#granted this is from 5 years ago...hopefully ive improved since then lol

[freaky-flawless]

This is random as hell, but I've had the urge to share this bit of writing I did back in...2020? Maybe?

It was back right when I started getting really into MH, I think the same year I started my collection. It's just a random snippet from a very vague fic idea I had. It was meant to be Toradeen, but it was back when I was on the fence about who I actually shipped Clawdeen with. And then after writing it I realized I that I really liked how I wrote Clawdeen and Cleo's dynamic.

I can't give much context since I didn't have a very fleshed out idea of what was going on. Basically Clawdeen is torn up inside after realizing she has a crush on Toralei, and this is her confessing it to Cleo.

In the bathroom, Clawdeen ran to one of the sinks and splashed some cold water on her face, a true testament of the power of her waterproof mascara. The water did little to quell the burning in her cheeks, but it helped clear her mind a little.

Maybe running out of the Creepateria like that hadn’t been such a good idea…In fact, maybe it made her look even more suspicious. She sighed softly, though it came out sounding more like a growl. She glared at herself in the mirror, silently reprimanding herself.

Get a hold of yourself ghoul! She demanded, her golden eyes fierce and threatening. Whatever this is…crush or no crush, do not let her get to you! Get her out of your mind!

She almost laughed out loud at herself. No matter how much she’d tried all through the weekend, Toralei had remained at the forefront of her thoughts. Through dinner with her family, through shopping at the Maul with her sister, through nightly phone-chats with the other ghouls. It was a miracle that she’d been able to keep it to herself for as long as she had. At any mention or sight of that snarky feline an intense pressure would build in her chest and threaten to burst from her mouth. The only way she figured to manage it for the time being was to keep her mouth shut and avoid the topic of Toralei, as well as the ghoul herself, at all costs. Which proved to be more difficult in practice than in theory.

She started suddenly at the sound of the bathroom door opening. She quickly turned the faucet in front of her on and ran her hands in the stream, to make it seem as though she’d just finished actually using the bathroom.

“Clawdeen?” Cleo’s shrill voice rang out much louder than it needed to. The bejeweled mummy walked into view, and upon seeing her friend, placed her hands on her hips with a scowl on her face, silently demanding the wolf explain herself. Clawdeen caught her eye and shrugged as she shut the water off and made her way to the paper towel dispenser.

“What? Can’t a ghoul use the bathroom in peace?”

Cleo scoffed, and rolled her eyes. “Oh, please Clawdeen. I don’t need any of my father’s idols to see that your hiding something.”

Clawdeen avoided her friend’s icy glare. “Hiding something?” she asked, her voice notably higher pitched than normal. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Her arms dropping to her sides, Cleo’s expression changed from one of suspicion to one of sympathy. She sighed, very obviously not used to expressing her softer side.

“Deenie,” she began, and Clawdeen’s shoulders stiffened at the sound of her nickname, something Cleo rarely called her. She tensed even more upon Cleo. gently placing her hands on her arms in a soothing gesture.

“C’mon,” She continued. “You’ve been acting strange for days now. It’s not like you to be so quiet and secretive.”

Clawdeen said nothing, her ears drooping slightly. It wasn’t like Cleo to be so…considerate of others. She must have done a pretty terrible job pretending to be fine if even Cleo was concerned. She hesitated but managed to turn and face her friend. Cleo De Nile may have been a lot of things, snobby, self-centered and a million other less than savory traits. Above all though, she was a drop-dead loyal friend.  She may have been known to spread rumors for her own personal gains, but still  kept secrets better than anyone Clawdeen knew.

“Alright, ya got me,” she relented in a low tone. “Something has been bugging me. But um…” She paused as the temperature in the bathroom dropped. “…it’s not safe to talk about in here.”

“Spectra!” Cleo shouted angrily. “Is no place sacred?”

The ghostly ghoul’s head emerged through one of the stall doors. “Sorry,” her echoey voice rang out. “The way Clawdeen ran out of lunch like that for sure seemed like it would make a juicy stor-“ She cut herself off upon receiving deathly glares from the other two. “Never mind. I’ll just leave…” With that she ducked back into the stall, and presumably through the wall outside the bathroom.

