Monster High - The School Grounds

[Perry Hartley]

Perry just stared at Vanissha as she started to ramble, wait... was she calling him Percy?
He shifted uncomfortably, beast friends with little miss Drama queen? Nathair was bad enough!

He gulped, then frowned. "hey, what's wrong with my fashion sense?!" He protested. Vanissha wasn't listening.

"I'm not singi..." He got pulled along by the invisible ghoul and hurried to keep pace. She could move surprising fast in those stilettos.

"Vanissha! You can't be serious, lemme go!" He pulled away, no way was he getting dragged into the ghoul's bathroom, he was in enough trouble as it was.
"Wait... Vinnie?" Vinnie was in there? oh man, that meant Dashner and Rory had made things worse didn't it? He KNEW he shouldn't have trusted that birdbrain and walking discoball.  

[Atomica Servo]

*GOOOONG!!*

The warning bell that told students the lunch hour was over and that afternoon classes would begin in five minutes gonged out over the creepateria. Students slowly began finishing up, discarding their trash and trays and preparing for the second half of the day.

Naturally, as soon as the solemn note tolled, the ghoul's bathroom started to fill up with ghouls checking their makeup, ghouls looking at their hair, ghouls washing their hands, ghouls gossiping with each other...oh, and some wanting to use the restroom for what it was intended for, too.

Atomica burst into the ghoul's bathroom, fully grimtending to be first in line so she could finish dispensing waste fluids, run a quick scan of her makeup (hex code primaries with LOTS of glitter today), and ensure that each of her hairs was coiffed with mathematical precision.

What she did NOT hexpect, upon throwing the door open, was for there to already be a glut of monsters ahead of her. What she DOUBLY did not hexpect was -

"BOO IN THE GHOUL'S BATHROOM!" Atomica called out, pointing an accusing digit at Perry. "BOO IN THE GHOUL'S BATHROOM!"

Atomica put on the brakes, causing a massive clog of ghouls behind her.

"OH. MY. GHOUL. Check your hardware, boo!" Atomica informed Perry, her hands on her hips. "Your O.S. SO TOTALLY isn't compatible with this platform!"

"What is HE doing in here?!" Gory Fangtell snapped.

"Maybe the boo's bathroom is filthy?" Operetta replied. "Wouldn't put it past some'a the boos in this school."

"He's probably getting ready to pull some sort of prank." A werewolf ghoul in the back chimed in. "It's probably some football team hazing thing."

"EJECT!" Atomica called. Suddenly, Perry was raised up above the crowd of ghouls, like crowd-surfing at a concert, being pushed atop the sea of irate ghouls in a wave.

"And stay out!" Gory responded as she helped pass Perry over her head. "You boos have your own bathroom, you don't see us going in there!"

"Not even if ya paid us." Operetta added as Perry's wings passed over her head.

The last thing Perry could see as he passed through the door frame was an approving ....look of satisfaction? Almost a smile? On Vinnie's face.

Could she even smile with tentacles covering her mouth?  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry protested but he couldn't hear a lot over the screams of the ghouls who dumped him unceremoniously on the floor as they continued to file into the bathroom.
Man, what DID ghouls do in there that was so secretive? He wasn't sure he ever wanted to know.

Shaking his head and cringing away from the glares and whispers of the ghouls, he scrambled to his feet and ran straight into... Nathair?

"Oh man, what do YOU want?"

"Uh.. headin' tae Freakynomics... Ye comin? or you plannin' on ditchin?"

Perry grumbled and let his friend lead him away from the ghouls.

"So, any particular reason ye were fanging out in the ghoul's bathroom?"

"Vanissha dragged me in there. " Perry growled.

Nathair looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "Why?"

"Something about makeup. You know she's loopy. Just, keep her away from me ok?"

"I'll do me beast. So I take it Vinnie's still mad?"

Perry sighed "Yeah."

"So... what now?"

Perry shrugged. "I dunno man. Maybe I should just lay low and hope she exhausts herself soon. There's only so many ways she can boobytrap my locker right?"

"Or ye know... ye coul' spend ye free period writin her a song."

"I'm not sin..." Perry hesitated. Vanissha's advice rang through his head. A big showy gesture... Well, none of his ideas had worked so far. He deflated. "Fine, but if this goes horribly wrong, it's YOUR fault, got it?"

