Monster High - The School Grounds

[Ronan Aalto]

Ronan looked up at the sudden interest in Draconia and Glen's table and frowned.
He glanced around, then asked.

"Is this about that text Glen sent out earlier you think?"

He looked bewildered. Either Draconia was the most attractive ghoul in the school, or half the male student body were desperate for a ghoulfriend.

He stared at the golden dragon critically from his seat. No, he just couldn't see it himself.
It wasn't that she was unattractive, she was an alright looking ghoul of course, but so were most of the ghouls at this school.

He decided to stick with the desperation theory, and pondered why in the seven seas Draconia, who'd seem so level headed and sane, was indulging such a public display of lonliness. Maybe that breakup with Manny really had been that devistating. Poor ghoul.  

[JD Leeds]

JD wasn't looking forward to lurch time... For having an invisible ghoul for a ghoulfriend, he was surprised that he hadn't seen her once all day; but they shared their lurchtime together, so he fully anticipated running into her. By the time his morning classes were over, however, he'd gotten the full impression that Vanissha wanted nothing to do with him. Why else would she ignore his hexts for four straight days and avoid seeing him for half a school day? His shoulders slumped for a moment, bummed that things were over; but this was no time to let it get him down, he thought! This school was full of ghouls that would fight fang and claw for the chance to be his ghoulfriend, right?

Just then, he felt is iCoffin vibrate in his coat pocket...

Quote:

To: Monster High Boos
From: Glen da West

Do you want to kick start the new scaremester in a scary cool way? Do you want to end the year with your heart all a flutter? Are bootiful dragonettes your type? Then why not come see me, Glen da West, at lurch to be grimterviewed to be the new boofriend for my beastie, Draconia St. George! Drakie will be present but don't let that affect you! Grimterviews will be short, a question or two. Not everybluddy will be selected to go on a test date with Drakie. See you in the creepateria!

... and the first opportunity presented itself! A sly grin crept across JD's face as he entered the creepateria and spied the line of mansters waiting for the opportunity to go on a date with Draconia St. George. Not much competition, he thought to himself as he shuffled into the line behind a shambling zombie boo; in front of the zombie were at least two dozen other mansters. JD checked the time on his iCoffin and heaved a heavy sigh... there wasn't enough time in a feariod for this! He had to get creative...

"Hey, uh, zombie bro." JD tapped the zombie on the shoulder. "Slo Mo sent me here to tell you that, uh, there's an... um... emergency zombie flashmob happening in the main hallway, in ten minutes? Yea, that's right... he was wondering where you were... Zombie-Bro... that's your name, isn't it bro?"

Somehow, the ruse worked. The zombie boo shambled out of the line without a word and headed out of the creepateria, and JD shuffled one place forward. One down, a hundred more to go...  

[Draconia St George]

Draconia stared, bewildered at the herd of young mansters who were milling around, forming something of an unweidly line in the creepateria in front of Glen. She raised one eyebrow and held up a hand as if to say something...then stopped.

This was clearly a 'Glen thing,' and often, when Glen became fixated on a 'Glen thing,' it was best just to let it play out.

Glen was now talking to Skeletorrence, aka Skelly. He was a nice enough skeleton boo with a shock of orange hair and an unfortunate habit of jaw-dropping (literally) at all the wrong times.

"Hm....possible!" Glen said to him, scribbling something on his notepad. "Right, Drakie?"

"Possible for wot, now?" She asked, as Skelly's jaw clattered on the ground.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Glen replied, kicking Skelly's jaw back over to him and looking up. "NEXT!"  

[Kai Merha]

Jewels Underne

"S... so... youhaveatheme?"

"-Goblins and Other Boisterious Beings for Liberty and Equality!" Harry finished informing Jewels proudly. "You've probably heard of GOBBLE already."

Kai shrugged at Jewels, who blinked bewilderingly. However famous GOBBLE was in the Never Never, it didn't seem to have quite translated to the Boonited States of Scaremerica yet.

