Open Getting Lost While Standing Still

[Ambrosia Alar]

There was a flurry of activity at all at once. Madeira had tried the front door, only to find herself staring at Ambrosia through Jomi’s figure, and then had attempted to use the back door, only to find herself back where she had started. Ambrosia had turned to witness the result, and as Madeira cursed the city’s deity, another figure stepped through the door. The newcomer muttered something to herself, but Ambrosia missed it, partly because of the distance between them and partly because of the woman’s surreal nature. Her skin seemed to glow, and two jade horns slipped backward off her head. By the look on her face, this was not where she had expected to be. A hint of Madeira’s paranoia began to edge its way into Ambrosia. Maybe the young Craven was right. Maybe Ionu did have some unexpected game to play with them. Jomi, for his part, showed what Ambrosia assumed Madeira meant by biting by throwing an insult at the frustrated spiritist before making his own attempts to escape. Ambrosia put a little more faith in his efforts than anyone else’s. Perhaps his unliving body would afford him a route their living bodies would not. His attempts showed his thoughts were the same. Rather than the doors, he tried the walls, but every attempt spat him out the opposite one. Whenever he dove through the floor, he’d come bursting back out through the ceiling. Finally, as he took notice of the newcomer, he stopped and greeted her before making the suggestion that this was a puzzle for them all to solve. Velindor suggested drinks. Now that was an idea Ambrosia could get behind. Unwilling customers weren’t something that Ambrosia cherished. It not kept happy, they could turn the night unpleasant very quickly if they so decided. The best thing she could do was offer the Rear’s very best hospitality and hope none of them blamed her for their predicament. So far none of them had. Since Jomi had ignored her, not an uncommon occurrence for Ambrosia, especially on busy nights, the barmaid went back to her work. “I agree with Jomi. If there’s a puzzle to solve, we should. The Rear can get quite crowded, especially if no one can leave. But there’s no sense in not enjoying yourself while you’re here. You might as well enjoy the refreshments we have to offer. A calm mind is a clear mind, and there’s nothing better for calming the nerves than alcohol. Everybody gets a free drink on the house, as an apology for Ionu’s behavior.” Three unpaid drinks weren’t going to break the Rear. She flashed Jomi one of her apologetic smiles. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything for you, Jomi. Maybe we can convince Madeira to make some mist for you.” On her way back to the bar, Ambrosia threw a quick glance in Madeira’s direction, hoping she hadn’t put the spiritist on the spot. “What does everyone want to drink?” Before she began to pour the beverages, she lifted her own to take a drink, only to find the same curious bee floundering in the wine once more. Fishing the drowning creature out with two fingers, she set it on the bar top and splashed a few drops of her wine next to it. Hopefully, that would keep the little insect occupied and out of trouble. "We already know what you want, little one."

[Madeira Dusk]

"Gah!"

Madeira sucked in a startled breath as the Eth seemed to pop into existence beside her. The bees on her clothing took to the air in a confused, buzzing fog. Some seemed to prefer the tall beauty to the twitchy wreck of a woman beside her. A handful alighted on her twisted jade horns in search of sweeter pasture.

Ambrosia quickly took back control of the room, and offered the assembled unfortunate playthings a drink on the house. An offer that elicited an appreciative murmur from Madeira. She wasn't opposed to taking her suggestion and making soulmist for Jomi, either. It might even settle him down and make him more disposed to listen to her. For once.

But even as that thought ran through her head, Madeira paused and squinted at Ambrosia with a slow-wit confusion. How was it that the barmaid, of all people, not only knew about soulmist, but used its colloquial term? More than that, the barmaid knew about soulmist but didn't offer to make it herself, though it was one of the first things you learn in the practise of Spiritism.

So she knew the magic in some detail, but didn't practise. Madeira filed that interesting fact away for later.

"I'll have another wine, thank you. You're spoiling me tonight arn't you?"

