Flight of the Candy Witch

Flight of the candy witch

Yuuko carefully laid out her supplies for the night on her bed and began double checking that she had everything she would need for the night. Her phone and headphones were fully charged, she popped the sim card out of her iPhone and double checked that she was using the Council sim and not Vodafone, so she could use the local networks if needed. “Phone, headphones check” she thought to herself as she slid them into a pocket in her messenger bag, as she turned back to the bed, she remembered that she forgot to pack her charger, grabbing it from the night stand, she then saw her spare glasses, “probably should take those too” she thought to herself before she dropped both of them into her messenger bag next to her phone. “Work card check,” Yuuko picked the plastic credit card and slipped it into her bag near her ID, “passport check...I can't believe I need to carry this,” she slipped the crimson booklet into a hidden pocket in her bag, she then picked up a stack of several currencies and flipped through it to make sure she had a little bit of each, “euros, pounds, American dollars, pesos, Canadian dollars, yen and 2 coins, 1 silver and 1 gold, emergency cash check.” she said to herself as she dropped the money into the hidden pocket with her passport. “One stack of talismans, one palladium cross ionized in holy water, one druid blood amulet, and one iron filing mix, paranormal safety kit check.” She then turned her attention to two small plastic boxes, “one first aid kit, and one bento box, check and check.”
With a sigh of defeat and furrowed brow, she then turned to the loaded pistol, “one last resort pistol”, she unloaded the clip and switched the safety on before storing it in the hidden pocket next to the money and her passport. “The candy witch shouldn't carry a gun” she thought to herself “Santa doesn't carry a gun and neither should the candy witch...does he?” she tried to think back to her interview with him last year, they hadn't broached the topic, but she knew from experience that both bees and cryptids were seldom unarmed. A smile spread across her face as she turned to the last item on the bed, “one magic wand, check” she slid the Harry Potter wand into a pocket on her skirt before zipping her messenger bag shut and securing the buckles. She then turned her attention to the anima transfer vest Connar had made for her, one part bullet proof vest, one part heart monitor, the vest allowed an anima user to channel their energy through a mortal, temporarily granting them their power. She pulled the vest over her head, pulling her hair out from the neck before tying it into a loss bun behind her head, she loosened the straps around the chest before turning a dial on the shoulder, she felt a sudden surge of energy through her body as anima crackled through the vest. She suddenly felt as if she had had a hundred cups coffee, “I wonder if bees feel like this all the time”, she thought to herself, “That would explain a lot about Agartha.” She then pulled a sweater on over the vest before grabbing her witches hat and putting it on, looking in the mirror she made sure the goggles position around the base of the hat were not cracked and tilted it back slightly to make sure it looked right. She then pulled the wand from her pocket and watched anima crackle up her wrist and through the wand, with small wave an orange orb shot from the tip and burst into a shower of candy on the bed, the Candy witch was ready for her flight. Throwing her messenger bag over her shoulder and grabbing the broom Emma had given her from the corner, she made her way down stairs to say goodbye.
    Down stairs, Connar was sitting on the couch in the other anim transfer vest, its LCD gages dimly glowing as it channeled anima from him into her. Tuk was laying next to him staring at the horror movie on the TV, only occasionally looking up to snap up the candy Connar was throwing to him. “You leaving, Love?” Connar said as he looked back at her over the couch, Yuuko shook her head,
 “yep, I’ll be back by sun up same as always,”
“Do you have the gun?”
she sighed again, “yes, I don't see why you want me to take one though, no one is going to attack the Candy Witch.”
“it's just a precaution, there is always some asshole out there that’s intent on destroying other people's happiness, and since I am in the vest, I won't be there to stop them.”
“I think there dispersed widely enough that we shouldn't cross path”
A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. “Tuk, you mind pausing it while I get the door?” the big black wolf pawed the remote before nosing through the candy bowl for a sugar skull and then curling up on the couch, grabbing the bowl, Connar escorted Yuuko to the door,
“Nick thinks the same way and he gets himself into trouble about once every 3 years, hence the gun”
“He is a much higher profile target then I am though, everyone’s heard of Santa, but only a small group of people know about the Candy Witch and most of them are bees.”
“Which is more the reason not to leave without protection”
She rolled her eyes before kissing him goodbye, “you worry to much”
“Losing a family will do that to you”
“I’ll be fine, promise.”
Connar opened the door to group of children, “Trick or Treat!” among the group, were two Conor McGregor's, one Spider Man, a girl in a T-Rex custom and one a boy with a cardboard mask covered in a map of northern Ireland and a frowny face, a grin spread across Connar's face as he started passing out candy “Yuuko are you seeing this?” he asked as he dropped a hand full candy into Spider Mans bag, “What is it?” She asked, “It's the Irish border! You damn kids get cleverer every year.” All eyes were now on Yuuko, as they held out their bags with enormous grins, She closed her eyes and turned away from them, “I’m sorry you have already got your candy,” she then pushed them aside and began walking into the evening, looks of shock and disappointment spread across the small group as they watched Yuuko walk away. A grin spreading across her face, she took her wand from pocket, pointed in over her shoulder and shot an anima charge at the small group which quickly burst into a shower of candy. The small group began to cheer as Connar clapped and Yuuko began running down the walkway, building up anima behind her before mounting her broom and flying off into the sunset. She banked back towards the house as she pulled out her phone and hit tweet, “And she’s off, the candy witch was last seen leaving Greenfield Ireland.”

