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A wave of surprise flooded the witch as she watched the boil prepare to leave his room.
Oh my Hecate, if only it had been this easy for me... She thought as she disentangled herself from the blanket and carefully folded it up before she laid it on the bed. The witch had not been expecting Mort to acquiesce to anything. She had prepared herself for the disappointment that he would want to stay in his room and she would have to get food and treats for pets. But... But this was just wonderful!!
"Sure!!" The witch nearly shouted in her happiness. What was there to get? Well, her purse and Binx... Maybe a change of clothes? The pressure on her bust was a little much, but well... She didn't want to have to change. Maybe Mort liked it.

But before they could leave, Belladonna jumped in front of Lanna and held up one finger.
"Lanna. Heel." She said it solemnly, but with a force behind it that meant if the foxfire didn't do as asked, she may never get any more treats ever again.
After that, the witch broke her deadpanned face with a grin and opened the door for Mort. "This way! Have you ever been to the Reaper dorms? Today was my first visit to the Undead!" She ushered him out and skipped down the hall before doubling back to walk beside him. Her enthusiasm was almost as exuberant as Lanna's.

The walk to the Reaper's dorms was fairly short, as the Reaper dorms had the blessing to be situated in the middle of all the dorms so that it was merely a diagonal jaunt across the yard. But the witch made sure to stretch it so that Lanna could get in plenty of walks.
"Your hair sure did get long." Belladonna mused as she walked next to Mort, unsure of whether to take his hand or not. She had before, so why not now?
So with the suavest of all moves, the witch reached out and clutched the boil's hand.
Actually, it wasn't suave at all.
It was most unsuave.

Maybe that's why girls didn't try to be suave?

"Well, its a pretty swank place." The witch began, her free hand gesticulating wildly in the air. "Everything's really streamlined and well-- I guess you're going to see it, so me describing it is silly! Hee!" When she caught him looking at their held hands, a bit of pride swelled within the girl and she puffed up, just a little, from joy.
But when he began talking about his hair she turned her face toward him, to better look him over.
"Lazy? Well, regardless... I like it!" She nodded to emphasis this point. "And I think the facial hair is awesome! It makes you look very manly."

Then suddenly, the Reaper dorms loomed above them, a tall structure with tall windows on each floor.
"Hope you're prepared to climb!" The witch called back as she pulled both boil and foxfire into the lobby and then up a flight of stairs. "My room's on the top floor!" It was a statement that most others would have said unhappily, but Belladonna sounded altogether too gleeful about the prospect.
The flight of stairs seemed to go on forever, but finally they made it to the top floor that ended in a long, dark hallway. The witch skipped down the hallway until she reached a door that held on small pink sign decorated with black bats and a black, curly name that said "Belladonna Divine, Year 2, Witch". Underneath it had been tacked a small piece of notebook paper with a very poor drawing of a black cat with the words "+1 Familiar, Binx".

With a flourish the witch opened the door and skipped in, dragging Mort along behind her with the hand that still held his, her voice loud and sing-songey as she announced "Oh Binx~ I'm back! With compaaaannyyy~"
The room was lined with grey wooden floors and matching grey walls, but the witch had done an excellent job of livening it up. The spread on her bed was pink, a pink rug had been thrown over the middle of the floor and a number of colorful books lined the shelves of a very large bookshelf. A few plants had been placed around the room and there was even a sewing bust-form pushed into one corner that held half of an outfit.
And sitting in the middle of the pink bed was a small black cat with a too-long tail and a pink bow. He did not look pleased.
"Oh. Afternoon." The cat Binx greeted Mort and Lanna. He flicked his tail once and turned his yellow gaze to Belladonna, but let it wander down her person until it settled on the hand that held Mort's. "Oh."

"Biiiiinx." The witch said in a warning voice as she raised her free hand and pointed a finger at him. "Be nice."
The cat only flicked his tail and padded over to the edge of the bed. He almost jumped down but noticed Lanna rolling around on the floor and instead sat down. It would be best to avoid the fluffy dog...
"I'm fine. Thank you." Binx bowed his head toward Mort and flicked his tail again. "And yourself? How are you?" There seemed to be more to that question then the kindness of asking. But Belladonna didn't seem to notice because she only continued to smile.

