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The text couldn’t have come at a better time honestly. One, she was due for some…’ghouly time’ with the witch, and two, well, a distraction sorts was in order. The reaper tapped out a reply on her eyePhone, lacking nearly half the dexterity and speed of which Belladonna possessed. There were lots of erasing, and lots of cursing as she typed in the wrong things before she got out:



Briefly, Hel couldn’t help at snort at the ‘no boilfriend’ thing. Really, like she’d even ask Mac to come to a sleep over she was having with Bells. That was obviously a no brainer: NO. Besides…as much as she wanted to ask the boil about her current situation, on the same hand, she was sorta…playing keep away as well. She didn’t want him to worry, which he might. Broken weapons seemed pretty serious after all, and she didn’t have an answer for him.

Oh well.

Hel grabbed her messenger bag, tossed some clothes in there, picked up her knapsack containing the broken pieces of her weapon (because really, leaving without it was as weird as it being broken), and then left her room. It wasn’t too long before she was standing at Belladonna’s door. She raised a fist and knocked.

Piper had been minding her own business. Really! She had been doing good on her self-made promise to socialize more, because what good was being a shut-in when people deserved to be basking in her inner stardom? It had been a tiring week with homework on top of that, however, and thus the ghoul had done a jog around campus with her Walking Deadman (sigh she couldn't afford an eyePod at the moment sigh). Soothed by the sounds of Katy Scary, she had just slipped her earbuds out when she saw a semi familiar blurb of brown down the hall.

Huh. That was . . . Hel, she figured. Kettil had been trying to educate her, given the whole . . . gross marriage thing to Freya. Hel was her sister if she remembered right, and also seemed at least a little awkward about the union from what Piper remembered, which was enough to let her like the ghoul from afar. Now where was she going . . . ?

Having nothing better to do (After all, what was she going to do when she got back to her room? Homework?) Piper snuck after the valkyrie as quietly as she could, spying from behind the stairwell as Hel met with another ghoul who . . . Unholy Jack, what was this, the big boob brigade?

Piper stared at her. Then stared at Hel. Then stared down at herself. Not fair OMJ.

Thus did Piper creep with a simmering jealousy and a burning curiosity at the same time.

"Hel, this is Binx. Binx, this is Hel and if you're not nice to her I will not give you that milk I bought." The witch grinned at Hel one moment, turned a frown to Binx, kissed his head and then looked back up with a smile. The cat made a soft noise, something like a growl without the malice. That seemed to satisfy his witch in some regard for she gave him one last squeeze before she swung her arms out and he dropped casually to the floor, finally free of her grasp. With a soft thump he landed and fell into a roll, stretching out his paws toward Hel in the most subtle hint of you should pet me.
"That is true! We never run out of things to do, but I do not often have sleepovers so I had to be careful! I mean, Mort sleeps over all the time but it is not the same." The witch sighed wistfully, for she really hadn't had slumber parties in her youth. Mostly her sisters did, but she was not invited to those and her parents did not particularly like other scarelings running around inside their home. The Divines were an oddly private lot, in that regard.

But while Belladonna was content to chatter on about herself (she was fine, thank you! And all too happy to tell Hel about the rather boring things she had gotten up to like rereading her favorite spell book and meeting new people, on and on and on), Binx had decided that, in the case that Hel indulged him in pets, enough was enough. With a bored chirp he stood and slunk toward the door that had not been shut. That would not do and the cat flicked his tail before he trotted over to begin the act of shutting it, a task that was usually difficult since he was only a small cat. As he began to shuffle himself against in hopes of closing it, a bit of blue somewhere down the hallway caught his gaze.
Another chirp left him as Binx slunk out the door to peer down the hallway, yellow eyes curious to see a sneaking Reaper with way too much hair. She was doing an alright job at sneaking, but all that blue on her head was just too obvious. And what was she sneaking for?
Deciding to have his own fun, Binx sat down in the middle of the hallway, turned toward the ghoul. His eyes went wide and he meowed in what Belladonna had always called his cutest voice.

Totally ignoring what Binx was up to, Belladonna was instead doing her best to be a good host. She took Hel's bags from her and fluttered around to set them down.
"Now that I have told you about me and how well I am, you must tell me of you!" Actually, Belladonna had completely failed to mention that she was not wholly well since right before the Tear she had been nearly incapacitated for a week thanks to that awful fight with that stupid little brat of a Hunter. But the way Hel had paused was a cause for concern and the witch would not let that go.
A hand reached out to take one of Hel's, a gentle smile on the witch's face.
"You know you can always-- Binx why are you in the hallway?" Uhh, put that moment on pause.

