Ditto Town Mystery Mansion

[PrinceCor004]

And the last person in the galaxies that Neal wanted to bump into had found her way into the basement. A calm and sarcastic response was going to be what Decker said to Cynthia, but after the combined effects of the high pitched scream, the hurling of accusations and the residuals of prior encounters... well, the Darkling kinda snapped

"Shut up, woman! SHUT. UP! YES, I killed your maid and everyone else. I'm the full fledged killer of your nightmares. So you better watch your back... because I'm on the verge of coming for you."

After his heated rant, which also included the throwing to the side of his fedora, Decker walked to one of the walls of the basement and stepped into the shadows. "See you in your dreams...." he said when just his face was visible before completely disappearing into the shadows.

[Delia Death]

Delia let Selena go, and wandered slowly behind her back to the Mansion. Rather than going in, however, she stopped by one of the trees near the well. She studied it for a moment, then stuck her apple between her chin and chest and shimmied up the tree, settling in the sturdy V and taking a bite out of her apple. This world was strange. She knew something was wrong with it, but she hadn't quite been able to put her finger on it....

[PrinceCor004]

"Confounded, miserable little...." Decker came storming from around the side of the mansion muttering various insults and exclamation under his breath. While he was usually rather calm, the whole experience of this place was finally starting to get to him.

Finding himself next to the well outside of the Mansion, Neal idly picked up one of the loose stones from around the well and began tossing it in the air.

------

Selena was already in the kitchen when Cynthia's screech came through. Grimacing slightly, the red-haired woman simply turned her attention back to the coffee she had fixed for herself.

[Delia Death]

"What's wrong?" Delia asked, taking a bite out of her apple. "Something's got to you. No, wait. Let me guess. It was Her Majesty, wasn't it?"

[PrinceCor004]

"Could there be anyone else?" Neal replied, still idly tossing the stone in the air. "She found me in the basement putting Malcom's body away and instantly began hurling accusations that I'm the killer. Oh yeah, the Cat and Cynth's maid are dead now as well."

He caught the stone and glanced up at Delia perched in her tree. "Not by my hand, mind you." He added with a cheeky half grin.

[Delia Death]

Delia grinned at him and took another bite.

"I know," she replied. She sat chewing for a few moments.

"You know what's weird about this place?" she finally asked.

[PrinceCor004]

"I can think of several things..." Neal finally looked up at the tree again. "But I'll go ahead and bite. What?"

[Delia Death]

"There's no ghosts. Like, none at all. No spirits of any kind. Not even ones from the blokes down in the basement."

[PrinceCor004]

"I don't suppose we could be dead? I mean, everyone that has died so far has completely died, no mostly dead or the like." Neal mused on this for a second before continuing. "Unless this is some kind of purgatory or holding place."

[Delia Death]

"No, I've been in Purgatory," Delia said, continuing to munch. "I've been through all those places. Remember, I'm a ghost wrangler. The only reason I do what I do is because Angel Octavius was a fool and left the gates of the Grave open and started an apocalypse."

[PrinceCor004]

"Somehow that's not very comforting if even you don't recognize this place." Decker sighed and tossed the stone he was holding behind his back and into the well. "At least we're not dead. That's a plus."

[Delia Death]

"There's tons of places I haven't been," Delia replied. "They're just all...oh, I don't know how to explain it. Physical spaces, I guess. But even that doesn't make sense. Planets and things. I haven't been to all the planets."

[PrinceCor004]

Neal smiled. "I don't think very many have been to all the planets... though I've met a few who have tried."

[Delia Death]

"I'm sure I'll get to all of them eventually, what with the chasing escaped souls and such," Delia replied, finishing her apple and dropping the core to the ground. "Ditto Town is a nice place to vacation in, though."

She slid down from the tree, landing next to Neal and smiling up at him.

"Even with the getting transported into other dimensions."

[PrinceCor004]

"Alternate dimensions aren't too bad... usually." Neal reached up to pull on his fedora when... "Blast! I left it somewhere in the basement."

With a sigh, Decker headed back into the Mansion. "Beware Cynthia if you have the misfortune of bumping into her." He said over his shoulder to Delia.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

She was about to tackle Neal when she realized that the fedora'd man did not seem to be in earnest. She narrowed her eyes.

"Goodness gracious, didn't your mother ever tell you that it is not polite to shout at a lady sarcastically when her personal maid has just died?!" Cynthia snapped at Decker as he melted into the shadows. She glared at the murk for a moment before turning and gently laying Lisette on the floor. She put a sheet over her, clucking her tongue sadly.

"Poor, poor Lisette," Cynthia murmured. "You would have gone so far in this world, too, with my tutelage. And you baked such a lovely vegan coffee cake. You will be sorely missed, my dear."

Cynthia stood and reached behind her head to undo the clasp in her hair, fluffing the brown locks as they fell to her shoulders. She then looked down at the clasp in her other hand and began fiddling with the bejeweled hair accessory. A moment later, a small knife gleamed in her hands.

"I would like this murderous mansion to know," she said aloud to the walls, raising a manicured and vaguely vindictive eyebrow as she tested the sharpness of the knife on her finger, "that the Ridley family does not take kindly to those who harm the people that are loyal to us."

She gave the sparkling clasp a little shake, causing the knife to disappear. She then walked over to the stairs (stepping firmly on Neal's fedora as she did so), and began to ascend.

"But first, I think I am due for a change of attire. One simply does not attempt to avenge people in a kimono."