[IC] Of Monsters and Men [Modern Fantasy]

[Skai]

Maria blinked, turning her attention to the leader of the group as the president tried to handle all of the students approaching the booth. She let go of her camera to let it hang around her neck and took the handout, looking it over. “Accepting all students, hm? Strange,” she murmured to herself. What caused them to open the club to anyone? Did the college finally decide that it was time to drop the hammer on the club if they didn’t adhere to the rules? She pursed her lips slightly, reading over every inch of the handout.

Perhaps this is the different club I need? Hell, this might be the last chance I could get to find out more about this Night Garden. Maria thought, slowly pulling a pen out of her small, over the body, brown purse. She glanced around at the other students at the booth. Some of them seemed to naturally fit in with the club members, but the others seemed more awkward about it. With a soft smile, she finished writing her information down and placed it in front of the overwhelmed club president.

---

Thomas swaggered through the club fair, repping his fraternity’s varsity jacket with a white t-shirt, jeans, and vans. He smoothed back his blonde wave and winked at an attractive freshman. Man, this year was going to be good. He was going to enjoy himself very much. He grinned as he noticed the Night Garden club stand up ahead, crowded by students. His slightly sharper than normal canines flashed as he approached the booth with arrogance and style.

The vampire’s eyes grazed over the students at the booth as he caught a whiff of each of their scents. The president smelt of bird, while the member sitting next to her smelt of dog. A werewolf and some other creature. Interesting... He thought as he smelt the students in front of him. Human… human…What is that? Smells like shit. Ah, sulfur. A demon. What an interesting addition to the monster population on campus. He smirked and snatched a handout from the booth. “Anybody got a pen?” He asked with a charming smile.

[knighthawk]

Leo had fallen back to silent support for a few moments as he pulled out a kerchief from his pocket and made a face like he was going to sneeze. In truth he slipped the silver rings off his fingers under the cloth and began to chuff with his jacobs organ to take in all of the crowd. They were gaining too many people to fast and She was clearly loosing it so he stepped up once he put his rings back on.

"Yes you can take a picture, if you sign your name. Everyone else line up to the left if you have not signed up yet and wait to speak to a representative one at a time. We're only human after all.
Once again, this club endorses the outsiders, the ones who don't usually fit in or are away for home for the first time. We provide an alternative or at least a controlled group of friends to explore college and its associated nightlife with. We can make a date to check out that new nightclub and you don't have to worry about the sleezeballs being all over you. We work together in study groups and last minute projects. If you want to do something and don't want to be made fun of for being a newbie, we'll be newbies right next to you or we might even know someone. We are a community for those without one, safety in numbers."

His green eyes tracked over everyone to assure compliance with a strong energy. He presented and projected himself quite well with one of those alpha traits he tried to suppress most of the time. Clearly class had to have been let out for the sudden influx but just like he said to the crowd, he was there for their president.

There were those who didn't have the scent of human to them, such as the one with the sweets as he pocketed one and the other with the overly forceful presence. He couldn't tell what with his rings on, but both of the cocky bastards pushed against his presence in their own way, an inhuman way.

[Mad Scarlet]

@Skai@knighthawk

Afina looked up at the photographer and gave her an encouraging smile, finding her presence to be one of the more toned-down ones, something that this fair seemed to lack. "We would be pleased to have you join us tomorrow night," She looked down at the signup sheet and snatched her name up with her sharp eyes. "Maria." The common human name rolled off the tongue easily, but she couldn't help but think that this girl brought something new to the common name. Odd... well, perhaps having a photographer around wouldn't hurt us... If things get too chancy, I'll just ask her to take it away. She seems kind enough to follow orders.

Then one of the frat boys made himself present. Noticing the patch on his varsity jacket, she immediately knew which fraternity he was from. Oh, hell no... Despite the thoughts going on in her head, she smiled and pushed forward a pen on the table. "Ah, yes, we do enjoy having people from all groups on campus. We've never had a frat boy in on our club. Mayhaps you'll bring something new to the table, eh?" Her voice was cool and challenging despite the kind look on her face. Her eyes flashed a vibrant amber. A silent warning that he shouldn't try anything too soon.

Glancing over to the Student Council table that had made sure to set up across the pathway, she saw their smug faces gazing disdainfully at her booth. Making sure no one was paying attention to her, she flipped them the bird quickly before continuing to gather new members, both monsters and humans.

[ravenDivinity]

Odell ↣

@Mad Scarlet@Skai@Levythelevy@knighthawk

The club president explained the activities of the group to Odell, and as she spoke, he locked with her eyes which now noticeably changed from color to color. If he were not caught in that bizarre feat, he would have listened more intently, but alas, the wizard still understood the gist. "Oh! Cool, so you're like a 'let's hang out' type of club," Odell stated matter-of-factly. His voice picked up with a heightened, bona fide tone. "Well, I guess I'm down for that!"

