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Though he held himself with a presence that spoke volumes of his self-assurance, and though he would deny it if anyone were to ask him, Herryk was completely lost. Utterly and completely lost, for reals and for true. He knew the Undead dorm's general location but somehow he'd ended up in a place that was not where he wanted to be. He wasn't afraid of being lost -- after all, this was his Academy -- but Herryk really didn't like admitting to failure, especially in a situation like this. Wandering around aimlessly wasn't getting him anywhere fast and he really didn't like feeling lost.

There was only one thing left for him to do. He would have to ask for directions, as much as the Draugr hated to admit it.

Clearing his throat and dusting off his loincloth, Herryk approached the door closest to him. Lifting a meaty hand and forming it into a fist, he bashed on the door with barely-restrained annoyance. He only hoped that whatever lived behind the door could offer him some sort of assistance. Schooling his features into something that might've been a smile but looked more like an irritated grimace, Herryk waited for someone to answer the door.

There were many things Maritess could have been doing at that moment, like indulging in her guilty pleasure of reading less-than-proper literature. She could have been hanging upside down, engrossed in what the dashing vampire protagonist was about to do with the object of his affection while she giggled and her face made the undead's equivalent of a blush.

Color did tint her pale cheeks, but it was from anger as she tried to reign in the antics of two particularly enthusiastic minipets. Each time Tess thought they'd settle down, it only meant the purple tentacle and the pony bearing a startling resemblance to the ghoul found something else to play with.

In this case, they were engaged in a tug of war. Them against Tess. And their chosen rope was, "LET GO OF MY BLOUSE BEFORE YOU RIP IT! I WILL NOT FLY AROUND CAMPUS NAKED!!!!" she shrieked. But not matter how loud her yell, she wouldn't have missed the louder pounding on her door. Her brief pause to angle her head towards the door cost her the game and she was suddenly yanked forward thanks to the minipets' ongoing effort. A squeak and a thud later, the door opened to reveal a scowling Maritess who was rubbing her forehead.

"Yes?" she asked, brows furrowed before crimson eyes widened at the sight of a bare chest.

Herryk heard the shriek an instant before his fist hit the door. If he could have taken back that one gesture he would have. Herryk did not want to come face-to-face with the half-naked whatever-it-was female that lived behind the door he had just so happened to choose. Today was not Herryk's day. Not only was he lost, he was asking a girl for help. Well done, Herryk. Well done.

When the door flew open, Herryk's blue eyes widened. His jaw dropped just the slightest, as well. Now, there were many things that Herryk had seen in Halloweentown, many things that shocked him or that were even kind of off-putting. There were also things that brought Herryk joy, and one of those things was finding similarities between himself and other denizens of Halloweentown. It was a simple pleasure, really, but it was something that kind of defined Herryk -- at least, if he didn't have anything to talk about on the topic of sports.

"You have black hair like Herryk does," he said, splaying a hand across his chest. Those words brought a huge smile to his face. Her hair was far longer than Herryk's was, but that didn't bother the Draugr. He stood there like a fool for a long moment, beaming at the ghoul before him.

Then he remembered why he had brought the lady to her door.

A dark frown came over his features. "Herryk is lost."

It took Maritess a few moments for her brain to remember she shouldn't be staring at the bare chest in front of her. Granted it was rather difficult to do but she managed to tear her eyes away, her crimson gaze rising up until she was now looking at the boil. Dear Jack, he was a large boil. Well, she'd never seen him before, either he was a new student at the academy or the winged ghoul needed to pay better attention to her surroundings. She doubted it was the latter, because she would have definitely noticed a boil like him. Unconsciously, she pulled the door to her room a little closer against her torso while still allowing her large, leather wings to beat unhindered.

She was about to apologize if she and her minipets were causing a ruckus when the boil stated his observation. "Y-yes, that seems to be the case," she nodded, trying to keep her voice from betraying her anxiety, a hand tucking a strand of their aforementioned similarity behind her ear.

Then awkward silence. Or rather it was awkward on Tess' part. At least he was smiling! That certainly helped calm down the ghoul. She was about to ask if that was all he wanted with her when he made it known he was lost. She blinked up at him for a moment, then her lips pulled into a small but bright smile. "I see, I'll be happy to help. Just give me a moment to-" Before she could finish her sentence, a certain purple tentacle had appeared beneath Tess. Exactly at the location where the ghoul's legs should have been. Standing behind the tentacle was a pale pony, her legs stained with blood, bright red eyes gawking up at the boil.