-sighting in Dublin -Mattarias
Outside of Dublin a bonfire burns brightly, figures in costumes gather round feeding fuel to the flames and from those flames Mattarias watches not just from across space but from across time. Its a ceremony he has seen before and he will see it again, revealers lighting fire to guide the spirits of their ancestors back home while simultaneously keeping the darkness at bay. The older ceremonies were more entertaining though, these modern ones had better costumes but there was less pageantry or so he thought. Sometime in the 21st century a new figured appeared a wiccan priestess that gifted children sweets instead of stealing their lives...How novel, he looked out of the flames again and saw this Candy Witch as she was called, she smiled back at him before throwing sweets into the fire, first on the outskirts of Dublin, then in the suburbs, then in the city, where ever there was a bonfire, there she was, tossing her offering into the flames, and close behind her another, a child in orange pajamas and a burlap sack, also tossing offerings into the fire. “My, my you certainly keep interesting company don't you little cousin”, and then as quickly as she appeared, she vanished and the flames were silent, for now anyway.

-sighting in Ealdwic -Anima cats
While lodging in Ealdwic park under the moonlight, George noticed a group of tinney scarecrows assembling on the stage. After shuffling around a bit, the group formed a line and music began coming from the trees, as thriller played, the group small scarecrows began to dance iconic dance, as the song ended, the strange scarecrows formed a cores line and began dancing the can can and then finally as they took a bowe to the unseen audience their heads began to swell up and then finally explode in a shower of catnip and Civet, as the cats flood out of the castle to greet the gift, they could a see the outline of witch silhouetted against the moon, the candy witch has struck again.

-sighting in Ealdwi -Lula
While out walking Wilberforce and Lord Nelson, Lula encounters a group of tiny scarecrows in Ealdwic. As group skampers along the pavement, Lorde Nelson begins licking his chops, as Wilberforce begins the whine and pull at his leash, their hunting instinct was now active. After few seconds of anxious pacing the wolf and dog had slipped the collars and charged at the small group at full speed biting into the scarcors and quickly gutting them, leaving nothing but a pile a dog treats, candy, and straw, where there had been once a small group of scarowrs. Overhead she could see the silhouette of a witch flying away against the moon. Lula didn't fight to restrain the boys but lets them act on their natural instincts. She arched her brows at the sight of them tearing apart the little scarecrows before giving a wave toward the moon. “Hmm. Hope there’s no chocolate in all that candy.” She mutters to herself.