A broad grin spread across the Naga's dark face. "It'll work, I guarentee it!"

Perry rolled his eyes. "Forgive my skepticism."

"I always do." Nathair snickered as they headed to class.  

[Draconia St George]

Draconia was on her way to her next class, trying to pick her way through the hallway (there was a huge line into the ghoul's bathroom, for some reason) when her iCoffin buzzed.

Draconia plucked it out of her coat pocket and gave it a glance.

Quote:

From: Nathair

It's on!!! Get out of your last class early. You dinnae want to miss this.

Draconia smiled, mostly at the fact that Nathair bothered to type 'dinnae' instead of 'didn't.' Who knows how he'd convinced Perry to perform a song for Vinnie, but if it was a song Perry wanted to do, Draconia would do her beast to ensure it was the grandest song he could possibly belt out on that stage.

Her iCoffin buzzed again. This time, the message was from Jewels Underne.

Quote:

From: Jewels Underne

Hey everymonster! If you are grimterested in helping to plan for Woestock on this Saturday, meet after school by the fountain! Heads of clubs and newspaper reporters are extra encouraged!

Draconia wasn't sure if she'd be able to make that meeting, since she didn't know hexactly how much setup Perry's musical debut was going to take.

"Hm....Woestock...that might be a nice place to go on a date..." She mused. Maybe one of Glen's 'interviewees' would be free?  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

Following Vinnie's abrupt disappearing act, Dashner had assured Rory they'd done all they could and left go to go his next class. Rory wasn't really sure of that, but he also felt a bit weird about intruding into another monster's business.

"See you after school?" Dashner asked Rory. "I have football practice, but we could fang out afterwards."

"Sure!" Rory replied, waving goodbye to his bluddy. He felt so much better after the talk they'd had. He only hoped Dashner and Marceline would have a chance to hash things out, too. Maybe during Home Ickonomics, they had that class together.

Of course, even if they did, maybe he should be more scareful about butting into other monster's business, like this Perry and Vinnie feud. Observing other monsters, that was one thing! He did that all the time, especially before coming to Monster High. But getting involved...well, that was a different thing altogether. Much more dangerous, in fact. Many different monsters had strange abilities that were much more...proactive than Rory's prognostication mirror-witch powers. All of that happy barking coming from the creepateria a few minutes ago confirmed that.

Rory had nice, safe Clawculus to look forward to next, then Mad Science. In Mad Science, Mr. Hackington had partnered him with his cousin Glen. Rory wondered what sort of madness today's class would bring....Hopefully nothing too dangerous.  

[Perry Hartley]

Nathair hesitated, catching sight of a familiar green skinned eldritch horror.
He had to figure out how to get Vinnie into the clawdatorium this afternoon, if she wasn't there all this would have been for naught.

"I uh.. forgot somethin' back at me locker. I'll catch up yeah?"

Perry frowned, but shrugged. "yeah sure, whatever. "

Nathair slithered off after Vinnie.

"What do YOU want?" She snapped as he approached.

Nathair raised all four hands and shrank back a little.

"Jus' hear me out lass. "

"Make it quick."

Nathair nodded. "Clawdatorium, as soon as the last bell rings make ye way there. Ye'll nay want tae miss this."

"What are you plotting?" Vinnie looked suspicious, tentacles curling into a snarl.

Nathair didn't lower his hands. "Jus' dinnae be late. It'll be worth it, promise."

Vinnie snorted and turned on her heel.

"Wait!" Nathair slithered after her. "Listen, I know Perry's a moron. But doesn't the fact he's been tryin' all day tae make it up tae ye mean anything?"

"He's been nothing but rude to me all day!"

"Aye... he's nay good with words is he? But.. the point is, he would nay put this much effort intae jus' anyone. If he spent his time tryin' tae right every wrong he'd ever done tae every monster he'd offended he'd nay have the time tae do anythin' else."

"Uh huh." Vinnie kept walking.

"Vinnie, can't ye see? Ye MATTER tae him. It's nay many monsters who can claim that. "

"So what? He just doesn't want me boobytrapping his locker any more."