If Herryk hadn't been so utterly distraught over being lost he would have enjoyed letting her stare at his impressive muscles. He would have perhaps given her a show, or shown a feat of strength by lifting any sort of heavy furniture that she possessed... something ridiculous, most likely. Herryk took pride in his muscles; after all, he worked very hard to maintain them. There was no harm in showing off a little, was there? No, not to Herryk.

The Draugr beamed at the stranger when she said that she would be glad to help him, though that thunderous frown slowly sharpened his features when she halted in mid-sentence. His eyes dropped to the floor as he slowly drank in the sight of a tentacle (which instantly skeeved Herryk out, the boil was terrified of snakes, and this beastie was snake-like enough to put the hulking Draugr on edge) and a little blood-stained pony that stared up at him. Scowling heartily, Herryk took a step back, all the while peering back at the little pony.

"You want Herryk to crush it?" More specifically, the tentacle, which was made obvious by the big hand that was lifted, index finger indicating the beast in question.

Had Herryk performed any feats of strength for Tess to witness, the ghoul would have indeed been impressed. Very impressed, if not a little bit embarrassed that someone was going out of their way for her benefit. Unfortunately for the winged ghoul, she would not be treated to one such display because instead her two minipets wanted to know who currently held their mistress' attention.

She glared at the two beneath her, trying to assert her authority like in minipet training class, "Trixie, Legarra, get ba-" she stopped mid-command upon the boil's offer to crush it. Her head jerked up to look at him, wide-eyed and blinking. Tempting as it was, Tess had learned Trixie was frighteningly resilient when it comes to physical punishment (having no bone helped too). "N-no, that's alright. U-um, although, please don't point at Trixie. It might-"

Tess did not seem fated to finish any of her sentences today. Because while Legarra decided she was going to hide behind the wall of her mistress' hair, Trixie decided the large boil was a new-thing they could play with! Its multiple mouths curved into joyous smiles before it launched itself at the boil's leg for HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS!!!!!!!!!

"Ack! Trixie! No!" Tess gasped, diving in an attempt to catch the purple tentacle.

A horrified look came over Herryk's face when the beast named Trixie launched itself at him. He wasn't even quite sure what it was, but he was trying really, really hard to fight the urge to squish the beast before it wrapped around his beefy leg. His own pets, Bjorg and Bjork, were content to be fed and amuse Herryk with little tricks while his woehound Snorri slept most of his life away. Herryk was not used to such active little beasties.

He stood still for a long moment, that same horrified look etched onto his features. Without tearing his gaze away from the thing called Trixie, he tried to keep his voice as calm and as even as possible. His voice remained steady for the most part, cracking only at the end.

"What is this Trixie," he mumbled hesitantly, visibly fighting the urge to kick his leg free of the tentacle-beast. What an odd day this was turning out to be. All he had wanted to do was find his way home, and yet here he was talking to a ghoul (with pretty black hair) while he had a little monster giddily writhing around his leg.

Truth be told, Tess wouldn't have faulted Herryk if he had opted to kick the purple tentacle away. Jack knows she would have done so on several occassions. If it weren't for the minor inconvenience that was her missing legs but that was neither here nor there. "I-I'm really sorry!" the ghoul apologized, her wings lowering her until she was knee-level to the boil. Don't look up, Tess, don't look up. You should not get first-hand knowledge of what's beneath that loincloth... She mentally repeated, trying not to blush at the thought. Her pale arms reached out to tug at the purple tentacle while explaining that: "Trixie is, um, it's a mytrix, a minipet from back home my mother sent me. It likes to say hi by giving hugs and sometimes many-mouthed kisses."

In the purple tentacle's rather simple mind, it was not happy. New-thing stopped moving! New-thing sleepy? New-thing tired? NEW-THING NO LIKE HUGS!??!?! Oh! Maybe new-thing want meet Leggy! One of its mouths began to make wet, squealching noises and when it felt its mistress' hands, it only clung to the boil it had dubbed new-thing even tighter.

Legarra was left standing in the doorway, still staring up at Herryk with large, rather frightened eyes. When she heard the purple tentacle call her over to join it in making the stranger feel welcomed, it whinied and hesitantly took one step towards them before canting her head as if to ask if that was enough.