"Binx is special because he's been magicked to talk! I got him when I was younger and got to pick him out myself." Belladonna informed Mort as she squeezed his hand. "He had the longest tail, so I chose him." She smiled at the cat who only continued to stare. Cats weren't known to particularly smile often, so Binx didn't bother with the courtesy.
"You two going for an afternoon stroll?" He drawled to Belladonna, almost ignoring Mort and certainly not even bothering to glance down at Lanna.
"Maybe. But we're probably going to get something to eat, too." Belladonna replied coyly, and as she smiled at the pet there was the distinct air that for one tiny second, the world only existed between them. But that moment flew away as the witch snatched up a bat-shaped backpack that she shrugged onto herself before she took back Mort's hand. "Do you want to come along?" She asked the cat, her eyebrows raised in excitement.

The cat looked between her and the boil, then down to Lanna.
"Is this fluffy creature coming too?"

Binx made a small, humming noise before he flicked his tail and receded back into the middle of the bed.
"Well, as absolutely riveting as your potential-picnic-walk sounds, I'm afraid I'll pass..." He flicked his tail once more as he curled up into a circle. "But do have some fun without me." For a moment he closed his eyes, but one slowly opened and fixed its gaze on Mort. It gave him one more once over before it closed and Belladonna shrugged next to the boy.
"Suit yourself, sour puss." She said and wheeled Mort around. "Lanna, this way!"
And then they were back out in the hallway as Belladonna closed the door behind them.

"Sorry about him. He's... Touchy." She heaved a sigh and lead Mort back toward the stairs. "He's very protective of me, so he gets kind of... Snarky." Her nose wrinkled on the word but she shrugged her shoulders once more and stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to Mort.
"So. What do you want to eat? Craving anything?"
The witch made a mental note to return to her room later and fetch the big box of FEAR candies she had stashed away, but until then she just stared down the stairs.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. With a grin more devillish then it should have been, the witch looked up at Mort.

"Mort, darling, would you like to fly?"

The witch looked up at him as he pondered over what to eat and said nothing, for this was his decision. He had been the one cooped up in his room after The Four Clans Islands, so today Belladonna would treat him to whatever he wanted to eat.
"Oh! OH. And don't worry if its got meat or something." She poked him once in the chest for emphasis, but couldn't help but smile. This was all such fun!

"I did indeed!" The witch chimed and dragged Mort back to her room. "Well, as lovely as it would be to hold your hand while we fly, I don't think that's possible..." She mused as she burst open the door to a muffled hiss from Binx.
"Woman, I am trying to sleep!!" He growled from his curled up spot on the bed, though he didn't look too disturbed.
"What did I tell you about calling me that?" Belladonna snapped back, her face fierce for one moment. "And you'll sleep in two seconds, hush you big meanie." And to show she meant him no hard feelings, the witch raced over and planted a kiss on the cat's head.

"ALRIGHT. Flying." Belladonna said out loud in way of reminding herself of what was going on. She told Mort to stand on the rug as she flung open the doors of her closet and rummaged around. A striped dresser had been squeezed into one corner and if one were observant enough, one would spy a few lacey undergarments peeking out from an open dresser door. But the look would have only afforded one or two snatches of articles for the witch bounced back out, shut the doors and brandished a broom stick.
"We ride on this!" Her smile was huge.

"We'll just go pick something up real quick, since I figure you don't want to be out long. There are lots of to-go options in town. So long as that's ok with you." Here she closed the distance between them and placed a hand on Mort's arm. Her eyes found his and she offered him a small smile. Though she didn't want to say it out loud, she knew the Insanity must be affecting him still, even slightly. So whatever they did, she wanted it be alright with him first. "But we should probably leave Lanna. She'll be ok in my room. Binx can look after her!"
A look over at the cat found him still curled up, but his head had shot up and his little yellow eyes were wide.
"So! What do you want to eat??"

The witch watched with a tilted head as Lanna pranced happily around on the rug.
"She looks ok to me!" Belladonna said with a shrug before she went over to Binx and gave him a good scratch between the ears. "And Binx won't hurt her. He plays tough guy, but he's a real sweetheart." The cat gave her a particularly evil glare, but eventually melted under her hand and gave in to purring instead. "Scrubway sounds great!" They had a really tasty vegetable laden sandwich the witch was particularly found of.
Yet at the question of flying before, she whirled around to face Mort. "Flown before? Countless times! I got my first broom when I was 7! Its easy. Here, I'll show you!"

And with that, the witch skipped over to her window, flung them open and crawled onto the ledge, broom in one hand.
"Now, we won't do it like this since I know what I'm doing, but basically... You just put your energy into the broom." Here she held up the broom and pointed to it while she precariously stood on the ledge, which was a small thing, a little over a foot combined with both the inside and outside ledge. "You concentrate on the idea of flight, flying, up. Whatever gets you going." She paused. "I always think about touching the sky. That's what I concentrate on." Here she half-turned away, that devil's grin back on her face. "Now watch carefully!"
Then, suddenly, she jumped off the ledge into the nothingness of the air outside her window.

