Armin blinked a little. 'Sorry. I wasn't mocking you, I was just joking around...'

He resumed eating his dinner in silence.

{A few minutes later, Dianne had finished and took away the plates. Sitting back down, she turns to Armin.}

Dianne: "Well, we ought to think about getting over to my place soon."

'Yes, very soon. I don't know how long this ritual will take, but we're probably going to be getting to bed rather late tonight.'

Dianne: "I'm not sure. It's not going to take that long, I don't think. I just gotta say some lines, walk around a little bit, pour some water into a dish, and then we should be done."

'Eh, you're probably right. It won't take long.' Armin leaned back more comfortably on the couch, stretching his legs out and yawning. 'Just let me know when you're ready to leave.'

{Dianne leans forward and kisses his forehead. She then heads upstairs to get ready. She comes back in with his jacket and a shirt and jeans.}

Dianne: "Been a while since I wore these. Alright, ready when you are."

Armin eyed her appreciatively as he pulled himself up off the couch. 'You look good in those. Alright, let's head off.'

Going over to the front hall, he began to put his shoes on, calling out telepathically to Rex, to ask him to watch Esme and let her go to bed if she got tired.

{Dianne chuckles at that.}

Dianne: "Oh, you're just saying that because you want me to wear these more often."

'I won't deny that.' Smirking, he leaned over to kiss her cheek, before opening the door and walking out to the truck. 'You do look good in casual clothes. Especially when you tie your hair back too. It's kind of hot.'

Dianne: "Is that so?"

{She asks, smiling flirtatiously.}

Dianne: "Maybe I can wear these more often, but dresses are much more comfortable."

Armin climbed up into the truck, which sprang to life in a blaze of headlights.

'I'd imagine so. But, that's just my thoughts on it.'

Dianne: "Noted. Well, for more active things, this getup is much better."

{After buckling in, she ties her hair back.}

Dianne: "There. How do I look?"

Armin, about to set off, paused and looked over at her with an amused grin.

'Great.' Impulsively, he leaned across the truck and captured her mouth in a brief, but sincere kiss.

{Surprised, Dianne blushes, remaining still momentarily.}

Dianne: "Heh...That's one way to tell me you like it. Thanks."

Letting out a slight chuckle at her reaction, Armin pulled out onto the road and set off. It was nighttime by then, the path illuminated by bright streetlamps.

'You're welcome. I just wanted to make my opinion of it clear. You like how I look in a suit; I like how you look in casual clothes.'

Dianne: "True. Although you're a lot less willing to put a suit on. What exactly is it that you have against formal attire?"

'It's not as comfortable... especially the ties. Besides, I always feel out of place in suits, like they just aren't my thing. I'm not a particularly /formal/ person.'

Dianne: "Fair enough. They do look tight. And itchy. But you look so handsome in them."

'I don't mind wearing them for special occasions. Like if we ever go to a ball or something,' said Armin, slightly amused by the idea. 'You'll get to see it sometimes, just not every day.'

Dianne: "Of course. You're lucky, however. It's soon going to be far too cold for dresses, so you'll probably see this getup more often."

Armin smiled at that. 'Then I'm certainly going to be enjoying winter.'

{Dianne just eyes him, amused.}

Dianne: "Is that so? Guess winter won't be so miserable this time around."

'Oh, yeah. You probably hated winter most years... Well, I'll try to make sure you enjoy it this year, at least in some way. Can't stop it from snowing, though.'

Dianne: "I'm sure it'll be great. I have Esme, and I have you as my personal heater."

{She says, chuckling.}

'Well, I'm perfectly happy to be that,' he said with amusement.

The city seemed less busy the further they drove, making their way to the northern outskirts. The roads were quieter now.

{Dianne falls silent after that, content to wait for arrival.}

Some time later, they reached the much darker rural outskirts, and came upon Dianne's house. It looked somewhat ominous, standing tall, dark and empty at the edge of a country road.

Armin parked outside, the truck headlights revealing two figures seemingly waiting for them in the yard. Gail was clearly nervous but trying to pass it off as nonchalance. Luxia looked completely at ease, smiling as she waited.