Nathair snickered. "Well, it was amusin' i'll give ye tha. " He shook his head. "but no, this is more than nay wantin' any more stink bombs explodin' in his face. But look, jus... be there this afternoon, then ye'll see wha' I mean. "

"Fine, whatever." Vinnie stomped off to class and Nathair hurried off toward Freakynomics, hoping this little scheme would pay off. otherwise it was going to be a very long year of dodging pranks and dealing with Perry's increasingly bad mood. Eugh.  

[Atomica Servo]

"Oi! Pay attention,whelps!" Mr. Hackington banged on his desk with a skull to get the attention of his class. This particular Mad Science class was the last class of the day, and so sometimes the student bodies tended to be antsy. Not that it mattered much to Mr. Hack...if you didn't pay attention to his lecture and failed the pop quiz, then he got to torture you with Saturday Deadtention, and that was fine by him.

Atomica stopped telling her story about 'The Boo Who Invaded the Ghoul's Bathroom' to a CLEARLY enthralled Ronan -he could barely keep his eyes open as he listened, obviously trying to picture in his head the grimcredible story. She was just getting to the beast part, too - the part where she united the ghoulish masses to eject the interloper, when Mr. Hack started his annoying pounding.

"We're nearing the end of the Scaremester," Mr. Hackington informed the students. He turned to start writing on the bleakboard with the screachiest scrawl he could manage. Atomica had to turn down the upper level of her audio sensors to keep from shivering at the sound. "And that means it's time to discuss....the FINAL PROJECT."

The chalk snapped in Mr. Hackington's hands, leaving a crooked scrawl on the bleakboard.

"As you know, if you've been paying attention, not that I doubt some of you are-" And with this, Mr. Hack slammed the skull down on Heath's desk, making the boy jump. "Our final project involves hexcavation and hexploration...down in the Catacombs."

"Uuugggh." Atomica groaned before she could catch herself and mute her vocal projector. Mr. Hack raised an eyebrow (or so she supposed, he was wearing a hood) and turned to the automaton.

"Is there a problem Ms. Servo?" He asked, his yellowed teeth grinning down at her. "Or are you just practicing your zombish?"

"Do we REALLY have to go down there?!" Atomica asked, crossing her arms. "I mean, haven't we really hexplored it enough? There's the SKRM track, the trail to the normie side of town, the abandoned mad science lab...everything's already been found."

Atomica didn't add in about the Trouble Tribe's secret lair....to any other student it looked like a cavernous room piled high with junk, but it was actually the three friends' private fangout. It was the beast place in the entire Catacombs, and it was THEIRS only.

There was an issue besides, that, though...

"Ms. Servo, if you have some fangxiety about going down to the MASSIVE, UNHEXPLORED parts of the Catacombs....perhaps because of some past trauma..." Atomica winced. Mr. Hackington knew full well that, nearly thirty years ago, in a class just like this one, her atomic battery had powered down in the Catacombs, knocking her out cold and forgotten for over a quarter of a century. It hadn't been until Gryff and Lin, partners for Mad Science that year, had found her that she'd been powered back up and revived in a world very different than what she'd been used to. "Well, you'll be happy to know that there's an alternative to doing this exploratory project."

"There is?!" Atomica asked, with a hopeful beep.

"Yes. You can accept an "F" for the course and retake it next Scaremester." Mr. Hack dissolved into coughing, wheezing laughter as Atomica scooted away from his breath.

Ugh! Some alternative!

"The final project is simple." Mr. Hack turned back to the board, writing as he lectured. "You need to simply use the information we've been talking about this entire second half of the scaremester and put it to good use. Investigate the Catacombs, during and after class. Hexplore and use your deductive tools, mapmaking skills and mad scientific knowledge, and find something. Something uhh-mazing."

"Hexcuse me," Draconia St. George raised her hand. "But, what SORT of something are we supposed to find?"

"You'll know when you see it." Mr. Hackington grinned sickly at the dragon ghoul. "At least, you should hope you do. It may be an object. It may be a passage. It may be a secret curse that should have never been unsealed. The catacombs have been here longer than Monster High, longer than most monsters can even remember. Hexplore and find something uhh-mazing. That is all you need to do. Why, just look at Ms. Servo here."

Mr. Hack pointed at the robot ghoul with his broken piece of chalk.

