Chase Q Family Farm

[Chase Q]

Welcome my most frighteous of dudes and dudettes, to the Quadripedes family farm! Located just a hop, skip and trot from the New Salem city limits, the Q family farm has all the comforts of home! Because, it's TOTALLY my home! HA!

Chase Q, THE most hextreme centaur, best bluddy of Manny, Hellene and THE Draconia, and boofriend to my little witch, Glen da West - at your service! I'll be your most fangulous host!

I live here with my `rents, Charon and Mareietta, otherwise known as Mom and Pop! Also here is my little sis, Whinnie, and baby bro, Colt! Whinnie attends Monster High as a freshmoan, and Colt just started Kindergoreton. Gnarly, huh?

Not many mansters know this, but the majority of the fruits and veggies and grain that are used in New Salem/ TOTALLY comes from the Quad, er, Quintel, uh... the Q family farm!

Oh, and every so often, you just might see a BackYard Monster Wrestling event hosted here! Highlighted by the most outRAGEOUS tag team, Los Monstros de Destructos! Their identities are WAYYY a mystery!

Couple tips for visiting?

Guests are welcome, but don't be surprised if my mom puts you to work! One of the hazards of bein' a fiend to the Q's!

Don't feed the zombie pigs!

Don't walk behind the zombie cows. Not only do they kick but... well let's just say don't wear your best shoes.  

[Chase Q]

Saturday!

Lin's face was covered with a welder's mask as he lit the propane torch and worked on welding together bits and pieces of metal pipes to fashion four ring posts for the Backyard Monster Wrestling ring. Atomica effortlessly carried over more bits and pieces the pair had scavenged from one of the abandoned rooms in the Catacombs for this hired project...

"Are youuuu sure it's a good idea for the gremlin to make our ring?" Manny Taur asked Chase as the two hulking bluddies came around the corner of the farm house on Chase's family farm. "He blows things up in chop class almost as much as Glen does in Mad Science!"

"Cha! No fear my mighty minotaur bro!" Chase reassured him. "It's all bits of metal and wood they're using! Not a bit of electronics!"

"What about that blow torch?"

"Yeahhhhh! That's TOTALLY why I had them build it close to the well!" Chase nodded, jetting a thumb back to where the ring was being set up. "Plus for hextra precautions, I totally raided mom's stash of baking soda!"

"Smart moooove!"

Manny was an overnight guest Friday on the Q family farm, something that would have been unheard of almost a year ago before, but thanks to the fiendship between Draconia and Glen, much of the animosity between the two monster races had been soothed, much like that of vampires and werewolves.

"Okay lass! Now PULL!"

Lin called out to Atomica and the automaton ghoul who was both pseudo sister as well as beastie to the small gremlin pulled on the last of the three velvet ropes (like what you'd see in a classy boovie theater) until they each reached around all four sides of the ring and attached them, end on end to the corner turnbuckles.

Surrounding the 'ring were several bales of hay for use as the seats!

"Okay, now to test them!"

Lin leaned back into the 'ropes' and sprung off, bounced off the far side, bounced off the other side and back and forth, over and over...

"I CANNNN'T STOOOOOP!!!!"

Atomica, Chase and Manny's heads whipped from left to right like they were watching a high powered tennis match until Manny collapsed from dizziness and Chase staggered around on all fours! Atomica steadied herself, and then reached in and snatched Lin by the cuff of his overalls and brought his test run to an end.

"The ropes work great!" Atomica ran a digital finger along the velvety goodness. "Where did you pick these up?"

"From the lobby of the retro boovie theater! Thought they'd give the ring a touch of class!"

"And they won't, like, miss them or anything? They just gave them to you?"

"Well... they didn't stop me?"

Manny nudged Chase in the arm and whispered, "So what did the little gremlin get for making us a real ring?"

"Permanent ringside seats for him and his two bluddies!" Chase smiled. "TOTALLY rocked the deal!"

"Sweet! Looks like they're finishing up!"

"Cha! Just in time too! Look!"

Manny turned towards the country road beside the farm where the first car pulled up and after a moment, Heath Burns and Jackson Jeckyll climbed out.

