Bittersweet Candy Bowl

“…. and now you’re safe.” Lily said simply enough, arms wrapped around the shivering girl tightly “I won’t let anyone get you here…. I promise” looking down at Molliths fear filled eyes, with her own that had nothing but assurance. Carefully gliding her hands though the little girls hair before finally lifting her up.

Still…. Lily couldn’t help but wonder. Was it just a nightmare? Or had the girl actually been attacked by something? They were in a world of spirits and magic, in the middle of a highly spiritual place, with some demonic presence being summoned a few hours away, and another right beside them.

Somehow it didn’t seem that far-fetched.

Of course we had Susanna’s comment as well didn’t we? Lily noticing it and glancing towards the voice “.. heh… that’s alright my dear everything’s under control here. No need to worry… though I think the little one could use some time away from the crowd again” Lily ruffling the girls hair a second time on that note.

The dancer manages a smile through her tears at Lily, chuckling a little at the comment about the pretty faces.

I suppose so. *sniff* Oh Albert…

She jumps at the young girl’s scream, taking a few steps back before realizing what it was, she is by far the slowest of the three women to respond. Realizing that crowding her would only make things worse, she crouches down low and tries to smile encouragingly to the little girl, though Mollith still unsettles the woman slightly, a small bit of that showing in her eyes; she is not scared of her so much as wary, and part of her is glad that the hedgehog and vampire seem to have taken the little girl under her wing so she does not have to. She squelches that thought quickly though; what sort of mother is she if she does not rush to the aid of a little one?

She bites her lip and looks back to the silent geomancer. They’re putting quite the burden on her as well. Rising, the dancer walks over to her and rubs her shoulder encouragingly.

I’m sure you can do it… but if you need help, we’ll do what we can for you. I’m sorry we are putting so much on you. Delilah shakes her head. But none of the rest of us can do it, and it seems like the best way to… defeat them. The dancer pointedly does not use the word kill, but knows that with this plan, it is almost inevitable. Maye some would escape Lieselotte’s claws and Makar’s sword. And, she hates to think, Albert’s as well.

((I must go to sleep now. I will be gone until 5pm GMT -7 as always. Albert, Lily, Lady Lieselotte, and Amaja have autoplay privileges. She will do what she can to help with her dancing, and will try to support Amaja as much as she can.))

The darkness dissolves away, revealing a rather dishevelled Burmese. With a respectful nod to Lily and a caring, if forced, smile at Mollith, Susanna pads her way back into the camp, gently accelerating as she approaches Delilah and her mute friend.

Amaja shakes her head vigorously to the dancer as she tried to apologize for what they were asking of her. She smiled brightly continuing to try and puff herself up and show she is ready for whatever they ask of her. She wasn’t going to let anyone down so long as she could help it. Twitching ever so slightly her ear turns in the direction of someone approaching. Turning her head away from the ragamuffin she sees Susanna walking towards then. Spinning on her heels as her arms swing out wildly she bounds over to her friend and jumps at her into a hug. The worry she’d had before having forgotten she was okay now entirely evaporated seeing her in the fur.

Susanna catches the tabby’s welcoming hug and returns it. Reaching up, she lightly cuffs one of Amaja’s ears.

“You’re a devil to keep an eye on, you know.” She grins. “One of these days I really will buy you that bell collar!”

She lowers her face back into the tabby’s fur. “What’s this about you leading an attack or something? I thought I said that I… that it’s worrying for me…”

Amaja winces playfully when the burmese takes her ear, but is immediately changed to a confused expression. She blinks momentarily, pointing up towards the tree canopy, trying to convey she was sleeping overhead. Wrapping her arms around her friend she nuzzles into her shoulder letting out a short sigh. She didn’t want to worry her but at the same time didn’t want to let anyone down, it seemed there were few options, and her power came in handy to one, though dangerous to more than just the guards she could imagine. Taking in a deep breath she hugged Susanna more tightly, she leaned away partially from her and smiled in an effort to reassure her friend that it was okay with her to do this.

Susanna looks carefully at the smiling tabby. She pauses, just for a moment, then she steps away and smiles back.

“Of course you can do it. Go ahead; and I’ll be right behind you.”


((AFK for two hours, sorry. Autoplay available to Lily and Amaja; otherwise Susanna will just stick by her friend and help where possible. She’ll still baulk at really overt AmajaxSusanna, though. Nice try.))

