A/N: Hello! Finally managed to get this chapter done after a lot of indecision and... also the ongoing imports of other fics over to AO3. XD Still in the process of that, by the way, so updates for this fic are still going to be fairly slow in the meantime. But yes... this chapter was a hard one to write, I'm not going to lie. Outside of trying to figure out how to condense things down from all the short scenes and trying to decide what Cordelia's best course of action was, Mike and Alison were fairly difficult to write for, I won't lie. Although I feel like I did nail it in the end. Same with the direction I took. Because of how Cordelia is written to prefer present living company over the ghosts, she understandably should have been following Mike and Alison around; however, as mentioned in the first chapter, Cordelia is concerned over what will become of Button House, so it makes sense that in the beginning she'd be allying herself with the ghosts initially (albeit reluctantly). This is why I ended up going with the direction that I have for this chapter. We have officially passed around halfway through the first episode now, though, and I'm hoping to get it summed up in only two more chapters, maybe three as a bit of a stretch. So... fingers crossed.
In the meantime, thank you so much for the recent favourites, follows and views. The former two in particular surprised me, not gonna lie. XD Don't know when I'm going to be able to get the next chapter out, but I hope you enjoy this one while you're waiting.
Chapter 4: Breath of Fresh Life
"My word!" Fanny exclaimed with a scoff, continuing to scold the biologically younger blonde with her nose crinkled and turned up to the air. "Never would I have expected such language to slip from your tongue! Yes, the sight of a horseless carriage appearing on the Button Estate is unexpected, but that does not excuse such oaths in present company, euphemism or not—"
The Edwardian lady's words only went through one ear and out the other for the other blonde ghost, her eyes remaining locked onto the vehicle as the music suddenly stopped alongside its engine. She was still stuck in her disbelief, unable to break her gaze away no matter how much she tried.
'Heavens above!' Cordelia placed a hand close to her mouth to suppress a gasp. 'Are they…? Are there truly living people who have set foot upon the estate—?'
"Cordelia!" Fanny snapping at her brought her out of her thoughts with a brief and wide blink, her gaze whipping towards the elderly ghost glaring at her with pursed lips. "Have you been listening to a word I have just said?"
Cordelia, naturally, didn't answer at first, choosing to stare back at Fanny blankly without saying a word. Yet after several seconds, Cordelia looked away and started moving quickly towards the manor house, dashing off as if she were currently possessed and not in control of her own body.
"Cordelia!" The addressed blonde heard Fanny breathlessly shout from behind her, followed by her staggering footsteps as she attempted to catch up; Cordelia blamed her dress, as unlike her skirt it gave very little room for manoeuvring. "Slow down this instant! A lady is to move with quick strides! She does not sprint!"
"Then I am no lady!" Cordelia retorted from over her shoulder, just about catching Fanny scrunching her nose and scowling as she turned away to continue her run.
Cordelia eventually slowed to a stop on the other side of the fountain when the car's front doors opened, revealing a man and woman around their late twenties to early thirties stepping out of the vehicle and gently shutting the doors after themselves. Their jaws slacked slightly as they both moved to stand in front of the fountain, their gazes fixed on the front of Button House.
The woman had brunette hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head and green eyes, being dressed in a modern-looking long-sleeved white jumper with red and pink line diagonal patterns near the bottom and the sleeves (the latter of which was rolled up past her elbows), blue trousers with holes in the knees (jeans, but Cordelia didn't know that) and black and white laced shoes. The man had short dark hair (which Cordelia could just about make out from under his 'strange looking headwear'—a.k.a. cap) and groomed facial hair around his chin and upper-lip, being dressed in a puffy and dark-green jacket atop an orange shirt, black trousers, and light coloured and laced shoes.
By the time Fanny had stumbled to a halt beside her, Cordelia's eyes were wide, having yet to leave the two new arrivals admiring what remained of Button House. The longer she stared, the more she was certain that this was a dream. And why wouldn't she, when this was the first time in literal months that anyone living had set foot onto the estate?
