightly-too-tight polo shirt, the haircut that says "I still listen to my mom for style advice." Really get a good, solid mental image of him. The more detail, the better.....'The more personal the connection, the stronger the link. Now, concentrate on the last number you remember seeing for him. His desk phone extension maybe. Or if you’ve got his cell number, even better. Let the number itself become a hook, a little piece of sympathetic bait.

Emi navigated to her contacts, her thumb hovering over the alphabetized list. There he was: "B - Brandon (Sales)." She focused on the number, a string of ten digits that suddenly felt heavy with significance, imbued with the potential of sympathetic magic.

She held the phone in her outstretched palm, her breath held, her entire being focused on this small, glowing rectangle. The air in the room seemed to thicken, to crackle with a nascent power, as if the universe itself was holding its breath, waiting for her to complete the ritual.

'And now...' Verdant Green intoned, its gravelly voice a low, solemn thrum that seemed to resonate in Emi's very bones. The pink cloud pulsed, its form growing slightly, its edges glowing with a faint, ethereal light. It hovered before her, a tiny, pink priest of chaos, ready to guide her through the final, crucial step. Emi leaned forward, her heart pounding, ready to consciously perform her first real magic.

'...call him,' Verdant Green said flatly.

The words, spoken in a perfectly normal, conversational tone, hung in the charged air of the living room.

Emi stared, her mouth slightly agape, the phone still held out like a holy relic. '...what?' she managed, her voice a squeak of disbelief. 'That's it? That's the cantrip? I... I call him?'

'Yup,' Verdant Green chirped, its gravelly voice now laced with a palpable smugness. 'That's it. You focused. You established the sympathetic link. You've got the number. The universe is primed. All that's left for the aspiring Arch-Trickster is to press the little green button on the screen and use your words. You know sometimes the real magic is the friend’s we made along the way’.

Emi shot a glare at the smug pink puffball that could have curdled milk and tapped the green call icon.