Susie quietly stepped through the corridors of the old school, rooms filled with quiet chatter as old students reminisced about their good old bad days. She reached the end of the main corridor, standing in front of the closet. While Berdly and Noelle made their way the diner, she took some time to explore the familiar halls, a bitter sense of nostalgia overwhelming her at the sight of the rusted doors. She could barely wrap her hands around the handle anymore, paint flaking off and sticking to her skin.
Nothing awaited her beyond these doors. Only echoes of a dream that had long ended.
Her shoulders slumped, and she turned around to leave, but ended up bumping into a figure half her hight, standing right behind her.
Susie dusted herself off, looking for any bits of goth that had stuck to her clothes. "Ah, crap— Sorry Catti, didn't, uh, see you there."
The youngest Cattenheimer glared at her with her usual warmth, dressed in a glamorous fusion of clasical gothic darkness and brightly colored disco accessories, paired with a neon green boa around her neck. "My mistake. Didn't look." She clearly didn't expect to see Susie idly roaming the school, herself experiencing very little nostalgia for her time here.
The scarf began to move, untangling itself from her neck as a baseball cap appeared from behind her, followed by a head. "Susie! Gal-ette! How do you like our Style!"
She blinked, quickly realizing the fur on Jockington's body was simply glued on. "I dig it," she shrugged, "needs more spikes though. Maybe like... stick them on your back, or something."
Catti opened her mouth to speak, but paused, her eyes gauging just how many leather bracelets she'd need to gut to completely cover Jockington.
Susie scratched her cheek, "Wait, did you get that that designer gig you talked about? In, uhh..."
Catti's eyes narrowed. She explicitly remembered telling Noelle about her new job, and while she appreciated the news being spread by word of mouth, she still expected the deer to approach her first. "Yes. They needed a new perspective. The light and the dark... combined. Catwalk presentation is next month."
"Don't Underestimate My Companion!" the voice around her neck jolted out. "She sniffs out the Best career Opportunities. She brings. The Nose. I bring. The Noose."
"That's... cooooool." Susie tried to look as normal as possible, a bead of sweat running down her neck. To this day, she couldn't tell when Jockington was joking and when he wasn't. At least Catti convinced him to get rid of that beard. Seeing the awkwardness of the situation, Catti turned around and began to head outside, looking to the side slightly to speak. "I will get Noelle. And you. Tickets."
Susie stood there in complete silence for several moments, trying to process how Jockington managed to slither around Catti's neck in sync with her footsteps, but the notification she got on her phone managed to snap her out of it. Noelle sent her a picture of their order, with a healthy portion of fries smushed underneath the top bun of one of the burgers. Though it was nothing more but a still image, she could tell that Berdly was making a bad impression of her in the background, pulling his elbows out to mimick her wide shoulders. Mouth watering from the fryburger, and eager to kick some blue feathered ass, Susie ran Catti and Jockington, dodging the small crowd of students in front of her as she jumped out of the school door.
