Being a warlock and an occult professor Marcy had plenty of experience with real demons, having both summoned and banished them before, and she has seen firsthand the destruction and corruption they bring along with them. Being a regular person she has battled the less tangible, metaphorical and personal demons within herself as well, struggling to keep herself grounded and present in her own life as it seemed to slip through her fingers. Neither of these could be sent away by silly costumes or carved pumpkins with funny lights and decorations, most of them would probably just find it amusing and all the more entertaining. And yet, every year she found this particular day... refreshing. Sure, it was plain naïve of people to believe in such things, to think that they could somehow protect themselves from the evil of the unseen world behind the veil by simply dressing up and asking others for candy. Still, the innocence of the unsuspecting minds, completely unaffected by what lurks in the dark was... adorable and precious. This very childlike naivety should always be protected.

Besides, it was actually strangely fun to carve a pumpkin, put a candle inside, and have it cast shadows in the evening. There was something entertaining about seeing her home transform into a lair of an evil witch with a graveyard in the front lawn. Plus, dressing up in a traditional, stereotypical witch's costume (though, really, it was just a dress she hasn't used in a while and some old hat that was just gathering dust in the closet for the past hundred years) was not a regular occurrence for her. Witches and warlocks changed with times and no one really dressed like that anymore. Crazy what years of persecutions, suspicions, and trials led to - fashion progress. Yet another reason not to believe in stereotypes.

And so, like every year, Marcy bought a big bag of candy, decorated her home with spiderwebs, tombstones, skeletons, and orange lights, and put out some carved pumpkins in the front. She'd spend the day thinking about how the world changed over time, how different yet so similar this tradition was nowadays, and reminisced about the commonality of spirits, demons, and other... things back in the day, when this wasn't just a silly thing to do, but a genuine fear in people's hearts. It's been so long, yet on this day the past felt much closer. As if the veil truly was thinnest and particularly permeable today... Though, in popular belief that meant spirits walked the earth and returned from the beyond, instead of just old memories flooding back. She could only guess that perhaps these memories could also be seen as our own personal ghosts coming back from the past to haunt us, and the "beyond" was just our own subconsciousness we've attempted to suppress.

Having plenty of experience and knowledge of the occult she has, of course, been asked questions about it before, but she could never unequivocally prove whether the boundary between the living and the dead truly became blurred that night, allowing spirits to return to our plane of existence. As far as she knew it was simply an old tradition originating from the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, with different cultures creating this holiday of remembrance for those we've lost. After all, demons and evil spirits are all around regardless of what day it is. Sometimes they need to be summoned, sometimes they refuse to move on... and sometimes they're just masquerading as other people. They are here though, and Halloween doesn't make them any stronger or any weaker. She would know, a few years ago she summoned something that particular night (for scientific purposes, of course...) and was unable to see any difference or changes due to the calendar date of the ritual. The whole thing was rather disappointing in that aspect.

Oh? A bell! Someone's at the door! She stood up, shook her head to make sure all these thoughts are gone from her mind, and put on the large, old hat. Tonight she wasn't a warlock, she wasn't a witch, she wasn't an occult professor. Tonight she was simply giving out candies for children in silly costumes pretending to be fictional beings and characters. And she'd do it with a smile because these children deserved their holiday to be full of fun. The scary parts of life can wait till tomorrow.

---

Commission done by  Lilakimoka 💕