Halloween Hunting

There was quite a pleasant vibe to Lavanitir that evening, with the locals walking around in a variety of ghoulish looking costumes. Halloween season was upon Fiore again and a wide assortment of events and tents had popped up around the town, providing the people with a vast array of things to see and do. The rough and ready port town had never looked so friendly although there was at least one trouble maker among the crowd, keen blue eyes searching for a suitable target. Social events meant opportunity and for Shirayuki, that meant captives. She had dressed for the occasion, of course, in order to help her to blend in with the locals, a witch outfit covering her form. It would do its job perfectly although if she was fortunate, there wouldn’t be anyone who’d see her anyway. Stealthed using her magic, the newest member of the Abyssal Fleet was already in full hunter mode, ready to capture the most suitable prey. There was definitely money to be made here and by the end of the night, she hoped that she'd have some lovely merchandise to sell.

The streets were quite full and the graceful white haired woman had to be incredibly careful not to have any unfortunate run-ins. The crowd was boisterous and loud enough to cover any sound she made but she was still solid and the last thing she needed was to make a scene. Luckily, she was experienced enough by now to dance her way through and soon enough her vision was drawn towards a group of three, an older male and female, alongside a blonde haired younger woman who looked to be in her mid twenties. None of them were wearing costumes, instead they were wearing rather posh clothing, as though they were looking down their noses at those who walked the streets. They were just asking for trouble and as the kitsune moved in closer and focused on her enhanced hearing, she could just about hear them.

“Oh Daddy! Stop being such an old grouch!” The younger woman complained. “Let me have a little fun for a change. Stop turning your nose up at all of this.”

“Do not refer to me as such. This festival is beneath us and we should never have come in the first place.” The father replied, his voice dripping with disdain. “We are returning home. Come.”

“Yes Dear.” His wife uttered wearily with a sigh.

That wasn’t what happened though, as Shirayuki chose that moment to fire an ice charm at the largest male that she could find, capturing his mind and forcing him to obey her. She then sent him towards the rich noble family to deliver a bone crunching punch to the father’s face, knocking the pompous old fool on his backside. The wife screamed instantly and tried to defend her husband by getting in the way. The crowd started to draw in to the scene, while the daughter actually had to hide a little smile, seemingly amused, ending up amongst the surrounding people. “How exciting! Come on Daddy! You can…”

Her words were suddenly cut off as the kitsune took her chance, approaching the young blonde from behind while stealthed and clamping one hand over her mouth, while the other gripped the daughter’s right arm and forced it behind her back tightly. With that the two were gone, Shirayuki easily being able to overpower the unsuspecting girl as she hauled her off to a quiet spot, her stealth spread having also enveloped her captive too. A fine catch but one that would need to be secured properly. Thankfully, her magic was tailor made for such a thing.

A couple of minutes passed before Shirayuki bundled the woman into an alley and icily spoke in her ear, her left hand still fixed upon the daughter’s mouth. “If I take my hand away and you start screaming then you’ll wish you’d never been born. Do we understand each other?”

The daughter looked over her shoulder at her and nodded after a moment. Oddly enough, she didn’t look all that frightened and a blush coloured her cheeks. Was that excitement? The thought couldn’t help but bring a smile to the kitsune’s face.

Removing her hand from the girl’s lips, Shirayuki would swiftly start to bind the woman’s limbs, her hands almost a blur as she summoned the necessary equipment. The world of restraints was one that she knew all too well and she couldn’t deny the amount of pleasure that she felt as she tied the woman up. The power of Aiko’s lacrima flowed strongly through her and she tied knots in the same way that a musician played an instrument. In what appeared to be moments, the woman was bound hand and foot, along with multiple ties around her knees, thighs and upper torso. She wouldn’t be going anywhere, anytime soon. To finish her work, she’d summon two cloths, one that went over the girl’s eyes and the other her mouth.

“That should do it.” The white haired woman uttered when she was finished. “Now, I’m going to find a nice place to store you and then I’m returning to the festival.”

Picking up the girl, Shirayuki would stealth the duo again and slink away, heading back to her hideout.

(884 Words)

By the time she had dealt with the girl and wandered back to the festival, calm seemed to have returned to the place, with no sign of the rich couple at all. That was fine with the kitsune, as she’d find out all she’d need to know from the daughter and would be able to send a ransom note then. A part of her wondered if they’d even bother paying it, given how little they seemed to care about the happiness of their daughter but still, she’d try it anyway. If all else failed, she could simply sell the blonde to someone else. The girl was beautiful and Shirayuki already had a couple of acquaintances who might be interested. She did business with them regularly and they were always on the lookout for more maids. Her current captive would surely make a fine one given time.

