The Beginnings of an Urban Fantasy AU
Word Count: 2170
This...completely ran away from me? Yeah...also, “beginnings” because I realize I’ve thought about this too much now that it’s officially a thing. Still, though, the ideas behind it are still kinda hazy to me (I panicked with Delphine, I’m sorry) and I realize this is only vague Cophine and only vague fluff, so it feels more of a prompt fill for me at this point. But hopefully I can really flesh this out later (on top of all the other projects at the moment...). And thanks v-li-ntprin-ss for the prompt (we really need to discuss this AU in depth now)!
Also, for reference: Ossiander’s hummingbird, lizard, and rabbit forms.
Cosimafelt like skipping. Actually skipping. It was ridiculous and random and yet made all the sense in the world because as she got to her front gate, it was obvious her flowers felt it too. Ceanothus, redbuds, dogwoods, protea, snapdragons, dudleyas, and penstemons alike all seemed to rise a bit higher, bloom a bit brighter, as she brushed past and into her house.
“Ossy? Oss, I’m home!” She spiraled through the greenhouse, searching for the flutter of fiery wings or the flick of blue-yellow ear tufts or the flash of multi-colored scales that gave away her familiar, Ossiander. She found nothing until she got closer to the kitchen and could just hear a familiar pattern of rapid droning.
An Allen’s Hummingbird hovered in the center of her kitchen, humming only when it changed direction, flitting over to the side and then back and then forward and then around to face her as she came in. Groceries drifted through the air all around him, each item on its way to its respective place behind cupboards or inside drawers and Cosima plopped down in one of the chairs to watch.
“Holy shit, Oss, you completely missed it! There was this new girl at the coffee shop today and—” The hummingbird immediately turned back around and away from her.
“If that’s your excuse as to why you’re late, don’t appear to have the Keckiella shrub even though you promised, and left me to fend for myself in the midst of Helena in her wolf form, then I really don’t want to hear about some girl right now.”
Cosima bit her lip, glancing for the first time at her watch. “Oh, I...must have been talking with her longer than I thought...well, hey, you know Helena would never hurt you.”
“On purpose, maybe not.” Ossiander seemed to tremble more than usual, his tongue flicking out in annoyance. “You’re just lucky Sarah got there and saw I was actually doing something productive—unlike some people—and dragged her away before I got crushed between ‘well-intentioned’ paws.”
“Actually, you’re the lucky one...” Cosima grinned tentatively, knowing her familiar would at least sense the expression if he didn’t turn around to look. “Because guess who got you some nectar? It’s Aphrodite grade and everything too!”
Ossiander’s wings faltered slightly, a milk carton pausing just for a second in the air, but after a beat it was clear he had nothing to say and groceries continued floating to their spots.
“I promise I won’t look when you drink.” Cosima swore, raising her hand as the other lay above her heart. “Witch’s honor. I’ll leave it in the sunroom and won’t go in there for an entire day so I don’t catch you off guard or anything.”
He scoffed at that. “Right. You. Catch me off guard. Funny.”
“You know what I mean.” Cosima rolled her eyes as she rifled through her bag and took out a small, honey-colored jar. After opening it and putting it on the table, her head tilted politely toward to the ceiling. “Try it at least, you know you want to. I can tell how thirsty you are. Think of it as a reward for all the great, hard work you did today.” She waited until she could feel a tiny throat vibrating as it worked, the sensation rooted somewhere deep inside her, before smiling (totally not tempted to look and watch a very adorable, grumpy hummingbird swallow a mile a minute). “Atta boy. I got it at the coffeeshop, you know. They sell it now. I should pop in more often, right?”
There was a tiny spluttering noise and then her familiar was hovering angrily just above her head in her line of sight, nectar abandoned for more important things. “You mean to see that girl? I thought we agreed we weren’t going to talk about that.”
