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

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Stella felt her blood run cold as soon as he popped the question. The smile that rested on her face quickly faded and in a monotonous voice, she answered his question "My apologies Mr. Schelt because such information is within the council documents I'm forbidden from sharing its contents outside of official arrangments." Stella paused for a moment to glance at her watch and clicked her tongue"Although, I believe Daniel is free at the time if you wish to meet with him then now would probably be your best shot at it, although I must warn you to be careful with your words around him. Lila's unfavorable temper and lying tendencies are from him in the end."

Carefully, Stella wrapped the remainder of her meal in a napkin and placed it in her bag while praying that it wouldn't get crushed by the time she got home. She took out a few bills from her wallet and placed them onto the table while finishing off the remainder of her drink. Despite eating so much, her stomach felt empty, and she felt sick.


---

Lila who was nearly on the brink of tears cowered behind Marry who she now saw as her savior from a gruesome death. Lila didn't process who the man was until Marry had exchanged names with him. Like a child who was unable to speak Lila tugged at Marry's arm, trying to drag her into the opposite direction but kept a close eye on the goat, fearing she would charge at her once again.

"What are you doing at the beach with a goat? I'm pretty sure this place has a strict no animal policy." Lila wasn't one to follow the rules, but maybe if it were something cute like a little bunny chasing her around it would have been bearable. Lila leaned over to Marry with her hand wrapped tightly around her elbow "He's a little too magical for my liking." she whispered just loud enough for only Marry to hear.
 
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"I see..." William replied, disheartened in hearing her answer. If it was that confidential, there was no way for William to access it without permission. One thing he could gather regarding the matter was that there was obviously something more to Lila than some girl that became a witch to save her life. The circumstances of her contract and the amount of power she displayed during the mall incident... William knew there was no way that any normal witch could be near exhausted from power use, and then suddenly do a 180 and do what she had.

"Meeting Daniel now would probably be best," he answered. "Even if he is a liar, he seems to know more than you, and much can be learned just from an individual's actions." Having finished his drink, William rose to return the used dishes. William was always one to return his used dishes, along with those of his guests, even when it was part of the employee's duties to perform such a task. Once that was done, the male looked at Stella, ready to depart to meet this Daniel person he'd heard about time and time again. "Hopefully he can shed some light on this whole matter."


"Magical...?" Marry wasn't sure what Lila meant by that, and it took her a minute to hazard a guess. "Oh! You mean a witch?"

"No, lassy," Billy retorted, seemingly insulted by the underestimation of his abilities. "I'm a demon, ya 'ear? Billy McGruff, the great Goat Demon! Complete control over goats is what I possess. If yer not careful with yer words, I won't stop Lacey next time!"

"O-Oh! My apologies, Mr. McGruff, sir!" Marry bowed fervently, trying to demonstrate her sincerity.

"Now, now. There's no need fer all them formalities. Just be careful what ya say. As for you," Billy continued, looking towards Lila. "That's some crazy power you got locked up in there. What're ya afraid of a goat for? And don't go mentioning the rules of man's water. I'm a demon, see. I don't pay any mind to the trivial matters of you mortals."
 
As William fed to his habits, Stella sent a poorly constructed to Daniel. A mix of numbers and letters along with a car emoji. It wasn't anything from their language and clearly wasn't anything from the English language. An inadequate warning to her friend. "I don't see a matter that needs light," Stella answered as she left waving the staff goodbye. She could almost see them sigh in relief as they saw her leave. "Although, I'm going to be nosey. Why the sudden interest?" Slowly she began reconstructing her usual cheer, disgusted with herself for getting so gloomy so quickly.

Stella flung opened the door to the doors of the establishment laughing a bit too happily for visiting someone that was described to have such a distasteful personality. The bar had an unnatural darkness in it, dark enough to where you could barely see the outlines of the arranged chairs and tables. "Danny, my boy!" She yelled as small flame ignited in the palm of her and tried to offer the pair some light. Instead, the darkness in the bar surrounded the fire and seemed to eat any light that tried to make it past her palm. Well, at least I know he's here. Stella sighed lightly and began to feel her way around the darkness "Stay where you are, Butler." She instructed William as she ran into one of the tables, a string of swears in a cryptic language followed as the chairs that crashed to the floor.

