Lights Out

Yazeba hadn't been paying attention to the direction they'd been going for a few minutes. She'd left her mind behind in the previous few rooms, with the spiderwebs. That wasn't in the figurative sense though, she'd literally left her mind behind. It lingered there, looking at the webs and wondering how they got to be there.

To a witch, spiders are very useful. They are incredibly lazy creatures, as evidenced by their idea to wait and hitch a ride from a larger mode of transport, and are willing to make anyone a deal if it makes their life easier. She, as a younger witch, had employed a great wealth of arachnids to form a spy network about her BnB, until something had shuffled them along. Now she thought she'd been without enough of the eight legged layabouts, but these webs were developed and suggested someone else had paid them off instead...

Before the implications of who would have the wealth and access to pay the spiders of her(!) BnB to spy could arrive at her body's position though, they were interrupted by a loud noise. Her mind snapped back into position, along with her eyebrow adopting it's customary arch, as a vampire she'd forgotten about many years ago made a surprise reappearance.

Amelie followed behind Parish and Viv, mostly looking around and making an internal heat map of the spots in the basement that would need the most urgent attention if Yazeba were to change her mind. It was always good to have a backup plan in case there was nothing else to do.

As the vampire sits up and makes their noise, Amelie, with no regard for any danger, walks up to the coffin and inspects it's cleanliness. "Impressive! How do you keep this wood in such good condition? I can hardly see any wear or decay on your coffin." they ask the fanged person.

Amelie had no need to be afraid of vampires. With a lack of blood in their body, there was nothing the dracula would want from a robot. If anything they'd want to employ a robot as an everlasting servant. This meant that vampires were often friendly to non-humans. The "Boooo" also didn't impress them. Anyone who wants to scare Amelie should shout "Mess" Or "Dust".

"A friend of yours, Yazeba?"

Percy looks at the vampire with mild confusion and politely waves his hand in greeting. Somewhat similar to Amelie, he has no need to fear a blood-drinker - if the sharp-toothed basement dweller tries to feed from him, he'll probably scald his tongue on hot magma. Maybe Percival should warn him about that? Although the vampire seems more interested in scuttling about and making vaguely scary noises than biting anyone, so maybe it's alright if he doesn't.

"Um, hello," the elemental turns around so that he can follow the vampire with his gaze, just in case he does decide to make biting motions in directions of Percy's less armored companions. "Apologies for bothering you, but we're simply passing through. Maybe, by chance, you can point us towards the generator room?"

When the Dracula targets her with his scary words, Viv cowers with her hands on her ears, her hair a solid sheet in front of her face. "Ooooh! This reminds me of the time I went out at night and forgot my flashlight! I was so scared I forgot to tie my shoes and fell in the mud..."

"Oh my. Blood?!?" Amelie is shocked by the suggestion. They knew vampires had a strong connection to blood, but they never considered it could be Viv's blood. No, no, that won't do.

They wheel themselves in between the two. "You better not be thinking of spilling blood, mister pointy teeth! It's already way too messy down here. They say, arms spread in a T-shape. "I won't stand for it!"

"Now there, sir, I must agree with our robotic friend!" Percy crosses his arms as he steps to stand next to Amelie. "While I acknowledge that this is your way of nourishment, it is quite impolite to attempt feeding on someone without asking - and without introducing yourself, either. I'm sure there is a proper etiquette for these things among the vampire kind?" The elemental huffs in disapproval, a small wisp of smoke escaping his mouth. He then glances at Amelie and, after a moment, attempts to mimic their T-pose - surely it must be the most optimal method of intimidation if Amelie chose it.

More noise, of course. Yazeba sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose. It'd barely been more than an hour ago when she'd thought she'd have a day of peace and quiet. She'd never expected to find Dracula again, let alone the curtain covering the Crypt-Kicker Five. Once again she found herself questioning the decision to open a BnB. She definitely didn't question the decision to take away the Crypt-Kicker's brass instruments.

"I thought you left, Dracula." She cut into the confusion. "After recording that god awful collab we all knew your career in music was the only truly scary thing about you."

With her hands on her hips, she cornered the wayward vampire. "Since you didn't leave though, how much room and board do you owe me, now?"

"Wow uh oh..." Amelie exclaims as they accidentally brush off the tarp. But what appears from underneath causes them to stop in stunned silence. Their processing chip runs on overclocked mode trying to grasp the situation.

Is that *THE* Crypt-Kicker Five?!?!?! That was Amelie's all time favorite band! Especially their latest single - Let's Chill To The Bone - was A-MA-ZING! Completely and utterly star-struck, they just stand there in fear of somehow ruining the group's dance routine.