Chase hexclaimed, "Ah! The first of the fandom arrives!"  

[Draconia St George]

"Chase!" Draconia waved as she landed on the dirt path that led to the Q Family Farm. "Manny!"

"Drake!" Manny gave her a wave as Chase trotted up to her. "We were worried youuuu chickened out!"

"No, just running a bit late because of the family being in town." Draconia replied. "I'm terribly sorry. I know you said you wanted me to help you with something."

"No worries, no worries, you're fright on time!" Chase grinned. "Lin and Atomica just finished setting up the ring and now we're putting out seats for the fangdom. You can lend us a claw with that for now. You can see, the line's already forming!"

Chase pointed over towards where Jackson and Heath had started to queue up behind some stacked hay bales. A few other monsters were starting to trickle over and join the queue. Draconia saw Lagoona Blue and Operetta chatting as they strolled over, and Cy Clops was walking with Robecca Steam. Dougie and Romulus were still a good half-mile away, but they had brought several of their werewolf friends with.

"Blimey! It looks like it's going to be a good cr-" Draconia cut herself off as she noticed Iris Clops walking up, clutching one of the posters Chase had hung up around school to her chest. She peered around with her big, green eye, clearly looking to catch a glimpse of-

"Manny!" Chase nudged the minotaur. "Show THE Draconia where the chairs are being kept, will ya? I'll go see if Colt's gotten his drink stand set up yet."

"Kay." Manny lumbered over to the nearest barn, and Draconia followed, shaking off her distraction. They stepped inside, and a warm, earthy draft of air rushed at Draconia, filling her nose with the smell of hay and undead farm animals.

"Only the front few rows're gonna have chairs." Manny informed Draconia, showing her where the folding chairs were stacked. "The rest're gonna be sitting on those hay bale bleachers Chase and I built. This show's gonna rock, and that's no bull!"

"Mm hm." Draconia nodded. "If you want, I could take some pictures with my iCoffin, and we could upload them to that Backyard Monster Wrestling fiercebook page Chase set up."

"I thought Chase invited Perry to come." Manny replied, hefting six chairs up with his massive arms. "He's all about the photography junk, I thought that was why he was coming. Not a wrestling fan, but he's still an okay guy."

"Ugh! Perry Hartley." Draconia spat out, a bit more angrily than she intended. Manny dropped the chairs.

"Did he do something? Does he need to be pounded? Let me at him!" Manny slapped his fists together and cracked his knuckles. Draconia's eyes widened and she tried to shake it off.

"Oh no, no, nothing like that! It's just that yesterday, he was a bit...well...I mean...it was very..." Draconia struggled for words. "Well I think he thought that I was...interested... in him. Just because I was nice to him! And he got very insulting because of it!"

"Oh, uh...are you?" Manny asked, rubbing the back of his head. Thinking hard about things wasn't Manny's specialty...at all...and even worse was trying to figure out 'ghoul things.' Since Draconia and he had broken up, it was so much easier to just ignore the fact that she was a ghoul, and think of her as just 'one of the guys.'

"Am I what? Interested in him? Well, certainly not if he's going to tell me that it's stupid of me!" Draconia informed Manny hotly.

"And you're sure you don't want me to pound him into next week?" Manny asked, flexing his hands. Draconia let out a long sigh.

"No....it's just....Why do things have to be so complicated?" She asked him. Manny shrugged.

"To tell the truth, it was a lot less complicated when we were dating. I'd be all like 'want to go to a moooo-vie?' And you'd be all 'pip pip, cheerio, I know the best boosical in the cinema, bumbershoot lift-lorry!' -and then I wouldn't have to worry about things." Manny sat himself down on a hay bale hard, sending sprigs of hay flying everywhere and getting caught in Draconia's hair. "Now if I want to go to a boooooosical, I have to make sure none of the guys find out because that's TOTALLY not a thing the toughest guy on the football team asks any of his bros to do."

"You know, you might actually be surprised there..." Draconia interjected, sitting down next to him on the hay. "But yes, things were a lot less complicated then. Now, every time you and I are seen together, it seems, the gossip train goes runabout."