"She got Mr. Stone and Mr. McGearloch A's on THEIR final project, after all!"

Atomica slumped down a little lower in her chair. This was going to be just the worst. The worst thing ever.  

[Draconia St George]

It turned out that Draconia didn't even need an excuse to get out of Mad Science early. After his lecture, Mr. Hackington set them all loose early, grimdicating strongly that they consider going to the Catacombs and start working on their project plan. Draconia apologized to her partner, Scarah Screams and left to go instead to the Clawditorium.

If Scarah, with her ESP, realized something unusual was amiss, she was scareful not to reveal it and merely wished Draconia the beast of luck.

"We can start working on our project plan tomorrow after school, is that all right?" Draconia promised her lab partner.

"Sure'n I don't mind!" Scarah replied via ESP. "It gives me a few minutes with my boofriend to plan our Friday night date. Grimterested in doing doubles with us?"

"I'd love to, but I don't have a date yet." Draconia replied. "Or maybe I do. I, uh, I need to sit Glen down and determine just what his grimtentions are with his 'list.'"

"Ah, well, luck be with ya on that one!" Scarah replied, giving Draconia a wave as she strolled off. Draconia waved back, and beelined for the Clawditorum.

Draconia was surprised to see that Nathair was already there with a few other monsters. They were easily identifiable as Nathair's sisters by their tails and multiple arms.

"Ye made it!" Nathair slithered out from behind the backdrop with a grin that Draconia suspected would need a crowbar to be removed. "I dinnae if ye've met my sisters, but here they are."

"This is gonna be great!" A pink-haired sister replied, rubbing two of her hands together in glee. "I wish I'd brought my iCoffin!"

"I've got it covered." Another one replied, whipping out her phone with a flourish. Nathair barked at them.

"Hey! Get to your places! This's about helpin' Perry, not humiliatin' him!"

The sisters slithered backstage, still looking very pleased. Draconia raised an eyebrow at Nathair.

"It's not about humiliating Perry, right?" Draconia wanted to be sure. Even after everything Perry had put her through over the weekend, she didn't want him to be upset by their goings on. Nathair put an arm around her shoulder reassuringly.

"Neh, I swear t'ye, our grimtentions're nothin' if not noble. An' I mean that. Seriously." Nathair looked right in Draconia's eyes. "I love Per - like a brother, mind ye - an' I want him an' Vinnie t'be to rights. He needs other friends besides me. An' he needs tae not give up on things so easily."

"Okay, then." Draconia answered, feeling reassured. "What do you need me to do to help?"

"Well, three of my ilk are gon' tae be doin' backup for Perry. Ye just met Mahil an' Ashni. Belinda's behind th' curtain tunin' the piano. My fourth, Tanith, she can't carry a tune in a bucket, so she'll be assistin' you with th' lights an' th' sound."

Draconia smiled as another of his sisters slithered next to her, a pair of earphones around her neck.

"Fangtastic! Well, Tanith, how about we position those spotlights and do a quick sound check, then? When will Perry be here, Nathair?"

"Probably gon' tae take his time. Nerves, ye know." Nathair looked at one of his wrists, realized he wasn't wearing a watch and shrugged. "Plenty 'a time tae set up."

Nathair slithered back towards the stage, and Draconia and his younger sister headed up to the light and sound booth at the back of the Clawditorium. Draconia felt a little surge of hexcitement....no matter the circumstances, she loved working on a production!  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry was honestly half tempted to just run. He'd been sitting staring at his bass for the past ten minutes, well, more glaring at it.

Could he really get up on a stage and sing to Vinnie without just choking on his words?

Oh man, what if he actually died of stage fright? Could you die of stagefright? Nathair insisted it wasn't possible but Perry wasn't so convinced.

He read over his hastily penned lyrics once more, the page was a mess of scribbles and crossed out words.

In the end he'd just given up on the hope of composing anything that wasn't just terrible and hoped Vinnie would appreciate the sentiment, or consider it ironically awesome or something.
Maybe it'd be so bad it'd be good?

No, it was just gonna suck. He knew it. He'd make a mess of this like he'd made a mess of everything else.

Maybe he should just go home.