"If it's going to be like the Eo E Emalani I Alakai Festival back in Clawaii, we're going to need food, and music, and hacktivities-"

"And a drum circle!" Harry chimed in.

"-And maybe we could ask some of the afterschool clubs if they want to do something." Kai finished.

"Like holding up recycled signs and signing people up for pledges to conserve water!" Harry added.

"Or...like...have an art club corner where you can make crafts, and a winter sports demo." Kai continued, rubbing his chin. "I know Abbey Bominable is looking to recruit more student bodies for Winter Sports Club."

"Oooh." Jewels replied, thoughtful. "We could ask Hellene Harpie or Draculaura to cover the event for the Gory Gazette! Culinary club may want to provide snacks!....er...maybe Ishouldtalkto Rory about asking them, though..."

She flushed a deeper mottled brown in embarrassment thinking about her last attempt at a cooking challenge.

"It'll really help us attract kids if the Tombcoming King and Queen are involved, yeah!" Kai grinned. "Harry, Jewels here was elected our Tombcoming Queen along with the shiny guy over at that table."

Kai pointed at Rory, who was eying Peggy and her pet Heimdal warily.

"I have an idea! How about we spread the word and see who wants to join the Fearstival planning?"

"Like...a committee?" Jewels asked. "We could meet afterschool today in the cave by the park!"

"A committee...." Harry looked less than thrilled. "That sounds like it's getting sort of corpseporate..."

"I could ask Mr. Deathknell, he's my boss at the Arrght House, if he'd be willing to donate some supplies for the fearstival in hexchange for some signs advertising the store!" Kai added, eagerly.

Harry's face fell. Sponsorship?! Now that WAS corpseporate selling out!  

[Glen da West]

Glen held onto his notepad tightly and squinted one eye at the boo with a piranha attached to his head who sat across from Draconia and himself.

Glen asked him, "If you were on a deserted island with any two monsters for your sole company, undead or alive ... what would you eat?"

The boo, named 'Fisher' leaned back in his chair nonchalantly and said, "Oh well I'd... wait. What?"

"Too easily confused! NEXT!"

Glen then glanced up from his rabid note taking and reviewing said notes to become startled at quite the familiar face standing next in line.

"Wellllllll! Jackson Jackyl! This is a surprise!" Glen beamed about as bright and giddy as a Grimmas light. "I take it that you're here to apply for ... for the... uh..."

Glen cast a side long glance at Draconia who was trying to ignore the proceedings right in front of her and focus on her lurch, but doing a very poor job of it. "The uh.. the THING! That's right! Covered that up nicely. The thing!"

"Well, uh... actually." Jackson had that adorable nervous twitch about him that just seemed to scream "LIKE ME!" and most kids at Monster High (with the possible exception of Manny Taur) did! He rubbed the back of his head and scuffed his shoe on the creepateria floor, kicking at an imaginary pebble. "I was just wondering if I could borrow your Mad Science notes for..."

"Ah ha! The boo is an obvious intellectual! Annnnd..." Glen swerved to look at Draconia with his finger up for emphasis. "He likes comic books!" Glen turned back around and scribbled a note which he passed to Jackson. "Call me for details!"

"But, what about your notes...?" But Jackson had Glen's Mad Science notebook shoved into his hands and was hurriedly ushered away.

Glen clasped his hands together and smiled at the line formed. "Who's next!?"

In answer a chair was seemingly shoved up closer to the table across from where Draconia was sitting and the first thing she saw was a shock of white hair, a mohawk style. Then Lin McGearloch climbed up into the chair and with a toothy grin, waggled his eyebrows at her.  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

Ronan Aalto

"Is this about that text Glen sent out earlier you think?"

"Pretty sure it is, yeah." Rory replied. It'd taken him a while to puzzle out the text, but once he did he felt very fangful he and Marceline had gotten together without any outside 'help.' Rory put his fractured hand over Marceline's and gave it a little squeeze.

He heard Dashner give out an audible groan.

"Really, right at the lunch table, you two?" He snapped off. Rory blushed and put his hand under the table.