Madeira returned to the bar, where she had left her rucksack on the floor beside her stool. From inside she took out a jar containing three balls of crusty, vile looking black dough. She fished one out, and frowned at the flakes of dried blood that came off on her fingers. She popped the ball into her mouth and cast around for something sharp, settling on the corkscrew left on the polished bar. With a quick stab and a grimace of pain, Madeira began to suck fresh blood from her wrist to the dough in her mouth.

She chewed and swallowed with some difficulty, then washed it down with Ambrosia's offered wine.

"I agree, this must be a puzzle. Or a riddle. Maybe there's something we have in common that made us targets." she gestured at the assembled motley group with her glass. "How about we go around and tell each other about ourselves? That might give us a clue."

She lost her train of thought as her focus slipped into the soulmist brewing in her belly. There was a pulsing at the edges of her body as her soul worked to transform the dough. She blinked back to reality a tick later, brushing a curious bee off her cheek.

"... Ah, why don't I go first. I'm Madeira Craven. I'm a Spiritist. The only person I know here is that ghost; he's my servant and we despise each other. I was lead here by bees and nudity."

She took another sip of wine. That about covered it, she thought.

"Can I have a clean wineglass please, Ambrosia? Thank you."

Taking the offered glass from the barmaid, Madeira brought the empty vessel to her lips and hid her mouth delicately behind her hand. With an unpleasant, wet coughing sound she pulled the soulmist out of her body as an off-white, gently glowing substance. She placed the brimming wineglass on the counter and pushed it towards Jomi.

"There you go, you needy little man." Next she turned to the pale, golden eyed Symenestra. "Why don't you go next?"

[Velindor Calendula]

Shortly after he had finished speaking, Velindor was forced to do a double-take as the luminous and beautiful female walked through the front door, this time the normal way. The symenestra had never seen anything like her before, with smooth jade-green horns flowing from her temples, giving the woman a regal appearance indeed! Stop staring you idiot! he had to remind himself, finishing his wine glass with a final long pull to break his own attention to the newcomer. Of course, the ghostly patron’s sudden suggestion that this whole thing was just one big riddle helped refocus Velindor’s mind on the matter at hand. “I know very little of Ionu, but if what you say is true, sir ghost, then your suggestion seems quite plausible,” Velindor spoke in a polite, but measured tone.

While Velindor was no lush by any means, he was nevertheless visibly pleased at Ambrosia’s offer of free drinks. She made a fine argument, and Velindor was certainly not going to be complain about being given something for nothing. He watched the bartender’s exchange with the ghost with mild confusion, ‘make some mist’? He was quite sure he’d never heard of such a thing, but decided it was of little consequence for the time being. At Ambrosia’s query, Velindor gave another polite smile, “I’ll have another glass of red, please.” Velindor shifted on his barstool, turning to watch Madeira as she produced small round balls that looked disturbingly similar to horse dung, by the symenestra’s opinion. Surely she’s not going to…! Velindor had to turn away abruptly. Other being’s habit of consuming solid food was disgusting enough, but something like that? What could possibly drive humans to such gastrointestinal insanity?

Velindor took a long pull from his new glass of wine to settle his stomach, enjoying the warm, quiet buzz settling in on the edges of his perception. He nodded in agreement as Madeira suggested they all share a bit about themselves. Taking her pause as an opportunity, Velindor finally returned his attention to the luminescent woman near the front door. Extending his left hand in greeting as his right made a toasting motion with his wineglass, Velindor tried to get her attention. “Come, won’t you join us? We’re all getting to know each other, you see.” He chuckled a bit at what he perceived as a touch of spontaneous humor on his part, though his golden eyes soon returned to Madeira as she began to introduce herself. A spiritist? Velindor thought as he took another sip of wine, that’s very interesting indeed. He blinked twice in disbelief at her statement of bees and nudity. At the sound of it, her experience in getting to the Rear hadn’t been too different from his own.