Clawdeen sighed, her whole-body sagging. This day had already been deathly exhausting. She couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so she could go home and sulk to herself, and maybe even come up with some sort of solution. However, in the present…

Cleo grabbed one of her wrists. “Come,” she beckoned softly. “We can talk in the Catacombs. Spectra won’t float a single finger down there since Operetta convinced her there was a ghost devouring artifact down there.” She paused to let out a high-pitched laugh. “Imagine that! Oh, if only…” She glanced at Clawdeen and cleared her throat loudly once seeing the less than humored expression on her face. “As I was saying…”

“Where are the other ghouls?” Clawdeen asked, suddenly becoming aware of their lack of presence with slight surprise. Normally when one of them ran to hide in the bathroom, they’d all make a point to follow close behind in support.  Where were they?

“Hmm? Oh…” Cleo’s expression soured. “Back in the Creepetria. Just after you left, Toralei started up some petty trouble. The other’s stayed behind to keep her in line so to speak. Now stop dawdling! We obviously have some important business to attend to.”

With that the two left the bathroom together, a growing feeling of dread solidifying in Clawdeen’s stomach.

“So…” Cleo dusted off a dusty pillar before perching herself upon it. “Let’s talk.  What’s been on your mind?”

Clawdeen stood a few feet away kicking at bits of rubble that had crumbled from one of the old statues. She raised her head suddenly, having not been paying attention. “Huh?”

“What’s been bothering you,” Cleo repeated. “We’ve already climbed all the way down here, there’s no backing out on telling me now.”

Wanna bet? Clawdeen thought ruefully, knowing full well that she could out-run Cleo any day, in any type of shoe-wear. She contemplated it a bit, but ultimately dropped the idea as she gazed at Cleo’s patient expression in the near complete darkness. She stood perfectly still for a few moments, then approached the pillar to sit on it beside her friend. The two sat in silence for a few moments.

“Clawdeen,” Cleo said softly. “I sat in a tomb for thousands of years. I can wait all day…”

“No, I know, I’m not…” She growled in frustration. “I just don’t know how to say it! I don’t want you to think of me differently, or like I…betrayed you in some way…”

Cleo perked up. “Clawdeen whatever it is I’m sure it’s not that serious. And even if it is, I doubt I’ll feel betrayed.” There was a humored lilt to her tone, which made Clawdeen feel just a bit better.

I better just spit it out she thought begrudgingly. Get it over with already…I can’t keep this to myself much longer anyway. She took a deep breath, even deeper than she’d take when she was preparing for a long howl.

“Okay…You know how me and Toralei got paired up to work on that project for Mr. Rotter’s class?”

“Ugh, how could I forget?” Cleo sneered. “I felt so bad, I was worrying about you all weekend.” She gasped. “Did she do something to you? I swear to Ra, if she so much as-!”

“No.” Clawdeen interjected. “She did nothing at all. That was the weirdest part.  We met up at the Coffin-Bean since neither of us wanted to work on it at either of our homes and…”

She trailed off, not really sure how to proceed. Cleo narrowed her eyes. “And…?”

“…And it was actually kinda…fun?”

Silence engulfed them once more, though this time blanketed in shock. Even in the darkness Clawdeen could see Cleo’s mouth hung open in surprise. Seemingly coming down from her initial shock she simply uttered, “Well that’s…good…Right?”

Clawdeen was quiet for a moment. Then she buried her head in her hands in utter anguish. She groaned loudly.  “It was good! It was too good…We shopped together, and played some dumb arcade games…We even pranked these guys that kept hitting on us…Cleo I…”

She raised her head and stared into Cleo’s eyes with the intensity of the sun.  Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking of her.”

Cleo stared back, and Clawdeen could see the gears turning in her mind. Slowly, she brought her hands up to her mouth, her eyes growing wide with shock with the realization of what her friend was trying to say.

“Clawdeen,” she said in a low voice. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Clawdeen hesitated. Then she nodded curtly, averting her eyes to the ground. “I…think so.”

Cleo jumped up, her hands covering her face as she began to pace frantically.

“Clawdeeeen! Clawdeeen,” she wailed despairingly. “Are you saying you might have a crush on her? Toralei Stripe, the ghoul who has sabotaged the fear squad on multiple occasions?”

Clawdeen nodded apprehensively.

“The ghoul who’s tried to get you expelled several times? The ghoul who spread a rumor that you had carnivorous fleas so she could strengthen her chances of becoming Scream Queen?”

