Witch's Hunt: Blessed Curse (Sakana x Vivian)

[Wryneck]

Witch's Hunt: Blessed Curse

~Episode 3: Kagari~

The train slowed until it came to a complete stop. After having just prevented a head on collision with another train, William and Lila were grateful to finally be out. Marry, who was pretty calm for the rest of the ride, was shocked to learn that the two of them had managed to save them all from a gruesome death. She was still a bit curious about Lila though. Even though she asked her if she was a witch, which all the evidence pointed to, William told her that he simply took Lila along to help him, and that teleportation took a lot out of everyone being teleported. She reluctantly accepted his response, and left it at that. It didn't really matter anyway. Whether she was a witch or not, Marry accepted her either way.

The mall itself was huge. There was at least a hundred stores within, and it even had its own station. Being a mall, there was, of course, anti-magic fields in place, to prevent abuse of power to rob stores or something of the like. William looked around, this being his first time to this mall. Actually, this was basically his first time to any mall, and he was impressed with the amount of stores and selection that was available. It was as close to a "one stop shopping spot" as he imagined anyone could get.

"So," he spoke, for the first time since they'd gotten settled back on the train. "Do you have a list or something? What did you plan on buying?" William was speaking to both Marry and Lila, but the question was more directed at the latter than the former. He didn't plan on doing anything other than window shopping, so he figured he may as well accompany the two on their little shopping run. He did, however, plan on keeping his distance. His overbearing presence would only serve as a hindrance to their societal development.

"Just some things for the upcoming break," Marry replied, looking around in wonder at all the stores. She didn't say, but this was also her first time here as well. 'I'm here with a friend, right?' she thought to herself, catching herself looking over at Lila. She was looking towards William with a look of sour indifference. As was to be expected of her.

@Vivian Adlet​

 

[Vivian]

"I only plan on buying some medication for myself," Lila answered bitterly, awkwardly fishing for her phone in her bag. Her once red skin had lightened to a soft pink color, but the pain was still present, like a thousand tiny paper cuts with salt rubbed into the wounds. The mention of the break didn't help her mood, instead, it depressed her, the thought of needles being stuck into her on her few precious days off made her groan. Once the phone was in her grasp she pressed cool screen against her arm, and for a brief moment enjoying the relief.

Lila found William's amazement with the mall entertaining in its own way, reminding herself that she could very easily ditch him given he knows nothing about the area. "What do you need to get Marry? I mean, where are they exactly." by the time she had finished her question her phone's screen no longer gave her the cool comfort it did earlier. Reluctantly she unlocked the screen swiping through a list of things and messages "I'm mostly here to play delivery girl, so I can pick up the package whenever."

 

[Wryneck]

As the trio continued walking along, almost as though nothing had really happened, Marry stopped at a nearby cart that was selling smoothies and purchased one for herself. "Do you want one too?" Marry asked, suggesting that she'd buy one for her. Lila, though she wanted one, initially declined her offer until Marry reminded her that she had Lila's money from earlier. William had retreated back to his book once more, and was only following them from a distance, looking up every now and then to make sure they hadn't lost him.

"I do want to stop by Sandals and see what they have on sale today, since I'll be going to the beach over the weekend. We can stop for some ointment for you first though." Marry had taken notice of the discoloration of Lila's skin and her strange behavior of placing her phone against her skin. "It wouldn't be good if you left that rash to itself for too long. Do you even know what suddenly brought it on?" Taking an occasional sip of her smoothie, Marry led the way to the store she usually went to for medicinal supplies and the sort. "What kind of ointment do you need for it?"

 

[Vivian]

Lila tensed at the phone making sudden contact with her skin but soon relaxed noticing it had a cool surface "Beach?" she asked going over her memories only to realize she had never been to one. "Sounds neat," she offered, following Marry around the store unsure of where exactly she was being lead to until she began noticing familiar pharmacies, a small 'o' forming on her lips.

"I'm not sure when it started, I just remember it being more prone to happen when I was younger," she answered, grabbing Marry's shirt and pointing at a relatively empty pharmacy "It's also fine if left alone, but since I'll be in crowded places and have to take a train ride back home I'm going to need ointment, feels a lot like your skin being ripped off if anything," she informed Marry stepping into the place glancing over everything once and continued deeper into the shop.

