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[Madeira Dusk]

You need to get a bit stronger, Madeira.

So do you, the Spiritist huffed back testily. Having someone point out the flaws in your body while wearing it was rather like a thief kicking down your door just to insult your taste in décor. It was rude, if nothing else.

Madeira watched passively as Alice maneuvered them through the forest of desks around the edge of the classroom, making a big arc that lead back to the back of the room. Aldgare didn't move to compensate, letting Alice back away. And why not? In her current form it would take her several ticks to close the distance again, and he had ten centimeters and forty pounds on her. His eyes slid from her body to the souldarts on the floor as the ghost's concentration shifted, but that only inspired the man to work faster.

With the spine of a heavy book Aldgare pounded a ghostnail a few centimeters into each corner of Madeira's expensive oak desk, the sight of which was causing the teacher's soul to wilt. His back was to them, so she couldn't be sure, but Madeira thought she saw Aldgare's hand come up to his mouth, presumably to smear her soulmist over his tongue and face.

When he turned back to face them he still looked like Aldgare, but that meant absolutely nothing to the Spiritist. If he was Lying her living soul wouldn't be able to see it, not unless it was part of a Graceful possession. But everything from the way he stood tall and relaxed, to his voice and its usual charming cadence, made her suspect he wasn't Lying to Alice. At least not yet.

"If the goal here is to stop our esteemed guest from causing more havoc, certainly it has been accomplished already, Miss Craven? I'm sure a ghost inside your body could never leave if you didn't want it to."

Madeira didn't surface to dignify the question with an answer. She was too interested in what Alice was doing, anyway. Was the ghost going to try and shoot Aldgare again?

Aldgare shook his head with a chuckle. "My apologies, it was worth the attempt." He stepped closer cautiously, taking the trip across the room to meet her one step at a time. "I will need to get closer though. I'd appreciate it if I could make the trip without having a hole punched through me, Miss Alice", he glanced meaningfully at the bow.

The man could read what the ghost was focused on, madeira realized, but that only meant he could try to step out of the way of what she was actually aiming for. If Alice missed, or if he got too close to conceivably get out of the way, he was going to get hit. He was a smart man, he must know that. Yet he was stepping closer and closer, his eye flicking from Madeira's to the crossbow strapped to her wrist.

"Lets strike a deal, shall we? I'm sure that's not against the rules. Miss Craven has brought two strangers together and said we must fight until one of us wins. But why? We have nothing against each other. Why are we hurting ourselves just because she has demanded it? How about this instead", he punctuated the thought with raised finger. "I cannot provide the type of soulmist you must be used to, but I'd be happy to offer something else. A lesson in magic, perhaps. As well as a body to practice in. If you refuse to fight, then we have a winner by technicality. Like throwing a boxing match." The corner of his lips turned up in an enigmatic little smile, at once charming and impossible to read. "What do you say, deal?"

[Alice Weaver]

I guess we will both just have to grow then. The ghost responded in kind, sensing the bit of anger at the rude observation....didn’t make it wrong, however.

“You’ve ruined my desk!” Alice spoke as if Maderia for a brief second while watching as he pounded nails into its hardwood, “That was imported you know. Expensive!” She painted a slight grimace across Maderia’s face, finding it easy to pull a facial expression with the Spiritist’s receptive body. She pretended to ponder Alegard’s question and statement, giving a slight shudder of the top of the body almost as if it was unlocking while she kept the legs moving towards the scattered darts. The disjointed movement was difficult and unbalancing but it did give a poor illusion of Maderia resurfacing to answer his question.

“Apologizes. She was fighting for control for a tick. While you are correct that Alice, or any spirit for that matter, couldn’t leave my body if I didn’t want them too that is not the point of the exercise.” She lied through her teeth. She had no idea if Maderia could actually do it or not but Alegard seemed to believe that. She pulled the body through another shudder as she had a hesitated step and narrowed the facial expression to show that she was back in ‘control.’

Perhaps the illusion of fighting for control was useless but nevertheless, it was fun to try.

“It's quite rude to keep stealing control from me. I borrowed this body fair and square and I would like the time to use it please.” She spoke sweetly but mixed in a layer of anger that always burned under the surface of the spirit’s shell to give the words a bite.

By the time they had circled around to where the darts rested, Aldgare was moving closer with careful steps.

