Limbean

Too many hours had been dumped into the preparations. A circle on the ground, symbols and sigils in chalk, candles around, all the inexperienced lilim could get to aid in her newest attempt:

The Doppelganger spell.

For the final step, she brought her hands aside and then slapped them together with all her might. A great gust of smoke engulf the room. Blinding, disorienting, but as violently it came, it dissipated by the middle, leaving it all by the corners of the room.

What lay within the circle made her furrow her brow. It seemed a copy of her alright, but too different to be a doppel. It was hardly a fifth of her size as well, with funny anatomical proportions. A bean-shaped copy of herself, caricaturesque like those of Chinese cartoons.

'Bean'. Hardly a word existed to describe it better than that, sitting there with a smile on its face as if it was a kid.

---

It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It seemed that not only the physical properties of the doppel had ended up altered, but the duration as well. An hour later, the lilim could hardly drink her afternoon tea, distracted by the bean climbing over the counter in search of something. The lilim stared half-curious and half-creeped out, elbows over the table, unknowing what went through that thing's mind. It looked like a puppy checking its new home; at least till she reminded herself that it was a somewhat-copy of her after all, concluding that it looked closer to her looking around in a bored afternoon for something to do.

A thought crossed her mind. She stood up and walked to the fridge, opening it and checking inside for that plate with a leftover pizza slice from last night. Maybe that's what it wanted, something to eat. She took it out, headed back to the table, and placed it at the opposite end. The sound alone caught the bean's attention, freezing in place with its eyes locked onto it. The lilim then sat down by her afternoon tea, and watched.

As she expected, the bean aimed to get it. It rushed to the edge of the counter, jumping in haste towards the table, though only for her jump to fall short and struck the edge, shaking the table enough to threaten the lilim's afternoon tea spilling. As much as it tried to hang onto the table, it could not, falling down to the ground with a loud thud. The lilim looked down for signs of injury to body or pride, but as if nothing happened, the bean jumped onto the chair to then jump onto the table, wasting no time in reaching the pizza slice and chomping down in haste.

Yeah, that was a copy of her alright. Shame about it getting the pizza instead of her, though; she was really looking forward to it later today.

---

The lilim walked down the sidewalk of the street, her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and chewing on gum. A casual stroll, though accompanying her was the bean, lazily resting on her head inbetween her horns. It didn't seem to do much other than stay still, enjoying itself quietly enough for the lilim to pay it no mind, at least until it lightly tapped the side of her head. Moving her eyes up, she saw the bean pointing aside, and after following its directions, she saw a particular store that made her halt in place.

A bakery, specializing in sugary treats.

Taking her wallet out and checking, she figured she had enough. Heading to the store's door, she could already feel the bean's tail wagging from side to side in excitement.

The bells rang out as the door creaked open; the man by the counter greeted with a smile that immediately died down in stupefaction, his eyes narrowing as they fell on the bean.

"Can I have two donuts, please?" She asked.

"Of... course..." He struggled to answer. "Any in particular?"

With a quick glance at what lay in display past the glass, one type struck her fancy.

"These." She said, pointing towards a bunch. "The ones with the pink glazing."

Only then did he stop staring, just to get those donuts and put them in a bag. At the same time, she took a few notes from her wallet, handing them to the baker as he gave her the bag. From it she took one donut and brought it up, one the lilim-bean happily took with a cheerful meep.

"Thanks." Said the lilim to the baker, before departing. The baker could not reply, still staring stupefied as the bells of the door rang again before closing.

---

Late night, the time when her eyes felt dry and heavy. The day had thrown enough at her to leave her exhausted, and left now only with her panties and a shirt, she dropped over the bed.

A certain meep startled her. Sitting up, she looked at the pillow only to see it was something else. It had been the lilim-bean which had taken its place, sleeping until now.

It still didn't disappear. The doppel spell fuck-up might have made it a permanent copy.

Still, annoyance and frustration grew within the lilim, having zero desire to figure out where the pillow had gone. She only wanted to sleep, and by the Demon Lord she wasn't gonna get that bean-looking thing stop her. Another meep escaped, the lilim having laid down to rest with her head over the lilim-bean as a pillow. Its fault, she figured; if she wanted to take the place of the pillow, then so will it be.

But it was surprisingly comfortable, and it didn't complain too much about it. In fact, it returned to sleep without protest.

Might as well join in, and so the lilim closed her eyes.