“I think you want to think we agreed on that.” Cosima smiled and closed her eyes. “You really should have seen her, though, Oss. She was just...wow. She was wow.” At that, the soft droning ceased and the hummingbird plopped down as a lizard onto her knee, keeping her from fidgeting too much. His scales bristled, mirroring the agitated vibration of his former wings, but her finger running down his back made him fall still and quiet.
“What was she?”
She blinked, smile faltering just slightly. “You know? I didn’t even think to ask...”
“Cosima!”
She ducked her head as his tiny claws pinched through to her leg. “Look, I mean, she wasn’t human, that was for sure. Her eyes were too bright. A-And she wasn’t a fairy or vampire or anything like that. Um...”
“Um, what?”
“I honestly think she’s some kind of fire elemental, actually.” She bit her lip and he turned to face her, doubtful.
“No fire elemental is going to work at some independent coffee shop.”
“What I thought too.” Cosima nodded and picked him up deftly, tucking him close against her chest as she spiraled around the kitchen with a toothy grin. “But she had to be one. I swear her eyes were yellow. Like...like bright, Berberis Nevinii yellow. Or maybe more golden like Ribes Aureum in the fall. I don’t know it was just— ...shit, maybe they were blue?”
“Fire elementals don’t have blue eyes.”
She shrugged. “Maybe I’m remembering it wrong. Either way, there was that. And then there was this warmness coming from—”
“Warmth,”
“That’s what I said,” she bowled over his correction. “And so I stood up there at the register and she walked by and it was just...I don’t know, like the sun coming out and you could feel it on your skin and—”
“Is this long-winded explanation just you saying she was hot?”
“No. Well. I mean, she was. Shit, she was. But I’m talking about actual heat coming off her body and being transferred to mine. When she gave me back my change, the coins were all warm and stuff. And when she handed me my iced latte, the cup already had tons of condensation all over it.”
“Why would a coffee shop hire a fire elemental during the summer?”
“I dunno,” Cosima shrugged as he squirmed in her hands, and reluctantly put him on the kitchen counter. “But there she was. And really interesting too. She’s French, for one, and I was telling her about the new goldfields growing in, mainly because her hair reminded me of them, and—”
“Wait, so she knows you’re a botany witch but you don’t know what she is?”
Cosima rolled her eyes. “Shit, Oss, you can ask her yourself when she gets here.”
“That’s not funny, you—” The small lizard had fixed her with a stern glare, tongue flicking out distastefully, before his eyes widened. “Here?!”
“Yeah.” Cosima said simply, glancing out the front windows. “She said she’d find me after her shift was done, even though I didn’t give her my address or anything. Something about it being her people’s custom to—”
“Cosima, the new batch is just flowering!”
Suddenly she froze in place, shoulders becoming rigid as if she was trying not to react too hysterically. “Well...then I just don’t show her the back greenhouse...”
The lizard scampered up and nipped at her wrist. “Oh, please. If she’s anything like the other girls you’ve brought around, she’ll want to see everything. Trust me.”
“...shit.” Cosima, wringing her hands and biting her lip, ran out of the kitchen and outside. Side-stepping overgrowing stems and branches, she followed a small cobblestone path through the jungle of flowers and shrubs and bushes that was her backyard, Ossiander as a hummingbird speeding close behind.
“Okay, okay, so I just have to move you guys here and, um...maybe you over here...hmm.” Cosima waved her hands wildly once inside the small shed of a greenhouse, willing sparse shrubs to grow and hide the neat lines of blooming marijuana plants. “Oss, keep watch, will you? Not exactly sure when she’s supposed to—”
“Is that her?” The tremble in his voice was what really caught her attention and she moved over to peer past the windowsill he was perched on. There was a crackling in the air, a live spark dancing on the wind, and Cosima marveled at the way they could still feel it despite being behind glass walls. They could certainly see it plain as day, though. A small flame was floating down the street and stopped at the front gate.
