Crowley gave a loud, fake, exaggerated yawn. 'Yeah yeah, you have /some/ freedom, but you still have to go running back the second Dianne pulls your leash. Wow, I'd hate to have your life... err, afterlife.'

'I'm a lot faster than you,' said Armin. 'You might not have been able to hit him. And hey, if I want to punch bad guys, I will.'

Barnabas: "Hate all you want, but it's still a hell of a lot better than what you got. Your own parents disowned you, you have no friends, judging by how you smell, you live in a dump, and no one, and I mean no one, thinks you're cool."

Dianne: "All I was saying is that you had your chance to punch him and I want a turn."
{Chuckling, she pats his back.}

Pythia: "Can we please go now? I don't want to wait around for Crowley to come back..."

'Oh, go suck it, doggy boy,' said Crowley with just a hint of annoyance. 'I /do/ have friends. And I'm happy with what I do. Much better than being /owned/ by someone.'

And with a grin, he disappeared from sight.

'Yeah, let's go,' said Armin, turning towards the truck and beginning to climb in.

{Barnabas floats there for a moment, contemplating.}

Barnabas: "Wow, what an a$$hole. He thinks he can just blin away from me? I'm going to find him in my spare time and make his life miserable."

{Dianne gets into the truck with Esme, followed by Pythia.}

The truck set on its way back to Fred's house. Esme was visibly keeping as far from Armin as possible in the limited space, seeming to smell the blood on his sweater.

{Seeing Esme's distress, Dianne holds her close and kisses her head, trying to comfort her.}

Esme sat quietly, ears pressed back, but accepting the comfort. Armin opened a window to let more fresh air in.

After a few minutes, they pulled up outside Fred's house. Ryder was still lying near the front door, though he was now eating what looked like an entire roast chicken.

{Pythia climbs out of the truck, then goes to the passenger window.}

Pythia: "Well, other then that business with Crowley, I think that was a productive outing."

Dianne: "Yes, I agree. I'll come by in a few days and we'll discuss in detail what remedies I'll make for you."

Pythia: "Great! I'll be looking forward to it. You three be safe."

Dianne: "You too."

{Pythia then walks up to Fred's house, greeting Ryder along the way.}

Fred opened the door to let Pythia in, while Ryder amicably continued gnawing on his chicken after greeting her.

Armin lifted a hand in a goodbye gesture, then turned the truck around and started back up the road towards home.

{Dianne remained silent as they drove along, absently cuddling Esme.}

(The grand Seer will arrive when Dianne goes over to Fred's again. Well, we can skip to the screening of Sargon 2: Off the Rails, the do the Janet thing. XD)

(Poorly timed comment deletion and repost, yay! XD
OK, let's skip to evening. XD Shall I start or you?)

(You go. XD)

----

As dinner time came around, everyone fell into their usual positions; Armin was leaning back on the couch, and Esme was watching the TV while she waited for dinner to come. Rex was absent, but he could he heard practising guitar in his room, the music faintly audible over the TV.

{Dianne was in the kitchen, cooking pan fried fish. Once it was done, she came into the living room with a plate for herself and a plate for Esme.}

Dianne: "So, what's on tonight?"

With a look of eager interest, Armin acquired himself a plate of fish and sat down to start eating. Esme also took to her meal with obvious relish.

'I haven't seen much on yet,' said Armin, picking up the remote and flipping through channels. 'Maybe there's another documentary or daft action movie on.'

Dianne: "Alright, let's see."

{As Armin flipped through the channels, the screen briefly showed the actor of Sargon from the movie they saw on the mountain.}

Dianne: "Wait, what was that?"

Armin backtracked until he found the channel again. The screen showed Sargon walking down a quiet country road, towards what appeared to be Dianne's house. It was quite accurate to the real one, though obviously shot in a different location. Calm music played in the background as he approached the house.

'What's this supposed to be?' said Armin, nose wrinkled at the sight of Sargon's actor.

