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"... Make out thethion?" Christof cocked his head cluelessly as he watched Calder make his strange faces, still clutching the dress shirt in his mismatched hands as he thought it through, "And... and then they'll come into your bedroom?" He pressed curiously. Was it that easy to lure them in? As Riley's call drifted to their minds, he scrambled for his trousers, not thinking twice about stripping in front of the Kelpie. They were both boils, what did it matter? "Almotht, Mithtreth!!"

The light in Riley's room was on.

That could have meant anything, of course; it could have just been Christof cleaning up the mess, or gnomes repurposing an absentee student's dormitory for new use. Malodore would have been inclined to think that if it hadn't been for a familiar silhouette against the light, visible even through the cracked and crazed glass of the closed window.

Well, Israfel hadn't been lying, at least.

The plague doctor took a deep breath - even though it didn't need to breathe, the motion was somehow oddly calming. It stared at the window for a few more seconds, then bent down to the lawn. The first thing that came to claw was a tattered Icky Stix packet - it flicked that away with violent disgust, then rooted around until it found a pebble.

Aimed.

Threw.

Tack!

Riley rolled her eyes, and closed the door. She let them have their little private moment, choosing instead to lie back on her bed and wait.

For nothing.

Tack!

Her eyes turned quickly to the window, eyeing it warily. At first, she figured something had just hit it. A trick of the wind. She glared at it for one more moment, before flickering her eyes away. She certainly didn't think whatever she had just heard was worth investigating, at least.

Of course, a broken window was something one did not ignore. Riley leapt out of the bed, inching towards the window without standing directly in front of it. Was she under attack?! She slid beside the wall, finally reaching the window and peeking around to look at -

At..

Stealth disregarded, she leaned out of the window and looked down at Malodore. She barely managed to keep herself from jumping out of the window, and instead her claws dug into the windowsill to keep her there. She vaguely noticed that there were already deep clawmarks embedded in the sill, but the discovery was quickly pushed aside.

Malodore? She whispered out, as if testing the waters to see if it was really there. Maybe she'd fallen asleep when she rested on the bed a moment ago. It was a more likely option.

Calder leaned in, greatly intrigued by Christof's rather kinky fantasies. A chair? Well-Well. The boy sure had an imagination, and apparently that would explain the leather jacket. Whatever ghoul went with him had to be the open minded sort, but he was sure they would have together. It was the tools that threw him off. "Tools?" He asked, now completely thrown for a loop. He had read some rather interesting things in his time over many genres, but sharp tools came only when people liked being hurt. Did....that turn the boy on?

Hmm. You learned something new every day about your friends. "Well....you might want to take it easy on the ghoul and see if she's even into that. You might scare her off. Best to run it by her first." Or else he would scare her away. "Best to start off with kissing to get a feel for her."

It was then that he heard the crash and jerked. "What the heck was that?!!"

"Ah... breaking it, apparently," Malodore called back, ducking its head slightly in embarrassment. "But mostly checking to see if you were... back. Because, ah. Because. .... Perché ho trascurato di rendere perfettamente chiaro che la ragione ero così frustrato è perché ho cura di te, e voglio che tu abbia successo e non di sabotaggio te, e tu ancora voglia di andare al ballo con me?"

... Riley had better have been studying that Italian. Also listening carefully, as that last bit came out in rather a rush.

Riley's expression seemed to drop as she listened to Malodore's explanation. This was only because it was hard to believe what she was hearing. She let it sink in, though her stubborn heart was fighting against her tooth and nail. It cared about her. It want to see her succeed. And even after all her mishaps, and all the trouble she brought Malodore, for some reason, for some strange and unbelievable reason, it still wanted to take her to this dance.

She reached behind her, and pushed the strap of one of her shoes off. Then she turned slightly, and did the same with her other shoe. Her leg lifted, hoisting herself on the windowsill, and with a swift and practiced movement she bounded right out of her window before Christof could manage to come in. She landed on the balls of her feet, touching the ground before standing up straight.

And yes, she did just do that in a ballroom gown.

She threw protocol out the window, and moved the few steps to stand in front of Malodore, sliding her arms around it's waist. Her eyes matched it's own evenly, filled with a bright light.

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Suddenly Riley was right there and Malodore didn't have time to move before she had wrapped her arms around its waist - which was fine, because it didn't particularly want to move. Physical contact wasn't its favorite thing, but this was Riley, and it was good... to know she was actually here. And okay.

"Va bene."