'I have never seen these two before in the company of Lady Heather.' Cordelia squinted and gave their outfits another brief look over. 'Nor do they appear to be related to the previous people who were here during the early stages of Lady Heather's passing. I do have to wonder who they are then…'
The illusion broke like shattered glass at Cordelia hearing Fanny make a noise of disgust.
"How indecent!" Cordelia sideways glanced the Edwardian woman at seeing her shudder and curl her lip, her gaze fixed on the living woman and glancing her up and down. "What lady dresses in clothes that exposes her knees?!" She held out a hand towards the woman's jeans. "And that is without acknowledging she is wearing trousers! Those are not clothes fit for a lady!"
"Oh, Lord, spare me…" Cordelia grumbled under her breath and briefly averted her eyes away from Fanny, sucking in a sharp breath through her nostrils and then exhaling with her eyes closed.
'I oft-forget that Lady Button is still ensnared within the shackles of our era…'
Luckily for Cordelia, however, Fanny was soon silenced by the woman speaking up at long last, prompting the young blonde's eyes to open and focus on the two new arrivals again.
"Wow…" she heard the woman remark in an awed tone, as if the breath had been robbed from her lungs. "It's like we've travelled back in time."
"It's much bigger than in the pictures," the man added as he reached a hand up to the front of his cap, giving it a firm twist to the left to secure it on his head with a slight squint. "And a lot more rundown."
"Oh, yeah, definitely," the woman agreed as she peeked over her shoulder at the ruined fountain behind them, using her hands to secure her black shoulder bag strap on her right shoulder. "Still breath-taking, though."
"Totally! But it's probably much nicer inside." The woman turned to the man when he smiled softly and held out his left elbow towards her, tilting his head to subtly indicate for her to follow his lead. "Shall we head on in, Lady Alison?" he joked, prompting the woman, Alison, to chuckle and slip her right arm into the crook of the man's arm.
"Yes, we shall," she responded in kind and with a matching smile, pulling herself closer and holding onto his arm with her other hand.
With Alison resting the side of her head against the man's shoulder, the two slowly made their walk from the fountain towards the two wooden doors that acted as the main entrance to Button House, all the while Cordelia and Fanny were silently watching them go.
'Alison?' Cordelia repeated inwardly, moving to walk after them at catching Fanny strolling past her to follow. 'I do not recall Lady Heather mentioning such a name.'
Both blonde women paused close by the man and Alison when they'd reached the door, the loud jingling of keys soon reaching Cordelia's ears as Alison removed them from her bag and stepped away to put them into the door.
'She has keys for Button House? But how could that be?' Cordelia looked to Fanny when she heard the biologically older ghost gasp and recoil with a blink, her brow furrowing at recalling the jesting term the man had previously called Alison. 'Unless…'
"Where did she get those keys?!" Fanny exclaimed as Alison and the man pulled the left door open and walked on inside.
"There is only one conclusion to draw considering the circumstances, Lady Button," Cordelia answered quietly, prompting Fanny to direct a blink her way. "This 'Alison' must be blood related to you, most likely as a distant 'niece'."
Fanny gasped again and clasped a hand to her chest, her eyes bulging as if Cordelia had just committed the ultimate betrayal against her. "A niece?! Goodness, no!" Fanny straightened out and shook her head repeatedly, a frown settling in as Cordelia moved to follow Alison and the man into the foyer. "She is no niece of mine! Did you not see that tattoo on her wrist?!"
Cordelia's eyes drooped while she muttered under her breath. "I did not, though I do not see how that is relevant to blood ties…"
As Fanny followed Cordelia inside, the biologically younger blonde stepped through the opened door on the right and entered the manor house's box-like foyer, where she spied Alison and the unknown man admiring the suit of armour that stood just off to the right of the doorway to the common room, clutching its sword handle between its metal gloves. Cordelia took this opportunity to peek around Alison into the common room and see the rest of the ghosts gathered by the windows observing the newcomers' entrance.
