fandomhighdorms | Basement: Sometime Sunday morning.

Basement: Sometime Sunday morning.

Duce strolled quickly down the stairs to the basement, kicking an idle gremlin or two out of her way. She felt awful - she'd meant to come downstairs and keep Oz company during his laying-in, but had gotten so caught up in her conversation with Red that she didn't get back to campus.

"Hey Oz, are you.." her voice trailed off as she surveyed the ruins of the wall. Her face paled as she rounded the corner and saw the full extent of the damage and the meaning of the damage filtered into her brain.

Ignoring little things like common sense and personal safety, she ran forward, looking for .. bodies, blood, anything. "Oz! OZ! Are you in here? FUCK, man! WAKE UP!"

Finding him not at home was no comfort, considering it meant he'd been loose and was outside somewhere, probably with no clothes. Quickly snatching any boy-type clothing laying around, she turned and bolted back up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

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"Hey! What the fuck?" Jake protested as he was bowled over by a... person? girl? thing with snakes? "I was walking here!" He waved his notepad at the girl. "And writing!" He didn't seem to be paying much attention to the fact that he was flat on his back.

Running full-tilt-boogie into the boy on the stairs, Duce stumbled badly and tried to recover. Failing, she landed flat on her butt with a grunted, "UMPH!"

Scrambling madly to her feet, she belts off, "We're sorry! We didn't see you! Have you seen a naked boy anywhere on the way here?" Waving handfulls of clothing, she gesticulates back the way Jake came from.

Having started her morning feeling out of sorts, Wednesday had ruthlessly trimmed the carniverous vine in the kitchen. She made a note to herself to see to the conservatory in the main house at some point and paused to feed the gremlin. After a pause to stare thoughtfully at the headless rose she scowled.

Being an Addams meant a great many things, but no one had ever caught an Addams mooning over an anonymous flower. To hear her mother talk about it, they were practically common-place. Rolling her eyes, Wednesday turned on her heel. She had a list of places she wanted to investigate, and now seemed as good a time as any.

Half an hour later found her wandering more or less aimlessly, scowl deepening. A familiar voice caught her attention just as her temper was truly beginning to sour and she paused for a moment before deciding to follow the voice.

It wasn't any real surprise to find Duce shouting at someone sprawled on her back, although it was with a sense of mild disappointment she realized the boy in question was still more or less in one piece. "Duce? What are you doing?"

Spotting her roommate, Duce fills her in, "Des, remember the boy we told you about? The one we were going to go read to? He's not there. He got out last night. There's marks indicating he had lupine help as well." She pauses, takes a breath, "Des, he's out there somewhere, naked, after everyone on campus heard the werewolves howling all night long. He's not safe. There are stupid people out there, and they have guns. If he's not on school grounds, he'll be fair game as far as Rover's concerned."

Jake remained on his back, staring at the girls. "What? Naked boy? Werewolves? Rover?" And then it clicked. "Naked boy werewolf! Rover's looking for werewolves!"

"That would be inconvenient," Wednesday returned slowly, frowning. "Perhaps it would be best if we found him and you took him home. Coming back here tonight would probably not be wise. Torches and pitchforks aside... this place isn't exactly the most secure."

"Oh FUCK US!"

She looked as though she'd be yanking her hair in frustration, if, y'know, it wouldn't bite her.

"There's more than one of them. He wouldn't have gotten out on his own. The other one got at the wall from the outside. It's not his fault! We have to find him before Rover does, or he'll get a detention for sure!"

Trying to forcibly calm herself, she stops and takes a few deep breaths. Forked tongues flicker from dozens of mouths as she tastes the air.

"He's close. The spoor is everywhere, though."

Oz is secluded nearby, (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=nightsmoonchild&itemid=2112) hidden by trees as much as he can. Hearing people approaching, he sinks further back, carefully looking to try to see them, which way they'll go, if they're even looking for him.

His heart both soars and plummets when he sees Medusa. He's considered her a friend, after the incident with the gremlin and helping him to the clinic and getting him help and...everything. She was very definitely hunting for him.

He tried to be as still as possible, and invisible to anyone scanning the area. Like he could escape the detection of those snakes. Well, he could try.

"Um," Jake said cautiously, getting on his feet. "You want to find the werewolf?"

Wednesday gave him an expressionless look. "My cousin Frederick is a werewolf. Is that a problem?"

Moving to help Jake stand up, Duce more or less deliberately makes sure Jake's back is facing the way the scent goes. "We're really sorry. It's just very important that we find him before a lynch mob or Rover does. Will you help us, please?"

Looking from determined fact to expressionless face, Jake tried to come up with something that'd get him out of this. His gaze turned up at the snakes. "Help?" he said faintly.