The lights flickered on as soon as they fell, a bartender with dirty blond hair and exhausted brown eyes standing behind the counter unimpressed with Stella's lack of coordination. "Danny dear, you should keep the lights on." Awkwardly she began picking up the chairs and stacking them back onto the table.

"Might as well just set them onto the floor, and stop talking to me like I'm a child." It took him a moment to register William's presence "And whose he? I told you I'm not hiring anyone."

"No, didn't you get my text?" She questioned as she readjusted the chairs as instructed "I said I'm bringing a guest."

"You sent me an ambulance emoji and a mess of numbers and letters. Either way, unless it's important to tell him he can leave."

"Oh," Stella sat down motioning both of them to sit down as well "It's about our little witch." The mention of Lila stopped Daniel from retreating to the back of the kitchen but didn't interest him enough to sit down like Stella had offered. Instead, he turned his attention to William and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He had no official business with the WA and hardly any of Lila's past 'sitters' had expressed any interest in her aside from asking Daniel to make her stop being such a little shit.

"I'm listening."

---

Lila scrunched her nose as she watched Marry bow in apology to a demon she would consider lowly, but he did earn some rank points in Lila's tier scale. Although, she didn't answer him right away and instead focused her attention on Marry and tried to make her stop bowing to the peculiar demon. "Ah, well..." she was at a loss for words, for starters she didn't enjoy admitting her capabilities, especially not in front of Marry where she firmly denied anything to do with magic. "Animals just aren't my thing. No offense to the goat, just not a fan of them." She shrugged awkwardly tugging at Marry's arm. I guess I'll live the ideal college life while I'm here. Hurt my teeth while trying to eat a snowcone would be okay?
 
The pair's relocation to the bar was a quiet one. After answering Stella's question by stating that it was merely his duty to keep tabs on her, they both kept relatively quiet. William would've preferred the female demon driving them, but it didn't seem like she owned a car of any sort. There was probably good reason for that. Luckily, the sun didn't beat down too heavily upon them. You could tell it was beach weather, yet it wasn't so hot that it was unbearable to be out walking in the city.

The bar wasn't so far away either, though it did seem a bit isolated. 'So he's that type of person, huh?' William followed Stella inside, to discover their surroundings were covered in a thick darkness. The demon in front of him attempted to shed a little light on things, but the flame was quickly eaten by the darkness. 'Pyrokinesis? But what's his...?' There weren't any hints as to what this Daniel figure's power could be. Or rather, there were still too many possibilities.

William was startled when Stella suddenly bumped into some chairs, causing a rather large ruckus. He couldn't help but release a sigh of relief upon realizing it was just her, and not some unknown force suddenly going on the offensive. Perhaps this was where all of Lila's previous sitters had disappeared to. "I suggest being more careful," William told her, but it wasn't long before she decided to call out for Daniel.

The lights flickered on after a moment, and a blonde-haired male became apparent. He was obviously detached from the situation, as made evident by how he kept to his work. "Danny dear, you should keep the lights on," she rang.

"Might as well just set them onto the floor, and stop talking to me like I'm a child." The suited male wondered if Daniel hadn't noticed him, or if he simply chose to ignore his existence, before he continued. "And whose he? I told you I'm not hiring anyone."

Stella revealed the nature of their visit, and while he didn't seem as detached as before, he was still distant.

"Yes," William responded, a slight bow offered in thanks for his time. "I heard from Stella that Lila is to be going on a trip to the Demon World soon. Likewise, I heard that you know more about the crash that claimed Lila's parents years ago. You are, I presume, her contractor?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. It's not any business of yours. There's nothing there for an employee of the WA to worry about. If that's all you came to bother me about..." Daniel's words paused, and he pointed towards the entrance. "...find your way out." Having said all he believed needed to be said, the man began his retreat back towards the kitchen.