{Dianne squints at the scene before her.}

Dianne: "Is that supposed to be my house? What the heII is this?"

As Sargon walked up, the door was opened by what appeared to be Dianne. She was shorter than the real version, and her hair seemed to be a long black wig.

'What the heII are you doing here? Everyone thinks you died in the Shacklestone War!' she said.

'I know the danger,' said Sargon. 'But, I had to come and see you. It's been so long since we could spend time together...'

Armin choked on a bit of fish and started coughing.

{Dianne was speechless. Her face locked in an expression of disgust and horror. She was gripping her fork so tightly that she was bending it.}

Dianne: "What. The. F$&k?!"

Armin looked like he wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh, or wanted to bleach his eyes. As the two actors started to lean closer to each other, he swiftly grabbed the remote and flipped to a random channel.

'...Well, OK then... Someone has some weird plot ideas...'

{Dianne looked livid at this point, her face white and her eyes hateful. Slowly, she turns to look at Armin.}

Dianne: "Who made this? Who would /dare/ slander my name in such a manner? To suggest that I had /any/ relationship with that disgusting /freak/! I will strike them down with the cruelest of plagues! Any and all associated with that picture will rue the day!"

Armin glanced at her briefly, before turning back to his food. 'Well, you can look up who created it and curse them if you like. I won't stop you. Urgh, that was nasty... Whoever came up with that /and/ the Ana one is into some weird stuff...'

{Still seething, she looks at her fork, only to see that it was rent. Throwing it down in frustration, she gets up and storms off to get another from the kitchen, muttering angrily in the process.}

Dianne: "...f&$king b$&st€rds....they used my likeness unlawfully....Should slaughter them all..."

{Sitting back down with her new utensil, she speaks a little less infuriated.}

Dianne: "Hit the info, please. I need names if I'm casting curses..."

(Lmao, how would Ana react to this movie?)

(She might just throw up out of pure rage and disgust, pfff.)

Armin resumed eating his fish while looking at the movie information.

'Well, there's the guy in charge... Jacob Dawson... Apparently he wrote the script for both this and the other Sargon movie. And there's the main actors, too... Wonder why anyone would actually agree to star in this crap.' He rubbed his jaw. 'It's going to take me a while to shift those images...'

Dianne: "Jacob Dawson...he must be destroyed...."

{Dianne continues to eat, still looking rather steamed.}

Dianne: "Huh...the description says that, after Sargon is presumed dead, Ana sparks an old flame with his right hand man...You don't think that means...?"

Armin paused for a moment to absorb the description, then his expression shifted to disgust.

'...Eurgh. If that means what it sounds like... then ew. No.' Nose wrinkled with distaste, he continued eating. 'Is there anyone in the damn organisation who people haven't speculated me sleeping with?'

Dianne: "That's the first speculation I've heard about..."

{She grumbles unenthusiastically.}

Dianne: "Why the heII would they make this? And without our consent? They copied my house, so they clearly knew who I was."

'Believe me, I've heard plenty. Especially when I was still there.' Finishing his dinner, Armin put the plate aside and resumed flipping through channels.

'Well, the story of the Shacklestone War has become pretty well-known. Lots of people have heard about it, speculated the details, become interested in the people involved... I'm not surprised they want to do things like this.'

Dianne: "I don't care that they want to do this, they should have the decency to ask us first!"

Barnabas: "Hold on, change it back for a second."

Dianne: "Why?!"

Barnabas: "I want to see if superhunk Armin actually hits it off with Ana."

'We're not watching that, I'll be sick,' said Armin. He seemed less horrified by the movie than Dianne was, though not exactly pleased either. 'Can we just pretend that abomination doesn't exist now?'

Dianne: "Gladly."

Barnabas: "I'm going to save screenshots of it on your phone and make it your wallpaper." :D

'If you say so. I can just change it back again.' Getting far away from the movie channels, Armin stopped on a nature documentary. He then settled back comfortably into the couch.