{Seeing them, Dianne sighs and steps out.}

Dianne: "You know you didn't actually have to be here, right?"

'Oh, really? Whyever not? This is about us too! Let's make a party of it!' said Luxia brightly. 'I could hop down to the nearest KFC and get refreshments.'

Gail folded her arms grumpily. 'Yeah, I don't wanna be here. If you don't need us, we'll go home now.'

Dianne: "I mean, it's cold out, and I'd hate for you to have to walk all the way back. I'll just do the ritual and we'll drive you back."

'You think we /walked/ here? Nah, we took a portal,' said Gail.

'I skateboarded,' said Luxia proudly. 'Anyhow, it would be very silly to come over here for nothing. So, let us go inside and let them do their demonic arts, then we'll go home.'

'As long as this isn't gonna take long...' Gail grumbled.

Dianne: "Oh...Ok, then, let's go inside."

{With that, she leads the way inside.}

Armin followed, with Luxia and Gail a little way behind. Thankfully, the old woman was being fairly quiet, seeming content to just watch what happened.

{Dianne led them to an unused room, where she had set up candles, incense, five stones in a circles, and a large bowl with a pitcher. She proceeds to light the candles and incense.}

Dianne: "Ok, everyone, please sit quietly in the corner as I perform the ritual."

(Ok, this can go three ways:

1: Dianne performs the ritual, the torment stops, and things go relatively normal.

2: The Aspect shows up before the ritual can be completed, strips Dianne of her power temporarily, so it can continue tormenting Gail and Luxia for about another day.

3: The Aspect shows up to actively torment Gail and Luxia while the ritual is being performed, and will stop once the ritual is complete.

Any thoughts?)

(I guess the second or third one, but I'm unsure which. Depends how much you want to ruin Dianne's evening. XD I'll let you choose.)

Armin slowly slid down the wall and sat down, his eyes on the candles. He didn't much like the scent of the incense. It was very strong to a vampire's sense of smell.

Gail practically dragged Luxia into the corner, muttering at her to stay quiet.

(I'm going to do 3. I think it would be a bit too hard on Armin if I did 2. She'd fall unconscious and not wake up until the morning, which would probably freak him out. XD)

{Picking up the pitcher, she begins. She starts at the end of the room, speaking in ancient Ferrosian. About halfway through the first speech, the unmistakable aura of the aspect falls over the room, along with a hole of critters and decayed mass opening up in the wall. Stuttering a little, Dianne looks at the hole, terror creeping into her face. However, she looks away and continues.}

Armin violently bounded up from where he was sitting. The hole, which had spiders coming from it, had opened up fairly close to where he'd been. He sidled away, breathing hard and scraping his fingers through his hair to make sure nothing was in it.

'Oh, I smell the essence of Bob,' Luxia mumbled from her corner. Gail had also stood up, and was inching closer to the door.

{The Aspect crawls out of the hole and immediately bee lines for Gail, hobble sprinting for her.}

Aspect: "In mY dOmaIn, you aRe noT WelCome! CoMe! FaCE JuDgemEnt!"

Gail yelped and sprung for the door. 'Jesus, why's it always come for ME? Attack the old hag who caused this crap!' she exclaimed, although she didn't actually want Luxia to be harmed.

Luxia drew upon her magic and summoned a fountain of colourful confetti, which she proceeded to fling over the Aspect.

{The Aspect stopped in its tracks, looking absolutely bewildered as it inspected the confetti.}

Aspect: "WhaT?....yOu sEek to sTop mE wiTh....CoLorFul PapEr?"

Luxia gave a wide, beaming smile. 'Well, it worked, didn't it!' she said proudly. Gail was standing in the doorway, one hand gripping the handle, ready to slam it and bolt.

Armin stood in a corner, watching the Aspect with alarm and fear written on his face. He didn't seem willing, or able, to get any closer to it.

