Hired (Jeannie Rose)

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.

Jeannie giggles amused by the angry ghost wiggling in the paintinghah hah I caught you. Maura then came over yeah i have good idea's sometimes

Jeannie smiles when Maura wrapped her arm around her she loves hugs.in the basement think that's where the special no more ghost painting is. ok then,oh you can have your mask back now,the stinky cloud went away with grabby. Thanks for letting me borrow it.

The mask was handed back to her and she shoved it once more into her coat pocket, "Anytime, Pups." Maura waved off the comment right before phasing through the ground, focusing her powers on the heels of her feet. They went through slowly, and Maura was ready for the drop when her feet went through into thin air.

They landed with a thud on the ground, Maura bending her knees slightly so she wouldn't take on the full impact. She was relieved to find that she hadn't accidentally fused Jeannie's hair with the ceiling.

"So there was a basement down here." She mentioned nonchalantly as her eyes caught sight of the black trail of paint continuing down below the room above. It was a completely empty place, super boring in comparison to the one they had just been in. The paint tracks led through the center of the room and over to big red ex that was painted haphazardly on the ground. In the middle of the mark was a single large, white canvas, "So I'm guessing that's what we're looking for." Maura said, letting go of Jeannie and giving the place around them a cynical once-over.

Everything so far had been sort of... Easy. They were dealing with a spirit, and so far the worst thing that had happened was Maura's hair turning into yellow Valspar. She hummed thoughtfully as she looked back to the canvas. She sensed a trap. "What do you make of this, Jeannie? It seems a bit... easy."

well going through walls and floors sure were odd,kinda like diving into a pool but without the water,Jeannie held her breath every time expecting to splash under water,but she was getting used to it the more Maura pulled her throw stuff. She'll have to go to the pool now later sense that's stuck in her head.

She's disappointed when Maura let go she wanted a longer hug. She smiles happily with the nickname Maura gave herpups? oh, cause I'm like a puppy that's cute I like that.

she looks at the painting huh think it's boobie trapped then,hah hah boobies. Jeannie Giggles amused,She never got why they called it that,they never have anything to do with boobies.

maybe getting by the ghost was the hard part,so now what do we do with it? is there magic words we say to make the ghost go away?

Maura rolled her eyes at Jeannie's antics. Had the girl really only just realized she had been calling her Pups? And we're boobs really so funny? Maura didn't know, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. But she played along with the blonde anyways and humoured her a bit, "I don't know, let's see.... Abra, cadabra.... ALAKAZAM!" She said, opening her arms up wide. Nothing happened. The brunette shrugged and looked to Jeannie, "I guess those weren't the right words."

As soon as she finished her sentence, the ground beneath them started shaking violently. It was such a sudden movement that Maura had to take a knee in order to stay balanced. She frantically looked towards the canvas to see a ring of purple fire igniting around it, ghostly whispers that she couldn't understand entering her hearing. Then the canvas started slowly disappearing from the top, and Maura really began wigging out. She tried to stand but the shaking was too great. She looked over to Jeannie again.

"We have to get that canvas!" She said firmly, not knowing if Jeannie could even move any better than she herself could, but if necessity demanded it....

huh what about bity boty boo,darn this might be tricky, yikes the room started shaking and fire and the canvas was moving.

Maura said to get the picture,she seemed to have trouble standing up. look for them Jeannie has catlike balance so they shaking didn't bug her much but how to get past the fire.

Jeannie then gets an idea go kung fu panda powers! Jeannie gets a running start and leaps up somersaulting over the purple flames landing on the canvas.got it,or maybe it's got me? either way how do I stop sinking?

Maura looked up when the shaking suddenly stopped and Jeannie started talking. It looked like she was.... stuck to the canvas? And sinking into it. Maura inwardly groaned as she surged to her feet, moving forwards in order to go help the other girl. She covered her face as she leapt through the fire, only her coat tails catching the purple flames. "Ah! Hot coat, hot coat!" She complained as she ripped off the trench coat after retrieving her mask and throwing it away from her just before it rapidly burned into ashes.