{Having finished eating, Dianne puts her plate aside and leans back, trying to relax after the movie enraged her.}

Dianne: "...Yeah, I think I'll need a back rub tonight...gods, that was infuriating..."

'Hey, that's the cost of fame. People making weird fiction about you,' said Armin with a grin. He leaned against her affectionately. 'I'll give you one, don't worry.'

{Dianne eyes him briefly, then pulls him into a hug.}

Dianne: "I don't want to end up like that one blue hedgehog...terrible things, they write about that one..."

(Is that a Sonic the Hedgehog reference? XD)

'Eh, all I've seen so far is a couple of weird movies. That being said, I'm not about to go online and search either of our names on fan fiction websites... Or Ana's. Or Sargon's.'

(Yes. XD They do write terrible things about him.)

Barnabas: "As soon as Rex is away from his computer, I'm totally searching that."

Dianne: "Barnabas, shut up..."

(I've heard. XD)

Ignoring Barnabas, Armin settled more comfortably against Dianne and watched the TV. Esme was still watching quietly, having not understood the horror that ensued when everyone saw the movie.

//There was something I meant to do today... wasn't there?// he mused. The thought made his stomach lurch slightly. //I almost wish I'd forgotten about that...//

{Unaware of Armin's forgotten task, Dianne happily sat with Armin, watching the nature documentary.}

Armin seemed content to lean against her for a while. After about forty minutes, when the current documentary had finished, he sighed and closed his eyes.

'OK... how tired are you? Do you want to go to bed now, or can you stay up a bit later to... help me with something?'

{Dianne looks at him quizzically.}

Dianne: "I can help you with anything you need. What do you need help with?"

'Well... we talked about it earlier, remember? I want you to help me with the spell so I can see Janet... If I keep putting it off, I'll never get around to it... And Death's Aspect wouldn't like that...'

Dianne: "Oh, right...Yes, I can do that. Do you want to do that now?"

Armin shifted off of her. 'Yeah... I might as well... Shall I go and get the object?'

Dianne: "Ok. Get the object and meet me in the store room."

{Getting up, Dianne heads first to the kitchen to get a lighter and a plate, then heads upstairs to the store room.}

Dianne: "Barnabas, watch Esme for a minute."

With an unenthusiastic, nervous air, Armin followed her upstairs. Going into the bedroom, he retrieved the small, gold ring that had once belonged to his wife. He then entered the storeroom, glancing around.

'Why in here?'

Dianne: Partly for privacy. Mostly because spirits can be hard to see in a well lit room. Give me the ring once you're ready."

Armin handed the ring over without saying anything, shutting the storeroom door behind him. Without the light coming in from the hallway, the room became quite dark.

{Taking the ring, Dianne places it into the plate. She then lights the lighter and puts the plate on her stone altar. Whispering into the flame, the flame becomes green. Dianne then sets the ring on fire. Despite being made of metal, the ring seems to burn, degrading into nothing.}

Dianne: "Janet, come forth. By Death's will, I summon you. The living are not done with you yet."

{With her words, Janet is pulled from the afterlife.}

For a moment, Armin couldn't see anything. Then, the shape of a person appeared, with the ghostly, transparent aspect of a spirit. She had long brown hair, somewhat greying and braided back. Her eyes were green, and she was wearing a white raincoat splattered with old paint stains. She was about a foot shorter than Armin and looked around the same age.

Armin had positioned himself to the side of the room, and Janet appeared facing Dianne, so she didn't seem to notice him at first. She blinked in confusion.

'...Who are you?' she said. 'Where is this?'

Dianne: "Hello, Janet. I'm Dianne. I'm an acolyte of Death who's just summoned you from the afterlife. There's someone who wants to talk to you."

{She then nods to Armin.}

(Will post a fresh new room to continue this)