Whiska would have a hell of a time hitting the doll with anything,  as, despite Valspan's 'swiftness impairment' she almost seemed to jump and dance about on her own.  The sharp eye, in the correct lighting, could just barely detect the crystalline string connecting to the doll,  or more accurately,  the puppet and to the vines hovering around her.  It seemed that Valspan had all but mastered the art of string puppetry in the short time he'd had the possessed toy,  Evelyn's movements almost as lithe and graceful as if she were a living thing.  She pranced and danced out of the way of Whiska's attacks. Illusory copies of the doll appeared in other sections of Valspan's<br/>Vines,  or even just sitting around the ship.<br/><br/>"You shouldn't antagonize Whiska, Evelyn.  She's not a particularly emotionally stable individual. See?  Now I'm covered in eggs."  Indeed,  Valspan was a much easier target of the spirit eggs,  not that he actually minded.<br/><br/>"They were going to be mean to me! You should melt her in your stomach like the other three!" The toy's ghostly voice echoed across the deck.<br/><br/>Valspan chuckled before continuing the conversation with the haunting puppet,  seemingly unperturbed by its murderous nature and clearly evil intentions.<br/><br/><br/>The others aboard the ship, over the two days before reaching cloud nine, would be subject to an even worse sight than the haunting puppet.  Valspan would extract the ice dragon from his stomach and wash her off. He'd then began to treat her various mild chemical burns,  feeding her with his own sap.  It was odd and creepy,  especially as the doll looked over the process.  The dragon herself was glassy eyed and vacant,  unable or unwilling to respond to any stimulus except Instructions from Valspan.<br/><br/>Spectra,  and maybe Whiska, would be able to sense that the woman's very soul was much more raged and tattered than her minimally digested body.  Valspan was clearly giving her a break from his life draining stomach,  almost definitely as a future meal,  since the two still stewing inside him were more than enough to continue to feed his hunger for the next few weeks.  The dragon was his own personal emergency ration.<br/><br/>(Nothing to post for cloud nine yet.  I'll wait for Sabi for that.)