Eventually, the two reached a familiar doorway - the lounge was just inside! But before they could go in, Ricki said a quick "bye!" and started running down the hallway.
"Wait!" Tim protested, "I need you to-"
"Oh, that's real sweet, but timid idiots aren't really my type," Ricki called back before disappearing into the endless maze of corridors. Tim thought for a moment about chasing her down the dark, twisted hallways, wandering completely alone in this alien place, some horrible thing waiting in the shadows to take over his mind and his body, and... no, he tells himself, better just head on into the lounge and get some help.
Slamming the door loudly behind him, the young man took a look around. He was here. Sara was here. Both were fine. But... where the heck was Stanley? His eyes darted across the room, over every chair and into every corner, but his only remaining male friend was nowhere to be seen.
"What? What happened?" Sara inquired.
"Where's Stan?!?"
"He was getting hungry so he said he was going to go and find that maid, ask her if she'd help him fix up something to eat. Why?"
The stress was getting to be too much for Tim, who fell to his knees and started shaking his head. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap."
"Well, WHAT? Come on, Tim, what's got you spooked, a paper bag or something?"
"R-r-rick's been... I mean, he's... oooooh man... and now Stan too!"
Sara rolled her eyes. She could be rather patient, but this was going too far. Walking up to Tim, she lifted him to his feet, looked into his fear-gripped eyes, and asked him as sternly as possible, "what happened?"
As the events of Tim and Rick's failed escapade were recounted, Sara kept a pensive look on her face. The mention of a red-haired cat girl got her eyebrow raised, but only for a second. Otherwise she just sat and listened intently as a shuddering and terrified Tim tried to tell her everything that he'd seen. When he finished, she stood up, crossed her arm, and looked at him skeptically.
"So you saw another of those weird cat people, and because she was rude you assumed that she was Rick? Come on Tim, be rational. People can't just spontaneously change sex, let alone SPECIES. More likely that there's just more than one of them or something. Can't see them lasting too long otherwise."
"But-"
"Shut up, Tim. You saw something freaky and you overreacted, like you always do. Nothing is happening in this mansion except a weird race of aliens or something taking residence in it. Now, you need to sit down and relax while we wait for-"
A sudden scream ended her speech. At first the voice was unfamiliar, something that they'd rarely heard before, but it wasn't long before they realized why: it was Stanley! Sara, abandoning her usually plan-prone attitude, rushed in the direction that the sound had come from, pulling a reluctant Tim along behind her.