"Lilian?" A new voice asked a head popping out from the next isle over "It is you! Oh man, I haven't seen you since you were like, eight? Look at you now, all grown up,"

"Oh, you still work here Sof?" Lila questioned motioning Marry over and climbing a shelf to meet Sofia at an eye level.

"Of course, it's the only place that'll take me, how's Daniel?"

"I need that ointment I took a lot of when I was a kiddo, you still have it right?" there was a moment of silence between the two before Lila got her answer.

"I'm sorry, Lillian, it got discontinued for legal reasons," she offered the girl a sympathetic smile, just now noticing the discoloration of her skin. Hopping off the shelf and making her way over to the isle Lila and Marry were she began raiding the shelves "But I CAN give you some painkillers if that would help any? It's difficult to sell more potent stuff when people start downing them like crack, that's what it's called right?"

Lila nodded, defeated catching the bottle that Sofia tossed at her. "Thanks for trying at least,"

"Come back a little later and I'll something more potent for you, kay?"

"Sure, sure-"

"Maybe if your friend is free you can pay me with that instead of actual money?" The pharmacist gave the two a devious smile, one that could probably be misinterpreted if someone didn't know Sofia's actual nature. With a sigh, Lila grabbed Marry by the arm, dragging her a safe distance from the woman.

"I'll be back later with money,"

 

[Wryneck]

Marry was surprised when Lila suddenly rushed her into a pharmacy that the brash girl seemed to be familiar with. It looked like any other, but the atmosphere had a different feel to it. "Lillian?" The light-haired girl turned her attention towards the direction of this foreign voice, somehow knowng it was referring to the one she was currently with. "It is you! Oh man, I haven't seen you since you were like, eight? Look at you now, all grown up." From the way the two began talking, Marry assumed that they both knew each other.

"Oh!" Marr exclaimed, shocked to see Lila stand on one of the shelves in order to see on the other side. "You sh-shouldn't do that, Lila..."Her suggestion to get down went unanswered, and the two began discussing someone named Daniel. Marry wondered who he was, but Lila didn't say much regarding him, instead shifting the conversation to the ointment she so desperately desired. After giving Lila some pain killers, she heard Sofia mention accepting her as payment for the medicine. She hadn't any idea what she meant, nor had she any desire to find out.

"I-is this enough?" she asked, offering some money from her bag. Lila shook her head and told her she'd pay it herself later, and hurriedly dragged her away from the pharmacy.

"An old friend?" Marry asked.

"Probably another one of the Stella variety," William interjected, almost chuckling at his own joke. As the two walked along, Marry led the way to the store she'd mentioned earlier, Sandals. It was a simple, yet flashy store that sold mostly beach and outing supplies, with products ranging from buckets to grills.

"Oooo! These are really nice!" The girl had picked up a pair of brown beach sandals that were easy on the feet and comfortable to wear. "Do you want to try some on?" Marry asked, motioning towards a seat where they could take their shoes off. After taking her shoes off, she slipped on the sandals she picked up from earlier and slowly walked around for a bit, getting a feel for them.

 

[Vivian]

"More like a family friend, a drunken aunt to be more specific," Lila didn't find a reason to correct William, although she could find it understandable how the two could be compared to easily, opening the bottle and swallowing an unknown amount of pills and washing them down with water she continued on her mall exploration with Marry and William. Once they had made it to the store Lila began to wander, almost getting lost from Marry a couple times, and eventually found her trying on sandals seeming to enjoy herself.


Lila couldn't help but feel embarrassed at Marry's offer, holding her hands up as though she were just got robbing. "No, no. I'm good here," Lila answered nervously, following Marry and sitting herself down as she tried on her sandals. "What do you plan on doing when you get to the beach?"

 

[Wryneck]

"Just relaxing," Marry answered. The sandals fit her feet well, and she smiled at her find. "I'm not much one for swimming, but looking over the slow moving ocean is calming in it's own way." The girl picked up a shopping basket and placed the sandals inside, then returned to searching for more things for the beach. "If you came with me, we wouldn't have to go in the water if you don't want to." She was trying to make the offer more enticing by being more passive about it, hoping that she wouldn't have to hang around by herself like she originally planned to.