It took her falling one floor before the broom was under her and she soared back up into the air, cackling the entire way. She did a lap over the Reaper dorm yard before she sailed back toward her room. Though she edged as close to the building a possible, she was still a little under a foot away from the window, just floating in mid-air.
"See? Not bad, right?" The witch asked with a good dose of pride.
Flying was something she enjoyed immensely, it made her feel alive when nothing else could.
"And don't worry about anything, I've flown non-reapers before!" Well, she had flown one non-reaper and they had done ok enough. Honestly though, Belladonna was hoping that her prowess had grown since her graduation to Year 2 so that carrying Mort along wouldn't be too bad.
"Ready?" She asked as she edged the broom closer to the open window, her face bright and flushed as she looked at him expectantly.

The witch reached out one hand to him, her face a bright red as she stifled a giggle.
"I promise to be gentle." It didn't help that many of the colorful books on her bookshelf were of the romance variety, so the witch couldn't help but be a little immature about it. She at least had the decency to blush when she said it, but that was also partially because Mort had said he trusted her. Obviously he had to if he had left his self-imposed prison for her, but still. The sentiment was nice.
She managed to squeeze herself a little closer to the wall so all that Mort had to do was swing a leg over and sit. Granted, sitting on small piece of whittled tree branch wasn't very comfortable and certainly took some getting used to. Perhaps that was why Belladonna was always wearing such voluminous skirts.
"Hmm. Binx! Fetch me the broom pillow, would you?" Belladonna called back through the window before she kicked off. The little black cat grumbled, but quickly appeared on the window ledge, a purple, rectangular pillow in his mouth. Being careful not to rock the broom, Belladonna reached out and plucked it from the cat and handed it back to Mort.
"Here. Put this between you and the broom. It'll be more comfortable." She faced forward and placed both hands on the broom. "And either hold onto me or shift back enough where you can hold on." She gave him a few more seconds to adjust before she pressed her heeled shoe to the wall and kicked off.

Thank Hecate, this is easier then I thought! Either Mort was doing precisely as the witch instructed and was busy thinking very light thoughts, or being a little more advanced in her studies really made flying with another better. Either way, they were light and airy and the witch sailed them at a slow pace over the school.
"We won't go too high up... You don't get air-sick, do you?" Maybe now was a bad time for that question...

Regardless, they sailed on, the school falling underneath them until they were high enough to not worry about skimming their toes on building tops. Honestly, it was a lovely sight to be so high up like a bird. The altitude was still fairly low (it would hurt quite a lot to fall), but Belladonna handled the broom flawlessly and the pace was slow enough that a small peak at the ground couldn't hurt.

It was hard not to be distracted by the boil so close to her, but Belladonna did her best to concentrate on just flying. Though her gaze was focused on the landscape before her, on keeping an equal distance of sky above and ground below between her and them, of making sure they weren't going too fast... Her gaze still couldn't help but wander down to the hands clamped onto her shoulders. They were death-grip tight, but what little discomfort they caused was trumped by a the strange thrill in the witch's stomach.
But she pushed it down and concentrated on flying. And what he was saying.

"Zombies are rather land related creatures..." The witch paused and giggled a little. "Everything is made up of elements, you know. Each of the races can be corresponded with an element. Fire for demons, water for ghosts, air for monsters and earth for undead." She was just rambling now, but it felt nice to talk into the wind. "And reapers get to be a combination of them all because we're a little of all the races." She paused and laughed. "And probably because we came up with the idea!"
For the duration of their flight she continued to ramble about various things, whatever came to mind. It was silly, but it kept her from thinking about how very close Mort was. She could just relax her shoulders back into his chest, her spine into his stomach, her hips into his-- "YEEK!!"
The broom took a slight nose-dive, not enough to send them spiraling out of control, but enough for a little dip in altitude.
"SOOORRIIIEEEEE." The witch whined, suddenly very self-aware and glad that Mort could not see her insanely bright red face. "I hit an air-pocket."
Oh well that's just the worst lie ever! Her mind scolded, but instantly retorted with, Its the best I could think of on such short notice!!

The witch instead ducked her head down and focused on getting them there safely for the remainder of the ride.
It wasn't difficult and was rather nice once she blocked out everything but the idea of flying. Soon enough they were above the Scrubway and as slowly as she could possibly manage (she was used to just nose-diving and then jumping off at the last minute), she lowered them until their feet made soft contact with the ground.
"There we go! Not too bad, right?" The witch asked with a sigh of relief.