"We....uh....we could date again. Be a couple. I guess." Manny looked up in the rafters of the barn, trying to focus on a spider-web up there as he twisted his tail in his hand. "To make things easier."

Draconia smoothed out her wings, thinking about what he was saying. She thought about Perry, about Iris Clops, about Glen and Chase, and about being 'just one of the guys.'

"Manny...you are one of my beast friends. You really are." She told him, putting one claw on one of his hands. "But I don't feel that way about you anymore, and you don't feel that way about me. Do you?"

Manny let out a deep, bellowing sigh.

"No. I just thought maybe it'd be easier for us both." He gave Draconia the most sheepish grin a bull-face could manage. Draconia smiled back. "Then I could do girly things like watch boosicals without getting any grief, and you could be in wrestling matches without feeling like you're being treated like a boo."

"You mean 'go to' wrestling matches." Draconia corrected Manny. She put an arm around his massive shoulders and gave him a hug. "And don't feel so down! I know there's probably the perfect ghoul out there for you, fright now, just waiting for the fright moment to let you know how she feels."

"And there's probably a boo out there for you who doesn't need to be pounded into tar for talking smack to you." Manny replied. "Are you SURE you're sure you don't want me to crush Perry into jerky?"

"Positive." Draconia replied, holding back a laugh. "Don't even worry about him; Hellene told me he's grounded all weekend so I don't have to worry about seeing hide, hair nor feather of him around. I can focus on doing whatever needs to be done to make this event a success."

"HEY!" Chase poked a head into the barn and looked at Draconia and Manny. "Chairs?!"

"Keep your horseshoes on,we're coming!" Manny shouted at Chase, tossing one of the folding chairs at him. Chase ducked handily out of the way and grinned.

"Great! Keep that chair-flinging arm loose, Manny! It'll come in handy later! You too, Drake!" And with that he trotted off. Draconia picked up a few chairs as Manny regathered up the ones he'd dropped earlier.

"So...are we goo-ooood?" He asked her.

"I think we are. Good friends."

"The beast." He told her, tugging on his nose-ring. "And if I do date again, Drake, I know I'll be a better boofriend because of what I learned from you."

"Aw, thanks!" Draconia gave him a nudge with one of the chairs she was holding. "And if I date again, I know that any boo who does me wrong will end up in a puddle."  

[Perry Hartley]

Evidently Hellene was still annoyed enough to practically drag Perry the entire way to the Q family farm.
It was a route Perry knew well, his grandfather's farm was right next door and he'd spent a great deal of his childhood having to muck out animal pens.

It was already getting fairly crowded, who knew back yard wrestling had such a following? Perry shook his head and searched for Draconia.

"W... what do I say?" He looked to Hellene.

"You explain yourself. But if you upset her again..." The harpy ghoul made a motion across her throat.
Perry shuddered.

"Alright alright!" He hurried off to find Draconia, and soon spotted her, carrying chairs and chatting to Manny Taur.
Perry hesitated, he knew the pair had once dated, he hadn't even been aware they're broken up till Draconia had mentioned it a few days ago.
He wasn't entirely convinced Manny wouldn't threaten him just like Hellene if he got this appology wrong.

He gulped, waited till Manny had headed back toward the barn and jogged over.

"Draconia!"  

[Draconia St George]

"Oh NO." Draconia spotted Perry dashing at her, displaying the same shoulder-first tackling prowess he'd shown at the Maul yesterday. What was he doing here?! Had he snuck out of the house and tracked her down because he thought of more creative insults to hurl?!

"Manny?" Draconia looked around. She may not have wanted Manny to pound Perry into tar, but he would make a nice large blockade. Unfortunately, he was already inside the bar and she was much closer to the ringside area. She couldn't bear another insult-fest, especially not today! What to do...

Somewhere behind Chase's kid brother Colt's Lemoanade Stand, Draconia saw a shack set-up that looked like a good hiding place. And as a bonus, it was in the hexact opposite direction of the charging Peryton. Draconia dropped the last chair she was setting up and dashed away.

