Monster High - The School Grounds

[Perry Hartley]

Perry, much like several of the other students, peered up from where they'd taken shelter and slowly shuffled back to their seats.
Perry could hardly contain the disappointment, he'd really wanted that stupid wardrobe to explode.
Now he had no excuse to get him out of this presentation, bummer.

Mr Ra now turned his attention back to the rest of the class. Perry tried his very best to turn invisible but alas, it wasn't a power he possessed.

"Not me.. not me.. anyone but me" He urged silently, but apparently this didn't work either, not that he really thought it would.

Mr Ra's gaze settled on the redhead who froze and tried to shrink back into his chair.

"Mister Hartley... "

Perry gulped.

"Perhaps you would care to go next."

No sense arguing now, the fates had abandoned the hapless Peryton and now he'd have to stand up in front of all these people and talk about a machine he wasn't even certain was now working. Humiliation and defeat were so close he could already see that ugly F grade hovering before him.
Hesitantly he rose to his feet and dragged himself and a bulging backpack to the front, cringing a little under the watchful eyes of his peers.

"When ever you are ready." Mister Ra settled himself in the front row, pen poised and ready.

Perry gulped once more, adjusted his glasses and set to work getting everything out of his bag.

First was a chunky looking pair of goggles. Then came some sort of helicopter and finally his Icoffin.

Silence had descended on the classroom, which only made Perry more nervous, but he took a deep breath and without looking up, launched into his explanation.

"I do a lot of photography, and often there comes a situation where I KNOW there's the perfect shot, I simply haven't got the height or dexterity to shoot it..." He paused. "Even being able to fly, there's places I can't go, places many monsters can't go. And so, I present my solution. The Camera drone."

He indicated the small helicopter.

"I'm not good with naming things clearly. "
As Nathair had pointed out to him early last week, insisting calling it a camera drone lacked pizazz or style. Perry had told him to shove off, but now he was sort of wishing he'd let the guy help him with naming ideas. Too late now.

He pressed on, barely pausing for breath.

"There's a small, high res camera mounted here" He lifted up the helicopter and indicated a chunky telescoping lens.

"Film goes here" He indicated again.

"You'll get a good twenty shots out of one roll of film, more than enough to get that one perfect picture surely."

He dared to glance up, Mister Ra was writing something. Perry shook his head and averted his gaze once more.

"Anyway... " He sounded a little flustered. "The helicopter is remote controlled using an app on your Icoffin. I'm still working on getting a decent video feed to display however, which is where the goggles come in. The resolution on such a small screen like this..." He held up his phone "Is frankly insufficient for taking decent, quality photos. So these give the wearer a full panoramic view of what the camera sees." He prodded the goggles.

"The idea is, this drone can get to places you can't, be it for legal or for simple physical reasons. Much as I enjoy hanging upside down from unstable rusting railings to get the right picture, sometimes you just gotta accept you can't get the right angle. So send in the drone. Using the goggles you can get the image lined up just as you would with a view finder, Better than a viewfinder in fact. Point, click. All you gotta do then is process the film."

Mister Ra coughed, telling Perry he was rambling. The boy nodded.

"getting to the point ok... right.. So, let me demonstrate. If Ican uh.. get this to work.. Mister Ra, if you could put these on please." He offered the goggles to the teacher who pulled them on carefully.

"ok, now feel along the sides, you should feel a knob ok? Turn that until everything comes into focus."

While Mister Ra did that, Perry turned a few switches on the helicopter and fiddled with his Icoffin, loading the appropriate program.

"Can you see?"

Mister Ra nodded. "This is quite disorienting. Are you certain this contraption of yours is safe to fly in here?"

Perry looked a little uncertain but he couldn't back out now. "Of course sir, perfectly safe." He didn't quite sound like he believed that.

"Now uh... it takes a little getting used to. " He pressed the Icoffin into Mister Ra's hands. "Just gently press down here and drag up to lift off."

Immediately the helicopter rotors began to spin, faster and faster. The drone wobbled and juddered in place.

"Ok clawsome, now slowly drag forward!" He had to yell, the drone was making quite a racket, sending loose papers fluttering off desks.

Slowly and unsteadily the drone rose a few inches into the air.
Perry grinned in delight. It was working!

"That's it! Ok, keep doing that." The copter continued to climb.

"Great sir, now just use your finger to navigate. You don't need to see the screen, it's mapped to what you're seeing."

The teacher looked a little unsure, but the drone veered to one side and started to turn in a clumsy arc till the camera was pointing straight at the Peryton.

Perry waved.

"And how do I make it take a photo then?"

"Oh right, uh.. tap."