After looking around for quite some time, Marry found a nice sun umbrella with a flower design on it, along with a sun hat. She'd seen a sun dress, but it cost a little more than what she had on hand at the time, so she passed it. "Are you going to buy anything, Lila? Or were you only afforded enough money for your errand?"

 

[Vivian]

Lila shook her head at the offered, feeling just a little bit disappointed by her own rejection, "Nah, it's not the water. It all depends on my guardian if he gives me yeah or nah," she followed Marry, stopping every now and then to examine items out of sheer curiosity rather than the intent to buy them, even lagging a little behind to examine the umbrella and hat Marry was eyeing. Floral wasn't something she was particularly fond of, but it certainly looked like it would suit Marry.

"Yeah, I was given a little bit of extra money, but I have bills to pay, rent, necessities," just hearing herself say that made her visibly cringe. I'm 18 not in my lonely late 30's. she reminded herself, yet she couldn't find a reassuring memory to prove to herself otherwise. Suddenly Lila grabbed Marry's shoulder, a look of nervousness and alarm in her gold-colored eyes "Never leave home unless you have a stable source of income, ever, do you understand Marry? Don't lose your youth!" after delivering her brief lecture Lila let Marry go, laughing nervously playing the entire thing as a joke.

 

[Wryneck]

"Huh?!" Marry exclaimed, a look of bewilderment on her face. Lila's sudden erratic change in behavior startled her, even if she was slowly getting used to her sporadic mood changes. "I have plenty of money from what my mother provides me..." She couldn't comprehend why Lila had suddenly grabbed her and told her to hang on to her youth. After thinking about it for a moment, she couldn't help but laugh. "Are you worried about losing yours?" she asked, still trying to calm herself.

"Maybe she never had any to begin with," William interjected once more. Lila would probably snap at him thinking he was making a snide remark, but he meant it in all seriousness. "Such is usually the case for people who grow up to be as detached as her. Shows a lack of attachment from childhood and a lack of understanding in how to make new attachments. Please take care of her." Though it couldn't be seen, he was smiling behind his book at Lila's reactions. For some reason, even though she could be annoying at times, it was something new, something different from the monotony that was his everyday life.

Marry timidly gave a sort of salute and then bowed towards William. "Yes, sir! I'll make sure to become good friends with Lila!" Marry turned towards Lila and grabbed her hands. "You'll definitely go to the beach with me, right, Lila?" Something inside of her had triggered a sort of determination, and it managed to catch even William off guard.

 

[Vivian]

Williams words struck a cord, but a different one from usual. Instead, she held her tongue looking over her memories to as far as she could remember, even before the death of her parents she couldn't recall a single one that involved her voluntarily socializing with people. A small 'o' forming on her lips as William informed Marry, Lila lot in her own world until Marry grabbed her hands in a sudden spike of determination. "Ah-" her voice was small, her head trying to catch up to the conversation.

Lila was bad at making promises and she knew it, the prime reason why she avoided it, and to her Marry's question was worded in a way that sounded a hell of a lot like a promise. Marry sudden shift of attitude made Lila feel like she would be stepping on a puppies tail if she rejected. "I-I can try?" she stammered even though she unsure of her own answer, as an attempt to compensate for the flimsy answer she gave her a nervous smile, cheap, and clearly forced.

 

[Wryneck]

Marry smiled, glad to hear that Lila would at least try. "I'm sure we'll have a good time if you come along, Lila. It'll be better than simply being by yourself, won't it?" Even though she was determined, she still hadn't ever invited anyone to hang out, so she wasn't entirely sure of herself.

'We managed to get at least that much, huh?' William thought to himself. Though he didn't care to admit it, he was glad that Lila seemed to be at least willing to give it a chance. He knew it could be good for her, getting out more with people her own age. She definitely wasn't going to develop good manners by hanging out with him all the time. Not with the way they interacted with each other.

"Which store should we go to next?" Marry released Lila's hands and started walking again, looking around for a place to visit next. "There's a good place that sells snacks over there!" Marry pointed towards a corner store within the mall that sold all sorts of cheap goodies. As she was walking along, she spotted a girl bearing a red ribbon with a large number of cats following her around. "Ooo! Lila, look at all the cats! I'm surprised they let them all in!"