But what in the gods’ names could she need a clean glass for? Hadn’t she just received a fresh glass full of wine? Velindor watched in amazement as the Spiritist performed her work, hacking and coughing a pale white substance into the glass before sliding it towards the ghost. If they despise each other, why does she give of herself to help him? Humans are such a curious lot…. His train of thought was interrupted by Madeira’s turning her attention towards him. “Me? Well, I suppose I could go next,” he continued, taking another quick sip of wine to stall.

With an audible ahem Velindor cleared his throat before continuing. “I am Velindor Calendula, a Symenestra from the city of Kalinor. I’ve only lived in Alvadas since about the middle of last Spring, and it is quite the fascinating city! I don’t know anyone here personally, though I encounter a great many people during the course of my herbalism practice.” He took another sip to wet his throat before continuing, “and as I said to Madeira and our dear Ambrosia here, I was led here by the stench of rotting fish and a crowd of at least a few illusory bodies. Beyond that, I’m not sure what more there is to say.” Casting his golden eyes about the room, he settled once more on the starlit woman he’d previously invited to the bar. “And what of you, dear madame? Would you like to go next?” He smiled casually, taking another short pull of wine as he waited to hear her response.

[Azuridae]

"Sparkles?" Azuridae echoed the words unamusedly, a short and curt scoffing chuckle, no one had thought to call her that before in the 10 years since her fall. The barmaid offered them all drinks on the house and while she herself was not one for such earthly delights it would probably be rude to refuse the gesture of goodwill. "I will have.." There was a short pause as she too shared the spiders confused look at the barmaids suggestion. "Pardon me, soulmist?" She could already tell the night would be a long and arduous process of questions, confusion, followed by more questions.

What would become of her home; would it still be filled to the brim with teapots? Azuridae pleaded silently to the god Ionu to at least not let there be broken china all over the place.

The pale blonde took a seat at the bar and Azuridae followed tentively after, the few bees that curiously took to her jaded horns clung and buzzed to them. They stopped her in her tracks eying them warily, cautiously, and deemed them not a threat after a few moments. She hung back as they spoke, taking in their conversation, trying to make sense of the nonsense.

"What puzzle could Alvadas possibly have for us?" She questioned.

Grimacing as the pale blonde took a revolting looking ball, popping it in her mouth, and stabbing herself in the wrist just to drink from it. Azuridae made a noise of protest, glancing away. While it wasn't the blood that made her uncomfortable it was the self infliction of harm upon oneself. It brought on flashes of memory too quick to make any sense of but she decided to sit next to the girl anyways so it would be easier to make conversation with both her and the spider. Gladly accepting any drink the barmaid would bring to her, murmuring a thank you and took a tender sip from it.

The girl ejected some sort of white substance into an offered empty glass for the ghost, and decided she didn't really feel like drinking any more. Setting her glass down and swirling its contents anxiously. The two performed introductions and it seemed she was up next. "I call myself Azuridae and apparently Sparkles is an apt name as well." She paused to brush a bee from her ear. "A horde of tea pots gathered in my home somehow and drove me out, I hope the place isn't in ruins when I return next" she explained with a polite smile, making a quip "Gods, this is like the beginning of a bad tavern joke."

Glancing over to the ghost, watching his corporeal form mist about. "What about you? For all the places you could have ended up in, ironically it's this place."

[Jomi]

”Here you go you needy little man”

Jomi took the glass as Madeira slid it over to him, perching himself on top of an empty barstool out of habit rather than any real need for rest, and wrapped his transparent fist around the stem of the offered wineglass. He gathered the loose tendrils of soulmist from his body and concentrated them around his hand, using them to push the glass upwards toward his head and pouring the pearly white substance over his face and chest. He closed his eyes as the new mist absorbed into his body, revelling in the cool, soothing sensation. It reminded him of the summer winds that would come up from the oceans and cut through his thick fur to sooth his scorching body. It was the closest he would ever come to feeling anything in this hellish quasi-existence.

Jomi’s transparent eyes rolled over to the Spiritist while wearing a shit-eating grin. “Your soul tastes salty Maddy. Still sore about the whole ‘trying to eat you’ thing?”