Well that just makes things easier. The ghost grinned with a vicious spike of sunberthian pleasure at someone making it easier to shoot them. As she crouched down to pick and load a dart, keeping her head up to keep an eye on Aldgare, more talking happened. It seemed Spiritists are all well-spoken folk.

“Let’s strike a deal, shall we….?” The ghost raised a borrowed eyebrow at the man as her hand came into contact with the fletching of a dart, pinching it between two fingers she stood up and went about loading the bow.

“Maybe. Does it involve you giving up?” Alice pulled Maderia’s face into a lopsided smile.

The deal he offered however nearly floored her. Throw the match, get a body to practice in, and possibly a lesson in magic. It was quite literally the perfect opportunity. Her hands stilled as her mists within Maderia’s body lost cohesion for just a scant few ticks before snapping back into place, the now loaded crossbow hung on their side in a tensed arm.

“Why? Because Maderia is a twisted person who likes watching people beat up on one another in a well-crafted web.” She cocked her head as she answered the first question. “To that second part…” Alice fell silent as her head raced and it boiled down to few factors.

“But that means I lose, betray Maderia, get a worse spiritist all for a chance to learn…spiritism. In case you haven’t noticed I’m already dead. I don’t need a way to interact with other ghosts.” She said in a vicious jab. “I’ve thrown my lot in with Maderia and I won’t bail ships that easily. She’ll get me to where I need to get to and I’ll get to be involved in her schemes that keep being dead interesting!” Alice pulled a Cheshire-like grin across their shared face with darker chuckles as she realized she might be burning a bridge if she judged his character wrong and he didn’t find this whole circumstance funny. “So in conclusion. I don’t like losing and go petch yourself.” She finished with the declaration of loyalty with a flourish of the crossbow as she leveled it at Aldgare’s chest.

[Madeira Dusk]

OOCSorry for the late reply! I was having a terrible writers block.

Well well well, wasn't Alice a devious little liar. Madeira could only be impressed as the ghost went through the act of fighting for control, then taking on Madeira's accent and cadence to answer the question for her. She was essentially having a conversation with herself. Alice was going to be a great possessor. All the great possessors were good actors. That was how they fooled authorities, spiritists and even the host's family members.

Madeira was listening intently to the negotiation, mentally nodding along to the very well matched back-and-forth between the wizard and ghost. Only she knew that Alice was too stubborn to accept a deal, but Aldgare was too persistent to leave it alone. She expected this conversation to run in circles, an immovable-object-unstoppable-force situation. But she was surprised yet again.

The sudden show of loyalty from Alice was wildly unexpected. Sure, it was clear her opinion of Madeira was less than flowery, but the ghost in her body that was currently leveling a crossbow at her father-in-law was being really rather sweet about it. It hit her with a pang of something fond and affectionate for the clever, mercurial and crude Alice. Madeira stewed in that feeling a pride for a long moment before she was shot.

It was all the spiritist could do to stay passive inside her own body as what felt like an arrow made of liquid fire exploded into her hand. The force of knocked her wrist aside and Aldgare quickly closed the distance, wrestling Alice for her loaded bracer until the mechanism misfired and the dart shot harmlessly across the room. The brooch Aldgare had been wearing was gone. In its place a little water-golem looking creature was hovering over his shoulder, giggling to itself as it watched the madness unfold.

Poppa! It was Aldgare's familiar. And the creature was almost never out in public. She silently cursed them both. That's a Familiar. I had no idea it could do that. Petch that hurts!

"I'm rather disappointed that you think spiritism is the only magic I know", the old man huffed and puffed, now no longer trying to restrain Madeira's body but rather trying to keep her from reaching down for more darts. "I'm terribly sorry, but it was pretty clear nothing was going to get resolved. Come on now, professor. Lets have ourselves an exorcism. Royce, may I have some assistance? Careful of her hand", he indicated her right hand, where her glove was covering what was surely going to be a nasty burn on top of her already nasty burn.

Clearly unsure if this was against the rules, Royce waited for Madeira to resurface. When she didn't he dipped his eyes ashamedly and grumbled a vague "excuse me" before walking over in two quick strides and tucking her under his thick arm like a sack of flour. Madeira looked on in embarrassed horror as the man began dragging her back towards the front of the room, with Aldgare and Poppa bringing up the rear.

[Alice Weaver]

OOCNo problem! Best of luck on the exams

It seemed things around Maderia went wrong ofter and fast at that as well. One second she was staring down the sights of the crossbow then suddenly liquid fire was dancing across their shared hands, Madeira for a brief instant seized control before backing away and Aldgare took that opportunity to move. Wrestling the crossbow out of their hands as a little jam-like creature giggled happily to itself.

