Private Eastern Brisshal A Spoopy Encounter

[Harukami]

A tall, old building towered over her as she stared at it. It was falling apart- and it made her want to cry. Harukami, after all, was a homemaker at heart. How could anyone leave what was probably once a beautiful house so decrepit? But the better question was... Why was she even there?

"I can't believe I forgot where I was going again..." Okay, so maybe she could. After all, Haru knew her faults included a faulty memory. But why was she at this haunted mansion, anyway?

A few moments passed. She saw the door swing open, sending a chill up her spine. Shaking her head furiously, she began to take a few steps towards said door. "I can't back down now. This house needs me... And I can do this, even without Etsuko."

Taking a deep breath, she walked inside. She'd made her way to the kitchen, only to find herself playing with the stove like a child. With a nearby duster, she opted to start dusting the house, like a maid would have done in the house's glory days. But, as she was humming and dusting off the counters, another tingle up her spine sent her shivering in her shoes.

"What was that sound...?"

@Alphabet Chocolate

 

[Alphabet Chocolate]

It'd been days since she first arrived and, honestly, Alpha had been enjoying the big, comfy beds; the creaky staircases; rusted, ornate bathrooms; and the cool paintings with the moving eyes. It helped her feel at home. Sure, it needed some tinkering here and there; the heater was broken, and apparently, there was a broken faucet or some squatters groaning every once in a while. Still, it was pretty lonely, and Alpha couldn't help but notice this as she stumbled down to the kitchen.

Every step she took down the stairs made a distinct creeeeeak that clawed at her ears. Her throat was dry, her face smeared with the white dust drifting from the crumbling ceiling. "Urgh," she groaned. She needed a drink of water. Then, she heard a voice.

Was that a trespasser? A thief? A home intruder?! Alpha tried to grab the dagger at her waist but, with her crusted, bloodshot eyes from the lack of sleep from the past few days (the squatters kept moaning and clawing at her door, probably to ask her to turn on the WiFi), her fingers fumbled and the dagger dropped down past the railing, digging into the floorboard.

She stumbled her way down, where she heard the voice again: "What was that sound...?"

Alpha turned to the kitchen.

"Who's there?!" she tried to say, but what came out of her mouth was a garbled: "Uarahrahgh?!"

 

[Harukami]

Hearing some sort of incomprehensible scream, Harukami dropped the duster as his spine shuddered. "W-What was that?" With cautious steps, she made it to the hallway entrance of the kitchen and saw another girl. The girl was alive, breathing, and probably the source.

"Um, uh, sorry if I s-scared you. I just got lost and, um, well, wandered in here. Then I s-saw how much dust there was and, you know, I couldn't leave it like that... S-so I began to use the handy duster to clean up a bit. Don't you think t-this would be a nice house if it were t-tidied up? I'm good at housework, so..."

Shyly, she stepped a bit closer to the other girl. "M-My name is Harukami. I'm a wanderer. May I ask y-your name too?" With a polite bow, she shut her mouth and smiled. She was still spooked a bit, but she wanted to prove she meant no harm. Smiles did the job, didn't they?

 

[Alphabet Chocolate]

Wow. Alright, so now there's a duster on the floor of her house and a whole lot of more purple to the grey and black palette. Look, Alpha's a bit...confuzzled, okay? When was the last time someone had to deal with a break-in house cleaner?! Should she thank her? Should she call the police? Should she scream bloody murder? Or maybe offer the girl indentured servitude, because she was clearly willing to work for free. Ah, oh how Amazon and McDonald's would love her.

"Haru, right?" she leaned down, picked up the duster, and threw it towards the girl. Halfway there, the duster suddenly stopped, suspending itself in midair. "My name's Alpha! You stutter a whole lot, but I kinda like it! So, are you like my new roommate or something? Or do you just, I don't know, clean? Are you like the tooth fairy except you break into people's houses to clean instead of stealing teeth?"

Then, Alpha looked up to the ceiling. "I can't even throw things around now?!" she yelled, her voice slowly fading into a grumble. She tossed her head back, a sigh falling from her lips, eyes closed. Then, ever so slowly, Alpha let her head fall back to look Haru in the eyes. "It'd be awesome if you could help clean up! For some reason, I keep misplacing things around here. It's just so messy!" Alpha groaned. "Like, I'd leave my bear head on the table, and when I look back: poof, it's gone!"

Alpha lingered off at the last syllable, staring distantly in the air, the gears in her head clicking and clacking, the cobwebs falling off. The gears definitely needed to be oiled and was overdo for maintenance a decade ago. "Oh, now that you're here, maybe we could clean up the basement! There's a whole buncha stuff I tossed down there that just never returned. I couldn't really grab anything because there was, like, slime on the floor, and it was dark, and I couldn't hold a broom, a dagger, and a holy cross with two hands while dodging some sort of hellspawn or whatever was down there trying to nibble at me."

She gave Harukami another look, sizing her up. "Yeah, you'd be perfect!" Alpha grinned, hands falling down to her hips. "You in?"

@Harukami

 

[Harukami]

"I-I swear, I didn't know it belonged to someone!" Haruka chirped in a higher pitch squeal. This girl spoke rather quickly to Harukami. In a way, the girl reminded her of her sister- straightforward and to the point. She was a little weird in ideology, though. Did Harukami look like a fairy? She'd chosen the Human race, not Faerin. Needless to say, the traveling housekeeper was confused. "I-I like to clean abandoned houses. It seems like it would m-make the spirits h-happier?"

Confidence and athleticism were not things Harukami had. She was too timid to play catch with the feather duster- luckily, it paused on the way to her, as if a ghost was interfering. She let out a soft sigh. "Y-You shouldn't throw things around anyway. Y-You could break something, o-or hurt someone! P-Plus it might be why you keep losing th-things."

A sense of shame took over her features as she realized she was scolding a stranger about how they took care of their stuff and their house. "S-Sorry, that was rude of me..."

The girl soon asked Harukami to help clean up the basement. She was excited by the idea of helping someone with one of her few real skills- but the mention of a 'hellspawn' of some sort being there. Gulping down a breath of air, she shuddered. She could handle beasts, she could handle dust. She couldn't handle the idea of demons, though! Calm down, Haruka. She said 'some sort'. You don't know what that means. It could still be something simple...

Taking one more deep breath, she nodded. "S-Sure, I-I'll help clean the basement. I-I can also help l-light the way. I-I use light and fire magic, so..." She smiled softly, thinking her chosen skills could actually be useful for a change. It was rare she got to use them for others- usually, she just used them to defend herself or tend to injured travelers she met while wandering around.

"L-Lead the way, Alpha! I-I'll do my best by your side!"

@Alphabet Chocolate