Monster High - The School Grounds

[NanoAer]

The Fae caught the lamp and blinked in surprise. "The Fae... Welcoming committee?" Ari repeated slowly. She looked at the Lamp in her hands then back up to a now weeping Harry, then back down at the lamp.

Ari suddenly found herself beginning to giggle, then she couldn't hold it back and laughed freely, Thought it wasn't a mean laugh..The Fae felt as if millions of bubbles of happiness were just waiting to burst out of her body. She regained control seeing Harry's tearful eyes give her a odd look. Ari smiled at him kindly, her cheeks a fair amount pinker then they had been. "I- I don't know what to say."

Without thinking the Blonde moved forward and wrapped her arms around the boy's neck. "Th-thank you." She said hiding her own tiny tears. "I never-" She shook her head. "Thank you. This means so much to me." If the Changling had any doubts about fitting in earlier they had all vanished.

Suddenly hearing shouting coming from behind them Ari jumped backwards and clutched the Lava lamp to her chest. "What on earth?" She was blushing madly and shook her head to try and focus.

The Fae looked at Harry then back to her locker. Hang on... I know that voice.

"R-Rory?" She spoke as she opened her locker carefully.

"Ahh!" The glass boy toppled out head first. Lucky for him the girl opening the metal door had excellent reflexes -When she wasn't having a fangxiety attack- She swiftly handed The Lamp to Damyn (Who shifted into a small brown bear)- "Terribly sorry- Hold this for a moment please, Thank you~" and moved back quick enough to catch the mirror witch as he barreled into her. The Bear held the lamp close as he watched the scene with a tiny smirk.

"Ar- Are you alright?" She asked, "You're not hurt anywhere are you?" Having already seen Shad Fall out of her locker Another one wasn't much of a surprise. The mirror he must have came from fell with a clatter on the floor. The sound of glass breaking resonated around them.  

[Lin McGearloch]

Bobby Telly Tube

"Why-why-why hello there! My name iiii-s-s-s Bobby! What is yo-yours?" The gentlebot would lower his lengthy arm down to the gremlin, to offer him his gloved hand as a sign of new found friendship.

"Lin! Lin McGearloch!" Lin proudly announced as his claws grasped Bobby's hand and gave it a good shake. "Gremlin hextraordinaire! And your OFFICIAL student mentor..." He added with a casual frown back towards JD.

Lin then turned back to look at their still clasped hands and Lin quickly lowered his goggles over his eyes to hexamine Bobby's hand...

"Wowwwww........"  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

Arillena

The mirror he must have came from fell with a clatter on the floor. The sound of glass breaking resonated around them.

*KSH!*

Rory covered his face, blissfully unaware that he was being carried in Arillena's arms.

"AUGH!" Rory shouted. "My face! It's shattered into a million pieces!"  

[Bobby Telly Tube]

Lin McGearloch

This cheery little meeting made Bobby's overly large artificial neural hard drive 'whirr' with satisfaction! The usual "V" shaped pixelated smile would shift to a cartoonish grin. "Why-Why-why thank you, Li-i-i-in---" Yet Bobby's cartoonish smile would change towards a confused frown when registering Lin's change in vocal patterns.

"Did I-I say som-something wrong?" He didn't really pick it up until his visual sensors traced Lin's iris pointing down at his metallic hand. Oh my! He must think of him obsolete already! "Oh-Oh-Oh dear.. Apolo-lololololo-gies dear Lin, I am qui-quite an old mode-de-de-del. I sincere-rerererely hope it doesn't altteeeeerrr, our connection."  

[Harry Herne]

Harry gasped.

"Ari, you keep a boo prisoner inside your locker? So not cruel!"

And to think he was going to ask Ari to join the BOJANGLES! He thought maybe she could help with craft table that Kai had planned. But keeping monster imprisoned in lockets was so not cruel!  

[NanoAer]

Ari shook her head at Harry, "I wasn't aware that he had been stuck." She knelt to her knees and carefully set the Panicked boy down. "It was the small mirror in my locker that shattered." She assured Rory, glancing at the broken glass. The little bear walked over on his hind legs, set the lava lamp safely on the ground and began to push the sharp pieces into a pile.

