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"Yeah, something." Hal replied, trying to give her a smile he didn't quite feel. "So, erm, what was your name again?" He really had no idea where to go with this whole...scenario other than to get to know her at least some.

"C.J." Hal repeated, smiling a bit. "I think I can remember that......" he said, then shifted a bit. Uncomfortably. This was just so...awkward.

Edel smiled. "I have some quiet rooms downstairs if you two would like to catch up." she offered.

Edel grinned. "It's quite alright. Pick whatever room you'd like. If there's anything you need, one of my attendants will fetch it for you." she replied.

Rosie grinned and waved back as the girl passed by.


Hal smiled nervously and started to walk past to go down the hall as well. Before he made it out the door, Edel caught him by the arm and stopped him.

"May I have a word, before you go down to talk with your daughter?"

Hal blinked and looked over at her. "Yeah. Of course."

"I know this is very...strange for you. But...as a bit of advice as far as unexpected parenting goes...try to-" she began, then quite suddenly stopped. Edel froze and her eyes darted over towards one of the dollhouses in the corner of the room.

Two of the dolls were being taken. SHE wasn't doing anything to them, and no one in her HOUSE was doing anything to them. Someone outside was. But...how? No one got in here unless she welcomed them in. Not this far into the heart of her home anyway.
That new Strange could...but it wasn't him. It wasn't that new woman that had come into her home. It wasn't that...cosmic being. Who....no....what was...

"What is it?" Hal asked, picking up that something was wrong. Just the look on the woman's face screamed that whatever was going on in the corner wasn't supposed to be happening.

Natalie had taken not of her glowing dolls as well. She seemed more panicked than Edel did, and instinctively ran over to her dolls.

"Natalie, No!" Edel shouted.

Before the girl could touch the dolls, she was enveloped in a green light and drawn back towards the other side of the room.

Hal looked over at Edel as she stormed past him, she placed her self between her daughter and the dolls. She knew how much Natalie cared for any doll she brought home, she didn't want her breaking free of the lanterns grip and rushing past. As unlikely as that would be.

But this...oh no. She didn't know who this was, but they were NOT stealing from her home. If they wanted something, they could come HERE and ask politely for it.
Muttering some dead language under her breath, she closed her eyes and tried to focus her concentration on the dolls.

Rosie backed up, keeping herself in the hallway but with a good view of the room. She looked worriedly around at the others.

"I don't know." Hal replied. He moved Natalie towards her and out into the hallway with the little girl. "Don't let her in. Whatever it is, she doesn't want anyone near it."




Elsewhere in the large house, Alcina had sat down by a fireplace, waiting for Edel to return to talk. She shifted uneasily in the cushioned chair and glanced back at the doorway. Something was....not right....she couldn't quite place what it was though. Something...just something.

A deep, smooth, rather attractive, and at the same time bone chillingly WRONG voice spoke up, and an active counter to Edel's spells started up on a different, level, somewhere underneath the words. "Now, now, that's rather impolite, little witch. I need a full set. However, if you insist on denying me your hospitality when you have granted it to so many others, I will oblige you."

It was difficult to pick up on it (mostly because the whole thing was so mind numbingly frightening), but the voice was... distracted. Almost like it was concentrating on several things at once-- the equivalent of making a phone call while trying to watch television AND trying to cook a complicated dish that is very easy to get wrong. Even so, the glowing orange color began slowly spreading out from the dolls, seeping into the carpet and extending slivers of power through the magic of the house.

"What a pretty little girl you have, Edel... Perhaps she would like to be on my guest list as well?"

No fear... No fear... Carlie kept saying to herself, backing up and getting closer to her father. He was far more experienced than her-- it would be wise to stay close to him so that she didn't break down in fear, as she was really freaking out now. Her construct began to crack...

"No! No..." she said to herself, trying as hard as she could to get rid of that fear she had. "In brightest day... in blackest night..." she said, making her voice as strong as possible, just so that she could keep her Willpower up.