Amaja’s ears droop for a moment with Susanna stepping away. Pushing the hurt out of her head she returned to her gleeful smile and wrapped her hands behind her back lightly. Glancing around the rest of the group, she wondered when the final decisions would be made as to what they will do to get the cogs churning.

((Such a cruel temptress :I kidding, going to sleep for now, hopefully will be back in 6 hours? Don’t do too much while I’m out D: Auto-Play: Amaja will stick by Susanna or Delilah, distancing herself from Hannibal or Keith if they get some idea she’s interested -glares at russell- ))

Mollith sniffled a little as Lily promised to protect her, but she still looked nervous. “O-ok…” She squeaked out, finally starting to relax a little again. She seemed content that whoever it was that had haunted her dream was gone now. After a moment, she looked back at Lily with a slightly more confident look on her face. “Ummm… Miss Old Spiky Lady? Mr. Ardanious says he will talk to you now…” She looks a little nervous. “I… I can come too right?” Her eyes are still hesitant as her fingers dig into the doll protectively.

(Nrr got a little side tracked there)

“Oh of course” Lily answered with little hestiation as she put a little space between herself and the others. The girl had seemed to like the river well enough… so keeping near it as before seemed like an obvious thought.

“Just as I said before:I see no reason why not….though… I and Mister Ardanious might talk about some confusing things….try not to worry too much about them alright? Just boring grown up talk bleh~ one of the terrible parts of being old. Wish I didn’t have to deal with it.” finally lowering the girl down again as she joked, letting her walk on her own two feet.

She reached into her robe again, fiddling around with one of her upper pockets. She… really wasn’t looking forward to this meeting. Thoughts of this ‘Mister Ardanious brought her back to the chaos of the city… the utter slaughter that was -his- doing.. not this poor little creature…she wondered if he had let anyone live….

But what worried her more is he was likely the -lesser- of two evils she’d have to deal with today.

“Now then Mister Ardanious..” she reached out, one hand on the dolls head…. pulling back for just a moment as Mollith recoiled just a bit.. protective as always before trying again. “What do you have to say?”

Mollith walks with Lily to the water, but she travels much slower than usual. Justardanious had never spoken to another person in Mollith’s entire life. Not once. He was very particular about that. It scared her to think what it meant if he was going to talk to someone else.

As they arrived, Lily gently reached out and Mollith instinctively pulled Justardanious back. No one who had touched him had ever lived much longer beyond that point. “M-Mr. Ardanious…” She murmured almost helplessly. The second time Lily reached out…

“So what do you want to know Princess?” The sudden sound coming from the doll would be enough to cause the hedgehog to pull her hand back a little in surprise. The doll turned it’s head to face her, it’s mouth moving much like you would expect a real mouth to move. His voice was coarse, much like you might expect of someone who drank far too much and sampled of the tobacco pipe too often.

Lily just stared for those first few moments, hand frozen half-way still towards it, face having not quite fear….. a certain hestiation if you would? Uncertainty? Likely leaving Mollith confused for those first few moments, just rustling leaves breaking the silence

Our ‘Princess’ finally stood back more relaxed, straightening out her robe as she looked at the odd little puppet. “Well then.. Mister Ardanious… Lets start with something simple hm? What exactly -are- you? Heh… and please no need to be so formal:call me Lily.” This naturally got some confused looks from Mollith which Lily tried to explain away best she could.

“Most Dolls can’t talk my dear… so that makes Mr Arandious… lets say special”

Mollith tilted her head a little, not entirely sure about what Lily was asking. “He’s my best friend” She answers for the doll in a tone that depicted confusion. She thought that Lily knew that already.

“What I am… Is exactly as Mollith so eloquently put it… Is her friend…” He could see that this answer was not really going to sit too well with the woman, so he expanded his explanation a little. “Have you ever wished for something? Wished so hard it hurt?” He turned his head towards the young girl who looked saddened by his words. She looked down and tried to repress the memories again. “Mollith has… And me? I’m the one who granted that wish. Justardanious of the 7th circle, at your service.” The doll bows a little, though it seems almost as though he’s mocking the tradition.

Wished so hard it hurt… oh more times then she could count.

But she wasn’t exactly impressed either, a brow quirked and sleeves crossed. She wasn’t about to be insulted by his mockery though… given tradition was often something she mocked herself. Better that he have a sense of humor…

“Hm…I don’t really need to guess ‘7th circle of what’ do I?” Though a demon of -Violence- didn’t exactly sound pleasant either… assuming he was even telling the truth on that.