His ethereal body swirled lazily as the edges of his body faded. No longer putting effort into his materialization he instead relaxed and quietly listened as the rag-tag group went around introducing themselves, still riding the blissful high of the absorbed soulmist.

A spiritualist, a herbalist, an Eth and a barmaid were all herded to one tavern. They had never met each other, or had any real connection, all with different backgrounds, races and jobs, and they were all as lost and confused as the next one. Jomi puffed out his cheeks as if he were blowing out a seething breath. Nothing from the introductions were jumping out at him so far, nothing that could signal any one of them out as targets other than random chance.

”What about you? For all the places you could have ended up in, ironically it's this place.”

Jomi gave a short, barking laugh.

“No shyke, you’d think someone who could walk through solid stone would be exempt from this nonsense. But here we are.”

The room seemed to cool as he turned from the bar to face the group again. Newly invigorated by the gifted soulmist he was able to pull a little more substance into his materialization. But by concentrating on solidifying the outline of his body rather than his centre he still looked more like a particularly bad oil painting than a living person.

“You can call me Jomi. I know Madeira and no one else, I don’t have a job, and I like long romantic walks on the beach. I’m here because this building has been stalking me for bells and curiosity killed the badger.”

Jomi gestured with the lip of his empty glass back to the woman behind the bar.

“What about the ray of sunshine back here, what’s your story?”

[Ambrosia Alar]

Ambrosia smiled at Jomi and Madeira’s interactions. The two reminded her of an old, bickering, married couple, but she wouldn’t voice that aloud. There was no sense in turning whatever small animosities existed between the two against her. At Jomi’s snarky comment about the taste of Madeira’s mist, Ambrosia couldn’t help but whisper a comment to the nearby spiritist. “It’s almost sweet, how much he despises you.” There was a certain charm in Jomi’s abundant sarcasm. She couldn’t be sure if he meant for it to be off-putting or if he just enjoyed jesting with everyone. Being stuck in that unliving state, Ambrosia imagined one would have to adopt some form of humor to break the monotony and the memory of whatever vicious occurrence had kept them here. When Jomi called her a ray of sunshine, Ambrosia couldn’t help but smile. Her optimism was her favorite quality, and she hoped it was infectious. She was of the opinion that more good things than bad happened to everyone. People just tended to focus on and remember the worst bits. Trauma had a habit of making itself easily remembered. A smile, not so much, not a single one anyway. That was one reason she smiled so much. Maybe she was right. Maybe more good than bad did happen in the world. Maybe that was only true for her. “Well, I'm Ambrosia, and I can tell you all that you’re the reason I’m stuck here.” She had to return some of Jomi’s sarcasm. “If none of you came in to drink, I wouldn’t have to be working. So it’s your fault I’m here. And I wouldn’t consider myself stuck, though. There are few places in this city I’d rather be than right here. “As for mysteries and riddles, I like to think that time reveals most answers. I’m with Velindor. Why don’t we see what time does for us? I figure, if we wait long enough, somebody is bound to come in. This is definitely not a normal night crowd, so you can guarantee there will be more people. When that happens, we just have them hold the door, and whoever wants to leave can. But your time is yours do with as you please. If you want to try to outthink the deity of illusions, be my guest.” She secretly hoped they would. She wanted to see what would happen. “At the very least, this should be an entertaining night.” For now though, she had four new people to get to know. Perhaps it was her sister’s interest in spiritism, but at the moment, her greatest curiosities remained with the ghost. There were so many questions that she wanted answered, but there seemed no polite way to ask most of them. How did you die? Why did you stay? What did you do to get both dead and stuck as someone’s servant? And on and on. She settled for the only polite question she could muster. “Did you say ‘badger’?” Before Jomi had a chance to respond, the front door to the tavern opened, and Eli stepped back through the door with a larger crowd of drinking pals. “What did I tell you?” she said to her four current patrons, before catching Eli’s attention. “Eli, hold the door. Don’t let it close.” “Why?” “Just be a gentleman and do what you’re asked. People are about to leave.” Eli looked about ready to protest, so Ambrosia broke out her heaviest threat. “I can make the entire night a dry one for you, if I so choose.” Keeping his place in the doorway, Eli put on his best chivalrous air and beamed a smile at the other patrons. Ambrosia gestured to the door. “Whoever wants to head out can be the first to try.”