"Erm..." Rory looked to change the subject. "So, the last football game of the season is on Friday, right?"

Dashner seemed to lighten up at the mention of his favorite sport.

"Yeah, the regional monster championship game! It's been a tough season, but we're so close to catching the trophy. We just have to face down Luna High, and that's not an easy task. An entire team, all with the same agility and strength as Clawd."

"Wow, that sounds....really dangerous!" Rory replied. He looked at Peggy, who was devouring her sugar-laden lunch with style. "Do you, uh...like the football?"  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry slumped soggenly down into a now vacated seat next to Ronan, took his glasses off and began trying to wipe the soda off the lenses.

"You're ghouls... " He pointed vaguely at Peggy and Marceline. "So tell me... why are you all so mental!?"

Ronan stared at the other boo for a moment, then reached into a pocket and extracted a handkerchief which he offered to the Peryton.

"What happened to you?"

"Vinnie happened." Perry muttered darkly.

"Oh yes!" Ronan took out his Icoffin and read aloud the latest gossip relating to Perry and Vinnie. "What's gotten Lavinna Lovecraft so churned up with footballer Perry Hartley? Could it be his sudden interest in Draconia St. George? The audience was treated to a spectacular blowout at the Q farm wrestling event this Saturday. Is Hartley leading on two ghouls, or is he telling the truth when he claims he's interested in neither? "

Perry groaned. "I don't have a thing for Draconia..." He protested.

"You would seem to be in the minority." Ronan pointed to the crowd of boos queuing to audition for a date.

Perry made a face. "Wow... she really is desperate then."


"So Vinnie poured soda over you huh?" Dashner looked both amused and slightly sympathetic, though only slightly.

"And booby trapped my locker... and then there was the developer... incident." Perry sighed again. "I keep trying to appologise and she keeps getting angry" He wrung his hands.

Nathair slithered past and in a sing song voice whispered "siiiing her a soooong"

"I'm NOT SINGING HER A SONG!" Perry yelled, the creepateria fell silent to stare at him. He hid behind Ronan.

"He may have a good point. Sevenscream claims that ghouls love a boo who's musical." Ronan suggested, digging through his bag and pulling out a magazine with a strikingly familiar ballgowned selkie on the cover. The headline read "Meet the new Miss Alabama".

"Yeah, what have you got to lose?" Dashner shrugged.

Perry gritted his teeth.
"I don't WANT her to love me! I just want her not mad at me any more."

Still, they had a point. He'd tried everything he could think of, nothing seemed to work. What choice did he have? There HAD to be another way.

"no.. come on, someone has to have a better suggestion. You two are ghouls, help!" He stared to Peggy and Marceline desperately.  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

"And you say Draconia's the 'desperate' one?" Rory couldn't help noticing as Perry wibbled in front of Peggy and Marceline. Draconia was eating lunch peacefully while Glen was the one talking to all the boos, after all. It hardly reeked of desperation, but maybe Perry's hexperiences were coloring his opinion a little bit.

"Have you considered taking a...different approach?" He asked, looking at Marceline for her reaction.

Rory was a member of Monster High's Murk Trial club...once a month they would pick a legal case, choose sides, and go through the motions of a real trial to see what the outcome would be. It was half drama, half monster scarecology, and that was why Rory liked it so much. Understanding other monsters better was something he desperately wanted to do, to understand why they did the things they did, even if it seemed dangerous.

Like Perry, for instance. If talking to Vinnie made him open to soda attacks, developer fights (or so the creepateria buzz made it sound) and exploding lockers, why would he keep trying to talk to her? Why not try something less bombastic?

"Maybe you could advocate someone else to talk to Vinnie on your behalf." Rory suggested. That was the lawyerly thing to do! He felt like he was doing Mr. Where proud. "Someone who knows both sides of the stitchuation and might be willing to tell your side of things with less chance of you, er....implicating yourself on the witness stand, so to speak. Right, Marceline?"

Rory looked to his ghoulfriend for support.  

[Motthew Clendenin]

"I don't WANT her to love me! I just want her not mad at me any more."

