There's been talk of ghosts around Sol City lately. The Beanies were not particularly comfortable with ghosts. Ghosts can't be cuddled. Demony wishes it was one, rather than being boxed into this stupid bear-cat form that is susceptible to physical damage.

Oh well. The Beanies continued their excursion into the extraordinarily large Sol City looking for new wonders and possible solutions to their wagon problem. The Beanies were frolicking along one of the narrower alleys in the Market District when they noticed a pair of shopkeepers standing outside what seemed to be their shop and arguing.

"We should just get someone to exorcise the bloody bastard," one of the shopkeepers - a blue-feathered female Aviankin - chirped angrily.
"And risk angering the sacred earth in which our humble livelihood stands upon? Unacceptable!" The other shopkeeper - a male lizardfolk on the short side retorted.

The Beanies stood on the side and watched the two continue their quarrel. It was clear they were in some kind of trouble, but the mood wasn't amicable enough for the Beanies to interject. And they wouldn't get the opportunity to, since whatever trouble that ensconced itself in the shop decided the Beanies were their next target.
"(Ahhhhhhhhh!)" The Beanies squeaked unintelligibly as they felt something wrap around them and Beanienapped them into the shop, its two doors closing right after the Beanies disappeared into the shadows.

Everything was dark inside the shop, so the Beanies couldn't see anything. Demony curled up next to the shop door and savoured the unmitigated fear bursting out from the Beanies.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Dead Bards Society
Participants: Two or more
Location: Sol City
Post Requirements: 4 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown
Description: Citizens have reported sightings of apparitions and hauntings of the most unusual nature: It appears some Bardic Virtuoso aspirants have met a violent end, but refuse to leave this world behind without a good story. Find and handle a ghost who is bringing the civilians trouble, whichever way you see fit. Some believe the ghosts can be persuaded… if you can impress them. You can try to impress the ghosts by singing, dancing, telling stories or with heroic acts of bravery. Others will say the pointy end of a sword is always very persuasive.

Mimi had been following the small, fluffy creatures for several minutes, fascinated by their strange looks but too shy to approach them. She did not want to be rude or weird by trailing after them, but she also couldn’t help being utterly intrigued by their adorable appearance.

Just as she was feeling ready to greet them, the four suddenly squeaked and got dragged into an unassuming looking shop. Two shopkeepers were standing close to that door, arguing with each other. Had they not seen? Mimi ran up to them in alarm just as the aviankin screeched loudly and puffed out her feathers.

“Uhm... Did you-”, the rest of the sentence got stuck in Mimi’s throat, as both shopkeepers levelled their scorching gazes on her. If looks could kill, Mimi would have been struck dead where she stood right then.

“Gremling thief! Begone scum! We don’t tolerate your kind here!”. The rusty-scaled lizardfolk growled, before reaching for the broom leaning against the wall beside him.

Shocked, Mimi turned on her heel and ran, dodging into the first street opening up by her side. “Yeah, and don’t come back!”, she heard the aviankin screech after her. She kept running and rounded another corner before coming to a halt in a narrow alleyway with her heart pumping and her legs trembling. No one had treated her badly for what she was since she had left Zeinav... but she guessed it must have been too much to hope that everyone outside the desert would be friendly towards her kind. And this probably wouldn’t be the last such encounter she would have in her life. She really shouldn’t let it affect her so. Still, the unprovoked hate left a tight knot in her stomach.

Ah, but that wasn’t what mattered right now! Those cute little furballs got furnapped and might be trapped inside that shop! And if that was the store of those mean shopkeepers then Mimi would want to make doubly sure those cute creatures were safe. Looking around and mentally retracing her flight she realised this might be the backside of the very shop she wanted to enter. With a little luck she might just have gotten exactly what she wanted.

The only windows on the ground floor here were high up and narrow, probably to avoid break-ins. But, luckily for Mimi, she was small and nimble. Shifting around some empty crates stacked in the alley, she quickly built herself a little perch she could climb underneath, what she hoped to be, the right window.

She tried to glance inside but could not make out any details in the darkness beyond the glass. “Please don’t be locked. Please don’t be locked.” She whispered to herself as she pushed against the glass. The window swung open on squeaky hinges. Today must be her lucky day.

“Alright. Here goes nothing”, she exclaimed as she squeezed through the opening that was almost too narrow even for her.

