#because ya know if it's catholic witchcraft that's like. fine. probably

[bonesandpoemsandflowers]

also, obviously, ecstatic trance is not solely the purview of Catholic martyrs. they have no monopoly on it and I'd say that any of the indigenous + afro diaspora religions with their emphasis on ritual dance and spirit possession are like, way better at it, actually, and that's what I personally was raised in so dunking on Protestants is just for fun, because, you know, we're shitposting on the internet's fucking premier shitposting site.

[thewitchandthebeasthimself]

The Witch and The Beast Himself: Chapter 1

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It may seem like another love story to you, and it probably is. However this is a story of how two very unalike yet very similar people met and fall for each other in a city full of constant chaos where it was just everyday life to them. It was a story about a man known for his rampages throughout the city, dubbing him to be a beast in man’s flesh. It was a story of a woman who was a young witch looking to start a new life in the city where no one knew what she was and to meet the dullahan she had heard about.

In a city where nothing changed, life as they once knew it was about to change forever.

For him, and for her.

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“Umm, Miss (last name)?” A woman’s voice startled me out of my nap.

“Hmmmmh?” I replied, barely awake.

“I’m sorry, did you fall asleep? The other passengers have already left the plane, we were about to board our next set of passengers until I noticed you were still on board.”

“AH! I’m so sorry!” I jumped up quickly, straightening up my (hair type, hair color) hair and swinging my carry on bag over my shoulder. I can’t believe I slept through the plane landing and everyone else being escorted off of it!

The flight attendant that woke me laughed and waved her hand at me, “It's okay, you’re not the first person to do this. But thanks for flying with us, have a safe time in Ikebukuro!”

“Okay, thanks a lot!” I stepped out of the plane and down the walkway to Ikebukuro Airport's welcoming center. The brightly lit center swarmed with people from all over the world. There were so many new faces, and so many different kinds of energy from each one…

One thing I should probably mention about myself is that I am not a normal human. I’m actually a 23 year old witch from Salem, Massachusetts in the US. I’ve been a witch since I was a little girl; my parents were also witches and helped me become the witch I am today so that I could learn to uncover some of the Earth’s strangest, wondrous mysteries, and to master witchcraft. I feel like I’ve mastered enough magic to handle myself in a real fight, plus I have the ability to heal others through hands on healing. Because of my healing ability I sense energies everywhere I go and can usually tell how a situation would turn out before it happens. I have read through every book that we have and been all over the USA since then, but I just feel that it wasn’t interesting enough to stay there. I really wanted to travel the world and see all this beautiful planet has to offer and get away from the boring everyday life I had before.

One thing that had attracted me here were the rumors of an Irish urban legend called a dullahan riding a motorcycle that neighed like a horse through the streets of Ikebukuro supposedly in search of her head. It had been said to be living and working like a human. I had seen other unreal super natural entities like vampires, ghosts, spirits, and more but a dullahan living amongst humans in a Japanese city? Now that’s a sight to see.

I never really did think I would get to pursue such a thing until I met an online friend of mine named Erika Karisawa. We had met through a online cosplay group; to be honest she’d always been very nice to me and would always tell me all about her crazy adventures here with her friends “Dotachin”, Walker, and Saburo. One day she extended an invite out to me to come meet her and her friends so I decided to get an apartment together there and settle in for a bit. I had also accepted a job there as a barista in a local coffee shop to keep my life somewhat interesting while I was there. Being a smart witch I had also picked up on speaking Japanese fluently so that I could speak to others there.

I haven’t told her about me being a witch yet and I probably won’t for a while because knowing her, she’d probably ask me to conjure up something weird like one of her favorite manga characters or to hex people on the streets for fun. While it does sound fun pranking people with magic and fulfilling Erika’s fetishes and fantasies, I do try to follow the Witch’s Threefold Law, anything you do will come back at you times three. I’ve experienced the wrath of the threefold law too many times so I really don’t wanna mess up here. Another thing i really don't want to mess up is another friendship because of being a witch.

I stepped down to the floor level of the center and followed the signs that lead out to the streets of Ikebukuro where Erika and her friends were supposed to meet me.

Shit I can’t believe I slept like that, I thought. I should probably text Erika and tell her I’m gonna be a bit late, I hope she won’t be mad at me.

I pulled out my phone and went through my texts to find her number. I seen that I had two missed calls from her and a few texts asking where I was. Suddenly, I sensed a familiar energy walking towards me, and two other unfamiliar ones following. I looked up to see that it was in fact Erika and two of her best friends walking up to me.

“Erika!” I smiled and called out to her, waving my hands at her.

Her face lit up the moment she saw me. “Hey (your name)!” She had to have recognized me as well after all of those Skipe video chats we’ve had. She ran up to me and hugged me for a second, then pulled back.“You’re late! Where were you? Did you stop to check out the souvenir shop or something?”

