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The sound of Christof returning gave her no surprise. She'd heard his footsteps coming, and somehow, his thoughts were just barely loud enough to buzz at her mind as he got closer. She couldn't hear them, but she knew he was thinking hard. When he returned, she had already constructed something she was rather proud of.

She turned around, holding Christof's eggs in her hand loosely, and her face lifted in lieu of a smile.

Good. Does that feel better? She murmured, brushing her hand across the top of his head. Keep the ice on there, for a while. Malodore taught me how important it is to tend to something like that sooner, rather than later.

She slipped the two eggs back into his pocket, making sure he saw what she was doing, without getting too good of a look at them. They were equally as pretty, and there was nothing out of the ordinary with them.. except for a tiny little black string that stuck out of their unseen ends.



She patted the pocket as she brushed his hair away from his face. Just be more careful.. all right?

As Christof leaned in to hug her, Riley returned the favor. Her arms wrapped fully around the igor, giving him a firm, long-lasting hug. Then when the time is right, you will tell me. She murmured quietly, brushing her hand comfortingly along his back before eventually pulling away.

But for now, you should get back to Barth quickly, before he gets impatient and starts commanding you to do things at my booth again. The twist of a hiss in her voice came out helplessly, but she curtailed it and bent slightly to pat Christof's cheek. Her other arm was still around the igor, and as it slowly slid away her hand brushed into his pocket in an odd manner. Then she moved to stand behind him, and urged him on his way.

Deal with him, but come back to me soon.

Finally. FINALLY he hit the cat, and ........then it exploded.

Calder had just been getting used to cannon fire, but he didn't expect the cat to explode on him and the surprise and noise made him jump back and a tad behind Cade, crouching down and alert as he looked up as little bits of plushie fell down.

It wasn't till Riley's voice piped in to show that he won that he was reminded that yes, he did win. "Hah. Take that stupid cat." To which he set the paintball gun back with the others. He was SSSOOOO done with paintball guns - even if he was apparently a boss with them.

He was excited that he actually did get a prize, looking surprised at first at Riley gave him anything and exaimined the star. It wasn't a fish sooo......yeah, he was pocketing this one. He hoped Cade wouldn't hold it against him.

But then the amazing just kept happening. The ghoul that had been talking to Riley recognized his AMAZING ability with shoot felines that she gave him a whole bag of floresce!!!! He looked at what he had been given, to the ghoul, back to the back, before jumping in place and then hugging this random stranger tightly. "OH THANK YOU! These were JUST what I was looking for. You don't know how much this means to me, I mean, I'm on the hunt and all and ....Oh thank you!" If she wasn't already a ghost, he might have broken a few ribs with his excited embrace before he released her. "I gotta know, what's your name?" That way he would remember the amazing ghoul who gave him fish!

That didn't mean he wasn't aware of Chrsitof returning, and he wanted to smile when he saw the floresce egg he had. Oh, did he go to the stealing fish game too?? Calder had just been there and gotten the Jack beaten out of him too. Then again, most had been to his body and sensitive organs. The bruising nicely hidden under his clothes though he still had dust and dirt on his jacket. Riley and Christof hugged, and then slipped away. Hmmmm. Maybe they were getting more cats to shoot. They returned later and Calder watched with a raised brow. Riley sure hugged Christof a lot...............................more than Calder had thought she did. Was that why Chrsitof liked her? Nah! If that was the only reason, Christof would have the ragging hots for him and he didn't. Maybe it was what she was hugging him WITH? Calder knew that when he hugged ghouls, they were far more plush than boils.

Under the table was a good position for Robert, who was nearly there already, to watch something go under the table with alarming speed. He pulled up the tablecloth and stared at what could only be described as the skeleton of Carmen Sandiego.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT the ******** are you, damn!" Where was his camera at a time like this? This particular monster was topping Robert's charts on the WTF list for the day - and that was saying something!

Still, he made very quick note of all the blades this particular thing had on it. Backblades, fingerblades, tailblades..

