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[Lady Ditto Armunn]

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Juju walked across the kitchen floor, raising her skull-topped walking stick in a threatening manner at a young servant girl. The girl was already in tears and standing in the middle of a large spilled mess upon the floor. Bits and pieces of meat and vegitables were scattered helter skelter. Seeing that she might be beaten by the hag, Juju, made the girl's eyes widen and she let out a shrilled scream. This made Juju stop suddenly, cover her ears, and shush at the girl.
"You Shush now. Be quiet! I won't hit ya none. Not yet anyhow." The girl hushed up instantly.

Juju shook her head in dissappointment and spoke, "I told you not to be in dis kitchen when you were hired yesterday. Dah lord's meal is already late and now what der was ready is all over dat der floor cause of you not knowing what your doin and knockin tings all around wid your clumsy self. Dah lord looks ta me when it comes ta his food. And he be having a awful bad mood when he's hungry."

The nieve servant spoke quietly with a confidence she had from lack of experience in this household. "I'll speak to him, Miss Juju. I'll let him know that it was my fault not knowing my way around the house yet that caused his dinner to be late. I'm sure he'll be understanding about it."

Juju looked suddenly amused and leaned her head back to cackle loudly. "Will he now? Yes, yes, I be sure you right. He be so understandin bout it dat you'll be lucky ta leave dah room alive." She cackled in laughter again before continuing, "Youngin' you best be lettin me handle dah lord. He won't be wantin' no explanations. He'll be wantin his belly filled. Now you get off wid yourself and clean up like what you been hired ta do. Not poke around causing my death in my own kitchen."

As the frightened young girl ran out the door, Juju hollered after her, "And don't let me be catchin sight of you for dah rest of dah eve!"

Just as she was about to bend over, she heard her lord's footsteps in the diningroom and then the sound of the girl letting out another scream. The pitter patter of running and a door slamming shut. The old house woman shook her head again, hoping that the new servant hadn't made things even worse with that display. Lord Armunn had more than likely heard the ruckus earlier, but he tended to leave Juju to handle ruckuses that didn't need the guards attention when his wife wasn't home. She grabbed a rag from off the table and began to start cleaning up the bulk of the mess when she heard him call out for her to come get his daughter. It was usually his way to allow his youngest, Bree, to follow him to the dining room so she could show off new words she had learned, or a new trick like snapping her fingers. Today, she had learned to whistle. Slowly coming up to a standing possition, and grabbing up her walking stick to lean on, she went into the dining room where she found Bree giggling too much to whistle, but making the attempt. She had found her mother's paints and had decorated her face with colorful scribbles. Lord Armunn did not seem pleased and gave Juju a look as if she had done some wrong. She wondered to herself if she would survive the day. Picking up the child, she held her close, using her as something of a shield. He said not a word, but Juju began speaking, "It weren't me dat put dah paint on dah child. I know you done went and hired dem two new girls ta help with dah duties but dem ones you hired....dah ones I'm in charge of, ain't worth spit." Her tone quieted. "Your supper is gunna be late, but I'll see to dat directly, and I'll be fixing your favorite meal ta make up for dah inconvenience." Lowering her head in supposed obedience, Juju walked back to the kitchen, carrying Bree. Once the kitchen door closed, she straightened and mocked spitting at the door and muttered something about being high and mighty and poisoning him.

It was never really understood by the average person why the Lord Armunn trusted and tollerated the old witch as he did. Or why Juju would remain working for the Armunns if she were so unhappy. Truth be told, Juju cared much for every member of the Armunn family. She was dedicated to them. She could clean. And even Tarothin had to admit she was the best cook he'd ever run across. Beyond that, Juju had proven to be a powerful and trusted ally back in the days of the Dark Order. Her skills with curses and alchemy were extraordinary. She somehow had the ability to change her form as well, making for good spy material. She had her secrets but she held the family's secrets too. Imryrr, Lord Armunn's eldest daughter, had once gotten curious about Juju and found out that she wasn't human though she always appeared to be. It seemed no one was really sure what Juju was or where she came from. No one except for maybe Lady Armunn. For a long time Ditto had only told Tarothin that Juju had delivered her and saved her from death by the hands of her mother, Dr'Maj, when she thought Ditto was sickly looking upon birth. Juju had seen that Ditto reach her father's doorstep to safety. However, more recently, one night when Ditto had had a nightmare and made him listen to her rambling, she stumbled upon the subject of hers and Juju's past. It turned out that Juju had also delivered Ditto's mother. And her grandfather. And her grandfather's mother. Beyond that, she wasn't sure. Ditto's race, on average lived five to eight hundred years. That could make Juju over two thousand years old. Older than any other race most people had ever heard of. Ditto's words droned off and shortly she was asleep.

