"Bubbles"
as she finishes up at work, Emily pulls on her flannel and steps outside to walk home, crunching a few leaves under her boots
it's getting late in the year and she knows this is probably one of the last few times this year she'll walk home
with the short days and the time change, the evenings get too dark and cold and she takes the bus home instead
"today's the day" she thinks to herself and takes a deep breath of crisp fall air
today's the day that she's going to tell her girlfriend her biggest secret: she's a witch.
even though the laws of physics are merely suggestions to her, she's still scared
"what if she accuses me of enchanting her heart? what if she's afraid of reality shifting underneath her? can she really trust me at all if I've been keeping this from her?" she worries
she's had these same worries turning over in her head every single day since she met her, and they've become stronger every day she's kept this secret from her love
she rounds a corner and gets the feeling that something is suddenly wrong, but what exactly remains a mystery
the sidewalk looks the wrong color to her and she raises her eyes to find a discolored sky casting unfamiliar light, as though she'd wandered into a different genre of movie with different color grading
she pulls her hat from her bag, which isn't anywhere as big on the inside as she remembers making it, and puts it on
as she does, the hat's wide brim catches the breeze, slowing it down almost theatrically
she doesn't notice, though, because when she puts it on her head, she feels a change in herself
she feels as though she's been redrawn and moves with renewed purpose and grace, almost like when she was first sparked into a witch
when she catches a glimpse of herself reflected in a window, she sees dark lipstick on her lips that she didn't put there
her magic still doesn't feel right, though.
the usual web of spells that normally rests on her hat and drapes over her is missing, but she can tell that she's surrounded by some potent magic
every step she takes seems to take her further than it should toward some unseen goal that she can sense is nearby
she looks down an alleyway between office buildings and sees a shadow move
as she moves closer, the source of the shadow becomes clearer: it's a woman floating off the ground in a mælstrom of sparkles and lights that conceal much of her
the sparkles fade, giving her a look at the woman's face, and she recognizes her instantly: it's her girlfriend, Phoebe, wearing an outfit she's never seen her in before
the dress she wears highlights the shape of her body as it sparkles in the setting sun and her boots raise her up enough that Emily has to look up into her eyes
they lock eyes, each surprised to see the other here and working magic
"babe, wha- how did you even get in here?" the magical girl breaks the silence and asks
"I was just walking home from work and bam, the color grading changed and I saw you in this super cute outfit" the witch says, blushing a bit
"the witch hat is cute too" she replies, blushing a lot
"could you say that I've .. cast a spell on you?" she asks, leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek and leave a dark lipstick mark
"you definitely have, but we can't get too distracted now. there's something to fight nearby; I can feel it"
Phoebe looks all around in search of something her girlfriend can't see before taking off down the alleyway towards a pair of dumpsters
Emily follows behind her, silently wondering what she's running towards with such urgency
the lid of the dumpster on the right answers her question by flapping open, moving like a puppet's mouth in time to a deep, New York City-accented voice asking "what took ya so long?"
as the pair get closer, they see the giant eyes of the dumpster-creature staring at them from the hatches to either side below its "mouth"
"didn't wanna see me again, Power Princess Phoebe?"
"of course not; your boss must be really short on hands to send you after me again"
"the Void Prince isn't my boss; I'm just back to get even"
"well then, let's get to it" she says, flinging her right arm out
the air around her hand sparkles and a staff appears in it, rapidly growing up and down
not knowing what to do, Emily makes her hands into tight fists that loosen as she remembers the last time she punched a dumpster (an accident while putting in a trash bag a few months back)
the dumpster answers by spitting out a black garbage bag that the girlfriends jump away from
it explodes behind them, leaving Emily shaken and Phoebe still calm, the magical girl having faced bigger explosions before breakfast
the witch can't help but feel a bit helpless without her usual magic answering her call, but she tries not to show it and let the dumpster pick on her
Phoebe snaps her fingers and jumps high in the air, magic propelling her upwards and leaving her hanging there
a moment after she hears the snap, Emily snaps her own fingers, and to her surprise and relief, the spell she was focusing on works and the dumpster's hatches slide shut over its eyes
"eyy! I can't see! what the hell did you do to me?" the dumpster shouts
before it gets a chance to blindly spit more exploding garbage, Phoebe descends upon it with her staff
"eat this! WINGÈD PILEDRIVER!" she shouts, angelic wings appearing on her back for a moment as the staff makes contact and crashes through the dumpster's lid
the dumpster emits a pained groan that trails off into nothingness and the magical girl raises her hand to give her girlfriend a high five as the sky fades back to a more normal color
"I have to ask: did you get that attack name from me?" Emily asks
"yeah, wingèd is one of those pronunciation quirks you've inflicted on me" she answers, laughing a bit
Phoebe transforms back into her normal self in a shower of sparkles and hugs her girlfriend
they kiss for a long moment in the alleyway between office buildings before breaking off and walking back towards the street, hand in hand
"back to my place?" Emily asks
"yeah, I think we have a lot to talk about"
the witch reaches into her bag, which is back to being larger on the inside after the excursion into the realm of magical girl magic, and pulls out a broom
the girlfriends climb aboard and soar above the city back to Emily's place
they fly home mostly in silence, the wind whipping at them too loudly to have much of a conversation
Emily gently sets the broom down on the balcony and sits down on the couch
"I'm so sorry for keeping all this from you for so long" Emily says, breaking the silence
"I'm sorry too" Phoebe replies, pulling her girlfriend into an embrace
"I just .. got scared of what you'd think of me and what you'd say about it and how you couldn't trust me"
"I mean .. I've been lying to you too, about where I've been going when I run out so urgently"
"it's all okay. we know now, and that's what matters."