Poppa! That’s a Familiar. I had no idea it could do that. Petch that hurts. came the helpful, if pained, explanation from Maderia. That must have hurt a lot, the ghost fumed to herself. Not two seconds after her show of loyalty and comradery is her one solid chance burned!

Aldgare huffed testily about her thinking spiritism is the only magic he knew as he now backed off, keeping her from reaching more darts before calling Royce over as Maderia didn’t reestablish control. The man got close without contest from Alice as she was gingerly holding the burned hand, not feeling the pain but not wanting to damage Maderia permanently.

Are you alright? Familiar? Your father-in-law would just scorch you?!/ A concerned rush of mental energy rushed to her host’s mind.

“You are fucking crazy. You would burn your daughter-in-law? Have you seen her hands?? Do you need to make it worse. A crossbow has nothing on melting someone’s hand off you petc- Hey get off of me!” She snapped at Aldgare before Royce interrupted her tirade as she momentarily forgot where she was. Without much possible fight on her side, they were scooped under his arms, one arm, the burned one, pinned to their side the other clawed against Royce’s front, tearing at his shirt. Now angry abuse spewing from her mouth.

“You proud of yourself big man? Burn a woman then carry her around like some trophy? You didn’t even check the burn wound you useless lump of meat.” She swallowed hard, realizing that Maderia never stopped this whole thing. The ‘game’ was still on and the ghost now had a massive spike of hate to fuel her victory. First, get out of Royce’s grip, then turn the puddle into a teapot, then dunk Aldgare’s hand into the fireplace and see how he likes it. Family hurting family was totally unacceptable to the ghost.

She gave Maderia’s body a shudder before falling slightly limp in his arms, letting the limbs dangle before weakly moving them.

“R-royce? P-put me down please…” She whispered full of fake pain as if Maderia was speaking while turning her head up to make eye contact. “She’s done. She gives.” The spirit lied.

She felt the moment of hesitation in the large man’s step as he began to look down towards the burned, whimpering woman. The image conflicting with his experience with the steeled professor he was used to. And it was in that moment Alice made her bid, having learned from being one of the only girls that would play with boys...where to hit them. Her free hand extended out.

“I hope this bruises.” She grimaced as she rocketed it back, curving the arm so the elbow made direct contact in that soft spot right between the legs. The one that made all the boys fall over and leave her alone. Did Royce deserve one that had the power of a ghost making the host’s muscles scream with strain? No. Did it feel good to throw that elbow as some sort of eye for an eye? Yes, yes it did.

She felt his whole body stiffen right at the moment of contact as the ghost threw all their strength into struggling out of their grip, pushing and pulling against the arm.

She managed to pop free and fall heavily to the ground as she rolled the two away from the man who looked to be teetering on the edge of collapsing as she struggled to push them to stand without using the burned hand.

[Madeira Dusk]

I'm alright, I'm alright! Nothing a pack of ice and some ointment wont fix, Madeira met Alice's rush of concern head on, urging her to focus on what was happening around them. She had no doubt that the first few layers of skin on her palm were ruined, but it was just scar tissue anyway. I don't really know what Familiar's are. They have something to do with a magic called Summoning, but Aldgare is pretty tight-lipped about and it and Poppa is the only one I've ever met.

Aldgare and Royce ignored Alice's angry tirade for the most part. But the patriarch did catch the hem of her skirt and tug it down when Alice's kicking was threatening to flip it over her legs, which Madeira appreciated.

Suddenly her body went slack.

Madeira knew what was going to happen the tick before it did. Royce hesitated less than a foot from the desk, and in that tick her bony, pointed elbow made direct contact with his crotch.

The man doubled over, wheezing, and didn't even seem to notice when Madeira tumbled out from under his arm. Her body hit the ground hard, rolled twice, and struggled to stand with their right hand tucked securely against their chest. Madeira was touched by how empathetically Alice was treating her host's body.

But maybe they did hit their head harder than she thought. As they stood, Alice having their legs braced and ready to fight, Madeira could have sworn there was more people in the room than there was a tick ago. No, wait, it wasn't that there were more people, its that one of them had doubled. She was quietly startled when Aldgare stopped to check that Royce was okay, and then another Aldgare, was standing by the desk. They were identical down to the scuffs on their shoes. Somehow, impossibly, there were two Aldgare Dusks.