Meanwhile:


"He's exagerating ye know." Tanith smiled to Draconia as they flicked switches and turned dials. "I just prefer this side of things to the being on stage bit. " She pulled a face. "Besides, this is where the real skills lie" She grinned a grin that was eerily familiar and chuckled.

Nathair was busy bossing his sisters around, and at least one of them didn't seem particularly happy with the whole situation. She rolled her eyes and went back to playing with her Icoffin.

Nathair muttered something under his breath and turned to face the two ghouls in the booth.

"How's it goin' wit ye two then?" He called.

Tanith gave a thumbs up.

"Hexcellent. Mehil, if ye gonna use tha' acursed thing can ye at leas' make yeself useful and text Perry?"

The texting sister looked up, sighed, stuck her forked tongue out at her brother and did as she was told.


Back at the boosic room

Perry's Icoffin pinged. Probably Nathair nagging him again right?
Instead he was met by a message from Nathair's youngest sister.

"Get your feathered self over here or i'll come find you and drag you by your stupid antlers."

Ahh, as polite as ever. Perry smirked a little.
Mehil's rudeness honestly amused him.

He flirted with the idea of making her wait, just to see if she'd follow through with her threat but decided it probably wasn't worth the risk that she would.

He took a deep breath. Maybe Vinnie wouldn't show? Then he could just call this whole thing off. Maybe...

He picked up his bass, hesitating as his stomach turned a few somersaults. He still couldn't believe he'd let his friend talk him into this madness.


Back in the clawdatorium:

Everything was in place, the lights and sound were working perfectly. The stage was set, the band was in position. Now all they needed was a certain redheaded Peryton, and Vinnie.

Nathair paced, clearly fanxious about all this working. Vinnie had to show, if she didn't show all this would be for naught.  

[Dashner Hawke]

In Home Ick...

Dashner Hawke strolled into the classroom. He felt much better about everything now that he had talked to Rorrim about it. However, he was still quite nervous about talking to Marceline, since he didn't know how mad she was or if she was even mad. She could've been upset, but he didn't know. This whole thing cut their communication and he hated it, but he hadn't decided to do anything about it until that day.

The boo sat down at his table. Marceline came in after he did, but she seemed to avoid eye contact with him. Confused, he tapped her boney shoulder. "Marcie?"

No reply. Dashner sighed. Kindergrubber began her lecture for the day, before assigning them a cooking assignment. Dashner was glad because, if he could get her to talk, they could talk while doing their assignment. They began to set up, and remained in (h)awkward silence for awhile. Finally, Dashner spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. Marceline looked a little confused from his sudden appology and replied to him, at last.

"For what?" She merely mumbled as they continued to set up what they needed and began to work on the assignment.

"Being upset. I mean, you might be mad at me... But I think it's my fault." Dashner sighed, leaning against the counter. "I was just... jealous. Ever since you and Rory started dating, you've been paying a lot of attention to each other, more than you ever have paid to me. And then when all three of us fang out, I just feel like the third wheel and.." He sighed yet again, shoving his claws into the pokets of his black pants.

"I didn't know y'felt that way..." Marceline said slowly, making eye contact with him for the first time since the incident. "I'm sorry too... I didn't realize that was the reason you were upset."

"I Just miss you... I miss my beast friend that I told everything. The one that's helped me through so much. I really need that Marceline right now..."  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry arrived at the clawdatorium and paced around backstage as the Adderson ghouls put the last finishing touches to the stage.

A pink haired Naga sister grinned at Perry and waved. "This is gonna be so much fun!" She clapped two hands together.

Perry winced. "yeah... for everyone else i'm sure."

"Awww come on. Chin up. Ye'll be great i'm sure."

Perry sighed and mumbled thanks as the ghoul slithered off.

The Peryton boo peered out into the clawdatorium, which was, for now, empty. Except for Nathair who immediately rushed over and ushered Perry back behind the curtains.

"everything's in place, nothin' tae worry about. Jus' set ye stuff up over here an' when we're ready fae ye, i'll give ye a shout ok?"

Perry looked skeptical. "Vinnie's not coming is she?"

"A course she's comin! Relax, chill out, we're jus' running a wee but behind schedule is all."

Perry shook his head. He knew Nathair was panicking and lying through his fangs to stop Perry losing all hope. He kinda appreciated that about Nathair, the guy always knew when it was appropriate to stretch the truth.

