Chapter 4: The Day

A little late on this one, mosty due to writers block and school responsibilities. At least you guys are getting 4000 words this time.

And this story is nearing 2000 views! I am very proud on how much you are enjoying this, and I will keep on delivering to you your entertainment.

Luigi's Mansion 3 is owned by Nintendo and Next Level Games

Inside the elevator hall of the Tomb Suites, Dr. Potter was busy doing his job as the hotel gardener, giving watery nourishment to the various plants that decorated the building. And like any self-respecting botanist/gardener, he was also talking to the plants.

"A little water for you, Carmenita. And a little water for you too, Charlotte. I hope you two have been having a good day." Once he was satisfied with the plant's states, he went ahead and called the elevator to continue caring for the other plants of the hotel. He waited for the telltale ding of the elevator's arrival, and when the doors slid open, he saw the new guest waiting behind the doors. "Oh, hello! You must be Ghoulanu Graves, right?"

"And you must be Dr. Harriet Potter, correct?" They both shook hands as Potter entered the elevator. "Let me just say it's a great honor to meet you. I've ordered many a product from your catalogue and I've not regretted it once." He stuck out his head out the elevator. "Say, what's this floor about? Anything interesting I should know about this place?"

"Oh, this place? This floor is owned by one of our V.I. P's. She bought it out when she checked in when the hotel was built and has been here ever since."

"Wait, so you can buy your own floors here?"

"Well, not anymore. Our new boss says that it's bad for business. The only reason our V.I.P still owns this floor is because she's friend with us staff members. That, and she gives outrageous tips!" The two burst out laughing at Potter's comment.

"Aghhh, I knew I made the right choice in coming to this place. Anyway, I look forward to your tour tomorrow. I'll get to see how truly incredibly talented of a botanist you- "

"Oh, Potter! Hold the door for me!" Ghoulanu was interrupted by someone's shout. Looking out the elevator, they both saw as the resident of the floor rushed her way towards them. When she gracefully entered the elevator, she gave Potter a quick greeting before noticing the other passenger. "Ah! You must be the new guest! It is an honor to meet you." She offered her hand to the dumbstruck actor, who accepted the handshake.

"Hello, se- Ma'am. It's an honor to meet the queen of the sands." An awkward silence engulfed the elevator, Ghoulanu looking slightly uncomfortable for whatever reason. The silence was broken when Serpci realized something.

"Oh, before I forget, my deepest condolences for the loss of your wife and dog. I too understand what it's like to lose something you love. I would have done the same thing you did."

Ghoulanu stared at the queen, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Potter tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention as he whispered into the actor's ear. "Just play along. She and her friends still don't understand that the stuff in movies isn't real. They're old."

"Oh! Uh, yeah." He turned back to address the queen, who didn't notice their brief interaction. "Yeah! I know, I was devastated when that happened. Could barely get out of bed for months. But, after some time, I managed to pull myself back together, as you can see right here." He pointed to himself with a nervous smile on his face. When the elevator doors dinged open, signifying their arrival to another floor, he immediately flew out of the elevator in a rush. "Anyway, gotta go, nice to meet you, Serpci. Bye!" The elevator doors closed as Serpci and Potter stared at each other in confusion.

The hours passed by as Ghoulanu explored the hotel. Shopping in the Hotel Shops; working out and going for a swim in the Fitness Center; morbidly admiring E. Gadd's Hall of Portraits and chatting with every resident and staff member he ran across, whether it was simply to talk or to ask for his autograph. His charming personality was endearing him to everyone very quickly, and the day was barely halfway over! But now, it was 6 AM, and he found himself in the 11th floor, watching the magic show the triplets had prepared.

Nikki's trick definitely impressed him, but he couldn't help but find her… detestable, in a way. The malevolent smile, the way she spoke of herself, even the nature of the trick just screamed "evil triplet", somehow transforming the contents of everyone's contents into living rabbits and guessing what belonged to who with disturbing accuracy. Lindsey's trick was just as good, if a bit on the rude side, pulling him out of her hat without any warning. He would have enjoyed it more if she had asked first, or if she did it to someone else, at least. The last one, Ginny, was performing her trick right now, juggling several swords and throwing them over her shoulder at a bunny doll that was tied to a spinning dartboard behind her, and doing it all while blindfolded. Regardless of how she threw them, none of them ever hit the doll, landing in every empty spot almost perfectly. When she threw the last sword, landing it exactly between the doll's legs, she turned towards the audience, took off her blindfold and gave them a bow to the resounding applause from everyone.

"And that was Ginny, ladies and gentlemen, with her sword throwing act!" Lindsey said as she, along with Nikki, popped op on stage next to Ginny in a puff of smoke. "And now, for the last trick of the hour, we present to you all: The Davy Jones Experience. Take it away, Nikki!" She and Ginny poofed away as Nikki took center stage.