I laughed nervously, “I fell asleep on the plane and didn’t get up when the other passengers were leaving.”

“Oh wow, geez (your name)!” She shoved me playfully. “Its okay, the guys and I were talking about heading up to Russia Sushi for a quick bite then we can show you around the city. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great, let’s go!” I said, excited to start our adventure.

“Okay!” She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and spun us around the other way to face the men behind us. “Lemme introduce you to the guys! This is Walker,” pointing at a squinty-eyed guy with blonde hair in a light blue hoodie who smiled and waved at me. “And this is Dotachin.” pointing at a tall man with a beanie tugged over his forehead and wearing a dark green jacket. “Saburo’s usually with us but he was off doing something today, I'm sure you'll meet him though.”

Dotachin groaned and extended his hand out to me to shake, “Call me Kyouhei. Dotachin is just a nickname Erika gave me a while back. She’s told us so much about you, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Yeah, its nice to finally meet you too!” I replied, accepting his firm handshake. Upon taking his hand I could sense he had a very warm energy that made him seem like the leader of their little group.

We began walking down the street heading to this Russia Sushi place Erika was talking about, talking along the way. The city outside of the airport was bustling with even more energy and life. There were tall buildings every which way I looked, lighting up the sky with an array of different colors as the evening set in.

“So where were you from again?” Kyouhei asked.

“She’s from a town called Salem in the US!” Erika butted in. “I’ve heard that in the 1600’s 19 of its townspeople were victims of a public execution because they were accused of being witches. Apparently there are still witches there today.”

“Sounds like a crazy background.” Kyouhei said.

“Oh that’s really cool!” said Walker from behind us. “Have you seen any, (your name)? Are YOU one?”

I tensed up a bit at the question. Nobody here needs to know I’m a witch.

I breathe in and out to change the nature of my energy to appear as if I were baffled by the question. “No way, thats ridiculous! There were just a lot of crazy Christians and Catholics there during that time that wanted to accuse innocent people of such crazy things but they weren’t actually witches there. And I’ve never actually seen one. I guess my hometown just went along with opening up all of those witch related shops to attract more tourists and what not since that’s what it’s known for.”

“I don’t believe you!” Erika said, teasing me again. “But ya know, that would make a pretty sexy cosplay outfit wouldn’t it, Walker?”

“For sure!” Walker replied. “Maybe you could try out cosplaying Blair from Soul Eater!”

“Ooooooh I love Blair! She’s a fine ass witch! Pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin!” Erika mushed, unwrapping her arm from my shoulder and fantasizing over this character they were talking about.

Kyouhei smirked, “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into with them? They can be a bit overwhelming with all of their otaku talk.”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure I do. That is how Erika and I met.” I said. Then the question popped into my mind. “Hey do you know anything about a dullahan living here? That’s kinda one of the reasons why I came here.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard of a dullahan living here but we have seen the Headless Rider from time to time. She doesn’t ever just stop to talk to anyone, she mostly keeps to herself. I honestly don’t blame her with all the crazy stuff going on these days.”

Sounds like that may be what I’m looking for, I thought. We’ll see.  

“Crazy stuff huh? Yeah I’ve heard a bit about it.” I said.

“What exactly did you hear?” he asked.

“Just things about a bunch of gang wars and some pretty nasty attacks from ‘the Slasher’.”

“Oh okay,” he said. “Since you’ll be staying here there’s some key things you should know about this place that I'm sure Erika hasn't mentioned yet. Stay away from all of the color gangs here in the city. The fights can get pretty nasty and they don't care who gets in the way. Color gangs will usually wear a color to represent the gang they’re in, like how the Yellow Scarves wear yellow and the Blue Squares wear blue. There’s the Dollars that don’t have a color so it’s hard to tell who’s in it and who’s not. And there’s word of a new color gang called the Blood Diamonds.”

“So they’d wear red or blood colors to represent themselves, right?” I asked.

“Exactly,” he said. They've been going around busting people up for no reason, raping local women and either killing them or leaving them on the street with their clothes burned, so be careful. Also, there are quite a few dangerous people here that you should stay away from…” the moment he said that I was suddenly overcome by a dark, sinister energy that was incredibly strong, cunning and unstable. Then a slim man in a black coat with tan fur, short black hair and his hands stuffed in his coat pockets jumped down from literally out of nowhere in front of us, stopping us in our tracks.

“Hello, Dotachin.” said the man, with a smile on his face. The energy I had felt came off of this man. He didn’t seem to look like much, but he gave off a vibe that he could shatter someone’s mind in an instant. How could someone come off with such a strong energy like that? It’s almost… sickening.

“Hey, Izaya.” said Kyouhei, producing an annoyed energy at the sight of him. “We thought you were living in Saitama now.”