She tumbled to the floor with a big “Oof”, not having considered that the drop here would be just as far as on the outside. The room was so pitch black, the narrow window might not even exist for how little it did to dispel the darkness, and a strange scraping sound could be heard from further inside the house.

Maybe she should have thought this through more. This place was giving her the creeps and she did technically just break into a house. The shopkeepers accusations might be a bit more founded now, even if her intentions were good.

But she was here now, and if innocent creatures were in trouble, she wanted to help! Concentrating, she lifted a hand and conjured a bright light to illuminate the space.^[1]

---

[1] Light

Demony had no idea who decided to break into the shop, but  it was not going to miss the opportunity to observe the Beanies' misery upfront, so it slipped into the shadows as the door opened, with the trespasser none the wiser. It soon realized its mistake when it found out the space was darkened through magical means rather than physically, so it was effectively as blind as the Beanies were.

Then a light appeared, and with that silhouettes began forming and rims began appearing along the edges of objects. Unfortunately, the Beanies were very much scared out of their wits as of this time that their first instincts were to scream with their arms raised, leaning backwards.
"Stawaaaaaaaaa!?"
"Googaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Chiiiiiiiiiiii!"
...Until they realised it was a person generating the light. The Beanies were now mighty embarrassed and their cheeks were flushing red. On the upside, they now had a better view of the place they were in, which seemed to be an artisan shop, more specifically of the sewing category. Rolls of cloth lined one side of the walls, held up by holders keeping them in place. The other side consisted of cells of drawers, presumably to hold various sewing materials. The lower spaces had tables platforming various crafted goods ranging from pouches, tableclothes to clothing. The far counter was barely visible from where they were, but the Beanies could catch the little glints reflected off whatever metals laid there.
"""Sorry......""" The Beanies were bowing profusely as they apologised. Then they noticed a translucent hand moving to clasp the stranger by the shoulder.
"Ahhh! Behind you!" Goody frantically screamed and pointed behind said stranger.

At a cacophony of sudden screams piercing through the eerie silence, Mimi’s heart froze in her chest. Another, even louder screech joined the others and it took her a moment to realise the new noise came from her own throat. She spotted the fluffy creatures she’d been following huddled against a wall in the faint light emanating from her palms, them screaming at her, her screeching at them.

As they all collectively came to the realisation that they had startled each and began calming down, a nervous chuckle escaped Mimi’s throat. “No need to apologize! We all just surprised each other. But... are you all okay? I saw you getting pulled in-” At the fluffy creatures panicked warning and pointing, she stopped mid sentence. A cold trickle ran down her spine and goose bumps raised all over her body. What was behind her? A monster? A ghost?! Panic gripped her tightly, freezing all the muscles in her body and rendering her unable to turn around. It was as if an icy cold hand had gripped her shoulder and held her in place. The fear was almost physically palpable, her body getting colder and colder with it, her legs starting to shiver. Her panic felt as if freezing tendrils had wrapped themselves around her holding her body in place.

Mimi tried to shake the feeling off. Stop being silly there probably isn’t even anything there. She tried to take a deep breath, but her chest felt tight and constricted and wouldn’t let enough air in. Snap out of it since when are you such a scaredy-cat? But her internal pep talk didn’t help, still she remained motionless, her body frozen in place.

Glancing down herself to convince her mind that there was nothing actually stopping her from moving she found, with horror, that several translucent arms hand wrapped themselves around her, holding her firmly in place. Their icy touch so cold, it seeped straight into her veins. A high pitched shriek of pure horror escaped her throat. She lost concentration on the light still hovering in her hand, and the entire room was plunged into darkness.

Oh no! The Beanies had to do something! Oh, but what could they do, the little creatures that they were?
"O' mighty spirits~," Chili started, prostrating in a ritualistic manner.
"Would you please grant us mercy~," Goody knelt on the floor and did a praying pose.
"And grace us with your presence~?"[1] Star ended with their arms spread upwards in a V-shape.
"Oh. Wow. How the heck you'd do that without any visible cues? Do you three rehearse in advance for situations like these?" A haunting chorus of voices could be heard echoing in the direction the stranger had stood. The magically-induced darkness would fade away, and the Beanies would bear witness to a trio of spirits - or more accurately, a legless spirit with three heads and three pairs of hands joined to the torso floating behind the stranger. Entirely lost on what they were witnessing, the Beanies could do nothing but blink and stare blankly at the conjoined spirit as they broke into... well, whatever it was they were trying to do.

