All of a sudden the male cocked his head to the side, and the surprised expression turned into a confused one. "Puppy?" He asked, staring at the furry ears that had sprouted from her black hair.
Her big eyes widened further and she let out a quiet scream of shock. "You know my name?" Her timid voice came out as a little dog-like and her hands immediately covered her mouth.
The man's eyes squinted a little and one of his big hands came up onto Poppy's head and caught one of the furry ears in between his fingers. "Puppy?" Repeated as if still in a daze.
Her hands fell from her face when she asked. "Puppy puppy or me Poppy- ouch!" Her question became a sound of pain when the man pinched one of her sensitive brown furry ears.
He dropped his hand. "You possess some kind of Puppy inner beast?" He asked, his lips curling into a lopsided sardonic grin. "How useless." Was what he said before freeing the fingers holding onto her and letting her fall to the ground.
"Ouch!" She groaned when her body slammed on the ground painfully.
She felt a foot stepping lightly on her fingers before releasing another, "ouch!" But the foot quickly halted, reducing its pressure on her fingers.
She looked up at the man with angelic features and vanilla cake with strawberry fruit scent. He was still wearing the smile that should've looked innocent but was somehow devilish on his face. "Oops," he said before jumping past her fingers and pulling the shades from his leather jacket pocket and putting it on.
Her inner beast slammed against her mind and she released a whimper and realized her inner beast wanted a whiff of that delicious smell once more. She watched the divine frame become a silhouette as he boarded the Shuttle.
"Poppy!" A voice cut through her trance and she turned to see her best friend running towards her with a concerned look on her face.
"Margaret!" Poppy whined. "Poppy!" Margaret responded, kneeling down in front of her and taking her finger that had turned beet red from being lightly stepped on.
"Are you okay?!" Margaret screamed, never minding the people staring at her as if she'd run mad.
Poppy nodded. "I'm fine, Maggie."
Margaret shook her head. "You're not. I saw what that dickhead did to you, why did you bump into him?"
"I didn't mean to, it was an accident."
Margaret had an exasperated look on her face. "That's Ruen Monroe aka Monster. He's a 100 level student like us, and he's a total devil."
With Margaret's help Poppy got up from the ground. "Why haven't I heard of him before? Are we in the same department?" Poppy dusted herself up, walking towards the Shuttle with Margaret.
"Uh-huh, he's in our department. It's just that he's never in school and you're like the faculty's sweetheart, nobody wants to gossip bad news with you, and his bad news."
Bad news? With that angelic face and the most heavenly of scents? Those thoughts suddenly popped into Poppy's mind when she heard the word 'bad news'.
"I can't believe he's actually attending the school trip." Margaret tsked. "Just stay away from him, Poppy, he's very powerful and has hurt a lot of people before."
There was no reply from Poppy.
•••
"This native beast is called the Daredevil." A lecturer said through the MAX system, his frame appeared as a male humanoid figure made from light in the middle of the Shuttle with the students.
All the students gasped dramatically while looking out their window while staring at a three horned red four legged beast running through the wilted pastures outside the Rogue house.
Ruen simply rolled his eyes while unbuttoning the buttons of his shirt underneath his leather jacket. He'd been outside the Rogue houses before, he'd seen different monsters that the Muppet babies around him would die fear stricken by just looking at them.
He aimed to simply relax and breeze by the sonic travel when he heard, "Mr. Monroe," a quiet voice called out.
A female attendant stood with a tray with several apple juices on it. "Complimentary apple juice?" She asked with a delicate smile.
Under his meticulous stare he noticed the attendant squirm a bit. He could see the hair rise on her skin and hear her heart racing. "Thank you." Was all he said before taking the cup of apple juice on top of the tray and removing his gaze on her.
The clicking of the attendant's heels signified she'd left. Ruen sipped from the apple juice before looking down at it. His eyebrows knitted and eyes carefully analyzing the drink when a ghastly sigh escaped the drink, a white shadow cast on the drink forming a skeletal head along with a bone-chilling laugh coming from the projection of the skeletal head appearing on the apple juice only to be heard by him.
A tired expression crossed Ruen's face for a brief second. Someone was trying to poison him. "They never tire." He muttered before quietly dropping the cup in the cup holder and walking towards the cargo hold where he instantly knew the attendant would be.
A lady was trying to escape the Shuttle by entering an emergency Sub-Shuttle (mini shuttle for emergency) stopped her activity when she saw a brown skinned man staring at her.
"You tried to kill me?" Even though Ruen phrased it as a question it most definitely wasn't one.
"Abomination." The attendant sneered, a shrill voice emanating from a gentle one.
"Another subordinate?" He nodded at his question. "Boy, Whispers sure does work fast. You're here to kill me, not collect this?" He raised his hand and showed off the black ring on his finger.
"That belongs to Lord Whispers," the attendant pointed at the ring, her face turning fleshless, and fleshless by the second, leaving only little skin, bones, empty eyeballs with cockroaches running from one hole in her face to her empty sockets. She also began to expand and grow taller with deep markings drawn all over her face.
This was the minor divinity (deity) called Masterban, an old deity that was carved from the ancient tomb of an Egyptian advisor to the King called Imhotep. This deity was known for being undying and untiring, and it was another deity sworn under the all-seeing-eyes Whispers.
"Masterban?" Ruen arched an eyebrow. "I heard you were undying…." The deity Masterban growled, its jaw descending down in a way humanly impossible, more cockroaches running around its face. "So I'm I." Ruen added.
The figure with bloody fingers walked out of the cargo hold and took a seat. The figure took another sip of apple juice and released a fulfilled sigh.
A girl walked into the cargo hold after the figure. And a loud scream was heard next.
The figure allowed a tired smirk on his face. "Undying my foot." Ruen whispered.