Back amongst the people, the kitsune was once more on the lookout for another target, her keen icy eyes moving from left to right. Her invisibility was in full effect once more and it truly did give her a feeling of control over the area around her. She could grab any of these people and vanish without a trace in front of their faces and there was nothing that they could do. That feeling of domination was so pleasurable that another smirk crossed her features and as her gaze moved towards a group of people who seemed to be taking part in a contest, her smile grew. By the looks of it, the people posing on the stage were all trying to show off their costumes in an attempt to win some kind of popularity contest. They were all pretty attractive and the white haired woman was certainly interested in one or two but after glancing down at her own costume, her smirk turned into a more devious one.

Without any further thought, she silently moved up onto the platform in front of the others before suddenly dispelling her invisibility spell, revealing her witch costume to the awaiting crowd. She completely took them by surprise but was so witch-like that they couldn’t help but cheer and holler at her trickery. The other contestants were just as shocked and seemed to struggle to come up with anything as dazzling as the kitsune but even so, they tried their utmost to compete with her. In the end though, there was only going to be one winner and the kitsune was given some kind of item as a prize.

“What’s this?” She asked the man who’d given it to her.

“A kernel. If you collect three of these from the various games then you’ll earn a special prize.” He replied, before walking off.

Raising an eyebrow and looking down at the item, the kitsune then shrugged and stealthed once again. A prize for three easy events like this? It sounded easy enough and with that in mind, she vanished once more into the crowd.

(497 Words)
(1381 TWC)
(Costume contest completed.)

The kitsune spent about five minutes or so exploring the festival before she came across a rather interesting looking tent regarding fortune telling. She assumed that it would be another way of getting a kernel and the beautiful creature sitting at the table was lovely enough to instantly grab the white haired woman’s attention. A beautiful red headed woman in her mid 30s by the looks of her and already the mind of the abductress was beginning to turn. She would certainly go for a good price and as the blue eyed woman approached the table and sat down, her invisibility spell vanishing once more, her gaze was focused directly on the teller.

Oddly enough, the redhead wasn’t even surprised by the kitsune’s sudden appearance and simply smiled. “So you are the one who is causing all the trouble around here, hmm? The fight earlier, the disappearance of that girl and the shock at the costume contest. How do I know? Simple, my abilities allow me to see all that has been and all that will be. All I had to do was take one glance at you and your life opened up to me like a book. You have lived a wicked life, Shirayuki and it’s only going to worsen as the years go by. Turn back from the path you have chosen before it is too…”

Shirayuki hadn’t said a word up to that point but the look in her icy gaze was enough to freeze the fortune teller in her tracks verbally. She spoke now, however. “If you know all about me from a glance then you already know what’s going to happen now. Am I wrong?”

The fortune teller’s eyes widened in realisation as the kidnapper vanished once more and before she could even scream, she felt herself being hauled from the chair, one icy cold hand latched onto her face, the other around her form which had disappeared from sight as soon as Shirayuki had touched her. The kitsune’s grip was so powerful that there was no hope of escape and as she was hauled away, the teller could only mumble into the white haired mage’s hand. She did briefly wriggle though as she felt her captors hand moving into her clothing, a kernel being dragged out after a moment.

As the stealthed kitsune hauled the woman away, she smiled to herself. One more captive caught and one more kernel to find.

(407 Words)
(1788 TWC)
(Fortune teller completed.)

Having settled her latest captive, Shirayuki returned to the festival for the final time, on the lookout for a nice and simple activity to complete her task. At first, she didn’t find anything that captured her interest but after a couple of minutes, she came across a pumpkin carving competition, which she decided to take part in after some thought. Knives weren’t exactly her forte and neither was carving but she was adaptable if nothing else and once the judge had told them to start, she found it easy enough to get the grips of what she was doing. Her work was graceful and delicate, enough that it piqued the interest of those around her. At the start of the contest, there were about 20 people taking part but as time wore on, more than one person gave up, having made a mess of their own pumpkin and walking off in annoyance. By the end, there were roughly half of them left and after the judges had gone around to look over everyone’s work, they decided on Shirayuki’s to be the best one, awarding her with the third and final kernel that she needed. Her task done, the white haired dark mage would then vanish once more and continue her search for victims. There were still a few hours left before things would die down and that was more than enough time for her to grab another beauty or two.

(240 Words)
(2028 TWC)
(Pumpkin carving complete.)