Nodding firmly, Duce spouts, "There haven't been any bite or mauling reports, which means right now, all we have is one student on the grounds who's done nothing wrong. He's probably naked, confused, and upset as hell at not being locked in his room like he'd arranged to be.

There are also a shitload of students and teachers going apefuck this week and persecuting people just for being different. We don't want him to be next." Her mouth tightens grimly, "We need to find him before they do, or before Rover does. Rover won't give him a chance to explain, and with the paranoia going around, we doubt anyone else will, either.

Now, are you going to help us, or are you kindly going to get the fuck out of our way?"

"I have a choice?" This was novel. Jake blinked. He wasn't sure what do with that. However, as he'd helped Rover before, it was only fair that he help NakedBoyWerewolf now. Dad would approve. With that in mind, he nodded. "Okay, I'll help."

Wednesday patted him absently on the head, having to reach up to do so. "Very good. Duce, where do we look?"

Nodding absently, Duce tossed a genuinely relieved smile at Jake. "We're Medusa. This is our roommate Wednesday. We're looking for a boy about so high, with red hair, kind of skinny, probably naked."

Eyeing Jake up, "If you find him before we do, could you please loan him your shirt or something? We didn't think to grab enough clothing for a posse."

Catching her roommate's eye, she gestures to the far side of the trees, "Wednesday, can you take .. sorry, didn't catch your name....over there? You probably know what to look for better than he does. We're going to try to scent track, but it's very confusing. There's more than one of them, and we don't know which one is which."

Looking up at Jake, she adds, "If it's any help, we scent no blood, human or otherwise. That means nobody's been hurt. Yet."

"Oh good," Jake said weakly. He didn't like the addition of 'yet'. He looked down at the solemn girl who was patting him kindly. "...I'm Jake?" His face shifted to outrage. "Hey! I know who you are! You're the cr-- uh, eccentric person who lives at Efferton manor!"

Wednesday gave him a look of mild surprise. "I am looking after it for my aunt, yes. I am pleased to meet you... Jake." She shifted her hand to his arm and tugged him gently toward the trees. "Pawprints, I think... are you any good at tracking things?"

"Only when I have shiny gadgets," Jake replied, not sure if he was comfortable with beeig touched by someone who appeared to be staying at the manor voluntarily. That just wasn't human. And now he wished he hadn't left shinytellinggadget at home.

She probably wasn't human.

She could be anything.

Jake considered this statement, and nodded to himself. Yes. Anything.

Duce waits a few moments to let the two get farther away, and makes a show of tracking something. Winding her way through the bush, she circles around until she's sure Wednesday has Jake's full attention elsewhere.

Then, she heads straight for Oz, only to come face to face with a gardener. Since the gardener seems to be ignoring the naked boy in the bush, Duce optimistically nods to him and goes to help her friend.

Spotting a flash of pale skin, she stops, "Hst! Oz - catch." and gently lobs the clothing over the bush protecting his modesty.

He may not thank her. She'd grabbed whatever was handy, and.. the results weren't pretty.

"Werewolves in human society are solitary creatures," Wednesday told Jake, stepping directly on a paw print that was pointed at right angles from their own path. "Which doesn't fit in with normal wolf-like behavior at all. I've never asked one about socializing within regular wolf-society or whether they have a society of their own, however. I wonder if I could put together a biology paper on it."

Oz wasn't sure exactly what was going on for a couple seconds, until a set of very mismatched slothing sailed over the bush and landed next to him.

He looked up at Medusea for a moment, then dressed quickly. Green camaflauge pants and a orange striped shirt did not flatter each other. but it was clothes.

He hesitated then, unsure what to expect now.

Maybe she was a werewolf? No, didn't sound like it. Jake pondered, only just avoiding getting a brained by a branch. "You're in biology too?" He turned his head to look at her. "Do you find it challenging?" His tone of voice suggested that he didn't.

Duce just about bounces with impatience, "C'mon, we need to get you out of here. There were two werewolves out last night and Rover's been sent to investigate. It won't look good, you being found outside and naked. If we can get you to the Manor, it'll get you away from some damn awkward questions. Dude, you so seriously need to get that sleepwalking thing checked out, and we mean now."

Dozens of little forked tongues flick the air again, and Duce seems to relax, sagging in on herself a little, "Luckily.. noone got hurt last night. Let's get you the hell out of here."

"No." Wednesday was wearing a long skirt, but didn't seem to be letting it impede her very much, pulling it out of the way with the ease of long practice. "I am looking forward to the trip to the body farm, however. Decomposition tells you so much about a corpse."

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Basement: Sometime Sunday morning.

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