[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira took back the wineglass when Jomi finished, and settled the spirit with a withering stare.

"You mean the time I beat you? Gratitude, Jomi, we talked about this."

As the ghost continued the train of introductions, Ambrosia leaned over the bar. "It's almost sweet", the barmaid whispered, her cool breath tickling the shell of her ear, "how much he despises you."

Holding back the overwhelming temptation to roll her eyes almost caused Madeira physical pain, but she couldn't help the dark laugh that crawled under her breath. While she did feel some sort of affection for him, the kind that grows from responsibility, she was certain that the moment she lost her hold of him he would try to kill her before he left. Theirs was a strange relationship.

"He's a real sweetiepie, sure."

At the conclusion of all of their introductions Madeira found herself sitting with her chin in her palm, walking her thin fingers around the lip of her wine glass as she stared off into space. “So,” she began, absently tonging a crack in her lip, “two humans, an Eth, a spider and a ghost walk into a bar..."

At that moment a great rumble of sound rolled through the front door. A man she recognized from earlier came bumbling in, followed by his boisterous friends. From across the room Ambrosia demanded he hold the door, by threat of a dry night. And clearly Ambrosia was not one for idle threats, as the man dutifully stood where he was told and offered them a complaisant smile.

Ambrosia gestured to the door, and offered the assembled group a chance to give it a try.

"Well, I'll give it a shot", Madeira put out bravely, smoothing down her bodice.

She slipped off her stool, and the heels of her soft shoes tapped with purpose as she crossed the floor. Eli proffered his arm with great airs as she approached, and she took it like a proper lady with a word of thanks. She took one last deep breath as she crossed the threshold...

...and disappeared.

A cloud of confused bees hit the cobblestone outside and rose in a cloud of beatific humming, and as one they toddled off down the street. Eli himself would swear up and down that the skinny blonde had fallen straight through the road like it was no more than mist.

A tick later there came a great scraping noise from the back of the bar. Suddenly the unlit hearth let loose a great plume of ash, and Madeira fell bodily out of the chimney.

[Velindor Calendula]

The spider listened attentively as the starlit woman spoke, describing her flight from her home at the hands (or rather, the handles) of a horde of teapots. “That sounds awful,” Velindor spoke in his heavily accented Common. “I hope your web is whole.” He offered a demure smile that stopped just short of revealing his pointed fangs as Azuridae introduced herself. “Ah-zur-ee-day,” the Symenestra spoke in his velvet soft voice, playing with each syllable as it rolled across his tongue. “A beautiful name, for a beautiful woman,” he spoke, this time in his native Symenos as his grin spread just a little wider. Velindor took a quick sip of his wine, though his golden eyes remained fixed on the Eth’s face, straying occasionally to the jade-green horns sprouting from her temple. Assuming such a woman was unlikely to either speak or understand the spider tongue, Velindor repeated the sentiment, this time in Common: “I like your name, it has a good noise.” While Velindor listened to any response from Azuridae, if there was any, he turned his eyes towards the exchange between the ghost and the blonde Spiritist. Truth be told, while Velindor knew the rudiments of hypnotism, he had little knowledge of magic as a whole. Spiritism was entirely a strange field to him, one he’d only heard whispered about in the streets of Alvadas through the deeds of the Craven family. Jomi, the ghost, appeared to gain some sort of nourishment from the - had they called it soulmist?- whatever it was Madeira had created. ”Perhaps that is why he serves her?” Velindor wondered, ”Does he depend on her magic for...whatever sustenance ghosts require?” An interesting question, but now was perhaps not the best time to be asking them aloud. They all had more pressing matters at hand, it would seem. Before the silver-haired spider could put much more thought into the matter of the illusion trapping them here, the front door to the tavern once more burst open as a crowd of men, obviously well into their cups already, came shambling inside. One of them was apparently familiar to Ambrosia, or at least, he was familiar enough to do her bidding and hold open the door. He watched with interest as Madeira composed herself, then attempted escape from the inn a second time. Velindor nearly spit out his wine as, rather than simply disappear from view, the skinny blonde human seemed to fall straight through the cobblestones themselves! Just a tick later, a great scraping sound issued from the hearth behind the bar, followed by a now very sooty Spiritst. Velindor rolled his eyes and took a finall pull from his wine, draining the rest of the glass before setting it back on the bar. Standing, the Symenestra took a deep breath, inhaling through his nostrils and exhaling from his mouth, he took the moment to gather his djed around his throat. Normally he’d not be quite so bold, but the buzz of the wine around his head had made his thoughts fuzzy. Extending a hand to the young Eth beside him, Velindor allowed his golden eyes to meet hers. ”Come, let’s try together,” he spoke, his voice tinged with the suggestive power of his personal djed. If Azuridae took his proffered hand, Velindor would lead them out the doorway to see what Ionu had in store for them. If the starlit woman refused, Velindor would shrug and exit alone, vanishing down through the cobbled street.