Herryk was mystified by the little ..mytrix-beast. He was very perturbed by what was going on here, though he was being polite as could be to the ghoul. He actually felt a little sorry for her; she seemed to be run ragged by the little mytrix-beast and the tiny pony-horse. She was rather fortunate that he was distracted by the mytrix -- if she had happened to blush while being at knee-height, Herryk might've mortified her by cracking some sort of crude joke. As it was, Herryk was far too concerned with what the mytrix-Trixie was doing, and more specifically, concerned with the moist noises that were coming out of the thing's mouth.

"It likes Herryk?" He still wasn't convinced that all it wanted to do was hug him, and he cleared his throat nervously. At least it was around his calf -- if the Trixie came any further up his leg, he would have to squish it. It seemed pretty harmless, and the more he looked at it the less it looked like a snake. Snakes didn't have multiple mouths, right? Herryk shook his leg experimentally, wondering what the Trixie-beast would do in response.

When the pony took a tiny hesitant step forward, Herryk couldn't help but grin at the little thing.

"Tiny little pony," he snorted, almost laughing. It wasn't manly or burly by any means, but there was something adorable about the small horse-pet. Almost as an afterthought, Herryk added, "Herryk does not know his parents." There was no sadness in his voice. Things had always been that way, and so any sort of family fascinated Herryk to a certain extent.

Tess was fortunate indeed that Herryk had so far been the picture of the quintessential gentleman. While she wasn't an innocently naive ghoul, she had been raised by conservative parents who had hammered into her a sense of propriety. Making any sort of double-entenders were reserved for close friends or in certain types of social gatherings where it was acceptable. Not when she was uncomfortably close to a barely dressed boil's loincloth. "Yes, Trixie has so far hugged every student it has met," she assured the boil, making one more attempt at yanking the tentacle off Herryk's leg.

The lack of reaction from new-thing was baffling Trixie. Oh sure, new-thing made noises (not that it could understand anything) but why new-thing stay still? Why no return hug? Trxie was disappoint. If new-thing couldn't appreciate its hugs, fine! See if Trixie gives new-thing hugs EVER AGAIN! It allowed its mistress to pry itself off Herryk, but not before making certain the boil saw its multiple mouths frown at him in unison.

Legarra let out the equine equivalent of a yelp at the attention. Her bat-like wings flared out in an attempt at looking bigger than it was and blood-stained legs stumbled back, only to trip on her overly long mane and tail. The pony now wanted to curl up under a rock and die from shame.

Maritess was lucky that the sudden tumble from her other minipet caught her attention and had her glancing over her shoulder to see what was the matter. Otherwise she would have instinctively looked up at the boil when he mentioned not knowing his parents and, well, given where she was hovering, Herryk might have to find some other ghoul to help him get to where he wanted.

Leather wings began to flap silently, lifting her back up so she was nearer his bare chest than his loincloth. "Oh? Did your guardians send you to school, then?" she asked since she didn't know what Herryk was specie-wise.

Herryk frowned darkly at the myriad of scowling mouths that were pointed in his direction. The Draugr still wasn't certain what the little beast had expected him to do, but his attention soon shifted to the ghoul he stood before. He took a long moment to examine her wings as she rose to a more adequate height before crossing his arms over his chest.

"No. Herryk is at school because he wanted to be at school." That was a good enough explanation, right? He would never tell her why, exactly, he had come to school. Well, he would never divulge the truth, anyway. "Herryk has joined Fitness Club and Bruteball Squad." He was pretty proud of the decision to join both of those clubs. It would give him a viable means of working off any frustrations he came across in day-to-day life, or so the Draugr hoped.

Another hearty scowl creased his brow as he stared down at the ghoul. "You have a name, hmm?" It was an awkward time for introductions, but it was obvious that Herryk thought it pertinant. After all, he'd made it clear that his name was Herryk, hadn't he? Besides, he wanted to know the name of the ghoul that was going to help him.

The winged vampire felt her anxiety return at the less-than-pleased expression appearing on the boil's face and unconsciously backed away. Suffice to say, Tess was easily intimidated and as much as the minipet bothered her, it was a gift from her mother. An apologetic smile made itself home on her lips, "A-ah, we have different reasons for being here then. And those clubs sound very..." Rough? Violent? A good excuse to see half-naked boils engaged in physical activities, sweat glistening on those well-toned muscles and- She blinked away the rest of her thoughts, clearly she'd been reading too much questionable literature. "They sound very active," she finished lamely as she continued to back away until she was back at the threshold of her room.

