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Perry continued to search in vain for Draconia, but it seemed a lost cause.
Joslted this way and that by the crowd, he was quite unable to get his bearings or work out where that ghoul may have gone. There was so much chaos already. Screams from beast buy, some sort of drama at the game chop, a trio of ghouls were having a tug of war over a pair of shoes, a sight that ordinarily would have somewhat amused the Peryton but right now he just felt wretched.

"No luck?" A familiar scottish drawl brought Perry from his wallowing, he looked up into the sympathetic face of his beast friend.

"I really am terrible with ghouls aren't I?" He sighed.

"Well... think of it this way, at leas' ye dinnae have tae worry about gettin' one tae date ye."

Perry managed a faint laugh. "Good point. Still... how am I gonna find her in this mess?"

Nathair shrugged. "even if ye find her, what's ye game plan?"

Perry shuffled uncomfortably and ran a hand through his hair. "I uh.. didn't really have one."

"Of course he didn't." One of Nathair's sisters slithered up behind the hapless peryton and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll help." Another volunteered.

"Wait... why would you help me?" Perry was suspicious.

"We saw the way ye tackled monsters outta the way earlier..."

"An' we decided, ye'r a useful companion tae have."

Perry was surrounded now by all four Adderson ghouls. He gulped.

"So what d'ye say? Ye help us get a few more bargains, we help ye smooth things over with this ghoul."

Perry didn't feel he had much choice. He nodded hesitantly.

As if this wasn't bad enough, next time she saw him, he was certain Hellene was going to slaughter him. Wait... Hellene, maybe he could bribe her!

"wait! I need to get a hat."

"A hat? Ye already have a hat. A mighty fine hat at tha... is tha' vintage?" Nathair studied it appreciatively.

"no not for me. Hellene. "

"Harpy ghoul? Ooo deary me, aren't ye a regular cassanova."

"How many ghouls HAVE you managed to upset this freakend?"

Perry glared. "just.. if you see a hat you think a ghoul like that'd like, grab it."

The four ghouls cackled together, Nathair reluctantly picked up their shopping and indicated Perry should try to keep up. The five naga were surprisingly fast, particularly when the ghouls set their sights on the next target.

"Jus' how many clothes d' four ghouls need anyway?" Nathair hissed.

Friday Afternoon
Mission: Date Night Prep

"But auntie!! Why can't YOU do my hair! Like always?!" Doriana protested as her aunt dragged her into a special hair salon at the maul. They passed through the store, and into the back.

"Dori, just be patient. I'm afraid putting in hair extensions then flattening it will eventually damage your hair and the extensions. Let's just try this. Okay?"

"Waitwaitwait. I can't pull my hair back like always?! You know how much I like to do that when I dress up!!"

"Doriana, your hair can be long without the damage." Her aunt made her sit in the chair in the empty room. The hairdresser came out, holding a cap. It almost looked like a swimming hair cap...

"Wait a minute... You're going to make me wear a...
a...
a...
WIG?!?!?!?!"

Doriana squirmed. She didn't like this idea. With extensions, at least half of it was her real hair. And now she would have to bunch it up under this cap just to put somebody else's hair ontop of it!

"Dori, honey, you're gonna look beautiful. Nobody will be able to tell a difference. This was more expensive than your extensions but the wig looks just like your real hair but longer. Nobody will be able to tell a difference. Just trust me, please..?"

Doriana sighed, giving in. Her aunt had already purchased this wig, so she really didn't have a choice. She couldn't watch as the stylist pulled her hair up onto the top of her head, using hair pins. She used a cap that matched Dori's skin tone.

"I look like I have no hair... At all..." Doriana felt like throwing up.

Finally, the stylist brought out the wig. Her aunt was right, it looked just like Doriana's real hair but longer, it looked like it would fall below her shoulders. She applied some sticky substance, which Doriana didny know what it was, to her cap. She assumed it would keep the wig from falling off. She slowly placed the wig on Doriana's head, flinging the hair around her shoulders.

"Dori. Open your eyes."

Doriana opened her eyes and gasped. It really did look like her hair - but longer. The blue highlights and everything!! She smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I've always wanted to do that..."

The stylist continued to curling her hair, and then pulling it back behind her head. It looked elegant, and Doriana really liked it. Once she was finished, she got out of the chair.

"I think it's time we go buy you a dress." Her aunt smiled. Doriana smiled too, and laughed, walking out of the parlour with her aunt. She was looking forward to date night.

Draconia stepped inside of the foyer of the Maul and shook off some more flakes of snow from her wings. Although it was only a small stroll from the Looking Glass to the Maul, the cutting Decembrrr wind had still made it a brisk journey.

