I've Got the Strangest Feeling This Isn't Our First Time Around

24

Luigi knocks on Whirl's room door, "Whirl? Are you in there?"

The door opens, revealing Whirl, "Oh. It's you. Any word on Linda?"

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Luigi deflects, and miraculously, Whirl nods his consent and steps back to let him in.

Luigi makes note of the disheveled room before sitting across from Whirl.

"Did you find Linda's attackers?" Whirl asks.

"Not yet." Luigi admits.

Whirl takes a drink, then points a finger, "You're not the cops.", and Luigi doesn't need social cues to know that's not a question.

"But you already knew that." Luigi says. "I'm...cop adjacent."

"They still think I did it, don't they?" Whirl asks.

"I don't." Luigi assures him.

"But you can't prove it." Whirl reminds him, taking another drink.

"The night Linda was petrified, you were in Boo Woods, where buildings appear and reappear regularly." Luigi informs him.

"The guy at the front desk told us a shortcut so we wouldn't get lost." Whirl explains. "Michael. He had dark hair. God, Linda was so beautiful..."

Luigi reaches out before he can stop himself to put a hand on Whirl's arm, but in the next instant, Whirl is grabbing him and demanding, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I just want to help." Luigi says, now starting to get nervous.

"Here's some help for you: I did kill her." Whirl says, eyes wild.

But instead of being horrified, Luigi shakes his head, "You're lying. I know you are."

"You think you know me at all, but you're dead wrong." Whirl's grip on his arm gets tighter. "I. Did. It. If I hadn't left her alone in the woods..." then Whirl suddenly lets go, voice broken, "If I'd stayed with her, she never would've been petrified. Or we could've been petrified together..."

Luigi's heart breaks for him, especially when Whirl follows it up with, "All because I called to make sure everything was set up for my stupid proposal!"

He pulls a ring box out of his pocket and throws it, hitting a picture on the wall, breaking the glass.

"Whirl, please..." Luigi begs.

"Go." Whirl orders, forcing Luigi to back towards the door. "You're not even in the same league as Linda. You're a joke. LEAVE!"

Luigi doesn't need to be told twice, and quickly dashes out, the door slamming behind him.

Luigi looks at the door for one more moment, then leaves, a man on a mission.

"Got any preferences for your bubbly?" Spike asks Pauline, who has her hands full with the record player.

"Bubbly and tasty." Pauline says without looking up.

"I meant cup or flute?" Spike says, walking over to her.

"Flute, please." Pauline stops to accept the one in Spike's hand.

"So when is Mario supposed to come over?" Spike asks as she sips.

"Honestly? No clue." Pauline shrugs. "Last I saw him; he was being all weird and just left. Kind of his thing. No clue where he went, either."

"At all?" Spike asks, and at the shake of her head, follows it up, "I thought you two went way back."