“Cleo that was you.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Cleo collapsed against the side of the pillar and began to fan her face dramatically with her hand. “How could this happen? How could you possibly have any feelings for her? Other than raging hatred?”

“I don’t know!” Clawdeen dropped her head into her lap, her entire form sagging. “I don’t know…”

Tension sat thick in the must atmosphere of the catacombs. Clawdeen breathed heavily into her hands, not allowing the tears to flow. She should’ve kept her big mouth shut. She could only imagine how Cleo felt about her now. And she was right. From the start of high school, Toralei had been their biggest enemy, trying to get them in trouble, or pranking them, spreading rumors, blackmailing. Yes, she absolutely should hate that scheming feline’s guts and yet…

An image of Toralei’s playful smirk flashed in her mind, making her feel ill.

With her head still pressed to her hands in her lap, she could feel Cleo draw close and sit back down beside her. She sighed and placed a hand on the distressed wolf’s back.

“I’m sorry for freaking out.  It’s just…” She began to fiddle with the bandages on her arms.  “I can’t wrap my head around any of this!”

Clawdeen scoffed and laughed inwardly, the sound muffled by her hands. “Yeah, welcome to the club.”

“Right…no one feels worse about this than you.” Cleo sat back, closing her eyes in thought. “Well…it is just a crush. Crushes don’t mean all that much really. Though the not being able to stop thinking about her is a bit concerning…”

Clawdeen raised her head at this, her face burning severely. Even the cold musty air of the Catacombs couldn’t cool her cheeks. Thankfully it was dark enough that Cleo couldn’t see. Though she seemed too consumed by her own thoughts to notice.

The bedazzled mummy clapped suddenly, the sound echoing through the barren undergrounds and causing Clawdeen to jump. She smiled warmly at her friend, having seemingly come to some sort of conclusion.

“You know, it’s really no matter,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Crushes always start off strong in the beginning and tend to taper off as time goes by. Besides! As soon as you see her acting like her regular conniving self, I’m sure your feelings for her will go away in no time!” She sighed, satisfied. Then turned to the wolf, her face serious once more. “Until then, I advise you to avoid her as much as you can.”

Clawdeen gazed up at her and nodded frantically. That made sense. It all made sense. She may have had a nice time with the werecat that one time, but Toralei still wasn’t a nice ghoul. Surely this attraction, or whatever it was would fade as soon as she pulled her next prank or hurled her next venomous insult at one of the werewolf’s friends.

Cleo, standing now, began to tap her chin, thoughtfully. “Now that I think about it, I wonder how Toralei feels. What are the odds she likes you right back?”

Clawdeen’s face blanched and she swayed slightly where she sat. That…hadn’t occurred to her. No, that would be insane. Toralei was a flirt, but only with the drop-dead gorgeous dudes around the school, and still then typically only when they were new kids that had no knowledge of her track-record. Besides, even if her feelings were somehow reciprocated it didn’t matter. With their history and their reputations, it couldn’t work…

“Well I’m just saying,” Cleo stated, disrupting Clawdeen’s distressed reverie. “I mean, there had to some reason she was so nice to you. Otherwise-“

“It doesn’t matter,” Clawdeen growled, standing rigidly. “It’s so not happening. Like you said, this crush will fade in no time.”  Her face darkened, the muscles behind tight. “And if it doesn’t, I’ll find a way to make it.”

With that she turned on her heel and made her way back to the dilapidated stone staircase that lead back up to the school.  She could hear Cleo’s heels clacking swiftly behind her, trying to catch up. Guilt began to settle in her stomach, and she turned just as Cleo caught up to her.

“Look Cleo I’m…Thank you. For this. It’s been a rough few days, but you’ve made me feel loads better about it all…Like maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing.” She gave her friend a warm toothy smile. 

The mummy returned it, then waved her jeweled hand dismissively. “Oh, it’s absolutely nothing. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn’t there for you? But just to be sure…” She dropped her voice. “You…don’t want me to tell the other ghouls about this, correct?”

“No,” Clawdeen intoned. She’d forgotten all about the others. “If things go well, they have no reason to know in the first place. And you know how much of a gossip Lala is, everyone in school would know instantly. So, let’s just…keep quiet about it for now.”

Cleo nodded in agreement. “Right- it’s for the best.”