Draconia peeked into the main expanse of the Maul. It was very crowded, this being a mere two weeks before Cryptmas. Draconia fanged her lucky scars that they'd thought ahead and gotten a reservation at the Cracker Scarrel. She didn't see Glen and Chase or Lin anywhere, nor did she see Hellene and her group of Ghouls-Night-Out-ers.

"Perhaps I should go and wait at the Cracker Scarrel..." Draconia mused to herself as she prepared to leave the foyer. Before she could, though, she tripped over something and lurched forwards,

"Woah-woah-woah-wooooahh!" Draconia cried out as she grabbed a door handle and swung around, sending a skeleton boy all to pieces.

"YIPE!" The wiggling lump she'd tripped over protested, as it had gotten wrapped up in her long winter coat. "Watch where you're goin', why don'tcha!"

"I'm so sorry!" Draconia apologized left and right. The skeleton boy picked up his ribs and gave her a terse nod. Pulling loose her coat-tails, she finally managed to become untangled from the lump, which revealed himself to be-

"LIN!" The Gremlin became quite busy fixing and rearranging his kilt for modesty's sake as Draconia stood up and blushed a deep, aztek gold. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!"

"Ye didn't?! But I was waving my arms-"

"I'm sorrysosorry-"

"And jumpin' up and down-"

"Sorrysorrysorry-"

"And practically doin' the High Moors Shuffle to get ye're attention!"

"I-I didn't see you there." Draconia stammered apologetically. What a terrible way to start off a date! "Are you all fright? I didn't crush you, did I?"

"What?! No! I'm tough as haggis!" Lin grinned, regaining his composure.

"Are you sure? You're such a little thing, and I would feel so terrible if I injured you!"

"I'm not THAT little." Lin replied, tilting his tam o'shanter defiantly. "Ye just need to be payin' more attention to where you're going! And to who's trying to get ye're attention!"

"Of course, of course." Draconia apologized again. "Why don't we get out of this crowded foyer and head over to the Cracker Scarrel? I'm sure that Glen and Chase will meet up with us there."

"Sure, we can head on over to-" Lin suddenly cut himself off in the middle of opening up the door from the foyer into the main Maul. "Wait. Glen and Chase?! What're they gonna be doing there?"

"Meeting us for our double date, of course." Draconia replied, taking the door from Lin and holding it open for the Gremlin. She resolved to take extra measures to ensure that he was protected and safe all night. "I thought Glen told you about it at lunch. Our twosome is going to be a foursome!"

"Table for four, please." Glen told the Ghostess as they lined up to go into the dining section of the Cracker Scarrel. "There's a reservation under 'Da West.'"

"Ah! Of course. Walk this way." The Ghostess, being a ghost, floated the group towards a large table against the wall, and close to the kitchen. Chase sniffed and nodded appreciatively.

"I've never eaten here before." Draconia remarked as the Ghostess pulled out a chair for her. "What is their specialty?"

"Wood-fired, old-fashioned, home-cooked gremlin fare, that's what!" Lin piped up. "No microwaves, no electric ranges, no heating lamps!"

"So, no hexplosions." Chase added in, sounding ever so slightly glum about that. "It's not the most hex-treme place to eat, but they have a great vegetarian menu."

"Oh, sounds grand!" Draconia smiled as she picked up a menu. The Ghostess held out a chair for Lin. Even though the Cracker Scarrel specialized in Gremlin-style food, their furniture was more suited for other, less diminuative monsters. Lin hoisted himself up and sat down, his chin hovering a few inches above the table.

"Oh! I am so sorry!" The Ghostess apologized. "Would the gentlemanster like me to get a boo-ster seat?"

It was rather quiet for the group. Draconia looked at Glen and Chase, who were both studying the menu like it was the Mad Science hextbook. Lin was scratching his ear. He was scratching deeper, and deeper and deeper, till Draconia was quite sure he was scratching an itchy brain.

"So...." Draconia decided to break up the silence. "What's good here?"

"Everything!" Glen piped up. "The beast part? They serve BREAKFAST FOR DINNER."

"I recommend the vegetarian goreito." Chase added. "Some of the veggies even come from my family's farm."

"What about you, Lin?" Draconia asked the Gremlin, trying to get him into the conversation. He finally pulled his finger out of his ear with an audible 'pop!' sound.

"Well, normally I like the pancakes, the short sta-" Lin cut himself off, suddenly straightening up as much in his chair as he could. "I mean, the TALL stack. It's twenty-six pancakes. With hextra maple fearup! And a LARGE gorange juice!"

"Are you sure?" Draconia peered down at the menu. "That sounds like an awful lot of food in one sitting."