-sighting in Boston -Tech Ghoul
While scrolling through his twitter feed and munching on a handful of fingers, Tech Ghoul heard the sound of children laughing coming from outside his heap. A trio of 3 children had ridden into the junk yard on their bikes, one dressed as a skull trooper from fornite, another wearing a predator costume and one more dressed as the red priestess Melisandre. The trio, propped themselves up near a 89 honda accord, before they began to trade candy back and forth, Tech Ghoul spied another group of older children who had apparently followed, the older children now had the younger ones surrounded, they seemed to be having some kind of an argument. In the distance he heard a thump, as something made a clumsy landing in the heap. Intrigued, Tech Ghoul decided to investigate, among the older children was a boy in a white mask, who seemed particularly intent on starting a fight with the boy in the Predator costume. After the two exchanged words the boy in the mask demanded the trio surrender their candy. After the boy in the Predator costume refused, the boy in the mask picked him up by his collar. All the while Tech Ghoul could hear the hum of a anima charge somewhere in the yard. "This injustice not sit well”. Tech Ghoul thought to himself, though he was unsure about the anima feeling “ghoul brain struggle multi thread problem solve”. “First problem first, stop candy theft”, Tech ghoul swiftly and silently retrieve his baseball cap, oversize sunglasses, long coat, and flashlight, to imitate night watchman. He then croaked out "hey!" causing about half the older kids flee at sound of tech ghoul's voice. The child in the mask latched on to the pillow case containing the predators candy and began pulling. Then Suddenly The Skull Trooper and Melisandre seem to become disoriented as Tech Ghoul approach closer, reached out and grasp the loot bag, using his other limb to shine light on his own face, highlighting his large mouth full sharp teeth. "no" he growled quieter. The boy step back in shock, as the boy in the predator mask fell over and began having some kind of seizure, but something now seemed different about the synthetic flesh he was wearing, it no longer seemed like it was plastic, it seemed wetter, almost as if it were alive. As the boy curled up into a fetal position, the child in the fortnite costume discovered his plastic weapons had turned to metal and the girl who had dressed as Melisandre, had grown into the red priestess herself. The sight of Tech Ghoul's teeth in combination with the the transformations they witnessed caused the other half of the children to flee, leaving only the boy in the mask who was now not only facing the strange watch man but also now standing in front of an 8 ft tall extraterrestrial Hunter. Dropping the bag, the last remaining child fled into the night leaving Tech Ghoul and the transformed children. Out from behind a heap of destroyed cars, strolled the candy witch, “The Candy Witch cannot tolerate the theft of candy and evidently neither can the Tech Ghoul” She said smiling. “Though I was a bit slow on the draw, the glamour's I cast will last for another 4 hours, after that you will return to human form. So please enjoy your magic while it last.” The boy in the Skull Trooper coustume began to do the best mates dance around both Tech Ghoul and the Candy Witch, as Melisandre gathered her candy and vanished into the night. The Predator let out a roar of defiance before fist bumping the Tech Ghoul and then cloaking, leaving him with the Candy Witch. “Thank you for watching out for them” she said with a smile, as she pulled her wand out of her pocket and summoned an anima charge, that quickly materialized into a set of scarecrows that began dancing to thriller, before joining hands and then exploding in a shower of severed fingers, feet, and hands. The Candy Witch then mounted her broom, and flew away into the night, waving one last time at Tech Ghoul before she departed for her next location. Tech Ghoul gathered up his collection of severed limbs and returned to his trash lair to play cultist simulator and ruminate life's serendipitous moment.

