For the first time after finding the deed of this house Alice returned to Orchidia and to the manor. It was now property of Kon and she was rather curious as she had gotten the key from him. He must be around here as he left before her, she had not really understood why but it was fine. She tried the door knob and opened it, it obviously was still a big house but it definitely looked very clean after her last visit. "Hello?" she said not immediately so loud, she didn't know where she would have to look for Kon and if he was inside the house. She assumed so because the door wasn't locked.

She looked around the hallway and simply dropped her suitcase and went to find her fiance, Jupiter and Hecate followed cautiously. She had told them that there was nothing to be afraid off but apparently the feline creatures felt different. She in the end found the living room and decided to sit down for a minute, it would probably not be smart to simply walk around the house, she still felt like it was rude even though: she had a key.

As she waited, she combed her hair with her fingers and hummed a lullaby again, something she had been caught herself doing a lot more than she used to do. She used to humm with Ophelia but after her accident, she had stopped entirely. She looked around the room, rather curious to see the rest off it again as she had last seen it as some sort of horror house. She remembered something about creepy dolls that she had found in a study room and the dust upstairs with Evangeline. She turned around when she heard a noise, expecting it to be Konstantin.

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He had been in Orchidia for sometime now expecting Alice any day now with each passing hour causing him to double his efforts in cleaning up the manor for her arrival. Fortunately he didn’t have to look very far when he actually returned to his building in order to store his fishing equipment obtained in Hargeon town as there was a quaint little hut out the front that he could store the awkward gear. With his baggage out of the way he set off to retrieve some cleaning equipment from the local general goods store in the heart of Orchidia and went to work on the building's interior choosing to leave the exterior alone for the time being with him not wanting to attract any potential onlookers hostile or otherwise. It was hard work to be sure with the former owner seeming to put not a single moment of their time in cleaning it while he wasn’t one to complain about a cheap piece of property it still annoyed him that the house was in such a state.

Remembering the hidden locations within the house he promptly made his way to them and cleared them out of evil doing through the power of an open fire that he had lit out the front of the home near the fountain although he retained some documents that weren’t just scribbles which he would later go over when he had time before handing them over to the appropriate authorities. With most of the first floor cleared he began to work on the second floor only to be interrupted by the noise of the front door opening signifying the arrival of someone with the person responsible calling out to anyone in the house notably with a female voice, Alice’s no less.

Looking at his casual appearance as he was wearing cleaning clothes consisting of nothing more than a white t-shirt, black pants and a pair of black boots, he swiftly put aside everything before heading to his room of the giant mansion on the second floor to change. Now dressed in a far more professional manner of his black suit and gloves he went downstairs to greet his fiancee who appeared to be patiently waiting in the living room. “Alice, it’s good to see you again, here is the manor of course you’ve already been here before but I decided to clean it up a bit, I hope that in time you will consider this your home.”


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Alice stared at her companions, not entirely sure what else she should do. She kept on humming a little and swayed from left to right, this felt like a nice place. She waited a little more and finally heard footsteps and turned to look at the door, where she saw Kon, looking handsome as always. She stood up to walk towards him and smile by his welcoming words. "It certainly looks different." she said as she looked around again, "Much more homey." She really hoped to call this place home, apart from the room in the guild of Phantom Lord, she didn't really had a place to stay for longer than the weeks that she was working.

"Did you clean it up all by yourself?" she asked as he said he decided to clean it, that must be so much work considering the size of the house, "Can I get a tour?" She would ask enthusiastic as she wanted to see more than just the living room that she walked in. Even though it was a tiring train journey, she always got more tired from trains and the like than from walking, she wanted to see the house more. If Kon agreed and would show her around, she would be very interested and once it was done, she would have to sit down again: easily getting tired.

She would go back to the living room if they had left it and would sit down on the same chair again, seeing that Jupiter and Hecate had never left their spot. She was glad the emotional period was over or had not yet started because if she had now a place to stay, she was sure as hell going to cry in that moment, but she managed to not cry, which was good, she didn't like crying after all. She wanted to ask something but again, she noticed something on her left hand and looked at it, a set of twins, looking like ghosts passed through the wall and came to an abrupt stop as she was looking at them, they simply noticed that they were looked at.

She turned to face Konstantin because she hoped to be not wrong again, as with the girl Kon had seen her as well. "You have got to be kidding me." She whispered and turned to look at the ghosts that were lazily blinking their eyes at them before turning their faces to each other; "They can see us. Maybe, we should demand their help." the boy said and the girl only nodded. Wonderful, Alice thought.