"Fanny, Cordelia!" The Captain called out to the addressed ghosts from the front of the pack after Fanny caught up to Cordelia, a frown on his brow. "Do you know what the bally hell is going on?"
"Who be they?" Mary questioned from beside Julian and the Captain, prompting Cordelia and Fanny to share a quick sideways glance before the pair gave a simultaneous shrug of the shoulders.
"We do not know," Cordelia answered. When Alison and the unknown man continued their walk into the common room—their wide-eyed, open-mouthed gazes trailing across the wide room as they entered—Cordelia and Fanny moved after them while the former continued. "Though it was mentioned the young lady was named 'Alison'."
Cordelia halted in the doorway at feeling the faint prickling pain rising within the wound on her back, doing so almost instinctively. However, she noticed Fanny stopping beside her from the corner of her eyes, a sight that briefly distracted her with a blink until she heard Thomas gasp.
"Alison?" Cordelia heard him exclaim from somewhere near the back of the group, just about seeing him behind Robin and Kitty in the middle as a small smile stretched across his lips. "Oh, such a beautiful name to put to such a beautiful face!"
A chorus of groans and huffs followed from the group of ghosts at the comments, with the addition of a few inaudible grumbles from the Captain and Robin. Even Cordelia and Fanny reacted, with the former quietly sighing and shaking her head and the latter releasing an exasperated huff of her own along with the rolling of her eyes.
'Typical Thomas Thorne, fawning over the first living lady his eyes behold…'
"Wow," the unknown man murmured while staring agape at the far end of the common room, slowing to a stop close to the seating area. Alison, meanwhile, moved to the armchair in front of the window closest to where Cordelia and Fanny were standing to put her bag down. "Told you it was probably nicer inside!"
"You did, Mike," Alison agreed sarcastically, turning to him with a small smile and the tilt of her head. "Didn't you also say it was 100% the most incredible moment of your life?"
The man, Mike, faced Alison with a goofy smile of his own, his palms raised. "You forgot where I added apart from my wedding day!"
Alison laughed and stepped towards Mike to take hold of his hands in hers, intertwining their fingers as they stared longingly into each other's eyes. The sight made Cordelia smile faintly and place a hand to her chest; although, she did let it fade at catching Fanny raising a brow at her from within her peripheral vision.
'They are husband and wife? How endearing.'
"Oh, they're married!" Kitty exclaimed with an open-mouthed smile, clasping her hands together and resting her cheek against them with a giggle and the brief swaying of her upper body. "How wonderful!"
Meanwhile, Thomas reacted exactly as Cordelia expected him to; he stomped his foot and thrashed his fists up and down at his sides with a pout, acting like a child who had been robbed of their lollipop.
"Why must I always be spurned so?!" he cried, prompting another shake of the head and sigh from both Cordelia and Fanny.
"I still can't believe this is all ours," Alison commented while moving closer to Mike and wrapping her arms round his shoulders, prompting Fanny to gawk and Cordelia to hide her smirk behind her hand.
"What did that girl just say?!" Fanny shouted with a crinkled nose.
Before anyone could respond to Fanny however, Mike spoke up as he pulled Alison in for a hug.
"And you still won't believe it once we turn it into a hotel."
It took several seconds for Mike's words to process in the ghosts' heads, allowing silence to engulf the area to the point one could hear a pin drop if they listened closely enough. But once Alison and Mike had pulled away from each other, that tranquillity was disturbed by a collective gasp from all the ghosts barring Robin, who frowned and glanced around at his wide-eyed invisible acquaintances like he'd just witnessed them become statues.
"What they mean by 'hotel'?" he asked and pointed towards the couple, but he never got a response.
Mass hysteria broke out then as the ghosts started yelling over each other with a variety of animated body language (especially from Thomas), with the only ones to remain quiet being the Captain and Cordelia, the latter of whom felt like she'd just accidentally walked into the home of Medusa and gotten herself petrified. She could hear collective and panicked exclamations of 'My god!' (particularly from Thomas, whom Cordelia knew loved the sound of his own voice), enraged shouts of 'What does this mean?!' (especially from Fanny, whom Cordelia could hear quite clearly because she hadn't bothered to move from her side yet) and Robin's repeated yell of 'I still not know what hotel is!' among other inaudible things from the others, yet her tongue was tied. She could not bring herself to speak aloud.