Izaya smiled and said, “I am, but its gotten boring very fast so I decided to come back to visit some old friends. So who should she stay away from?” he asked, looking at me.

“Definitely pricks like you.” Kyouhei said, pretending to be joking with him.

“Haha you’re so funny Dotachin! I’m the nicest man you’ve ever met!” He came forward to me and spoke to me in English, his accent changing with his words, “I’m Izaya, an information broker that used to work here. And you are?”

“Um hi I’m (your name).” I said in an awkward tone. His stare sent chills up my spine. He was oddly very fluent in my first language.

“You’re an American. What brings you here?” he asked.

“Um I’m looking for someone.”

“Are you? Well it just so happens that finding people is an skill of mine, maybe I can help. Here’s my card.” He pulled out a card with his full name, Izaya Orihara, and his number on it. “Give me a call if you’re ever interested.”

 I took the card from him, “Umm thanks, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

 His energy is so weird, I thought. I doubt he’d know anything about the dullahan but I guess I could give him a call later on. Despite his energy he may actually be pretty decent at his job.  

And that’s when I first met him.

  I felt another energy coming towards us. It felt like electric. It appeared to feel like a …. A vending machine?! Yes, a VENDING MACHINE came hurling at us.

While I could use a force push spell to hurl the object back at the sender, I didn’t want to risk anyone finding out what I am. The only other thing I could do was warn everyone.

“Everyone get out of the way!” I yelled in Japanese. Luckily everyone had jumped out of the way just in time before the vending machine smashed into the sidewalk in front of us.

What the hell just happened?! I think to myself before a light, soft and mellow energy comes charging towards us. There was also another side to this energy that appeared which was very enraged and filled with hate towards Izaya.

“IIIIZAAAYAAAAAA!!!!” I heard his voice in the distance. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

Izaya sighed, switching back to Japanese. “Looks like Shizu-chan has found me. I guess I’ll be taking off.” he said before darting away.

“GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!!!” yelled the man coming towards us. The energy that came from this man didn’t appear to match him either. He was a slender man that had blonde hair, sunglasses, a bartender uniform, and literally steam coming off of him, or at least from what I could see. He was somehow… I don’t know… perfect. Even in this enraged form he’d taken on. He looked like the man I had a dream about before I was woken up on the plane. As he approached Kyouhei the enraged side calmed down slightly.  

“Where’d he go, Kadota?! I’m gonna kill that fleabag for stepping foot here again!”

“Calm down a sec Shizuo, you’re scaring our friend here.” Kyouhei said.

“Hmm?” He said before turning to look at me. His enraged energy vanished instantly, making him appear completely calm, the steam around him disappearing causing him to appear even more attractive than before. As we locked eyes for a second I felt his curiosity of me rush over me like a wave. I blushed away after staring into his light brown eyes for what felt like an eternity. I’d been taught that the eyes were the window to the soul, and it definitely showed on him. He appeared to be the most kind hearted man i’d ever met. I’ll have to figure out that raging, vengeful energy he had and how he was able to fling a vending machine at us like it was a frisbee.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I just hate that scumbag so much I wish he’d never came back.”

“Um it's okay,” I said.

“This is Shizuo Heiwajima.” said Kyouhei. “He may seem a bit scary at times but he’s a good friend of ours. He’s probably another guy I’d recommend you stay away from,” he laughed.

“Hahahaha yeah stay away from me!” Shizuo joked back, slapping Kyouhei on the arm which made Kyouhei cry out a bit.

Shizuo reached into his pockets and pulled out a pack of blue American Spirit cigarettes and a lighter, took one cig from the pack and lit it, and stuffed the pack back into his pocket.

“Well Tom is probably wondering where I went so i’m gonna go back to him. I’ll see you guys later.” He turns around and walks in the direction he came from.  

Whoa. I thought. He's…

Walker interrupted my thoughts, “Wow, you got to meet with two of the most dangerous people in the city upon arriving!”

“Yeah they sure know how to make an entrance,” Kyouhei commented. “Anyway you should definitely stay away from Izaya. He’s usually involved in everything that's happened in this city. While Shizuo can be a great guy at times you don't want to be around while he's on one of his rampages. He can tear up everything in his path.”

“He pretty much turns into the Hulk when he's mad, especially when he sees Izaya. I’m surprised he was able to stop when he saw us.” said Erika. “Man, I wish they’d just announce their love already. It’d make a perfect yaoi.”

“Ha, a yaoi? Those two look like they hate each other's guts! There's no way it'd work out between them.” I laughed.

“Yeah we keep trying to tell her but she's dead set on writing up some fan fic about them,” Walker said.

“Alright guys let's get going its getting dark out,” Kyouhei said.

As we headed up to Russia Sushi all I could think about was him.

 I wonder if I'll see him again? I guess if he's one of the most dangerous men in the city that goes on crazy rampages then I probably will.