“… Well it’s a pleasure Justardanious. From what I’ve been told we apparently have a common enemy…which you seem to know a darn lot more about then I do. Who exactly are the ‘Others’? Who’s Summoning them? Why? My brother can’t be behind this…a pig-headed idiot he may be…but monster summoning didn’t really seem his thing five years ago… and certainly not now.”

“It’s Not exactly my area of expertise… but there’s a good few ‘ancient evils’ who’ve been called by that name….’The others’”

She tilted her head just a bit as she made her little joke “As well as a terrible trope of bards…. that… I’d almost rather an ancient evil over…but I guessing it isn’t them then.”

(yeah my posting rate is going to go down down downish. Don’t expect quick responces)

(Alright, I have skipped some posts to don’t waste too much time, so no wonder I go out of context in a detail or two.)

The makar finally arrived from his hunt while hapilly holding two big salmons in each hand. Since he met a bear’s remains of a corpse, he decided to try fiding a river. Since most of his comrades were cats and even Dave ate his salmon before, he didn’t really minded on looking for something else. Finding out that the stream from before conected with the river, he followed it back to where Lily, Mollith and Lieselotte were at.

He was still too far away to be heard or seen, but the Lord’s acute hearing could catch barely some of the doll’s words. A familiar white glow appeared under the knight’s cape. It was his sword reacting to the dark presence, like the last time he were almost blinded.
No, I’m not going to mess things up again because of you!
He hid himself in the woods near the stream and made his way to reach them unnoticed. Altough the white glow became stronger after getting near the doll and it seemed that Makar was engulfed in some kind of white aura, he remained away enough to don’t be spotted and be able to hear their conversation clearly. After listening to Lily’s questions, he closed his eyes and concentrated on listening to the answer.

Our archer sat placidly on a stone near the middle of the camp. He listened as everyone talked of what to do next, arguing over whether they should use a sneak attack, or perhaps try and talk to the solders.

He held his arms crossed in front of his chest and thought about it as Mollith was awakened from her nightmare. Instinctively he had reached for his bow, but quickly went back to his calm sitting position when it was apparent that he could do nothing to help the young girl. As he set there quietly trying to come up with a plan, you could practically see his mental gears fighting to get started.

Hmm, we don’t really want to use the distraction method, and the water one doesn’t sound half bad…..Or we could let Lily talk to them but that seems like a good way to get her killed….The archer sighed as he tried to come up with a plan, any plan, of action.

Before this I wouldn’t have cared a thing about trying to save as many people as we could but it’s amazing what a few days with this group can do to you…He sighed as he laid back down on his back and began looking to the sky again. Without meaning to he began searching the clouds for help.

Heh, that one looks like a tree, and there is a large ship. And that one over there looks like…He trailed off as the gears started catching. If you really could peek into his mind, his synapses would be firing like crazy. He smiled as he thought he might have a plan that would actually work.It might not be perfect, but it would work…

Trying to quell her worries about the geomancer entering battle, Susanna looks around. Lily seems to be deep in conversation with Mollith, but the breeze is blowing the wrong way for Susanna to hear anything. Turning her head back again, she notices Paulson lying on his back on a large rock, grinning like a salmon-covered kitten.

With a quick glance at Amaja, still waiting patiently for others’ instuctions, she wanders over to the womanising archer. With a quick rap to the pectorals, she asks suspiciously, “What are you so happy about? You’re looking way too content for someone preparing for an assault. Hope you’re not planning to bail out on us,” she adds as an afterthought.

The archer was awaken from his daydreams by the writer. After listen to her a short bit he grinned widely and shook his head. Not a chance. In fact I may have thought up a plan to help us out here.

He sat up and crossed his legs while resting his hands on his knee caps.Everyone is trying to figure out what to do next, but instead of arguing about the plans, we should combine them. Have you wondered why the team is so against the idea of using a distraction?

Mollith picked Justardanious up off her shoulder and clutched him close to her chest. The doll seemed almost as though it didn’t notice, aside from the fact that it stroked her arm a little, reassuringly. She didn’t say anything. But she was clearly uncomfortable still. “I think that it’s best you don’t ask about my old home yes…” He grinned a little, almost daring her to use the word demon in front of the child.

“The Others are being summoned by agents of Siilitie. Who’s calling the shots? How should I know. It’s your job to keep track of your country Princess, not mine” He scoffed a little at the insinuation that he would lower himself to caring about mortal politics. “As for who they are?” He pries the young girls grip free, causing her to pull her arms back suddenly, looking a little shocked. She watched as he hopped onto the ground and picked up a small stick. Mollith’s face looked terrified to be separated from the doll while someone else stood so close, but she dared not question Justardanious.