'A hotel?' Cordelia repeated in her head as Mike wrapped his arm round the middle of Alison's back and pulled her to his side, with Alison returning the gesture once the couple began to walk further into the common room. 'As in a boarding house? Oh, what I feared has transpired at last…!'
A loud stomp from the Captain on the carpet-less floor hushed the chattering ghosts almost instantly, restoring order and prompting attention to be drawn to the war veteran. His back was as straight as a pin, the black baton usually under his arm currently at his front being twisted so hard in his palms his knuckles had flushed a ghostly white (which was a much paler complexion than how they usually looked). Cordelia could easily see the Captain was attempting to restrain himself verbally while substituting for it physically.
"Simmer down at once!" he barked, making everyone (barring Cordelia) flinch and cringe with inaudible grumbles and complaints (Julian and Robin included). "Must I remind you that we have enemy insurgents in our midst?!" The Captain whipped his baton in the direction of Alison and Mike while putting his arm behind his back, with the pair now starting to head towards the stairs of the east wing. "We must tail them and find out more about this 'hotel' operation!" He twirled the baton around as if to indicate for the other ghosts to go after them. "Come along now!"
The other ghosts gave murmurs of agreement and all strode off after the living couple, with the Captain remaining in place and watching each ghost file past him without breaking his stance, mouthing a countdown as they went. However, when he got to Fanny (who was the last one to pass him by) and only counted seven ghosts instead of eight, the Captain turned his head to the doorway, frowning upon seeing Cordelia hadn't moved from her spot.
"Cordelia!" the Captain addressed the biologically younger blonde ghost, jerking his head in the direction of the leaving ghosts. "You have your marching orders! Off you go!"
"Apologies, Captain, but I shall not be participating," Cordelia responded calmly and with her palm held up, prompting the Captain to blink and lean back on his heels.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Once again, I must remind you that I am not a soldier, nor are you my commanding officer, and that the other ghosts are more than enough to accommodate the numbers you need for your stealth mission." When the Captain said and did nothing in response, Cordelia took that as her cue to turn to leave the common room, her hands clasping together at her front. "So, if you will excuse me."
Cordelia didn't wait for an answer. She gave a quick bow of the head and then proceeded to walk back through the foyer, releasing a quiet sigh.
'I expected the Captain to put up more of a fight, yet I suppose he has now realised that despite how confusing this situation is, I cannot be persuaded to indulge in the antics of the living with present invisible company prattling all the while.'
Cordelia only got as far as the front door before she heard the Captain loudly clear his throat.
"Very well," he said, causing Cordelia to pause and raise her brows as she glanced at him from over her shoulder. "I will allow it." He scowled and whipped his baton in her direction, leaning forward on his toes a bit. "Provided that you attend an urgent meeting later so we can brief you on our findings."
Cordelia frowned and turned her gaze to the front door, taking a moment to mull over the Captain's words. She eventually relented with a quiet sigh, mentally remarking that it was a fair compromise, especially seeing as she wanted to know what the fate of Button House was going to be too.
"… I suppose that is a fair compromise," she quietly answered after a short delay.
"Excellent!" the Captain replied, tucking his baton under his arm and placing his arms by his side. "I'll have Patrick relay the time and location in due course. Until then,"—he gave Cordelia a quick salute and stomp of his foot—"carry on!"
Cordelia merely shook her head and resumed her walk, her eyes drooping as she focused on her boots.
'Goodness me. Who would have thought a quest to tame the 'wicked witch of the fields' would now become a quest to protect our home from suspicious and weary travellers? Certainly not I!'
On the second floor of the east wing beyond the confines of the ballroom, located past and down two maze-like and narrow corridors and to the left of a set of stairs hiding behind a white banister, was a wide and spacious square room. This was the room that Pat had told Cordelia to meet the other ghosts in around 2:55am sharp, which was why she was heading towards it at present, traversing through the moonlit and darkened surroundings both inside the manor house and outside (when avoiding walking through the common room).