Perry nodded and Nathair slithered off again. The naga was getting very stressed now. Was Vinnie coming? Was he going to have to go find her and drag her here kicking and screaming?

He was just about to go into the halls to search when the Eldritch horror herself came striding through the clawdatorium doors.
She looked around suspiciously at the empty room, then at Nathair.

"So... "

Nathair beamed and clutched her hand, pulling her toward a seat in the front row.

"Perfect timin' lass, now jus' take a seat. All will be made clear in just a wee moment."

This did little to sooth Vinnie's suspicions. She warily sat down, still eying the empty room dubiously.

Nathair returned to the stage, gave four thumbs up to the sound and lighting booth and grabbed a mic off it's stand. The spotlight lit up the stage, basking the black skinned snake boo in harsh white light.

"Ladies and... well... lady... " He grinned. "Lavinna Lovecraft, today we bring ye, in association with the Adderson band, wit a wee bit a most gracious assistance from the lovely Draconia St. George...."

"get ON with it." Vinnie heckled from the front row.

Nathair hesitated.

"Alright alright.. .without further ado... I hope... We present, Perry and his heart felt appology!"

Nathair moved off stage as the curtains opened.

Perry blinked into the spotlight, bass guitar in his claws, looking completely and utterly petrified.  

[Kai Merha]

Kai waited outside of Peggy's last class for her as the bell finally rang and students were free from the school day. His last class of the day was actually a Study Howl, so it was easy for him to get out a couple minutes early and wait for Peggy. He hoped her first day at Monster High had been okay, pack-of-tutu-dog summonings notwithstanding.

*clopclopclopclop*

The sound of hooves pricked up Kai's ears and he turned just in time to see Chase Q trotting up to him. Kai gave Chase a 'fang 10' salute with one claw.

"What's up, my brutha?" He asked the centaur.

"Heading to football practice, but wanted to talk to your new friend first." Chase replied.

"Peggy? She should be out here soon. What's up?"

"Winter sports, brah!" Chase replied, stamping his front hoof a couple times for emphasis. "Abbey's going grim-SANE trying to recruit for Winter Sports Club. The only one who wants to join besides me is Heath! And well, you remember last year..."

Kai's memory flashed back to the sight of a completely melted ski ramp and several dozen wet, unhappy students at last year's Winter Sports meet. Having a Fire Elemental on the Winter Sports team was...challenging. Especially one like Heath, the reason the school had so many fire drills.

"-And after seeing her entrance today on rocket skies, I was thinking, dude! How can we have a team and NOT have her on, right? It'd be FRIGHTEOUS!"

"Well, you can ask her as soon as she comes out here. Maybe she'll say yes!" Kai agreed. He couldn't imagine Peggy NOT wanting to be on the school's premiere hardcore winter sports club. She probably enjoyed snowboarding down the side of the himalayas through hoops of fire before breakfast.

"Sure we can't convince you to join, brah?" Chase asked Kai, playfully knocking a fist into Kai's shoulder. Kai laughed.

"Sorry, I prefer the water I surf on to not be frozen." He replied. A Hawaiian boy, through and through, that was Kai. He may have had fur now, but he still preferred beaches to igloos.

"Don't know what'cher missin, brah." Chase replied as he sidled up to the side of the hallway to avoid some students popping out of the classroom. "Icewater bungee jumping is the HEXTREME."

"I bet it is." Kai replied as he looked in the clot of ghouls to see if he could spy Peggy. "I bet it really is."  

[Harry Herne]

The last class of Harry's day was the worst: Dragonomics. Some kids called it Freakynomics but either way, Harry HATED it. Mr. Mummy didn't take a liking to Harry either...probably due to all the snide anti-corpserations remarks Harry made during class. By the end, Mr. Mummy threatened Harry with ALL the detentions.

Feeling low, Harry headed to the fountain for the Woestock meeting. He hoped this wouldn't get too much with corpserate craziness or Hauntlywood horror or ghould forbid, fangshionistas with Batttitudes.

Harry reached into his bad and pulled out a small stone. He would need to talk to Grumblethorpe to get the bands and the stone would do the trick. But he also needed to talk to Kai or Layla or someone who knew what this GlensMa list was all about.  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

"Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong before?" Glen said to his cousin-in-spells, Rory, as they walked down the hallway after Mad Science class.