The Fae reached out and softly touched the back of his hand. "Will you let me see? If you are hurt I would like to help you," Her voice remained as gentle as her actions. "I would advice calming down before you do shatter something else."

One question appeared in her head.

Why do the guys keep falling out of my locker?  

[Jewels Underne]

Jewels had heard the shattering of glass, and of course Rory's piercing scream as she reached the hall. Adjusting her glasses, she naturally assumed precisely what Rory had just assumed and hurried toward the ruckus panting a little.

"Ohdearohdear, is he alright?" It wouldn't do at all surely to have a student shatter into billions of teeny pieces right here in the hall, especially not the tombcoming king, imagine school moral? Imagine the mess? Could Mirror witches even be glued back together?

Seeing Rory was indeed still in mostly one piece, Jewels let out a sigh of relief.

She paused and watched the new ghoul. Well, someone certainly was popular with the boos weren't they? Fighting back the stab of sudden and unreasonable envy, Jewels instead forced a smile and extended a large clawed hand to Ari.

"You're one of the new students yes?" Sure they'd already briefly met, but Jewels had mostly forgotten that encounter, frantic as she was talking to Kai and the situation with the kobolds.

"Oh caverns below, the kobolds!"
She looked to Harry.

"Harry, thevenuestitchuation, has a solutionbeenfound? Kai suggested the catacombs, whatdoyouthink?"
Jewels had an unsettling tendency to stare at monsters when she was over excited, her saucer-like eyes magnified further by her tinted glasses. Right now she was staring so intently at Harry, once more she seemed to be ignoring Ari.  

[Rorrim Rory Bludworth]

Now standing on the ground, Rory opened his fingers enough for his eyes to peek through at Arillena and Jewels. Suddenly, Jewels seemed to lose all interest in him and Arillena and cornered Harry.

Rory looked at Arillena, his hands still over his face. She gave him a little bit of a sigh.

"You can take your hands off your face, it's going to be all right. Or all fright, as I suppose you say."

"Are you sure?" Rory asked through the palms of his hands.

"One hundred percent." She reassured him. Rory cautiously lowered his hands. His face remained intact, which was very encouraging.

"Whew." Rory took a deep breath of relief, running his fingers down the crack on the side of his face. It didn't seem to have spread at all. "I'm sorry about that. I don't normally fall out of lockers. That's more of a Shad thing to do."

He looked down at the sight of a little bear cub sweeping up broken mirror fragments, which anywhere else would be an unusual sight. At Monster High, however, it seemed like a perfectly logical thing to be occurring.

"Poor mirror." Rory lamented. "I'm so sorry about that. I know how it feels."  

[Lin McGearloch]

Bobby Telly Tube

"Did I-I say som-something wrong?" He didn't really pick it up until his visual sensors traced Lin's iris pointing down at his metallic hand. Oh my! He must think of him obsolete already! "Oh-Oh-Oh dear.. Apolo-lololololo-gies dear Lin, I am qui-quite an old mode-de-de-del. I sincere-rerererely hope it doesn't altteeeeerrr, our connection."

"No... no... we're good..."

Lin kept staring at Bobby's metallic hand, blinking back in wonder and fascination.

"Old school ... classic ... minimal upgrades ... totally re..."

Lin looked up at Bobby's face/screen and his red eyes were magnified several times their size thanks to his research goggles.

"You, my fiend, are so very retro! That's a good thing!"

Lin looked back down at his hand and murmured, "Probably why I haven't fried you by accident." He looked up and smiled, "I so have to introduce you to Gryff and Atomica, but that can wait! We gotta get you settled in! What's your first class?"

Lin started down the hall, then cast JD a look, "You can come too if you must."  

[Harry Herne]

Jewels Underne

"Whoa, chill out, Earth Child! Kai told me about the kobolds. Tonight, we're gonna have a far out Cosmic Peace Drum Circle to clear the air. Our flower power is stronger than any glower power. I just need a drummer...."

