I became aware of Seer Simone enveloped in a shimmering nimbus of light moving closer to the shadow and attempting to aid me by soothing my thought pr...cesses, which helped yet was still not enough as I felt their grasp on life fast becoming a thin thread.And then it ended, the threads snapped and the women fell dead to the floor. The shadow then dissipated with a cold cackling laugh. I could not believe it, I'd seen my Mage fight Merlin to a standstill, yet she'd been as a toy doll to the power. Thinking he was just messing with her, Lily began to kick and struggle to get off his lap. She was just grunting at first but started yelling when she realized he was not going to let her win in a tussle. He quickly took a piece of hard candy from her trick or treating bag and put it in her mouth to keep her quiet. It only worked until she had wetted it with her saliva enough to move it to a corner of her mouth so she could shout again.This time he covered her mouth with his fingers to keep her. I wanted to lay back and float for a bit so I grabbed a raft and took it to the end of the boat to get it ready. While I was tying the roap from the boat to the raft I heard Ellie & Gail talking (they both had been drinking for about 8 hours at this point, so they weren't exactly quiet about). "So what was that all about?" Ellie asked"Well, we went to a baseball game a couple weeks ago and had a really good time" was Gail's response"From the looks of it you had a very, very good time" Oh we. "Obvious hope showed in her eyes as she said "are you sure about that? I think before I say another word I need to be convinced that you know what you're talking about."It only took a couple of minutes to do that. A few comments about her future career and what would happen years from now was all it took. She quickly became happier but groaned "I never could drink very well" while holding her head. That was rectified in moments and the real Nicole came back and joined in an animated.