"We were-we were-we were a trio of puppeteers-Hey! I thought we decided that I would speak first!" The left head yelled at the other two as they all attempted to have their opening line.
"Oh, shut up! Everyone knows I'm the better speaker!" The right head retorted.
"Hah, as if. You mean the label of best orator belongs to me!" The middle head raised their head arrogantly and the three soon descended into name-calling and slapping each other with their hands that constantly phased through one another but somehow connected hits to the faces. Sensing that this wasn't going anywhere, Star would let out an annoyed drill sergeant-esque shout.
"Attention!" It'd somehow snapped the spirits out of their heated reverie and made them do salutes. Kind of.
"You, tell us who you are! You, tell us why you're here! And you, tell us why you Beanienapped us! Left to right in order!" Star barked out straightforward orders to the spirits.
"We were a trio of puppeteers who were burned to death due to an incident involving copious amounts of alcohol and fire dancers," the left head replied.
"We were looking to get supplies to create our puppets here," the middle head gestured and magically pulled out some fabric from the roll.
"Then we saw you three, sewn so beautifully and animating so organically you must have been miracles," the right head sung in awe. "We decided that we simply must have you," the voice turned menacing almost instantly and they would begin to loom over towards the Beanies.
"Um, please don't,"[2] Goody pleaded meekly.
"""Pretty please?""" The three heads echoed hauntingly.

"No!" Chili retorted in annoyance. "We Beanies have autonomy!"

"""Awww...""" The spirits hung their heads in disappointment.

Demony found all of this a rather silly turn of events. Couldn't these spirits have been menacing enough to actually cast fear into the Beanies? Well, they did look pretty scary, it supposed. But ugh. Everything was going perfectly in Demony's perspective until somehow, somehow those darned Beanies managed to turn this into some kind of lighthearted comedy. Why oh why was it dependent on these unbearably lucky halfwits for sustenance?

---

[1]Bardic Virtuoso - Expression - Charming Grace (first cast)

[2]Bardic Virtuoso - Expression - Charming Grace (second cast)

As soon as the freezing cold ghostly arms fell away from her body, Mimi stumbled forward, catching herself on the corner of a shelf. Relief swept through her at regaining control of her body, but was soon overshadowed by renewed fear. An actual ghost was haunting this place and it looked absolutely terrifying and grotesque with its multiheaded body and three pairs of arms.

It was quite impressive how the three cuddly creatures took charge of the situation and coaxed the spirits to explain themselves. As was so often the case, looks had been very much deceiving and these three bears were much more capable than one might have guessed. Well, if they weren’t afraid of the creepy ghosts, then Mimi could be brave too, right? Plus now that they were talking, the spirit didn’t seem that scary anymore. Just people that had met a very sad and unfortunate end. Poor things, Mimi thought when they explained what had happened to them. But no matter how unfortunate your past was, you didn’t have the right to hurt anyone else.

Mimi slowly inched to be between the Beanies and the spirits, just in case these puppeteers tried anything else funny. Considering she herself wasn’t their target, she’d hopefully be able to step in and defend these cuddly creatures, if necessary. If the ghosts were after puppets, maybe they could be helped yet. An idea struck Mimi and it was at least worth a try.

“If we help you sew some nice puppets, will you leave these little ones alone and stop haunting this place?”

"We'll help too!" Goody offered.
"Could you-could you-could you sew puppets similar to yourselves?" The three faces began glaring at one another as their voices overlapped once more.
"Sure we can! We can make other animals too!" Star raised their arm confidently.
"Please give us a moment." The conjoined ghost thingy faded away temporarily, though the air felt no less eerie and chilly. The Beanies hadn't any blood flowing on them, so the cold shouldn't actually bother them but they found themselves huddling onto one another for inexistent warmth.

Oh well, might as well make a new friend while waiting!
"""Hi!""" The Beanies waved their hands in unison.
"Star is Star!" Star jumped twice to accentuate their introduction.
"Goody!" Goody did a little jig to bob their hat around.
"Chili!" Chili stretched their arms high, and then pointed at the Gremling stranger. "What's your name?"

