Dante

**Dante** was a small lapdog who belonged to Fanny and her husband, George Button, and resided at Button House with them for many years.

## Biography

At some point of the Edwardian period Dante was either purchased, gifted or birthed by another dog owned to the Button family and given the name Dante. He was closest and adored by Lady Button who - since her husband wasn't very attentive towards her - probably formed a very strong bond with him.

Regrettably, Dante died at some point of an unknown cause and was stuffed then set by the door where he remained for decades afterwards, or at least until Alison and Mike Cooper moved in to Button House. For the majority of their residence at the house Dante went more or less unnoticed by the Coopers and generally left alone to continue his guard on the front door.

However, when Alison and Mike throw a party in About Last Night and things drunkenly spiral somewhat, Alison and her friends grab Dante and take him on a tour of the house to perform increasingly silly mimes; this includes playing the piano and napping inside it. Eventually he is left on the kitchen table amongst various half-empty bottles where Alison accidentally spills red wine on him while Julian is teaching her how to make a cocktail, panicked she and her friend chuck salt on him only to decided white wine is of more use to get the stain out; ultimately he is left in the sink out of the way for a while. The next morning Alison is questioned by Thomas as to where Dante has gone, when Pat and Julian also inform her of just how important Dante was to Fanny panic sparks inside Alison again and she goes on a mad search for the animal while trying to clean up for a wedding venue viewing as well as surviving a hangover and missing husband; Mike is on the roof.

Alison slowly manages to remember pieces of the previous night but keeps finding the dog missing from where she thought Dante could have been, even the other ghosts have little luck in tracking the dog down. Eventually Alison finds Dante in her bed still wet with his leg bent at a ninety degree angle and having had his eye popped out at some point. Surrounded by the other ghost they work quickly to stuff Dante back into shape before Fanny sees what has happened to him and the Captain says to 'just stuff its leg back into shape and pop its eye back in' then to set Dante by the fire to dry all of which Alison quickly does. Fanny is quick to notice everybody's odd behavior but soon turns her attention to Dante and asks why he has been put there though she decides that it's fitting for him to be by the fire as he liked that in life. Unfortunately a few minutes later Dante falls backwards when a closet door opens and quickly catches fire, it is unknown if any of Dante was salvaged or how Lady Button reacted to the second loss of her beloved pet.

## Appearance

Dante was a small black and white dog who was well pampered and was a papillon.

## Personality

Almost nothing is known about Dante's day to day activities or personality as he's never appeared as a living animal. He was undoubtedly beloved by Fanny Button who according to the disgraced MP, Julian, had once told him she loved the dog 'more than anything else in the world'. Thomas further solidifies this when he says she 'loved him like her own child'. It is likely he was a fairly lazy dog who usually stayed close to Fanny as he was probably spoilt by her. The one true fact known of Dante's personality is that he had a tendency to curl up by the large fire place for naps and such.

## Trivia

* Dante is an Italian variation of the original Latin name Durans and means 'everlasting' or 'enduring', a somewhat ironic name for a dog who has been stuffed and set out as decoration.