{Dianne continued with the ritual, stepping to the first of five stones. She was visibly shaking, but was doing her best to keep it together and perform the ritual. From behind Gail came a skeletal hand, gripping her shoulder. There were now two Aspects.}

Aspect 2: "WRONG!"

{Grabbing Gail by the hair with its other hand, it begins to drag her back into the room. The first Aspect is too busy picking the confetti off of itself to pay much attention.}

Gail starting yelling a mixture of terrified swears and threats at the second Aspect. Luxia just shook her head with disappointment.

'Bob,' she said firmly, 'I would appreciate if you kept your hands off my apprentice. It's damn hard to find good ones.'

Raising her hands, she drew water vapour out of the air and used it to form thick, jagged ice around the second Aspect's legs and feet, as if she were trying to freeze it to the floor.

{The second Aspect simply looks down at the ice and laughs, easily pulling itself free. Proceeding to ignore Luxia, it grabs Gail by the ankle and holds her upside down. Reaching into its rib cage, it produces an araneo, no larger than two feet long, and proceeds to hold it in front of Gail's face.}

Aspect: "SuBmit, GuArdiAn! You aRe BeaTen!"

'I'M NOT HER DAMN GUARDIAN, YOU F**KING FREAK!' Gail yelled at the Aspect's face, while eyeing the araneo nervously. She didn't much like it, but Armin's reaction was worse. He backed further into the corner, tensing and staring at the spider.

Luxia was mumbling to herself, seemingly trying to decide what spell to try next.

{The Aspect laughs, inching the spider closer to her face, before turning to notice Armin.}

Aspect: "Oh, sOrRy..."

{The Aspect discards the Araneo, prompting it to scuttle away into the house. It then produces a giant scorpion.}

Aspect: "Is thIs bEtTer, amAtEotl?

Armin grimaced and remained firmly pressed into his corner, not quite knowing what to make of the Aspect's response. At least the scorpion didn't scare him.

'HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DO THIS EFFING RITUAL?!' Gail exclaimed, eyeing the scorpion's barbed tail warily.

{Dianne did not answer, as if she stopped now, she'd have to start over. The Aspect, however, replied.}

Aspect: "ShE muSt cOmplEte tHe fIve CreAtIons, theN PrEPaRe tHe SiXth...A LiFetIme oF Torment in TweNty MinUtes."

As Gail launched into another bout of foul language, Luxia spoke.

'Honestly, Bob, you know you're going to lose in the end. Why don't you be a gentleman and run along now?' With a surge of magic, she transformed the Aspect's scorpion into a white ferret.

{The Aspect looks at the ferret, then lets it down.}

Aspect: "I eNd aLl tHiNgs. AlL PasS through mY EmbRace...I caNnot lOse...."

{Now free of its confetti, the first Aspect starts to approach Luxia.}

Luxia smiled at the first Aspect as it came over.

'Hello, real Bob. There's no need to threaten anyone. Soon, the nice dragon lady will be done with her task, and you'll have to leave us alone then, won't you?' Then, in a slightly more serious tone, she added: 'I think you see, now, that you cannot scare me. Though your efforts have been admirable.'

Aspect: "so sUrE, aRe You?"

{Reaching into its ribcage, the Aspect produces something for Luxia to see. It was a dead cat. Nebula, to be exact.}

Luxia blinked several times.

'...Oh, Bob. That's not fear. The memory of Nebula's death does not frighten me; I only feel an ancient sorrow that it had to happen.' She gazed at the dead cat with a strange expression. '...Shame. Such a lovely girl...'

While the Aspect picked on Luxia, Armin just watched Dianne work, trying to ignore the creature's presence.

{Dianne looked absolutely frightened. She was trying really hard to keep it together, but despite performing the ritual perfectly, she was shaking and crying. The first Aspect chuckled, then its hand twitched. With that motion, The cat sprang to life, gasping for air as it was resurrected. it was just like Nebula, except this time, she could talk.}

(Now, I was considering actually having Nebula actually be the cat, and thus have you control it, but if you don't want to do that, it'll just spout some false statements in her voice and disintegrate.)