Ignoring that her very expensive outerwear had just been destroyed, Maura pulled on her mask and focused on trying to pull Jeannie free. The girl was sinking rapidly and no matter what she did, Maura found that Jeannie was only going down. Maura grunted and put one foot on the outer edge of the canvas for leverage and put her hands under Jeannie's arm. Unfortunately she wasn't blessed with super strength.

Also unfortunately, once her foot hit the canvas Maura also began sinking into the empty canvas. And with the two of them together, they began sinking twice as fast. "Mierda! I think we're going to-"

Then, with a slight popping sound, both of them were sucked into the painting like they'd fallen through a hole. Maura's stomach flipped as she found herself in free fall, blisteringly cold air whipping around her until-

PUFF!

The landing was soft and icy. Maura groaned behind her mask and lifted herself up with great effort out of the... Snow? "What in the world? W-where are we?" Maura asked as she wiped the snow off her mask and looked around to see nothing but hills and hills of pure white snow.

Jeannie looks around confusedhuh,how is it snowing inside? or are we outside now how strange

The painting must have eaten us,then spit us out in a snowy place. not sure what else to do Jeannie starts building a snowman and singing frozen songs.

kinda cold in here to bad your jacket burned up. I'll have to buy you a new one once we get out of here since it's kinda my fault you lost it. but tell then I think
we should snuggle to stay warm,can't get think of how to get out of here if are brains freeze. maybe finding stuff to build a fire would help. She wraps her arms around Maura giving her a big hug.

Maura had just stood and dusted herself off properly when Jeannie embraced her in the deep snow. She immediately tensed up as her arms were pinned down. She seriously wasn't good with sudden close contact. If she initiated it, yeah that was fine. The other way around made her rather uncomfortable. But then again Maura was beginning to get used to Jeannie and her warm ways. This helped Maura relax into the hold and awkwardly hug the thin girl back as best she could around her waist.

It was then that Maura noticed that she was slightly taller than Jeannie. They looked about to be the same weight, too, if how much they sank into the snow and how lithe they both were was any clue to that. Jeannie's chest was the only thing to envy, as Maura was a bit lacking in that department. She was glad she had her mask on so that Jeannie couldn't see the slight jealousy in her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But we need to find shelter, too." Maura said, making her suit a bit denser against the cold and feeling a bit bad that Jeannie was only in a tee shirt. She looked over the girl's shoulder to see if she could spot anything. The sky was as white as the ground, only a few shadows set over the hills to distinguish the two. That, and the slightly darker set of clouds in the distance.

Suddenly a huge gust of wind blew from that direction into Maura's face. It nearly made her gasp with the force behind it. Though Maura loved the cold and winter, she knew what was heading their way was bad news.

"I think there's a storm coming in, we need to go the opposite way and find a place to get out of it..." Her outer arm brushed against Jeannie's bare inner one and once again Maura felt concern. That she was concerned irritated her since she really should be keeping such weak emotions in check. The only way to keep her from feeling that way would be to resolve the problem, "We should switch shirts. I can make your tee shirt do that it protects me against the cold better, and you can wear my shirt since it's still better than what you're wearing."

It was a logical decision, if Jeannie's shirt was made out of synthetic material. But Maura honestly didn't care as long as she could get rid of her worrisome attitude.

huh ok then,I like that idea I don't like the cold much,finding somewhere to hide in is a good plan, Jeannie is kinda amused by her shirt switching idea well Maura shirt did look warmer. She not sure what fun magic Maura intends to use on Jeannie's t-shirt but Jeannie guesses she knows what she's doing.

ok even though taking your shirt off seems kinda odd on a list of things to do in a blizzard. Jeannie
takes off her shirt and hands it to Maura, Jeannie shivers as she does snow places weren't the best place to change clothes. well hopefully she'll be warmer once they switched.

Maura held the shirt with her knees and stripped as fast as she could, making sure not to turn it inside out so that it retained her warmth. She then proceeded to shove it sloppily over Jeannie's head and put on the tee shirt. Unfortunately Maura found that Jeannie's shirt was mostly made out of cotton, which she couldn't manipulate the density of. Although, it was at least ten percent polyester so she could make it just a bit more resistant to the freezing weather. Plus, she might look a little bit ridiculous with mutated ninja turtles and the rest of her ensemble that included her gloves and mask.

