Down the walkways between the student dorms Petro briskly trotted in his real form. He looked apprehensive and upset, square-root brows knitted together. His bare chest rose and fell evenly, his breathing was controlled, evidence that his nostrils flaring with each snort wasn't done in an attempt to catch his breath.

But what did the half-naked boil have to be upset about?

Petro's offer to be a ghoul's escort to Prom had been rejected yet again and this was what? His... well, he'd lost count at this point. All he knew was that the few ghouls he'd met at school had either already chosen another to be their escort, or they weren't all too familiar with him. Or they were Sarias. Call it frustration, call it wounded pride, call it whatever you will but Riley's offer to help the general student populace in finding someone to accompany to Prom was less than tempting for him right now. Never one to give up, because stubborn monster horse is stubborn, he decided to extend his offer to next ghoul he came across.

Whoever they may be.

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Maritess had returned from yet another fruitless attempt of limb searching. Granted her failure could mostly be attributed to the fact that she hadn't the slightest clue where her autonomous lower-half had gone to, or how she would even know it was nearby seeing as how she couldn't feel what her other half was feeling while she was severed from it. Dejectedly, the winged ghoul dreaded returning to her dorm room. Bad enough she was still legless after a year at this school, but now that she was under intense scrutiny from her parents via proxy, she no longer had the freedom to make the necessary preparations she had for the prom.

How was she going to get the corsage and the flower and the dress and how was she going to do her hair?! She supposed if she asked nicely enough, Esmerelda would be kind enough to lend her a hand and provide her expertise. Her only consolation was that she wasn't going to the prom by herself. And while she would have loved to have her date pick her up at her dorm room, she knew that Esmerelda would be out in a flash, perfectly manicured nails at the ready to give the reaper boil a thorough thrice-over.

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Petro was by the Undead dorms when he finally decided to actually stop in order to look for his final chance at attending Prom with someone who would willingly be his escort. It wasn't that he doubted the mindflayer or her abilities in making a proper match but as this was an important Rite of Passage for the students. And as such, Tro felt like his honor was at stake here! He wanted to make this a success and on his own merit! The last thing he would ever have wanted to do was bring shame to his Clan because he didn't do due diligence and exhausted every possible option.

The sound of beating wings reached his ears, and his ears flicked towards the direction it came from. He peered at the distance and spied a figure flying in the sky. It was fortunate then, that Petro was familiar with manananggals because when the sound grew fainter, he knew he wouldn't be alone for much longer. He didn't know if there were more of the winged vampires at school but he certainly hoped it was the ghoul that Lizzy was friends with.

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The near-silent flapping of large, leather wings slowed down as Tess made her descent. She spied the barely clothed tikbalang boil loitering by the dorms and recognized him from their brief encounter after they returned to school. Granted she also had first met Mac at the time but it was hard to forget the fact that he was the first tikbalang she ever saw on campus. She didn't have much in the ways of experience in dealing with the horse monster or of his kind, but from what her parents had told her, they were rather violent when provoked. Tess hoped that he did have a hairpin trigger of a temper and that he was just simply hanging around.

She wouldn't know what to say to him or what sort of topics she could talk about. Hopefully, she'd be able to just fly past him and head straight into the dorms.

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A friendly smile was extended to the legless ghoul when she approached Petro. He failed to notice the anxiety on her face as she neared because he went about making sure she knew he was here to speak to her. Well, admittedly he wasn't here for her specifically but she just happened to be the first ghoul he came across. And after deciding earlier on, Petro planned on following through!

"Greetings miss," he began, one hand raised to show he meant no harm while he kept the other resting lightly by his side. "Dunno if y' remember me, but we met-"

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Oh Jack, no! He was talking to her! So much for simply flying past him. She didn't want to be rude, a tikbalang's frightening temper aside, so she gave him a small smile that didn't come with teeth. Her wings continue to flap just hard enough to keep her in place, though it was very tempting to simply give him a hasty reason to excuse herself, rather than a "-right after the field trip, yes, I remember you. You're one of Lizzy's friends, correct? Um, is there anything I can help you with?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

She wasn't particularly put-off by his lack of clothing, she did know they were known to be more... liberal in their fashion sense and preferred to be in as natural a state as possible. But the sight of his bare, muscular chest and equally bare, muscular equine legs (particularly his bare legs) made Tess less than relaxed. She also hoped that his loincloth was wrapped in a certain way because if it wasn't, the next thing she would be hoping for is that no strong breeze blow by while she was capable of seeing things she would rather not see.

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Brown eyes blinked when she finished his sentence for him. Huh. She did remember him. Well, good! That would make things easier for him. Or so he thought. "'M Petro, y' can call me Tro. Do y' already have someone escorting you to Prom?" Petro felt he had wasted enough time in determining whether or not the other ghoul knew him and so, he went straight to the point. While Tro enjoyed being in a good dance, he had never ever enjoyed dancing around the issue. Not that he even thought there would be an issue in the first place. "Because if y' don't," he suddenly got to his knees, his eyes never once leaving hers in a show of his sincerity, "Would y' do me the honor of letting me escort y'?"

