someone else will pay for your sins (part II)

(Roleplay entry. Not entirely connected to the main. Continued from part I.)

Emilly blinked rapidly. "NO funhouse! You want to take her to--NO!"

The dark-haired woman perked up. "Funhouse?"

Hiro just nodded. "We have to take the watch back."

Watch. She remembered something about the watch. Something about...a hospital? Getting Hiro of the hospital? Pocketing the watch and leaving the rest of his possessions, and taking him back to...to...where?

She looked at Hiro in consternation. "Why??" Then the penny dropped, and she hissed at him. "She's afraid of CLOWNS, and you want to take Justine to a place where the CLOWNS ARE ARMED?!"

Hiro nodded, seemingly oblivious to what she'd said. "If he knows I took it--"

"Sorry," said the woman. "I'm a bit childish, but--did you say funhouse?"

Zack, meanwhile, knelt and took Justine's chin gently. "Justine...breathe...look at me. Focus only on me..."

The dark-haired woman looked puzzled. Emilly just shook her head.

"Oh, my gods," she finally muttered. "This is a disaster."

Justine opened her mouth, and Emilly flinched at the sound from her. "f̶̗̼̒Ư̷͖̐̈́̈̃̎͜N̷̼̘̩̳͇̫͍͔̏̇̄̊ḩ̶̨̢͙̰̪͋̌̒́̆̅͋͝o̵̠͖̠͔̠̗̽U̴̟͍̩͌̑̐͐̐͊̋͝š̶͉̖̯̔͝ȩ̸̩͓̟̪̞̰̖̍͐̈́ ̷̤̹̯̹̦͂̋͌̉̎̒̒͝i̶̒͒͜S̵̢̹͕̠̮̼͔͐̊̏ ̴̛̥͇̩͎̃́̆̑̊ń̶̡̛̖̈́͋Ǫ̷̨͓̭͓̳̻̪̉͒͑̀T̷̙̤̘̗͂͒̃̓͒͝ ̸̨̩̱̳́͂́̏̀̏͑ḟ̶̠̟͍̬͈͗͆̏̽ͅỤ̷̥̭̩̔̓̌̄̓̍͝N̵͓͇̖͖̄," she intoned, trembling.

Dear GODS, what WAS that??

"We have to give it back!" Hiro thundered. "Or he will keep looking..."

Emilly nodded at Justine, watching her carefully. "Right. It's not fun. You're right."

The dark-haired woman looked on, confused.

Justine looked up, blinking. "The...watch. The watch? The one I found? What?"

Emilly nodded. "Yes, the watch you..." She paused. "Where did you find it? Exactly?"

Justine looked down, concerned. "I...don't know," she finally murmured. "I was...exploring...it was..." She trailed off, eyes going blank.

The platinum-haired woman rolled her eyes. "I will try to summarize, B̴͈̱̞̖́͂̚ę̴̛̳̤̳̘̓́͆͆͜͝l̸͎̯̱̇̉͛̾̾ͅḽ̸̲̆a̸̡͙̜͇̓̋--"

Emilly winced at the burst of sound again, only slightly less strident than what Justine had intoned.

"Certain foolish people like to play with artifacts...They brought it here, disaster ensued, the end--" She abandoned the polite tone she reserved for the woman, and gave Justine an Hiro a look that could freeze vodka.

Zack turned towards her and Hiro. "I will take care of Justine, while you take care of...this mess....It is my responsibility as her gege to make sure she is safe."

The dark-haired woman looked uneasy. "So...it's NOT safe for one like me here."

Emilly inhaled, chanting a minor spell under her breath, changing outfits to something closer to 1930's evening wear. It was far from era-perfect, but it should work for now.

"Good of you, Zack, thank you," she said. She looked at the platinum-haired woman. Who frowned.

"Let's just say Ḃ̴͙͇̺̑͗͘͜é̸̲͆̏̽͋̈͆̂l̶̜͓̬̝͒̆̿l̸̟͚͗a̸̡̖͉͕͈͎̹͑ is...allergic to some of this."

It was getting easier to deal with the bursts of discordant sounds. "Define safe," she asked cautiously.

Well....define safe...What is--" She paused. No. She wasn't up to trying to make those sounds herself. "--she allergic to?"

The dark-haired woman shifted, looking down. "Anything that tampers with spirits."

Emilly walked over to the the blonde, pocketing the vial she held out. "Anything that tampers with--you might need to be clearer than that?"

The woman stared at her.

"Banishing, you mean? Or summoning?"

The woman blinked. "Yes," she said softly.

"Oh..." Emilly thought that through. "Then...possibly."

The woman sighed. She looked at the blonde woman. "Am I going to have to shoot myself in the head again to explain? That gets annoying."

Emilly widened her eyes. "No no no no--"

The blonde shook her head vigorously. "No, don't, please."

Emilly agreed. "No dramatic gestures, I do believe we've had enough of those."

(Continued in part III.)