He drew an old symbol in the dirt. Ancient. But Siilitie in origin. A lost language, even to most scholars of the country. “You recognize this right?” He slung the stick over his shoulder like a sword held by a warrior. “The Others were your people’s greatest warriors. Loyal to the end. But one day they fought an opponent that didn’t just lay down before them. They were slaughtered, and now their souls are restless, wishing to make up for their failure.” He snapped the twig in half over his small soft knee and tossed the fragments aside. “Suffice it to say… I don’t particularly want these folk coming back… They’re savage. They’re dangerous…” He grinned. “And they hold very long grudges…”

Sight or no, Justardanious could sense the presence of something as powerful with holy energy as the Sword Of Light coming a mile off. He chose to ignore it however, though he did motion for Lily to lean in closer so he could whisper to her. Mollith’s fingers gripped her skirt so tight her knuckles turned white, as she watched the two come close, but not touch. “Just so we’re clear… I won’t take too kindly to you blabbing about me to anyone… And the same goes for Mr. Stealth over there…” He walks back to Mollith, allowing her to relax a little more as he jumps up and sits on her knee. “Now then. Was there any other curiosities that you needed cleared up?” He asked, reclining back in a relaxed manner.

Susanna lets her suspicions slide a little as the archer sits up. Unlikely as it seemed, perhaps the feline lecher had a decent idea.

“Go on…”

Paulson smiles at Susanna actually listening to him and continues. Well as far as I can tell, everyone is worried that sending a distraction will alert them that people are in the woods. Well sending an obvious one might,He tilts his head towards the weird looking cat known as Carter. But what if we sent a less extravagant one? Someone you could see walking through the woods?

He leaned forward and grinned like a mad man.

Lily listened patiently and silently. Just absorbing every word as it was given, fidgeting with one her more solid wood charms in one hand. The symbol bringing thoughts of old books she hadn’t read since a child…when it came to history social traditions were where she excelled at…but there were still bits and pieces of the rest that she remembered…

When it came to Lord Makar well… if it had been Theresa, or Paulson, or our block nosed assassin she might have not noticed… but lord Makar wasn’t exactly a master of stealth.

…. she should have seen about getting someone to drag the boy off… he already ruined her chance at this discussion once.. but twice? It didn’t help that the doll saw him too.

She sighed at the mention of him as she leaned in whispering back “…To be fair my dear… I’m pretty sure they’ve already guessed… they’re a naive daft lot” her eyes naturally going towards where Lord makar once stood “but they aren’t -that- slow… still…those outside our little group won’t hear of it…” she leaned back up again “Questions Questions… hm just a few more…” she rubbed the back of her head looking about as if she had to find it first “…..remind me… who ‘was’ this one opponent that they couldn’t beat? Can’t really be all that great if one man slaughtered them all can they?”

Justardanious grinned a wide grin as she asked him her question. “A little slow on the uptake there Princess…” He continued to insist on calling her by her title. “There’s a reason why I answered Mollith’s call in this form you know” He winked slyly. Mollith stammered a little.

“B-because you wanted me to carry you everywhere right?” The doll didn’t respond, merely grinning at Lily in a somewhat twisted way. Mollith didn’t press the matter, merely sinking a little lower in her posture, staring at the ground to the side.

It took Carter a few moments to realize that their plans were very similar to what they had to deal with last time he was here. He suddenly shuddered and half-frowned.

“Wait, don’t tell me this is another ‘adventure…’” Carter trailed off. “You know, the ones where bad things happen? I can’t believe this happened again,” his voice grew soft during his last sentence, casting a bit of regret that he was probably going to have to risk his life again.

Makar didn’t took long to notice they knew he was there, since they seemed to start wispering to each other.
Not again!! That’s it! I’d better stay away and let Lily do her work alone. Later I ask her what to do…
He grabbed the four salmons and headed back to the campsite. The glow started to fade as he took distance from the three. Arriving, he apologized for being away for so long.
Sorry, everyone… the hunt didn’t ended up as I expected, so I needed an alternative plan. At least these salmons are enough for every—
He stopped talking as he spotted an awkward-looking cat.
Carter? I didn’t saw you since that weird trick with the box! You just vanished for really long, so I expected you travelled to far away lands.
He turned his attention to Paulson, wondering what was him talking about.
What’s your plan, Paulson?

