The Porch. (Chatter thread)

[Alura]

Alura clings to the vase awkwardly and mouths the words 'wave of pugs' as though that might be heaven.

"Ah, you know, Zombie Queen, dogs do have decent noses for sniffing things out, particularly magical dogs. We wouldn't want to distract them would we?"

Alura awkwardly offers the vase to Az and glances nervously to Infrared, tugging at Moonie's lace.

[Azazeal849]

Az takes the vase and turns it over in his hands for a moment, humming, before placing it carefully down on the table you had originally picked it up from.

"Maybe this will come in handy later. Anyway, shall we?"

As you are gently ushered back towards the porch, you cast a longing look over your shoulder back towards the stairway, leading down to the basement door. All you see is shadow-shrouded wood, crossed with heavy chains clearly designed to keep something contained.

And just as you turn the corner, you could almost swear you hear a sound coming from within.

A soft voice, singing.

[bluemoon]

Moon grumbles under her breath as she is led away from the darkened stairwell, her hand slipping into her pocket as she replaces the cookies into its depths and folds her fingers around the key she had procured. Her deep-socketed eyes flit over the gaunt figure, his visage reminding her of...someone. A loved one perhaps? Or maybe a distant relative? It seems important, but she can't put her finger on it. Her memory just has not been the same since she was pulled into the world known only as RPA-Landia. She has been a prisoner here for quite some time, roaming the halls in search of an exit.

With a sigh, the zombie shuffles along, her steps slow as she continues to feel the pull of the forbidden place. She allows Alura to lead, the lace covering her hands still in the sofa queen's grip.

"May I have...just one look?" she asks before they reach the porch. "It is Halloween after all."

[Alura]

Waving farewell to the polite and strange members of the household, Alura waited on the porch a moment before dragging the Horde Mother towards Infrared's drawing room. If there was a cauldron key, perhaps there was something useful in the other rooms they had visited also. As she tugged Moonie along, she explained.

"The basement is all locked up in chains, but they were hunting the cauldron key. Perhaps it opens the desk in the drawing room or something like a cabinet or chest in the attic! What do you think? Drawing room or... attic?"

She pulled up short.

"Do you hear that?"

[bluemoon]

Moon scratches at her head, scowling at the clump of hair that gathers in her fingers. She turns her attention to Alura...so alluring that one...and narrows her eyes as she ponders her answer.

"I had so been hoping for a little peak in the basement...but...I suppose that quest can continue later, when the staff is not in attendance." She peers over her shoulder to make sure they are still alone...so far, so good. "Since we are so close, let's begin in Infrared's Drawing Room."

She continues on her way until her companion pauses, the zombie turning her ear in search of the mentioned sound.

"I am so sorry, but I hear nothing. My advanced aging takes so much from me."

[Alura]

"Hmmm... Must be imagining things. Could've sworn I heard singing. Did you see the door at the bottom of the stairs? It was dark, but there were chains all over it. Perhaps there is more than one key? Or something to break the chains, at least. Maybe lever the hinges free?"

After tiptoing along, they arrive at Infrared's drawing room. The door opens onto the dirty room with a creak and Alura pokes her head inside.

"Coast's clear."

Rustling across the papers scattered across the floor she moves to the desk and starts trying drawers.

"By the way, if it's not rude to ask: how old are you exactly, Moonie?"

[bluemoon]

"So many doors," Moon responds as she steps inside behind Alura, "...we will need to open them all." She shuffles through the layer of papers, her feet buried in the litter. "I feel a need to clean," she says desperately, kneeling as she picks up a handful and looks for a trash bin. "Perhaps we create a pile...then set a match?" she offers with the smallest of smiles.

Just as she begins to push the papers into the center of the room, she is asked a most familiar question and she chuckles lightly.

"Age is such a definable number for some, but for me, there are many lines of consciousness to consider. My life as a living entity...the time spent in the grave...and my resurrection to this new un-life." She begins counting on her fingers, shaking her head before starting again. "I think...maybe...I have lived at least a century...plus ten and two...or was it twenty and two? Do the years in the ground count? Or was that only days?" Sighing, the zombie throws a handful of papers into the air, spinning about the room like a whirling dervish. "I am timeless...I am young...yet I am old. There are none that have seen as many days as I...except perhaps..."

..and here the zombie pauses, a slight tremor discernable as she considers saying the name that rests upon her lips.

"...Kris. Only she knows how old I am...for she is older by far than I."

[Alura]

(Eee, decisions! I do love a villain, so it will be hard to choose between Omac & the Piper or the Staff!)

"It will take ages to get through all the doors. We'll have to be quick about it so we don't get caught in the halls again. That was a close one! Quick thinking on the treats."

After turning up nothing in the drawers or a search of the desk, Alura smudges a bit of dust on her finger and frowns at it. "A match might be necessary after all. Blech!"

"Kris? I saw her picture along with G's in the gallery I think it was. The one with the talking Raven... All that aside, though, if you've lived that long then you look remarkable for your age!"

Squatting, Alura gropes around the edges of the drawers and feels around underneath them, the third one revealing an odd-shaped, cool metal lump underneath. Cautiously pulling it free, she waves the key at the Zombie Queen and slips it up her sleeve.

"That's two!"

[bluemoon]

Moon smiles, her teeth a remarkable white despite her zombiehood. (Perhaps gnawing on bones is good for your chompers.) "Why thank you dearie! Some days I do feel much younger than my years." She moves in closer to examine the new key, taking out her own to compare them. "They are definitely meant to open two different locks. I think we are on to something."

She pauses briefly when she hears the call to arms from the staffing members. "It seems Decay is at it again...the wily little whipper-snapper. Shall we abandon our search...temporarily...to aid in his demise...or join on his side?"

[Alura]

Alura tilts her head at Moonie. "Well, I'm not entirely sure what's happening, but decay seems bad for couches and zombies, so perhaps we'd best do what we can to support the RPA Staff?"

Alura looks over her shoulder at the dazzling smile of the Zombie Queen as they go. "Moonie, what did you mean by referring to Decay as if it's sentient? Is it the name of the Piper?"