The ghost would eventually return and the left head would start. "We have decided to take your offer. I would like a sheep puppet."
"A vibrant, colourful frog please." The right head calmly followed up.
"And a majestic peacock for me!" The middle head proclaimed loudly.

"Aye aye!" The Beanies gave a salute and set on scouring the shop for what could be useful, with Star keeping a sharp eye out for the merchandise prices. They were ostensibly doing good, but it didn't change the fact that they were effectively using other people's labour and the creators deserved compensation. Soon, the Beanies worked out what they needed (and made sure it wasn't too expensive) and began sewing away, their little paws and eyes helping with all the intricacies involved.

Demony was thoroughly bored at this point and was trying to sneak out of the shop, but the doors and windows seemed to all be magically shut so no dice. Disrupting the Beanies right now did not seem like a good idea either, so it was consigned to the monotony of watching the Beanies and the stranger do their thing and hoping it backfires horribly on all of them.

Mimi chuckled as the little creatures introduced themselves. They were even cuter when they talked (and weren’t threatened by creepy ghosts), than they were just walking down the street.
“My name is Mimi, and I’m happy to make your acquaintance! Thank you very much for your help there. I thought I was coming to rescue the three of you, but in the end it was me who needed rescuing, so I am very grateful.”
She paused for a moment, considering if she could admit to having followed them for several minutes before all this went down, eventually deciding that truth was always the best option.
“I, uh, saw you getting dragged into this store, because I... I wanted to say hi, and I’d been following you for a few minutes trying to get the courage to approach... You guys just looked so cute! I’ve never seen anything like you before. Uhm... what are you guys, anyway?”


Once the spirits returned and announced their desired puppets, Mimi helped the Beanies by putting together a list of all the materials they were taking and the associated prices, agreeing that they had to pay for the goods. She just hoped that they could pool together the funds, or this would eat a serious hole into her carefully squirrelled away savings. Regardless, helping people - even dead ones - was entirely worth any amount of money.

Mimi also risked a glance through the heavy curtains covering the store's windows onto the street beyond. The arguing shop owners had disappeared. It was unclear where they had gone, but it was a relief that they had not returned inside the building. Still, there was no telling when they’d return, and with how rude they had been earlier, Mimi really did not want to be caught sneaking around in their shop.

Once they had gathered all the materials and sat down to do the actual sewing work, Mimi made one of the pretty decorations hanging from the ceiling glow so they would have plenty of good light to work with.^[1] She also realised that they should probably make a plan on how to divide the work efficiently.
“I’m not too bad at sewing, but... I’m also not the best. If it’s okay with you I’ll focus on the sheep, since that’s a bit easier.”
If the Beanies agreed, Mimi would focus on sewing a cute and very fluffy sheep, the stitch work being a little bit wonky here and there but sturdy and the errors only noticeable when pointed out. The face would be a little crooked in a cute, charming way, with one of the eyes being a bit off the mark.

While they worked, Mimi could swear there was a shadowy figure flitting around at the edges of her vision, but any time she looked there would be nothing there. How strange. It must just be the shadow one of the Beanies cast in the flickering lamplight, nothing to worry about.

---

[1] Light

"""Hi Mimi! Nice to meet you!""" The Beanies replied in near-perfect unison with individualised greetings: Star with a simple hand raise, Goody with an intense hand wave with their right arm, and Chili with both arms raised.
The Beanies blushed momentarily at the mention of their cuteness, and went "Aw, thanks," while flustered.
"""We're Beanies!""" The Beanies posed joyously and adorably. "Though, um, please don't ask us to explain what Beanies are." Star was moving their paws together and apart awkwardly, Goody averting Mimi's gaze, and Chili outright looking around trying to find a distraction. "It's very complicated."

Star, sensing that Mimi probably had some monetary concerns, raised up their money pouch and said, "Don't worry, we can pay for it." Sure, it meant they needed to be more frugal until they got their next paycheck, but with the Beanie's small sizes they could get away with buying a lot less than an average humanoid would require to avoid starving.

"""Ooh~, pretty~!""" The Beanies went all googly-eyed as they saw Mimi work her magic on the ornate decoration and dazzling the entire area with light.

