Hired (Jeannie Rose)

Jeannie listen to the man tell them about the robberyA painting grim reaper? how interesting, yay now we now what the thief looks like. She looks around where the paint was taken from.

She follows some paint drips to a wall.over here i think he did his ghosty thing and went this way.

Maura nodded in agreement and made sure no one was looking. She reached for Jeannie's hand to pull her through the wall as she made it intangible again. On the other side the paint drips continued on, leading through an empty store that only had naked manikins and clothes racks without clothes strewn about haphazardly. Mirrors had once been placed throughout the store so that customers could look at themselves in their new finds. Now not one of them wasn't broken or covered in dust. There were no footprints. Only the paint splatters winding through the lifeless, clotheless human sized dolls.

"Well this is super spooky." she admitted as she looked over to Jeannie with narrowed green eyes. The lighting was super bad in here, too, "Okay, Pups, can you see anything?" If this girl learned from animals, why not a cat or owl or something? Maura was curious to see what Jeannie could do.

what a interesting place. yeah, I see just fine I got kitty cat eyes so seeing in the darks no problem. Yeah is most definitely spooky She looks around the room. eww creepy dolls loos like a store and someone stole all the clothes, huh wonder what the thief would want with those She follows the paint trail.

Looking at the old mirrors she gets an ideahey think this place is abandoned? The dust on everything looks like it's been awhile since someone's been here. Maybe we stumbled on the shadow thief's hideout! makes sense it's an old abandoned building so now one would look in it and it's by the museum and a paint store the things he needs. Jeannie looks around the room some more following the paint to a door.

think i found the way out,of to another room at least,hopefully one less creepy

"Yeah, hopefully." She muttered as she followed Jeannie. She was never one who was known for their ability to sense something amiss supernaturally, so when even she could feel the pressure in the air she knew they were dealing with something funky. The doorknob chilled her hand when she grasped its metal surface.

The door was unlocked, yet it was strangely difficult to push it open. Cobwebs stretched and snapped from where they lay across the other side of the door. If there was little light in the room with the creepy mirrors and dolls, then the light in this room had been non-exsistent until the door was opened.

A fragile stream of light followed the paint trail into the dark, windowless room, revealing hundreds of drawings painted colorfully over the walls. Rather than drawings, actually, they were works of art! All sorts of renditions of famous paintings, including the ones recently theifed, were expertly copied on the walls. How someone had painted them perfectly in the dark, Maura didn't know. Or care. Because that was not where her focus was.

The black paint drips led to a dark figure in the middle of the room. It matched the description from the man in the paint store earlier, except way spookier and floating. Maura found herself stepping into the room as if she had been pulled and looked with sharp eyes to Jeannie. "Can you... Still collect a bounty on a ghost?" She asked, not knowing what the freaky spirit in front of them might do next.

yikes Jeannie was looking around the room amazed by the collection of art when the ghost pops up.
startled she hides behind Maura
not sure never actually tried that. I meet a ghost before,but he was a good one so I didn't too. Maybe if we had one of them ghost vacuum things like ghostbusters. to stick him in then take him to the cops and see what they say. maybe if were lucky there was a bounty on him before he was a ghost so there'd be an interest bonus of some kind with the price going up over time.

we should try talking to him maybe his is a good ghost.

hello thereshe waves to the ghost.I'm Jeannie what's your name or I guess was your name. This is a nice collection of stuff you got.

"For some reason I don't get the 'Casper' vibe from this guy." Maura pointed out as Jeannie hid behind her and questioned its alignment. The girl tried not to judge books by their cover normally, but this apparition didn't give off an air of cuddly bunnies or kindliness. It's face was completely hidden behind its massive black hood, the robe covering what may or may not be a very tall form billowed in the wind that seemed to be blowing only on the ghost. The paint stained garb rippled menacingly and it made Maura shiver again.

Its answer to Jeannie's question came in a whisper that was as loud as a shout. Which was super odd, I am... Malthael....

