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Peace and quiet had been on the agenda, but it seemed like that wasn't meant to be. They were assaulted by news reporters, of all things, and Riley was at a loss as to what they were meant to do regarding them. Did the school want them to ignore the questions? Or answer them like nothing was wrong?

"Why do you think your school deserves to participate in the Trials?" A plump little slime monster cordially asked the group. All Riley knew was that her true answer, the one that bubbled up in her mind immediately, was inappropriate. So she lied as smoothly as ever. "We have already proved ourself as a leading educational facility. If anyone should be protected, it is the future of Halloween, and we are the future."

"So, what can you tell me about yourself?" She was a tiny thing, beaming up curiously at Riley, with a touch of hesitance in her eyes. Riley realized that none of the news reporters were getting too close to her, and there was something satisfying about that. Her race's reputation preceded her, and she used that sense of fear to give her friends a wide berth by stepping forward, making all the reporters taking a step back. No one was swarming them.

"Nothing." That was Riley's answer, and it was delightfully rude. "Ah, that is not entirely true. I suppose I am obliged to mention that I am the Student Council President. That is, perhaps, the extent of knowledge I am willing to share with the public."

Her answer left the small reporter sulking quietly. She had no more questions for Riley; she wanted someone who had something to say. Something interesting!

"Someone is saying that the winning groups unfairly cheated. What do you think about this?" Someone had bustled through the crowd, pushing his way in to get to the group and hold his microphone up to Riley. She looked at it, then him, and then it. He didn't seem to get the point of how useless it was.

"Those who are claiming that other cheat, are sore losers. My classmates have no reason to cheat. We are all playing on the same team, in the end."

The same man held his microphone even higher, as if that would solve the problem of not getting any feed on her. "I've heard rumours that the Heirs of the Four Clans reside in Amityville? Is this true? What are they like?"

Riley had enough of the microphone the moment it actually touched the flat plane of her face, and she slapped it out of her face, bending closer to the man. The news reporters all leaned back, except him. He had no idea what an Illithid was. "The heirs are within our numbers, and I have no problem with them. We share a common enemy. It unites us." Her tentacles slithered dangerously closer to the man, and he started to look a little too interested in her.

Lecherous creatures, reporters. She dropped her tentacles and listened carefully to her teammates answers.

Malodore was caught entirely off-guard by the throng - it had never had anyone outside of its friends and adopted family who really cared what it did. But apparently now a lot of people cared a whole lot about everything. The plague doctor twitched a bit, its head jerking from side to side, birdlike, as it tried to track all the people around them.

Someone shoved a microphone in its face. "Tell us about yourself!" the ghost attached to the microphone demanded.

"A-ah, I am a... plague doctor, si," Malodore stammered, staring at her for a moment before rallying some courage. "And we are going to try our very best together, grazie. This is not a thing I could attempt alone. Only with my amici!"

... It wasn't really an answer to the question, but the reporter was handily shoved out of the way by a monster with a notepad. "Why do you think your school deserves to participate in the Trials?"

"Because... because we are the best school, of course! And we have done many... many important things!"

Oh, this was going well.

A troll crashed into the notepad-bearing monster, nearly knocking Malodore itself off of its hooves as well. "Why Amityville in Tri-"

"He already answered that!" With a poof, the troll turned into a toad, and a long-nosed witch stepped cheerfully into the gap left behind. "Do you think you have learned anything important from the Trials, dearie?"

"It," Malodore said, severely, then cleared its throat. "And, ah, don't build sandcastles on beaches infested with krakens."

That about wrapped it up. It hoped.

Malodore leaned against Riley for a moment before she let it go and lunged after the camera; for a moment it was surprised, and then it realized the truth behind her actions. Its stomach lurched oddly, unpleasantly. Si...

"Move," it added, clacking its beak warningly. A camera flash went off in its face.

Nobody moved.

The crowd parted like the red sea, and Riley let out a contented breath. She reached out and gave Jericho a squeeze around the middle, before putting her arms behind both him and Malodore, and leading them through the opened path to the dorms once and for all. She stopped for a moment, reaching out to touch Junko, and make sure she knew they were going to rest, and that she was welcome to follow when ready, before taking her two companions off specifically to the demon dorms. It would be safer there, she figured - the news reporters would likely stay away from that many demons holed up in one building.

Yes, rest. Rest sounded great. In fact Junko was pretty sure she wanted some quiet rest with no one around except maybe her equally as exhausted and therefore less bothersome teammates and maybe a minipet or two yes cuddly minipets who she could hug and cuddle and pea--

..There would be none of that. They were swarmed upon returning to school and the ghoul was immediately very uncomfortable. There were reporters everywhere. She'd never seen so many in one place except in movies or something! Was this real life!? She just wanted to sleep!

A sharply-dressed demon approached her with a grin, shoving away a couple smaller reporters. "Hello, hello! Care to answer a few questions? Of course you will! If you were the winning group, what is the first thing you'd request to the Four Clans?" He asked with a charming grin, holding his microphone out toward an awkward, blushing Junko. Her hair curled around her shoulders and arms, slithering down to give her wrists a comforting squeeze as she began to back away.

"U-um...well...uh..I don't...I haven't thought about...um..." She looked around, eyes wide and her face giving a clear sign for HELP ME! But Riley and the others had already left. Even their additional teammate who..they...didn't even know the name of had disappeared. Was this the last they would see of her? Who knows. She apparently came and went like the wind...or something.

Junko checked behind her just to be sure the ghoul hadn't decided to play batling again. Nope, not there.

Another reporter pushed the demon out of the way, this time an undead woman in a tacky suit. "Why do you think your school deserves to participate in the Trials?" She asked with a little more friendliness than the demon who was now glaring at her and fixing his hair. How dare she touch him! Junko was stuck just staring at her suit. It was the ugliest thing she had ever seen someone wear, and not even in a good way. Even her Scarentine's dress wasn't this bad. Even the wings of her Scarentine's dress hadn't been this bad.

"Be..because we've...been through a lot." That suit don't comment on the suit don't do it! "Everyone has been saying our school is bad, or that it should be closed, and that we're just a bunch of delinquents. We're not any of those things. We're a good school, and this is our chance to prove it." She blushed even more, her face nearly as red as a tomato. Was that an okay answer? She'd never been given an interview before. Don't comment on the suit don't comment on the sui-- "Your suit doesn't fit you right you need to take it in at the waist and take it out at the bust and sleeves and--" There was laughter from everyone but the zombie reporter woman who just narrowed her eyes. The demon reporter was back.

"Miss, you never gave an answer. There must be something you'd request of the Four Clans?" Junko looked surprised to be asked that question again. She had no idea what to ask, she really did. There were so many things she wanted, so many things she could say. This was going to be on skelevision, right? Should she go with a publicly appealing answer? Should she just go with her gut? Should she just pass on the question? She frowned, trying to back away from the reporters again. This was not a conversation she wanted to be having under such pressure.

"I..I honestly don't know. There're many things I want but the Four Clans are surely only capable of so much and..I don't...I don't want to waste an opportunity and..." She bit down on her lip, very obviously wanting a different question. The demon didn't back down until a slime monster practically inhaled him with his own body, not bothering to just shove the demon aside because that required effort. The demon was not happy, flailing and twisting and turning in the transparent belly of the slime monster as he tried to 'swim' out of its body.

"What do you think of the trials so far? They're pretty dangerous, huh?" The slime monster was certainly the friendliest of all three of them but...his question was a trap.

"We've been through worse...I'd like to leave, now." She said quietly, finally just turning and running in the direction she'd seen Riley and the others leave in.