Motthew pulled up a chair and sat with them at the table, "I couldn't help overhearing your dilemma." he said with a smile, setting his protein smoothie on the table, "Honestly, don't you think your trying too hard? If you don't want her to love you, just let her be. Surely she can't stay mad forever."

He sat back, thinking for a moment, "But then maybe... Maybe a song would be the best solution." he grinned at him over his sunglasses, his antennae twitching as he considered it. Trying to picture Perry singing was too much to let go. He definitely had to consider it!

"Then how in this unlife is that even going to help?" Perry sighed heavily.

Motthew waved his hand "Just do it! Who knows? Maybe it will at least cheer her up."  

[Harry Herne]

Kai Merha

Harry's face fell. Sponsorship?! Now that WAS corpseporate selling out!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa....stop the clock, dudes. Sponsorship? This is getting way too corpserate! We need to be counter-culture, grass roots, and underground! Uh, not, like, in a cave but....you know what I mean!"

Harry loved that Kai and Jewels and her friends were interested in taking up GOBBLE's cause with the fearstival but corperation overlords need not apply! Je didn't want to be rude to his new friend, Kai, but he knew only bad things would happen with sponsorship.

"If boos and ghouls to donate food, that would be awesome. And if the media wants to cover it, that would only spread the word of GOBBLE. But...I have to bug out of the fearstival if we go corpserate. You gotta have principals, man."  

[Chase Q]

Harry Herne

Kai Merha

"You know what you should do?" Chase asked, taking a big bite of his hayburger. "gth Gln'schf to apprr."

"Sorry, what was that?" Kai smiled as he poked his own lurch with his fork, which he almost dropped when his chow shrieked. "Last time you tried talking with a mouthful of hayburger, Manny caused a projectile disaster giving you the heimick."

Chase gritted his teeth in order to swallow the massive mouthful and smiled at Kai, clucking his tongue and snapping his fingers at his 'brah'.

"Cha! That was a trippin' disaster, wasn't it? It was great!" Chase guffawed and turned to Harry. "I was just sayin' that you should get yourself a special guest speaker for that clawse of yours. Like Mog."

"Who's Mog?" Layla asked.

"The goblin Glen's ma has as the family's castle chef." Chase answered and was about to take another bite of his burger when he saw Harry's stare. "... What?"  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry groaned, who could possibly approach Vinnie without her lashing out? Did she even HAVE any friends?

He shook his head at Rory, momentarily distracted by the movement of his own reflection. He frowned, blinked and decided it was probably a good idea not to look directly at the strangely shiny boo.

"I dunno man. She doesn't seem to listen to reason. I mean, I never lied to her but she's got in into her head i'm some sort of two timing jerk."

"But you have no interest in either ghoul?" Ronan asked for clarification.

"I don't even like ghouls!" Perry protested, then realising what he'd just said burried his head in his hands.

"So you told her this?" Ronan was flicking through his magazine to see if there was any advice on scenarios such as this.

"Yeah, she doesn't believe me."

"If she's really your friend, she'll understand" Dashner nodded sagely.

Perry peered through his fingers and looked skeptically at Dashner, who seemed to be paying more attention to Peggy than actually listening. Typical.

Maybe the moth dude was right, watching him make a fool of himself on stage probably WOULD cheer Vinnie up. Though he was uncertain it'd do much more to help the situation.

"Who knows her well enough to talk to her without getting stuff thrown at them?" He cautiously enquired.  

[Jewels Underne]

Jewels looked bewildered. "t..the aaagrt house is.. bad?"

This was getting complicated fast. She was starting to have serious doubts about this fearstival. Could they even pull it off?
Part of her screamed no, reminding her of the cooking contest, while another part insisted she needed to redeem herself for that disaster by successfully hosting this event.

"M.. my father can provide some specialeffects..." Jewels mentioned. "Helovesanyexcuse to setfiretosomestuff... "  

[Lin McGearloch]

Glen da West

Glen clasped his hands together and smiled at the line formed. "Who's next!?"