-sighting in Chesapeake, VA
Yuuko circled over the sleepy little town, checking her phones GPS, there was no doubt about it, this was the place. She brought her broom down just above the lamp post and landed softly on a nearby roof, as she surveyed the neighborhood, she could see only a few a lonely decorations sitting in the windows of a couple of homes but no one was out in the street. Checking her phone she saw that she had arrived at 6:30pm, there should have been children out trick or treating but it appeared everyone was respecting the curfew, though she could see a few forlorn children staring out the window of their homes. “I guess this is as good a start point as any, first thing’s first we need a little atmosphere.” Yuuko pulled her wand out of her pocket and began growing an anima charge while  moving the wand in a circle in front of her, a ring of fog forming in the charges path. Then pulling back her wand, she flung the charge forward into the street below where it exploded in a shower of fog, covering the lawns and streets below. As the fog began crawling across the neatly manicured lawns, pumpkins began erupting from the ground, their surfaces cracking open into glowing grins, Yuuko climbed onto her broom and slid down to the street where she pulled a handful of tiny wooden dolls from bag and scattered them among the fog, soon a small army of tinny scarecrows began rising from the mist and marching down the street, some dancing and tumbling through the fog others beckoning the children to come out of their homes and join them, disconnecting her head phones, Yuuko began playing “This is Halloween” on her phone as she lead the parade down the street. Soon curious adults and children alike were standing in the fog awestruck at what they were witnessing,  the tinny scarecrows throwing candy to the onlookers as the magic procession on unfolded in front of them, and then a flashing red and blue light broke through the fog as a siren overpowered the music. The onlookers scurried back into their homes as a pair of police officers exited their car. “Ma’am are you aware there is a curfew in effect?” Yuuko tried to stammer out a response, “just on my way to a party officer” the officer was wearing sunglasses despite the fact that it was dark out, this made it hard for Yuuko to gage his response, “I can see that ma’am, the question is why is your party obstructing traffic after curfew.” The officer's tone made it clear that he either didn't believe her or didnt care what she had to say. “Its uh, Halloween and since this town bans trick or treating, I thought I would uh  throw a party for the.”
“So you do know about the curfew. Her accomplices have anything to say Mike?” Another officer examined one of the moving scarecrows, “I don't think they are accomplices Jim, they seem like their some kind of robot, but I can't seem to find any electrical components. If I didn't know better, I’d say they were some kind of magic puppet.” The mention of magic caused Yuuko to break out into a cold sweat, which caused the officer in sunglasses to shine his flashlight into her eyes, “Ma’am do you have children of your own,” Yuuko managed to stammer out “uh...no” “then why are you out here throwing a party for children after curfew? Seems suspicious to me. What about you Mike?”
“It seems really suspicious, she might be one of those sex witches trying to abduct children for her cult, you know the kind Alex Jones is always talking about.” Yuuko's face turned bright red, as she tried to stammer out a response. “Might be the case, regardless, she's breaking curfew and encouraging delinquency, better take her in just to be sure. Ma’am you're under arrest for violating curfew, inciting a riot and obstructing traffic.” As the officer forced her hands behind her back, neither of them saw the small orange figure emerge from the fog, his face hidden behind a burlap sack and a dirty pillowcase being pulled behind him. The strange little creature approached the officer named “Mike” and began pulling at his shirt.  As Mike turned around to see the strange child holding open his pillow case, “Hay Jim, it looks like she has a little accomplice, We spoke at every elementary school in the district, you have no excuse son.” The strange child grunted, and pushed the open pillowcase towards mike, “Grate this one’s “Special,”” he said with a sigh as he reached back for his handcuffs, before looking down to catch a glimpse of what was in the pillowcase, “is that a dead racoon!?” before he could look up the strange child had leapt upon him and began tearing at his face, “get him off me!, get him off me!, get him  the fuck off me!” The officer called Jim drew his gun, “Get on the ground now!” not realizing that he was talking to the child, mike flopped to the ground, as the child bounced up out of the fog, only to be struck by 3 rounds, causing him to drop to the pavement in a shower of orange pumpkin like flesh. Jim approached the strange lifeless body in the fog, its bullet wounds seem to have pumpkins seeds in them and it appeared to be bleeding some kind of orange goo, “What the fuck is this thing.” Yuuko noticing that she was un attended, began to sneak away, only to hear “Don't you fucking move!” Yuuko put her hands and broom in the air, as she turned around to see the officer was now aiming at her, but as he approached, the pumpkin child sprang to life and latched on to the police officers back, tearing away the burlap sack covering its face to reveal a hideous gourd like face that was biting into the officers shoulder. Yuuko didn't hesitate, drawing her wand, she summoned a anima charge and enveloped herself in fog, before mounting her broom and flying off into the sky. As she cleared the lamppost, she shot another anima charge into the fog causing the small scarecrows to erupt into a shower of candy, as she sped off into the night. Though she couldn't see clearly as she continued to rise up into the sky it appeared the candy explosion, had scared the strange creature away, the officer called Mike was now staring up at the sky, in disbelief at what he was seeing as children rushed out of their home to collect the candy around him. Yuuko sighed with relief as the small town faded in the distance, “next year, I am getting some kind of official cover story from work.””