"Alright, ladies and gentlefolk, for this trick, I'm going to need you all to focus on me for a moment. Now, I know what you're thinking "pfft, that doesn't sound too hard," and I can understand that, I'm amazing. But seriously people, focus on me and me alone." Nikki started to move her body around in a hypnotic pattern, thought to her by Serpci in exchange for teaching her how to use the internet, entrancing the audience as Lindsey and Ginny worked on performing the spell. Nikki slowly faded away as the surrounding area transformed into an oceanic backdrop, with gorgeous coral reefs, a wide variety of colorful fishes swimming around, and a sunken pirate ship of in the distance. The audience rubbed their eyes and gaped at their surroundings in awe. They soon felt their seats shake and start to move around the ocean floor, giving them a tour of the grand, illusionary act the triplets were performing. They saw as a school of fish formed into the shape a whale and devoured them, only to just as quickly disperse. They saw as the coral around them would switch between the colors of the rainbow. They even saw as the fish that swam around them formed a swirling vortex, guiding the audience into the sunken ship. Once inside, the vortex dispersed to reveal a makeshift stage in front of them, with wooden, algae covered statues of the triplets in the center. The heads of the statues suddenly turned to the audience and winked, cueing the water around them to start draining, changing the area back to the lounge of the Twisted Suites as the water levels decreased. When the water was drained completely, the statues were covered in a puff of smoke, revealing the real triplets once it dispersed. They bowed to the audience and snapped their fingers, turning on the lights and causing them to disappear from the stage. Once the audience recovered from their impromptu journey through the sea, they gave a resounding applause and cheers of adulation.

In the wardrobe room, Lindsey wiped some sweat of her brow. "Whew. And that is how we roll, girls! Nikki, great job on keeping their eyes off of me and Ginny. That spell is exhausting."

"Your welcome. You guys needed all the time you could get to not screw up. Just be glad I had to swoop in to help."

Once they all recovered from their exhaustion, they made their way from the wardrobe to the elevator hall. They popped up in front of the people waiting for the elevator and held out their hats for tips.

"Thank you, thank you, we hope you all enjoyed our performance and that you have a wonderful evening!" Ginny said. Once the crowd dispersed into the elevator, they started counting out the cash that they got…

Only to look up and notice that Ghoulanu was still in the hall. They immediately put their hats back on, Nikki and Lindsey ignoring the money falling out of Ginny's and addressed their celebrity guest.

"Mister Graves! We didn't see you there. Did you enjoy our show?" They said simultaneously.

"littlecreepy But, yeah! You were spectacular! I especially liked that sword throwing trick by, umm, Ginny, correct?" Ginny nodded affirmatively. "Cool, and that little hat trick by Lindsey. Little rude, but really creative. And… uhhhhhh, Vicky?" He asked the triplet with the long pigtails, who had a frown grow on her face for a split second before replacing it with a rather forced looking smile.

"Nikki."

"Yeah, sure. Well, I'll be honest that I found your trick the worst of the three. Very uninspired, and I find you didn't help out in the final trick, which is just plain rude." Ghoulanu said with a wide smile on his face. "But that's just my opinion."

Nikki still had a very forced smile on her face, her right eye occasionally twitching. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" She said through gritted teeth as she and her sisters formed a group huddle.

Ghoulanu tried to lean in discretely and listen in on the conversation, catching the occasional piece of discussion as the triplets talked.

"-two weeks it took to perfect that stupid trick!"

"I know you're mad, Nikki, but we need to- "

"What?! Let him insult my hard work?"

"Look, why don't you go to Dr. Potter and vent things out, we deal with him, ok?"

"Hnnngh, fine!"

Nikki dove into her hat and teleported away, leaving Ghoulanu with two rather peeved looking sisters to talk to. "Uuhhmmmm, I think I went too far somewhere?"

"Look, Mister Graves." Lindsey began to speak. "We understand the whole thing about constructive criticism and such, but we won't stand for anyone insulting our sister like that!"

"Look, I'm sorry, I thought she was this evil triplet type. Ya know, the type one should call out when you see them."

"Well with all due respect sir," Ginny began. "we are the only ones who get to do that. We know she has an ego, but that doesn't mean anyone can just give it a blow, no matter how well deserved it is."

A look of embarrassment came over the celebrity ghost as he realized what he had done. "Oh, crap. I, uh, I overstepped my boundaries there didn't I. Look, before you guys do anything, let me explain myself. I was trying to do the right thing, taking down someone's ego because she was taking advantage of you, but I completely misinterpreted the situation. All three of you gave an amazing performance and contributed just as much as each other for the whole thing. I'm sorry."

Lindsey and Ginny felt their anger eb away at Ghoulanu's apology, before their usual smiles returned to their faces. "Well apology accepted, sir! We all make mistakes. Lemme go look for Nikki so that you can give one to her too!"