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His work had paid off with Alice acknowledging the clean state of the manor at least the areas that she had been through so far even questioning him as to whether he had completed the task of such a feat on his own. While Kon wasn’t one to boast about his accomplishments he responded to her inquiry with a dashing smile and a cheeky comment. “Well I knew you were going to come here soon enough, I wanted to make sure the place would be suitable if we decided to do anything.” Before ending with a casual blink at the end, more interested in the house than his teasing however she asked for a tour of the home, which he found odd considering she had been there before perhaps it was due to the fact that it was just the two of them in a place that he was now a lot more familiar with having added his own little nick-knacks here and there. Happy to oblige his fiancee’s request he took her hand and aided her as she left her chair, all the while indulging her on the finer points of the house including the numerous rooms and bathrooms that he had learnt that the manor almost mansion he had acquired contained.

Swiftly however Alice grew tired, understandable given the circumstances of her current health thus leading them back to the living room in the first place walking through the hallway once more. He took note of the rather dark interior and left a memory note about ensuring getting some more lighting in the building so he could see more clearly at night especially now without his enhanced eyesight. There were still many things that needed to be done to the house but for now he was satisfied with it and felt it was presentable to at least Alice who would likely be more accommodating instead of many of his other former colleagues including his cousin, LeeAnn. Wanting to see Alice's take on the home once more upon looking at it with him he tried to question her about it but was interrupted by her whispering something which he was unclear of until he turned his attention upon two ghosts who floated in front of them.

They were both children at least in appearance though there was no telling how old they were nor what their intentions particularly with the boy choosing to use the word demand instead of ask, implying that they would be able to control or force them to do something. Placing the wellbeing of Alice and his own born child above his own, he positioned himself in front of her with hands slowly raising prepared to bring down a series of angels from the large space from the vast ceiling that hung-over the living room. “Tell me what do you want from us, I won’t hesitate to wipe you from this plane.” Oddly when he tried to raise or lower his hands he found himself incapable or at least with great difficulty while dealing with this sudden new force he watched as the female ghost twisted her fingers around. “Oh I can’t let you do that, no, no that won’t do, how else are we suppose to have our fun, no we need you to take care of something for us.” Curious about what they meant in that they needed them, “Okay what do you want from us?” Concerned with the wellbeing of his partner he turned his neck and barely managed to get a shot at Alice in an attempt to see what was happening to her. “Hey Alice everything’s going to be alright don’t worry.”

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It was true that she had been here before but she had searched the ground floor rooms and not all of them which was basically the reason she asked for a tour and including the fact that it was a lot cleaner. She liked how cheeky he replied to her question about cleaning the house but could only smile about it. Who knew. She was a bit overwhelmed, not that she noticed what brought the feeling at that moment but again somewhere in the back of her mind, she told herself that she had a place to return to. A place she could call home and most of all, she looked at Konstantin and the hand that was holding hers, she had someone to return too. [i]I love you,[i] she thought and followed him happily through the house until she got tired. And she had to ask Kon to be able to sit somewhere and he brought her back to the living room.

As she sat down she had not much time to either talk or overthink things or mostly: explain her feelings. After all she always had lived in an orphanage. But that is when she again noticed the ghost. Suddenly she was not liking Halloween anymore or well not that much. She stood up to make sure she was prepared for something as the male ghost demanded their help. Normally she would make a witty answer but because of the fact that the other party were ghosts, she reminded herself to shut up. That was when Kon stepped in front of her, she was not offended by that at all but she also she did not want him to get hurt obviously. She thought about saying something but again reminded herself it was probably for the best to keep her mouth shut.

She heard Kon thread them and she felt a bit of magic as she stood so close to him, but she saw nothing. As she had experienced his magic a couple of times; she expected an angel to show up. That is when she noticed that it felt as if something blocked her and she held on to the upper part of Kon his right sleeve. As if to make sure when he was still in front of her. That is when she turned her attention back to the girl of the two ghosts and heard her demand to help her to get some fun and Kon asked what it was about before trying to look at her. She put on a determined expression on her face, or well she tried, to make sure he did not worry. She was not sure if he would see it but she nodded, she trusted him the most anyway. "They laughed at us. They made us nobodies. They will pay. All you have to do is go to our house and get the voodoo dolls." The guy said.

