Ditto Town Mystery Mansion

[Delia Death]

"More bodies," Delia replied crisply. "Apparently Officer Jeff needs backup, because he can't handle it. Or something. Follow me--we're headed to the conservatory."

Delia waved her hand, downed another cup of coffee, then abandoned her cup next to the carafe and headed through the winding halls of the mansion toward the back.

"At this rate, we may need to set aside a room of the dead," Delia muttered.

[PrinceCor004]

Neal smiled slightly at the thought of the young officer needing backup. "They always do." he said mostly to himself.

As they followed Delia to the conservatory, Selena hesitated a moment at the staircase. Quickly wondering if she should check on Malcom or not, she decided it would be best to stay with the group at present. Especially since she was the first person to make contact with the semi-feral woman... kindof.

"A fireplace can work for that sort of thing." Decker said dryly in response to the comment regarding a room for the dead.

[Delia Death]

Delia grinned and shook her head at Neal.

"They're already freaked out," she whispered. "Sticking dead people in odd places will just make them act weirder than they already do around dead folks."

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

A thump-kerflump and then a crashing sound could be heard beyond the kitchen doorway. A tall, disheveled woman stumbled across the threshold a moment later, her hair streaming as she teetered across the tile floor. She was wearing a sleep mask.

"MY EYES! MY EYES! THEY HAVE BEEN STABBED IN MY SLEEP! I HAVE BEEN BLINDED! POLICE! POLICE!"

[Bookwyrm]

"Ma'am? Excuse me, you're still wearing your mask," Anna said, staring at the crazy-haired woman over the top of a mug of coffee. She had the vague feeling that something important was going on, what with the bustling in and out of rooms, but she was still too sleep-dazed to be concerned yet.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

"Mask? No, I made absolutely certain to wash my avocado facial off last night before reapplying my makeup..." Cynthia trailed off. "Oh. The sleep mask. Of course. Silly me."

She sighed and tore the mask off, then procured a hair clasp from somewhere in the folds of her very shiny (but 100% vegan) kimono and pinned her hair back with it. It wouldn't do to look frowzy if any of the men showed up.

"You can never be too sure, though, about the eyes," she said as she dove at the refrigerator, looking to see if there was any soy milk for the coffee. "We once had a gardener who had his eyes plucked out by one of my father's bald eagles."

Cynthia sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of coffee, gesturing at the thick, dark makeup ringing her eyes. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm all made up after just getting out of bed. You see, one must always be prepared for the spotlight when you're as important and influential as I am. The paparazzi are like a flock of vultures, and they will swoop down on you at any moment. So, I always put on a fresh face of makeup before bed because I never know when I might have to flee the house because of a fire or heaven knows what."

[Bookwyrm]

"My grandmother always said to make sure you'd leave a beautiful corpse if you dropped dead unexpectedly," Anna commented, pouring a second cup.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

"Your grandmother gave very good advice," Cynthia said, taking a small sip of her coffee and grimacing at the taste. "Now tell me, who are you two? I don't believe we have met yet."

[Bookwyrm]

"Oh, we're going to have this conversation," Anna's sister whispered to her.

"I ... um. I'm ... We're Anna. We're sisters. Twin sisters. In one body," Anna answered.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

"Very pleased to meet you, Anna," Cynthia replied, taking another sip of coffee and grimacing yet again. "We are Miss Cynthia Ridley, heiress of Petrid Co., famed ambassador for veganism.... Did you say twin sisters in one body? My, my. I have heard of such medical mysteries. So good to see you out and about and enjoying such robust health. You must have quite a story, I'm sure."

[Aslanisthebest]

"Now that you mention it I do have a very big sock problem, my left ones keep running away." Said he, replying with a disarming and cheeky grin.

"In all seriousness ma'am, as far as I am aware we are experiencing a simple power outage. No need for you to be concerned."

Kai folded her arms and looked down at Officer Evan's shoes. She flatly said, "Alright, I'm just concerned."
There were groups going in and out of the mansion, trying to figure out where they were. Kai, not wanting to get in anyone's way, went to the back of one room with windows. She moved a bit of the heavy curtain out of the way, unlatched the fine locks on the windows, and opened the window. It required some shoving, as it seemed to not have been opened for a century.She flipped the air settings on her compass and put it outside to analyze the breathability of the air. The compass reported that the ratio of hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen was identical to Earth, and the pressure was not overwhelming. She poked her head outside and put her night glasses on. The only word that described the surroundings was dead and dry.
"Well, a new place to map!" she murmered. She set her compass down, and it opened up a blue translucent touch screen. She opened a file titled "Cartography" and she worked on mapping her location. However, when she tried to make the interuniverse GPS find an approximate location, there was nothing but a dark screen. She raised her eyebrows.
She spent a few hours in the room, with only the glow of the screen illuminating her face. She heard some murmuring in the room nearby, and she stepped in the doorway. They were all talking about a death. The couple that had gone--the guy had died. However, before she could go down to see for herself, Death had given an announcement to nicely tell everyone to stop lingering around and ground themselves in one room for the night.
Kai ran up the stairs, skirting around a cat, Cynthia, whom she nodded to, embarassed having walked away from their conversation. She slipped inside one room, but, as with all her first nights on new planets, she did not want to fall asleep. Instead, she narrated the events on the evening to her compass and logged them away. Then she stared at the moon. Her last thought was that her machine was gone and there was no way to get out of there.
--

Kai woke up rather late. She shook herself, upset for falling asleep so unconsciously. She pulled back the curtains and let a flood of light in the room. It almost looked like a house in her Grandmother's inn, and she almost thought she was there. She looked at the barren ground and was reminded of the nights events. She went downstairs and saw a brown liquid that smelled nice, fresh rolls, and fruit. She took a cup of coffee and a roll, and looking around for a place to sit to finish her breakfast, she noticed Cynthia from the night before talking to a nervous-looking woman.
She walked up to them,
"Sorry to interrupt," she said, as Cynthia finished introducing herself to the other woman, "May I sit with you both?" Too tired to wait for an answer to that, she sat down and started blowing on the hot liquid in the cup in her hands. Through the billowing smoke, she caught a glimpse of Death and another man walking towards the back.
She wanted to follow them. She gulped down the liquid, which was too hot and therefore burned her throat.
"Excuse me," she said to the two as she rose from the table, reflecting that she was now building a reputation as a serial conversation abandoner in Cynthia's eyes. Kai stuffed the roll in her mouth as she silently followed Death and the man.

[Delia Death]

It did not take long for Delia, Neal and Selena to find their way down to the conservatory. Delia stopped and knelt down at the edge of the pool, studying QED and the woman.

"Hello," she said quietly.

[Captn. Peregrin]

She remained just as Selena had last seen her, eyes fixed on the intruders and all senses alert for danger. She opened her mouth and tried a few throaty sounds, but nothing resembling human words would come out. Must be out of practice...

She gestured for them to come closer.

[Delia Death]

Delia studied her for a moment, then hopped down into the pool and came close, checking Mr. QED's pulse as she did.

[PrinceCor004]

Selena followed Death's example and approached the woman while their hostess checked on the body.

"You can't seem to speak, but can you write?" Selena pulled a pen and mini note pad she had swiped from one of the rooms in the mansion on her back back to the pool. Setting the items on the ground between her and the strange woman, Selena backed up ever so slightly to give this new individual some space... and hopefully not scare her anymore.

[Captn. Peregrin]

She swatted at Death when she grabbed Earnest's hand, but she stopped short of the intruder's face, watching intently all the while.

She beckoned the other woman closer, then leaned on her and rose to her full height, eyes never straying from Death