There was a blinding flash and a click as the camera went off, and the drone for a moment lost height and spun wildly toward the seated students. Everyone screamed and ducked out of the way of the sharp spinning blades that came hurtling toward them.

"Sir! Try to regain control!"

the spinning stopped and the copter hovered clumsily in the air in front of a rather worried looking cyclops boy's single eye.

"Ok... down... "

The drone moved down a little too quickly, clipped the edge of the cyclops' desk and skittered across the floor, landing on it's side with the rotors still trying to spin violently.

Perry winced. "turn it off!"

"How?"

The machine was making a terrible grinding sound as the rotors struggled against the stone floors, something went crack.

"Down, tap, press!"

The flash went off again.

"No no, press not tap!"

The flash flared a few more times before finally the rotors stopped spinning and the drone stopped moving completely.

Perry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you sir."

Mister Ra removed the goggles and handed them and the Icoffin back to Perry.

"A few bugs to iron out wouldn't you say?"

"Yes sir.. sorry sir."


He waited. Mister Ra stood and walked over to the drone, picking it up and peering at it critically. He set it down, scribbling a few more notes.

Perry waited with baited breath, heart racing.

"hmmm." The hydra began, tapping his pen against his clipboard as he considered everything.
"Well... it didn't maim anyone... though it came close."

"yes sir... the control system needs a few tweaks."

"I can see implementations for this idea though. tell me." He turned to the terrified Peryton. "Have you managed to get any good pictures using it yet?"

Perry shook his head. "n.. not yet sir. I kinda... lost the first one I built down in the catacombs."

"hmmm... " Mister Ra examined the broken drone one more time. "Yes... I think... B minus." He decided at last.

Perry breathed a sigh of relief. He'd passed!

"Thank you.. thank you sir!"

"Yes yes, now hurry up and clean this mess up."  

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

RRRRRRIIIIIIIIINGGGG!!

Vinnie waited vigilantly outside of Mr. Ra's classroom, one boot anchored against the wall. Her last class block was Study Howl, which on account of midterms she decided to devote less to actual studying and more to... unwinding. She surreptitiously read through a few zines from a friend from R'lyeh, tucked into her Hiss-tory hextbook, and began to miss home...

Vinnie had sent a few messages to her father, reminding him about Parent-Creature conferences that week and inquiring about Fangsgiving break... the consistent lack of reply on his end indicated that he had not made plans for either, and if the did, they didn't include her. Seemed like all of her great old friends back home were busy with howliday plans, as well... suddenly, Vinnie didn't feel like she fit in there anymore, and her stomach turned in sinuous knots and a rage began to boil inside her. She took a breath, her tentacles quivering on the exhale, and furiously began picking at her claws to distract herself enough to resist crying.

The door to the Chop classroom slowly swung open as a steady stream of monsters filed out into the hallway. She filed in next to Perry, actually grateful to see one of her only real friends at Monster High, even if he didn't look to happy to be undead at the moment...

"Hey." She nudged him with her shoulder, looking over the remains of his project. "So, how did the camera drone do? Or did it... not?"  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry smiled a little as Vinnie joined him. He did look at though his feathers were a little ruffled though.

"Oh it went about as well as I expected. Almost decapitated Cy Clops."

"Decapitated!? That thing nearly took my eye out!" the cyclops boy remarked as he walked past.

Perry tried hard not to snicker.

"But uh.. yeah. At least I passed and nobody was horribly maimed in the process. I think that tends to kinda... lower your grade you know?" He shrugged. "What about you? Get any study done or did you spend all your time playing skull crush saga?"

He stopped walking, tilting his head at Vinnie. She didn't quite seem herself. He couldn't put his talon on it, but he got the impression she was about ready to punch something.

"Are you ok?"  

[Jewels Underne]

Jewels had spent the day distracted, till lunch time when whatever gloop they'd been serving had suddenly reminded her of her tombcoming campaign. Better food for the creepateria! that had been one of her pledges! And hearing students around her complain about what they'd been served up sparked an idea that she was certain would absolutely ROCK.
If the teachers couldn't come up with decent food, the students would have to!
And so the idea was born, she would host a cookoff! With Rory's help of course, if she could find that shiny mirror witch anywhere.

She was certain he'd be up for it though, he never struck her as the sort of object to doing whatever was best for the school.
And this was most certainly best for the school. Monsters learn best on full stomachs!

She'd spent her free period printing up leaflets and getting permission from Mrs Kindergruber to use the home ick room and now, as the bell rang she stood in the hall and passed fliers to any and every monster who passed.

"Sick of formless slop for lunch? Wish the creepateria had more alternative options? Show off your cooking prowess! A chance to really shine! See your idea on the menu!" She shouted over the din and waved leaflets, pressing them into the hands of anyone who paused long enough.  

