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The Fall has always been an exciting time within the Ministry. The veil is thin, the weather fair, and the world’s filled with countless shades of red, yellow, and orange as the trees begin their annual shift. What was even better was that the Ghost Project ghouls were home and as lively as ever.
Copia was having trouble keeping up with them all. Every time he was trying to get his very important work done, a ghoul would wander into his office, and he’d lose hours of work to them. He was about to try locking his office door again, even though he knew that wouldn’t work, until he got an idea.
“What are we doing with these?” Dew asked as Copia had his ghouls gather in the common room of their quarters. He held in his hands a slip of folded paper, flipping it over in his hands as Copia gave each ghoul their own paper.
“You’ll see,” was all Copia said, handing Swiss the last slip. He then cleared his throat before clapping his hands, “Okie! I have been thinking, and with our newest members of the project,” He smiled, gesturing to Solaris and Bones, the two newest ghouls perking up, “I figured it’s high time I set up a fun- uh, team building exercise!”
That got Copia some curious trills, Phantom smiling wide, his tail wagging back and forth, bumping Rain’s side, who used his own tail to hold the unruly limb still.
“Team building?” Dew raised an eyebrow.
“Si- Yes, team building,” Copia nodded before adding, “On each paper I’ve handed you, you have a character, a short bio, and one status you aren’t allowed to-”
“Fuck yeah, Imma a lady!” Swiss interrupted, having opened his slip of paper. His smile then quickly turned to a confused frown, then a pout, “What the fuck?! I'm dead!”
“What?” Aurora tilted her head to the side, sneaking a peek at her mate’s paper before opening her own, “Oooh! Imma detective!”
“You weren’t supposed to open them yet,” Copia pouted.
“I haven’t opened mine yet,” Bones’s soft voice carried.
“Ah- go ahead,” Copia smiled, having his hand as the other ghouls quickly opened their papers.
“A murder mystery?” Rain asked, looking over his character, seeing the ‘Witness’ status written beneath it, who was supposed to be a skeptic Victorian doctor. He tried to glance over at Dew’s paper, curious as to what he got, but the fire ghoul was quick to bring his paper close to his chest, hissing at his mate, who hissed back at him, the harsh sound broken by the soft giggles shared between them.
“Yes!” Copia smiled, giving a small clap of his hands, “This will be fun, no?”
“Why am I dead?” Swiss pouted.
“Swiss, you’re not the only dead one,” Mountain chuckled.
“Are you dead too?”
“No.”
“Oh fuck you,” Swiss flipped off the big earth ghoul, the rest of the pack erupting in laughter, including the multi-ghoul.
“So, what's the scene, Frater?” Solaris smiled, still giggling softly.
Copia got a big smile on his face at that, clearing his throat as he stood up a bit taller, “The story is that you all are in Victorian London, and all is quiet in the city. But there is something killing the people of england and you all must play your roles to find the killer,” he explained, looking quite proud of himself.
“Hmm,” Dew nodded, looking over his card before bluntly asking, “Watched any vampire movies recently, Papa?”
“Eh?” Copia paused.
“Ellen Hutter?” Dew raised an eyebrow, holding up his card.
“Ummm...”
“Mine’s Anna Harding,” Swiss chirped while waving his card around.
“Wait- there's a pattern here,” Aurora chirped, tilting her head at her card.
“Ah- So I see the mystery is starting, so I’ll just leave you to it!” Copia smiled nervously, gesturing to the door as he backed away, “Aether, I trust you’ll keep the game on track.”
“Yes, Papa,” Aether chuckled softly, smiling as he nodded.
“Perfect,” Copia returned the smile, “You know where to find me when you solve the mystery.”
And with that, Copia stepped out of the room and left the ghouls to look over their characters and the roles they are meant to play.
“So, if you're Anna,” Aurora tilted her head to the side, pointing at Swiss before pointing at Dew, “your Ellen, and I'm Albin.”
“Is this just Nosferatu?” Rain chuckled with a tilt of his head, “I thought Copia didn’t like vampire movies.”
“You remember his Dracula outfit,” Cumulus chirped.
“Yeah, that's pretty hard to forget,” Cirrus giggled out, “Especially after someone bought that bodypillow cover one fan made.”
“Hey! That was a smart purchase!” Swiss pouted, earning giggles from the ghoulettes.
“Well, since we're dealing with a vampire, it should be easy to whittle down who it is,” Cirrus mused while looking at her packmates, her eyes scanning each one individually.
“Well, let's put it to the test,” Aether smiled from where he stood next to the light switch. “Good luck, everyone,” He chuckled before flipping the light off, allowing the first murder to take place.
The peace and quiet lasted for Copia for at least an hour. An hour he spent flipping through the files on his computer, making edits of his old performances, watching the old footage of his mother on his little office projector. Important Frater business.
And then the fire alarm blared, its rhythmic, loud beeping nearly making him jump out of his chair with a yell.
Immediately, Copia rose from his chair, running out of his office to check on his ghouls, already preparing himself for what he knew he was going to see. As he approached the doors, he could see smoke seeping from the cracks around the doorframe and hear shouting from within.
“Fuck you! I am not the fucking vampire!” Dew snarled, smoke leaking from his mouth, nose, and gills.
“But you’re fucking the vampire!” Mountain argued back.
“Thats the character dicknips!”
“You guys suck as detectives,” Swiss mused from where he was lounging with Bones.
