Part 5: Exit a GOOD DOG, enter a woman who writes "romance" novels and strikes matches on her ass

(Music: Intermission ~The Deepening of the "Night")









: ...my only hope of escape is to find another telephone. No "Mr. Desk Lamp" here. The only friend I have to talk to is that nice little doggie curled up on the floor.





: I was wondering if you could help me.
: I'LL CERTAINLY TRY! About the only thing I'm really good at, though...is barking. There really isn't much else.
: (I think he might be right, there.)
: But I'm really, really good at barking! Miss Lynne comes chasing after me with a broom, the lady next door kicks the wall...I've got quite a bit of influence around these parts!



Well, it seems easy enough to make Missile bark. Let's start by turning the TV on.







: I'll bring this whole dilapidated building down on you!

: Did you hear what I just heard?
: You mean the lady next door's angry howl?
: No, forget that. It was the sound of a telephone ringing! Coming from the apartment next door.
: Oh, I get it. You're thinking about borrowing her telephone, aren't you! But how are you going to do that without breaking the wall down?
: Well, the lady next door is kindly offering to do that for us...
: Yes, but she's mostly hoping to crush me beneath it...

So what happens if you decide to turn off the TV?



: I don't think I should turn this off at the moment. (Besides, I want to see if that woman will really keep her promise.)
: Oh, what will become of me if I'm squashed into a Pomeranian pancake?!

Well, okay. Let's talk to Missile again, because why not?



: Louder?! But then that lady will knock the wall down on top of me!
: We'll worry about that when it happens.
: Hmm...anyway, I'm barking as loud as I can already.
: (I need to have this little doggie put some more energy into it. Let's see...wasn't there something else around here that gets a reaction out of him?)

Yes there was. But do we even need to make him bark at all?



Seeing as the other room is just barely out of reach, I guess so.



Well, I guess there's nothing to do but make this star play music again.





(Music: DEADLINE)











: It's more like she knocked you out "through" the wall, really.
: I'm still alive, aren't I?



: ...but the TV and the star ornament aren't.
: *whimper* I'll never bark again, not as long as I live!

I somehow doubt that.

: But, wait a minute...it looks like all that commotion wasn't for naught.
: Huh?



: It did? But the wall is still standing, just like before.
: But there are paths only the dead can see.
: Oh, those kinds of paths!



Looks like we're about to leave Missile, so let's talk to him one last time.



: You certainly seemed to be putting your heart into it.
: It's nice to really let loose once in a while! I'm a little tired now, though. I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm two already, after all.
: (Hmm...I wonder how old I am?)



Yup. Thanks to all the stuff that lady knocked down, we can reach her apartment now.



(Music: Missile ~ A Courageous Little Animal)

: I guess so.
: You're going to go save Miss Kamila and Miss Lynne?
: ...... I have to follow my own mystery first and foremost. That means everything to me.
: But you WILL save them, right?
: If it helps me along my way, then yes.
: I don't have any powers of the dead. I'm not even dead, actually. But I'm going to find a way to go help Miss Kamila too!
: We create our own paths. Right, Missile?
: That's right!
: Okay, I'm leaving now. I guess this our second goodbye.
: It is, isn't it?
: My name is Sissel. If we ever meet again, that's what you can call me.
: "Sissel", huh? Got it. You know what, Sissel?



Well isn't that nobl-



...oh, Missile.



(Music: Madam ~ An Enveloping Smell of Roses)

: All I need to get some inspiration from the Muses is this bottle and some cheese. Here is to the boorish people next door!



: Are you alright, my darling angel? Have you taken your medicine like a good girl?

: Well, here I am in yet another strange room...what's with the oddly tense air of this place, anyway? Now, where is that little treasure I'm looking for?







There isn't an immediate path to the phone - the gap between the objects near the bookcase and the other side of the room is too large to get across. So we need to find a way to move something. ...but I wonder what that lady's saying?



: "And I'm a married man...but we cannot resist this any longer! I'm ready to abdicate it all for you! Even if it means my ultimate ruination!" ......Hmm..."Ruination." Is that even a word? And that "abdicate" just doesn't look right somehow. ......this is going to nag at me until I'm sure.

...so she's that kind of writer. Okay, let's see what we can do here. First, let's try going to the dictionary.



: Maybe that woman built up her destructive power by hefting this puppy. It's more like a weapon than a book.



But she seems to be looking for it. Maybe if we just sit here, she''ll pick us up?



: Now, where could it have gone to? I just can't find it.

If you look carefully, you'll notice that the dictionary is kind of shadowed. That's because it's underneath the bookcase, so the lady can't see it. It seems like the best way to get to the other side of the room, but how do we make her notice it?

