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A day of shopping had done the witch some good!
Sure, it had been pure retail therapy, but Belladonna felt she had needed it. The school had gained a strange buzz since the students had returned from the field trip she had signed up for, but pulled out of at the last minute. Since she had also gotten too scared to go tend to the students she had wanted to help heal, Belladonna had then proceeded to avoid most everybody in hopes that they would eventually forgive her traitorous ways. It wasn't that she didn't want to help... It was just that... She was scared.
The last field trip she had been on had ended poorly and she was just too afraid to see anyone else's pain.

In that regard, the witch had geared herself up for some shopping and tottered off-campus for a little bout of the activity. Unfortunately not many shops had good sales going on, so the witch was only forced to buy a t-shirt she planned on ripping to shreds, a cute new ribbon for Binx and a handful of sewing supplies she wasn't entirely sure what to do with yet. But surely, inspiration would come later!

She was just about to start talking to herself when she saw the bridge that lead back onto campus. And heading toward that bridge was--
"MORTIMUS!" The witch called out with a smile and skipped toward the boil, all bouncing bows and bust. It was a strange natural reaction to want to hug him (for she always hugged her friends! She was a huggy person!) but the witch realized one moment too late that she wasn't that good friends with the boil, so she stopped in front of him, but she stopped a little too close. There was no covering it up, so the witch only bounced onto her toes and stuck a hand between them, in way of greeting. He had seemed fond of hand-shaking last time so might as well do it again!
"Good afternoon! How are--" And before she could finish the sentence, she looked up at him, full in the face.

Something seemed very wrong...
"You?" The word became a question and the question sounded very, very, very worried.

The witch watched as the zombie took a step away from her and shook her hand and felt her spirits crash when he said her name with that hesitation. Oh... He hadn't remembered her as well as she had remembered him. Maybe she was loosing her touch after all... To cover up her slightly hurt feelings (it wasn't Mort's fault, not at all! Belladonna was just a very sensitive witch) she smiled at him brightly.
"Belladonna. Bella. Whichever." She waved the hand he had just shook as though it didn't matter. She honestly preferred Belladonna simply because being a deadly plant was much better than just being pretty, but didn't want to further inconvenience the boil by being picky. (Thankfully she was not privy to the boy's thoughts for if she were she would have had to properly teach him the different and varying cup sizes of girls, namely her own. Her demonstration would probably have come with a showing of the tag on her own bra to prove that she was very decidedly NOT an A. Of all things to be sensitive about, Belladonna was rather proud of her... Ahem, large tracks of land.)

"I'm well. I just went shopping!" The witch produced her bags for him to see, but quickly dropped them when she realized that maybe perhaps she was the only one who enjoyed shopping. "How are you? You look a little... Worried." Pink lips pursed as she remembered the face he had been making, a strange mixture of fear and trepidation. It was something the witch felt drawn to. Was he hurting in any way? The witch wouldn't stand for something like that and the flutterings of the field trip brushed the girl's mind. Belladonna was going to question the boil further when a little flutter of wing caught her eyes.

She gasped loudly and excitedly gestured toward the little fluff by his leg.
"Is that your pet?!" With wide eyes she looked up at him and hoped beyond hope it was his so she could pet it.

The compliment met well with the witch, for her cheeks warmed to a nice rosey-color and it took a moment longer for her to realize that the warmth was actually a blush. There was no need to feign embarrassment, so the witch ducked her head shyly and playful fluttered a hand in Mort's direction. After a moment she flashed him a brilliant smile with a truly heartfelt 'thank you'.
Unfortunately for her, there wasn't really a nice way of how she remembered Mort's name, so instead the witch turned her attention to the foxfire.

"Oh hello you precious thing you!" Belladonna cooed at the foxfire, her eyes alight with joy. In a moment she had dropped her bags and was on her knees, one hand out hesitantly toward the creature. "Heard of them? Of course I have! They're darling little creatures. I'm quite fond of them. They would certainly come in second after my Treats."
A few more coos left the witch's mouth as she introduced herself to the foxfire and petted it liberally.
"Broseph? Herryk? Never heard of either of those..." Belladonna mumbled and looked up at Mort.

