Rascall Pines

Chloe let out a sigh of relief when Tony left with Maya. Her mind had been aching from trying not to simply yell at the man, or maybe deliver a well deserved slap to his cheek. Poor Maya... "I don't like your partner." Chloe said simply, turning to Somia. "You don't seem half as bad, though. However, the reasons you're here are hardly forgivable. And so I will show you around for a few minutes, and then you will leave. Yes?"

Shaun saw Mika dash down the stairs a sodden state, and considered the irony that in his new clothes he was actually bone dry. Well, apart from his hair and the hair on his legs which was now out of view. He practiced walking back and forth; he hadn't had to mock up feet for himself in some time. His gait was not entirely natural (for a human that is), but he could blame it on an old construction injury. Easier than explaining goat legs anyway.

He replaced a few fragments of the broken floorboard and folden the soaked carpet over it so it was out of sight. Then he heard footsteps reaching top of the slightly further away staircase and stood bolt upright, leaning against the wall so as to make himself as wide an obstacle to vision as possible. Thankfully the first person to emerge was Maya, so before her guest came into view he waved and gestured frantically, indicating for him to show the house at the bottom end of the hall first until Mika returned and they could fabricate a plausible explanation for the state of the carpet.

Tony pouted and exhaled at Maya's curt pardon, she was a woman in control. Very foxy.

He straightened his tie and followed her (or, rather, her hips) as she led him up the stairs...curiously choosing to cross the hall to take the stairs on one side of it rather than the other. His mind turned reluctantly to the job at hand, and he looked closely at the stairs. And for the first time he noticed that the carpet seemed not only to be in excellent condition, but also quite up to date in style.

"So how many household staff does Doncaster employ?" he asked, staring accutely at the bannister for any weak points he could possibly lean on and stage a dramatic, building-condemnation-inducing fall.

Somia's face softened slightly on hearing Chloe's first words, reacting almost immediately to the sense of female empathy in the oppressive presence of a truly horrendous man. But the empathy was quashed not only by the realisation that Somia was not here to make friends, but also by the subsequent indication that Chloe did not trust her intentions.

"I'm sure you must realise," Somia said with a nervous laugh, "what this award could do for Rascall Pines. I mean Lord Doncaster won't be around forever, and without heritage recognition there wouldn't be anyone left to make sure the old place remained intact."

Not that there would be anyone to miss it if the old stick kicked the bucket... she added in her head.

Mika managed somehow to heft (awkwardly and with difficulty) the heavy, rusting and slightly dilapidated piece of machinery into the old dumbwaiter. It wasn't exactly a good fit--but as long as it cleared the tunnel without problems it was fine with her. With a grunt she began to tug on the pulley, watching with some satisfaction as the dumbwaiter groaned to life, dragging upward. If she remembered correctly, it would come out just beside the bathroom--not too far from where Shawn waited. Once she managed to get it up there--she would have him help her take it out to use for whatever purpose he had in mind. But--it wasn't going to be so easy. there was a grinding sound inside the tunnel and the pulley suddenly would not pull.

"Damn." She cursed softly, approaching the shaft to peek at it. It was dark in there--and even her feline sight had some problems--but from what she could see--the machine had wedged itself against the corner and wasn't looking like it would budge without effort. Mika growled and perched precariously on the ledge of the open shaft, trying to reach. The dumbwaiter was just out of the way of her fingertips. Mika scanned the room, spotting the long vacuum hose and snatched it up. With it she poked and prodded at the wedged machine. First lightly, then more aggressively she prodded until the whole dumbwaiter groaned and began to slowly drip downward. Mika rushed to the rope again and desperately began to tug, up, up up it went and then--ding--it reached the floor. Mika tied it off around one of the old humidifiers and hurried back upstairs.

She flew through the kitchen again, a blur of color and only paused when she passed a mirror in the hall. She WAS a mess. Hair soaked and dripping, beret clinging to her hair over her neko ears, smudges of grease from the machine she had picked up was all over her face...ultimately, she looked like kid who had been playing in the dirtiest place she could find..ew. Mika made a disgusted sound in her throat and stomped up the remaining stairs. She passed Shawn and waved at him frantically to follow her as she headed to the closed dumbwaiter door. She struggled to open it--as they never found much occasion for use--but was relieved when it opened with a jarring ding. Mika sighed, tired and looked to Shawn.

"Will you please help me lift this hunk of junk? it's really heavy..and dirty..." Mika crinkled her nose in a very feline expression. She felt absolutely miserable. But she had to keep reminding herself that it was for a good cause...