William wasn't going to let this whole charade be for naught. The people Lila often associated with sure were troublesome people to deal with though. "In the mall, yesterday..." William started. "And before that, on the way there... Lila had to use her powers to get me and a friend of hers out of a tight spot. That was on the train. Again, in the mall, even though she was mostly exhausted, she demonstrated a sudden surge of magical energy. One that even I, someone who can't normally detect witch signals, felt. She froze the entire mall. I know you may feel it to be none of my business, but with that girl the way she is, should she really be able to freeze an entire mall, after demonstrating that simply freezing a tunnel for ten minutes to be a complete drain of her energy?"

The mention of an incident seemed to perk his interest right back up.


Billy let out a laugh that sounded as though it came straight from his gut. "Yer a peculiar one, ain't ya? Ya don't seem like any witch I ever seen though. Somethin's off about ya..." The goatman eyed Lila a bit strangely, which made Marry look on a bit awkwardly towards the man. He took notice of her glare and backed up. "No need to be weirded out, missy. I was just checking 'er out. Not that way, mind ya. I ain't interested in young'uns."

Leaving the two where they were, Billy walked towards the sea. "Y'all gonna go swimmin' or just sit there shocked as hell over a goat?"

"O-Oh! That's right." Marry turned her glance away from the goat and towards Lila, who seemed to have finally calmed down. "I'm sorry we got all caught up in that... Is there anything you want to do? Maybe we can go get a treat." Marry pointed towards a nearby stand that was selling various goodies. The man running it seemed to have as much of his attention on the passing goat as they had.

@Vivian
 
Stella's face paled as Daniel sat across from her, her cheer fading into what could be considered as fear or anxiety. Under normal circumstances, Daniel would laugh at the mention of Lila going out with a friend, or even having one, to begin with, but the reference to the mall and train incident made the matters more worrisome. "Mall?" He asked in a flat voice, his eyes trained on Stella who averted her attention to the wooden floor. Daniel remained silent as he sorted out the information William gave him and was quick to realize he was in a sticky situation. "Stella," he began in a gentle tone that held a note of venom in it "What happened on the errand we sent Lila to run?"

The redhead let out a nervous laugh as she ran her finger on the tables edge "Really nice material here, Daniel." Stella replied to his question with only admiring the table. Daniel didn't say anything to her comment but kept his eyes trained on the woman who slowly began to look more and more guilty. It had taken a minute before she broke, spilling the entire story to Daniel who only squeezed the bridge of his nose as he heard it all. Judging from her half, though, the DC had no record of Lila's sudden burst of magic. He returned his attention to William while Stella went off too mumbling gibberish with apologies mixed in.

"I believe what you saw was excess magic. Thankfully it was released in a positive manner rather than exploding against her spine like it usually would." He sounded confident enough in his answer, and that made it even the slightest bit believable if one were to be skeptical. "As for that accident..." He began taking a deep breath seemingly trying to remember the details. "A former co-worker and I were making usual rounds until we heard the crash. The area was pretty overrun by nature, and unfortunately, it was winter. After tending to the dead and injured on my partners request we determined the cause of the to be black ice and a deer. The contract I formed with Lila was only possible due to her cooperation if she wasn't there then the girl was as good as dead." Daniel found that the information he gave William was enough and got up from his seat and returned the bar's counter to organize some shippings. As for Stella, she remained in her chair with her head on the table in arm raised in the air. A poor way of requesting a drink.

"Want something?" She asked William worrying that this conversation will take longer than she originally anticipated.


---

Lila cringed as the man inspected her, unsure of what to make with his statement. Once more, Marry proved to be her savior in chasing away the oddball of a demon away. "It's fine, it's fine," Lila reassured her waving away her hand as if she were just shooing a puppy away. "This is the point anyway, right?" Lila asked as she followed Marry's finger to the stand. Suddenly her stomach growled at the sight of the goodies that hung on the stand. Generally Lila would be embarrassed by the dying sound her stomach made, but this time around she had a legitimate excuse that went by the name Stella. During her spontaneous wake-up call, she couldn't (or more like wasn't allowed) to find the time to eat any breakfast.

