"'Fraid so, more or less. This chick we were chasing awakened you improperly and ran off. We call her mischief, real bad influence, she can kinda mind-control you if you're not prepared - it's called suggestion. Lucky for you, O-R-C actually does its job and we're gonna orientate you, free of charge, unlike that bitch. If ya want, I mean."

She squeezes her eyes shut and tries not to scream in frustration. Sits down on the bed.

.....

"What the fuck am I. I transformed. I disappeared from my shift! And what... Is the O-R-C. Because your fire cop guy shot first and didn't ask questions."

"Trevor's in trouble for that, he wasn't supposed to go in, uh, hot. We aren't gonna apologize exactly cause you've got to protect yourself and you did attack him, but yeah, not great. You're a witch now, mimi-oread and I can chat about that in a bit. We're Occult Research and Containment, dedicated to stopping vampires, cults, dark gods, predatory slimes, so on and so forth. And generally keeping the magical gribblies and bad witches from taking over or destroying the mortal world."

"You're cops."

Fuck cops, man. They just make trouble for everyone. The school cop did jack all to help people and only made things worse, and he was kind of creepy. The cops who give her old beater of a car tickets aren't any better.

She sighs.

"...Mischief mentioned a masquerade?"

"The Masquerade is the name for how all witches have to keep magic a secret, and all the rules and regs around it. The Veil is what makes there be a masquerade. It's ancient magic from a witch or coven way more powerful than those alive today, who wrote it into the very fabric of the world or something, and laced it with curses. Thou Shalt Not Reveal Magic To The Mundanes is practically a law of physics more than a rule. Break it and you'll suffer debilitating headaches, or even minor curses. Nothing seriously deadly, but definitely seriously inconvenient. And distracting, which can be deadly. The same deal applies to awakening witches the wrong way - it's pact magic, magically enforced agreements between the major organizations. Anyone who awakens a witch can't keep them as a slave or lie and give biased info about the major factions, without getting hit with backlash. Mischief's probably in a world of hurt right now. Though if you're really strong there's ways to dodge it. You uh, probably can't go home without some kind of solution to that, the Veil helps you out if you're trying, but it looks like you - transformed a lot more than most do when they awaken."

"Hmmmm."

Stories is all she has to compare this stuff to. Stories and memes and instincts. It's... Better than nothing? Maybe?

...The ORC didn't awaken her. They aren't bound by the covenant.

And she only has their word for it that any of this shit is even a thing at all, anyway. They're right that her old life is over, though.

God, she feels so lonely and lost right now.

"Well, thanks for shooting me and bringing me to a cell. Can I leave."

Crap, they're losing her. Oh well, there wasn't much chance of a recruitment after Trev fucking shot her.

"Once we get medical to take a better look at ya, yeah. They already took a glance, but a deeper look. It's procedure. Make sure there's no dark artifacts or lingering curses or anything, we can't let that stuff out into the world."

"And what happened to medical privacy, huh?"

"That's the way it is, babe. Even I can't get out of it. It's as non-invasive as it can be when we absolutely cannot fuck around with Abyssal infiltration, sorry. I can do you a 'masquerade comp' subsidy though, to try and make up for all this nonsense. Five hundred witch kisses, that's the standard witch money, which comes out to about five grand."

"Five grand in exchange for my old life. Horray."

"Well, and magic."

"Why don't you find something you like and change into it, then we can head down to the cafeteria, get some grub in you. I'll wait outside."

And outside she goes.

She cries in private for a while and tries to calm down and think.

She didn't actually do anything wrong, and it sounds like they are going to let her go. But go where? Where even is she now?

There were other factions. The Hespatians, the co-ops. Or Arcadia, maybe. 'Free' is hard to beat, in colleges.

...The clothes here have tail holes. Well, that's convenient at least. Just as she wonders a bit too hard why her old clothes were still fitting, she notices some sort of magic on them. It's - it's magic. She can't really tell any more than that. Resizing magic, apparently. Sure. Whatever.

She changes, and heads outside.

The hallway is wide and well-appointed. "Your room's 206, we can come back after food or just head straight to medical if you wanna get out of here. Up to you."

"Whatever. Food now."

Cafeteria-wards they go.

Everything is so different. She has new senses. A new sense of balance, it's throwing off her pace doubly so- With her being so short, and having a thin lightly-furred tail that waves about, messing with her balance. Her hearing is more sensitive, she's lighter on her feet, her nose is more sensitive.

Even walking feels weird and augh.

She wants to set something on fire. More than usual, anyway.

Hmm. Maybe she can actually do that - without a lighter. She's fucking magic now, right?

...Nnnnnnot while she's literally walking next to a cop, though.