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

Perry Hartley

Vinnie hadn't realized that her facial expression soured as they shuffled through the hallway. It wasn't Perry's fault; she just couldn't shake that feeling that she was unwanted by her hometown friends, her own father... sometimes she wondered if Perry felt like that, too. She forced a laugh, putting on a fake smile.

"Yea, I'm fine." She lied through her tentacles. "Mostly just feeling burned out from all the tests and stuff, y'know? I'm looking forward to the break... speaking of, what are you doing for Fangsgiving break?"  

[Perry Hartley]

"Hey, it's almost over. Least I hope it's almost over. Eugh." He made a face. He hated exams.

"Fangsgiving? Oh man... " He groaned. "My brother is coming to town. Mom's insisting on having some big family thing. It's gonna suuuuck."

He'd been trying not to think about it. Sadly his mother had refused to let him do what he usually did, run off to Nathair's place shortly after lunch and avoid his family for a few hours. Family get togethers were just annoying. His grandmother pinching his cheeks and rambling on about how he'd grown even though it had only been a few months since her last visit. His brother gloating about how clawsome he was and generally just being a jerk. Probing annoying questions about school, about his social life, about everything he didn't much want to talk about. Yuck.

He shook his head. "What about you? You gonna go back home or what?"  

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

"I, uh..." Vinnie scratched the side of her head, mussing up her mohawk a bit. "Dad's away on business, he's not gonna be back for the break... I was just gonna stay in the dooms and Netfreak binge... maybe make some murk n' cheese or something..."

Her smile faded as her eyes zoned on the floor.  

[Perry Hartley]

"No offence but that sounds like.. total snoozeville." He thought about it for a moment. "Why don't you come to my place? My parents won't mind i'm sure. I mean they'll be cooking a stupid amount of food anyway. You... eat meat right?"  

[Vinnie Lovecraft]

"You want me to come to dinner with your family!?" Vinnie glared at Perry as if the manster had suddenly gone hydra and grew an extra head. "I mean... I guess I didn't think I was the type you took home to meet your mother... and meat sounds better than murk n' cheese, I'll give you that..."

She thought it over for a moment... even if she understood and forgave Perry, Vinnie was still nursing her pride after what happened at Tombcoming; and now she was invited over to meet his family for Fangsiving dinner. It didn't exactly sit right with her; then again, spending the howliday weekend alone didn't, either.

"You know what? Yeah, I'll come over. Why the hex not?"  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry stared right on back at her, completely baffled for a moment by her attitude. Ok so perhaps it was a little odd to invite her to dinner but hey, she wasn't doing anything, she was his friend and he needed someone to hide behind when his grandmother arrived with her horrible pinching fingers at the ready.
He really was clueless enough to assume that whole tombcoming thing was ancient hisstory, so he grinned broadly when she agreed.

"Clawsome! We eat at three. "

At least he had Vinnie's company to look forward to now. Someone to shook those exasperated looks at when his brother started boasting. Someone to make snide remarks to under his breath. Maybe fangsgiving wouldn't be such a snooze after all.

Of course he had to get through the rest of the week, pass all his midterms and survive the next few days helping out in the shop. The runup to fangsgiving was one of the busiest times of year for the family run butcher, with a lot of turkeys to prep for sale. Perry was certain his hands still hurt from all the plucking last year.
His social life was about to come to an absolute grinding halt until after the festive period.  

[Draconia St George]

Jewels Underne

"Show off your cooking prowess! A chance to really shine! See your idea on the menu!"

As Draconia filed out of Mad Science, dragging behind Glen and Hellene, she nearly collided with Jewels.

"Sorry! So sorry. A bit distracted." Draconia apologised profusely as she snatched a few scattered fliers out of the air to hand back to Jewels. "A cooking contest?"

Draconia looked down at the flyer as Jewels grinned and stuffed another one in Draconia's back pack.

"That's right! I promised during my Tombcoming Campaign that I would help make Monster High totally rock. Wouldn't it be gneiss if the food in the Creepateria didn't scream when you bit into it?"

"Actually, that's my favorite part." Glen replied, having put on the brakes to see what Draconia was up to. "Sometimes the Mystery Meatloaf screams, sometimes it sings, sometimes it just makes these 'whhhssh, whhhhshh' sounds-"

"Yeah, that's great." Jewels cut Glen off. "But what I'm talking about here is letting the student bodies choose what's going to be served! By submitting your favourite recipes to be judged by the most competent monster possible - me! Your Tombcoming Queen!"

Jewels glanced behind Glen, where Rory was walking up to them.

"And your king, too, of course." She hastily added. Glen handed Rory a flyer.