And more bad news: There's more to the, uh, novel the lady's writing:

: "No, I mustn't...I mustn't allow myself to believe in your love, Mr. Prime Minister." "But why won't you believe me? My love for you is true, I swear! And it's so strong, it overwhelms me!" ...... You know, I've always wondered. If you can be "overwhelmed" by something, can you be just plained "whelmed"? ......this is going to nag at me until I'm sure.

Then she gets up to look for the dictionary again. It looks like listening to her...authorial musings...is the trick to making her do that. But we still have to get her to notice the dictionary.



First, we jump up to this latch, and turn it.



Now we have a mouse next to that toy bird. Make the bird bob up and down...



...and the mouse is pushed over near the miniature windmill. Now we have to make the lady get up again.



: "I don't care what they might think! what do the plebian masses understand, anyway? Certainly not our love!" ......Hmm...what is this prime minister talking about? I've never even heard the word "plebian" before. ......this is going to nag at me until I'm sure.

...wait, so is she just typing out words that she doesn't know and hoping they'll work in her story? Oh well, the less thinking about that, the better. It's trick time!





: I know I left this dictionary on the shelf. It's as if some little angel were playing naughty tricks on me. Perhaps...my darling angel...?



: What is it, my darling angel?



: You poor dear, and no wonder, with a fever of 102! Here is to a night of fever, even hotter than my love for the prime minister!
: It's almost time to go out for my lesson...can I take the night off?
: Yes, I suppose that would be best...but wait a minute! I bet you're happy to have an excuse to get out of it, aren't you?
: Not especially. If I ever don't want to go, I just don't go, and pretend I did. I go play with Kamila next door or something.
: Here is to the blunt honesty of my darling angel!
: Hey, today is Papa's birthday.
: Oh, is it?
: Aren't we going to celebrate together?
: ......let's not talk about your father, dear. Now Mama has to go back to work. I have a deadline tonight, after all!



: I have just one thing to say. Don't try and put me in the middle of you two, okay?
: Whatever could you be talking about?
: I know what's going on, you know. You write novels, and Papa wants you to stop. But it was very selfish of you to take me and leave the house. I want to go home.
: Now, now. It's time for good little girls to go to sleep. Especially sick little girls!



: These two are quite a pair. The father would have to be a pretty strong man to hold his own against them. It sounds like their family circumstances are pretty complicated. (I wonder if I had a family?)

Well, there's no time to waste wondering about little things like "did I have caring relatives who will miss me now that I'm dead?" Let's see how we can make it the rest of the way over to that phone!

First, let's jump to the lamp and put it out.





...rather classy lady, eh?

: "My darling lady! To think you were a spy all along!" "What are you going to do to me, Mr. Prime Minister?" "I will arrest you and make sure you receive the proper penalty. Your sentence: To be imprisoned in my cell of love, and punished with my whip of passion!" "Oh, Mr. Prime Minister!" "Oh, my dear lady!" ...... Hmm...I'd hate to live in this Prime Minister's country.

To get anywhere, we have to turn the lamp off again. That gets more of a reaction from the author lady.

: Eek! What is going on?! Oh! I made a typo!



At that moment, she'll take the typoed page out of her typewriter & start crumpling it up. While she's doing that, we have to go into Ghost mode and jump over to it. Then she'll toss it over in her garbage can.



So close to the phone, yet so far. But reaching the phone is simple from here; just do a Trick to make the can lid flip open, and...



And now the phone's ringing again. The lady goes to answer it, and...

(Music: Elegy For The Torn-Off Gentleman)





: Tonight is that holiest of all nights -- my deadline.
: Please. I'm begging you. Change your mind and come home to me!
: I think you're the one who needs to change his mind.
: Please, put yourself in my position. You can write your novel just as well from home.
: Until you change your mind, your daughter and I won't be coming home!



I think she needs to lay off the wine. And/or the harlequin romance novels.

: Let me talk to Amelie then, at least.
: You can't talk to her right now. She's sick with a fever right now, and I won't have you giving her nightmares!
: I want to talk to Papa!
: Now, I don't want to hear your voice anymore tonight.
: Please...wait a minute...
: Don't try to call again. I won't answer. I REFUSE to answer!





That sure was...something.

: Now I finally have the telephone lines I need. (I'm curious about this woman's husband...but I should go find "my only lead" first.) That hitman who's after Lynne is sure to be heading to the junkyard by now. I'd better hurry.

But first, let's go everywhere but where we're supposed to go. First, let's try to go back to the fancy parlor those blue-skinned assassins were in...



...but we can't go there now. We can't go back to Lynne's apartment either, since the phone there is still kind of in a fish tank and all that jazz. But how about checking out the office of that lady's poor, frazzled husband?



: I ordered all of you not to come near me!
: I-I beg your pardon, sir!
: *sigh* I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. But I'd like to be left alone right now. You may go.
: Yes, sir!

: Oh boy. Another strange room, and another strange person. (I wish these telephone lines came with nameplates or something...sheesh.)







And now we're back at the junkyard. We'll see what's going on here next time.