Robert dropped the tablecloth quickly and backed away.

"Petra." He hissed. "PETRA." He was terrible at this subterfuge s**t. "I think Freddy Kreuger is under the table."

Calder had been lingering near the table, waiting for Cade to take a few shots if he wanted. That and if he wanted pointers. Ya know, cause Calder hit that cat plushie already. Everyone saw that right? How amazing that was? Yeah. He could give lessons.

As he waited, he had been debating taking Cade over to Barth's booth for a visit since Christof was gone and well, what did he have to say to Riley? Sure, they might have this...well, was it a unverbalized truce of sorts? But that didn't mean they were too gabby. The idea of stricking up a conversation with her was just bizaree to say the least. He had been FAR too used to just shouting at her. Last year she almost choked him to death!

It was thinking about heading over to his other friend's booth that the explosion happened, and in moments, something red jumped under the booth, nearly rattling the table, as it went for cover. The gnome seemed to be still around. Calder had noticed. It was super short after all! He had to be mindful not to accidently trample it.

Looking up in the distance, he could only make out a glow. "There isn't.......two cannons, is there?" Was there a local store for these things?!! Looking down, he did notice a bladed tail, and raised the tablecloth when the gnome started to shout. What was a Freddy Cougar? Sounded like a weird cat. Well, there were cannon cat plushies here. Maybe it was afraid and hid in there with the other kitties.

He looked down. Bird mask. Nope. For all the times he had seen Malodore, it was where the Plague doctor was collected, head held rather high, and very matter-of-factly as he stated his logical opinions. Here, he just looked......................cute?

"Aww. It's just a cannon." He pointed out.

The cannon had been firing again, making the booth from which they'd come very easy to relocate. Jordan headed back that way, moving as quickly as he could without looking in a hurry. And without tripping on the golem's skirts. Stupid thing.

It was fortunate that Robert's voice was so distinctive; Jordan heard the other man before he saw him. "Hey, I think Robert's over here," he said to Jerry, relieved. While he couldn't have left off looking for Robert with a clear conscience, he was starting to get faintly nervous about how much time might be left to find one of these minipet things to bring back. They'd been given no clear indication of how much time they could take, and between all the strangeness and adrenaline, Jordan couldn't have said how long they'd already been here.

He paused a short distance away, hearing Robert's stage-whisper. "Freddy Krueger? What?"

Madison had been looking for Robert and Jerry ever since they'd successfully secured another fish and a few more seeds. They were fairly well stocked now, especially since Madison had found a seed kicked into some grass near the bat balloon booth. Mission accomplished, pretty much.

The sudden fireworks startled her - but at least they drew her attention in the right direction. "Ah! There th- uhhh. Badison see friends! Come, tiny friend!" she boomed at Ennea before stomping towards the rest of her squad.

..............


Meanwhile, Malodore stayed under the table. It was unfazed by the patchwork girl staring at it, especially since she wasn't on fire. Always good, not being on fire.

When Riley returned from her mysterious location, looking just a tad more smug than usual, she stopped in her tracks as she stared at her booth. There were.. just.. a whole lot of people who she did not recognize. They had been around earlier, but she did not recall actually getting to know them.. and..

.. and Malodore's tail was sticking out from underneath the booth.

Without any further delay, she snuck under the booth herself, and sat indian style in the tent of safety the tablecloth offered.

... Why are you under here, Malodore?

----

Robert had already attached himself to Petra's leg when she pulled the tablecloth to look at the scary thing under the table. The sounds of almost the entire Phoenix Squad coming to their aid gave him a surge of hope, and just like in the movies, he felt confident they could TAKE THAT THING DOWN TOGETHER. They just all.. had to.. uh..

Fall asleep. YEAH. OKAY.

Having completely ignored that look Petra gave him for slipping up on the name, he grinned up at her with a giant, toothy gnome grin.

"Hey, baby. Knock me out cold!"

What.

"You guys too! We gotta fight it in our DREAMS."

Seriously. What.