#[sinfulween]

[sins-of-the-sea]

This evening, at La Demonia Roja...

"Obvious questionable logistics aside, how is the ship managing to sail with all these pumpkins aboard?"

"The sails aren't even up at all. Also, it's La Demonia. She'll manage."

"What are we going to do with all these pumpkins?"

"Eat very, very well.~"

"At least I had some fun with a few!"

"Not bad. Some are even cute!"

"Even with intention to eat all these pumpkins eventually, this is still too much for seven people, even if our immortality gives us all the time in the world..."

"I got it! I'll preserve them so we can take our time eating them!" Giovanni touches the giant pumpkin pile to turn it all to gold….

"GIOVANNI, WAIT--"

And the ship quickly sinks before wholly disappearing into the sea, unable to handle the weight of all the golden pumpkins. Because even La Demonia has her limits.

[sins-of-the-sea]

"How were you able to make the illusion of an entirely different form? I thought you can't fully shapeshift when you're in fogform!"

"It's not quite shapeshifting. Just some choice lighting, taking advantage of the mirrors in Phoebus' room, all just good old misdirection and deception."

"This is the reason why you are in charge of scaring people, my love!~ The Wrath of the Seas, destroyer of fleets, the scourge of sailors everywhere!~"

"I have a reputation to keep up. Now I just have to make sure Giovanni doesn't mistaken any of the scary things tonight as a Little De-"

And without warning….

The three boys return with Rashid to pound the Captain down to the ground with massive peach wood clubs, an entire incense burner, and all sort of makeshift 'exorcism' tools that are really just bludgeoning tools.

All Abena--and anyone else, for that matter--can do is stare as Captain Frascona is just a massive heap of bruises and blood on the floor.

"…………………."

"…………………."

"…………………."

"…………………."

"…………………."

"………………….You four are going to be in so much trouble."

"I don't want to be the mainsail or get my head on the bowsprit again!!" Rashid just races out of the quarters to jump off the boat.

"We should perform a ritual to bring back Phoebus so he can heal up the Cap-"

"NO, RUIXIONG!!"

[sins-of-the-sea]

"Whew! I haven't had that much fun in a long while!"

"The same for me. We should keep at it. Maybe I should remake Phoebus as a jiangshi, as a treat specifically for Ruixiong."

"Ohhh!! Ohhh! Maybe you can make him a vampire! Or a xenomorph! Oh, oh, maybe the Demogorgon or a Gatherer from Amnesia!"

"Those are very nice, horrifying choices! The fact that Phoebus tends to be terrified of them first is an absolute bon-

"…Is it cold here all of the sudden, or is it just me?"

"Is it?" Abena notices the lights around the chamber are dimming and flickering altogether. "What's going on? I don't sense the Master's presence here!"

"T-Then… who?" The two slowly look around as a great shadow starts to envelop around both of them…

As a great monstrosity with a mauled, stretched out face, reddened briar for hair, and assorted sharp implements waved around at Rashid and Abena.

"̸Y̴o̴u̸ ̸d̷a̵r̸e̵ ̶m̴o̸c̶k̴ ̴m̴y̵ ̴d̶e̷a̶t̶h̴?̸!̴ ̷Y̵o̶u̴ ̵d̸a̶r̴e̸ ̷b̷e̶l̷i̸t̸t̶l̷e̶ ̵m̸y̸ ̴u̷n̵d̷e̸s̶e̵r̷v̸e̵d̸ ̴f̴a̸t̸e̴?̷!̸ ̸T̵h̷e̷n̸ ̶I̴ ̵s̴h̶a̷l̷l̴ ̴p̸u̸r̸s̷u̴e̷ ̵y̶o̷u̴ ̵i̴n̵ ̸t̴h̶e̶ ̵a̸f̴t̸e̴r̶l̵i̷f̶e̷ ̵f̷o̷r̶ ̴m̴a̶n̷y̸ ̷e̸o̶n̷s̸ ̷t̸o̴ ̷c̷o̵m̸e̸!̷!̴"̷

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Rashid flees from the quarters faster than the wind can carry him.

All while Abena laughs her heart off a second time as the mysterious monster reshapes into a more cohesive form of a man before her.

"Ohhhh, amor!! I love it when you let loose and just have fun!!"

Josep chuckles as his shape reforms from the fog. "I couldn't help but overhear your plan. I just wanted to join in on the spooks.~"

[sins-of-the-sea]

"That thumping noise is coming from your chambers, Guy!!"

"It's Phoebus! He's come back in your room and he's come back wrong!"

