By some miracle, dinner had gone pretty smoothly in the days after the opening ceremony. Helen sat at the end of the Vitus' table, happily munching on a roll as she watched the first few students leave to get an early start on homework or sleep or choice seating in the common areas of the dorms. She waved goodbye to the boy who'd been sitting beside her as he left and she finished off a glass of Root Beer.

It didn't take long for Helen to get bored. She picked a little at what remained of a rotisserie chicken, yawned, stretched, sat up on her knees and looked around for Clio and/or Lee. When she spotted neither, she skewed up he mouth and sat back down, not really feeling like climbing up to the third floor dormitories just yet. She sighed, rested her forehead against the edge of the table, and studied her feet with forced interest.

Finn wasn't sure why he was in the dining hall. Eating was useless to him, and it wasn't like he enjoyed watching people eat, either. 'I'm here for girls,' a part of him supplied. 'I'm babe-watching.' The zombie nodded, accepting that answer, and scanned his eyes across the large room, his Babe-dar beeping away inside his mind. As his eyes passed by the staff table, the beeping seemed to stop. Finn frowned. That had never happened before. Peering at the table, he saw his Hulk of a gym teacher, Coach Helga, sitting there. 'Okay, understandable,' he agreed, trying to burn her image from his mind.

Shaking that moment off, he continued his sweep. As his eyes landed on someone with long, blonde dreadlocks, the beeping reached an alarming rate. 'Bingo,' He grinned and began his trek across the room to the girl. Her head was down, and her body language said she was either bored or sad, or both. 'I can fix that,' he decided, walking up behind her quietly. He didn't need to be quiet, since there was no way she'd hear him in the crowded hall, but he liked the practice anyway. He was so sick of his loud, shambling steps.

Finn swept her dreads to one side and caressed her now-revealed neck lightly before sitting down on the side he'd put her hair to, partially hiding himself from her view. He hoped she would look to the side that he'd touched when she looked up. Despite how childish of a game this was, Finn enjoyed it; the smile on his face proving his happiness.

Helen was just considering what color polish would look nice on her feet when someone touched the side of her neck. She jumped and looked up in that direction wide-eyed, then let her mouth draw into a lopsided grin. Honestly, she wasn't all that creeped out; she was a very touchy person, and she knew exactly who it was anyway.
Or so she thought.

As such, though, she knew the joke, the dude was behind her, haha. "Nice, Lee, real cute, funny guy," she said loud enough for the presence behind her to hear. Her dear little redhead friend loved to tease her, so this was really sort of typical. She closed her eyes and lounged back onto the other person, quite comfy, for a little while.

Then, she noticed that this did not quite feel like a 'Lee.' She opened her eyes into a confused expression, and reached a hand back behind her to feel the face. Her lips pursed as she realized...
"Er...this isn't 'Lee,' is it?"

The zombie smiled in surprise as the girl leaned into him. She smelled pleasantly like a forest, and Finn didn't mind her laying on him in the slightest. This had turned out better than he had expected, even if she did think he was the dumb boy from his history class. His eyes widened slightly when her hand went to his face, laughing slightly.

"Not...as far...as I know," he replied, still chuckling, as he brought his own hand to the girl's face, giving it the same treatment. "You aren't...anyone...I...know, are...you?" Finn asked, "I'm sure...I'd...recognize...this...pretty face,"

In spite of the fact that she was laying on what she assumed was a complete stranger, and he was touching her face, Helen burst into a fit of giggles. Soon, though, she seemed to at least acknowledge that she should feel uncomfortable. Helen abruptly sat up and spun around to look at the boy.

She sat sideways on the bench as though it were a pony, and rested one elbow on the table and one cheek on the knuckles of that hand. As she scanned over the boy, a light smile never left her face. He was...tall, undead-ish...and pretty goddamned good-looking. Oh! And also very familiar. Finally, her eyes lit up with recognition. "OH! Erm...history class! Right?" She sighed and bit her lip. "Who are you again?"