The blonde photographer held her camera in front of her nonchalantly as a guy roughly their age came into the picture. He stepped in and out of some invisible frame around the booth, but the girl must have not aimed to snap a shot because she held it aside and went forth to write her information before the club president. So too did the other blond guy follow her to take a spot next to the booth, to the perturbation of the club president, whom he interrupted with a brief and concise declaration. That gaudy, overpriced piece of cardboard that he slid on the table confirmed Odell's somewhat assuming judgment that perhaps this guy was some wealthy snob or at least indiscreet.

Nonetheless, the club representative appeared to take it in stride and coped tenuously with the guy's relatively demanding and straightforward attitude as she repeated the same information like a mantra that she held onto for dear life. Odell pitied her even more. So many people already, and still another person showed up. This next bloke was, first of all, goddamn fine, like a male version of a pin-up model. Now, Odell could gather from appearances (and from that downright sleazy pass the guy made at the freshman girl) that the fine piece of meat who just presented himself before the group was an arrogant prick. Hot, like a well-cooked burger back home, but still one rude fellow. The man even had a matching voice. "Anybody got a pen?"

Odell thought for a moment, hesitated, maybe weighing whether or not he should even oblige this person's obvious self-entitlement that the arrogance exuded. Well, it couldn't hurt. It's just a stupid pen. He reached into his brown, leather messenger bag and sifted through its contents with keys jingling and papers rustling, and he pulled out a common signature pen, which he held upright at its end. "I have one if you need it," Mr. Dunkirk casually offered with a cheeky, not-flirtatious-nor-snarky smirk. But then the club president offered, and he quickly brought his down. "Nevermind, she's got it."

A brutish-looking guy's imposing presence stood over the group when the club president reached peak levels of discomfort, and he immediately took the reigns. He gave the same explanation of things that she had, but he did so with much more forceful and less flowery language and basically put an end to the chaos. Odell thought that he was being fair and reasonable about it, so he desisted and fell into line as the pace picked up again. Well, at least this club would finally add some flavor to his life. He'd been craving something a little more exciting.

[Skai]

@ravenDivinity@Mad Scarlet

"We would be pleased to have you join us tomorrow night," the president said with an encouraging smile. Maria returned the greetings with a warm smile, nodding as an agreement to come to the meeting. Something about the way the president said her name gave her slight goosebumps.

She turned her head to look at the frat boy that the president had turned her attention towards. Wow... She thought, a little shocked at his looks. She'd never seen him around, and she would have remembered him if she had. Who could forget that face?

Thomas looked at the president and grinned as she noticed him. The look in her eyes made him laugh on the inside. Most monsters knew that his frat was all vampires, and also that it was slight trouble. Fun trouble, at the least. "Ah, yes, we do enjoy having people from all groups on campus. We've never had a frat boy in on our club. Mayhaps you'll bring something new to the table, eh?" The president said as a pen was pushed towards him. Thomas picked up the cool, challenging tone of voice and it sent shivers up his spine. He loved a challenge of dominance. It was his forte. He gave her a wide, toothy smile, glancing over at the human beside him who also offered a pen. God, the human was practically drooling at his presence. It fueled his arrogance even more.

The vampire looked back at the president as he picked up the pen. Her eyes flashed and it sent another pleasing wave of excitement through him. The warning only enticed the troublemaker in him to rise up. "Mm, I am sure that I'll add some fun to the club." He locked eyes with her after writing his information down, holding out the pen towards her. "I suppose I will see you tomorrow night," he purred, narrowing his eyes slightly with a crooked grin on his face. His eyes flashed as well, but with the look of a predator within them.

Maria watched the two exchange words in awe. The tension in the air was electrifying. Do these two know each other?

Thomas turned away from the president, smiling at the human girl with the camera and the drooling boy. He brushed past each of them, inhaling their delicious smell. He stalked off, adjusting his jacket on his shoulders and heading towards the mess hall. This club is going to be fun.

[Levythelevy]

@Mad Scarlet @Skai @knighthawk

Tyler was about to acknowledge the red haired girls response, when the bulky male next to her stood up to make a proclamation. The man's green eyes swept back and forth across the crowd and his stance spoke of dominance. Tyler glanced briefly towards him and gave a slow, deliberate blink then shifted his stance so his back was facing towards him and resumed speaking as though the man hadn't said anything. "Excellent- I shall be there." His eyes examined the girls red hair once again and he turned to move out of the way. The photographer girls stood behind him, and he nodded in her direction as he slid over. He heard the sounds of a frat boy flirting with seemingly everything within a radius around him. Tyler couldn't help, but listen in and after the figure had swayed off. He threw a bemused expression over his shoulder at The Night Garden booth and its occupants. Turning to leave, he caught the sight of the student council glancing at his direction, speaking amongst themselves. He raised his nose up haughtily and paced past them without paying them any further attention.

-

Taking a much more direct route home, Tyler washed himself off and changed into clothes more appropriate for class later. He took a seat at the folding plastic chair and table which housed his laptop and turned it on. He searched for the Quills and Quivers address and then turned to a report that was due later on that day.