Trixie half slunk and half dropped out of its Mistress' arms, still frowning at new-thing and not the least bit concerned about its safety. It went back inside of its own volition (an act that surprised its Mistress), its lesser tentacles slinking towards its pony friend. As much as Legarra wanted to join Trixie, she sensed how distraught their Mistress was and did not wish to abandon her. Shaking off the tentacle, she slowly approached Tess to hide behind the ghoul's long hair.

"I've never seen Trixie act that way before," Tess stated in open disbelief before giving Herryk a grateful smile, "Thank you!" What relief she might have felt was quickly chased away upon realizing that she had failed to introduce herself. Again the apples of her cheeks tinged red, a pale hand rising to muffle the faint eep before she extended her other arm to him, "I-I'm Maritess, but please call me Tess. Nearly everyone does. U-um, where was it you were trying to get to?" she hastilly asked, hoping to redeem herself as quickly as possible. If she was aware Legarra was hiding behind her, she didn't show it.

"Tess," Herryk let the name roll off his tongue. He didn't like long names, often finding them harder to remember. Tess was going to be easy enough to recall. However, the Draugr was distracted by the shy little pony that remained tucked away behind the ghoul. Herryk liked that little pony. He liked that little pony a lot. It reminded him of his Skalla. Skalla was white and black and red, and Skalla was good, so Herryk automatically decided that Legarra was good, too.

"I am looking for my dorm," Herryk said distractedly, still busy watching that pony. He moved to kneel in front of Tess, utterly intent on the Skalla-pony.

"Here, pony," he said as soft as he could, reaching out one big hand. "Heeeere, pony."

Shifting his gaze back to Tess, he raised his brows. "Herryk's dorm is in the undead place, but it is hard to find." He frowned just the slightest, turning his eyes back to Legarra. "Herryk's pets are probably very worried about him." Now, he didn't really think that was completely true. Snorri was probably dead asleep, and the Bjor-dragons, (Bjorn, Bjorl and Bjorg) were probably hungrily watching all of his precious fluffpups. Thinking about Nanna and the gang brought a beautiful smile to Herryk's face, prompting him to reach forward with a beefy fist with the intention of enticing Legarra closer.

"Maritess nodded thoughtfully as Herryk explained he was looking for his dorm. She supposed not everyone would consider the symbols the academy assigned to their dorm houses as universal, so it was quite possible he mistook the Undead dorms for the Monsters (or Demons, he could be one for what little the manananggal knew of the world). She watched, partly curious and partly concerned when the large boil seemed to be trying to lure her minipet out from behind her. His demeanor seemed convinging enough that he meant the bat-winged pony no harm.

With a quick glance over her shoulder, and Tess gave her minipet a reassuring smile, "It's alright, Legarra." Still looking at her minipet, Tess was about to ask which dorm he was in when Herryk volunteered the information. Crimson eyes quickly darted back to Herryk, her brows knitting together in confusion. Was he making fun of her? Defensively, Tess' arms folded across her chest, "This is the Undead dorms." Maybe someone put him up to it.

Legarra had stared wide-eyed up at her Mistress then at the stranger. She resisted the urge to flee with awkward weight-shifting on her blood-stained legs. At the manananggal's reassurance and the boil's gentle crooning, she took a few tentative steps closer to the outstretched hand until she was close enough to give Herryk a little nudge with her head.

"Oh look at the little pony," he whispered sweetly, turning his gaze up to peer at Tess. He cocked his head to the side for a small moment, his attention now completely on the ghoul before him.

"This is the Undead dorms?" He frowned quickly, lips drawing downwards in a hearty scowl. "Herryk feels very foolish now, Tess." He shook his head at his own stupidity, obviously frustrated with his own memory. "This school is very big, and it is not the first time that Herryk has gotten lost." A heavy sigh erupted from his lips as he slowly drew a thick finger down the minipet's mane. "It is okay," he said softly to the pony, hoping that his sounds of dismay didn't frighten her.

"Herryk is glad that he got lost today, though," he added after a long moment, forgiving himself, "because Herryk got to meet Tess and her Trixie-beast and her sweet little Skalla-pony. It is not such a bad day."