Well, Rory walked. Glen floated next to him.

Upside down. It was a floaty-upside-downy-sort-of-end to the day. Glen floated lazily, bobbing slightly up and down as they headed towards the door, scrolling up and down the list on his iCoffin as he talked to Rory. The list wasn't what they were discussing, though. It was the Catacombs. Which Rory had more than a little bit of fangxiety about. "Not counting New Goreleans. Which wasn't really me steering you, it was more of a you-coming-to-rescue-me sort of direction."

"Well..." Rory paused, ruffling his hands through his hair while he thought. "I guess you haven't been wrong before, then. But I'm still worried about going down a shaft in the Catacombs that you say actually physically has a sign on it that says 'DO NOT ENTER.'"

"Oh, that's just for show. You know, regulations and stuff! It keeps kids from getting lost when they're trying to find the SKRM track." Glen swiped a finger across his iCoffin, apparently knocking someone off his list of prospective dates for Draconia. "No one wants to take a wrong turn and end up lost for 30 years like Atomica. Or 200 like Robecca!"

"Lost?! For centuries?!" Rory squeaked. When his voice cracked, it sounded like two broke shards of glass being rubbed together on the edge. He was glad Marceline couldn't hear that. "Now that definitely sounds dangerous!"

"The Catacombs aren't dangerous!" Glen protested, knocking another kid off the list with a swipe flourish. "They're uhh-mazing. Sometimes you can hear music traveling down the flying buttresses. There are pools of lava that bubble up and leave crunchy black crust-bubbles on the surface when they cool. And sometimes the stalactites seem to sparkle like diamonds right before they fall and shatter on the ground into a million shining pie-"

Glen cut himself off and cleared his throat.

"Er...Fall and land softly on the ground." He corrected himself, seeing Rory's eyes bugging out listening to Glen. Glen rolled his eyes, just a little bit. He came from Oz, where there really was no mortal danger. You could cut someone up into a million pieces and they'd still be right as rain. A little less able to check their mailbox, maybe. But still be fine. It sometimes took him a few moments to remember that Rory's fanxiety about fracturing and breaking needed special consideration when they talked.

"But anyway." Glen tried to redirect the conversation. "I'm convinced that when we hexplore the Catacombs, we will find something extra special - a great place to do Spellbound LARPing! Someplace with lots of open space but also interesting formations or mushroom topiaries or ancient furniture we can use to make the LARP hextra perfect. So I think that should be our goal."

"If you say so..." Rory tentatively agreed. As far as he knew, there were no mirrors down in the Catacombs, and outside of his visits to the SKRM track down there to fear on Marceline when she performed, he'd never seen any of it. It was as bad as going into a room full of hammers with your eyes closed, in his opinion.

Glen turned himself right-side-up in mid-air, which sent all the blood rushing away from his head. He showed Rory his list with pride.

"You see that? Thirteen candidates to be Drakie's new special someboody. ONE of the boos in this list has to be her perfect match! They're all Glen-approved!"

Rory stared quizzically at the list, puzzling out the backwards (to him) names.

"You think Lin McGearloch might be her special someboody?" He asked incredulously. Glen shrugged.

"Maybe! He's on the list, isn't he?"

Rory nodded, not really understanding the justification. The two of them were now on the steps just outside of the school. Rory cleared off a spot on the side bannister and sat down. Glen tipped his head and looked at Rory.

"Uh...what are you waiting for?" He asked.

"Nathair Adderson." Rory replied. "I am supposed to iceshard deathball him right here after school."

"Oh! Fright on!" Glen replied, a wide grin crossing his face. His cousin was going to hexperience his first snowball fight! Rory looked nervous. As usual. Glen stroked his chin, thinking to himself.

"Say, Rory. How about we use this 'iceshard deathball' date as a chance to practice some of the practical magic I've been teaching you?" Glen asked his cousin. Rory stopped staring at the wonder that was his own breath fogging up the air and looked at Glen with surprise.

"I suppose so." He answered. "Which magic?"

"Let's go over this one lesson I have in mind, and then I'll go get Nathair for you...." Glen replied, and crouched closer to Rory to plot a little surprise for the serpent boo.