As she was running through the options (of which 'illusion' ranked high and 'evil doppelganger' low) she didn't even consider that her and Alice could actually be seeing something completely different, until he spoke.

"Maddy?.." The Aldgare standing by the desk was the real one, and every bit of his concentration was focused on the Lie he was projecting. To Alice's eyes, it was Emma Chamelle. His Lie was depicting Madeira's youngest, disease-ravaged ghost of a little girl, teetering on the verge of noisy tears.

"I just- I just came up to see you and everyone was fighting and you were yelling and saying mean words and..."

The Lie's hands fluttered uselessly, jumping nervously from foot to foot. She was backed up right against the desk, like she was one sudden move away from ducking underneath to unleash a flood of tears.

Meanwhile, what looked like Aldgare was silently helping Royce up to sit on a desk chair. This was Poppa in Replicant form, a perfect recreation of its bonded partner.

"Take five?", he suggested, waving vaguely between Royce and the Lie-Emma as if maybe they should tend to things before continuing.

[Alice Weaver]

When the ghost pulled their bruised and battered body up from the ground she noticed that the room suddenly was a lot more crowded than when she last left it. Algard was by Royce, who was doubled over from the pain of the cheap shot, while the new ethereal figure in the room spoke with a quivering lip.

“Maddy? I just- I just came up to see you and everyone was fighting and you were yelling and saying mean words and…”

The new ghost was vaguely known by Alice but she didn’t think Emma really ever left the manor...but she was obviously right there in front of her. Madeira also mentioned something about Emma guiding her around the city so it was possible she just wandered into the tower at the worst possible moment.

Emma looked distraught at seeing an Alice-driven side of Maderia that conflicted with their view of Maderia. Alice didn’t know what the extent of their relationship was but it looked like a mother-daughter sort of deal from what she gathered.

“It’s ok, Emma. I was just teaching a class and Alegard got excited and burned me, dear.” She modulated her speaking pattern to try and roughly mirror Maderia’s sophisticated tone. “Head back to Infinity for me and we’ll talk about this later. How’s that sound?”

Hopefully that smooths that over... Alice thought to herself with an internal frown.


“Take five?” Aldgare suggested from his position tending Royce.

“That would be acceptable, Mr. Dusk. Someone should take Emma home. It would be a good experience for you to walk a ghost back to her resting place. You are dismissed and I will continue the lesson while you tend to Emma.” She smiled sweetly with Maderia’s lips thinking it was a great idea as the ghost lost the lie battle to the Lie. If Emma was actually here it might have been a good idea. The only issue was Emma wasn’t actually here and just a construct of will, soulmist, and deceit.

“Well, wasn’t that an exciting turn of events!” She clasped her hands in front of her before realizing a burned hand should not be moving with such obvious lack of pain and placed it back down to her side post haste. “Everyone should take some notes from Aldgare over here. A stellar performance but none of you know how to properly perform an exorcism so it would be folly to watch you try and do one and accidentally rot my eyes out or something.” She spoke cheerful and upbeat, trying to place some of that sparkle that appeared up in Maderia’s eyes when mischief was happening.

“I’ll have to get this hand tended to and then we’ll have a lesson on exorcisms and call it a day?” She flicked eyes from one student to another to see if she could get a nod of confirmation from any of them. None took the bait and Alice had the skinking feeling that she was the one who screwed up here….

[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira forced herself to stay silent, lest she give Aldgare away, but inside she was completely baffled. It seemed Aldgare had more up his sleeve then he had been letting on all this time.

Alice was answering the Lie, having affected Madeira's Alvada's accent. Everyone in the room exchanged a look despite themselves. The gesture clearly tipping off that whatever Alice thought she was speaking to, it was not Emma. Then Alice clapped their hands, and Madeira's soul reacted with an internal hiss of pain.

Ouch, she complained sardonically.

Aldgare, as Emma, was nodding his head at Alice's ineffectual lie. The not-Aldgare's eyes flicked to him as if that nod was some kind of confirmation, or perhaps permission.

"I'll take her", he said, straightening up from helping Royce to take a seat. Royce's sleeve was creased from where Aldgare had been holding him. Illusions couldn't touch people like that. And Lie's were better copies. There was something about his abbreviated sentences and the way he was moving that had her observant eye sending up red flags.