Chloe looked at Somia, hardly trying to hide the disgust on her face. "Yes, that award would be very nice. But you don't really think I'm that stupid...do you? You think I'd believe that the town suddenly had a change of heart, and wanted to keep this house here? Hardly." Chloe said, anger rising in her. Why did she have to deal with this so soon after Lord Anthony's death? "This way." She said, walking towards the kitchen.

After reading what Carmen had carved, Syde gave a small nod to signal his approval. The kappa shuffled over to him and examined his dirt-covered fur. He attempted to brush it at first, but soon gave this up and proceeded to pick out the clumps of mud individually. Syde sat to submit to the cleaning. Occasionally Carmen had to tug out a piece of dirt that had really entangled itself in his fur, but it was nothing to him so he endured without complaint. By the end of it, Carmen had gotten out the biggest clusters of mud, but Syde still appeared quite dirty. He had time to clean up at the house, anyways.

Now for bringing the body. They headed back to the house in silence, dwelling on their next task. Though Carmen had said 'we', Syde couldn't much imagine him even helping hauling Lord Anthony anywhere. He might have the strength to carry the body on his own in human form... Certainly not as a domestic dog, and with ease as a hellhound. But taking his true form took a lot of energy - energy he may need to help clean up. So he would try to carry Lord Anthony by himself, and if that didn't work he would take whatever help Carmen could offer.

As they neared the house, Syde debated whether human or dog form would be the least messy, and decided to remain a mud-coated canine. He paused at the back door though, ears swiveling forward. His nose caught whiff of something out of place. Masculine hair gel and... an office sort of smell. He stared intently at the door, the fur about his nape and shoulders rising in distrust. It hadn't been too long, had it? It couldn't have been two hours already. How could the inspector be here so soon? But Syde could think of no other reason for the alien scent..

Maya subtly glanced behind to see Tony inspecting the staircase as if scouting for dust. "Why is the quality and quantity of staff any of your concern" she responded abruptly before turning her head fully and tittering prettily placing a hand over her lips. "Forgive me for being abrupt" She posed a finger for him to continue following her up the stairs wiggling her way up every step as expected of a kitsune succumbus.

"Please remind me why you're here Mr Chesterfield?"

“Well,” Tony said with a grin, “to answer both your questions, I’m here to ensure that Rascall Pines is economically viable for for the Heritage Trust to take on board to sustain in it’s present state.”

He continued behind her to the top of the stairs, whereupon she directed him to turn left. He peered down the corridor in the indicated direction, noting that everything seemed to be in fairly good condition and order.

“And the reason I need to know about the staff,” he continued, looking at the surprisingly new carpet which spanned away down the landing, “is because if status is granted most of the staff will likely be retained, and we will be working very closely with them. So naturally it’s in our interests to know the sorts of people we will be working with.”

Looking across at Maya with that thought in his mind, he felt a tinge of genuine regret that he had, in reality, every intention of making sure the manor house failed to meet the standards required. He would have very much liked to imagine he would be getting to work closely with this girl.

“So,” he said with a cough, “may I ask who takes care of the decor? I must admit to being surprised at the modernity of the design.”

Shaun was starting to get a little anxious as Maya nimbly ushered the man in the opposite direction down the hall. He paced back and forth a bit, wondering what he was going to say when they eventually came the other way...which they now doubt would soon enough.

Somewhere on the landing there was a ding...sounded like the old dumbwaiter. When was the last time we used THAT? he thought. Stepping that way with curiosity, he found Mika struggling with some monstrosity of a...something. Mike had propped it onto some sort of red cart, and actually the overall impression was quite effective. It looked dirty, well used, antique, ambiguous...Shaun could probably get away with saying it was just about anything.

Poor Mika of course was in a right state...dirty, soaked, miserable...everything any feline creature hated to be. Sykes would have been less bothered by it, but of course he was off doing other things...no doubt getting pretty dirty also. Shaun ran up to Mika.

“Nice one, it’s great.” He said, hauling it down onto the floor with a surprisingly loud, clanky thud. The contraption shifted on the trolley slightly, so he gave it a push so that it was square enough to look like the machine and the cart constituted a single device, and started to push it over to where the rupture had occurred. “OK, you’d better go get yourself cleaned up before anyone sees you.”

Somia folded her arms with rising indignation.

“I’m sorry you feel so sceptical about the arrangement.” She said. “But this wouldn’t be the first landmark that it took a municipal body a long time to recognise the value of. In any case I’m not involved in the decision, only in reporting the facts. So you’ve no reason to distrust me.”

She distracted herself from the unpleasant exchange by looking around the kitchen, opening a couple of cupboards and a few drawers. Finally, she turned on the faucet, but no water flowed.

“Hmm,” Somia said, “something wrong with the water supply?”

