At your insistence, Smolkie turns his gaze on Vanora Aria, beloved mascot of Voltra. She returned his look with a curious tilt of her head. Cupping his chin, he gave a hard nod and began walking towards her, but neither the movement nor conviction goes unnoticed by a recovering Vivienne. She staggers to her feet and cries out.

"Hold on... please!" She moved between them as if to intercept him. "It... it wasn't me, and - and it's not Van!" She shook her head with a wary smile at the hypnotherapist, "It's impossible since... since we've been with each other the entire day, and if I'm not possessed... surely she couldn't be either? Please, Smolkie, you have to listen to me!"

He gave a sigh, "I'm afraid that's not always the case, Miss Harper. Oh, it rarely is when you're dealing with forces of darkness! Of that you can be sure. They're quite good at fooling the heart, you see, but you needn't worry! With a right little hypnotism and a quick snap of my ole fingers, we can be certain."

Vivi hung her head for a moment with a hand held over her chest, breathing labored after her ordeal. "I'm sorry doctor, but..." Looking him in the eye, then, or at least the deceptively comical spectacles that would hide his intentions, she pointed an accusing finger. "What about... you?!"

"M-me?" He took a step back.

"Yes! There's definitely something evil going on, but you're the only one who can feel it clearly. If you were the one possessed, what would happen?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and blinked, glancing back at Vanora. "That's enough, Vivi," she whispered. "After all, you've never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, have you?"

"Van, what are you-?" Vivi's eyes went wide as a knee flew up against her stomach. Letting out a moan of pain, she fell to the ground unconscious, and Smolkie was left staring into the twisted face of a grinning Vanora.

"Was wondering when you'd figure it out, old man, though I suppose you couldn't do much without them," she gestures toward you and lets out a sigh. "I expected better, honestly, but oh well! That's what you get when you bet all your chips on a feeble fool and his rusty sidekicks, hm? Heh heheh!"

"Return the young one this instant, you fiend, and all the others you've taken!" Smolkie brought his watch to bear in a pose he thought intimidating, but it merely served to bemuse Vanora.

She arched a brow, "Forgive me if I'm not quaking in my boots just yet. Besides, you look more like you'd break a hip before anything else." She shrugged, "Welp, it's been fun but I gotta run. Souls to torture and all that. You understand, hm?" Blowing him a kiss, she spun on her heel and leapt into the mist as the crows sang overhead.

"Wait! You're not getting away, I say!" Smolkie glanced down at Vivi and then looked to the others, "I leave her in your care! Don't worry, now. I'll do whatever I can to get your friend back."

Moments later and the Hypnotist pursued Vanora into a large caravan with 'Property of Cirque ad Infinitum staff, greatest family eternal' printed on the side.