"I'm fine. Getting along well enough. I feel a little bad I missed the school field trip, actually..." For a moment the witch debated about saddling the poor boil with her problems, but he had asked. "I had signed up to go... But uh... I had a pretty bad experience with the last field trip, so I kind of uh, chickened out..." Now she really blushed and dropped her head for a moment to concentrate further on petting Lanna. "Did you go on it?" She asked softly, as though his answer were very important. Depending on how the trip went, it could very well mean her continued social status as an outcast, or welcome her back to the school's fold...

It took a moment, but a small memory of someone on the skee-vee calling someone else of their same gender a 'bro', swam through Belladonna's head and she nodded once.
"So basically, like a really close guy friend? OK. Cool!" She bounced a little with the joy of another bit of acquired knowledge. It didn't matter how small, it was still something she hadn't known before!

Glad of the distraction from the guilt of being a potential-traitor, the witch bundled Lanna up in her arms and stood up straight, to look better at Mort. Since he was a little taller than her she only had to c**k her head up a tad bit, but she could easily hide her face if need be. Like for this next conversation they were embarking on!
The witch watched the boil rub the back of his neck while a small shadow of something passed over his face and she felt her stomach flip. Not in the good way, but in the really bad way. Then he mumbled his reply and she couldn't stop her teeth from finding her lip. Oh Hecate, another bad field trip?

"Are you ok?" She asked him as one hand reached out to squeeze his arm. She knew what those bad field trips were like and having just one person there to let you know you're not alone make all the difference. (Well, it sort of had in Belladonna's case, but not enough apparently...)
"No, I haven't heard a thing." She chewed her lip one moment more before looking up at him with wide eyes. "Will you... Will you tell me about it?" She paused. "Um, I can... I can tell you about the one I went on too... If you want." He didn't have to hear it, only if he wanted to. And she wasn't really sure she wanted to tell it. But maybe it would be better if they both just told their stories. Maybe they could connect over the trauma and heal from it...
There was a nearby fallen tree that would make an excellent sitting spot and once Mort had confirmed that they would discuss this further, Belladonna would cajole him into sitting on it. These bags were getting heavy and Lanna, despite being pure fluff, was not the easiest thing to hold in one hand due to her wings and Oh jack, stop touching him~, oops! Belladonna had forgotten to take her hand back. Heh heh...

The witch followed the boil over the tree and used her free hand to brush what little dirt remained on it off so that it would not stain her skirt. After that she flounced onto it, spread out her skirts and gave Lanna a good hug. The fluffy thing was affectionate and for that Belladonna was grateful. Intense talks always needed lots of hugs and Lanna would serve that purpose well. (Plus, fluffy creatures always made the witch feel better!)
After the hug, Belladonna extracted the creature from against her bosom and placed her on her lap where she methodically scratched her in all the best places. She started with the ears, then the back and made sure to get at the fur between Lanna's wings.

"If you wouldn't mind going first... Some strange things have been happening at school and I'm... Curious." Belladonna replied softly as she looked at Mort. Why was he on the ground? Maybe he wasn't comfortable next to her? That was possible. The witch was getting sort of touchy-feely with the boil. Maybe she shouldn't do that... Maybe he had a ghoulfriend and felt uncomfortable with the witch! Gasp! How awful that would be if his ghoulfriend found him and Belladonna and though him cheating?!
Already her mind was away with her and she promised to ask him later whether he was dating anyone or not.

After he told her all that had happened, she would certainly divulge him with her own story. It would be fine... She wouldn't cry (hopefully) and if she did, Lanna would hide her tears (hopefully). Everything would be ok... Right?!

The witch steeled herself to hear the story and smiled, a little, as the foxfire licked her hand. She gave it an extra good scratch, then let her hands idly rub the fluff's fur as Mort told his story and she listened.