In answer a chair was seemingly shoved up closer to the table across from where Draconia was sitting and the first thing she saw was a shock of white hair, a mohawk style. Then Lin McGearloch climbed up into the chair and with a toothy grin, waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Alrighty!" Glen said as he shuffled his notes. "Let's do it, to it, shall we? I..."

A sound like a rumbling motor interrupted the grimterview and Glen, Lin and Draconia watched as Meowlody and Purrsephone meandered past, growling and giving Lin the ol' stink eye. They passed him and both hissed, and he proceeded to answer back by sticking his tongue out back at them.

"Hunh. I guess they don't like your cologne." Glen observed. "Anyhoo, let's begin with... are you playing with your new iBlargh?"

"I am not playing with it." Lin frowned, pressing his claws into random buttons. "I'm trying to get it to record this grimterview... if it even records." Lin looked up at both of them and smiled. "I want to have this saved as a memento!"

"Why?"

Lin shrugged. "It's closer than I ever got with those twins." He mumbled.

Glen shared a 'look' with Draconia and sighed before he started.

"Alllllrighty then! What's your favorite comic book?"

"I don't read comic books. Gryff says they're too mainstream and can't find good underground ones."

"Oh.... well, do you like boosical theater?"

"Not really. Oh! I tell a lie! I did kinda like that boovie Anhisstasia."

Glen leaned over to Draconia and whispered, "Does that count as a boosical?"

Draconia shrugged and waved her hand as if to say 'so so'. "It's just a boovie though, with songs. Not actual theater."

Lin was oblivious to this exchange as a light popped up on his iBlargh after pressing a button, one he hadn't noticed before! The INTRIGUE!

Glen turned back and shook his head, "I'm sorry but I..." And was zapped in the forehead by a small beam of colorful radiance. "I. Will. Approve. Your. Application. Master."

Lin looked up and blinked and Draconia looked back and forth between the two boos and then reached over and snapped her claws in front of her beastie's face.

Glen shook his head and made that funny noise with his mouth, clearing out the cobwebs of whatever happened.

"Where was I?"

"You told Lin you approved his application." Draconia frowned. "And then you called him..."

"Did I?" Glen shrugged. "Well the grimterviews don't lie!"

With that, Glen passed a slip to Lin's eager claws and said, "You'll be notified with details!"

"Thanks!" Lin smiled eagerly and he slipped out of the chair and ran off to his shared lurch table with Gryff and Atomica to tell them the good news!

"NEXT!"  

[JD Leeds]

The "line" barely dwindled, yet through cunning deception JD managed to get to the front row, just behind a myopic gray troll. He watched on as Draconia interviewed with a twitchy gremlin, questioning how the little guy managed to pass Glen's rigorous criteria, but also taking mental notes on what to say.

Glen da West

"NEXT!"

The Freshmeat troll grinned, and after a quick exercise in looking a bit taller -- chin up, shoulders back, chest out -- he took a step toward the table.

"Hey, hey, hey... not so fast, bro!" JD grasped him by the back of his collar. The troll stumbled backwards and adjusted his glasses as he regained his footing. "See, I know you think you're next, but I'm actually next in line, see?"

"B-but I was at the front--" The troll sputtered.

"Yeah, bro. That might've been the case, but..." JD fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled receipt, waggling it in the troll's face. "This here is a... well, it's an appointment voucher. See, I reserved a time slot in advance to meet with this lovely, lovely ghoul... very far in advance. And it wouldn't be very fair to deprive me of that, now would it?"

"W--well, I suppose it wouldn't be, no..." The troll boo stuttered, squinting his eyes behind his glasses trying to get a better look at JD's "voucher" and realizing he might be due for a new prescription.

"No, it wouldn't be fair at all, my good manster! Now, don't fret, you'll have your chance when I'm finished, but I can't guarantee she won't fall horns-over-hooves in love with me first!" JD sauntered to the table and swung a cloven foot over the seat, his mouth curling into a self-assured half-grin. "Hello there, you ghoulden goddess!"