'What, you think I can't handle it?!" Lin demanded, straightening up even more. "That's how I eat all the time! Foot long hot weredogs! Jumbo size popscorn at the boovies! I can eat Clawd Wolf and Manny Taur under the table in ANY eating contest!"

"Oh!" Draconia nodded. "I didn't know that!"

"Well, y'know....I'm kind of a BIG deal." Lin grinned at her and Draconia smiled graciously back, just happy that he was engaging in the conversation.

"Well, you've sold me." Draconia set down her menu. "I'll have what you're having!"

Being of a rather tall stature, and having the appetite of, well, a dragon, Draconia didn't flinch at the Cracker Scarrel tall stack, but tucked in. Pancakes for dinner was unusual, but the food was as fresh and tasty as her friends had promised.

Lin, however, was having an entirely different approach to the tall stack, which loomed over his head, teetering ever so slightly. He lifted his fork and prepared to pull a flapjack from the bottom.

The stack teetered dangerously to the left, towards Draconia.

"Eep!" Lin pulled back his fork. Okay, so eating from the bottom was out. He stretched his claw up high, to try and pull one of the pancakes from the top down.

The fork just barely poked the underside of the top pancake, causing the stack to teeter dangerously towards the right, threatening to syrupify Chase's head.

"Gah!" Lin withdrew his fork again. This was going to require the utmost of his grimgeneering skills to figure out...

"So, what would you all like to do after we're done eating?" Draconia asked, as she began cutting up another pancake into dainty, bite-sized bits. "There's a poetry reading at the Looking Glass, or Grimderella is playing at the theatre."

"Or we could all go skiing down Doom Peak!" Chase offered. Doom Peak was a nearby snow-covered hill where the school's Winter Sports Club often practiced. During warmer months, it was covered in a thin layer of yeti-manufactured snow, but now that it was Decembrrr, a thick, legit layer of snow covered all of the slopes.

"I didn't really dress for sports...." Draconia looked down at her dress. It was lucky her head dipped when it did, as Lin's now-wildly-flailing stack of pancakes just missed her by an inch. "We could just stroll through town and look at the Cryptmas decorations."

As she brought her head back up, the pancakes leaned the other way. Lin was attempting to carefully eat from the middle of the stack, which seemed to be working so far, except that the middle part was now thinning and the upper echelon of pancakes was still remaining the same height and weight.

"I still have some Cryptmas shopping to do." Glen answered. "So if we wanted to just stay in the maul and shop, that would be great!"

"After all of those boxes from the Cracker Scarrel gift chop, you're still not finished?!" Draconia asked incredulously.

"Nope!" Glen answered in between bites of meatloaf. "That was all for me!"

"Grooo-aaan..." Lin was about halfway through his stack of pancakes, and his stomach was starting to remind him that his eyes were bigger than his stomach. Was it possible to overdose on maple syrup?

"Lin! Are you all fright?" Draconia asked, after polishing off the last of her pancakes. "You're looking a bit less blue than usual. Almost positively green!"

"That's...that's nat'ral f'r gremlins...." Lin hiccuped, as the top part of his stack gave up and collapsed into his lap. "Oops. Got a little syrup on me sporran. 'Scuse me..."

And with that, Lin hoisted himself off the chair and headed for the Little Boo's bat-room. Draconia looked at Chase and Glen.

"Do you think this date is going okay so far?"

Lin hurried into the little boo's room and paused briefly, inspecting his surroundings. Alone. Good. That's what he needed right now. He rubbed his tummy which was still feeling the effects of trying to impress Draconia by finishing off his colossal pancake feast just as she had.

Oh the date was going great, don't be mistaken! Okay 'great' might not be the most appropriate of descriptions. It was going well. Well, maybe that was a tad too strong. It was going so-so.

Draconia was a charming lass, and took the obvious care to look her very beast. That said something right there, didn't it? She wanted to look nice for him, and for their date. Plus! But the fact that it had turned out to be doubles without any kind of warning from the little green nitwit... well, that kind of soured the mood. Just a little.

Of course what really soured things is the simple fact that Lin never felt so miniscule before in his unlife! Even the little green nitwit Glen wasn't so little where he was concerned. He was actually a full head taller than he was -- at LEAST! And that centaur with the Valleyboo complex? Good grief! Chase was so big, Lin wondered if he had a top floor!

And the fact that Draconia was almost Chase's exact height was completely lost on the gremlin. There were some things you couldn't help but look past when it came to such a fine lass as Draconia St. George.

Still, there had to be something he could do to salvage the rest of the evening. And his reputation because if word got around school about how he was actually -- small -- it would be forever before he managed to unlive it down.

