Who Art Thou?
Chapter Two
Once Mimi was back in her room, working on her dreams of fashion designing, Nastasia went back to analyzing the poem.
Walking slowly down to her office as she thought, she bit her lip and tapped her nails on the clipboard.
Then, quite suddenly, both poem and clipboard vanished from her hands.
"What-"
"My, my, my, what have we here?"
That was the last voice Nastasia wanted to hear, especially right now. Glaring poison at the smiling little imp, she stamped her spike-heeled boot and snapped, "Dimentio, hand those over now!"
The jester giggled from the rafters. "Temper, temper," he mocked.
"I'll show you temper!"
"Getting a little riled up, are we, now? Tsk, tsk, tsk, such behavior is most unbefitting of a classy woman like yourself."
If she could've, Nastasia would've hypnotized him into returning the poem, but she couldn't- Dimentio, along with Mimi (being a shape-shifter, it was difficult to hold on to and completely rewrite her original self), O'Chunks (probably because he had no mind to take over), and the Count (he was more powerful than she, obviously) himself, was immune to her brainwashing.
The most she could do against him was glare, snap, and threaten punishment, but they were all futile gestures.
It was unnerving, but Dimentio was practically immune to her: he was never fazed by her cutthroat demeanor, always wearing that carefree smile; she couldn't scold him and get him to apologize, the way she did with Mimi; and scaring him into submission like she did with O'Chunks would never work.
Something about that impish little joker just creeped her out.
"My, my, my…"
Without warning, Dimentio was right there, in her face, his smile widening. Nastasia recoiled in alarm, and then snatched the papers back, fuming.
"Dimentio, you-" she began, but the damage was done. Dimentio had seen the poem.
"My, my, my," he repeated, bobbing around her with a truly spine-chilling smile on his face. "Someone's gotten a little love letter! Queen of my heart? Ooh, how delightful!"
"I'm warning you, Dimentio, you're really pushing it here-"
"So, who do you think your Romeo is, eh?" He was still prowling around her, like a hungry cat that had cornered a mouse. "Could it be your beloved Count Bleck? Hmmm? Nastasia and the Count, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-"
He didn't get to finish the taunt; Nastasia took her clipboard and swung it as hard as she could.
It didn't connect- he jumped out of the way with some kind of complicated acrobatic move- and sprang back up to the rafters, giggling all the while.
"Aw, I'll leave poor widdle Nastasia with her love letter! Ciao!"
With a snap of his fingers, he was gone.
He simply vanished, and although Nastasia was thankful he'd stopped experimenting with different entry/exit techniques (one, which involved some sort of fireworks display, had turned the contents of an entire filing cabinet to ash), she found it even more unsettling that he'd managed to disappear just like that. As far as she knew, only she and Count Bleck had had the power to do that so quickly and cleanly.
Dimentio was certainly something else.
Who was he behind that mask?
The thought hit her with the force of a charging bull, and she clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling sick.
What if her secret admirer…was Dimentio?
Dimentio. Dimentio.
Nastasia shuddered violently.
That creepy jester, in love with her? Disgusting! She was struggling to keep her lunch down.
Wait…Calm down, Nastasia. It couldn't have been him…
After all, Dimentio wouldn't have teased her about the poem like that if he'd been the one who wrote it, right? Right.
No…Wrong. A very good chance of being wrong.
Dimentio was a demented little psycho- there was no telling what he was capable of.
With another violent shudder, the secretary rushed down the hall, as though she could leave the horrifying possibility behind her, as though, like Dimentio, it would simply call 'Ciao' and disappear.
Mimi stuck her head out of the doorway. "Nassy?"
No response. The hallway was empty.
She shuffled a bit further out, and then trotted right out into the open corridor. "Nassy, are you okay?"
The last thing she'd heard was Nassy's voice, and she'd sounded very upset.
Whenever Nassy got upset, it meant something really bad was happening…or O'Chunks had messed up too many missions in a row, but as she'd heard no frightened whimpering (Nassy always did a pretty good job of freaking Chunks out) afterwards, she knew it wasn't the latter possibility.
"Getting a glass of water before bedtime, little Mi?"
Mimi squealed in surprise. "Dimentio! Stop sneaking up on me like that, stupid-head!"
His amused expression didn't change a bit. "Oh, it's not nice for such a cute little girl to call people names, little Mi."
"It's not nice to sneak up on peoples, either," she cried, stamping her foot, "and stop calling me 'little Mi'!"
A thought flashed across her mind, and she glowered at the jester.
"You made Nassy upset, didn't you, you meanie!" she snapped, pointing at him accusingly.
"Me?" Dimentio's eyes widened in horror (his smile remained plastered across his face, as always). "Oh, goodness gracious me, no! I'm not the reason Nast- Nassy's angrier than a wet cat! Oh, dear, no!"
