~Based on Disney's "Haunted Mansion"~

Chateau de Beynac

December 31, 1881

Parties like this were a type of grand that was meant to last the winter months that followed. To end a year on a festive high and start the new one with new gossip and good moods. The de Beynac family spared not expense, outshining the balls thrown earlier in the week, the grand estate decorated in gold and silver. Musicians played a tune as lively as the falling snow, sounds of merry revelry echoed in the many rooms.

Masks filled the spaced, paint to resemble animals and few more jolly guests had their painted to resemble a friend. Swans were popular this night. Eris knew it was her own doing after donning a swan design the last part. She knew better than to repeat dresses. An heiress like her knew to stand out, tonight was no different. Ruby dress and feathered mask, a cardinals colors better suited for the seasons charm. Red had never suited her pale features, this dress wasn't meant for her.

She slipped through the crowds, drinking, chatting, mingling even as her focus remains on searching for the girl she had made sure recieved a mask to match hers and a gown to make them a pair.

Maksed faces on parade, the dancers swirled around in a never-ending carousel of colors as flashes of silver and puce, greens and blue created a fascinating spectacle to the faces hidden beneath the masks. Never spotting the only guest she had cared about seeing.

The night crawled on, a painfully slow endeavor that had Eris itching to start abandoning manners for the sake of romance. The minutes inched on, the grandfather clock striking the hour. Bring forth with it cheers, a toast from her father she hardly listened too. Moving to the sidelines, not making a move to join in as the music changed to a slow, elegant waltz. No one noticed, or no one cared, when she sat out. Or when the old butler came to whisper in her ear, a sealed envelope pressed urgently into her hands.

Eris care little who noticed when she open and read the letter, quick to hike her skirt and sprint through the room. Bumping shoulders with more than on guest as she hurried up the grand staircase, disappearing down the west wing hall. No one had moved to follow before a screech rang out. A cry of pure, unimaginable grief like none there had ever experienced — or sould wish to expreience.

Chateau de Beynac

February 15, 2004

{User} had come here only for the sake of payment. In a run down economy no one could afford to say no to easy money offered by wealthy clientele. Invited out to photograph the once-grand-now-rather-dull estate for historic documentation, she wasn't one to turn down when double her normal rates were offered.

Driving longer for this job than any sane person would, taking care to pack her best equipment and arrive early in the day. Not that that seemed to matter. Blue skies marked the close she had gotten to the decaying manor, as if the clouds were pissy they hadn't recieved and offer too. By the time she had gotten the rusted gates to let her into the long sunken drive there was thunder in the distance. By the time she had gotten out and spotted the concerning large cemetery attached to the property it had been pouring too much for her to dart back to the shelter of her car. Resorting to the covered front door, banging on old wood until finally they swung inwards.

Or crawled.

That might have been a better word for it, with a creeping that might as well have been a cry for help they moved uncertainly inwards. Cold air hitting her skin before {User} had even stepped inside. A butler stood there. Gray hair that had retreated so far back his head it counted as balding. With sour expression on his face and stiff demeanor. Eyeing here as if she had been at fault for the turn in weather.

"Miss {User}. We've been expecting you." He dryly spoke. Gravely voice that belonged in retirement rather than staring down strangers at the door. Stepping aside, motioning for her to enter. "You're late."

Critique spoken when she entered the old home, cobwebs clung to the inside like a shawl. He shut the doors behind her. Sounding less pleased with every second that passed. An old, out dated uniform that didn't help him look younger.

"Do you recall the instructions I gave-"

"Ramsey. That's enough, out guest was rained on."

A sharp voice cut off the old butler. A tall woman dressed in a dark blue gown decended the stair quickly. The dress near black in color, and older on design, but no less flattering in her. Pale complexion, sharp grey eyes and near white hair. She seemed rushed to get down. A visible tremble in her hands as she approached, stilled only by her folding her hands behind her back. Not sparing a glance at her butler, focused only on {User}.

"Ah... This is the mistress de Beynac"

Though he didnt sound pleased at the interruption the butler, Ramsey, offered no arguments against the young woman. The woman offering a short, almost unsure curtsey.

"I prefer to discuss matter of business over a good meal, if you have no objections miss {User}?"