Her movement seemed to surprise Perry; perhaps he was hexpecting her to just stand there as he hurled verbal barbs at her? No matter, though. Ducking down behind Colt's stand, Draconia ducked into the tent-

"But if Minnie can't make it, then it's going to be a handicap match!" Chase was inside, talking to another one of the backyard wrestlers. There were all sorts of costume elements hanging on the wall. Spandex shirts, trunks, feather boas, even some Hexican-style lucha masks were there. Chase turned around and looked at the breathless Draconia.

"Woah, Drake! This is the booker's area. I'm sorry, but no civvies allowed!"

"So...so very sorry!" The breathless Draconia apologized. "I just needed to get away from-"

Draconia peeked an eye outside. Oh no! Perry was still there! He was at the Lemoanade stand now, talking to Colt. It looked like he was asking something. Colt shook his head and pushed the pitcher of lemoanade closer to Perry. Perry let out what looked like a frustrated sigh and pulled out two dollars. Slapping them on the table, Colt smiled and started pouring him a glass of lemoanade. Once he was done, he pointed right at the shack Draconia was in.

"Eep!" Draconia slapped the curtain shut. Chase raised an eyebrow at her. What to do?!

Aha! An idea struck Draconia. She pointed at one of the Hexican lucha masks.

"Chase, would you mind ever so much if I borrowed one of these masks? It's for a worthy clawse, I assure you."

Chase got a slow, happy grin across his face. He looked at the other wrestler, who looked Draconia up and down and nodded.

"Drakie, you are the ABSOLUTE BEAST! That really helps us out! Here you go!"

Chase grabbed the mask off of the rack and slipped it on Draconia's head. The other wrestler looked through the garb and started tossing things to Chase.

"Yeah, and this coat...this belt...and these feather boas! Perfect! Draconia, you are EN FUEGO!"

"I...er...all right! Thank you!" Draconia, now weighed down in her rather gaudy disguise, slipped out of the back of the tent and back outside. There was NO way Perry would recognize her in this get-up!

Inside the tent, Chase gave the other wrestler a high five.

"Well, now the six-monster tag match pain event can go on as scheduled. You can always count on THE Draconia to help out in a bind!"  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry knocked back his lemonaide and headed toward the tent, watching the suspiciously familiar wrestler pass. Draconia wasn't into wrestling right? no way would she be wandering around in a luchador mask. He couldn't for the unlife of him work out why she'd run anyway, perhaps she desperately had to use the little ghoul's room.

He peeped his head into the tent.

"Hey.. Chase..." Nope, no sign of Draconia.

"Hey! You made it! I was starting to get worried man, I mean, you didn't answer my texts."

"yeah.. my dad confiscated my phone. Listen..." He didn't get a chance to finish.

"You got your camera? Clawsome, we're gonna need you ringside to catch the action! We've got a six-monster tag match, it's gonna be EPIC"

Perry frowned. "no no, I.. draconia, have you seen..."

"Draconia? Yeah man, just you wait till you see her. She's gonna ROCK." Chase shooed Perry out of the tent and over toward the ring to get set up.

Perry sighed and trudged across the field, may as well do what he'd been invited here for. Maybe once the match began Draconia would reappear.  

[Chase Q]

What luck! The now disguised Draconia slipped right past Perry and he was none the wiser that the target for his RUDENESS was a mere few inches at his side as they went in opposite directions. Her first instinct was to get out of this silly outfit as quickly as possible, but for the sake of Chase and Manny's show, Draconia felt it within her best interests to remain out of Perry's sight for as long as possible.

What was it about these simple but colorful masks that kept the identity of the average monster so well hidden?

Feeling a bit thirsty, Draconia stepped in line to Colt's lemoanade stand. It seemed Chase's baby brother was raking it in, being in charge of the show's refreshments. Heath had just stepped away with his own glass and took a drink, and almost immediately his face scrunched up in a sour face pucker.

"Whoa! Now THAT'S lemoanade" Heath said as he made his way back toward his ringside seat by Jackson.

"Remember Burns! Stay at ringside!" Whinnie, Chase's sister called out, as she trotted up to check on her little brother. Draconia noted that Whinnie carried a fire hextinguisher in her arms. "We don't want another happenin' like last time!"

"Last time?" Draconia asked and Whinnie did a double take at the mask and shook her head.