William, who'd sense returned to reading, looked around with a perplexed look on his face. 'Is there a reason I feel unusually loose? Aren't their anti-magic fields working?' Normally, the anti-magic fields would give off a certain feeling to witches, almost as though they were slightly weighed down. It didn't hurt them or cause them to be sluggish, but acted more as a means of letting them know that their magic wouldn't work here. For that feeling to suddenly disappear after having been so used to it, William couldn't help but wonder if they'd turned them off for some reason.

 

[Vivian]

"I-I'm fine with whatever as long as it has something sweet," Lila answered, still a bit startled by Marry's sudden shift in personality, the red-ribboned girl had caught Lila's attention before the shop did, and it would only be natural she did the girl was surrounded by an army of felines. Lila was impressed with the scene, knowing that they didn't let that many cats into the mall voluntarily. "I don't think they let them in; maybe she stole them all from one of those cat cafe's?" she scoffed, sticking her hands in the pockets of her shorts, flinching at the cloth scraping her skin but continued examining the scene with an amused expression.

Out the corner of her eye she caught William's confusion, finding it peculiar he tore away from his book to show any reaction to the cat woman, although she saw several others expressing the same confusion. "I think we should head back to the pharmacy," she felt guilty for stopping Marry's fun and added onto her suggestion hoping to compensate "I can show you a shop that sells some nice sweets when we get back."

 

[Wryneck]

Nodding in agreement, Marry and William followed Lila back towards the pharmacy. They hadn't made it very far before the intercom crackled and a loud voice boomed throughout the mall. "LISTEN UP, FUCKERS!" Almost simultaneously, everyone in the mall came to a stop, shocked at the sudden announcement. William sighed, as though he knew exactly what this meant.

'They lose their fields for five minutes and someone is already starting trouble...' William looked to Lila, wondering if she could sense anything out of the ordinary. There were probably a number of other witches here, but if the one that just made an ordered them all to listen over the intercom was the only one actively using hers, she might be able to pinpoint where exactly the troublemaker was. "Anything?" he asked.

"I want all the money from every fuckin' store in this mall! If I don't have it in front of me within the half hour, I'm gonna blow this whole fuckin' place up!" The voice over the intercom boomed, and it was pretty easy to tell it was that of an adolescent female. With just that, it was hard to tell exactly what the girl's power could be. At the very least, it probably had something to do with explosives.

Marry, who was caught off guard by the sudden announcement, huddled against Lila, wondering what the blazes was going on. "Is a witch attacking?"

William looked around, trying to gauge the situation. "Most likely. The anti-fields are down, so it'd be no surprise for someone to attack as soon as that happens. She might've been the one that downed them." It still didn't make any sense to him though. 'This is a pretty brazen move, no matter what her power is. Attacking a mall of this size, with so many potential witches to stop her. What's she playing at?' It didn't take the male long to realize that it was actually pretty simple, even if it wasn't something she planned. With the amount of chaos she'd just caused with her sudden proclamation, any witch with a mischievous bone in their body would try to take advantage of it. He quickly turned his attention back towards Lila, only to find her trying to calm Marry down in a seemingly annoyed fashion.

 

[Vivian]

Lila froze like any other person, ears tuned into the announcement with her phoney smile plastered on her face and her eyes holding a blank stare as she processed the information being spoken. This has got to be a fucking prank, but as the girl continued to state her demands it became very clear she was serious, dead serious with a tacky mall robbery and bomb threats.

"Of course, there's anything! It's everywhere! Do you understand how densely populated a shithole like this is?" she groaned, running her hands through her hair, just faintly detecting a familiar and unusual presence as she did on the train. Before she could inform William of the possible needle in the haystack being found, Marry was already huddling against her, asking William the obvious question. "Ahm-don't worry about it," Lila nodded, attempting to reassure the girl and bring in a note of humor "I mean, now you can get some goodies on the low, low discount of free?" the corners of her lips twitched as she brought this up, just realizing the point herself, but it was quickly scratched the idea as a waste of effort, with William being present and reporting her every move to the WA and Marry's gentle nature made the looting plan an impossible outcome of the situation.


"Look, I'm sure this place has a backup plan, this mall is probably prone to death threats like this so having a safe room or something is probably there right?" First the train and now the mall, it would be a miracle to Lila if Marry dared to step foot outside her home given her first impression of the girl.