"Oh, you don't need to do that." Ginny stopped in her tracks at their guest's voice. "Look, I'll look for her and apologize and you two can stay back and relax after all of your hard work. I have to go down anyway. I need to attend the performance in the Grand Stage."

"Alright then sir, enjoy your stay. And tell Mister Wolfgeist we said hi!" The two sisters said simultaneously as Ghoulanu entered the hotel. He gave them a little wave until the elevator doors closed, then sighed to himself.

"Phew, that did not go well at all."

Amadeus Wolfgeist's long fingers tapped away at the piano keys, filling the room with a jaunty tune most famously heard in the Evershade Valley. The audience listened in rapped attention, making sure to not make a single noise out of respect/fear for the pianist. Once he finished his piece, Wolfgeist raised his hand in the air, signaling the audience that they were allowed to clap. The audience responded in kind as Wolfgeist signaled his orchestra to take over as he floated into his dressing room for a break.

"The crowds today disgust me." Amadeus said while adjusting his finely combed hair. "I saw some uncouth vagrant texting in the middle of the performance! Texting! I wanted to crush him; split him in half like an old branch; tear him apart like that Saint-Saëns idiot my teachers kept clamoring on and on about!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Chambrea said from her seat in the dressing room, not looking up from her "Mushroom Celebrity Gossiper" magazine (Current headline: "Were Bowser and Waluigi married at some point? The answer may shock you!")

"Ugh, I will suck it up, as you said; I will continue the performance, and after it is all over, I will vent out my anger in a healthy and safe manner." He groaned out. "Why do you insist on treating me like some tantrum throwing child? And also, why are you here?"

"First of all, it's because that tantrum throwing child was the reason we stopped looking for therapists, and second of all, Steward asked me to keep an eye on you so you wouldn't throw another hissy fit in front of the guest."

"… I cannot argue with that logic."

A knock was heard on the other side of the dressing room door, startling the maid and the pianist. The latter bristled in anger, but a glance from the former put an end to it as she opened the door to see Ghoulanu Graves standing on the other side.

"Mister Graves?" Chambrea was surprised as the ghost actor let himself into the room. "You're not allowed to be here! The performance isn't over yet!"

"Yes, it is not over, which means you should be respectful and return to your seat!" Amadeus said through gritted teeth and barely restrained rage. Ghoulanu, for his part, simply smiled as he addressed the mad pianist.

"Yeah, sorry, I thought it was already over. But believe me when I say I just couldn't wait to meet the great Amadeus Wolfgeist. I've listened to a lot of your compositions to the point that it's basically ruined all classical music for me. You're that good."

The actor's calmed down the pianist, to the point a genuine smile had formed on his face. "Ah, finally, a man of good taste. I will admit, I had my doubts about you, Mister Graves. But now I see I was wrong. Thank you for the kind words, sir." He gave a bow to the ghost in front of him, ignoring the flabbergasted look in Chambrea's face as she witnessed the whole event. People barging into the dressing room was one of Wolfgeist's many, many, many peeves, and the culprits would usually find themselves being chased throughout the whole hotel by an angry piano. But in just a few words, Mister Graves had managed to bring out a genuine smile out of the man. He only ever smiled like that when his performances went perfectly, or someone ended up getting crushed by the chandeliers again. It was immensely suspicious and, being the leader of the hotel's underground gossip club, she had to find out how.

She watched from the dressing room as Wolfgeist continued with his last composition, smile still on his face, even when someone coughed hard enough to be heard throughout the entire room. The mad pianist was not being his usual mad self, and the celebrity guest had the secret to how. Once the recital was over, and everyone made their way out the auditorium, did the maid make her move. She snuck her way through the halls of the Great Stage, discretely following the actor who had gone to the bathroom. She waited outside, casually greeting the occasional passing guest or staff member, until her target floated through the door.

"Excuse me, sir."

The actor ghost flailed his arms as he turned around to meet the owner of the voice, then calmed down and tried to pat himself back down. "Oh, it's just you. Do you need anything, ma'am?"

"Yes. I want to know what you did to Mister Wolfgeist." The maid ghost had a serious look on her face as she said this. "His rages are infamous amongst us at the Last Resort, and for someone to just calm him down with just a few words is simply unheard of. How?"

"Oh, you know how it is." Ghoulanu sounded nervous as he said this. "You just have to know how to compliment a person, and the next thing you know, they'll do anything you want."

"That sounds very suspicious, sir."

"No, no, no, no, let me- lemme explain! You see, in the acting bussines, you tend to deal with a lot of people, and you have to know the right things to say to keep them happy. I can understand why you're suspicious, it all sounds very creepy, I get that. But you seem like a smart and friendly person. You know, the kind who looks after her friends when it comes to things like when they're sad or angry or when they just need some life advice. I admire that in people, you know that?"

