Life In The Mansion
Chapter 4: The Floating Whirlindas
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Luigi's Mansion, the floating Whirlindas are not given separate names. They are either referred to collectively as the Whirlindas, or are just called "Mr. Whirlinda" and "Ms. Whirlinda". Using the power of fanon, I have given them real names that I have taken from the vast compendium of French names, since I see them as having a bit of a French influence more than anything else in their design.
It was dimly lit in the mansion as always. The great, nearly ancient grandfather clock back in the Study would have been ringing at this point in time. Neville had just left the Dining Room, having had met the gluttonous Luggs, who's mere presence answered his question on if there were other ghosts that kept traces of their humanity. While Neville had been given a whole afterlife's worth of books to read, it appears that Luggs had chosen an afterlife of constant eating. Really, Neville found the sight rather sad; books were something that had substance to them, something that weren't straight up unhealthy to constantly indulge in. Spending your whole afterlife eating is bound to get boring at some point. Although ghosts are unable to suffer from things that affect the living, meaning that Luggs is safe, Neville still found himself feeling somewhat bad for the pink, obese ghost.
But he knew that he had to continue on. Luggs was just the first ghost that the mustachioed specter had met, and Neville wasn't one to believe that Lydia, Chauncey, Henry, Orville, Luggs and himself were the only human-like ghosts. To him, it only made sense that there were many more living in the mansion. Lucky for him, right behind the door he had exited Lugg's room from was another door. Getting as close to the door as he could, Neville could hear the sound of music that was energetic, fun and vintage. He wasn't much of a music kind of person, not in life nor in death, but he found himself bobbing his head up and down a bit in rhythm with what little he could hear of the music. With a burning curiosity inside, he decided to try and get the attention of the people inside.
"Hello? Would the ghost inside here be interested in having a visitor?" Neville asked.
For a moment, the music continued. Neville awaited the answer of the ghosts inside, pondering if he/she was even able to hear him over the noise. In the snap of a finger, the music stopped ever so suddenly. A complete silence fell over the dark hallway, making for an environment that would likely frighten or creep out the living. Eventually, Neville could hear the sounds of someone moving inside. He was about to ask the ghost inside again, but, before he could speak, he got his answer.
"Ah, a visitor? Why, that sounds amahzing! Come right in, don't be shy or nervous. We have a performance just for you, hon hon hon!" A suave, masculine voice responded.
Neville was expecting a more hostile response, but he was certainly grateful that he had met another friendly ghost. The studious, blue ghost promptly phased through the door, keeping a smile on his face. He had just entered the Ball Room, and he was met with a fancy decor and an overall nice looking room. There were circular designs on the fine brown carpet, a black and white checkerboard pattern inside of the circles and a gold and red outer rim. There were paintings, chairs and other objects lined up on the same wall, beautiful red and gold curtains effectively walling them off from each other. The whole place carried a very classic and elegant feel overall, a quality that Neville could not find in any other room of the mansion that he has explored thus far. But, somewhat similar to what happened with Luggs, one look at his host told him exactly why this design choice was made.
To Neville's surprise, there were actually two ghosts in the Ball Room - one female and one male. The man was wearing a fancy rose red tuxedo with a pink vest underneath and a pink bowtie. He was wearing white gloves and, unlike Luggs, he actually had the same skin color as Neville. The man had blonde hair that was styled into a clean, slicked-back look. The woman had light purple eye-shadow, a rather natural-looking green gown, and had curly blonde hair. She was wearing a rose red lipstick and her gown seemed to come with cuffs that were colored lighter green. They looked almost as if they could have been his own children, which certainly shocked Neville.
While Neville was pondering on the nature of the two ghosts, the man promptly moved towards the machine that was making the music from before - a record player from the good old days - and looked as if he was ready to turn the music back on. He looked towards Neville, giving him a little wink.
"We're going to dance for our fine guest. We, the floating Whirlindas, will put on a show for you, mon amie! And we guarantee that it is one you will never forget." The man announced, a tone of excitement evident in his heavily French accented voice.
"I appreciate the gesture, but we don't even know each other's names yet." Neville said, his tone fairly frank in nature.
The man held his hands up in the air near him and clapped twice before turning the record player back on, replaying the song from the beginning. Neville couldn't quite identify the piece, but he knew that it was the same one he heard before. The well-dressed man jumped gracefully to his female compadre, soon joining her in a dance. The movement of the two sharply dressed blondes were well coordinated and nice looking, but Neville never was a very dance-orientated person. He compared it to books he had read on the subject, ones that spoke of good form, group effort, and just all sorts of things on dancing solo or dancing with a partner. That was really the booksmart ghost's only thing to compare the dancing to.