[Azuridae]

There was a chill that ran down Azuridae's spine, despite the spider's polite demeanor and politeness. She couldn't quite place why it was but his choice of words hadn't settled well with her. It was even more uncomfortable that he spoke something in a language she didn't understand. Even the way he pronounced her name was something of an irksome matter but she didn't let it waver her expressions, her eye shut for a moment and the Ethaefal contemplated correcting Velindor. One deep sigh escaped her lips. Was it worth the energy? It was obvious, people pronounced names wrong all the time.

Azuridae decided that no it wasn't.

"Thank you." The Ethaefal said politely, looking at him with a small smile, and attempted her own compliments. "Velindor is an interesting name as well."

She turned her attention to watch the interaction between Jomi and Madeira in mild wonder as the ghost downed the glass of whatever revolting substance the spiritist had coughed up. It reminded her of a mother bird feeding its chicks. Her bemused expression soured back to her typical passive stoicism at the ghosts response to her question, it was harsh, and seemed to mock her. Individuals who were as such were always a little more difficult to talk to and Azuridae took no pleasure in their presence. Luckily the barmaid, who was certainly a ray of sunshine, brought their attention back to the riddle at hand. If it was a riddle.

"There's no hurry." Azuridae offered, and while she didn't have the slightest clue of what the riddle could be she figured it wouldn't hurt to entertain it. Her eyes glanced at the wooden floors and walls inquisitively. "We could take turns knocking on wood?"

The Ethaefal smirked as Madeira seemed to catch her tavern reference. There was a group of individuals that entered the tavern and Ambrosia was quick to get the one she was familliar with to hold the door. The drinking party milled about before taking a group seating, of course the city could have put a spin on the tavern's night by parading business into it, but that sounded less exciting to the Ethaefal. While Azuridae wouldn't have liked anything more than to go about her way and find a nice quiet place to finish her meditation session the obvious answer was not to gamble with the city. To think it was done with them now was a foolish thought. Yet that is exactly what Madeira did as she attempted escape first.

"Wait, are you-!" Azuridae slid to the edge of her seat, not quite believing what was happening.

It happened so quickly though. The spiritist literally fell through the ground as she passed the tavern threshold, one tick she was there and another she was not. Azuridae's mouth had formed that of an 'o' of surprise. Gone. The girl had just dissappeared from out of thin air, and she was gone! For a moment she believed Madeira had actually succeeded in her escape attempt and the city had only played a cruel illusion. The hope crossed her mind a tick too soon because from behind them the spiritist came tumbling down the chimney of an unlit hearth next to the new nameless group of regulars. Azuridae was as dismayed as the bees were confused outside. She was quick to go and make sure the sooty spiritist was alright.