"A treat sounds good!" Lila hurried over to where she placed her bag and took out a hoodie as she reapproached Marry while she fished for her wallet. "Seeya, Goat guy." Lila threw him a lazy wave and took Marry by the arm and dragged her over to the stall. It sold a variety of ice cream, chips, drinks, and other junk food that was a trap to passing by teenagers with Lila being no exception.
 
William shook his head. "No, I had my fill at the cafe earlier. I don't see any discrepancies in Daniel's story, so I'll consider his answers satisfactory." It all seemed pretty hush hush to him, the way Daniel went on about it. Was it really something so rare and classified? Demons made contracts with people almost everyday. William couldn't see how their case could've been special. "Does the Witch's Association know this much?" he inquired. He had to know. If they didn't it would be required of him, as a member of their employ, to report this new information to them. "Though I don't think you would've told me as much as you have if it wasn't something they already knew, right?"

He didn't know all that much about the demon world, but he did grasp the concept of their council. If Stella couldn't reveal things that Daniel could, well, it suggested that this male was someone that was a member of said council. "Not that I'm too worried. If that's all there is to it, my duties regarding overseeing Lila will continue as usual."


The goatman gave a weak wave at Lila's farewell. Afterwards, Marry found herself being dragged towards the stall. The man finally managed to take his eyes off the goat and ask them what they'd like.

"A strawberry ice cream, please," Marry answered, ordering her favorite. If there was anything Marry liked more than anything in the world, it was strawberry ice cream. Her mother told her time and time again that it was a bit cliche of her, but Marry wasn't really sure what her mother meant in making such a statement. "What do you want, Lila?" she asked. From the way she was digging money out of her bag, it suggested that she intended to pay for the both of them.
 
Daniel shrugged as he poured Stella her requested drink. "I'm not a witch, Kid. I wouldn't know what your people know, and I expect the same vice versa." He slide the drink to the edge of the counter expecting Stella to get up and get it herself, which she didn't. Instead, she just grunted and turned her head in the opposite direction. Daniel's shoulders relaxed as his brain began working a way to keep the Mall incident from reaching the higher-ups, grateful that the paperwork was so slow.

"Good luck," He said flatly and moved around the counter to set down the chairs that were placed on top of the tables. "I could barely handle the hellion for ten years, and here you are sacrificing your life span to a girl you know little to nothing about just because someone told you so. Kind've sad don't you think? If that's all you've come to ask for you're welcomed to leave or stay for opening hour."

"No need to get so snippy with someone who is just doing their job," Stella mumbled in Williams defense "I mean in reality this is no different than that one time you wouldn't leave Lila alone about her crippling grades." Daniel didn't reply to Stella's comment and instead just rolled his eyes in annoyance wishing she would just take her drink and go to sleep.

---
Lila couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Marry's buy. A part of her not even surprised it was strawberry ice cream. "Duro's and a Lemonade," Lila said pointing to the cartwheel looking chips. With a nod, the man handed her the desired chips and a can of lemonade along with a small baggie of condiments. Lila was slow to notice Marry who was digging around her wallet, and awkwardly waved her hands to get the girls attention. "Oh! Er, no it's fine. I can pay for myself." She began digging around her bag to retrieve her wallet and quickly found it. With an sheepish smile she held it up to prove she was capable of paying for herself.
 
"That's that then." William turned towards the door and prepped to leave. "If that's all, I'll be on my way. I'm not a drinker." Visions flashed through his mind as he said those words, but he quickly shook them off. "Not anymore, anyway. Thank you for your time." Bidding them adieu, William pushed the door open.

He didn't have anymore business to go about dealing with, so he resolved to head back to his apartment. 'Troublesome that I'm left to walk all the way back...' he thought to himself, regretting not having any means of transportation. He'd ridden the buses before, but he actually wasn't very good with remembering routes and the like. Never was. Nowadays, he'd rely on a GPS, but they didn't have those handy on buses, and they didn't necessarily go where he wanted anyway.