He finished washing his hands and soaking a paper towel to wipe the syrup off of his kilt, luckily leaving no trace of a stain. He then stood under the air dryer and with a jump (another height problem!), he managed to hit the knob that blasted the warm air onto his outfit to hurriedly dry it. It was then that he noticed the door to one of the stalls hanging rather loosely. A rather gross oversight on the park of a restahaunt that was ran by gremlins.

Lin turned around and walked over to inspect the door. He fiddled it with his claws. It was hanging very loosely as a matter of fact. It could easily fall off if one were not careful, or fix it, or....

Lin's eyes brightened with another one of his FANGULOUS ideas! He looked around to ensure that once again, nobluddy else was in the bat-room, then hurried over and locked the door tightly shut. He then reached into the pouch on his belt and removed his "Little Gremlin's Repair" kit and got to work...



"Gee, Drakie." Glen spoke up in between large bites of meatloaf. "Why wouldn't you think it would be? We're here, having a nice dinner and nice chat."

"Cha!" Chase agreed, swallowing an impossibly large mouthful of his goreito before he wiped his mouth (with the back of his gorearm), and said, "Even the little dude got into the conversation once the ice was melted!"

"I suppose so." Draconia nodded, looking as the waitress finished cleaning up the mess made where the tattered remains of Lin's pancake tower had fallen. "I just wish it didn't seem to make him uncomfortable."

"Well Drakie, it's not surprising he's a liiiiiitle uncomfy. He doesn't hang around anyone besides Atomica and Gryff."

"Totes!" Chase agreed. "Plus there's the fact..."

Chase looked around to ensure nobluddy was near enough to hear before he cupped a hand around the edge of his mouth and horse (get it?) whispered, "I think this is the little guy's first date."

Glen and Draconia both sat back in their chairs, staring at each other, taking Chase's observation in, when...

*THUMP!*

A loud thump (you read it!) was heard from back within the Cracker Scarrel, and water glasses on tables shook and dinner ware rattled.

*THUMP!*

"Wot ... was that?"

"Don't look at me! Did Manny get cornered in the gift chop again?"

*THUMP!*



Gryff managed to catch the gift bag handed over to him by the clerk, containing the precious Catty Noir Grimmas CD, then slowly lifted his head with an even deeper scowl...

All heads in the restahaunt turned back toward the direction of the bat-rooms, and they tilted back and looked U-P as a rather large AMP suit slowly lumbered towards the table with Chase, Draconia and Glen. All three (along with everyone else present) gaped openly as the hand of the suit pulled out the fourth chair and the AMP suit sat down, threatening the wooden chair to the near breaking point.

That was when Draconia looked closer at the window and blinked back.

"Lin?"

"Yesssss?"

"Is everything alright?"

"Fine and dandy!"

Hellene gasped as she stood in front of the movie theatre, a few minutes early. Well that was ok, since she had organized all of this it was only proper she be the first one there. What was NOT ok, however, was what the ticket boo at the box office was saying as he stood next to a CLOSED sign.

"I'm sorry, miss," said the creature behind the counter in a voice that broke after nearly every syllable, "but the theatre won't reopen for another hour."

"But...but WHY!?"

"It was opening night for the Fast and the Furriest sequel, we had it playing on all the screen at 5, and then all the bros came..."

Hellene's eyes narrowed.

"of course, OF COURSE it was bros," she muttered savagely.

"...well....um....they all had the coupons for the concession stand, buy one Fast & Furriest ticket, get half price a large box of nacho-popscorn. Bacon Bites $5 extra."

"SO?! Even bros can figure out how to eat, what's the problem? And that movie is 2 hours long! It should still be playing right now."

The ticket creature quavered before Hellene's fury. "Well...ummmmm...we had to turn it off. Turns out when you stick a bunch of bros in a room to watch the latest Fast & Furriest movie, they'll all start fighting over which one was best."

"BEST?! Which one was BEST?! It's all exploding buildings and bros turning into wolfcars and then the wolfcars exploding and then coming back together under the light of the full moon until Vain Diesel can figure out where the latest Dragon Crystal is and wish his bluddies back to life, THERE IS NO BEST ONE!"

Slowly the counter boo had been trying to shrink below the cash register.

"Ummm....anyway theatre 3 is covered in cheese and they're digging the bacon bites out of the screen in theatre 7, no one knows what happened in theatre 4. Everyone disappeared and there's an ominous wooshing sound."

"ARG!"

She took a deep breath and did her best to recompose herself.

She pulled out her phone and shot a quick text to the ghoulish gaggle that were to be party-time compatriots tonight. She scanned the boovie times, pursed her lips and then frowned.



She hit "send" and shook her head at the ticket boo.

"This is hexactly why no other theatre does nacho-popscorn."