[Doc Doctor]

Deep below Hallesdale there was a cavern. In the 1850's it had been full of gold, which of course had been nearly all mined up. Nearly. Over half the prospectors had vanished in the expansive, mazelike network of dripping tunnels and gaping holes. It would have been easy to get lost for good there, even in a group. Rest had decided it was a cursed place and had left the site to go home. Four hundred and seventy of them. Over the next fifty years, those who had returned to their families had gone missing too. Them, and every occupant in the structure they had lived in. Homes emptied. Apartment complexes left barren. Entire ritzy hotels had gone silent. They had left the blackness of the cavern, but it hadn't left them. Hadn't forgotten their scent.
Yes it had been a big deal back then, town criers barking out the mysterious tragedies until their lungs were sore. But time had a way of hiding things, plopping them into obscurity. It hadn't been a war, afterall. Humans never forgot wars.

A mossy skull rolled down a pale yellow mountain. It was no mountain of stone, but of bones. As high as a pyramid. The dark thing on top shifted and flopped restlessly, a ribcage tumbling down after the skull. It stirred and awoke. A whirring, a flapping. No excitement, only a dull ardor. Cleaving through the musty air, through slimy tunnels and snaking passages, and then straight up. It went towards pinprick of light, like a single star in an empty universe.

The janitor of Hallesdale, Hubert Baterman, sighed as he trudged across the empty hallway, contemplating yet another day that he couldn't live out his dream of being a concert pianist. He felt like a Squidward. Oh yes he had seen many episodes of Spongebob. How could he not, when his four year old boy never stopped watching that show?

He opened his janitorial closet and stepped in to put up a broom.

"Shit monkeys!"

He stepped in alright. And his boot had plunged right through the old wooden floor and into a hole. Weren't these places supposed to have concrete foundations!? Bracing his hands on the wall, he pulled his foot out and contemplated just how much trouble the college would be in for this. What if a hurricane came? Without a solid foundation it'd...

Baterman's flesh crawled up his arms. Huge goose pimples erupted up and down his body as the hair on the back of his neck stood up. A strange vibration, very faint, had passed through him. It felt bad. A chilled wind came up through the hole and he shuddered. The wind was stale, musky, drenched in old fear. Then, the oddest thing happened. Everything went black and he felt weightless. He looked up, squinting against the rushing air to see a circle of light growing rapidly smaller, until it was a pinprick. There was an intense pressure on his ankle, like a clamp. At last his senses returned, and he screamed. Baterman would go on screaming even after they landed, even as it went to work on him. He'd scream until his vocal cords broke.

It cared little for the noise the soft little biped made. What it did care about was his smell. He had the scent of a child and woman on his clothing. Perhaps from the hug he had shared with his loved ones this morning before heading off to work.

It was a cool night, brisk and moonless. That evening a shadow passed over the Baterman household. In two days the media would be all over the disappearances, but there was little chance it would be connected to a hole in a college janitorial closet. At least, not connected by ignorant humans...

[Teddiplier]

Arte hadn't really been paying attention this whole time. She just took a seat behind the booth, kicking back and relaxing. She dearly wanted to be in her dorm, playing video games, but knew she needed to be here. Arte also knew she needed to socialize a bit more, but all the conversations had become a dull hum of noise. In fact everything was a dull hum to her now as she zoned out, her icey blue eyes glazing over a little. She knew more students were walking up and asking questions, but she had no interest in all of this.
When Arte wanted to be somewhere or do something she couldn't, she desperately wanted it. But, happily, her mood changed very often so soon enough this 'phase' (which is what it was) would pass. But for the time being, all Arte could do was wish to be alone; an introvert at the moment.

[knighthawk]

@Mad Scarlet@Mr_pink@Skai@Teddiplier@ravenDivinity@Levythelevy@Major Ursa
Leo could see the President was still getting too flustered to the point she was going to start molting in public or pluck herself bald. He reached out to pluck the full clipboard and put away the hanky to take out his phone. He dialed in all the sign-ups in a mass text with the quill's address and hit send. He held up the clipboard full of names as a bit of a mock to the student council as he again projected that alpha energy to those still here.

"Alright everyone, thats a full roster for now. First meeting is thursday. We got history in fifteen minutes, so we need to break down and get to class. See you guys in a couple days, feel free to come by sooner."

[Skai]

Maria watched the chaos around her reach the climax. She stood still, trying to get a hold on what had just occurred. She watched the brawny student behind the stand move to snatch away the clip board. She could tell that the club members already had enough names to satisfy them. She watched with curious eyes as he sent a text. Her phone chimed from her purse and she turned to pull it out. It was a text from a foreign number of the address to this Quills & Quivers.

Such an odd place for a club meeting… oh well… Maria thought, putting her phone back into her purse. She turned to the club members and smiled warmly. “I can’t wait to see you on Thursday. Have a good day.” Maria turned, giving a little wave goodbye before she continued her assignment. She photographed a few more booths before she realized that she had taken enough pictures to satisfy her employer. She found a comfortable, shady place to sit under a tree and relaxed in the grass, looking over her pictures and picking out the best ones. Today had turned out to be wonderful, and as the club fair began to end, she wondered what she would have for lunch before her class at 2 o’clock began.