enchanted girl.

“And yet, last time we spoke you were out starting a blizzard,” she points out, knowing that was beyond the point. Zhan couldn’t even blame her on either front, hating the snow herself but also having once been behind an attempt at creating chaos with a storm. “Which worked wonders, by the way. Did you make any headway on the Arendelle front?” For while Eris was invested in all of this just for the simple fun and chaos of it all, Zhan was much more concerned with the bigger picture at play. @bringerofstrife

“Cover it up?” Kitty repeats the woman’s words in a hushed whisper, never even considering that it might be a possibility. “What, you think they know what happened?” Her heart sinks in her chest at the idea that someone might know exactly where Benny is but aren’t doing a single thing to bring them back. She can feel the rage bubbling up within her again, taking a few deep breaths to calm her frazzled nerves. “Okay, yeah…” she nods, agreeing that talking with an officer is likely the best course of action. “Maybe I’ll stop by the police station and try to talk to someone there. Thanks.” She offers the woman a smile, hesitant smile, feeling better for a brief second. With the way her emotions are skyrocketing and falling, as though they’re riding an extremely precarious roller coaster, it’s unlikely she’ll stay like that for long.

“They have to know something by now. Don’t you think? They run this country - have access to the entirety of the island and all of the top forces and authorities... How could they not have found something?” she suggests, frowning further with each word she says - as if she were truly bothered by these thoughts. In reality, Zhan knew the royals didn’t have a clue what was happening - if they did she wouldn’t be standing here right now. But perhaps selling a few people on the idea that they simply weren’t acting out of their own selfish reasons could be beneficial. “Of course, dear. I do hope they can be of some assistance. I wish I had been of more help myself. If I hear anything else I’ll find a way to let you know, alright?” Not going to happen, but the part of a concerned citizen must be played.

The cotton candy melting into his mouth as he mulled over the events that had happened that afternoon. Listening to the rumble of people walking around searching for their lost ones, almost ignoring the conversation at hand. Extending the cotton candy towards her, a silent offering.

“Yeah. Poof,” he whispered, “the act of disappearing into thin air.”

A moment’s pause passes between them as he hands out the cotton candy. Zhan has no interest in the puffed sugar, but takes a chunk anyway. It melts on her tongue the moment she places it in her mouth, listening to the boy further explain what happened. “I didn’t realize that was even possible..” A lie, of course, considering she was the one to arrange this entire thing - but an act must be kept. Though she does make a mental note to inform Oscar of her involvement. Whether he passed on the information to his kids or not would be on him.

Kitty has to clench her hands into fists to keep her hands from shaking and herself from absolutely exploding on this random woman. Whoever she is, she didn’t do anything to deserve that. “I… I don’t think I’ve heard them say anything,” Kitty shakes her head, trying to think if she’s seen an alert come up on her phone. She admittedly hasn’t been paying all that much attention to anything other than her search for Benny, but surely she would have seen something if it came up. “What should I do?” Asking a stranger for advice might not be the best idea in the world, but Kitty looks at her desperately, with wide eyes pleading for some sort of answer because she’s coming up at a complete loss. Benny’s usually her voice of reason, the one that would give her advice in a situation like this, but for obvious reasons he can’t be much help right now.

“I haven’t either. I didn’t even realize this had happened until you told me. It almost feels… as if they’re trying to cover it up…” she continues, dropping a few further seeds of doubt before shaking her head. “No… I’m probably being paranoid now. Don’t listen to me.” Zhan knew her words were getting to the woman, but she had to be careful not to push too hard or make herself too obvious. Manipulation was a delicate thing. “Keep looking, dear. He must be somewhere. I don’t know what else you could do. Have you tried talking with an officer? I don’t see many around - they don’t seem to be doing much of anything - but maybe they know something we don’t. That could be why the royals aren’t stepping in either.”

“How can people just disappear like that?” she asks helplessly, not really expecting her to have an answer, but willing to hear any theories. Until the other woman mentions it, Kitty doesn’t even notice the lack of police presence here, doesn’t think anything about it. But now that she thinks about it, she can feel the rage start to bubble up inside of her. “Cotton candy, Barbara Streisand, bunnies,” she whispers three of her favourite things under her breath, the best technique she has if Benny or Wirt aren’t around to make her breathe. “Don’t they care at all?” she cries, some anger still coming through despite her best efforts to stay calm. “This is important! What if they’re hurt?”

“I don’t know,” she says with a sigh, frowning and bringing a hand up to mess with her necklace as if she were truly stressed by all of this. Of course, Zhan knew exactly how so many people could suddenly disappear, but that wasn’t something this woman needed to be clued in on. Watching this stranger closely, Zhan fought to keep her face neutral despite the elation she felt at the obvious anger threatening to spill out. This was exactly the type of reaction she had been hoping for from people - and if she could push this woman hard enough certainly others would notice and follow suit. “Have the King and Queen even addressed it at all? You would think something like this should be acknowledged... It doesn’t seem to me like they’re doing anything.”