“Binx.” Hel greeted in return, eyeing the familiar and wondering. Could…familiar break? Could they shatter too? Like her weapon? Hel didn’t need to be prompted too much to kneel and start to pet Binx. She did have a fondness for animals after all, no matter what form they were in. She looked up at Bella with a smile, and like a good ghoul friend, listened as the witch told her about how she was. Eventually Binx wandered off and Hel thought nothing of it as she moved to stand, and made a ‘Ah’ protest when the witch grabbed her bags, and shook her head. “No, you are not my host…we are just friends hanging out…” She snorted, amused. “I do not need to be entertained...just soaking in your company is good enough for me…”

When the conversation was prompted towards her, Hel, once again, didn’t seem like she wanted to bring up what was bothering her, and instead was going to focus on something happier. Like telling Belladonna that she could ‘officially’ call a certain jerk her boilfriend, until someone else seemed to crash the party.

Hel blinked as she stared at that fro.

Jack damn. That was one impressive fro.

Also a very familiar fro…

Ah yes…she was at that scareousel wedding…and then…Hel’s brows furrowed as she stared at the ghoul harder. She was also familiar…Hel snapped her fingers, and then pointed one at Piper. “Ripper, ya?” She asked, or demanded, depending on how you took her tone. She then snorted. “Secret? Does this look secret to you? If it was secret, I think we would be trying harder to be more discreet.” Hel then had to be amused at this little ghoul’s attitude. “Inviting yourself, eh?” She asked. “Better check yourself, ghoul. We are two third years, to your first year.” Hel grinned.

Ah yes, she remembered the spunk Hel had at Rage's challenge. Confidence was the key here with upperclassmen, and Piper was oozing with it (so long as she convinced herself into thinking she had a chance, which tended to be 99% of the time anyway). Besides, what did she have to lose except . . .maybe making a fool of herself in front of other reapers . . . no she could do this.

So she held her head high, and her afro might or might not have seemed to puff out as well. "That's right, Ripper," she stated factually and proudly. "But here I'm Piper Blacke--one day you'll see my name in lights, so remember this moment, third years~"

Cue cat stroking like a chillin' villain. "If you want to put me to a test, I say bring it! I like me some challenges."

She also liked her some friends. Badly.

The witch did not miss the further poofing out of the ghoul's hair, suitably impressed by the action. She also did not miss the name and bounced up on her toes a little.
"It is so lovely to meet you Piper, but ah! What a curious last name, I am sure I have heard it before..." A finger tapped at her chin as she considered it, not sure exactly where she'd heard it but knowing she knew it. Alas! The information slipped through her witchy claws and Belladonna was forced to admit to herself that her ability to remember names needed just a bit more work. Adding that to the mental checklist, she tittered a laugh.
"Your name in lights! What a delightful dream. Hel's is to own her very own sweet cottage and Piper's is to be famous. How absolutely precious!" While that could have easily gotten the witch thinking about her own, she decided to let it go in favor of creating a challenge.

Binx, on the other hand (er, paw), was not pleased to be used in such dramatics. It was one thing for his witch to be over the top about things, but she usually left him out of them. To be involved against his will AND with someone who was not his was vastly annoying. The only reason Binx had yet to claw at the reaper was because, well, he did appreciate the theatrics even if he didn't want to be involved with them. And also pets.
Ok mostly pets.
But once the moment was passed he wiggled in her arms.
"Let me go, you sorry excuse for a wanna be starlet." The cat growled, twisting until he was free. Once on the floor he slunk to the bed, flicking his tail in distaste.

Normally Belladonna would have tried to scoop up Binx and cuddle him back into being in a more friendly mood, but for the moment she was highly distracted.
"Helena Rosemaria Brynhilde!" That was not Hel's real name at all and Belladonna did not care because hey it sounded really nice and mostly she just needed a good full name to scold Hel with.
"We cannot ask such a young ghoul to do something like that! Besides, streaking is not only terribly rude but not at all fun. Its a bit chilly out today, she might freeze her cute bits off. That would be just awful." The witch tutted as she bounced over to the ghoul and considered her for a moment longer.
"But a lap around campus is good... Yet instead of a lack of clothing, perhaps we should give you more.... I do own a number of petticoats, after at. A number." That meant like at least 20.
"And since you are doing this to prove yourself to us, maybe... Singing our praises on your trip would be good too?" A devil's smile began to curl the witch's mouth as she blinked wide, excited eyes to her poofy haired new friend.
Oh, this was most excellent.

“Nah, Kettil is not whipped, Freya is whipped, and that ghoul is my sister.” Hel then eyed Piper, in warning. “Just owning a cottage is not my only dream! Hel protested with a pout. “I want to be the best Trick or Treater ever and get mar—“ ABORT, ABORT!

But the reaper cringed, even though the name Belladonna used to scold her was completely ridiculous! “First, I do not even have a middle name, and second…Brynhildr is not my last name anymore!” She poked Bella in the side as ‘retribution’ and then pouted when the witch shot down her idea to make Piper streak. Hel bristled though, as Piper shot back with an attitude. “So too am creative.” She muttered under her breath, and she scowled. “My name is not Helena, Pip-sqeauk!”

The reaper rested her hands on her hips, and her smile turned cocky. “What is the matter, Piper?” Hel drawled in a most mocking and sweet tone. “Not creative enough to make something up?” Hel tsked, and looked over at Bella. “No privilege for her.”