The story was confusing, disjointed and littered with phrases that possibly made sense to the boil, but certainly not to Belladonna. She did recognize the names of Natalia and LW, happy at first to hear he had grouped with such wonderful girls, but a little sad as the story went on.
A haunted house, she knew that. With strange rooms, it sounded like. Hhmm... Water and tile shooting?
When Mort said 'ow', the witch involuntarily reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder. It wasn't much, but it was something, at least...

Then it turned decidedly worse. Mort almost died, which was something Belladonna had known very well (that stupid JOY ninja had sure knocked her out pretty good, and that felt pretty close) but she recalled the pill she had taken in Christmastown and was glad for that.
What was three did, not five? Did that mean some of the girls on his team didn't make it? And what was all this about liberator and enslaved? Hunters? Oh dear, Belladonna sure was behind on all this.
And then... Yes, Red. She had heard of the teacher's untimely passing. It was deeply unfortunate, as the witch had honestly liked the woman. Red had pulled the lace off of Belladonna's gym shorts!

Soon enough, the story was done (or seemed to be) and Mort looked so... Lost? Scared? Something. Whatever it was, the witch couldn't help herself. She slid off the log next to him and wrapped him up in a hug.
"I'm so sorry..." She whispered, squeezed him once more and let go.
"Is there anything else? Or do you want to hear my story?"
If there was more, she needed to know, she would wait.
Perhaps it was best to wait since she had a few questions of her own anyways... But she would let Mort decide. He seemed so fragile right now...

"Y-you... Died?" The witch echoed, softly and with a certain reverence that only one who had experienced the same could speak with. Now she really hugged him, because she had died too. She knew what it was like, to leave your body behind and have to-- "Waitaminute. You were naked??" The scandal! Thank Hecate she had managed to retain her own clothing when she had died... hadn't she??

"No! Please don't apologize. You're making perfect sense!" The witch flashed Mort a smile, but honestly she was confused. It didn't matter though. She could find someone else to ask. Right now he just needed to get the story out. Talking things out always made the witch feel better, so she reasoned it would make others feel better too! "Its pretty fresh, so its totally ok." She squeezed his arm and let go to lean back against the log. Oh! Couldn't forget about Lanna! A good scratch behind the ears was given to the pup and a tiny kiss was placed on her head.

"I... I can tell my story. Its... Well... Um..." The witch took a deep, steadying breath. She could do this. She had told others about her time. She had told Ren and he had made her feel better about it. But still... It was scary. "The field trip before this last one... We went to an Island. The boat ride there was probably an indication of how things would go..." A pause and a small, honest-to-goodness giggle. "I got eaten by a plant." The smile faded quickly though. "Anyways... We landed, no actually we crashed on the Island and it was totally covered in fog. I had a small group with me, but we all got lost in the fog... And I started to wander around."
But wait... First...

"I heard voices too. Voices that weren't there. My sisters, my parents... Distant relatives, old playmates... Even... Even people who were gone and who I'd never see again." Tears pricked at her eyes and Belladonna took a deep breath. "But I found Ren and Alessa and LW. We went down into this cave and... Things got really bad. Ren died... And then there was a fight. And everything just went so wrong..." Though she was petting Lanna, her hands shook. "So many students were... They just..." The carnage and casualties were truly awful and probably what made this story so hard to tell.
"No one could take two steps without getting hit... Or worse..."
And then...
"And then... This hooded man appeared... We had to fight him. I started to charge and... And... This... Giant... Rock! It just fell out of nowhere..." Belladonna made a motion with her hands that it sailed down and splat! hit... Her.

"It crushed me. Crushed the life right out of me. It was... Awful." She took another deep breath. Dying was the hard part, right? "Then I was above the Island. Dead, but my spirit... Or something... Was there. I could see a bunch of children, others who had died on the Island. So I prayed. I prayed for them and for me and for the students still fighting... And then I woke up. I was back here at Amityville. I never got any answers as to why we went... What we accomplished... So... I locked myself in my room and didn't come out for 3 months."

The witch took another deep breath and blushed.
"Oh. Wow. My story was... Really long. Sorry." She ducked her head and busied her shaking hands with more pettings. It was done. It was over. She died and came back and was alive. No reason to still be so shaky and scared. None at all.