"Sure! We'll handle the other two then. Goody-plush, details! Chili-plush, stuffing and silhouettes!" Star has entered taskmaster mode, delegating tasks to Goody and Chili while they handled the delivery of materials and providing instructions where needed. Goody would quickly begin sewing feather patterns for the peacock tail once Chili worked out the general proportions and began cutting away at the parts to be sewn together. Soon, Star would come to check on Mimi's progress, observing the lovely sheep puppet, if not quite there in terms of handiwork.
"Looking good, Mimi! Star-plush thinks maybe Mimi could add some stitches along here so it looks more like a stylistic choice, and a little more fluff here so we have a puffier silhouette," Star grabbed some cotton to place it over the puppet and demonstrate their point.

All the while Demony was walking under the tables and flitting in and out of sight, and as it made its way to the front entrance, it could hear sounds from the other side, and something about 'anti-magic'. Oh, this ought to be good. Demony quickly ducked under a table where it would likely NOT be noticed in preparation for the chaos that was sure to unfurl.

"""We're done~!""" The Beanies announced some time later, and the conjoined ghost thingy returned once more and scrutinized their masterpieces.
"This is perfect!" The left head exclaimed in regards to the sheep puppet. "It really captures my personality!"
"I really dig the vivid colours here. A rainbow gradation... You Beanies must be geniuses!" The right head was awestruck at the frog's sheen.
"Hmph. It'll do." And the middle pompous as ever, without so much as a praise of the elegant peacock feathers. "Now then, we just need one last favour from you all." The Beanies couldn't help but tilt their heads. There was more?
"We'd like you three to be part of our play, and you, Mimi, to be our audience." The middle head continued.
The Beanies looked at one another for a moment and went, """Okay!""" A play sounded like fun and if they could help someone, all the better!

Before Mimi could provide her response, though, the shop's double doors would suddenly slam open and a pair of constables would enter the premises along with the two shopkeepers.
"Ah! More eyes for the play! I didn't know we were that popular!" The words on the right head seemed to carry some kind of magic, as the doors quickly shut once more and the four newcomers were suddenly in a daze, obediently sitting on the floor and awaiting the start of the show. The Beanies were as lost as Mimi, but oh well. The play must go on! Though Star couldn't shake the feeling there will be trouble after this charade ended.
"Mimi?" Star called out to her and curled their arm onwards, beckoning her to lend an ear. "Mimi should try to sneak away mid-play. We'll distract the ghost."

"Now without further ado, let the play begin!" The middle head declared. And well, to say it was terrible would be an understatement. It was pure chaos with disjointed plotlines, nonsensical references to previous works, and dialogue so corny you'd feel like you were biting into hard kernels. And the Beanies were just going with the flow, since they could hear the sheer contempt the heads had for one another as the play went on and they really didn't want to deal with any of that. Besides, success is subjective!

Demony was visibly gagging at the entire performance as it unveiled. How are these humanoids putting up with this ludicrous excuse of a plot!? It was somehow making The Wholesome Trio's Beanieventures' plot seem coherent in comparison, and Demony had naught but pure loathing for that accursed storybook! And those Beanies are somehow finding enjoyment in playing along, too! Is there never going to be a day where things just go Demony's way for once?

Well this situation had gotten from kind of strange to completely bizarre. The ghosts’ play was beyond convoluted and Mimi felt sorry that the Beanies had been dragged into the performance. With how weirdly the shop keepers and guards were behaving they surely were under some sort of spell, so maybe they wouldn’t remember anything about how awful the play, or the Beanie's role in it was. 

The desire to find a way to break the spirits’ spell was strong, but every idea she came up with had to be rejected for one reason or the other. Every outcome she could imagine seemed worse than if she just let the situation unfold. Maybe if she had control over more magic, she could break the spell, but she had only just started to learn the very basics. 

No, there was no hope of combating this magically, and any mundane ways she could come up with to disrupt the magic risked people getting hurt; Including herself. Once the shopkeepers and constables were back to their senses there surely would be a lot of trouble. Star was probably right, Mimi should get out of here before that happened. She hated the thought of abandoning the Beanies, though. Maybe if she stuck around by the open window behind the store, she’d be able to hear if there was any commotion later and she could come back to help.