A smirk rose on his lips at the question, the answer already on the tip of his tongue. "Anyone...you want...me to be," he told her, flicking his hair from his eyes and grinning. He knew it was the oldest one in the book, but surprisingly few people asked him 'Who are you?' anymore, so he didn't get to use it much.

He silently thanked his Babe-dar for bringing him to this girl, for she truly fit the category. The dreadlocked girl was pretty in an unconventional way, and wasn't caked with make-up until you couldn't see her face, like most of the girls Finn was with before he died. Just thinking about them made him shudder. Why he dated girls like that would forever be a mystery to him, apart from them being easy lays. He remembered that being a major factor.

"Who are...you?" he countered, smirking as he mirrored her leaning position on the table.

Helen laughed openly at the response. Lame, yet always entertaining. One would think that after being courted by someone who spoke fluent pickupese, she would have built up a tolerance. She had not.

At his question, she offered a lopsided sort of grin. "Well...sorry to say I'm not going to tagback with that godawful line, soooo you'll just have to take my name, kay? Oh, and, ah, it's 'Helen,' by the way."

Helen was just briefly distracted when a few more members of her house sitting nearby got up and left. She waved them goodbye, then looked perkily back at her company. "Alright then, let's be fair now." She double-tapped the boy's knee quickly with her free hand, which promptly retreated back to her side. "C'mon, name," she demanded in the most non-demanding of ways.

Finn rolled his eyes, but found himself smiling. "Alright...Helen" he told her, "I'll tell...you...my name...on one...condition," 'That you'll be screaming it later,' his mind supplied, making him suppress a snort. He hadn't even been thinking that, in truth. "You...tell me...where you...learned to smile...like...an angel," He knew it was lame, but it was the best he could do without totally creeping the girl out. And besides; some girls went for the cheese. He didn't know yet how Helen would react, since the only thing he knew about her was that she was friends with the dog-like boy from History, although that in itself spoke volumes.

Helen's trademark smile was quite knocked off her face as she was completely taken aback. It returned quick enough, mostly because she felt naked and exposed without it, but it was a little nervous. Helen instantly grew squirmy out of what must have been delight. "OH! Well...erm, ah-ha-ha," she mumbled and played with a dread. She then muttered something very quietly to herself, just audible, which may very well have been, 'Oh wow [i]Lee]/i] sure didn't use that one...'.

Flustered, Helen looked around for something to change the subject. She spotted a juice box, and reached a little ways past Finn for it. When she fell short of it by about a foot, she scowled. "Er...would you please hand me that?" The pointed to the last little Juicy Fruit carton, and looked expectantly at Finn through wide baby blue eyes.

The zombie boy smirked at how flustered Helen got, feeling good about himself. Since that disastrous day in the library, he'd been a little insecure about himself, and it was good to have a girl react this way with him once more. Finn noticed how she avoided answering his flirty question, but didn't comment on it, and instead just continued to smile at her fidgeting.

He turned his head to look for what the blonde was pointing at, and saw the offending juice box. Letting out a surprised laugh, Finn reached out a pale arm for it and looked at the writing on it. "Been a...while...since I...could...drink one...of these," he reminisced, smiling sadly as he recalled. "I...wonder if...they've...changed...the flavour...in the last...few years," As he held the small box of juice out to Helen, he made sure to brush her fingers when she took it.

"I...suppose I...have nothing to...lose if...I tell...you my name," the boy began, sighing theatrically, "Allow me...to introduce...myself. Finn Baker...at...your service,"

Helen looked legitimately sad when Finn mentioned the losses associated with death. At the very least, she now wore a pitying expression. "Nah, they still taste nice and sweetly artificial," she offered with a shrug. "Ah! Gracias.!" The pitying expression ran off the moment it spotted the juice box. It is a well-known truth that sad emotions are no match for strawberry-kiwi.

She happily stabbed the little foil spot with the sharp end of the attached straw. The latter was promptly abandoned as Helen drank straight from the carton. After some stretching, she shifted her legs to 'pretzel-style' on the bench.