"Can't believe they talked you into it." She said, but then hexplained. "Last show Heath took one of the hay bale bleacher seats. Got a little hexcited at the ghouls' match an... you know."

"Oh my..." Draconia turned and watched as Heath did as instructed, taking a seat with Jackson near Lin and Atomica. Hey. Ringside seat? Who would argue? It was then that she noticed a number of vampires arriving, now that the sun was setting. That meant the show would start soon so she best get her drink and get to her seat.

"How are sales?" Draconia asked Colt as she stepped up to the tiny booth.

"The're fine. I..." Colt stopped, the werecat having got his tongue as his baby boos gazed up at Draconia's masked visage.

It was known within their close circle of friends that Chase's little brother had a bit of a crush on Draconia. Chase teased him often enough about it. Did he recognize her? How could he? She was MASKED! Still, Colt proceeded to fumble for his lemoande pitcher and poured a glass for her, spilling only a little of the contents. He then picked up a measuring scoop and dumped in a pile of sugar, making HER drink hextra sweet!

With an adorable smile and a twinkle in his eyes, he slid the cup toward her. When she tried to drop the dollar in his pay jar, he quickly covered it with his hand and his smile remained.

Such a little charmer.  

[Lin McGearloch]

"Here ya go, lass." Lin said as he passed a cup of lemoanade to Atomica before he had a seat beside her. There was an empty chair at his left, between his own seat and where Heath Burns was seated. A seat that he was saving with a fierce protectiveness. A vampire was about to sit down when Lin barked... "THAT SEAT'S TAKEN!!"

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Atomica said as she sipped from the cup and almost immediately her head spun around and her lights blinked rapidly before she offered a small shudder and looked down into the cup. "Wow! Like, BITTER much?"

Lin looked at her cup and then his own, before he said, "Yeah Chase's little brother was charging hextra for sugar. Boo that little guy is a real were-shark!"

"Still..." Atomica sighed, glancing warily at her cup's contents, scanning it for new potential biohazards. "If this rusts anything, I'll have you to blame for being, like so cheap!"

"Oh quit yer complainin'." Lin said as he took a big gulp from his own cup. "It's not that ba...ck!" And Lin's whole body shuddered, spasmed, then his face almost scrunched inward and he shook his head rapidly with his tongue out "PTHHHHHH! Wow! Maybe I shoulda sprung for the sugar!"

"Ya THINK!?"

"Think, what?"

Several eyes turned upwards as Gryff dropped down and tucked his wings, without missing a beat and had a seat in the chair that Lin had saved for him.

"Gryff! You made it!"

"Yeah." He sighed as he glanced around. "Why, I haven't quite figured out just yet."

Well, at least it wasn't a mainstream wrestling event, like Monster Wrestling Federation. That had to count for something, right?

"Aw, cheer up Gryff! It's going to be great! Here...!" Lin dutifully passed a third glass of lemoanade to his hero and turned to look at the ring with eager eyes, kicking his legs idly. "Boo! I wonder when the show is gonna..."

And on cue, music with a heavy beat piped up on a small stereo system, also provided by Lin and Atomica, courtesy of their Beast Buy chopping spree. Upon hearing the music, Jackson paled..

"Oh no..." He whimpered when suddenly Jackson transformed into his alter-ego, Holt Hyde! "Ohhh YEAHHHHHHH!!!" And Holt sprung up from his seat and practically vaulted into the makeshift wrestling ring and he spread his arms out and beckoned the kids in the clawdience to cheer even louder!

"Oh YEAH! Alright all you boos and ghouls!" Holt called out as loud as he could -- and that was pretty darned loud. "Are you all ready for some Backyard Monster Wrestling?"

The boos and ghouls of Monster High cheered and applauded.

Holt waved both hands and shook his head.

"No no no! Maybe you didn't HEAR me! I said ... ARE YOU ALL READY FOR SOME BACKYARD MONSTER WRESTLING!?"

The audience really POPPED this time! Cheers! Applause! Lin jumped on his seat with both fists pumped in the air! Somewhere a zombie cow mooed.

"All RIGHT! Let's get this night of action STARTED!"