Cordelia had been in that room enough times during her daily walks of the house to memorise its empty layout inside her head with her eyes closed, mainly because the only item of furniture she knew was in there at present was a mahogany, four-poster double bed with its headboard pushed against the front wall, just to the right of the small bathroom that lay beyond it and the wide window against the right wall that overlooked the front of the Button Estate. None of the current ghosts of the household had bothered to occupy this room and Cordelia couldn't help wondering why. Though given its design appeared to be suited as a 'master bedroom' of sorts (as she recalled the current Lord Button of her time occupying it at one time), she had a suspicion that was likely the reason. After all, like her, each of the ghosts had their source of comfort regarding their chosen rooms. She wasn't sure why the Captain and company had agreed that room as their specific meeting spot, but she didn't mind. It was a better option than the common room, after all.
She was expecting to be one of the first ones there, yet as she entered the second darkness filled corridor and turned right towards the room, she lifted her head a little at the inaudible and muffled voice of Robin she heard through the walls, soon followed by Julian.
'Oh? Have they begun without me? Unless whatever they are discussing is unrelated to the meeting…'
Cordelia got her answer the moment she phased through the closed door. She stopped near the doorway to give herself a chance to get her bearings, blinking multiple times to adjust her blue eyes to the room partially bathed in faint silver light.
Her attention was immediately drawn to the bed on her left at catching humanoid and shadowy figures surrounding it, where she saw the usual eight ghosts gathered. Kitty and Thomas stood together on the bedside closest to Cordelia, while Julian, Robin, Mary, Pat, Fanny and the Captain (in that order) stood round the foot of the bed. Just past the small bedside table she could see next to Kitty (which Cordelia assumed had been set up by Mike and Alison, as she recalled it not being there before), she could just about see the outlines of Mike and Alison respectively sleeping away under a pink quilt with their backs to her.
Fanny's voice snapping at the group soon brought her attention back to the gathered ghosts, however, prompting the biologically younger blonde to see the Edwardian woman standing with her back as straight as an arrow, her head flitting back and forth between the other faces with her.
"That is out of the question and completely immoral!"
"Not to mention it's wrong!" Kitty added, prompting Fanny to huff and purse her lips.
"That is what I'm saying, Kitty."
"Is it?" Kitty questioned with the tilt of her head, only to place her hand to her mouth with a small gasp. "That wasn't clear! Sorry, Lady Button!"
Fanny said nothing, instead pressing her lips together and shaking her head to refrain from saying another word. Meanwhile, Pat was nodding beside Fanny and adjusting his glasses with a hand.
"I have to agree with Lady B and Kitty on that," he quietly said. "There's no need to resort to violence."
"Quite right, Patrick," the Captain agreed with the roll of his shoulders. "After all, if we did do that, we'd run the risk of them becoming ghosts and being stuck with them forever."
Pat gaped and crinkled his nose in the Captain's direction, blinking widely a few times to make sure he'd heard him correctly.
"… That wasn't the point I was trying to make!" he protested.
"And yet it is still a valid one nonetheless," the Captain retorted, prompting Pat to grumble under his breath and shake his head in disapproval.
It was around this time that Pat happened to lock eyes with Cordelia still lingering by the door, causing the scout master's own to light up with the slight tug at the collar of his uniform.
"Ah, Cordelia! There you are!" he called out to the blonde, causing the other ghosts' heads to turn towards her as she made to slowly approach the bed. "You can help us settle this matter once and for all."
Cordelia slotted herself between Thomas and Julian before directing her gaze towards the sleeping Alison and Mike.
"Before I do, I must ask…" Cordelia began as she returned her gaze to the group and gestured her hands towards the bed. "Who thought it was a brilliant idea to gather everyone around the slumbering couple to prepare them for the sacrificial ritual?"