She was half-done with the juice by the time the zombie told her his name. "A pleasure to meet you, sir." By god, it was as though Lee had grown half a foot and a brain, then died. Of course, with that mindset, the boy immediately became a creature whose hair was to be ruffled, or Nerf darts shot at. Helen zoned out a little and giggled at her own thoughts.

Finn frowned at her laughter. "What?" he asked, "Is there...something...on my...face?" He brought a big hand up to pat at his hair and face, acting upset. He doubted there was anything wrong with it, other than his hair being a bit rustled, but it was one way to know what Helen had been laughing at. He watched as the girl chugged back the juice, eyeing it with just a smidgen of envy. If there was one thing he missed about living, it was food.

Helen simply continued with her quiet giggling at Finn's antics. "Haha oh, no, you're fine. You just remind me of my ex a bit, that's all." She presented this factoid in the most chipper of ways, with her cheery little grin glued to her face. She promptly finished off the juicebox, crumpling it reflexively once it was empty, and setting it aside by what had been her dinnerplate.

The zombie boy raised an eyebrow, a small smirk gracing his lips. Who spoke about an ex like that, all smiles and sunshine? 'You sure know how to pick 'em, Finn,' he told himself, shaking his head slightly.

"Do...I?" he asked nonchalantly, leaning on his hand once more. His trademark, sleazy smirk was on again as he watched the dreadlocked girl put the empty box next to her plate, after crumpling it up into a ball. He remembered when he and his friends would play 'Garbage Can Basketball' when they were younger with the same types of things as balls for it.

"Is he...that...Lee guy...you thought...I was?" he asked, curious if Helen had dated the idiot.

Helen nodded vigorously. "Haha yeah. We're still pretty close, it's nice. Erm...do you know Lee? You should, if not by name then, um...oh! He's in Mr. Dowding's history with us! Yeah...."

For a nymph, Helen's skills with the opposite gender were severely lacking. Of course, her tendencies to reminisce aloud about her glory days with a certain ginger did nothing to help this.

But, she did remain cheery through the whole thing, and was now smiling expectantly at Finn, awaiting his verdict on the matter.

Finn nodded, knowing who she was talking about. "The...ginger boy?" he asked, then paused. There were a surprising number of ginger kids in their history class, now that he thought about it. "The loud...one?" he clarified, then thought of the one equally loud girl. He paused, trying to think of something he could say to specify clearly.

"The...one who...likes...Sparrow?" was his last try. He had guessed pretty early on in his History class that Lee liked Sparrow. To him, it was obvious, since he knew all about flirting and attraction, and since he was younger he could tell when a girl liked a boy or vice versa.

"Yeah, prolly," Helen mumbled when Finn brought up Lee's interest in Sparrow. She had distracted herself with a fingernail. She grew attentive soon enough, though. "OH! I mean...well, he likes most girls, so probability says he is the loud ginger that likes Sparrow." She nodded as she spoke.

Then, she caught the distinct scent of potential chitter-chatter gossip. She lowered her voice and leaned in so only Finn could hear her. "Oooh, do you think she likes him back? Eee~! How fun~!"

Finn snorted a laugh at her enthusiasm, but leaned in conspiratorially as well. "I...dunno," he replied, playing along, "It...sure seemed...like it...in class. I...sit near...Sparrow," He smiled at Helen, before putting a finger up to his lips, the accepted action for 'Shh'. "Don't...tell...anyone I...said so...though...okay? This...is between...you...and me,"

The zombie smiled once more, almost a true smile, as he leaned back. "News...o' the...hour," he told the girl, grabbing an apple to toss around. He balanced it on his finger for a moment before throwing it in the air a few feet and catching it again.

Helen giggled yet again, this time into her palm. She did enjoy the prospect of Lee getting tied down again. Hopefully, he'd get a little less unruly. She mirrored Finn's 'shh' gesture, before drawing back into a more slouchy position. She watched the movement of the apple with interest.

Then, just over Finn's shoulder, something drew that interest away just as quick. Helen gasped delightedly. "Clio!"