Alone in the house, Juju would grumble about certain family members and often threatened to poison their food, but they were always empty threats that didn't normally cause any concern. When visitors arrived, Juju was total obedience to Lord Armunn, and made sure everyone else showed him respect, including the visitors, no matter their rank or class. She was fiercely protective of her family. All of them. In the beginning it was believed that Juju's loyalty mainly was to Ditto, but the past few years, had shown that wasn't the case. She normally avoided inner family disputes because it simply wasn't her place to take sides, nor was it safe to do so. But upon occassion, if she was forced to take a side, she would, and it was normally the lord she sided with. He was, afterall, head of the household.

Grumbling was one of Juju's favorite pasttimes. She seemed to be at her most content when there was something to complain about. She was morbid and morose and seemed to revel in it. Doom and gloom predictions of everyone's death was occassionally on her lips. She was secretive about her cooking and at one time, Imryrr thought Juju might be drugging them because of all the secret behavior, but upon investigation found out that Juju was simply very protective about her recipes. If others could cook meals as well as she could, she believed her usefulness to the lord would be lessened and she was more likely to die by his hands. She honestly believed that as long as she cooked food he liked, she might be safe, and might even hold a certain power in the house because of it. She could've been right in that assumption given Tarothin's "beastly" appetite.

Before she had gone to live and work for the Armunn family, Juju had lived in swampy areas. Imryrr had been born in Juju's hidden swamp cave. The storm that night had destroyed the entire area. That was when she moved in with them. In Dark Cove, the Armunn Keep kitchen basement was her sleeping quarters and overtime, had become swampy with Juju's own decorating. The hunting lodge, the home they now all lived in on the tiny island Tarothin owned, had a swamp nearby and Juju now slept there in a hut arranged for her. If, on some night, Juju decided to sleep in one of the guestrooms, one could bet that there would be a bad storm. So, it seemed she could predict the weather as well. Or, at least bad weather. Whether or not she could actually predict other events was yet to be known. She portrayed herself sometimes as some sort of fortune teller. Sometimes as a witch. Sometimes as "just a housekeeper". Juju made no bones about being Chaotic but she, like Ditto, did not worship the gods of Chaos. Her voodooistic encantations seemed more to call upon things of death. Whether that was what she was actually doing or if it was all just for show, no one really knew.

Juju was a mystery. But she was a quiet one that could keep secrets and would help the lord when he needed it. So no one bothered her. She lived, for the most part, happily. A contented life of doom and gloom.

Currently, the household was just starting to get back to some form of normal life since Lady Armunn left for her journey to Sosaria. Ditto had made sure that extra staff was hired to help Juju around the house before she left. Ditto was picky with who cared for her daughter, Bree, and preferred that Juju be in charge of her for the most part. But she didn't want Tarothin inconvenienced in anyway, so she hired one more than what she thought would be needed. However, in recent days, the three hired had died mysteriously. On his guard at first, when the bodies had been found without a mark on them, Tarothin had relaxed and more overlooked the incident when Juju suggested oddly that they might have eaten spoiled food. He didn't buy it for a minute. But, they were unimportant to him.
Yesterday, Juju had been gone from the house much longer than she'd expected on an errand to meet the supply ship at the dock. Now, short of staff, when a small crowd of possible servants had come to the house to be interviewed, the lord had that lowly duty. He had made his choices quickly. He didn't interview servants. That was his wife's or Juju's job. When Juju got home she was greeted by two beautiful young women. One, was overly dramatic and prone to crying. She had little, if any experience. The other had very much experience but not with being a housemaid. She was a former barwench. But, at least she could clean. She spent most of her free time attempting to flirt with the lord, who either didn't notice or simply ignored her so far. Juju didn't care who the girl flirted with. She had the extra hands she needed to get the house duties done until Ditto returned and would most likey fire her on sight. Part of Juju hoped that Ditto would wait a bit, and catch her flirting attempts. This house could use some fireballs to warm up the winter air, she thought, and chuckled to herself.
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Dark Lady Ditto Armunn
~ D|O ~

=Left Hand Suzuki Method=
ICQ: 617689603 Twitter: @Ody0
Quote: "Oh Great! First I get stabbed and now I'm bleeding!" - Ditto
Tarothin Armunn Quote: "I know and I have mood swings like a pregnant woman at times. :/ I'm very random."