"Shut the fuck up!! Shut the fuck up!! SHUT THE FUCK UP, PHI WON'T COME BACK WRONG!!"

"Well, we got these amulets and talismans and incense ready! Or if we have to, we can kill him then hold onto his body to try resurrecting him better!"

"On your lead, Rui."

The three tremble as they approach the door to Guy and Phoebus' quarters, each of them muttering beneath their breaths in hopes to give them courage.

"Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, hagomel lahayavim tovot-"

"Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum-"

"妖魔鬼怪快啲走! 妖魔鬼怪快啲走!" Ruixiong swings the door open quickly while holding up a peach tree stick and his bagua. "SPIRITS, BE-"

Empty. The chambers are completely empty of anyone beyond the three. Not even the golems are stirred.

"Whew! There was nothing!"

"I feel rather stupid thinking there is anything scarier than us on this ship."

"H-yeah. Maybe we're just overrea-"

"̵̙̑̎B̸̪͛̒͜Ó̶̡̩O̴͖̱͊̌G̴͉̓Â̴̪̽ ̷̭̬͂̒B̸̪̺͛̋Ǒ̷̘̜O̵̢̟̐Ĝ̶̼̄Ă̷̜͕̈́ ̷̧͙́̇B̴̨͝O̸͖͈̽̆Ó̸̝G̴͕̃A̴̗͔̍ ̴̫̥̊Ḇ̶͛Ò̶̫͜O̷̱͛G̷̫͝Ḁ̶͊͂!̵̝̇̕!̴͙͓͂͒"̵̳̈́̓

"HYWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!"

"YWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" All three flee the room. . . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . And Abena and Rashid can't stop laughing while they emerge from the closet.

"That was wicked! And the worst Phoebus you've ever made!~"

Rashid allows the false Bread Monster!Phoebus dissipate into saffron dust while bowing as though he just finished a theatrical performance. "Thank you, thank you, thank you very much~."

[sins-of-the-sea]

Ruixiong scrambles with all the resources he has. "Okay, so it says here, we need an old priest and a young priest..."

"We're simultaneously both--young in body, old in age. And there's three of us."

"And we need to have an image of the Buddha! I know the chants and prayers!"

"We're really throwing around ideas and see what sticks."

"Well, if we start seeing a Mummy wanting to rip our eyeballs out after this, I know precisely who to blame."

"Don't they do more than that?"

"They'll have to argue with the Master, he has our souls-"

"SHUDDUP!! All right, let's drive away the evil spirits and purify Phoebus'! Then we'll have a healer again and-"

-THUMP.-

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?!!?"

"Oh, dammit, Ruixiong! If we encounter anything that'll end up having us NEED Phoebus, I'm coming back at least enough to kick your head off the boat like a football!"

[sins-of-the-sea]

The Sin Crew watches 'The Mist (2007)'

"...Well, then." He just tosses in the remote. "Anyone up for happy children's films?"

[sins-of-the-sea]

"Aww, how cute! Look at the three boys trying to pull in Chinese, Catholic, and Jewish folklore in an attempt to bring back/exorcise/purify Phoebus' spirit. I'm kind of sad I can't really bring in Akan tradition into the fun."

"I'm pretty sure if you invoke the spirit of Anansi, you'll drive Phoebus away instead."

"Well, what about you? What are the Islamic traditions of invoking or driving away spirits?"

"They usually involve shaytaan, marrid, bhuut, and jinn. Not the blue-skinned friendly kinds voiced by Robin Williams. In fact, few jinn are the 'wish granting' type. If you take the context of such stories, the jinn are granting wishes as thanks for being freed, but many are mischievous--and even malicious enough--to twist the wishes to cause more trouble than they are worth.

"Like the Master."

"Well, that's how legends tend to be. If you ask anyone who Anansi is nowadays, you'll get some kind of comic book superhero."

"......Hey."

"Hm?....."

"Want to cause some trouble this Halloween night?"

"!! Oh, you know it, 'Jinni'!~"

[sins-of-the-sea]

Meanwhile...

Ruixiong has set up a lot of bagua, paper talismans, incense, crosses, and Stars of David all over the orlop deck. "COME BACK TO US IN PEACE, PHOEBUS!! LEAVE YOUR SORROWS BEHIND AND COME TO US!! AND NOT AS A DIBBUK!!"

"Do you think this is going to work at all?"

"Ruixiong is bullshitting at this rate. As long as he's not making pentagrams or whatever, let him do this thing."

"Doing his 'thing' included hanging the Star of David off of the crucifix."

"'Do his thing' to a point, Gio!"