(Hmmm, I'll do that. She'll be pretty messed up and confused though.)

As the cat spluttered, it looked up, its huge green eyes meeting Luxia's. It gasped and spoke in what sounded like a young teenage girl's voice.

'Auntie! I didn't forget my homework, I just...' She then glanced around the room, ears twitching. 'Wait a minute, this isn't Blackthorn... Where are we? And... why do you look so /old?'/ The cat sounded close to tears. 'I can't remember anything!'

Luxia just gazed at the cat, her eyes sorrowful. 'Nebula, sweetheart, you should not be awake right now. Everything will be fine shortly.'

{With a firm hand on Nebula the Aspect laughs darkly.}

Aspect: "Go aHeAd, "AUNTIE!" tElL heR hOw yOu DoomEd heR tO tHiS FatE! HowyOu IgnOreD hEr PleAs! hOw yOU RefUsed to pAss JUDGEMENT, and cLaim her JUSTICE! TELL HER WHY SHE DIED BEFORE HER TIME!"

{Dianne was nearly done with the ritual, standing over the fifth stone.}

(Aspect is kinda a meanie tbh. :/)

'Bob, Bob. Calm down before you choke,' said Luxia vaguely. Her eyes had gone distant as if she weren't quite there anymore. 'I never knew what was happening to Nebula. I regret not finding out, but I more strongly resent my dear colleagues, who knew and yet did nothing...' She sighed. 'Were there signs all along? Did I miss them? Who knows...'

'Auntie, what is this? I don't understand!' The cat wailed. 'The last thing I remember is... is... Carter and his friends... they did some magic... and then... just nothing...'

{The Aspect turns Nebula towards itself.}

Aspect: "CaRter weEps in tHe plAne BetWeen ObLiVioNs...YoU RemEmBer nOtHing BecAuse yOu bEcAme ThIs....YouR SentIenCe StRippEd....ThE GrEAteSt InsUlt tO PaThAlOgos...aNd AunTie lEt it hApPen...YoUr bLoOd iS on hEr HanDs..."

Nebula flinched from the Aspect, unsheathing her claws and pressing her ears back in fear.

'I-I don't know what's going on... D-did I DIE? Is that wh-what Carter did? He killed me with magic?! And why am I a cat?!'

'Calm down, both of you!' Luxia huffed. 'Niece, that unpleasant boy transformed you into a cat, as a joke, no doubt - but he screwed it. So, you were stuck as a regular dumb cat until your death. I brought you home and cared for you. There, now you understand.'

Aspect: "So mUcH pOteNtiAl, cut ShOrt...Her lIfE, sQuAndeRed bY IdIoTs..."

{Dianne was in the last stage now, picking up the pitcher, pouring the water into the bowl, then putting in materials to make clay.}

Nebula wasn't really talking anymore. She was just crying, shaking her head as if to deny what she was hearing. Luxia just gazed at her, her expression distant and closed-off.

Armin shuffled a few inches out of his corner. 'Hey!' he shouted at the Aspect. 'Leave them alone, you a.ss. There's no need for this.'

{In response, the Aspect simply produces another Araneo and flings it at Armin. However, before it could continue, Dianne had finished the ritual. She was kneeling over the bowl, crying softly.}

Aspect: "Oh.....TiMe's uP."

{The second Aspect drops Gail, then starts to approach Armin and Dianne. The first one hunches over, getting in Luxia's face.}

Aspect 1: "NoW dO yOu unDeRsTanD? ThE PrIcE tO be PaId?"

Armin's eyes went wide, and he leapt sideways to avoid the thrown spider. When he saw the other Aspect getting closer, he stiffened in alarm.

Luxia gazed up at the Aspect. Her eyes were glassy, seeming to look through it. It was like she had retreated somewhere deep inside herself. 'Oh, perhaps...' she mumbled. 'And perhaps I also know that you're a big meanie.'

Aspect 1: "ShE WaRneD yOu noT to Do iT....fOol..I wIll AlwAys be wAtChinG..."