"Hey, this looks like a great idea!" Rory looked it over. "I'd love a chance to pick some more safe alternatives to eat. Last week, the mystery meatloaf challenged me to a duel...I lost."

"This is hexcellent timing for me." Draconia smiled at Jewels. "I'll be cooking some of my mum's famous Ghost Pepper Dread Pudding for Fangsgiving! I could make extra and submit it for judging. It would be a nice distraction over the freakend."

"Distraction?!" Glen turned to his beastie with alarm. "Why?! What's wrong?!"

"Oh, er...I mean...with you and Rory, Kai, and Nero all going out of town on your bro-ad trip, it will be so much less...hexciting this freakend." Draconia stammered. She didn't want to burden Glen with her weird, confused feelings about Manny and Iris while he was on his trip.

"Oooh, that's right." Rory's shoulders slumped. "I'm going to be in New Goreleans for the howliday. If I had known about this earlier, maybe we could have scheduled it a different time."

Rory wondered why Jewels hadn't talked to him at all before printing up flyers and everything. Maybe food was solely in the realm of the powers of the Tombcoming Queen. He handed the flyer back to Jewels sadly.

"It'll be all right, won't it? Can you manage without me there?"  

[Glen da West]

Glen paused as he 'red eye'd' Draconia with a critical stare, one that seemed quite unbefitting of him. True, he seemed to be what his beasties,especially Draconia, referred to as 'barking mad', but he had his moments.

This was one of them. He could tell something wasn't quite right with his Drakie. Still, he wouldn't press -- yet. They had an evening meal ahead of them, one where he would get to meet his beastie's folks for the very first time!

Glen murmured, "Hm, maybe I can offer a little of the chef's kelpie stew for the contest... oo! That reminds me!"

Glen tapped Draconia on the arm to get her attention.

"Drakie, our chef messaged me and said he needed to know your mom's special ingredient for the stew. You know, since she's serving it, she gets to pick a little something new and special to add her own touch to it."  

[Jewels Underne]

Jewels clapped her hands excitedly at Draconia's agreement.

"Thatwouldbejustseismic! "

She glanced to Rory, taking back the flier from him.

"Oh... um.."

Sure, she could judge something alone, yes, in fact she was certain she didn't need him standing around fretting about stoves and pans of boiling water. A smile crept across her face as she nodded.


"Of course Rory! You have a great trip!"

While she did all the actual IMPORTANT stuff.

"I'm perfectly capable." She assured the mirror witch with an air of arrogant pride in her tone.

"yes yes, everyone enter! the more entrants, the better the contest right? Of course i'm right. All the info you need is on the flier, see you there!"

Jewels bustled off into the crowd to force fliers on more confused students, babbling incessantly and enthusiastically to any foolish enough to pause and ask what all this was about.  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

"Okay, uh...cool! See you later the-" Rory blinked and noticed that Jewels had moved on, hawking fliers to a different group of kids. "Huh."

Rory rubbed the back of his head and turned to Glen.

"So, see you tomorrow morning bright and early, right? I'm sort of hexcited for this road trip-"

"BRO-ad trip." Glen corrected him.

"Sorry, right. I'm hexcited for it, I've never done a long trip on the road-"

"BRO-ad."

"On the bro-ad before. You don't think we'll run into any trouble, do you? I mean, we could always just use the mirrorverse route to New Goreleans."

Glen put his arm around Rory's shoulder.

"Cousin, you have to learn to un-live a little! Loosen up! Get crazy! Take risks!"

"Risks?! That sounds dang-" Glen reached up and clamped a green mitt over Rory's mouth.

"Rory. That word is forbidden from now until we get back from New Goreleans. Got it?"

"Mmpph hmmph."

Glen pulled his hand off of Rory's mouth.

"Sorry."

"I said, 'got it.'"

"All right, then!" Glen resumed putting his arm around Rory's shoulder, and together the two of them exited the school, finalizing their plans to get together for the upcoming trip.  

[Doriana Taylor]

With Monster High abuzz with students preparing for their midterm exams, stress levels grew higher and higher. Once the school bell rang and the monster kids left for the day, they managed to relax a little. Motthew walked from his last class towards the library, hoping to get a little studying in. Switching schools right before midterms may not have been the best idea on his part... But, surely it couldn't be all that bad? At least not as bad as everyone seemed to make it out as. Just before the library door, he spotted a familiar face, one that made him smile, and waved.

"Hey! Dori!" he called.

Doriana was scurrying along the narrow corridors and hallways of Monster High, from one class to the next. She was extremely stressed, worried that she wouldn't have enough time to study for everything. She was walking to her locker as a familiar voice called her. She turned around and walked up to her boofriend and smiled up at him.

"Good afternoon Motthew!"