Making her decision, Mimi waited until the ghosts were fully engrossed in their performance and turned away from her. She tried to catch Star’s eye while she was quietly sneaking to the door leading to the back of the store. Mimi would place a pouch of coins holding about half the amount they owed for the materials they’d taken on a side table. She’d also drop a note saying “I’ll be waiting outside behind the shop. Meet me if you can.” in an inconspicuous spot.

Once she snuck into the still dark backroom, she climbed up a shelf to reach the high up window she had entered through and wiggled through it. Luckily her makeshift ladder on the other side was still intact, so she didn’t have to risk jumping down to the ground. As soon as she stepped onto the small box making up the top of her ladder, however, it slipped, sending her and half of her pile of junk tumbling to the floor. After unsuccessfully scrambling for purchase anywhere on the assortment of random stuff while the pile was crumbling beneath her, she found herself sitting on the cobblestone road. Her bottom hurt where she had hit the ground and she’d probably find herself covered in an assortment of bruises tomorrow, but given the circumstances the fall hadn’t been too bad. A cardboard box landed upside down on her head, adding insult to injury and covering her sight. For a moment she considered just accepting her fate and staying right here with her head covered by a box, defeated by the world at last, when realization caught up with her.

She pulled the box off and stared up at the open window in horror, anxiously awaiting whatever noise might come from inside the store, for she had just lost concentration on the spell that had kept the place alight.

The sudden disappearance of the magical luminescence would ensconce the entire store in darkness once more, though the Beanies would momentarily wonder if this was perhaps a creative decision until one of the ghosts yelled "Who turned off the lights!?"

Star, quickly remembering that the light was from Mimi, had lightly jogged over to Goody and Chili in the meantime, hoping to use this opportunity to get themselves out of this mess. It was not to be, though, as the ghosts began accusing each other of sabotaging their play and began fighting away by flinging their puppets at their counterparts with the Beanies caught in the crossfire.

"And so, the ending of the play would be lost to the annals of history due to a sudden blackout preventing any witnesses!" Chili exclaimed playfully, still steeped in the theatrical chaos.
"What-hey-you can't just-" The ghosts began protesting the abrupt conclusion of their play.
"AND SO, THE ENDING OF THE PLAY WOULD BE LOST TO THE ANNALS OF HISTORY DUE TO A SUDDEN BLACKOUT PREVENTING ANY WITNESSES!" Star shouted loudly, overpowering the ghosts' angry voices.
"""WE'RE NOT DONE WITH OUR PLAY YET!""" The ghosts yelled in unison.
"And so, the ending of the play would be lost to the annals of history due to a sudden blackout preventing any witnesses..." Goody repeated the ending they had rather forcefully tacked on with a sad tone, understanding that this was not what the ghosts wanted either, but it was all they were going to get. "Goody is sorry we couldn't do better," their voice cracked and droplets began welling along the outer curves of their eyes as the hatted teddy bear broke into tears.

"Hey, now. Don't cry," The right head attempted to pat the little plushie, but the head would only phase through them and Goody would begin wailing outright.

"Yeah! You three did great for an improvised play!" The left head tried to cheer up the crying Beanie, with Star joining in on the patting, but Goody was inconsolable.
"Not as great as we are, but I daresay you three would do great in performance art." The middle head was defiantly proud until the end. "Perhaps it is only appropriate that we end our story with a mystery for the ages. Goodbye, Beanies. May you bring joy to others as well as you did us."
"Bye!" "See you!" The three ghosts waved its three sets of unseen arms as its presence faded into nothingness. 

With that, the magical darkness ceased, the mysterious lull beset on the audience shattered, and the doors and windows all opened in one fell swoop, returning light to the space and rendering the Beanies visible enough for all to see. All that was left of the performance were the three puppets and the three Beanies, collectively lying on the floor.
"The sacred earth must be trying to inform us of something," the lizardfolk shopkeeper pondered philosophically.
"Yeah, right. These things are probably cursed. We should just burn them." The Aviankin retorted disapprovingly.
"Please don't burn us!" Goody flailed frantically, fearful of the fiery fate. Star put their paw to their face. Oh Goody-plush...
"It talked and moved!" The lizardfolk exclaimed. "See, it must be a message!"
"Oh, shut up with your superstitions! They're clearly possessed by ghosts!" The Aviankin put their winged arms to their shoulders, clearly displeased.
""Hey, we're not ghosts, we're Beanies!" Star shot back angrily as they got up from the floor. The pretend-to-be-inanimate strategy wasn't going to fly, so they were going to have to talk their way out of this.
"The heck is a Beanie!?" The Aviankin chirped angrily, glaring at the constables who seemed unsure if they should really be doing something. The mage among the two did not detect any evil, though traces of Fae magic could be felt. Best to tread lightly.

