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Hellene sighed and pushed another wad of tissues into one of Glen's fists and walked around the nook, carefully shoving the discarded ones into a trash bin.

"Glen, the popcorn is not involved in an overarching plot concocted by Wyvernia to destroy the beast friendships in Monster High because first of all has time for that when working a busy schedule and you can't trace the popcorn to the circus because I've already tried it and they have the selkies growing their own popping corn in the field next to the circus which is most certainly not the same supplier that the MultiHex uses, which is in Bonekalhoma, so you need to sit dow~"

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztt...

Her purse began rattling and she pulled out her iCoffin. A new text message? She flapped her wings excitedly and rose up a foot, accidentally knocking over the trash can. Maybe it was Draconia!

"Oh I knew it wasn't true, she would never....oh."

Her hopeful expression collapsed. This was not her beastie. Gryff was no one's beastie, he was just regular beastly. What on earth could he possibly want at a time like this? It better not be about getting his head cut off in the Gory Gazette's back to school fashions edition, it was not Hellene's fault he was too tall to fit in the frame!

Glen continued ranting and shooting mean looks at the popcorn trail mix that was peaking out of the snack basket.

"OH!" Hellene gasped.

She grabbed Glen, her eyes wide and staring at the phone.

"Rant later, we have to get to the Die-ner! Sorry Wyvernia, it was terribly nice to see you again I really enjoyed the expose you did on werehamster mills in Deadsylvania but we really have to run but don't worry we're not going anywhere special but when we come back we'll probably have Draconia I hope and you can apologize then and don't say anything about the popcorn he gets like this sometimes."

Hellene shoved the bag of Red Ghoul marshmallows into Glen's hands as she dragged him out the door, leaving Wyvernia blinking in the middle of a circle of discarded tissues and empty Ghoul Scout Cookie boxes.

Draconia unclamped her claws from their position digging into the sides of her seat and tried to look a bit less green in the face after Glen's...adventurous drive to the Looking Glass. She swallowed and put on a smile.

"O-of course, Glen. I'll be fine." She sniffed the air. Glen smelled like a refreshing pine scent now. Apparently, the formula he'd crafted in Mad Science had some lasting power to it. "And good luck to you at your creepover tomorrow! I'm sure you'll have all sorts of boo-ish fun."

Giving her friend a goodbye hug, Draconia headed inside the Looking Glass. Luna Duskwing, the moth ghoul who tended the shop, woke up with a start from her position behind the cash register.

"Zzz-oh! Hey, Draconia! How was school? I finished rearranging the back corner for your creepover."

"Oh, Luna, you didn't have to do that by yourself! I could have helped you when I got home from school!" Draconia smiled as the pretty moth ghoul yawned and stretched her four arms. Luna was nocturnal but wanted a normal day job, so she often found herself nodding off when things were slow in the store.

"Oh, it's no problem. Most of the ones buying books during the day are dimension-hopping wizards and such, and they usually know exactly what they're looking for. I had plenty of time to rearrange things." Luna led Draconia to the back where the bookshelves had been rearranged to accomodate the dozen-or-so creeping bags that would fill the area tomorrow. Draconia clasped her hands over her ruby heart and let out a squeal of glee.

"Oh, you even set up some mirrors for the makeover station! Oh, thank you, Luna!" Draconia gave Luna a small hug, before remembering the big change in plans for the creepover. "Oh....except....we need to rearrange everything to make room for a little project we're going to be doing."

"Oh, like, setting up a craft table?" Luna pointed at one of the empty sale book tables. "We could set up some glitter and construction paper over there."

"I'm afraid that won't be enough space. You see, we're going to be sewing a rather intricate dress." Draconia assumed it was intricate, at least. She hadn't seen the design. In her mind's eye, Marceline was going to be wearing the biggest, foofiest, most jewel-encrusted gown ever conceived. Lights bouncing off of it would blind nearby monsters. Its skirt would be so wide that it would shove every other monster off the dance floor. The sleeves would be so poofy that every time Marceline raised an arm, entire tables would have all of their contents knocked off.