Suddenly a hissing sound like someone using spray paint came from the ghost as it lunged forwards, leaving a billowing cloud of neon blue paint in its wake. Maura yelped as it moved and aimed to push herself and Jeannie out of the way as long black fingers reached out for them. "Nope, not friendly!"

malthael,that's an odd name huh think I heard that before can't remember at the moment,yikes!!!!!!!!! Run !!!!!! Jeannie jumps out of the way not wanting them scary fingers to get her.

Jeannie rolls out of the ghost way,she's not sure exactly what to do. She isn't really sure how to stop a ghost from getting away. where the ghostbusters when you need them?

She looks to see if Maura got clear of the shadowy meany. carfull don't let Mr. graby ghoul get you. Ghost and living people usually don't mix well when they touch. what should we do?

"Dually noted!" She called back to Jeannie as she duck, rolled, then sprinted to get away from the spirit. She wanted to tell her temporary partner that she liked the name 'Mr. Grabby Ghoul' way better than Malthael. But such thing failed to come out of her mouth when the whole room was suddenly being filled with a multi-colored haze. Maura quickly grabbed her mask and put it on to filter out at least a bit of the paint fumes, but it still made her cough. Plus, she couldn't see very well either.

"I-I don't know much about ghosts, but-" She stopped a moment to cough roughly as she somehow made her way back to Jeannie, "From the few horror movies I've seen, the poltergeist always finds an item or something that it attaches itself to... So maybe this thing is attached to one of the paintings he stole, but, where are they?" All she had seen were the paintings the ghost had made on the wall himself and the room had looked like a dead end. Maura felt a chill run up her spine and rolled out of the way just in time as Mr. Grabby Ghoul swooped in from overhead.

"Maybe if we find the paintings, we can either destroy it and get rid of him or trap him in the object he's attached to."

Huh maybe she needs to carry a mask around,Jeannie thinks as Maura use hers to protect herself from the rainbow mist. Jeannie starts coughing. With her strong sense of smell, she wasn't too fond of strong smells like the paint mist

She pulls her shirt over her face to try and block out the stinky mist

an't poltergeist and ghost the same thing? well, that sounds like a plan. Like the Lich in Baldur's gate 2, you got to find the jar with his heart to kill him.oh Diablo III: is where I heard that name before.
Jeannie rolls under a table to escape the air raiding ghost.

So how do we know which one it is? There're tons of paintings in here. also, do you have a backup mask I could borrow,his funk cloud is doing a number on my allergies

Maura had no idea what Jeannie was talking about when she rambled on about poltergeists vs ghosts. Books or movies, maybe? Either way she wasn't really too concerned with it.

Maura looked to Jeannie with sudden awareness of how uncomfortable she would be in this situation. Pups was basically an animal, after all. She figured the paint fumes must be bugging the blonde something awful. Maura grunted and ripped her mask off and attempted to shove it over Jeannie's head.

"No back-ups, sorry. You need it more than me anyways. I don't think our ghostly art theif would keep something so important in with his other stuff. It's too important." She hurriedly said, trying to look for something that could point them in the right direction. Unfortunately while she was distracted Grabby managed to latch onto a chunk of Maura's hair and pulled her forwards roughly.

Instead of crying out Maura braced herself and jerked to the right, tearing herself away from the ghost's grasp and right into the middle of the dusty floor. She lost a few strands and her hand went to the tender spot on her scalp. She was quite horrified to find that part of her hair dripping with yellow paint. "Agh, gross! Yellow, really?" She complained angrily.

Then she realized where she was at. It was the end of the paint trail, smack in the middle of the room. Suddenly she had an epiphany. If the paint trail had been going through walls, why couldn't it go through the floor? She turned to Jeannie who she was now some distance away from and gathered enough of the tainted air to call over to her, "Jeannie, over here! I think I know where to find it!" She called, squinting hard enough to see the girl. And the shadowy form above her, "Watch out!"

much better Jeannie is happy when Maura lends her the mask and she can breathe properly again. Yeah, Maura had a good point the ghost would probably hide something important.

she started to search when Maura called out about having an idea where they should go look. She starts to head over to her to see what she's talking about. When Maura calls for her to watch out.