The ghostly maid blinked as she processed the words of the ghostly actor, who was staring at her with a nervous smile on his face. She then suddenly gained a wide smile on her face. "Oh, it all makes sense now! For a moment there I thought you brainwashed Mister Wolfgeist or something along those lines. I'm sorry for pressuring you like that, Mister Graves. If it makes you feel any better, we could always use someone with a way with words like you have around these parts!"

Ghoulanu stared at the maid with confusion etched on his face. "What do you- what do you mean by that?"

"It means that I'll see if I can convince our boss if he can expand your stay just a little longer. Maybe with your help, you might even be able to stay here permanently."

The explanation by the ghostly maid put a smile on the actor's face. "Wait, really? That's great! I'm definitely liking it around here, you know, what with all the ghosts and people with interesting personalities and skills." The actor ghost started making his way towards the elevator, signaling the maid to follow him. "Oh hey, do you happen to know any juicy facts about the other workers around here? You know, so I can get to know everyone better?"

"Oh, certainly. There's this little thing the bartender told me earlier- "

"You think he'll sign my hat?" Kruller asked Gloria as they rode the elevator to Paranormal Studios. "Or is that too forward? It's too forward, isn't it!"

"I dunno man! I'm not even sure what vinyl I want him to sign?" Gloria said. "At least you're lucky enough to not have to perform in front of the guy! My entire reputation is hanging on how well I impress him. There is no way in hell I'm admitting that Amadeus' music is good."

Kruller stared at her for a few seconds. "… But you do think it's good."

"Well… yeah. But I don't want to say that to him. I have a reputation to uphold."

The elevator doors opened, and the two floated out and started making their way to the main studio, where Morty was holding his tour.

"All I have to do right now is make a good impression. Ya know, sway his favor over to me and not to Wolfgeist. Should I start by complimenting his looks and asking him out to dinner?"

"No, that sounds like your asking him out on a date."

"Good point. He's probably in the same league as Serpci anyway. It would take a lot of dumb luck for that to happen."

They both arrived at the door to Morty's studio, and they stopped to wait outside. Kruller worked on steeling his nerves.

"Ok, you know what, let's just focus on the important part: We're meeting one of the best actors in the film industry! So, we just have to do what tv's and movies tell us to do: Be ourselves."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"… lovely tour, Morty." The two heard a voice coming from the other side of the doors. As they panicked and worked on making themselves look presentable, the doors were flung open to reveal Ghoulanu and Morty amiably chatting with each other.

"Why you're quite welcome. It's not every day I have the honor of meeting an actor as talented as you." Morty said. When he noticed the DJ and the mall cop, he went on to introduce them to the actor. "Ah! You are here! Mister Graves, let me introduce you to two of my closest friends, Kruller and Gloria!"

Ghoulanu went ahead and shook the two starstruck ghosts' hands. It took all of Kruller's resolve to not faint in front of him. "Uhh, hi, Mister Graves! It's a- it's a huge honor to meet you, sir. I'm a- we are, we're huge fans of your work. I, personally, loved you in Point Break, one of my favorite movies." He told the actor, not noticing the confused look on his face.

Gloria shoved Kruller aside to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm Gloria. You might have heard of me as the Funkadelic Disco Queen DJ Phantasmagloria hopefully. Anyway, I just wanted to say to you that I'm a huge fan of your work I loved you in Matrix and I hope that you'll have a great time when you come to my floor tomorrow. And that you'll enjoy your time better than in the Great Stage." She whispered that last part to herself, to make sure the actor didn't hear her. He, for his part, simply maneuvered himself so that he could sling his arms around their shoulders, causing the both of them to try not to squeal in childlike delight.

"Sheesh, calm down you two! What am I, Alexander the Great? Look, you two look like cool people. I mean, a mall cop and a DJ as my biggest fans? Mall cops are a very underappreciated group of law enforcement members, and I personally believe that all cops deserve more respect. And just by looking at you, I can tell you are someone who deserves respect." He turned to look at Gloria. "And DJ's, man, DJ's make some damn good music that people just deride as garbage without even trying to listen or appreciate their art. I'm pretty sure your floor gets better attendance than the classical music one, and I simply can't wait to meet up with you and join the party." He lets go of the two and makes his way towards the elevator hall, but not before turning towards them and shooting finger guns at them. "Anyway, I have dinner reservations. See you guys tomorrow!"

"Such a fantastic man." Morty says as he watches the actor ghost leave.

"I know. He's my hero." Kruller says.

"Who's Alexander the Great?" Gloria asks, receiving a noncommittal shrug from her two friends. "Wait. We forgot to ask him for autographs, didn't we?"

Next time, a few ghosts notice some odd things about the guest and their fellow coworkers.

See you guys then.