This was, perhaps, a slight exaggeration of the mind. But to Draconia, this dress was a behemouth that was going to envelop the entire Looking Glass.

The long, stretch grimousine pulled to a halt just outside of the Looking Glass, parallel to the curb. The driver's side door opened and out stepped a large, brutish ogre clad in a chauffeur's uniform. He walked around to the passenger's rear door and opened it, and out slithered Layla. In her hands she carried a large, plastic container with a lid.

"Thank you Karkrog." She said demurely, and the ogre blinked back his surprise, unused to being shown such politeness at the Monster Embassy where Layla made her home during the school year.

She slid toward the Looking Glass's door as the ogre driver reached in and grasped her overnight bag. He shut the grimousine door behind her and arrived at the Looking Glass's door step just as Layla opened the door and peaked inside.

"Hello? Draconia?"

The door to the Looking Glass swung open, and Draconia smiled to see the first of her friends arrive.

"Layla! Meme!" She held the door open for them to come in. "Oh, I'm ever so glad you made it. I do hope you'll have a good time. Oh! You brought snacks! Brilliant!"

Draconia took the large container from Layla and led the two of them over to the kitchenette near the Comic Book Nook.

"There's an icebox there, and we've got hotplates if you need to heat anything up. You can lay out your creeping bag on the floor by the fireplace in the Comic Book Nook. Oh," Draconia gave a happy squeal. "We're going to have fun, I just know it!"

"Oh my.." Meme was startled at the growling and tried to reassure the ogre that she wasn't a threat until Layla shook her head.
"Embassy? Wow, so you're like a diplomat?" She asked, curious to find out more about her when the hulking chauffeur wasn't around.

Draconia lead the ghouls inside and showed them around. Meme whistled, impressed. "Wow! This place looks fangtastic; so cozy and inviting." She span around in a circle and inhaled the smell of old books. "Drake, you're so accommodating!"

Meme placed a tub of perfectly cooked yorkshire puddings and small jars of jam onto the kitchenette counter and started to pull her sleeping bag out of her smaller bag.

"This is going to be really fun!" She started excitedly, but huffed as she accidentally pulled a hammock out of the bag instead.

Jewels was excited, anxious, but excited.

Near the book store, a storm drain cover slid aside and out climbed the small mole ghoul, adjusting her glasses and smoothing her skirt before sliding the cover back into position and triple checking her bag to ensure she had absolutely everything.

Rock cakes, check. Change of clothes, check. Sewing kit, check. She'd even dug out a few hats she thought Marceline might suit.

She did hope Draconia didn't mind this little side project, in her mind, there would be plenty of time for dressing up AND all those traditional creepover things the teen scream magazines talked about. She restrained a squeak of excitement at the thought of a night of gossip, makeovers and truth or scare.

She entered the store, grinning to Draconia and gushing.

"oh Draconia, I never gotachance to thankyou for inviting me! I've never been tosuch a largecreepover before.. i mean, usually it's just me and Bridget which is hardly the same but she's all busy with that new boo of hers.. not that I feel like her company is essential... just.. shesendsher regardsandapologies. But thank you! The place looks bootiful!"

She took a moment to breathe.

"Oh!"

Digging around her bag, she extracted a container of cakes.

"Rock cakes, my mother's own recipe. Just mind your teeth."

As more ghouls arrived Meme began to unpack more snacks and balloons until a screeching harpie made her blood freeze (if she had any)

"OHMYGLOB! What's wrong!?" She cried, spinning around on the heels of her ginormous slippers and nearly stumbling into the mole girl who suddenly appeared by her side.

When she saw no blazing fires upon the bookshelves, and no immediate danger of were-lions that had escaped from the nearest boo about to have the monsters for dinner, she calmed down. Her eyebrows knotted in the middle of her forehead in confusion.

"What's with all the sewing stuff?" She quizzed, as she had been totally oblivious to all the equipment until now, the balloons in her hand looked limp and dejected.