It wasn't a long walk, though. The cafe wasn't far from the bar, nor the apartment complex. He wondered if Lila had returned yet, but he assumed it didn't matter. She proved yesterday that it was unlikely she'd cause any serious real trouble, such as trying to take over the beach or something. A report needed to be typed up for the WA's investigation into the mall incident, but William figured it could wait. He needed a break from all the hubbub that was now his everyday life. That said, he picked up a book and enjoyed some reading.


Marry was somewhat relieved to hear Lila offering to pay for her own. She would've gladly paid, but that Lila was willing to look out for her in such a way reaffirmed that they were friends - at least, in her mind. It could've also been that she didn't want to come off as a moocher, but why think negatively about it?

Scanning the beach, Marry spotted the pier that stretched out into the ocean and housed several attractions. She figured it would probably be best to check that out before they went swimming, so as to avoid getting everything all wet. "Lila, do you want to go check out the amusement park? The Ferris Wheel looks like a lot of fun."
 
Daniel raised a brow at Williams comment but didn't pry into what he meant, or why. Stella almost offered William a ride home but quickly stopped herself remembering it was illegal for her to even be in a vehicle alone let alone drive one. Instead, she waved the man goodbye and wished him a safe trip back home. Once the door clicked shut behind him, Stella sat up and leaned back in her seat, balancing on the hind legs of the chair.

"So the mall," She began awkwardly, bracing herself for a long lecture "What do you think?" she didn't get an immediate response, and Daniel gave no hints as to how he felt about the situation as he began opening up the bar.

"I think Lila is running out of time. She's of age and if Leidia is capable of taking control of her body..." he stopped speaking to let out a tired sigh. "This is Leidia we're talking about, Stell. Do you really think she would take Lila as her new vessel?" Stella's answer wasn't immediate, and it took time for her to think over the possibilities. That alone was enough to agitate Daniel. "It's Leidia."

"Dead Leidia, mind you," her tone was sharp like a teacher who was sick of telling her class to shut up. "Generations have passed, many, many years. Do you truly think that she won't change at all over all that span of time? You can't tell me that someone's personality will remain consistent through all those years, and a human no less. In the name of Nah, even Lila would change given that much time." People began filling into the bar, both demons, and humans alike. Some were familiar faces others were newcomers. As they came in Stella got up to leave.

"Change is inevitable, but I doubt she'll do something like that." Daniel filled orders as Stella left and left him nothing more than a shrug of her shoulders. A raven haired man with silver eyes sat into a chair across from Daniel, a smug smile resting on his lips that made Daniel cringe in disgust. "Zombie." He greeted slamming a beverage in front of him.

"Mister Grump. Not here for drinks, though, thanks. I'm actually here to talk about the little witch. Lila was it? An Ace among the numbers." Despite what he said he took the drink anyway. Given that Lila was the one involved Daniel had no choice and merely muttered for him to wait for closing hours.

----
Lila handed the money over to the man and looked in the direction of where Marry was pointing a small bubble of panic forming but didn't quite make it to the surface. "Oh?" Lila wasn't a fan of crowded places and certainly not a fan of heights. She stood there blankly weighing her options. Make a hole and bury herself in it as her new sandy grave, or go to an amusement and abuse the gift she was given for the sake of funny pictures to upload to her blog at the expense of her comfort zone. "Sure," she announced with a blank smile "Sounds fun."
 
Delighted in hearing Lila's response, Marry took her hand and rushed her over towards the park. A bit of absent-mindedness was present as she completely forgot all of their things. It was attributable only to her occasional clumsy forgetfulness. Lila didn't seem to bring it up though, so she probably hadn't brought along anything of significant importance. That, or she'd forgotten just as much as Marry had.

When they reached the park, they were met with short lines. It was surprisingly calm for a weekend day. Marry took note of that, and had her own hypothesis as to why. "Do you think everyone's worried about what happened at the mall?"
 
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