The ghost nodded along as Magnolia spoke, and Atlas glanced between the two women curiously. It was definitely interesting to get to understand the process in more detail. He hadn't had a nearly as in depth experience with it when he was a cat.
When Magnolia pulled out the pen, the ghost glided forward gracefully and took it in her hand, examining it for a moment. "I'm going to miss you too Magnolia." She said with a gentle smile as she began signing the document. "I think it's time I move on, though. Perhaps we'll meet again in my next life, yes?" She set the pen down and sighed softly, looking content and satisfied with her decision.
“I understand. And perhaps, though we’ll never know it.” She returned the smile.
Magnolia took the document and made a new stack for the signed ones. “And like I said, you can reincarnate at any time within the day. If you’re having trouble, we can help.”
"Alright. I'll be on my way, then. It's been really lovely knowing you, truly." The ghost waved and faded through the door silently. Atlas watched her curiously, still clinging to Magnolia. "How long have you known her?" He asked softly.
“Same to you,” Magnolia said, waving back. She looked down at Altas and ruffled his hair. “Ever since I started working here, I think. So around a year? She died a long time ago, though. I didn’t know her when she was alive.”
Atlas nodded a bit. "That's a long time… hopefully she'll be happy in her next life." He said quietly. He seemed to like having his hair touched, and leaned into Magnolia's hand. "Are there any more people coming in today?"
Magnolia smiled, happy to see Atlas appreciate her touch. “I hope so too.” Then she lifted her hand and looked back at the applications. “Uhhh… yes, just a couple more. We have a few more minutes before the next one. Apparently she’s applied to pass on.”
"Oh, okay… how is that process different than reincarnating?" Atlas asked in a soft voice, looking up at the papers curiously despite being unable to read them. "And why would they wanna do that instead? It's not like you remember your past lives or anything."
“The process itself isn’t that much different,” Magnolia replied. “The only thing is, unlike reincarnating, we have no idea what happens when you pass on. You could be going to the afterlife, or maybe your soul just disintegrates into nothingness. Either way, you are not coming back.” She paused, considering his question. “Well, I’m sure there are plenty of reasons. For instance, the lady whose coming in soon is religious, so she believes she has to pass on. Other times a soul has reincarnated enough times that they can’t reincarnate anymore and they have to go with the alternative. Sometimes a soul just… really doesn’t want to stay on earth anymore.”
Atlas listened closely to the explanation, occasionally nodding along to show that he understood. "Oh… alright. I guess that makes sense." He said softly once Magnolia was finished speaking. "I guess animals don't get to choose what happens to them after they die, then, unless there's some sort of animal equivalent to this office… which I don't imagine there would be, but I wouldn't really know either way."
Magnolia quirked a smile at him, gathering her cotton candy hair in her hands and bringing it over one shoulder. “Well, there probably isn’t a system of regulation for the spirits of animals, but I believe they do get to choose. It’s just not recorded or kept track of. And I imagine it’s more… instinctual, not really a conscious decision.”
"Mm…" Atlas was quiet for a moment, pondering the new information. "But I'm human now, so I suppose I would have to go through a process like this in due time. How long do humans live?" He asked curiously. "Do you think I would live that long? Or do I still have the lifespan of a cat?"
Her smile fell. “You’re already thinking about that kind of stuff? Well, I suppose it’s easy to, here.” Her fingers combed absentmindedly through her hair. “Humans live to around eighty years. Cats only live to about ten or twelve. Since you’re human now, it’s hard to say, but…”
Out of the corner of her eye, Magnolia caught a wispy, transparent form float through the door. Her fingers flew from her hair and landed on the desk in front of her as she snapped to attention.
The spirit before her looked to be a woman in her sixties, her plump yet wispy form gliding over to the desk.
“Miss Jane, I see you’re ready?” Magnolia said, her smile coming back a little nervously from being caught off guard.
“Yes, witch, let’s get it over with,” the ghost replied, seeming a little grumpy. ”Ah, but who is that child you have with you?”
"Yeah, I've honestly kinda been thinking about it almost since I transformed…" Atlas sighed softly. "I was worried that I would just age super fast as a human and then die within a cat's normal lifespan, but I guess that doesn't make all that much sense…" He continued muttering to himself until he noticed the ghost coming in, which made him hide behind Magnolia again upon seeing how grumpy the spirit was. This was definitely one he didn't want to trifle with… "U-Um… my name is Atlas, ma'am… it's nice to meet you…"
”Atlas?” Miss Jane raised an eyebrow. ”Oh. I see now. I had thought would stay in your own lane, witch.”
Magnolia’s expression hardened. “We’re not here to discuss my familiar, Miss Jane. You wanted to get this over with, remember? Don’t worry, there’s no witchcraft involved.”
The spirit merely scoffed in reply.