Cordelia earned a loud snort from Julian at her joking remark, yet it was Kitty who took her question seriously, leaning in front of Thomas while holding clumps of her dress' skirt between her hands.
"It was Robin's!" she cried, causing Thomas to sigh and slump his shoulders when Cordelia raised her brows.
"I beg your pardon, Catherine?"
"Cordelia was attempting to be humorous, Kitty," Thomas clarified.
"But that doesn't change the fact he actually wants to kill them!" Kitty protested and pointed between Julian and Mary. "And Julian and Mary agree!"
Cordelia's eyes nearly bulged from their (non-existent) sockets. She whipped her head towards the trio in question with a wide blink, with each of them reacting differently to the blonde ghost's shock. Julian slowly tilted his head up to the ceiling to avoid eye contact, Mary averted her gaze the other way and gently swayed her body a bit, and Robin shrugged his shoulders and focused his eyes on his feet.
"I'm sorry, but since when did Button House become an asylum for the insane?" Cordelia questioned sarcastically.
"I mean, what else is there to do?" Robin commented quietly, refusing to lock eyes with a flabbergasted Cordelia. "They want hotel, but we don't want hotel."
"They spent most of the time we followed them trying to decide how to spruce up the place," Julian added upon lowering his head and locking eyes with Cordelia. "It sounds like they're going through with it, which means I—for one—agree with Robin's plan of using force to enable them to, you know, not live anymore." He faced the others and waggled an index finger about. "Though let the record reflect that I did say if we all approve."
Pat placed a hand to his chest. "I still think my idea of us living in the gatehouse is a fair compromise."
"I'd rather kill them, if I'ms honest," Mary asserted with a squint, causing Cordelia to curl her lip and look between the three ghosts with narrowed eyes.
"Well, I cannot believe what my ears have just borne witness to," she stated tautly, scowling towards Mary, Robin and Julian as the latter two leaned back with wide blinks at seeing her direct her slitted gaze towards Mary and Robin with the jab of her finger. "Especially the two of you. Need I remind you that you have both beheld the murders of a few of us in this household?" Cordelia gestured her hand to Thomas, who frowned and rubbed a hand against the right side of his abdomen where a circular and dried bloodied wound was visible through his clothes. "Like Thomas',"—Cordelia moved her hand to Pat then, who winced and closed an eye as he touched the sharp end of the arrow wedged through his neck—"and Patrick's,"—Cordelia gestured a hand towards Mary—"Not to mention you too, Mary!" Soot suddenly rose around Mary in the form of smoke at the vague reminder, prompting the peasant woman to hunch her shoulders and briefly squeeze her eyes shut to show her discomfort as it quickly dissipated. "And yet here you are, suggesting we put this innocent couple through the very pain we have had to endure for centuries? For shame!"
A hush fell amongst the gathered ghosts as they all awkwardly averted their eyes to the sides or to the floor and took a moment to reflect on Cordelia's words, with the blonde ghost herself taking a deep breath and slumping her shoulders to try to calm down.
Pat became the one to eventually break the uncomfortable silence, loudly clearing his throat and adjusting his glasses with a hand.
"So, I take it you're against Robin's plan, Cordelia?"
"Indeed I am, sir," Cordelia spat and crossed her arms. "I am against this place becoming a boarding house as much as the rest of you, but I refuse to resort to violence."
"Then it's clearly six against three for not killing the new owners of the house. So, we'll need to—" Pat cut himself off upon turning to face the Captain and spying the spot Fanny was formerly occupying now empty, just as the grandfather clock closest to the room began to chime, doing so three times. "Where's Lady B?"
Before any of the ghosts could process Fanny's absence, however… Pat got his answer on the third chime. The muffled and high-pitched scream belonging to Fanny Button sounded from outside, prompting the eight ghosts to swirl round to stare at the far end of the room with slumped shoulders and wide blinks upon catching that all too familiar bone-crunching thud that followed.
"Dammit, Fanny!" the Captain cursed and balled his hands into fists at his sides, with Cordelia's eyes drooping.