"You three made these puppets?" The mage asked. The three bears nodded in the affirmative, which led the mage to continue. "You gonna pay for it?"
"Oh, yes!" Star took out the full payment from their money pouch, refraining from mentioning Mimi's payment to avoid drawing unwanted attention in that direction. "Here you go!" In the meantime, Goody and Chili went to pick up the three puppets.
"All I'm seeing are a bunch of weird customers." The other constable stated, then crouched down to see the three Beanies better. "Now, you three. Don't lock people out of their shops just because you want something, okay?"
"""Sorry...""" The Beanies looked down in unison. It wasn't actually them, of course, but they were already pushing their luck.
"Alright then, you're free to go. Don't go around causing more trouble now!" The constable moved aside to let them walk out the front entrance. The Aviankin looked like they were about to break into a complaint, then they noticed extra money on the counter and scooted right over.
"You see? The sacred earth has rewarded us for our generosity!" The lizardfolk shopkeeper rubbed his beliefs on their fellow co-owner, and the two would break into another argument once more.
"We will be excusing ourselves now." The constables, disinclined to deal with this any longer, left the shop post-haste.

Demony had snuck out of the shop from the front entrance as soon as the doors opened up. Expletives occupied its mindscape as it tried to find the appropriate words to describe the sheer ludicrousness of the events that transpired. Just how -how- did the Beanies manage to get out of this situation unscathed? There would be no answer, and no rest for it as the Beanies collectively gave it a hug of relief, temporarily calming its seething malice and leaving it pliable for the Beanies to ask it to carry them to the back of the shop and hopefully meet up with Mimi.

Whatever Mimi had expected to hear from inside the shop when the light went out, be it screams or crashing or any matter of nightmare scenarios that were playing out in her mind, it didn’t happen. She could hear some voices drifting to her through the open window, though she couldn’t make out any words. None of it sounded catastrophic, though, so she decided to stay where she was and hoped the Beanies would find her note and meet her.

She did use the time to further practice her magic, just as Leandros had instructed her to do. It did take her several attempts, but eventually she succeeded in healing the few bruises she had sustained when tumbling down into the street. This magic was really coming in handy with how clumsy she was.

Mimi wondered if the Beanies were okay and began pondering if she should go back into the shop to check on them. Was she being paranoid? It hadn’t actually been that long yet, right? But what if they were in trouble? Or would she just make the situation worse for them if she returned now? Before she could make a decision she spotted the three cuddly creatures coming around the corner and heading down the alley towards her. They were riding some sort of strange shadowy creature, that oddly just looked like a bigger Beanie. How strange. Mimi didn’t think she had seen this weird mini horse earlier. Maybe the Beanies had a pet pocket where they kept their mount in, just like Beist.

Mimi would wave and smile at the Beanies as they approached. Once they were reunited she would inquire about what happened once she had left, apologizing for letting the light go out and explaining what had caused her to lose concentration on the spell.

Once everyone was updated on what had happened during their time apart, Mimi would turn her attention towards the Beanie’s strange mount, her curiosity burning hot at the prospect of learning about a new creature. “Sooo, you have a very interesting uhhh... horse? What’s its name? OH! Can I pet it?” She’d slowly inched closer as she spoke, fascinated by the shadowy creature.

"""Mimi!""" The Beanies squeaked cheerily in unison. They couldn't actually read Mimi's note, so it was a blind shot in the dark whether they'd reunite once more! The three would jump off Demony once they were close enough and offer to give Mimi a triple Beanie hug with their arms outstretched. Then, they would fill Mimi on what happened after the light faded, between the ghosts fading away to a never-to-be-resolved ending, the constables thankfully letting the three bears off lightly, and the shopkeepers being occupied with unexplained 'extra' money to care about anything else at the moment. Maybe they ought to switch locations in case that last part changed.
"Would Mimi like to go get some dinner?" Chili offered while the three remounted onto Demony to head off into one of the foodie districts.