And the curtains of the tent that Draconia had ducked into earlier was flung open and out stepped "Beauty" Andy Beast in a colorful cape and bow tie, strutting to the ring as the trademark pretty boo villain.

He passed the Tribe and Lin cupped his claws around his mouth, "Boo! Hiss!"

The Backyard Monster Wrestling show was kicking off!  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry mused that at least he'd be able to get something out of today, and still distractedly keeping an eye out for Draconia, he found a perch right on the front row and started snapping pictures.

Andy Beast was happy to pose for the camera, putting on his best pretty boo look, Perry heard a few ghouls behind him swoon.

Holt grinned broadly. "Yeaaah, let's get this party starteeeeed!" He screamed, Perry winced a little at the shrill yelling.

"Yo Perry man, don't forget to get some crowd shots!" Chase called from somewhere.

Without missing a beat Perry turned to the nearby Trouble Tribe, smirking.

"Smile." He didn't wait for acknowledgement, snapping a few candid shots as Lin tried another tentative sip of his lemonaide and found that no, it was just as bad a second time.  

[Draconia St George]

"Oh dear!" Draconia's head turned as she heard Holt Hyde hyping up the crowd. "It's starting!"

Feather boas akimbo, Draconia tried her best to politely move to the hay bale bleachers, where she could have sworn she saw a glimpse of Glen da West. If he was there, he was sure to have saved her a seat.

"Hola! Fangtastiqo attire, luchadora! Can I have your clawtograph?" Draconia turned around to see Skelita Calavarez smiling broadly at her. "I just uhh-dore your lucha libre style! It's very authentic to the lucha matches I took mi hermano to back in Hexico City."

"Oh, er, uh, si!" Draconia answered, not wanting to hissappoint one of the fans who paid for the show. She looked at the page. It looked like Skelita had already gotten the clawtographs of "Los Monstros De Destructos," since she saw their names 'Uno' and 'Dos' scrawled on the paper. Draconia paused. What would her lucha name be?

She thought back to Chase grinning at her in the tent, telling her "you are EN FUEGO!"

Draconia smiled at Skelita and picked up the pen.

To Skelita,

Gracias for your fangdom!

~La Fuega Terrible

"Muchos gracias!" Skelita smiled again as she took back her clawtograph sheet and turned to the stands. "I'll be fearing for you!"

Draconia smiled back and gave her a wave and a little pose of bravado. It was kind of fun wearing a mask, and it gave her an opportunity to overcome her crippling stage fright a bit. If no one recognized her, even if she made a mistake, no one would know it was her...right?

Of course, that was very silly to think about. The disguise was just to avoid Perry, who Draconia now saw was at ringside, snapping pictures of the wrestlers and the crowd. Ugh! Why was he even there, anyways?

In the ring, Andy Beast was wrestling a much, much smaller gargoyle opponent. They were bouncing off the ropes at each other, and the crowd groaned as the two bodies collided mid-air in the middle of the ring.

"Pssst! Over here!" Draconia heard a voice calling to her. It was a masked mystery centaur, wearing a highly gilded, decorated blue and silver mask. It was the mysterious Uno, one-half of Los Monstros De Destructos! He was standing in front of the tent that led to the ring entryway.

"Yeah! We gotta get ready!" A red-and-gold-masked head, with two horns poking out of it waved Draconia over. Dos! The other half of LMDD! Draconia looked around her, and then pointed at herself.

"Who? Me?"

"Cha! Get in here!" Uno waved her over. Draconia, a bit bewildered, trotted over and stepped inside the tent.

"We have something important to show you." Dos informed Draconia, his massive arms crossed over his bare chest. "But you must swear on your lu-oooo-cha honor to never tell another soul."

"I...swear?" Draconia answered, pausing, and holding up her right claw, trying to look solemn. Uno looked at Dos, who nodded. The two of them pulled off their masks, revealing-

"It's me, Chase! Chase Q!" Uno revealed.

"And I'm Manny Taur!" Dos joined in. Draconia raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's....shocking."

"I know, right?! It has to stay a secret, though! No telling anyone else! Hexpecially not Glen!" Chase admonished her. Draconia nodded solemnly.

