The night was dark, the house was silent, and Gardun slept peacefully. The pink-haired woman had a smile on her slumbering face, not a worry as she snoozed...

And then the rattling began, slowly but as it got louder, she opened her eyes suddenly.

"...What's that?" She sat up suddenly.

Looking around, the room was silent, and she was thinking maybe she'd imagined it when she realised... the bed was empty beside her.

And the rattling happened again.

She tossed her fluffy warm blankets aside, and in her pink woolen jammies, stood from the bed. Black shorts and above-the-knee socks on her lower form, she slid on pink slippers, and carefully moved to the bedroom door, wincing at a few creaks, as...

...The rattle came again.

The door was opened softly and Gardun swore a faint laugh echoed for a second down the stairs, plus a quiet rattle. She carefully went down, step by step, not letting herself make noise where she could avoid it, dodging creaky stairs

"Waah!"

Tripping over her own shoes at the bottom.

"I'm okay!" She said instinctively, not noticing a slightly worried rattle that had sounded as she tripped.

She remembered she was meant to be acting sneaky since there was weird rattling, and clasped a hand over her mouth, letting silence fall as she sat on the floor (Hmm, this carpet was actually quite comfy...) and listened out for-

-The rattle came again.

Stealthily she began crawling on hands and knees, bumped her head on the doorframe with a quiet 'ow', and slipped into the living room, where she peeked around.

There was nothing. Well, okay, there was the sofa, chairs, the TV, and stuff, not nothing, they hadn't been burgled or anything. But what was doing the rattling?

...Was it a burglar? No, they had good locks and a good alarm. Couldn't be that. But where was Lotra? Where was Gardun's beautiful girlfriend? Was there any cookies left in the kitchen?

She startled crawling off that way to check when there was another rattle... from there.

She realised she should probably stand, as the living room carpet was not as comfy on her knees, so slipped towards the kitchen door. She slid it open quietly(ish) and then...

...the kitchen looked empty too.

Oh well, maybe check for the cookies now... Ooh, and a glass of milk!

"Yeah... midnight snack time!" Gardun said,forgetting why she was actually here for a moment.

She softly sneaked silently and stealthy slowly over the slate-patterned vinyl floor tiles of the kitchen floor, to the refrigerator, sad she'd ran out of things starting with S to keep the alliteration going.

She began to open it when the rattling came again and reminded her why she was searching. But where was it coming from? Mind changed, she looked again, checking under the table. Nothing.

Another rattle. The cupboards? Under the sink? Inside the fridge.

"Ow!" She yelped as the bright light from inside surprised her eyes that were adjusted to darkness.

She thought she heard a sound like a sigh as she rubbed her eyes, closing the door, and then resuming her investigation. The pantry! Maybe the rattling had come from there. She opened that door, to... nothing. Well, tins of food and bags of flour and such, but no sign of anything rattling.

And then the rattling again. Gardun wondered why she wanted to track it so much. It wasn't making her scared, if anything it sounded familiar. But she still wanted to find what it was and why.

So, she resumed her stealthy movement... pausing to make sure it wasn't something inside the cutlery drawer, heading into the laundry room.

Here, there wasn't anything much either, just the door down to the basement, the washer, the dryer, and a few hampers. Maybe...

...No, nothing in that hamper. Or this one. Or in the dryer. But aha!

The washing machine was also empty. Detergent cupboard? Behind the dryer? She'd maybe have to pull it out to check properly but -

Rattle rattle! There it was again. From the basement?

Wait, now it was spooky. Basements were where Freddy Krugers lived! Or was it Boogeymen?

"Oh well, only one way to find out," Gardun said to herself, and then gave an eep, covering her mouth again.

Quiet! Silent! The rattling thing might hear you coming and hide!

Moving down, she saw the boiler idle, a green light from it. But that was about it. Just the basement storage boxes, and she was going to just give up if the rattling thing was in there. But maybe it was behind that pile? She looked...

...and the rattling came again, definitely from back upstairs! Gardun quickly but silently made her way back.

The laundry, kitchen, and living room still empty, but... there, rattling upstairs! She padded back up, dodged her shoes, almost tripped at the top step but caught herself, and wondered what now. Back in the bedroom? Maybe in the spare, or the attic... she decided to check the spare room first, since the attic hatch was there anyway!

The spare room was where Lotra worked on her hobby stuff, and Gardun tried to stay out when she was busy, letting her girlfriend have peace. Well, when Gardun wasn't posing as her model of course, But she wasn't here now...

Easels, art supplies, a pedestal for when Gardun did modelling, Lotra's stuff for working with at home, though of course she did most of her work-work at the spa.... Either way, no source of rattling there. And as tempted as she was to look under one of the covered easels, Lotra didn't like her snooping before something was finished.

They also did have a small bed here for any guests they might have had,  but she left it alone except to check behind it and below it. So... the attic it was to see if...

A rattling noise once more! Gardun was close, she knew it! And aha, the ladder to the attic was down.

She slipped onto it, wincing as the wooden slats creaked a little, but made it.

Here was more storage, the water tank, and not much else. A little telescope pointed out a skylight but the night was cloudy so no stargazing... even if she wasn't busy chasing the mysterious rampaging rattle noise!

(Who'd have thought one small house could be such a big search area for some rattling noises? But this was the last room so it had to be here, unless it had been slipping past her every time!)