Indeed, Helen's dearest, closest friend stood just a few feet behind the zombie boy. But from behind, she didn't recognize who it was Helen was carrying on with. She waved to her friend with a light little smile on her usually still-as-glassy-water face. "Hello, Helen," she greeted pleasantly enough, in her normal somewhat-raspy tones. "Who's this?" she wondered aloud, looking with interest at the back of the boy's head. She was always very interested in what her friend was doing with boys. And what boys intended to do with her friend. And what she would be obligated to do if those intentions encompassed anything uncouth.

Finn caught the apple once more and paused at the voice. He knew it from somewhere, but he couldn't place a finger on it. Curiosity finally got the better of him and made him turn around. As soon as he caught sight of the girl's face, he wished he hadn't.

"Uh...hey...you..." he greeted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't occupied with an apple. The girl that he punched in the library stood before him, in all her glory. "How's your...stomach?" he asked, smiling sheepishly. From what he'd gathered in the library, she wasn't too fond of him, although, granted, it was for good reason. He looked down, and seeing the apple in his hand, held it out to her.

"Apple?"

Clio's mindset instantly changed from, 'better-give-this-fella-a-little-talkin'-to', to 'get-the-scissors' in about 0.3 seconds. While her blood boiled, she maintained an incredibly convincing false smile for Helen's benefit. "Fine, thanks," she said coolly, taking the apple with equal poise. This was immediately handed off to Helen. "Oh Helen! Otto's looking for you, I saw him on the way down, so I said I'd send you up, kay?"

This may or may not have been a total lie, but she at least waited for Helen to leave before shifting a much colder gaze back to Finn.

Helen had been ready to give Clio a concerned questioning regarding her tummy when she learned that Otto was supposedly looking for her. "Oh! Kay, then~ Bye, Finn!!" Helen ruffled the zombie-boy's hair as she dashed past him and out of the Dining Hall.

Finn's eyes turned pleading as Helen went to leave, begging her not to go without actually saying so. But alas, all she did was ruffle his hair as she left. "Bye," he murmured at her retreating back. The zombie boy realized that this was the most reluctant he'd been to be alone with a girl in years. With evident hesitation, he brought his gaze up to the angry girl.

"Hi," he started, trying to ignore the way she was glaring at him."I...didn't get...to introduce...myself...before," He tried a charming smile, hoping to cool the girl's anger, "I'm Finn,"

At his little dialogue, Clio merely rolled her eyes. "Clio," she gave her name simply. "Listen, FINN, your little sweet talk ritual won't work here. It's about as stale as you are. Yeah, I know. Gavrouche, that guy you 'fought' or whatever, is in my house, and he said you were busy flirting when he walked by and 'you clumsily fell over'. That last bit was total bullshit, I know, but nevertheless." She knew the tendency of her classmate to make up half-truths and the like. Of course, she was smart enough to identify which half was the truth and which was the lie.

She gave a lengthy sigh, pushing her auburn bangs back and running her fingers back through her hair before continuing. "Long story short, if you try anything with my dear sweet little Helen, I'm going to castrate you with a paper shredder. Capiche?" She rested one hand on her tilted hip, and looked at Finn with raised eyebrows.

The zombie smiled. Clio. It suited her. Then she mentioned Beast Boy, the smile turned into a sneer. Gavrouche was his name apparently. It fit too: an ugly name for an ugly person. He was glad, however, that she didn't believe the part about him 'falling down'. He never would have been able to talk his way out of that one with Clio if she did believe it.

"Sounds...not so...fun," he admitted, laughing despite himself. "Any...way I...could avoid...that?" He copied her raised eyebrow, a smirk plastered to his lips.

Clio resumed her regular scowl. Had she had her hair up in pigtails today, this would appear much less threatening. Given, it didn't look as threatening as she would have liked to begin with, but hey, at least she looked serious. That was something, at least.