Chloe rolled her eyes at Somia, standing back while she inspected the kitchen. The kitsune and shape shifter had made a good team and cleaned it up so much so that Chloe thought it would sparkle in the sunlight. With that on her mind, she opened the curtains that covered the single window. The light shone in, giving a home-sweet-home feel to the place.

“Hmm,” Somia said, “something wrong with the water supply?”

"Uh..." Chloe racked her brain for something to say. "Yes, but we've got someone working on it as we speak. It should be working in no time. Shall we see the living room?"

Mika was relieved to see Shaun ambling toward her. Those boots made it look like he had some sort of limp when he walked--but otherwise he seemed to manage well.

“Nice one, it’s great.” He said, hauling it down onto the floor with a surprisingly loud, clanky thud. The contraption shifted on the trolley slightly, so he gave it a push so that it was square enough to look like the machine and the cart constituted a single device, and started to push it over to where the rupture had occurred. “OK, you’d better go get yourself cleaned up before anyone sees you.”

Mika was glad she had done well. She had been worried that it would be perhaps only her own ignorance of human machinery that made this messy clump of metal strange--but if Shaun looked impressed--then all was well.

"Right, I'll be back in a moment." Mika told him with a nod. She badly needed to change and wash her face. The only problem would be getting to her room without being spotted. The neko swiftly, silently padded down the opposite end of the hall. Ahead, she could hear Maya's smooth voice as well as a masculine one that made her ears twitch in irritation--so much so that she had to clutch the sopping wet beret to be sure it hadn't moved. Mika took a deep breath, silently stalking down the hall. Thanking the Gods that she was feline and used to stalking in silence, keeping her presence secret. She pressed herself into any nook and cranny available when they turned, keeping herself unseen and when they finally passed her room...whoosh! Click. She was in!

She leaned against the closed door and sighed with relief, and wasted little time in stripping herself down to change. The soaked silk jacket had been heavy and it was a relief to take it off, hanging it over the back of her chair to dry. She would have to have it laundered later. Mika popped into her closet, running her hands over clothes before deciding on a white dress with black polka dots. A black satin ribbon tied around her waist--complementing her lithe frame. The dress was cute and simple, dropping down to meet her slender knees.She then selected a black and white bucket hat, pushing her ears gently inside of it and slipped on a pair of black ballet flats. This would have to do. Everyone seemed to be stressing simple today--even Maya had worn her suit. Mika would have preferred to wear one of her many kimono...but didn't think her housemates would appreciate such a display. Content, she opened her door and cautiously peeked out, trying to determine where the little house tour seemed to be.

Following along with his chin resting on his flat chest, Carmen bumped straight into, and very nearly fell over, Syde in his dog form. He had stopped suddenly and the Kappa, still himself despite his grief, raised a cry of disapproval. It was a wet, scratchy sound that was far from pleasant and was soon followed by a torrent of abuse.

"Damned hound, do you need me to throw a ball for y-" He was cut off by the sound of unfamiliar voices in the house; a man and a woman by the sounds of it.

"I thought they weren't supposed to be here yet?" he whispered frantically, looking all around him for a place to hide. There was no way he could cross the open garden in time if they were making their way through the house, he'd be spotted a mile off. Green he may be but he still kind of stood out a bit. There was also nothing out the back to hide behind or under, not until they reached the edge of the well kept space outside the door. Sometimes he wished he had longer legs and faster knees. It wasn't often but it sure as hell was kicking in now. As was panic. A terrific designer he may be, his strength lay only in planning. Quick thinking was not becoming of him and his decision, therefore, may not have been a wise one.

"Move, hurgh!" The order was followed by the sound of a short, water dwelling, strengthless creature attempting to push a dog. It worked and he was granted access to the kitchen, only to hear the voices growing closer. He panicked and looked around, spotting a cupboard ajar and not entirely full. He went for it at full speed and practically dived in, closing the door slowly behind him just as the kitchen door opened.

“Hmm, something wrong with the water supply?”

As the voices spoke so close to him he started to feel very uncomfortable and shited his weight a little. He wasn't aware of any problem with the pipes.He concluded it must have been a very recent development and he shifted again, only to stifle a yelp, barely. He had turned and come face to face with a rather large spider that was sharing his hiding place. Having never been raised to be the cold blooded killer of the deep that he should have been, he had the same reaction to spiders as most young girls and found himself shaking with horror as it skitted around the wooden prison he had forced himself into.

"Uh... Yes, but we've got someone working on it as we speak. It should be working in no time. Shall we see the living room?"

Yes, yes, please yes, go see the living room! Carmen was screaming inside his own mind, his eyes wide and darting around, following the eight-legged lodger. He wanted out. Badly.