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"And do you change things, Dee?" Temperance finally spoke up, voice non accusatory.

Dee sounded panicked now. "I don't change people! Ever! Look what they did to you! Your fingers! I could fix that! Just not here!" His tail lashed back and forth. "And the other one's foot! I can fix that too!"

The faceless near Juniper still stood close, watching. Waiting for her to do something.

"I can take you home!" Near pleading. "Please don't give me to them!"

"I can smell their magic! I am telling the truth!" Small paws, no longer so tiny seemed to gesture in the direction of Connor and then back to Temperance. "They change things and I don't! I can fix!"

Dee squeaked at being handled the way he was. He blinked very wide, very watery eyes at her. "No! I didn't!"

The faceless took a step back when the chipmunk was adjusted. Not a wary step back but something else. It's focused was entirely on Dee.

Once more Shun would hear a response, an almost urgent tone to the many voices that sounded as one. It must be contained otherwise it will cause great harm. There was a pause. You who walked among the murmurs, you who saw things ... Surely some of you felt the pain, the fear. Those were things caused by that which she holds.

Temperance chewed on her lip thoughtfully. Neither parties was being transparent, but she was more inclined to side with a small, otherworldly animal than mannequins who turned her fingertips to plastic ******** u.

"Don't do it, Juniper. We don't know anything yet." Temperance reached out between the mannequin and Juniper and plunked her hand in the mannequin's outstretched one. They only talked with touch, right? Well then let's ******** kumbyah, she thought.

"What will you do with Dee if given back to you?"

Looking to Temperance, who seemed to be on the same page as herself, Juniper stepped back from the faceless who was still standing in front of her with his hand out. These things were certainly stubborn about what they wanted. That was for sure.

Juniper sighed and smiled at Dee. "Alright. I believe you then." She pulled the hand holding Dee to her chest to almost cradle the chipmunk against her.

"I am not just oging to hand him over." She glared at Shun. "They say he destroys thing but if he was capable of that, why wouldn't he just do that now? He's out of the cage after all. Besides those wisps didn't exactly show anything that condems Dee. How do we not know he isn't being framed or maybe a case of mistaken identity?" Oh, she knew she was being stubborn. It was certainly one of her many lovely traits and she knew it. Still, she liked to stand strong when it came to something she believed in. Right now, she was putting her belief in Dee.

IF she was wrong. Well...she wasn't so proud that she wouldn't be able to admit it.

An idea struck her at that moment. "So um. What would happen if we just...took Dee with us? To our normal Ashdown? Would that be bad? Good?" She really had no idea, but maybe it was an option? Maybe the Faceless would let them go if they just removed Dee from Other Ashdown for now.

It seemed to be going mostly well.

Or it was going mostly well until Juniper made mention of taking Dee to the other side.

That was the turning point.

Almost immediately, the faceless were moving. Shun was pushed behind and their hands were pressed out in front of them, fingers spread wide. It was because Dee had jumped from Juniper's arms and made a bolt for the door.

His form shifted mid-air, glimmering and darkening. The body lengthened and he was no longer a chipmunk but something else all together. His tail twitched, large and wide and hit Juniper's legs with enough force to knock her over.

"You are not taking me to the ******** idiot side," he growled out, his eyes glowing a fiery red. There were too many teeth in his mouth and his voice seemed to reverberate in his body.

"You also don't know s**t about where magic belongs." This time he was speaking to Shun but he was watching the faceless. "... and you lot can't do s**t with them in here."

The faceless merely stared, a hand flicking. Something shimmered in the air around Dee but he swiped at it with a paw and it disappeared.

"It'll take more," he hissed, "than that."

Shun knew it. The whole damn thing was a facade, meant to play on human sympathies. And some of the group had fallen for it.

Dee. For destroyer.

He caught his balance after the faceless pushed him aside. It claimed they couldn't do anything but he had thoughts otherwise.

"Focus on restraining that little a*****e. Do not let it escape," he barked out before attempting to do... Something. Create a cage, binding, assisting the faceless somehow.

All the while, he just tried to get into a better position, watching for potential openings. If magic failed, there was still the old fashion way. Even if this thing had way too many teeth, something had to be done.