Harry cleared his throat. Jewels eyes cut right through to your soul. Kinda groovy but unnerving all at once. Not one to hold stuff like that against a monster, Harry decided to ask Jewels to help.

"Do you play the drum? Can't have a Cosmic Peace Drum Circle without a Cosmic Drummer."  

[Jewels Underne]

"a.. a drum?" Jewels tilted her head, finally, thankfully, blinking. "Like a bongo or something?"

Drumming was generally something her father discouraged underground, along with blasting loud music and generally anything that might cause a rock fall. Not that Jewels had ever much wanted to do these things, but even so, she couldn't help but feel he was a mite hypocritical banning rock music when his own work often resulted in large explosions.  

[Perry Hartley]

Perry's eyes had glazed over as Nathair continued to babble at him about the supposedly hexciting drama project that was coming up. Something about a circus, blah blah blah. He'd tuned out his friend as they walked.

"Fanxious abou' the game?" Nathair asked, noticing at last that Perry was more than a little disinterested.

"I dunno. I mean, not really but at the same time, Coach is like.. freaking out over this Luna high stitchuation. He REALLY wants a win, I think he's got some sort of bet going with their coach or something."

Nathair chuckled. "Ye'll be fine. I saw ye guys practicin', ye'r gonna crush those werewolves."

"You were watching? I thought the sky was looking a little ominiously grey."

Nathair had an unfortunately tendency to trigger thunder storms when he got excited, not a problem indoors, but it had gotten him banned from many an outdoor sporting event at Monster High.

"But that's the problem, Luna High have been watching TOO." Perry continued.

"Ye dinnae usually get so stressed abou' games. Aren't ye the one who keeps sayin' graveball's a stupid game and who cares if Monster High wins?"

"Yeah I know, but everyone else REALLY cares. I mean look around." The school hall was looking rather festive with banners hanging to urge the team on.
"And you gotta admit, if we kick those wolves' butts, the party is gonna be CLAWSOME."

"Aren't ye still grounded?"

Perry groaned. "oh man.. But my parents can't stop me going to the after party right?"

"Isn' tha' what being grounded generally entails?"

"Eugh... "

"Jus' have tae be satisfied with wipin' the smug looks of Luna High's faces?"

"That works. " Perry grinned. "Thanks man, you always know how to cheer me up."

"I hear ye almos' got yeself burried alive last night."

"You heard about that? Yeah, it was super lame. That Selkie guy has some nerve. He threw me into a lake!"

Nathair was trying very hard not to laugh. Speaking through gritted teeth as he struggled to keep himself from smiling. "Tha's... terrible. Why'd he do that?"

"It doesn't matter, the roof was caving in or something. He decided to test the water with ME. I mean, he's a sea monster! why couldn't he go splash about and get soaked? Anyway, then a kraken or something attacked me. "

"Wait.. there's a kraken in the catacombs?"

"yeah, a family of them apparently. Oh man! I got pictures, I gotta show you. They're a bit blurry because you know, it was kinda throwing me around."

"So... how are ye not tentacle chow?"

"OH yeah, Selkie dude came in and like, yelled at the thing and shoved a torch in it's face. It's not important, stuff happened, the roof caved in. My camera got smashed."

"you saved the pictures though?"

"yeah, the sd card was ok. I'll show you later, I went through em last night and there's some good ones. Hopefully Motthew and I can get a decent grade for this stupid project and my camera hasn't died in vain."

"Bet ye parent's werent' impressed ye managed ta lose another camera."

"Hey it's only what, the third one this year?" Perry's fondness for urban exploration and somewhat dangerous photo shoots had been the end of several cameras, not to mention the few he'd sacrificed to getting that camera drone for chop class working.

"I count five. Ye dropped one a them down a pit remember.. an then one was engulfed in tha' explosion when ye crashed the drone intae the side a the butcher shop."

"oh yeah.. man, mom was SO mad. I had to scrub floors for a month. But yeah, they uh.. we're too bad last night actually. I think they were just glad I didn't get crushed too. Least, I made it clear that had been a very real possibility and they SHOULD be grateful only my camera was lost"

"Ahh yes, ye' renowned diplomacy skills. I see." Nathair snickered softly.