"I forgot Lady Button's bed chambers were nearby," she muttered, prompting the Captain to sigh heavily and face Alison and Mike with a scowl at seeing they were still sound asleep, naturally so.
"It's a shame they didn't hear it," the Captain grumbled and rolled his eyes. "No doubt Fanny's screaming at this hour would have had them running for the hills."
"Oh!" Pat suddenly exclaimed with a gape and the raise of his brows, lifting an index finger when everybody switched their focus to him. "That's it, Cap!"
"What's 'it', Patrick?" he enquired with the slight tilt of his head.
"Why don't we try haunting them?"
"Haunting?" Robin repeated with a frown and a brief glance round at the other ghosts, a hand scratching at the side of his head. "What's that?"
"He's proposing we scare them away, Robin," Cordelia explained, prompting Pat to smile and waggle a finger her way.
"That's right, Cordelia!" He held out his hands on either side of him. "After all, we're ghosts, and some of us can do things that living people can see. So," He gave an open-armed shrug. "why not use the least violent route?"
'That is correct!' Cordelia sideways glanced Julian, Robin and Mary. 'I oft-forget that some of us have the capability to cause disturbances with the living or interact with physical objects. And as they cannot see who is behind these acts, it would certainly live up with the tall tales passed down about the undead and spook them out of their wits.'
The Captain smacked his baton against his palm with a resounding slap. "Excellent idea, Patrick!" he exclaimed, surveying the six remaining ghosts in the bedroom. "All those in favour of haunting the enemy insurgents out of our base?"
The other ghosts didn't need to think about it. All six of them present raised their hands without hesitation.
"I like that!" Robin said with a goofy smile.
"So do Is," Mary agreed with a nod.
"As do I," Cordelia added quietly. "Provided we do not scare them to death." She heard Julian snort beside her as the group lowered their hands, prompting her to turn to the taller ghost with a raised brow. "Did I say something amusing?"
"Scare them to death," he repeated through another snort and lightly elbowed Cordelia's shoulder, making the shorter ghost flinch in surprise. "Didn't know you were one for dark jokes."
Cordelia scowled. "I was not joking," she responded sternly, causing Julian to force a blink.
"You weren't?" When Cordelia nodded, he stared at her in silence for several seconds, during which time Fanny phased through the door and hastily strode back to her original spot. "… Oh," he eventually said and slowly turned his head away, tugging a finger at his shirt collar. "Whoops."
The Captain waited until Fanny was beside him again before he stood up straight and placed his hands behind his back. "Then it's settled." He puffed out his chest and glanced round at the gathered ghosts with his chin tilted up. "If there are no objections, we shall commence our strategy meeting at 0800 hours." He focused his gaze especially on Cordelia, whom he narrowed his eyes at. "That includes you too."
Cordelia's shoulders slumped with a loud huff at this, yet she stayed quiet and refrained from retaliating.
'God, spare me...'
"Strategy meeting?" Fanny repeated with a wide blink and raised brows, ignoring the other ghosts' nods and mutters of agreement to the suggestion. "For what exactly?"
The Captain removed his baton from behind his back and pointed it towards Mike and Alison without breaking eye contact with Fanny, a stern frown now resting upon his brow.
"For Button House's first ever haunting operation, Fanny."
A/N: Just in case anyone questions it: Cordelia purposely leaves Fanny out of her list when she rants at Mary, Robin and Julian because of what was mentioned in the previous chapter. She also leaves Humphrey out because he's not present when they're having the discussion. It especially makes it easier for me because while Humphrey's death has been confirmed in Series 3 to be accidental and no one actually knows that, it technically doesn't count, so... didn't feel it was right to bring it up for that reason. Cordelia's rant might seem out of place, but I will say that it was done on purpose. I have mentioned very little surrounding the circumstances of her death, and that likely will remain for a while. However, I can bet some of you have your suspicions about the naturality of her circumstances. Her passionate speech should give you a hint. I also wonder if anyone has actually managed to guess what era she's from. Chapter 3 also dropped some very obvious hints surrounding that one. XD