Of course he was lying, but Mimi didn't know that.
"Then why was she all upset than, meanie?"
"Why…" Even though they were the only two in the hall, Dimentio leaned down to whisper in her ear, his voice hushed and very mysterious. "Nassy's in love."
Mimi gasped- evil or not, she was still a little girl; she was at that tender age where little girls became particularly interested in gossip and such, and were liable to believe the most outrageous of things.
"Nassy's in love?" she repeated incredulously.
"Of course!" Dimentio sprang backwards and spun around, gesturing extravagantly as though he were acting a part in a play. "Her little heart is absolutely bursting with love!"
Mimi squealed- this time, in excitement. "How sweet!"
"She's received a romantic love letter, naming her an angel, a queen, a pure and perfect thing of beauty!"
"How sweet!" Mimi repeated, now bouncing up and down in excitement. "Who gave her the letter, Dimentio? Who, who, who?"
"Why-" Dimentio paused, his smile widening even more as the brightly-colored gears turned in his twisted mind. "Why…don't you see it, Mimi? Isn't it obvious?"
The little girl jumped, looking considerably shocked. "It's not you, is it?"
"Me?!" Dimentio struggled to keep smiling, although he screwed his eyes shut in disgust. "Me, in love with that- I mean, er, she's not my type. No, it's not me."
Mimi tilted her head to the side, her fluffy pigtails bouncing. "Is it…O'Chunks?"
Dimentio's smile vanished. There was a long moment of silence. The jester lowered his head and stared at the ground, his shoulders shaking.
Mimi raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
"…Ha…"
The first laugh was low and soft, but then they began to build in volume and intensity.
"Ha…ha ha ha!"
The shape-shifting little girl watched in confused captivation as Dimentio succumbed to the fiercest fit of laughter she'd ever seen, even for him. He threw his head back, clutched his sides, and fell down on the floor, rolling about and kicking his feet, howling with laughter all the while.
"Ha- ha, oh- ha ha ha ha!"
The laughter went on for an indefinite amount of time, echoing off the walls of the empty hall. Finally, after about five or six minutes, he quieted and grew still. He knelt there, gasping for breath, giving a shaky chuckle every now and then.
"Oh…Oh, I haven't laughed that hard in a while…Oh, Mimi- ha!"
Mimi just blinked. "Was it that funny?"
"Funny? It was HILARIOUS!" Dimentio jumped back up, grinning broadly, his normally pale face flushed. "Can you imagine that, Mimi? That blundering, bumbling, muscle-bound lug O'Chunks in love with Nastasia? A match made in heaven, I'm sure!"
Mimi was not so young as to miss his sarcasm. She scowled again. "You meanie, laughing at Nassy like that when she's in love!"
Dimentio waved a hand dismissively. "Anyway, back to the original topic…You still haven't named Nastasia's admirer!"
"But besides you and O'Chunks, the only guy in the castle is-"
Her mouth gaped open in shock. "Count Bleck is in love with Nastasia?"
"Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen!" The jester took her hand and twirled her in a circle. "Yes, today's hot couple is none other than the great Count Bleck and the lovely Nastasia!"
Inside, he was still cackling madly. His little scheme was progressing wonderfully. Oh, just imagining the migraine Nastasia would get from this tickled him pink! What fun!
"Wow," Mimi gasped, smiling and blushing a rosy magenta. "This is so sweet! The Count and Nastasia will fall in love and go on romantical dates and then they'll get married and- ooh, I wanna be the flower girl!"
Dimentio stopped abruptly, shaking his head, his smile now more sad than, well, creepy. "Oh, poor little Mimi, lost in her own fantasy world…"
"What do you mean by that, meanie?"
"People don't always have happy endings, darling. Per chance, have you heard of Romeo and Juliet?"
"Sorta."
"Well, what do you know about it?"
"I know that they were in love!" Mimi did a little pirouette, squealing in delight.
Again, Dimentio shook his head. "Well, they met a sad and bitter end, I'm afraid- and there's little to no chance that it will turn out differently for our beloved superiors."
"You're saying that they won't fall in love?!" Mimi shrieked. "Dimentio, you meanie! They will have a happy ending! I'll bet on it!"
"Let's, then!"
"Huh?"
"If you're so eager, we'll make a bet on the affair," Dimentio proposed, rubbing his palms together. "I bet thirty Rubees that Nastasia and Count Bleck won't end up together!"
This was perfect! He'd get to irritate the Count, embarrass Nastasia, prove the little brat wrong, and he'd get thirty Rubees out of the deal!
Just as he'd expected, Mimi put her fists on her hips and shrilled, "Well, I bet thirty Rubees that they will, stupid-head!"
"Excellent!" Dimentio snapped his fingers. "The deal is done! Ciao, darling!"
And with that, he was gone.