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"U-um, nice to meet you, Tro. I'm Maritess, um, Tess since you're letting me call you Tro and what did you just ask me?!" For a split second, Tess' wings paused in their flapping. To her relief, it wasn't long enough for her to falter in flight but it was quite obvious by the way her eyes had grown saucer wide that she. Did. Not. See. That. Coming. "I-I'm sorry, I'm sure you're a nice boil as you're Lizzy's friend but are you sure you're asking me and not some other ghoul to the prom?" The disbelief and confusion was audible in her voice, and it had an undertone of dismay to it. She was flattered, undoubtedly, but at the same time she was also extremely suspicious.

Having one boil ask her out was already wrecking havoc on Tess' nerves and she was already questioning the reaper's motives. It was only because both Lizzy and Mac had assured her that she was genuinely being asked for her company and not for some cruel prank or because they were feeling sorry for her and she was their latest charity case. Clearly, Tess needed to work out some self-esteem issues.

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It was Tro's turn to look confused. What did she mean by him being sure that he was asking her? Did she have a white lady currently invisible with her or something? Still on bended knee, he began to look at the surrounding area with a scrutinizing gaze, as if trying to discern whom Tess could be referring to. The idea that Tess might have a less-than-stellar opinion of herself never once crossing his mind. When he was more or less certain that they were the only two present, he fixed a stare of certainty at the manananggal, "'M pretty sure 'm asking y' if y' would let me escort y' to Prom."

He probably should be making this offer with an easy smile to set her at ease! The decision coming just after he repeated his offer that the smile looked more hopeful than calming. He was no less sincere in his willingness to be Tess' escort even if he was less than familiar with her personally. He figured if she was Lizzy's friend, then he would do what he can to befriend her as well.

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Maritess just wanted to drop her jaw. She wanted to hear the solid clunk as her chin met the walkway. She wanted to convey in the most blatantly obvious way that she was none-too-thrilled with the tikbalang's reassurance that he was talking to her. While her ego was getting to an uncomfortable level of "healthy" from the sudden attention from boils she was getting, she realized she had the rather awkward task of breaking it to the horse boil that she already had a date.

The winged ghoul set about getting through this task by first sheepishly chuckling, "U-um, please get up. I-it's really, really flattering and sweet of you to consider me at all, despite us not really being familiar with each other and only probably being linked through Lizzy," she began to ramble, "B-but um, I'm afraid I have to say no. PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!!" she suddenly shrieked, raising her arms defensively in front of her. "I already have a date!"

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Petro got to his feet, startled mostly when the ghoul suddenly yelled at him, pleading that he won't take out his temper on her. He frowned, a rather ugly expression given his currently equine features, and he did feel his temper flare just a little bit. It wasn't that she turned him down that upset him (what was one more, after all?) but that she would think he would actually hurt her outside of a battle. "I ain't the sort to go 'round attacking ghouls," he gruffly snorted, arms folding across his chest. He figured he was unwanted company and turned to leave. While he wasn't angry at Tess, the current situation did not sit well with him and he decided it was just best that he left.

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Oh no, she'd upset him! She didn't mean to! Tess, you are a horrible, horrible person for assuming he would try to hurt you! "I-I'm really sorry, Tro!" And she was, really, but before she could ask him how she could make this up to him, he was already walking away. Should she chase after him? Part of her wanted to, because it was the proper thing to do seeing as how it was her fault for making assumptions. Part of her wanted to let him just leave. It wasn't like she demanded he ask her to the prom, right? But what would her parents say?

That did it.

"WAIT! TRO!" She yelled, arms outstretched to gently tap him on his elbow. She knew better than to touch his shoulder or any part near his mane, at least that much was correct, "I-I'm really sorry."

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Petro felt slim fingers against his elbow. Rather than roughly yank his arm free, he glanced over his shoulder to see the winged ghoul looking up at him apologetically. "Ain't y'r fault for already being escorted by someone else. What're y' saying sorry for?" he asked quizzically.

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Tess sighed as she withdrew her arm back, "N-no, not about that. Although even if I wasn't already going with someone else, I don't think it'd be proper to attend prom with someone I don't know. B-but I'm apologizing for assuming you'd suddenly just strike out at me because you're a tikbalang. I, I've only heard of your kind from my parents and relatives a-and they tell me you tend to have bad tempers. So I-I just sort of, well, I'm really really really really sorry!" She wailed.

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Strong hands firmly but gently gripped the flailing ghoul by the shoulders, "'S okay, it ain't like I don't got a couple've hot heads in my Clan. Every Clan's got 'em and some are made up of a whole bunch've 'em. Mine's got more level heads than most," he smiled comfortingly at her, "While I ain't 'xactly one've 'em, y' don't gotta worry about me trying to hurt ghouls. Not my style," he promised. "But y' look like y' wanna be alone so 'm gonna go now."

And with that as a farewell, he quickly turned to leave because he had to get to the box Riley put up before she decided to take it down.