“I damn well hope so! That’s so cool,” Cosima laughed and ran outside to meet it before thoughts of forest fires and erupting volcanoes suddenly came to mind and slowed her steps. Trees burning, pastures of red, heat and destruction and— sacrifice. Just a sacrifice. Because afterwards the soil is more fertile than it ever was before. Calm down, this is going to be fine.
“This is not the time for optimistic thinking, Cosima.” Ossiander lighted down on her shoulder, his weight comforting despite being so slight. She huffed slightly.
“Of course it is. Just wait ‘till you see her.” Gathering her courage, letting a smile spread across her lips again, she kept walking and addressed the small flame. “Um, hi? Delphine? Is that—”
With a slight eruption like wings unfurling, a gust of warm air passing over Cosima’s face, the front-gate-guard-dog sunflowers inclining forward, the flame burst into the vague shape of a door and a tall figure stepped out from it.
Yup, that’s definitely her. See what I— Oss? Cosima switched to telepathy the second the approaching woman’s smile beamed into life, knowing full well the manners concerning whispering around, yet not directly to, guests, but her familiar was no longer a hummingbird. A small rabbit clung to her shoulder in his place, shaking slightly, eyes wide, the blue and yellow tufts of his ears hidden as they flattened against his skull. After a minute of shell-shocked entrancement, he scurried to hide in Cosima’s dreads.
Wow, you haven’t been a Pygmy in a while. Everything okay over there, Ossy? She asked with a silent laugh as her feet took her over to open the front gate. There was no reply, just the rising and falling of surprised fur at the back of her neck. I told you, didn’t I? Out of this world pretty. Score 1 for Cosima!
“Delphine, hey, glad you found the place!” She greeted with soaring hands as flowers all around her scrambled to follow her cue, bending into a bow as Delphine walked past them.
“I told you I would, didn’t I?” Her tone was light and curling and Cosima felt a shiver run up her spine, like deja vu. Although, that might have also been because of the sudden beat of wings underneath her hair. “Was that your familiar I just saw?”
“Uh, yup, that was Ossiander. He’s acting shy right now, though he isn’t usually.” Cosima nodded minutely with a stretched smile, trying not to jostle the familiar in question. Come out, Oss, she’s already noticed you. Hopefully she knows nothing about familiar bonds... The reply came in the form of scales scratching at her skin.
Delphine tilted her head, trying to search out the small animal among Cosima’s hair. “What was he? A rabbit? I didn’t get to see, he hid so fast.” She already saw your form too, dammit. No need to choose now, just come out as a Pygmy and suck it up.
“Yeah, he—” Bristling and indignant, he darted out onto her shoulder and faced Delphine head on, flicking his ears before shifting slowly into his Mesquite Lizard form, making sure she was watching. Cosima’s eyes went wide in horror.
“Oh. Oh, he can...switch forms, then. Is that typical among your kind?” Delphine, surprised though she was, leaned forward to peer at him curiously. Neither witch nor familiar knew who exactly she talking to.
Cosima felt her heart leap into her throat and struggled to work her way around it. “Um, well, that’s an interesting...” Ossiander! What the fuck are you thinking?! “I mean, actually, he’s this sort of, uh...” I barely know this girl, you can’t just—
But he wasn’t finished. As soon as he was sure Delphine had leaned as far forward as she planned to, he flashed into a hummingbird and darted toward her face, making her jerk back. Cosima almost darted forward herself and pulled him back, but his posture made her hesitate.
His dark eyes bore into Delphine’s as he hovered in all of his burnt orange plumage and glory, beak tilted downward, wings spread out as far as they could in flight. He faced her, hummingbird or not, defiant with a kind of resolution Cosima had never seen in him before, not to this extent. The energy in him was bursting at the seams, like a well-coiled spring, like he was ready to thrust forward again, like he had something to prove.
“She’s definitely not a fire elemental. She’s supposed to be extinct.”