I'm going to putt this bitch's head into the next dimension.

 

[Wryneck]

Though Lila suggested the possibility of a safe room, no one was giving any instructions as to how to find it. "This mall isn't that old. It's unlikely they've ever come under attack. No matter how prepared you are, you can't always be ready for things you've never experienced firsthand. For now..." William motioned for the two to follow him and led them to a bathroom. There surprisingly weren't any people inside. Of course. Everyone was going to panic outside instead.

"If anyone tries to escape, this whole mall goes sky high!" the intercom buzzed again. It was hard to tell whether she was using it remotely or not, and it would be too much of a gamble to try and check the main office for the perpetrator.

"Any easier to sense anyone in particular in here?" William asked, hoping that not being completely surrounded by people would make things less hard to detect. "If she's using bombs, she must have some remotely hooked up somewhere. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't commit a suicide attack during a robbery. If she's using magic to influence said bombs in any way, you should be able to pick up a signal, right?" Not waiting for an answer, William thought for a moment.

"Um..." Marry stuttered, still slightly unnerved with the whole situation. "If she gives off a remote signal to control them, shouldn't her signal be the only one in multiple places?"

William looked at the girl, fairly surprised with her deduction. "That's right... Can you single out individual signals, Lila?"

 

[Vivian]

Of course, Lila knew that the idea of a safe room didn't have the highest chance, but the fact he brought this hope with Marry present deflated her, I'm tryna be a good person, and you're stopping me, Lila thought as she aimlessly explored to the bathroom despite there not being much to find aside from a few doodles drawn onto doors with a sharpie marker. "There's two of 'em probably," she announced finding it pointless to withhold the information "Someone from the train for that matter."

Being in the bathroom didn't help all that much, it had only spared her from the sensory overload Lila would have experienced if she were outside but it didn't save her from the robbers voice, agitated by her threats and the fact she sounded like she was a few years younger. Their assumption was easy to understand, and at least had some logic behind it, but it wasn't how sensory worked, "It doesn't matter if it was remote or not my location is that matters most. It's kind of like eyesight," Lila peeked into a bathroom stall in a manner that suggests that someone was eavesdropping, she threw the goodie-goodie duo a quick glance before shutting the bathroom stall behind her.


"You people are going to give me a migraine so bad that I would want my head to explode instead of trying to find my will to continue living," Lila plopped herself onto the toilet as a makeshift chair and began to focus, trying to remember what kind of signal the girl on the train gave off; it was a task that proved harder than she initially thought, having to sort out through all the demons and witches that used the mall although she was grateful that the number of demons in the mall was quickly plummeting to zero, seeing they had no intentions of getting mixed up in the rather violent affairs of humans.

It was faint, but it was familiar, and a good distance away. "Do I have to use magic?" she asked tentatively, peeking through the door through one of the cracks.

 

[Wryneck]

"You may have to," he told her, going over all the possible choices of action they could make. "If she managed to hijack the intercom system, it's likely that she has access to the video feeds as well. If anyone tries to leave, she'll probably set something off..." Everyone outside the restroom was panicking, and Marry was visibly shaken herself. William couldn't help but feel bad for her, having faced two dangerous occurrences in the same day, within an hour of each other. "Worst case scenario, one of us will have to search for whatever explosive she's using to hold this place hostage and try to destroy it without setting it off, while the other causes a sort of distraction."

It wasn't a very concrete plan. There were liable to be traps along the path to wherever she was keeping such an explosive, and he wasn't even positive she had such a thing. 'From the train, huh? It's likely it was that girl from before... In that case...'

"Going off what we know now," William spoke up. "It's safe to assume that her power has something to do with generating these explosives. If she was on the train, there would be no way for her to smuggle bombs over unless there was either someone here that already had them, or it had to do with her power. From the sounds of it though, it seems she's working alone."

"I don't see any fuckin' money yet!" the voice rang over the intercom. It was annoying to William, whereas it was terrifying to Marry. The suited male was certain Lila felt the same way.

"Can you look for all traces of her particular signal and see if she's remotely controlling anything? If you can do that..." William paused, opening the door to check their surroundings. "...you may have to go deal with it, while I take care of her. So long as she doesn't have any physical explosives, I should be able to completely stop her from doing anything if I can grab her."

