Part 24: Roses, Chandeliers, and Warm Fuzzies

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









(Music: Madam ~ An Enveloping Smell of Roses)

: You naughty thing! Did you leave your nice warm bed to go out into the night to play? A daughter after my own heart! But, I must confess, I didn't even notice you were gone!
: I didn't go out to play! I went to buy Papa a birthday present! He said he wanted a new lighter.
: But that's no reason to go out this late at night!
: But my fever finally went down! I could barely move before that...
: But look what it brought you! Your fever is worse now than ever. Here's to the feverish passion of my darling angel!



: Mama?
: Yes, darling?
: Let's call Papa and wish him a happy birthday! Even though it's already past midnight...
: ......Not tonight, Amelie.



: It looks like this little girl was safe all along. (I already knew that, but I'm still relieved, all the same.) And there's another lucky development too. Amelie wants to call her father. (Now, if I can just make use of that feeling somehow...that would surely bring the justice minister around!)

Let's see...the phone's pretty close to Amelie already. That lighter's on the same shelf, too, and it's the only other core within reach. I wonder what would happen if we lit it?



Well that was easy...

: Amelie, I told you you couldn't call him tonight!
: Why not?!
: Listen to me, Amelie. Your father is about to make a big mistake. I want him to reconsider.
: What do you know about it, Mama? He's the one who's the justice minister, you know! All you do is write weird novels!
: ......



(Music: DEADLINE)

: What do you mean, "weird"?! How dare you disparage my romantic expressions? Now you've really made me angry. You really have! How do you expect me to forgive such an insult?!



And then, as the screen turns dark, one can hear the sound of something being dragged across the floor...

(Music: Madam ~ An Enveloping Smell of Roses)

: There! I'll be keeping an eye on you now, so you won't do anything else mischievous! Like calling your father!
: I hate you!
: I can hear you, you know!



: I don't know what this family's issues are...but I do know I have to do something about this lady so Amelie can call.

I suppose that puzzle was a little too easy. Well, let's see what we can do. The lady dragging her desk closer to the bed gave us a way to get back to the other side of the room(and to reach the desk itself, of course). Let's start by seeing what that lamp can do...



: (It will only pour oil on the flames of anger in this lady's heart.) If I want to give Amelie a chance to use the telephone...I have to think of a way to keep her mother out of the way.

Okay, nothing doing down here. But we can reach that clock now. If we make it chime, it seems like that'd distract the lady. And as a matter of fact, it does!



: As I bask in my tale of love, time has been moving on at the speed of light!
: Hmm. So even though she's immersed in love, she can still hear this, eh? But this won't buy enough time for her daughter to make a phone call...(There must be something else I can distract her with...)

Let's see what else is in here. we can go up to the latch in the ceiling, past a mouse, past another ceiling latch, and...



...that does not seem like a very good place for a dictionary.

: Hmm. The lady's dictionary...wasn't this on her desk before? The poor thing. Destined to never be returned to the bookshelves...

And there's nothing else of interest over here. But wait, that mouse in the ceiling was directly over the ceiling latch...and we can open the latch...



And then if we make the clock chime so that the lady looks towards it...





: Did you fancy the vintage, my whiskered friend?
: She's more powerful than I thought...it looks like she tipped the wall candelabra to one side, too. (Hmm. The angle of those candles...I get the feeling I've seen something very similar to that quite recently...)



And that's the game's way of HINT-HINT-NUDGE-NUDGEing you towards the fact that this is pretty much the same setup we saw in Kamila's old house. Of course, there seems to be no easy way to light the candles, and even if we could, the lady would still take the phone away if we dropped it down to Amelie. The first priority has to be getting the lady out of the way.

But how to do that? Well, that rat landed up on the valve in the ceiling, and if you looked closely at the gif of it being launched up there, you'll notice that there's some sparking wires near there. Sissel can turn that valve, so let's try it!





: Of course, dim lights suit my story of love very well, but I, myself, am not very fond of the dark.



: This chandelier just narrowly missed the back of my head! I love the thrill of romance, but I don't need these kind of thrills, thank you!



: Ah! What a wonderful atmosphere! Perfect for a cladestine meeting in the dusky twilight.
: I don't exactly know how this situation came about, but I think I owe the rat an apology. (The rat seems to be unconcious.) But now that the room has changed into this, maybe I can use it somehow.

The key point in the newly-darkened room is that we've gained a new core - the crank in the wall can be used now, since the lady uncovered it. So if we go Trick it...



: What a naughty chandelier!



And then the lady heads back to her desk. But if we drop it again before she sits back down...