"It's okay," Star said in response to Mimi accidentally causing the light to go out. "Sometimes things just don't work out the way you want it to." The words were directed at Mimi as much as they were at their dear Goody-plush.
"Um, would Mimi like to keep this?" Goody was still a little down, but straightened their voice to be cheery enough to not betray that to the friendly Gremling as they extended the sheep puppet they had on hand towards Mimi.

"This is Demony!" Goody introduced, then awkwardly rubbed the back of their head as they continued. "Demony is, um, something. We're not quite sure what ourselves."
"Generally quite the meanie," Star added grumpily. "But it's being nice right now so you can pet it!"
"Just um, don't assume it's always the case. Demony tends to be very fickle." Goody ended as the shadowy creature stopped in front of Mimi and put its head down, opening it for petting. Texture-wise, the tenebrous being's surface was like a multitude of chains of sand held together by invisible energies that threatened to coil and wrap anything coming close to it, and yet when any physical pressure is applied they would interlock and form a smooth, dense, sandy surface, giving it a form corporeal enough to affect the world, and subsequently be affected.

Mimi gently ran her fingers along the spine of the strange shadowy creature, marvelling at the odd feel of its body. It vaguely reminded her of the huge sandy expanse of the Zeinav Desert, which was very odd for a living creature. Still, she loved all living beings, even the oddest of the odd, and this one was no exception. Although, it did not seem too excited about being pet so Mimi withdrew her hand with a smile.

She eagerly agreed to the Beanies' suggestion of grabbing something to eat, they were probably correct with the notion that they should quit this place. She would recommend the food stall she liked in one of the Sol City markets, where she had gotten delicious food before. If the Beanie’s agreed she would lead them through the winding city streets to the little seaside market not too far away. The stall sold an assortment of different grilled meats and vegetables in a choice of delectable sauces as well as a variety of hot and cold sweet deserts.

Once they all had their food, Mimi would show them a nice little spot on a nearby wall that was the prime location for overlooking the glittery ocean. They had arrived at the perfect time: the sun was just beginning to set and coated the entire world in its warm golden orange glow, making it look like the whole sea was on fire.

At the smell of food Zeke would poke his head out of Mimi’s hair, yawning. He’d scurry down her body to perch on one of her legs and steal little bites of whatever he was offered. Once he’d notice the Beanies he’d blink at the creatures curiously, potentially giving a sniff and accepting pets if any of them were to reach out.

"Sure!" Star readily agreed to Mimi's suggestion, and Goody and Chili would nod too. A friend's recommendation was as good as gold in the Beanies' fuzzy hearts, and so the quartet would follow Mimi to the little seaside market she intended to bring them, where Star would once again employ the usual strategy of having Demony bite onto and carry Chili like a mother cat would their kitten to prevent any impulsive purchases on the part of the latter. Chili tended to use up most of their food budget with all their greedy wants, after all.

Eventually, the Beanies would arrive at the stall Mimi recommended and be thoroughly impressed by all the variety they were providing despite being a stall. Variety was a lot of work and a lot of pain to maintain. And so Chili would get the sauciest meat-vegetable wrap ever, while Star helped themselves to fried ice-cream and Goody a lemon-icing cronut.

The trio of teddy bears would watch the descending sun with unbridled awe as they dined in on their food. Sunsets were always wonderful no matter where they are, and it seemed that it would be no different in Charon.

Then the Beanies noticed the little lizard popping out of Mimi's hair. Seeing Mimi's familiarity with the creature suggested that they were probably friends, partners or master-and-pet, so the Beanies simply waved hi and squeaked """Hi little gecko!""" cheerily. No petting from the Beanies though. Well, except maybe Chili. Chili loved to exert dominance over animals by not being afraid of them so pets ahoy! Star and Goody, on the other hand, were actually not particularly fond of animals despite their general friendliness to most living beings. It's not easy when there's the possibility of being Beanienapped by virtually anything bigger than them. Also the plushies were pretty sure they shouldn't be attempting to feed the gecko anything when they didn't know what its diet consisted and what it might possibly be allergic to.

"So where is Mimi from?" A curious Chili.
"What does Mimi do?" A social engineering Star.

"Where does Mimi stay?" A genuinely concerned Goody with how Mimi seemed unkempt.

The lull over Demony would run out soon enough, and it groaned internally at the missed opportunity to ruin the budding friendship.