Coming back here, Kitty knew it was a long shot. She might not have been the most intelligent person on the island, but even she knew that if she watched Benny disappear before her very eyes, she wasn’t likely to find him wandering around the festival as though nothing had happened. But she can’t just sit around at home acting like nothing had happened, and since Launchpad still isn’t answering his phone, this is all she can think to do until she comes up with a better plan. “It was, because Benny won the costume contest!” she practically whines, thinking back to the happier time when his spaceship costume had been announced the winner. “He was the cutest little spaceship.” She pauses at the mention of anyone else going missing, because she honestly never even though about anyone else. “Lots of other people seem worried and I don’t think they know Benny so… maybe,” she shrugs, eyes wide with horror.

The space camp owner had been chosen at random when she’d been deciding on victims for this stunt, but now seeing how obviously upset this woman was Zhan was thankful for that random draw. “Well he must be around here somewhere. Or the authorities must be looking for him and anyone else who may be gone...” Glancing around once more, she frowned a little before turning her attention back to the distraught woman. “But I don’t see many officers out… nor any of the royal guard…”

nick really hated his job sometimes. at every turn there was something that needed his attention, and around here more often than not it was something far beyond his pay grade. he’d been tasked with heading back to the festival to see if he could get any information from anyone else. and as expected, he’d spent most of his morning nodding along as people stressed about lost ones and rattled off conspiracies. “oh,” nick breathes out a quiet sigh of relief that the person calling his attention wasn’t here to yell at him. “last night some people went missing, just, disappeared out of thin air.” he explains, voice calm as he repeats the things his boss told him to tell anyone that asked. he’s supposed to say everything is under control but doesn’t see the point in telling such an obvious lie.

So the authorities knew and seemed to be at least attempting to handle this situation. Not surprising. But also not what Zhan really needed to know. The police department could do whatever they wanted, it was whether the king and Queen acknowledged it that mattered to her. Which given their only daughter had been one of the kidnapped, Zhan had expected some type of reaction by now. But the lack of response was even better for her end goal. “Missing?” she questioned, faking concern and confusion. “Are you all looking for them? Have there been any signs?”

Sitting down on top of one of the picnic tables around the area, pulling on the cotton candy calmly eating it. Everywhere he looked there seem to be chaos, uncontrolled chaos and it frustrated him. What had caused this people to disappear in the way they did? What was worst was realizing that he knew nothing about why this had happened, and who had made it happen. Frowning as he twirled the cotton candy on his hand, just looking.

“People went poof,” he replied, head tilting towards her.

“Poof?” she questioned, faux concern laced in her voice as if she were genuinely confused and worried. Zhan recognized the boy as one of Oscar’s and figured she could probably drop the act around him. But she’d yet to tell any of her allies outside of the coven that she was behind this stunt and she had no intentions of this kid being the first one to know.

To say that Kitty was stressed would be an understatement. Ever since seeing her best friend disappear before her very eyes, she felt completely and utterly panicked. Going back to the festival felt like the only thing she could do, as though if she searched the grounds long and hard enough, Benny might just pop back up like nothing had ever happened. Though she’s been wandering for about an hour without any luck, Kitty isn’t ready to give up hope yet. She’ll find him eventually — she has to. An eyebrow raised as someone grabs her attention, Kitty frowns at the question. “My best friend disappeared!” she blurts out, concern etched clearly on her features. “They were walking around like the cutest little spaceship! And then all of a sudden… poof.” She shrugs helplessly, fishing her phone out of her pocket and pulling up a photo to show the woman. “Have you seen him?”

Leaning in to take a look at the picture presented on the phone, Zhan easily forced a frown as she pretended to inspect it. Of course she knew exactly who this individual was, just as she knew every person she had kidnapped the night before, but she couldn’t let it show that she had any inclining of what had happened. Pulling back, she shook her head a little in answering. “No. I haven’t. Not since he was announced the costume winner - but I’m sure that must have been before this disappearance.” Pausing to look around, Zhan hesitated as if she were almost afraid to say what she thought. “You don’t think others are gone too, do you? Everyone seems so stressed…”

Hades looked over when he heard his name. His eyes narrowed for a moment at the woman who approached. He’d definitely seen her around before. “Well, really that depends on what it is you need,” he says, folding his arms. “And is this some sort of conversation that’d be better had in my office, or are you just looking for a drink?”

Raising an eyebrow, Zhan shoots him an unimpressed look. “If I were here for a drink I wouldn’t be looking for you. That bar staff of yours have proven themselves to be quite competent in all my past visits,” she answers, annoyance obvious in how long it had taken her to find him. Taking another step close and crossing her arms over her chest, she decides to make that message a bit more clear. “It’s been quite the challenge, hunting you down. I was starting to think you may be avoiding me.”

“I believe I do,” she confirms, crossing one leg over the other and she leans forward in her chair ever so slightly. Zhan had long since heard of the underground cult running throughout Corona. She had even almost partnered with them during her younger years, but Demanitus had convinced her it was unnecessary. This go around, she was no longer holding back. Any potential connection or ally she could bring to her side was being contacted. “Though it would be nice to hear it directly from you.” @chaoticxcipher