Albert walks up to Paulson and the group as they continue talking to eachover
I’ve heard that we’re finally going to start moving on again.
What all this talk of plans though?
Do we even have a plan yet?

Susanna leans equally far forward, to avoid being heard by the approaching ex-jester.

“I think he’s seen this one coming. You’d better fasttalk your way out of this, genius, else we’ll either have one less party member, or worse,” she watches Carter imagine the dangers and considers him striding nobly; he could probably manage nobbly, “we’ll have one extra peacock.”

She notices Makar and Albert arrive as she says this, and colours slightly, hoping they didn’t hear that last bit.

Paulson started to talk again when Albert interrupted him and he gave the knight a good nature huff. That’s what I’m trying to explain. Ya see I was thinking this, a random cat wandering out of the woods in not a good idea. But a huntsman walking out of the woods might receive a second glance but would not cause to much alarm. And if this huntsman is a good natured fellow with an ear for music, well who would object to sharing a bit of their noontime meal with them in exchange for some songs to go along with their food? The archer shrugged with a smile on his face that changed to a devilish grin.

And if while the musician is distracting them, a flash flood rolls by, well then that’s all just fate.

“Oh, hi, Makar…” Cartar waved his hands weakly, but then noticed how awkward his posture must seem. He straightened himself up and rubbed the back of his neck. Wanting to show an act of good faith, he walked up to Makar and offered his hand to shake.

“So you didn’t mean Carter? Phew.”

Susanna politely indicates to Carter that his - no doubt highly enjoyable - presence is not required for the moment. She turns back.

“So you’d do all that on your own? With no backup?”

Paulson shrugged. Sure why not? I’m a fairly strong swimmer and I would know it was coming. Besides it’s highly likely if we do nothing I’ll die anyways so why not go on my own terms?

He smiled widely and puffed out his chest. We have been pretty lucky so far, who knows maybe our luck will last a bit longer.

The Lord turned his attention to Carter, giving him the handshake.
Well, there’s a long time I don’t see you, so it’s good to have your support once again.
Looking back to Paulson, he frowned in concern.
It’s quite risky, don’t you think? It may not work… He smiled. but if you’re so confident, what can I do about it, right?

“Hmm.. I was worried that might be the answer” Lily said grimly, though she was smart enough to realize this could be another bluff…you could only trust a devil so much after all. But….her little nose bleed earlier made her wonder….

But it was clear he wasn’t being completely honest here… if he were really free to act on his own he’d have done so by now…and the little girl was terrible cover. The murder spree at the town was NOT the act of someone trying to hide. There was more to this then ‘picking a form to hide’… some sort of deal or curse that forced him to act through the girl…but there was no way he’d tell her the truth of that.

Lily reached out again, not for the doll, but for her owner, messing up the poor girls hair a second time and giving one of those friendly smiles. “Almost done my dear don’t worry….”

“… just one more thing Justardanious….” she pulled her hand away, her face growing serious as she stared down at the puppet

“Just a little knit pick I know but… the town. The town you first saw us? What did you do to the towns-folk? Not the soldiers, or the guard… the people who lived there. Sailors, shop-keepers, Families…. children”

Paulson smiled at Makar before snatching up a stick laying by his rock and jumping up to stand on the large stone.

And while I swim for my life, you knights and such will come rushing forward to get the remaining solders and guards. He began waving the stick around in an extravagant manner hoping to lift the camp’s sprites.

Upon receiving the handshake, Carter held on tight, turned Makar’s hand so the palm faces up, and threw his hand up. Surprisingly, another flower bound its way into Makar’s hand. it stood on its stem for a second before falling off and fluttering its way to the ground.

“Ta-dah!” Carter beamed, hoping to get a positive response.

Paulson noticed the odd cat performing tricks and quickly forgot about his own show to lean down and stare in amazement at his ‘powers’.

Whoa! How did you do that? I don’t know that much about magic but that was amazing!

Mollith looked up at Lily as she tussled the young girls hair again. She seemed far more distraught than she should be, even for the current situation, but she didn’t say anything. She simply looked down again. Justardanious stood up on Mollith’s lap and turned around, as though her were about to climb onto her shoulder again before Lily asked her last question. He stopped where he stood and turned his head with a grin. “Mollith and I played with them” He said said simply. Immediately after this, he fell limp in the girls lap, looking like just another ordinary doll once again. Seemingly impossible for it to move or talk…

After a few moments, Mollith stood up and looked at Lily, gripping the doll tightly. “Ummm… Miss… Miss Lily…” She startled the woman by using her real name, but she seemed to be searching for the right words. “Mr. Ardanious… He’s… He’s my best friend… My only friend…” She sniffled a little. “Please don’t take him from me!” She begged with her eyes. It seemed that she feared not that the woman would try and steal the doll, but that she would replace Mollith as Justardanious’s friend and companion.