 

[Vivian]

Lila groaned at his answer; she was hoping he just ask for a location and be a hero like he did last time there was a magic related conflict, and that girls voice didn't help Lila's mood in the slightest. "If you want your money get your ass up and get it yourself," she muttered getting up to open the stall door a bit to see what was going on. Marry looking as though she would break down at any given second, and William looking over the area. Lila didn't care for what magic the girl possessed, all she wanted was to go home at this point.

"Well there's someone else that was either her on the train, the idea of her working alone is questionable," Lila spoke leaving the safety of the bathroom stall, the pain from earlier now reduced to nothing but a faint throb, it would make things easier "We're not far from an exit, just long enough for us to get out of here undetected."

Hey! That's cruel ya know? You have a gift that can help others why don't you use it? To think my blood was raised to become something so selfish, tsk.

It was a small voice that sounded as though it belonged to a woman in her mid-teens but held a stern tone that implied it was always lecturing people. Lila's face paled as her head whipped around to face Marry giving her a suspicious stare but said nothing. The voice sounded nothing like Marry and was feminine to be Williams. Lila stood there silently looking around the bathroom looking for the source of the sound,

You're looking pretty suspicious there Lillian, stop you're going to seem like an idiot, there was a brief pause I mean...it's not like you're not an idiot already, but there's only so much you can do without others catching onto that elusive fact.


"HEY!" Lila suddenly shouted agitated, startling both herself and the two she was with, nervously she cleared her throat, repeating the word in a calmer voice and adding more onto it, "Hey, I don't sense anything similar to her power, or anything that should be in some way connected to her aside from the thing I felt earlier, I mean honestly I don't see why we can't just wait for WA to handle the situation, it seems safer than recklessly charging in, right?" the sound she heard was quickly brushed off as a new side-effect from using her magic for an excessive amount of time, and remained unsaid for her best interest.

 

[Wryneck]

William and Marry almost jumped when Lila suddenly yelled out. The former relaxed himself once Lila gave a reason why, but Marry was still visibly shaken from the whole ordeal. Unfortunately, Lila didn't have any good news for him. She couldn't sense where the bomb the girl made threats about might be, and she could barely sense the girl herself. "The problem with waiting for the WA is that she's probably ready for that. If they so much as try to come in, there's no doubt that there could be casualties. If anything, they'll simply wait outside for the situation to cool down before taking any action."

William opened the restroom door and motioned for Lila to follow him. "It would be best for you to stay here, Marry. If we're smart about it, Lila, we should be more than enough to deal with her. Our first priority should be on taking down any real bombs. If there are any manual ones on site, me capturing her won't mean a thing unless we can find them. The problem is that we only have less than half an hour. That being said," William stepped outside and closed the door behind him, with Lila reluctantly trudging along behind him. "It would be best if you were to look for any real bombs. She'll probably have her magic over them to detonate them automatically should something go wrong. With your power, you can freeze the explosives before they go off, hopefully long enough to get yourself out alive. I'll serve better as a distraction. I doubt she'll throw her whole plan away because of one interference."

 

[Vivian]

As Lila was lead out she noticed the map of the mall standing between two stores, thankful for the available item. "The WA is worthless if they can't stop one brat from acting out," this was her second time saying this, it didn't make it any less right in her eyes, though. Briefly, she gave William her attention, but he quickly lost it once mentioning her magic. Her eyes glazed over the chaos and back onto the map, grabbing his wrist she dragged him over, she recalled saying he would need to know where he was going to if he needed to teleport anywhere, and she was sure he had no clue where was what in a mall he has never stepped foot into until today.

"Alright," she began briskly a bit unnerved by the voice from earlier and would do what it wanted if it would mean getting it to be quiet "We're where that cute little star says we are, and that small Osama is all the way over here," Lila pointed to the other side of the map, a place where mostly clothing was sold, quickly she added onto the information "I haven't fully recovered from last time so you'll have to find her quick since I'm not all to sure which store she's cooped herself up in."

Don't worry about time, sweetheart. Unlike you, I actually know what I'm doing.

Lila flinched at the remark, not sure what the voice meant about that but didn't reply to her.