-sighting in Nevada -Arkham
Arkham sat at the blackjack table putting another $100 up the for the next hand, when he noticed something strange about the other players. Usually they were tourist or local seniors but tonight something was off. It wasn't that he minded playing blackjack with werewolves and vampires, he didn't even mind that Michael Myers was dealing, but something about the tiny scarecrows scattered throughout the casino didn't sit right with him and then it dawned him. He then turned to the little scarecrow sitting next to him who had anted a snickers bar and a hand full of reese pieces for the next hand, “you’re not 21 are you,” he said with a grin, the little scarecrow hung its head in shame, as its head began to inflate before exploding in a shower of candy, the heads of the scarecrow scattered throughout the casino began to do the same, the casino was now filled with candy and behind a row a slot machines, he could see a witches hat quickly moving towards the exit. Arkham smiled and then got up ambling as he took up a bite of an old time candy not many folks chewed on anymore and then watched the hat disappear into the distance just close enough for Arkham to do a small salute and wave. He said nothing more than the wave as he took another bite. It’s of the candy tasting that sweet soft honey. “And it was said as she flew out of sight, scary Halloween to all and to all a good fright”

It was still dark out when Yuuko finally landed back home, her broom dropped out from under her as the vest had nearly reached its limit. She had been around the world and brought joy and wonder to all she had visited, in the morning she was sure she would be happy, but for the moment she was exhausted. She was a bit relieved to see that Connar had kept his word and taken down the decorations after midnight, but she was also a little sad that it was now over. She reminded herself, that there was still a lot left of 2018 to sort out and that both Halloween and its peculiar metaphorical and literal magic would be back before she knew it. As she made her way to the door, she turned around one last time, to see the strange child in orange pajamas making his way up the path behind her, before opening his dirty pillowcase in front of her. “I suppose I owe you one for Virginia,” she cracked her neck, as took her wand from her pocket for one last spell, “I am not sure how much anima I have left, so please don't be disappointed.” With a flick of her wrist a sputtering anima charge leapt from the wand and burst into a couple of full size candy bars. The strange child closed his pillow case and began walking back down the path, Yuuko waved to him as he neared their mailbox, “See you next year!” the strange child looked back and waved to her before fading into the darkness. As she opened the door, she set her broom next to the coat rack and passed Tuk, who now snoring on his couch next to the stairs. She found Connar slump over in a chair across from the TV, his eyes where now sunken and his hair was graying at the roots, the flight of the candy witch was always an anima intensive endeavor, but she knew he would be fine. “Oh hey, your back, how did it go?” She kissed him on the forehead as she helped him up, “It was busy this year, a lot of new stops.”
“Did that include, Virginia?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“It was all over twitter, did you really hit a police officer?” She looked annoyed by the question, “I didn't hit them, they tried to arrest me and then tried to arrest Sam, and then he bit one of them, and they shot him, and he reanimated and bit them again, and I was able to get away in the confusion.” Connar smiled as he began limping up the stairs, “sound like quite the adventurer, your taking the day off tomorrow right? I am feeling the vests effects now but your going to feel them in the morning.” “I was, I was thinking we could spend the day together.” “That sounds lovely, anything in particular you want to do?” Yuuko began to follow him upstairs, “Nothing really, maybe just Netflix.” “You sure the vest is done for the night, because you just read my mind.” She sighed, at the bad joke before setting her hat back in the closet for another year, “Night Connar, love you.” “Love you to Yuuko.”