"No, that is black magic." she said for the first time and she did it because the way the ghosts talked she was afraid that they would do something bad to hurt people. But she could not do much as the girl twisted her fingers again and it felt like someone was pulling hard on her long orange hair so she would try to look up at the ceiling to try and avoid the pain but that did not work. It would soon stop anyway but the ghost would speak again and this time she did not say anything again. "You know there ought to be three manors? Ours is burned down, it is further into the woods. Come along and get our voodoo dolls." The boy said and he pointed at the door off the living room to get them out. She told Jupiter and Hecate to stay behind; it already looked like that Hecate did not want to join anyway.

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It appeared that the ghosts seeked to use them as a medium to gain revenge on someone, saying how they belittled them but who were they exactly?, Alice seemed completely non-compliant at the moment perhaps because she didn’t understand the situation as it seemed neither of them nor her companions could move. Ignoring her refusal however the ghost merely went onto elaborate about the location of the tools they would be using to carry out their plan, the tools in question were some voodoo dolls likely enchanted to manipulate individuals just how they were being manipulated now. Wanting his freedom back and acknowledging Alice’s health as a vital factor to take into consideration, he submitted to them. “Look I’ll help you to an extent, I’m not going to kill anyone just scare them you hear me?” Frustrated with his response the ghost drew up his hand towards Kon’s neck blocking off his airways. “Oh no, you’ll do more.” Regardless of what the ghost would do he would stand his ground as while he wasn’t one to stray away from killing even the innocent it had to be for a reason.

With a groan the ghost revealed the manor which they had resided in. “Hmm, there seems to be a trend here, odd.” He thought to himself recalling how the last ghost was focused at a mansion or manor herself though had much different intentions. Releasing the grasp on Kon’s neck allowing him to cough and breathe once more, he pointed towards the door. As all tension was released from his body he swiftly went to Alice who was formerly under the same spell aiding her to pick her back up. “Come Alice let’s get this over with so we can rid this place of these two, don’t worry I’ll take care of all of it if you want me to that way you don’t have to get your hands dirty.” Impatient just as the other ghost had been the pair pushed them both magically and vocally out the door.

Curious about the history of the other manor knowing that the other manor in Orchidia town was that of his cousin, he spoke to the eldest ghost without fear of attack as there was a clear change of its abilities now that it was outside. “I never knew there was another manor in Orchidia town, in the woods no less?, any reason for it?” Choosing not to look back at him as Kon questioned him he responded. “Our parents were wizards who could bend those to their bidding with those voodoo dolls you’re going to be using, we took them to play with in town one day and then…” Freezing to finish off what he was going to say, it was clear though as to what likely happened, choosing not to push his luck he remained silent for the most part save to check up on Alice.

Eventually they would reach the manor similiar in aesthetics to his own home albeit with noticeable differences like the half the building being nothing but charcoal and the other completely absent only dust. “Welcome to our lovely home, now then the dolls…” the two ghost split off looking in various sections of the building as he stood on the outskirts of the estate. He had remembered something about Alice travelling to Worth woodsea in a prior conversation and with it seeming to be connected to the return of these ghosts he wanted to learn more. “Alice, was there anything odd in worth woodsea when you went there?” Though Alice might know, he would have to check for himself to get a clear understanding of what was actually happening there. “Hmm, I’ll go there myself, you can come with me, stay here and relax at the manor or do whatever after this it’s up to you.”

Eventually the youngest found a chest which Kon opened to reveal numerous voodoo dolls, wanting to be as discreet as possible with his own identity and ensure that Alice had as little to do with it as possible, he offered to do all of it for the ghosts though they demanded that they both did it. Annoyed he submitted gave one of the voodoo dolls to alice and followed her lead instead.

[Exit]

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She noticed Kon wanted to protect her and she was glad they were together in this situation. For now and hopefully the rest of this adventure, she let him keep the lead and the protective role. The ghost only did not agree on that and she would have to follow him outside. At some point she recalled than Konstantin asked her something about Worth Woodsea and she quickly turned to him, "Yes it was a carnival. Hosted by skeletons." he mentioned he would see for himself and asked if she would come along. Which she thought about for a second or two. Hecate did not like it but she rather stayed with Kon, "I will come along."

So she followed to the mansion that was not much anymore. She had only wanted to go because she did not want to stay alone in the manor. But Kon again would protect her however the ghost did not agree. They had picked them because they were with two and they both could use a doll. So Alice took one from Kon and with a foul look she glared at the ghost before doing as she told. She had to protect the little peach as well and so she did, there was not much else to do. When the job was gone and the ghosts disappeared she immediately dropped the doll. "I want to go home." She whispered.

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Exit.