Magnolia pulled out a document before her. “Sign here, and you are agreeing to pass on within the day. If find yourself unable to, we can perform a spell to help you,” she said, her voice significantly drier than it had been with the last ghost. “All the information is in the document, but do you need me to lay out the process of passing on?”
At the word ‘spell,’ Miss Jane shuddered. “No,” she decided. “I familiarized myself with it when my husband and other relatives had passed.”
Magnolia nodded, and gave the ghost a pen.
Atlas watched quietly from behind Magnolia, obviously nervous and uncomfortable. The ghost really wasn't very friendly at all, and he figured the less he interacted with her, the better. At least she's familiarized herself with it so we don't have to talk to her much more… she isn't very nice. I thought religious people were supposed to love everybody and be nice and stuff? He wondered to himself, remaining silent for the time being.
As Miss Jane signed her name on the document, she murmured, ”Before I go, dear, I at least hope you learn from your mistakes and stick with just one branch of your… witchcraft.”
Magnolia sighed and set the document in the new pile. “Miss Jane, could you at least say something kind before you pass on?”
The ghost sniffed. ”Well, excuse me. I like your hair, then. How’s that?”
“Better than nothing,” Magnolia said, suddenly getting the urge to laugh.
”Wonderful.” Miss Jane’s gaze moved to Atlas. ”And I hope you find some way to change him back.”
The urge to laugh faded. “That was a bit worse. We are done here.”
The spirit rolled her eyes, then drifted out the door.
Atlas cowered a bit more, especially whenever the woman's gaze hit him. He was clearly uncomfortable with her. He breathed a soft sigh of relief when she finally left, loosening his tight grip on Magnolia. "Well, she was… interesting…" He said softly. "Why do you think she was so mean? I thought religious people were supposed to be nice and love everybody?"
Magnolia laughed a little. “Well, yes, but not all religious people are the same. I think some of them really don’t like that witches are working in certain areas of society, so they tend not to like witches very much. Or magic in general, for that matter. I don’t really care, if I’m being honest.” Then her gaze hardened. “What was really uncalled for was how she targeted you.”
Eager to change the subject, her expression brightened as she ruffled his hair again. They would have to comb it at some point… “So, about your life expectancy? Let’s think about it like this. As a cat, you were five months old, a kitten. As a human, you look to be around seven to eight years old, a child. If you were aging at the speed of a cat, you would already be an adult and quite old, but you’re not. So by that logic, you must be aging at the speed of a human. Therefore, you have the average lifespan of a human. Does that make sense?”
Atlas listened closely, leaning into Magnolia's hand whenever he was touched. It seemed to relax him as long as he was expecting it, and as long as it wasn't restricting. "Alright… I guess that makes sense. So I'll live longer since I age at the same rate as humans now. That's interesting… we should write that down somewhere. We can do some research on this as well since it's probably not a super well covered topic, right? We could help out other witches and stuff."
Magnolia pursed her lips. “Haven’t thought about it like that,” she said. “We could, but it’s just speculation. We won’t know for sure until, uh, until you die, I guess.” Then her lips spread into a smile. “But doing research sounds like a great idea. It can be like… a science experiment. Or a magic experiment.” She shrugged, chuckling a little.
"Yeah, right…" Atlas yawned and leaned against the desk, fidgeting with his hands. "It's an interesting enough experiment, right? I doubt lots of witches end up turning their familiars into humans, right? So it can't hurt to write some stuff down. Is anybody else coming in?"
“That’s true,” Magnolia mused. “We’ll write it down. I guess it’s like, our hypothesis.” She straightened and stretched; extending her arms in front of her and hearing something pop in her back. She relaxed. “Yes, we have quite a few more ghosts that are coming in. Next up is a guy who applied to reincarnate.”
"Alright…" Atlas kept close to Magnolia, occasionally standing on his toes to look at the papers she was holding even though he couldn't read them. "Okay, when is he planning on coming in, then? And is there any reason why ghosts can't reincarnate on their own? Like, without needing to sign the papers and stuff?"
“Uhh…” Magnolia glanced back at the application. “Soon, but it’s like… 25 minutes. If it gets too boring in here we can get out and walk around a little.” Her gaze moved to Atlas, a brow raised. It was a little unusual for her to hear questions like these. “I… I believe it’s state policy. It’s not that they are unable to, and there are plenty of cases where ghosts don’t sign any documents or go through any application process, and just do whatever. But basically a ghost is required to do that around the time before their funeral, like with Mr. Thompson. It’s basically just for the purpose of knowing how many ghosts are still on earth, among other things.”
"Mm… I would just think that there would be some cases where ghosts just didn't know the rules, you know? Since it's kind of a witchcraft sorta thing to my understanding and a lot of people don't really follow witchcraft. They might not believe that they'll become ghosts after they die regardless, so they wouldn't have looked into such a thing." He hummed thoughtfully, staring at the door. "But I dunno."