"I love you, babe, you cute witchy dork"
"love you too" the witch says, kissing the magical girl
during the broom flight, the last of the magical girl magic wore off Emily and she leaves no lipstick mark on her girlfriend's lips
as she sits on the couch with her arms around her girlfriend, gears turn inside Phoebe's head
so many little things about Emily that she hadn't really thought much about all come together
all the little spells she did, hoping she could pass them off as normal in the dark, make sense now
hours pass and the conversation drifts away from magic until Emily uses a spell to clean off a knife while cooking dinner
"how come you can work magic without having to transform?" Phoebe asks her
"years ago, a friend confided in me and offered me a spark that set me ablaze with a fire that still burns today. she trusted in me and let me become a witch" she answers
"our magic works on different rules, and it seems like only one set can be in effect at any given time" the witch continues
"do you think it might be possible to create a third set of rules or something where we'd both be comfy and magical? you seemed so out of place when surrounded by my magic"
"I think so. I've got no clue how, but it's magic; we can make it work" Emily answers, confident in the power of love to bend even rules she doesn't understand
Emily asks the friend who first sparked her years ago if she knows anything about the deep magic of rules and of magical girls, but she doesn't and suggests talking to the woman who sparked her, who loans her a book
she turns it over in her hands, feeling the rough cloth of its binding and running her fingers over the letters stamped into the cover that read "ON THE NATURE OF MAGICS"
if she had to guess, she would say it's at least four times older than she is
reading it and puzzling through the scribbled notes in three different people's handwriting in the margins, she learns that all forms of magic are local bubbles casting filters over some sort of baseline reality
calling the form of witchcraft she practices "local" isn't quite right, as it forms a bubble extending around the earth and moon, but other forms of magic sometimes form bubbles as small as a single person before popping and merging back into baseline reality
the book's text is vague on how new magical bubbles come into existence, but the notes in blue ink in the margins and on a sheet of yellowed paper tucked inside the back cover are much more helpful in coaxing new rules of magic into existence
her first try at a spell guided by these notes doesn't seem to have changed anything until she looks out the window and notices the sky is the wrong color
she releases the spell and tries again, forming a bubble around her that grows as she feels more comfortable in it
after a few more attempts over the next few days, she invites her girlfriend over to try the magic that feels right to her
to hold the spell in place, she's strategically placed star stickers around the edges of her bedroom and will do it elsewhere in the apartment if this works
Phoebe transforms in Emily's bedroom in a burst of sparkles and looks down at her magical girl outfit
"the transformation was a lot shorter than usual, but it seems to have worked right"
she experimentally snaps her fingers and Emily is pulled towards her by an unseen force
"I think I could get used to this" she says, smiling
"so, how does it work? what are the limits?" Phoebe asks
"we both have the ability to cast spells and enchant objects here without much theatricality, just like my normal witch magic, although your spells get a lot stronger when you transform. I hope I got the transformation magic right because I can't really test it on my own"
"it's close enough for now, but there's definitely some improvements we can make"
a few days later, the two of them are laying in bed together, tired but not quite asleep
"sooo, babe, wanna move in with me?" Emily asks, already knowing the answer to this question they'd idly discussed even before revealing their magic to each other
"I'd love to~" Phoebe replies and turns her head to kiss her
FIN.
thank you to Kim for making me think about how magical girls and witches would interact and to Tris for editing and proofing help