Neville floated towards a nearby fancy red chair, levitating above it since his body could not touch it. Although he found himself liking the performance, the mustachioed specter felt strange that these "floating Whirlinda" folk hadn't even introduced themselves before breaking into dance and song. From Neville's knowledge, their dancing was quite reminiscent of tango, but seemed more like a salsa of sorts. He truly didn't know for sure, but whatever kind of dance it was, it was quite the charming one. Both the man and the woman seemed to know exactly what move to do next, and they were always in almost perfect sync with each other. If Neville didn't know any better, he would have thought they'd practiced it many times before!
Soon enough, the two had finished their dance once the song was over. The woman went to the record player this time, and the man approached Neville with a wide smile on his face. Neville got out of his chair, turning to face this dance-loving, suave spirit with a look of interest. The woman swapped the record out with another one, putting the record she had taken out in a translucent case with the name of the song written on the case with what looked like a black permanent marker.
"Ohoho, that was fun indeed! We haven't danced for anyone but ourselves in so long. That felt almost refreshing. So, what would you rate the dance? Ehm, 1 out of 10, of course." The man asked, looking for Neville's genuine opinion on the dance.
"Oh, I'm not a dance kind of ghost, but I'd definitely rate it a 10. You two were so into the dance and I loved watching it!" Neville responded.
The man looked as if he was about to jump for joy upon hearing Neville's response. He would clap repeatedly for a little bit, and the woman seemed to follow suit. Soon enough, the two seemed to calm down as silence soon fell over the Ball Room. Both ghosts were now near Neville, and it seemed that now was the chance to finally get their names.
"Say, uh, you never introduced yourselves. What's your names? If you're curious, my name is Neville." The bookworm said.
For a reason that Neville couldn't seem to identify, the two looked surprised by his response. Both ghosts went into a sort of dramatic pose, seeming almost embarrassed or just upset. Needless to say, the mustachioed specter didn't quite understand the motive behind it.
"Oh no! Please forgive me, I feel terrible for having forgotten such an important thing! Me and my wife here were known as the Whirlindas in life, since that's our surname. We were the local waltz champions! But, alas, we aren't allowed to compete anymore, since we're ghosts. Our feet no longer touch the ground, heh...My name is Beaumont. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, mon amie!" The man responded.
"I concur, it is lovely having the opportunity to meet another ghost! My name is Amélie, monsieur Neville."
Neville wore a bit of a surprised look upon seeing the two (the man, especially) seem to show so much regret over missing the opportunity to introduce themselves earlier. However, he didn't see it as much of a problem - it was a simple oversight, one that he himself did sometimes. Beaumont and Amélie seemed to have calmed down, however. The studious ghost figured that he had spent enough time with these ghosts - he wanted to move on now and meet other ghosts.
"I'm sorry to leave so soon - I enjoyed watching your dance, and you seem like such nice ghosts - but I'm afraid I'll have to leave. I'm on a mission to explore this whole mansion and meet everyone in it. Uh, if you're curious, there's a door right next to yours that leads to the Dining Room, home of another ghost. If you want to go say hi to him, you can!" Neville said.
A look of disappointment went on the faces of the Whirlindas. But they soon agreed to let him leave, giving a nod in response and waving "goodbye".
"Well...All right, then. It was great having you, monsieur Neville! Safe travels, now, and good luck on your exploration." Beaumont Whirlinda said.
"I couldn't have said it any better!" Amélie Whirlinda added.
Promptly, Neville phased through the door. He was met with the same hallway he was in before. Now, he had a choice of where he wished to go - he could go further north and reach a part of the hallway that he could either go right or left through, or he could go south to get to the part of the hallway with the door he entered the room from. After some consideration, Neville decided to go south, down to the part of the hallway he started from. Thinking about the eccentric but fun nature of his encounter with the dancing ghosts, he went down to that familiar part of the hallway, soon going as far right as he could. He was met with a door, like before, and so he decided to phase through it.
After entering, Neville came across a fleet of stairs that lead far down. Not wanting to explore that part of the mansion quite yet, Neville went back into the hallway. He looked around, searching for another room he could go through. Soon, his eyes found a door that was very close to the stairway door. What could possibly lie behind this one? What kind of ghost could it be? Would it be stocky or skinny? Tall or short? Neville's mind burned with curiosity as he stared at the door he stood in front of...