Either way, Maura felt better inwardly knowing Jeannie wouldn't catch frostbite. Maura linked her arm around Jeannie's once the girl was finished and started trudging along through the snow, "Keep an eye out for anything that could shield us from the storm!"

yay that's much better Jeannie is happy as the shirt Maura gave her was much warmer.so think we might find a log cabin they have those a lot in places like this in movies.

Think we might be in the north pole? I want to meet Santa Claus if we are. hope we can find something to eat too I'm hungry.Well maybe if were lucky a talking snowman will come by to help. or a goat man me might be in Narnia! then we just got to wait for Mr. Tumnus to come by and help us.

Maura was amazed by Jeannie's rampant imagination, which therein sparked a bit of her own. She glanced at the girl as they trudged on, "Or Mr.Tumnus, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa will all come to help us out at once. I'd love to get their autographs." She joked while yanking her foot from a pile of snow that had been super deep. The chill bit at her arms as it lashed past them once again, and Maura stifled her shivers, pulling in closer to Jeannie.

With the wind came a bit of snow. It seemed that the storm was closing in on them a lot faster than she had thought it would. The brunette glanced around again for any signs of shelter. That was when she spotted the purple wisp dancing about four hundred yards away from them.

"Pups, look! It looks like the fire that was around the canvas." She pulled out one arm and pointed at it. The little flame danced a bit further away before stopping again, like it was waiting for them to follow it, "I think... it wants us to go with it."

oh yeah that be really cool,I want their autographs too,hope they come in help us. When Maura pulls closer Jeannie decides not everything about the snow was bad sure there cold but it put Maura in a hugging mood and Jeannie loves hugs.

Jeannie looks and sees the fire Maura was talking about
yay it's Santa or frosty sending Christmas magic to save us. Jeannie smiles hopefully it'll lead them out of the cold.we should follow it then.

"Alright, well, I hope you brought a marker or pen then." Maura smirked as she focused on the flickering purple wisp and trudged towards it. The wind was picking up drastically at this point and snow flurries were whipping all around them, making it near impossible to see. Somehow, though, the flame always stayed just barely within their sights. Well, probably well within Jeannie's range of sight with her animal powers and all.

Suddenly the flame was gone. Maura almost began to panic before she nearly ran face first into a brick wall. Her green eyes widened behind her mask as she looked up at the imposing structure now before them. It could be described as nothing less than a monumental castle! The square building had walls at least forty feet high, with no windows and every brick was covered in an icy sheen that made it seem to glow a ghostly white. At each corner was a rounded tower slightly taller than the walls surrounding them. Each tower was topped with a pointed roof like something straight out of mideivil times.

"W-well, its n-not a cabin!" She said to Jeannie, unable to keep her teeth from chattering, "Shall we go in?"

ok then think i got one they follow the funny flame. luckily Jeannie's keen eyesight lets her keep track of it in the snow. She then looks up amused at what it lead them too.

looky a castle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah, I bet it's really warm,maybe there's food too! Jeannie looks for a door.
this castles huge will guess we should see if anybody's home She knocks on the big door and jumps back hiding behind Marua when it seems to open by itself.

Content that the doesn't appear any ghosties popping out Jeannie steps through the door. It feels warmer already. yay it's warm in here! She starts looking around the big room and is surprised when the door closes behind them. huh that's funny will guess the castle didn't want to let the cold air in.must be a fire somewhere it's much warmer here.

Think maybe the snowman king lives here? Hello anybody home? Jeannie curiously looks around amused by the castle.kinda like my house but without the funny smells from daddy's experaments Jeannie then notices a funny picture and notices it's seemed to be watching them she moves around hiding behind Marua and furniture in the room trying to trick it.

I think that pictures watching us She makes funny faces at it. the picture then makes fun faces too.i like you funny picture man your funny,wonder if everything is alive in here,maybe a stove that cooks by itself that be nice I'm hungry.

huh this must be the beast castle from beauty and the beast then,maybe the clock and candle guys are here