The two Aldgare's would have to step around them to reach the door. In her head Madeira saw the plan: they were going to grab her body together and drag her to her mutilated desk, where they were going to throw her on top of that soul-barrier or glyph or whatever that could be, and rip Alice out of her body.

She internally counted the cost of such an action. Some bumps and bruises, surely. Alice wasn't going to let them have it without a fight, and she was already burnt and sore from scalding water and several tumbles. Honestly she was surprised Alice hadn't resorted to hostage taking/threatening suicide yet. The girl was ruthless. But what worried her more was that. That thing that looked like Aldgare. She sill had no idea what it was, and thus had no idea what it could do. Or even how much control Aldgare had over it.

She was still doing the math in her head, trying to put some kind of numerical value to her bodily safety, when not-Aldgare ushered lie-Aldgare forward towards the door. All at once Madeira decided the answer to her complicated equation was no.

She reinstated control quickly, surfacing so fast that her astral body was struggling to align itself even as she spoke, causing her words to slur.

"Okay! Okay. I'm calling it it", she announced, leveling a gloved finger at the Aldgare-thing. "Back off."

To her shock, it did. It glanced at the real Aldgare before stopping right where it was, its attention immediately wandering away as it stared out the windows. The real Aldgare squinted at her, obviously trying to work out if this actually was Madeira, and not one of the many fakes Alice had been presenting. Madeira turned her damning finger to him.

"I once tied a naked man down on your dinning room table so I could cut off the cursed human skin he had stitched onto himself with a pairing knife."

That seemed to be good enough for the patriarch. His expression cleared.

There was a sound like running water, and the fake Aldgare melted like quicksilver. In ticks the shape had reverted to the familiar form of Poppa, who floated his way to his spot on Aldgare's shoulder at the same time that Aldgare's Lie dissolved. Madeira could only stare for several ticks. That was his familiar? What even was that magic?

She recovered herself shortly, slipping back into her comfortable Teaching mode.

"I apologize, if that went on any longer I'd fear for myself and my poor classroom. I can't say I'm not disappointed- it's clear you all still have much to learn- but it was a great effort and nobody is seriously injured, so I'd count this as a successful learning experience." Madeira put her hands on her hips and beamed. "Aldgare, your performance was exceptional. The mixing of magic and the use of negotiation was excellent. And Alice's use of incendiary words, her ability to see through your collective bullshyke, and clear brawling experience gave her the upper hand on all of you. You either underestimated her or were simply unprepared."

Smiling like a proud parent, Madeira shook out her aching hand. Her injuries were exceptionally minor compared to a real exorcism, but she still felt the need to soak her entire body in a tub of ice.

"Any questions before we call an end to class?"

[Alice Weaver]

NoteI realize this is hyper delayed but I don’t like leaving a thread hanging like this.I thin this last post by me and I’ll feel good about it

To say Alice was not surprised when she was shunted back into Maderia’s head when no one seemed to buy her lie wasn’t surprising, but it didn’t make it any less jarring. It was like when you try to rip a cat off a piece of furniture, even if the cat knows it’s you it doesn’t stop them from sinking their claws into the fabric. Luckily..., or unluckily for Alice, Madeira was a great cat declawer and in a sudden motion of internal will, Alice found herself bundled within the spiritist body. She wasn’t barred from exiting the body but she didn’t want to leave anyway.

For one, Mads was quite comfortable to just sit in. The Spiritist’s body had well-worn grooves from many possession and was rich in Maderia’s own soulmist that made it quite rejuvenating. And now that Alice’s mind wasn’t going a thousand miles per hour she felt the strain on her soulmist and a call for rest overtake her body as her spirit drooped.

Secondly, she was scared she’d get blasted if she did pop out. Whatever that familiar was she wanted nothing to do with it.

<Did...did you really do that?> Alice exclaimed internally at Maderia’s confession, <What weird dinners you hold.> As she found herself poking for the memory before deciding that would be rude and reserving herself to her own little corner of her mind.

<I do have a few questions, however.> The ghost rang out to Maderia while still in her body, thick with exhaustion. <Why could he see everything I was going to do! Whats a familiar and why can it do. And do I still get a lesson or introduction from him even if I insulted him?> Her mental voice grew softer and softer as she fell further back into the Spiritist’s body.

Rallying for one last surge she spoke, <And I won! They technically didn’t restrain...me. I...win.> There was a cheeky emotion that came with the simple statement before the spirit fell silent, stuck between a realm of awareness and unawareness that was a ghost slumber.

WC: 350