And then she goes back to raise it back up again. But if we drop it again while she's actually underneath the chandelier...



: This lady is surprisingly quick. She dodged that thing like a pro. I guess I'd better get serious here.

Okay, so we have to aim it a bit more precisely. That shouldn't be a problem...





: That's twice she managed to dodge like that! Who knew she was a dodging champion? I'm starting to get annoyed...(Let me try that again. I'll get her this time!)

Yes, she'll keep dodging until you get the timing right. There's a very narrow window where she's exactly under the chandelier, which is when you have to lower it. I definitely didn't spend too much time getting pissed off at the timing of this bit of the puzzle when I first played the game. Nope, not at all.



: Amelie! Amelie, help me!



: I'm sorry, Mama. I'm too dizzy. I can't get up. I'm afraid I can't help you right now.
: Ah ha ha! Here is to the weakness of my darling angel!



: That chandelier is on there tighter than her wedding band. She won't be able to escape on her own.

Now's our chance! Let's...turn off the lamp!



: I don't want her thrashing around any more than she is already...(I'd better not put out this lamp right now.)

Okay, fine. Let's get it over with and raise the chandelier, bringing the lady along with it. Why was this part necessary when she already can't get out of the chandelier's grip? You'll see.



: Whaaat?! What is going on here?! Amelie! Look! Do you see this?! Help me, please!
: *groan* Sorry, I'm too sick. I can't get out of bed. My head is spinning...so I guess you'll just have to stay up there spinning, too.
: Looks like this lady won't be going anywhere for a while. Now the little girl can call her father.



: (I guess I'll just have to deliver it to her.)

And now we can go to the chandelier itself and make its flames burn brighter, which makes the crazy rose lady swing around...



Normally I'd have to open the other latch on the ceiling now, but I accidently did that earlier while fiddling around. And since that made the rat's tail dangle down...



: Now I REALLY owe that poor rat an apology. But this might be a REALLY good chance for me, too...(I have to get that phone to Amelie!)

And now to Trick the other part of the clock - its pendulum.







: Excuse me a minute while I call Papa, okay Mama? I'll only be a minute.

And then from slightly offscreen, the lady starts swinging more than ever and yelling. Yelling a lot.

: Don't you dare Amelie! I won't have it! Get me down!

But Amelie gets to make her phone call anyway.





: Is that you?!
: Of course it is, silly. What did you think?
: But I heard-- They said you were--! ...no, never mind, it's nothing...
: Silly ol' Papa.
: Happy birthday, Papa!
: Birthday...? Oh, right. It was my birthday today, wasn't it?
: I'm sorry we couldn't celebrate tonight. Thanks to mean ol' Mama...
: Oh! Your mean ol' Mama...I mean, your mother! What is she up to right now?!
: Well, she's certainly "up" all right...my stubborn mother is kind of tied up at the moment...



: She needs to be taught a lesson for causing us so much trouble.
: No, Amelie...I'm the one who was wrong.
: Huh?
: Could you tell your mother I'm sorry?
: What do you have to be sorry about?
: I was just about to make a terrible mistake.



(Music: Elegy For The Torn-Off Gentleman)

: Oh...okay.
: You're still young. There's a lot I can't tell you right now. The job of justice minister is very complicated, you see.
: Okay.
: But just remember...you're always the most important thing to your mother and me.
: ......
: Did you do something naughty to your mother? If you did, I want you to apologize.
: I don't THINK I did anything...but, okay. I'll apologize.
: That's a good girl.
: Okay, Papa. Have a good night. I love you!
: I love you too, Amelie. Good night, sweetheart.



: I'm sorry.
: My goodness! Why the sudden change?

(Music: Madam ~ An Enveloping Smell of Roses)

: I...I guess I was wrong about you. I didn't understand.
: Oh, Amelie...
: I thought all you ever did was write these weird novels...
: That makes me a little sad...
: Papa said the job of justice minister was complicated.
: Yes, your father's job is very, very complicated and difficult. That's why I couldn't talk to you about most of it. But you're right. I shouldn't treat you like such a little girl anymore. You're growing up, after all.
: And I promise to stop calling your novels "weird" and try actually reading them.
: What?! Oh, uh...maybe you'd better wait until you're a little older for that...
: Tsk. Oh, okay...
: So, Amelie, if you're feeling a little more charitable towards your ol' Mama...do you think you could let me down now...?
: You know, I would LOVE to do that...but I'm just feeling too dizzy and sick right now...
: Tonight, on this holiest of nights -- my deadline...it looks like the only thing pressing on me will be this chandelier. Here is to Mama and Papa's darling angel!