Yikes!!!!!!!!
Jeannie looks and sees the Grabby ghost floating above her. She stumbles backward not sure what to do if ghost goes through stuff she can't really try and hit it with anything cause it goes through it.

but then maybe the ghost can't hurt her too then. But what if it goes through her that be gross and feel really weird. She decides to try and distract tell she can come up with something.

wait can't we talk about this? You don't want to eat me I'm too skinny She lifts her shirt showing her tiny tummysee all skin and bones I wouldn't taste good at all she noticed when the ghost grabbed Maura she got painted. Is he made of paint?

Well, Marua said they needed a special painting to destroy and get rid of the ghost. But if his paint maybe she can stick him to one of the other ones for awhile.

Well if it worked that slow him down a little why he got unstuck. if it didn't it would go through him she guesses, either way, it'd get her out of this mess and time to get over to Marua to see what she discovered

Or maybe he bought into her talk about her not being good to eat and will just leave her alone. She sees a near by nearby painting she can try her idea with if the ghost keeps coming

You would make... A nice addition to my... collection!

"I-I think he want to turn you into a painting?" Maura coughed roughly and wasn't able to see Malthael lunge for Jeannie until it was too late. She had heard the blonde try to reason with the thing, which was pretty admirable, but to Maura it seemed a moot point when they were trying to capture the thing anyways. When she looked up again the ghost was trying to attack Jeannie, and she there was no way she could get there in tim to do anything. Hopefully the other young woman had a plan.

Part of your collection? Jeannie is relieved the ghost doesn't want to eat her. So you like want me to model for one of your paintings? I could do that,I've had friends tell me I should try modeling saying I'm pretty enough for it,course they also say as hyper as I am getting me to set still would be a pain. Do I get to wear pretty clothes ,I love playing dress up?

Jeannie is excited at the idea of playing model. She hears Maura say something about the ghost wanting to turn her into a painting.yeah he wants to paint a picture of me.neat huh!

Maura nearly choked on both the paint filled air and Jeannie's comment. She seriously could not believe that Jeannie still thought this thing could be benign. She gabbed her hair in frustration and managed to feel her hair still sopping and... dripping? It was as if her hair had actually turned into paint! The thought had Maura surging to a stand and calling out frantically to Jeannie.

The ghost was now observing Jeannie with great consideration as if trying to memorize her looks, then slowly lifted its hands towards the mask she was wearing.

"No, Jeannie, I think he literally wants to turn you into a PAINTING!" Maura yelled as she began running towards the two beings in an attempt to at least distract the ghost.

littraly? I'm not sure if I like that idea! Jeannie kinda disappointed about not getting to play dress up and worried about becoming an art exhibit ,

decides she'd better go back to her plan to trap the ghost in a picture. With the ghost getting a little too close in her personal space Jeannie grabs a near large nearby painting and puts it between her and the ghost like a shield hoping her runs into it and gets sucked in or whatever.

Maura would have been too slow to save Jeannie if the girl hadn't saved herself. As soon as Malthael lunged for the blonde, Jeannie shoved a canvas between them. Miraculously, the phantom smacked into the painting and was seemingly sucked into it. Maura gaped as a tinier version of the ghost wriggled about angrily on the canvas. The painting shook violently and the paint on the painting bubbled. As soon as Mr. Grabby had been stuck to the painting the mist around the place seemed to evaporate and Maura could breath normally again.

"Wow. Great thinking!" Maura cheered as she looked at the painting and came to Jeannie's side. She wrapped an arm around the girl's thin waist and looked at her, "But I don't think that will hold it for long. You should leave it here and I'll phase us through the floor, okay? I think there might be something in the basement down below us."

At least she hoped there was a basement. It was going to be very awkward if there wasn't.