"I'll have you know i'm a fantastic.. diplo... thingie... whatever. Point is, they didn't seem that bothered and just told me the next one's coming out of my allowance."

"D'ye even GET an allowance?"

"Well, not till i'm no longer grounded... but you know.. it'll happen!"

"Mm hmm"

"I can't be grounded forever man!"

"I'm sure ye'd find a way."  

[Marceline LaGhede]

Rorrim Rory Bludworth

Arillena

Her hextbooks hitched to her hip, Marceline was about to shut her locker and head to class... when she realized something, rather someone, was missing. She took a quick look in her locker mirror, her eyes scanning the silvery surface for a flint of red in the space beyond, only to see her own reflection staring back at her.

Rory was late, uncharacteristic of him. She was about to begin summoning him when a piercing wail barreled down the hallway.

"AUGH! My face! It's shattered into a million pieces!"

Marceline's eyes widened. Rory! She dropped her hextbooks and ran to where she thought the scream came from. A turn of the corner and there was her boofriend, looking a bit disheveled but otherwise in one piece... his hands clasped with an ethereal-looking ghoul's...

Suddenly, Marceline felt as if someone was stabbing a voodoo doll in her likeness, a needle right to the heart. Seeing Rory being affectionate toward another ghoul made her want to cry and scream, all at the same time... She'd never had a real boofriend before, and seeing him with someone else brought on some very new emotions; namely, jealousy.

She bit her bottom lip, half-ready to walk away and pretend she never saw anything; but what would that solve, she thought. Rory was HER boofriend, and she needed to stand her ground. A deep breath, and she ran to his side, throwing her arms around him in a dramatic fashion.

"Oh my ghoul, Rorrim!!!" She cried, squeezing him tighter. "I heard you scream an' I just came runnin'! I was so worried about my spookyshine, I thought the worst'd happened! I'm so glad you're okay!"

She shot Arillena a look over Rory's shoulder, as if to say Back off, he's mine, before pulling away from Rory and weaving her hand with his.

"Come on, Rory. We're gonna be late f'r Dead Languages if we don't hurry!"  

[NanoAer]

Ari smiled once Rory began to relax. "See? You are alright~" She glanced over at the pile of broken shards. I wonder where that mirror even came from... She wondered. As the Fae was still a tad frightened of her own reflection she hadn't though to bring on to school.

Speaking of said fear the Changling avoided making direct contact with her own eyes as she helped her new friend. Ari was about to speak again when an unfamiliar girl rushed over and dramatically hugged the mirror witch. She was about to assure the worried girl that he was fine when Ari received a threatening look from her. The Fae shut her mouth instantly and tried to understand the reason. Based on her behaviour the Fae determined that they were close and she suddenly felt like an intruder.

"I uh- Guess I'll see you later Rory." She said with a timid smile to both of them. The scene now felt awkward and she decided to flee it. "Looks like you are in good hands now~" With that she stood up and stepped towards Harry and Jewel.

~~~

"Oh, Yes Hello again~" Ari smiled. "I believe We briefly met yesterday. I apologize, I looked different so I hope there isn't any confusion." As she spoke the Fae knelt down to pat the bear on the head. He had finished scooping up the shards. Ari waved her hand over it and muttered, "Fill ar d'fhoirm bhunaidh" The pile began to glow and within seconds it had returned to it's original shape as a small hand mirror. This isn't mine so I'd better find a way to return it... Without looking at it directly the Fae gently laid the object face down on the floor of her locker.

"That's right, I recall there was a problem regarding an argument." She heard Harry mention drums and after listening to Jewels response she spoke up shyly. "I um... Once played drums during a festival several years ago... I don't know if I'm any good now but I'd like to help if at all possible."  

[Bobby Telly Tube]

Lin McGearloch

Bobby would reveal a cartoonish smile of glee when finding out their connection wasn't ruined by a simple series of words, he would clasp his large metallic gloved hands together to begin the process of reciting the class listing registering within his neural hard drive.

Speaking in a more monotone metallic voice that would emit from the speaker, "Unit 34892-B, report to subjected class labeled: Home Ick. "