#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

What’s-Its-Crow (Crow POV) Part 12 – 2 of 2
#Wss366 Couch

[Continued from previous post]

“Did I do this to you? I’m so sorry!”

“Ack.” Where did that come from? Whatever, I might as well be a good bird and be truthful. “Abiru-san did this to me. She must have thought it a fine joke. She’s a witch too. Do you know her?”

“No, but we could find her and have her turn you back.”

I stretched out a wing, preening. “Actually, I think I enjoy being a crow. Humans are weird with their consumption taxes; corrupt, lying politicians; and traffic jams. I've got it good!”

“Okay, I didn’t think being a crow would be that great. As for calling it a joke, that seems a little overboard. Still, if you like it, that’s fine by me. But you need a name. How about Poe?”

“Crickety, crack! Every crow and a ladle is called Poe.”

“It’s ‘cat,' not ‘crow.’”

“Wash your mouth out! If I can't swear, neither can you! Ack, ack, ack.”

Suddenly, the world jumped all over the place. “Panic! Fly! Danger! Danger! Danger!”

Oh, she was shaking her shoulder in response to my comment. I guessed she didn’t find me as funny as I did. Anyway, I’d safely landed several meters away, where she couldn’t reach me.

“So, what would you suggest?” she asked.

"Yatagarasu," I snapped. It was a fitting name, so I strutted a few steps to show how well it suited me.

She shook her head and said, “There are so many things wrong with that. You aren’t a giant, nor do you have three feet. But mainly, naming yourselves after Kamo Taketsunumi might offend the gods. How about Airisu? It came to me in a dream. I think it’s a good omen.”

“I’m a Japanese crow, not an Irish one.”

“Yeah, it sounds like ‘Irish,’ but it also means a purple flower that grows wild. Like water-iris: elegant, melancholy, refined, poetic.”

“Airisu. That works for me.”

[End Chapter 4]

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

What’s-Its-Crow (Crow POV) Part 12 – 1 of 2
#Wss366 Couch

Sumika’s question should have been easy: “What was my name?” Crow? No, that couldn’t be it. That would mean I had the same name as every other crow. Nope. Nada. No way. I was special.

I looked off into the trees bordering the clearing, and then at the pentagram—which was now just dull-white chalk lines—as if they held the answer. But they didn’t. Nor did the whispering wind, the distant calling of fellow crows, or the patterns of autumn leaves on the ground.

I cocked my head and finally said, “I can’t remember.”

“What do you mean you can’t remember?” Sumika said. “Why?”

“It’s complicated.” Man, this was embarrassing. How could I not know my name!?

“Part of our contract is that you have to answer my questions truthfully.”

“Lady read the room,” I thought. “I don’t want to get into this.”

Rather than confronting her for being nosy, I prevaricated, saying, “I’m not lying; it’s complicated.”

“Do you really want to play that game? There's a lot of room for interpretation of ‘I get fed well.’”

I thought about that, scratched my head, and gave up. How was I going to #couch this, so that I wouldn't look like the village idiot? I mean, I wasn't one of those pigeons!

“I was human until a few hours ago,” I said. “The human and crow thoughts are all mixed up together. Somehow, my name got lost in the shuffle. See, it’s complicated!”

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #MythPunk

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Grimoire Obscuriea (Sumika POV): Part 11
#Wss366 Bridge

I’m not sure why I kept the old handbook. Perhaps I thought I could use the blank pages. It’s all fuzzy, but anyway, I exited the backroom carrying it.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have that title,” I said, returning to my place by the cash register. “If you know the publisher, maybe I could order it for you?”

The woman eyed the grimoire as I placed it under the counter. She cocked her head, looking interested. So I lied. “Sorry, that’s not for sale. It's something the owner misplaced.”

My reaction puzzled me. I'm usually honest, yet I felt oddly possessive of the book.

The woman continued staring at me, then spoke. “You have a very strong aura: white tinted with violet. Have you ever thought of using magic?”

It was my turn to stare. After the six years I’d spent in the States, I should have been accustomed to the casual Western style of communication, but her comment still caught me off guard. I’ve had other people tell me I had spiritual powers, but I’d never seen ghosts, had premonitions, or anything.

"Sorry, no," I said, beginning to wrap her book. Hopefully, they could read the room and would depart soon.

She resumed, “My bad. I should introduce us. I’m Ariel, and this is my friend Jeany.”

“Let’s go,” Jeany said. “Can’t you see she’s not interested?”

“Oh yes, she is. Look,” Ariel said, pointing to the book I’d been reading before they arrived. Then she read the title out loud: “#Bridge to the Stars: Four Pillars of Destiny.”

“I was curious,” I said. That really was all there was to it. I read a lot of random stuff.

“Great! Why don’t you join us for drinks later?” Ariel pressed. “Here, take this,” she said, passing me a flyer for a local izakaya. “We’ll be there around eight.”

It sounded interesting, and it would give me a chance to make some friends. Besides, Ariel was cute. So why not?

That was my first step in becoming a witch.

[End Chapter 3]

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #MythPunk

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Grimoire Obscuriea I: Part 10
#Wss366 Backroom

My name is Sumika, and I’m a witch. However, I’m nothing like a yamauba, a mountain witch. I’m more like Sabrina: an ordinary store clerk who met a couple of foreign women interested in crystals, pentagrams, and charms.

They say you should show, not tell. So I would like to show you.

“Crystals, Charms, and Divination.” I read the title out loud as I rang up the price. Our brightly lit bookstore was close enough to the “American University” that we stocked many foreign titles: English, French, German, Korean, Mandarin, and of course, Japanese, along with books that would never sell downtown. This was one of them: an eclectic collection of information on Western New Age magic.

I recognized the woman at the counter. She often haunted the corner where we kept metaphysical books. She was an exotic European lady with blue eyes, pale skin, and long ginger hair that stuck in my memory.

The friend who was with her was also foreign, with short brown hair and a plain face. I vaguely remembered her as well.

“Would you have a copy of this?” the second woman asked, showing me a slip of paper with the title “Love Charms and Potions” written on it.

The title seemed very specific, but we had some odd things, so I said, “I’ll look in the #backroom.”

As I suspected, we didn’t have that book, but I found a leather notebook, so old that the cover had cracked. The faded gold title read “Grimoire Obscuriea.” At first, I thought it might be a valuable antique the owner had mislaid, but as I flipped through the stained pages, I found that most of them were blank. That was except for the first page, which was filled with crudely written Latin. The spidery letters were blurred with frequent blots.

When the light in the room flickered, the letters in the first few lines seemed to jumble, then resolve into a poorly constructed tanka. I wasn’t sure how I could have missed it at first.

          Lo, seeker
          And the sought
          Night breeze
          Moth on the fly
          Gem unrecognized

I had no idea what it meant, but that was the case with most poetry, especially old stuff with archaic courtly symbolism.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #MythPunk