Dew almost immediately snapped at him, pointing at the multi-ghoul, “Shut up! You’re dead! Dead bodies don’t speak!”
“What’s going on? What happened?” Copia asked the moment he pushed the door open
“Someone got a bit too into the game,” Cumulus explained, where she was trying to fan the smoke away from the room’s blaring smoke detector.
“Two people are dead, and you all insist I'm the killer!” Dew snapped, looking at the others in the group.
“Because you are! Every time the lights go out, you’re right next to who got killed!” Mountain snapped back.
Dew looked ready to lunge at Mountain, more smoke leaking from his form. Copia knew he had to step in soon.
“Ok! Ok! Will the killer step forward?” Copia tried to put an end to the game, only to be met with whining protests from the pack.
“No! Papa, I’m so close to finding the killer!” Aurora whined, making her eyes big with a pout, “Please, just five more minutes! I can solve this!”
Copia winced, knowing that Aurora knows his weakness for the puppy dog eyes. “Aurora... I... Ok,” He huffed, watching Aurora’s pout turn into a bright smile, “But only five more minutes.”
Copia stood back with Aether, watching the swarm; all of them looked at each other in suspicion.
“Ok, so we know Swiss and Bones are dead,” Aurora tilted her head to the side, “Their characters are both women and close to Dew’s character. Who else is close?” She asked while looking at the others.
“Mine’s the doctor,” Rain answered.
“I was Swiss’s husband,” Bones chirped next.
“I'm Dew’s husband,” Phantom smiled, his tail wagging.
Aurora could see how Dew had a small smug look on his face at that, as if saying, ‘Damn right.’ That smug face then turned to confusion as Solaris spoke, “Your Dew’s husband? But I’m his husband?” She questioned with a slow tilt of her head.
“Solaris, what's your character’s name?” Aurora inquired, walking to the multi-air-fire ghoulette.
“Thomas Hutter,” She answered, missing how Aether glanced at Copia, his hand resting on the light switch. Copia seemed to think for a moment, watching how realization started to dawn on Aurora’s face. He then smiled, giving a nod.
Aurora only had enough time to look at Phantom, who had an innocent smile on his face, a smile that grew right before the lights flicked off.
“It’s Phantom!” She shrieked, “He’s the vampire!”
“Ow! Fucker!” Dew barked into the darkness, the sound of a scuffle happening before Aether flicked the lights back on.
With the jig up, Phantom didn’t bother getting up, the quint ghoul having the brightest smile on his face as he lay on Dew, who was rubbing his neck where the mischievous quint had bitten him. In the scuffle, Dew had dropped his character card, letting Mountain walk over and pick it up, reading the ‘Last murder’ status written down.
“Well... guess you weren’t the killer,” Mountain chuckled softly as Dew glared up at him.
“I'm gonna get you,” Dew growled before turning his attention to Phantom, grabbing him by the scruff, “But first. This little shit,” He hissed, but his anger just couldn’t last, especially when he saw how giddy Phantom was and how infectious his giggles were.
“You’re proud of yourself,” Dew snickered, letting go of Phantom’s scruff, who was quick to muffle his laughter in the fire ghoul’s chest.
“I'm impressed,” Swiss snickered, “Played us all like a fiddle. Did you have to bite us, though?” He chortled while reaching over to ruffle Phantom’s hair.
“I had a part to play!” Phantom giggled, “And who would miss a chance to bite Dew?”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“I'm going to strangle both of you.”
Now, Swiss’s laughter joined Phantom’s, the two trilling and chortling as Cumulus finally got the fire alarm turned off with Cirrus’s help.
“Can we do another game?” Aurora chirped as she bounced up to Copia, “Please? That was fun!”
“Let’s wait a while for the next game,” Copia chuckled softly, “Give the smoky smell in here a chance to fade.”
“I'd suggest letting us pick our characters next time,” Rain smiled as he moved to sit with Dew, Phantom, and Swiss, “Just skip the whole ‘set off the fire alarm’ part of the game.”
“Well, maybe don’t accuse me of being the killer next time,” Dew pouted as he leaned back against Rain’s side.
Copia chuckled softly at the playful bickering, smiling warmly, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I can’t wait!” Aurora giggled, practically bouncing with excitement, before hugging onto Swiss.
Swiss giggled along with her, rubbing his cheek against hers, “My baby, solving murders and avenging me,” He trilled, getting the multi-ghoulette giggle louder as she pressed her forehead against his.
“Frater,” Solaris’s voice called, getting Copia to take his eyes away from his ghouls to look up at his twin’s ghoulette, “Why was this game Nosferatu themed?” she softly asked with a tilt of her head, “I thought you preferred more futuristic fantasy?”
“Oh-” Copia’s smile trembled, “Well, not being on tour, I have been able to catch up on some movies and-”
“Isn’t Nosferatu Papa Perpetua’s favorite movie?” Bones tilted his head to the side.
“Oh, would you look at the time!” Copia nearly squawked before clearing his thoughts, “I gotta get back to my office. Gotta keep the Ministry running and all that!” He gestured a bit wildly before quickly absconding, calling over his shoulder, “Get plenty of rest, my ghouls!”
Solaris blinked a few times, her ear twitching when she heard Cumulus giggle and walk up to her side, “Told you he isn’t that subtle.”
“No, he really isn’t,” Solaris smiled with a soft trill, “But at least he’s warming up to him in his own strange way.”