“Would you like to see?” Carter held his other hand out, offering another handshake. At the same times he eyed the others around him, wondering how this new group was formed.

Once more distracted by Carter’s antics, he smirked, altough tried to remain serious.
As always, you proved to be a talented jester…
The knight sighed and turned his gaze to Paulson once more.
I hope your plan works, altough it should have some kind of cover… a second plan in case this one don’t work.

Susanna turns to one side, away from Carter, and cupping her hands out of sight forms a black rose, a gleaming obsidian dagger and an ornamental jet ring in turn. Her ego restored, she lets the ring melt away, and turns to listen to Carter.

Paulson looked at Makar. Okay, make a back up plan if you want.

He quickly turned his attention back to Carter and took his hand.

(Swear to god if it’s a joy buzzer Zoomy&hellip

(HOW’D YOU KNOW? )

*ZAAAAAAP!!!*

Paulson’s mind went blank as his hand vibrated and smarted. Carter giggled to himself and finally let go, the pain removing itself almost immediately afterward.

“Icarus fell for that too!” Carter mentioned.

Makar nodded and turned his attention away from his four comrades, looking to someone else to ask if there were anymore plans.
Carter is a predicable distraction, but I doubt the Royal Army of Siilitie would invite an unknown archer with a flute to sing while they eat… I don’t approve head-on assaults… Theresa and McCardell could be a good cover for Paulson’s sake…

(Argh damn you!!)

Paulson quickly pulled his hand back and inspected it closely before giving the odd cat a glare.

Paulson trust has lowered by 10 points.

It was the answer she was expecting of course. Eyes sinking towards the ground a shadow going over her face, just letting her arms hang there as the doll made his finally words and went limp once more.

She stayed like that for those first few moments, only looking up again as the little girl spoke. Her face full of pity… grim, miserable, and sad, only going further as the girl shouted. “… No, no, no my dear… he isn’t your only friend…”

He isn’t your friend at all

She hesitated at first wanting to just hug the poor thing…but she… that wretched little thing hanging from the girls arm not a welcoming. All she could do is lay a hand on her shoulder, her face brightening up some “… It’s alright my dear you have nothing to worry about…. I… have a few things I need to deal with.. grown up stuff again I know terrible terrible..” a finger raising the girls chin but all Lily managed this time was her friendly smile….before stepping back….thinking for a few seconds before suddenly pulling off the odd black hat from her head and planting it over that sea of brown… just maybe having slipped a snack or two in there too ;p

“I’ll be back in a little while my dear. i’m sure… Liesollette and… Mr. Ardanious will keep you company..”

Lily turning away at that note, no doubt getting to give the vampire a nod as she appeared, the white feline certainly not being far. “Keep an eye on her would you? I… have a few things I need to think over.”

Makar stopped in the middle of his thoughts when he noticed he was still holding the salmons and frowned. He smiled and walked back to the others. After listening to Carters comment, he lifted the four fishes above the jester’s head and released them.
Just like our food fell for the gravity.
He saluted and walked away once more.

Carter was in the zone now. He pulled from his pocket a pack of some odd-looking sheets of plastic. After closer inspection, one could find out that they were some foreign kind of playing cards. He took a glance at the front and back of the cards, but then stopped, giving a sort of confused look to Paulson.

“I was supposed to do something cool…” He scratched his head with his right hand, leaving the left hand to hold the cards. “What was it again…?” He dropped the deck with his left hand and used it to rub his chin. Surprisingly, the deck plummeted all of an inch before it magically started to flow in thin air in front of him.

(HURP DURP PARLOR TRICKS ARE FUN)

Paulson’s anger disappeared as he watched to cards, trying not to show his wonder. He smiled as Makar released the fish and shot him a thumbs up.

“…What?” Carter seemed oblivious to the whole affair. He looked left, right, then down at the cards. “…WAIT!” His shout seemed to cause the cards to fall, but Carter managed to catch them before they hit the ground. “Phew… That was close,” he wiped his brow and put the cards back in his pocket.

Instead he pulled out an awkwardly small silver coin out - bearing the face of someone who looked like a complete idiot.