"You deaf, too? I just said," she grabbed Finn roughly by the chin to reassure that he was paying attention, "keep your creepy little self away from Helen." For the life of her, she could not explain why that little smirk was sooo irritating. It was though, and she now felt very tired. A little thirsty too. Coffee...that sounded nice. She didn't like coffee though...maybe tea would be nice....

The smirk stayed on his lips as he listened halfheartedly to the girl. Her hand felt warm on his skin, or at least, he assumed it did. Finn wished that he could know how soft her hand was, and wondered if his hands were soft too. He doubted it, since he hadn't even been near a bottle of lotion in years, and he wasn't sure if it would even work on his dead skin.

"And...why would I...need...darling Helen...when I...have you...right here?" he asked, catching her hand as she pulled it away. His thumb traced a pattern on her palm slowly as his eyes gazed up at her wistfully. "Clio..." he murmured, bringing her hand to his lips and brushing his lips against the knuckles.

Clio was quite caught off guard by the sweet-talk. She instinctively drew her hand away, only to have it caught by a much stronger Finhand. Her first thought was to, of course, slap the offender, but then she made the eternal mistake of eye-contact. Her black eyes widened and stared into Finn's wisty misty blues, as the girl's frustrated face turned to a look of placid puzzlement. She felt squirmy, but managed to find her voice when she became vaguely aware of his tracing her palm. "H-hey, what're you-" Her question, which was intended to sound harsh but came out more curious, was cut short as he dared kiss her hand.

The plethora of emotions swimming about in her gut were instantly interpreted as anger, and Clio took her free hand to the zombie's cheek in a good hard -- and possibly well-deserved -- SMACK. This, of course, was accompanied by a not-as-loud-as-it-could-have-been-but-still-pretty-loud almost-scream of "CREEP!" and a return to Clio's fuming state.

Finn laughed out loud, mirthfully. He should have been expecting it, really. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'You win some, you lose some,'. He realized that this was the second time Clio had hit him (on the face, no less). The first time he had deserved it, he admitted. But this time? No, he was just being friendly! That warranted no slap.

"It was...worth...a try," he told her, grinning mischievously as he leaned his elbows on the table behind him, lounging. "Guess...I'm gonna...have...to try...something...different with...you," Finn pondered, rubbing one hand against his stubbled chin in what, to most people, would look thoughtful, but to him was actually a loving caress of his beard. It was one of the main things from life that he was glad he'd been able to keep into his 'next life', so to speak.

Clio looked down at Finn, standoffish and infuriated. She clutched hand he had kissed as though he'd done no less than try to EAT it. A distasteful little sigh found its way past her lips. "Euh, keep telling yourself that."

But, of course, he wasn't quite finished talking. What he said next did nothing to rid Clio of her mostly unfounded fury. "FEH. Don't waste your time, you conceited little lech." Her lip curled the slightest bit into a tiny sneer as she narrowed her eyes at Finn.

Though, as aloof as she tried to seem, she was obviously nervous now. Of course, she ignored this just as well as she ignored the ruddy tinge that had seeped into her cheeks. Very.

Finn feigned hurt. "Darling...Clio," he started, "I'm...hurt that...you...would say...such a thing," The zombie sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head. "If we're...going...to make...this...relationship...work, we can't...say things...like...that about...each other, dearest,"

The smirk was back, in full force, as the undead boy waited for the girl to answer. She was constantly insulting him and hitting him, but damn did it ever turn him on. Finn had always loved when girls were feisty and rejected him. The prize in the end was always that much sweeter. The zombie didn't deny that he was a man-whore. In fact, he embraced it. It was as much a part of him now as his skin (though that may not have been the best comparison, what with it being to easy to strip off). And girls like Clio were exactly Finn's type.

Another scoff. "You are the most...," Clio searched for an appropriate word, "despicable creature I have ever met. You make Gavrouche seem like less of a creep by comparison, you really do. You just...AUGH." There were just no words. This insufferable creature was just so upsetting and bothersome and she really wanted to take that glass of water sitting there and pour it over his head. That wasn't a bad idea...that'd be childish though. She'd save that for later. In the end Clio settled with glaring at Finn with her mouth caught somewhere between a pout and a sneer, ultimately creating the most adorable of scowls.