Parish breathed a sigh of relief when Yazeba chased the dracula away, but now there was this confounded cadre of cadavers to contend with! The frog leaps into action, interposing his tiny frame between Amelie and the skeletons and shaking his broom at them. "Back, you ruffians! Shuffle off!"

The skeletons ignore his efforts. Parish frowns and taps his chin with a webbed finger. 'Hmm. Aha! There's only one sure way to defeat dancing skeletons. By winning a dance-off!"

Stowing his broom, Parish shakes out his arms and legs to loosen his muscles. "Very well, boneheads. Prepare to be amazed by the latest dance craze!" He strikes a pose and then--

--Parish does the Macarena."Arms! Out! Hands! Flip! Elbow! Elbow! Head! Head! Cross! Arms! Hip! Hip! Heeey Macarena!" Parish calls out each move. He then turns and hops, but he underestimates how far a frog's legs would propel him. He hops clear across the room to the dark corner of the chamber!Parish crashes into a box, scattering its contents. "Oof!" As he dusts himself off, he looks to see the box was filled with the baby clothes Hey Kid used to wear, along with a macaroni picture of the Bed & Breakfast. "Aww... They were so cute back then!" Parish says with a warm smile. He feels a bit more courageous, enough to march back up to the skeletons. "Let's try that again!"

And he does the Macarena again. Hop and turn. Hop and turn. Hop and turn. He's nothing if not committed to the moves.

The skeletons glance at one another. One scratches its skull. Another looks at its feet. Eventually, they all slink away, too embarrassed for Parish to keep watching any longer.

"Ha ha! Victory!" Parish declares, pumping his fist in the air!

As the last skeleton leaves the room, Amelie regains motor functions. They open up a waist-compartment and pull out a cassette tape and a black marker. "Please sign my..." They sigh realizing it's too late. "They're gone." They say sadly. "Why did I not ask sooner... Bugger. That might have been my only chance."

They then glance at Parish and offer the same two items to him "Maybe an autograph from a dance champion instead?"

Parish grins. "It would be my pleasure, dear Amelie!" With a flourish, Parish signs his name, along with a message:

Don't stop believin'!

Yazeba rolls her eyes at the autograph, the entire concept silly to her. She doesn't say anything though, because sometimes you have to keep people guessing. It's definitely not because she didn't want to interrupt something heartfelt, because that would be ridiculous for a witch like her.

Instead she heads to one of the doors and considers it. She doesn't tell anyone her metric for consideration, that's for her to know and preferably for none of them to find out, but she shakes her head and points to the other one. It'll be safer for them all in the long run to use the other door after all, none of them want to find out what's behind the one she'd picked first.

"Shall we move on?"

Amelie accepts the autograph from Parish. This is one for their collection. It consisted mostly of things they had found around the house while cleaning. Things that nobody would miss because if they did, then they wouldn't have left it just laying around in the first place. The signed cassette tape and marker once again disappear inside one of their storage compartments. "I'm ready to continue!" They say mostly to Yazeba to indicate their ability to receive new orders.

The pantry was entered by Amelie with much approval! "Neatly stacked shelves. Expiration dates in order." They could not see anything wrong in this room. A paradise, for as far as cleaning robots could imagine such a thing. Their core programming sequences took over. "Searching for job... " As some of the guests or residents may know, when Amelie can't find a job to do, they automatically shut down for a while. But for now, they were still scanning the room. There had to be something out of order.

Percy is taken aback at the chain of events which leads to the basement journey briefly becoming a dance-off and a little concerned over the number of undead residents dwelling underneath the house, but decides to go with the flow and just stay quiet for a while. He does cheer for Parish and the skeletons, lighting up his skin for a bit of funky illumination, but stops it quickly after - it wouldn't do to be distracting anyone.

As they enter the pantry, the elemental perks up a bit, examining the bin with curiosity, and hums in approval when Amelie comments on the expirations dates. "This is very impressive rationing, Sir Parish," he comments to the frog, gesturing at the arrays of non-perishables arranged in rows inside. "Maybe we should bring some upstairs for the others? Some canned goods will make for good snacks after the movie - and offset all the popcorn with somewhat healthier sustenance." Percy wrangles his hands absent-mindedly; a part of him really wants to check the contents of the bin, intrigued by the possibility of baking ingredients or even baked goods like crackers or cookies, but he doesn't wish to seem too forward with his interest. And it's a silly interest, anyway.

"Maybe we can make something with it later?.. Ah, nevermind, I'm sure you're busy as it is! Ah-hah..." He trails off awkwardly, then clears his throat and looks at Amelie in hopes of seeing something to help them with and change the topic he foolishly brought up.

"Aha!" Parish cries, hopping forward happily. But a few moments later, his smile fades. "Hmm. I could have sworn the generator was stored here. But it’s not here. My friends, I am afraid we will have to keep looking!"