"I promise I will not reveal to anyone that the centaur/minotaur backyard wrestling duo promoted by Chase and Manny are, in fact, Chase and Manny."

"Good!" Manny nodded. "Now, down to business! We need to talk about our match!"

"Wait. WHAT?!" Draconia's jaw dropped.


****Meanwhile...****

On the other side of the ring was the second entryway and another tent. This tent was for heel opponents, the bad boos that the fans loved to hate. Hellene was snooping around, trying to find Draconia for Perry. Her hexperience with the Cirque Sinistaire a couple months ago had taught her that when you were in doubt, always snoop around tents. Things HAPPENED in tents.

In this one, as Hellene discovered as she peeled open one corner of the door flap, two masked wrestlers were having an argument.

"If he can't make it, it's going to throw off the whole pain event!" A female river monster gurgled at a masked male vampire. "Los Monstros have three on their side, and we can't go out there with only two!"

"I thought Manny said his sister Minnie wasn't going to make it!" The vamp replied. "So I told Stitches he didn't have to come!"

"They found a replacement for Minnie! Didn't you see that golden dragon in the mask wandering around out there signing clawtographs? That's their third! Oh, this is a disaster. There's no way Stitches is going to get here in time for the pain event."

"Well..." The vampire rubbed his chin. "They found a replacement for Minnie, right? Maybe we can ask around and find a replacement for Stitches."

Hellene closed the flap of the tent and collected her thoughts. Everymonster who was everymonster knew that "Los Monstros" were the alternate personas of Chase and Manny (except Glen). And if they had gotten a golden dragon to be their partner....

"AHA!"

Hellene felt her drama sense tingling. A plan was formulating....a plan to help Perry face off with Draconia once and for all on the grandest stage possible! All she needed was a few minutes and some supplies...  

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

*FLASH!!*

A blinding light flooded Perry's viewfinder, knocking him back a few steps before he caught himself. He blinked a few times, trying to disperse the stars that clouded his vision before seeing the source of the flash-- Vinnie, armed with her Die-kon camera. He braced himself for the worst, certain she was mad at him... but instead she laughed and shook her head

"You really need to be careful where you're pointing that camera, dude." She said with a smirk.

"Vinnie! I, erm... what are you doing here?" Perry fumbled, wiping his eyes underneath his glasses.

"Hellene asked me to come take some photos, since you were supposed to be grounded... y'know, for pushing me out a window to escape your family?" Her eyebrows arched. "Anyway, I also happen to really like wrestling, so there's that."  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry rubbed his eyes, straightening his glasses.

"Rescuing you by pushing you out a window." He corrected, he had no doubt he'd saved them both from a truely awkward and horrifying dinner experience.
"Hellene huh?"

He glanced around the crowd and caught a flash of the harpy ghoul walking hurridly away from one of the tents. He frowned as she caught his eye, he didn't like that glint in her eyes.

He tore his gaze away from the harpy ghoul with a shudder.

"Listen, you haven't seen Draconia right?"  

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

"Y'know, I'm not sure. I haven't seen her yet..."" Vinnie said as she tapped through her photos on the back of her camera, before pausing and looking up at Perry with an arched brow. "Why do you care about that bookwyrm anyway?"  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry frowned a little, not convinced he wanted to go into details right now.
He waved a hand dismissively.

"I just need to talk to her ok? "

The scrawny Gargoyle had managed to get the best of "beauty" who roared dramatically to a chorus of cheers from the crowd. Perry raised his camera to snap a few more shots.

"You know what, never mind."
 

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

Vinnie practically winced at Perry's dismissive wave, and his insistence on speaking to Draconia. He didn't have a crush on that ghoul, did he? That couldn't be right, she thought; Perry had told her he wasn't into ghouls, that's why he shot her down...

...Wasn't it?

Vinnie's eyes narrowed as she processed this new information. Could he have lied to her at Tombcoming to spare her the pain of rejection -- It didn't work, she reminded herself -- and now set his frights on Draconia? How could that be? And what was so special about that big-winged, dorky little bookwyrm that made her better than Vinnie anyway?

She let out a frustrated grunt before re-adjusting her camera and raising it to her eye.