{With that, the first Aspect and Nebula disintegrate and painlessly fade from existence. The second one walks up to Armin, gently takes his hand, and hands him a hat. His father's old riding hat, to be exact.}

Luxia just continued to stare emptily ahead. Gail, after painfully picking herself up off the floor, hobbled over to her mentor and waved a hand in front of her face. Nothing happened.

Armin flinched sharply when the Aspect touched him, then blinked, staring at the object he'd been given with a look of bewilderment. 'The heII...?' //That was my dad's... At least, I think so. What does this have to do with anything?//

{After giving Armin the hat, it then walks to Dianne. She stands to face the Aspect, still looking terrified. The Aspect produces a wooden box and a smooth, white pebble and hands them to Dianne. Looking a little confused, she accepts them. The Aspect then backs up and looks to Armin and Dianne.}

Aspect: "I'm sORry. ThE pAct wIll be BetTer eNfOrcEd in tHe fUtuRe. PlEaSe AcCepT tHesE cOnsoLatiOn gIftS."

Armin just eased backwards into his corner, looking rather uneasy and confused about the whole thing. His gaze slid towards Luxia and Gail for a second.

//Wonder if I should say anything to them... That was obviously some messed-up stuff from her past that it brought up...// However, he was more concerned about Dianne, and the Aspect's odd gesture, to dwell on Luxia.

{The Aspect then starts to walk out, stopping momentarily to flip Luxia and Gail the bird, then it fades from existence once it walks through the door. Dianne took a look into the box she was given. It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at, but once she did, she let out a stifled wail, closing the box and holding it tightly to herself. In the box was the missing portion of Mirabella's skeleton. The arm Ogden had taken at the beginning.}

Armin decided to ignore Luxia and Gail, placing the riding hat on the floor before walking over to Dianne. He tentatively reached out to touch her arm, peering at the closed box. He had caught a glimpse of the bone arm inside, and could guess its significance, but he didn't want to jump to assumptions.

'Hey, it's over. It's gone, and you did great. Everyone's safe now.'

{Dianne nods, looking sorrowful.}

Dianne: "Armin, please take me home now..."

'Yeah, let's go.'

Armin started to walk out, stopped at the door by Gail.

'Uh, hey, could you give us a ride back to the shop? Not sure I trust her to make a portal right now.'

Armin nodded and kept walking. 'I'll drop you two off on our way home.'

Gail then started to follow him, nudging Luxia along. The old lady was still looking distant, her gaze both thoughtful and vacant.

{As Dianne walked, she turned her head slightly to address Luxia.}

Dianne: "...I'm sorry...I know what it's like to lose one..."

Luxia's eyes flickered, but she didn't look directly at Dianne or even seem fully aware of her speaking. Gail grimaced.

'Sorry. She gets like this sometimes.'

Armin continued to lead the group out to the car, barely remembering to pick up the riding hat before he left. Vaguely, he wondered where the araneo and the ferret had gone.

(Won't that ferret eventually turn back into a scorpion?)

{Dianne got into the passenger's seat, buckling in and slumping down. It had been a hard night and she just wanted to go home and sleep.}

(It will probably stay as a ferret, since regular transformation magic, in general, doesn't naturally wear off like body switching does. Unless the Aspect's animals aren't normal creatures.)

Armin waited until everyone was in - Gail led Luxia into the back - then started the engine and drove off. He was silent throughout the journey.

When they arrived at Luxia's shop, Gail helped Luxia out, then paused by Armin's window. 'Hey, uh... thanks for everything. Seriously. I really don't think Luxia will screw with you again. And if you ever need any magical services, or a cure... just come see us.'

(I see. No, they're ordinary, they just hail from another dimension.)

Dianne: "Of course. Thank you..."

Gail then proceeded to nudge Luxia towards the shop. The old woman was walking fine, but still looked absent. Once the pair had disappeared into the darkness of the shop, Armin turned and headed for home.

'You gonna be OK?' he murmured.

{Dianne turned to look at him. Her face held a deep sorrow.}

Dianne: "I'll be alright...I'll feel better once I get some sleep..."

(Posting new room)