But it wasn't. There was no sign of anything that rattled, except a box that had some lego in it for some reason, though that sounded much different. Gardun wondered if she'd just made it all up for a second when she heard the rattle once more.

From back downstairs! Aha, into the main bedroom again!

Back she went carefully, slipping back into the room she'd started in, and looked around. Of course, the walk-in closet! She hadn't even checked it earlier.

Probably because it was empty except for clothes.  Ah, but Gardun didn't know that until now and - ooh, that was a nice dress, she forgot she'd had that one...

"So where was the rattling coming from?" She wondered... and then it came again from the bedroom for sure!

She slipped out of the closet, looked around, didn't see anything until...

"EEP!"

A pair of green glowing eyes floated in the darkness, a rattling and a hiss accompanying it. Gardun stared into the glow, unable to move her eyes from it no matter how much she tried. And barely able to even move her body at all. Her fingers twitched, barely moving before they stilled. She tried to speak...

"How'd you sneak up on m-" She said, but was cut off as she froze more deeply, voice trailing off to just the sound of faint breathing.

For a moment she was nothing but still. Standing stiff, raising an arm in surprise, legs splayed out, mouth open in mid-sentence surprise, her eyes wid... and then a crackling sound began to emerge, coming from the pink-haired woman as the next stage of transforming began. Moonlight filtered through the window as the clouds cleared, almost perfectly timed. Her skin was lit pale in that glow, eyes glimmering... as they dulled. Her soft skin and wide eyes changed, her pink hair dulled, and in a few moments, the frozen woman was altered.

From flesh, to stone. Pink bed-head hair was now solid alabaster flecked with a little grey. The bright wide eyes were now globes of pale stone. Her skin was the same, stiff and unyielding rock.

The glowing green eyes faded, and a laugh came from the shadows.

"Ah, what a little chase. All around the house following my rattling tail..."

The shadows shifted as a figure neared, a tall shape with writhing snake-hair and a whipping tail, topped with a rattle. The rattle was waved in the statue's face.

"It was like a moth to a flame, Gardun... so easy to tease, so easy to lead on the little tour... "

The gorgon walked into the moonlight, fully illuminated now as she looked over her prize. Green scaled skin, a silken red sleeping shirt, and satiny black shorts, with her legs bare. Her hair was a mass of writhing snakes, that stared at the statue too.  She studied the stone form she'd made from the pinkette, a satisfied grin and glint in the no longer glowing eyes, an almost hungry leer coming over her face the longer she looked at what was before her.

Gardun, frozen in a classic pose of surprise, rock hard, shimmering almost in the moonlight. Helpless as the gorgon gazed her stone form over like it was a delightful work of art - because she was. She was a beauty in stone, even with her surprised expression frozen in the pale petrification.

"Every room, a little rattle, lured you in. And you slipped past, while I knew where you'd look. And moved on. Or got past you... letting you follow me until the time was just right."

The gorgon stared into Gardun's blank stone eyes, as if trying to petrify the statue all over again, the grin still on her face. Moonlight sparkled off her pearly white teeth as she ran a finger down from between those petrified eyes, over the nose, and around the frozen rocky lips. Gardun's own teeth were in her open mouth, but they weren't white any more. They were as stony as the rest of her. The Gorgon held the statue's chin, still leaning in close and whispering.

"And now here you are. Petrified... helpless. Tip of your sculpted little nose to your toes in your fluffy slippers, you're solid stone, but I know you hear me...."

'Yep... I can...' Gardun thought, but of course, the gorgon did not hear her.

"You're so beautiful... so irresistible like this," the Gorgon practically purred, placing hands onto Gardun's rigid shoulders, running them down the sides of the statue to rest on her hips...

'Uh oh...' Gardun thought in her stony head.

And then the Gorgon hugged the statufied form of her girlfriend as she squealed in delight.

"So cute! Oh, it was so much fun, like it always is to tease you, darling!"

A blushing scaly cheek rubbed against rock-hard smooth stone.

"And you always make such a great statue. Even when it's an accident... but so cute when I catch you... and so very adorable when you pose for me!" Lotra said, still hugging the statue.

'Thanks, sweetie... I love posing for you too! And this was kinda fun...' Gardun thought.

"Though... I do have to ask, why did you think I was in things like the fridge? Or the washing machines? Oh, wait...."

She booped the stony button nose of the statue she was hugging.

"You can't speak! Silly me..." Lotra giggled, and rubbed her face on the stone cheek again as she resumed cuddling her temporary-work-of-art girlfriend.

'Look, it made perfect sense to me at the time! And... wait, I never checked for cookies! Aw... Oh, statues can't eat cookies...'

Gardun pondered this

'Or can they? Lotra! I am speaking into your mind! It is me, Gardun! Please get cookies! See if I can eat them! Lotra? My green-skinned gorgon goddess girlfriend? If you can hear me, say, uh... bananas?'

Lotra cuddled and giggled as Gardun waited a moment.

'...Lotra? Dang it, that never works,' the stone woman mentally sighed.

Someday she'd get telepathic powers! She wasn't sure how, but... some day!

But as Gardun planned likely impossible feats, her Gorgon girlfriend giggled, cuddled, and remained heedless of what the statue was thinking....