"Are you alright?" Azuridae asked first, and then her attention swiveled back to the spider.

Velindor also wanted to try the same thing and the worst part was that he invited Azuridae to go with him. The Ethaefal gave him a particular look crossed between 'are you serious' and 'yeah, let's do it' but couldn't quite decide on which to go with. There was a strange pull in the back of her mind that tugged her towards the spider sheepishly, warily glancing at his outstretched hand, a sort of false sense of security had draped over her senses. Azuridae at any other given time would have done the opposite what she was doing now but she took his hand and the spider lead them to the door. They were so close to exiting the taven but upon Velindor's crossing of the threshold Azuridae had second thoughts and let go of his hand.

"Wait! Wait! We don't-" The spider dissappeared as Azuridae protested the last second. "Know..." He was gone.

The Ethaefal stared through the door, eyeing the environment outside very judgingly, it was normal with maybe the exception of an empty street and the bees that still hummed about outside. Azuridae tested it first, putting her hand out while gripping the doorframe and nothing seemed to happen. Harmless spiders materialized out of thin air as she pulled her hand back into the tavern. They seemed to come from her skin and her composure was shook, but only a bit as she waved her hand calmly to shrug the spiders off. They dropped and crawled away into the dark corners of the tavern. Azuridae secretly decided that it was probably better that she hadn't jumped full on in with the spider.

"Well." Azuridae started and took a step back from the door. Pausing to look back at the group. "Anyone else want to try?"

[Jomi]

Jomi's mist began to move erratically as the new patrons held the door open at the gentle threat of a drink-less night. The threshold to freedom was so tantalizingly close it made the ghost almost giddy. Madeira rose from her seat and announced her intentions of leaving with the kind of flippant resolve of an Alvad who has given up trying to play it safe. Jomi's raised a translucent eyebrow as she breezed past Eli and stepped onto the street. Only to let his head fall into his hands with the weight of his disappointment as she disappeared into the cobblestones, inwardly cursing himself for thinking it would be that easy. As he cradled his head Jomi could hear the scraping and subsequent crash as Madeira tumbled out of the furnace with a plume of ash.

He slowly lifted his head and drifted backwards towards the soot covered spiritist and gave her a cursory glance. She looked stunned and dazed but other than some scratches and bruising looked no worse for wear to his untrained eye. Just as he was about to return to the group the spider got up from his seat and extended his clawed hand to Sparkles and offered to walk onto the street together before stepping out the doors by himself and falling into the street without so much as a sound.

Jomi immediately threw up his hands in exasperation. “Why? Why did you feel the need to try that shyke again? Petching spiders got a death wish."

Jomi's eyes flicked back to the furnace he expected the spider to be falling out of and Madeira’s still slumped body at the bottom. In a tick there would be a mess of claws and poison filled needle teeth falling onto her tangled mess of limbs. He leaned over Madeira and barked directly into her ear.

"Hey! Hey Tits, you need to move!"

After a tick of dazed blinking and pained groans Jomi let out a seething breath.

"Alright, then brace yourself. Im coming in."

Jomi form disintegrated into a shapeless mist and entered her through her mouth and slid into the rest of her body. Filling out the space in her lungs and stretching into her torso and legs. As long as she didn’t fight back using the spiritists possession trained body was like sliding into a worn in and comfortable pair of boots.

Jomi rolled his new host onto her belly and braced her hands to pull herself up and out of harms way, walking her back to the bar and sitting her down on a barstool with a heavy thump. The ghost pulled out of her then, stepping out of her back and leaving her to support her own weight as he drifted back to the furnace with small hesitant steps as if he were bracing for the wood burning pit to jump out and bite him.

“…Val?”

Jomi stepped through the stone barrier and craned his head up to look into the soot stained flue.

“Guys he’s not here, should we be worried?”

OOC: Madeira gave my permission to mess with her