In a second, Finn was on his feet, surprising himself at how fast he'd stood. His large form towered over Clio as he looked at her, blue eyes taking in her expression. 'She looks so cute like that,' he thought, smirking. He found one of his hands lifting to touch her face, but he averted it to her hair, picking up a lock and sliding it through his fingers. He leaned in, putting his lips to her ear and spoke.

"If I'm...that bad...why are you...still...here?" he asked despite himself, genuinely curious. He had half expected her to have stormed off by now, though he was glad she hadn't. That thought bugged him. Since when was he actually glad about being with a girl? And they were just talking! Well, he was talking; she was insulting him. But even so...he was having fun, which was new. And it freaked him out.

Oh god he was tall. She'd forgotten how tall he was. Nevertheless, she refused to be intimidated by it. She rose up to her own full height--she just qualified as female tall--and glared up at Finn with a come-at-me-bro expression. And then, he descended. He touched her hair, and Clio jumped as though burned. Her expression shifted from moody to wtf-are-you-doing, leaning away as Finn moved in.

When he spoke directly into her ear, Clio swallowed, nervous. She hopped back, eyes wide and frown returned. There was no answer for that. She had been there to tell him off, but now that that was done, there really was no reason to be. Except maybe to hit him again. That was sounding increasingly appealing...

"I...I 'unno...what're you still doing here, don't you have anything better to do?" Her eyes never narrowed, as before, but her eyebrows did furrow. She hastily tacked on, "And don't touch me. Again. Ever. Don't."

Finn hummed, tilting his head. He really didn't have anything better to do, now that he thought about it. There wasn't anyone he hung out with frequently, so that was off the list, and he wasn't about to go spend hours making origami. Just the thought of that made him shudder.

"There's...nothing I...could do...more...entertaining...than bugging...you, Clio," he told her, holding his hands up in surrender at her words. Then he pretended to think. "Apart from...talking to...Helen," Finn murmured, stroking his beard and looking off in the distance, "She...is one nice...girl," He knew that would get a rise out of the girl before him, considering how upset she'd been earlier about him being with the dreadlocked girl. Finn knew Clio was close to leaving, so he might as well let her leave thinking of him.

Clio's lip curled, and she turned to walk away. Then, he mentioned Helen. Was that really necessary? She wheeled back around and stood chest-to-chest with Finn. Or...chest-to-stomach. Goddamn he was tall; she had to crane her neck in order to glare up at his oh-so-bristly chin. "And what does that mean?" Clio hissed this question. While her arms lay relaxed at her sides, the fists at the ends clenched and unclenched.

A grin showed the girl exactly how threatened he felt by her. Finn was oh-so-tempted to pat her head, but he decided to not make her more made at him, at least because of him touching her. The zombie fully intended to bug Clio immensely until she finally decided to storm off.

"Oh, just...that Helen...is a sweet...darling...and I...wouldn't mind...getting...to know her...better," As Finn gazed down his nose at the girl, he braced himself for the smack he was expecting to receive for that. He couldn't help himself around Clio, it seemed. She just made bothering her so easy. 'And it helps that she's not bad on the eyes either,' he noted, smirking, 'Especially when she'd fired up.'

Oh, this bastard was asking for it. Seriously. She practically had to hold herself back from sending Finn a lovely punch to the nose. Or jaw. Whatever she could reach at this angle.

Then, her seething stopped. One arm snaked up, and she grabbed Finn by the collar, gently pulling him down to her level, face to face. She put on her most coy smile, and batted her lashes once or twice. And after a good ten seconds of imbecilic pretty-face-making, she drew back her free hand, and snapped it forward at Finn's nose.

She then stepped back, eyes nearly closed in a peaceful visage as she scoffed. She shook out the hand (her knuckles hurt a wee bit), before glancing back it Finn with thinned lips and nostrils. "Hmph," was all she offered before going to gather up the bag she had set down when she'd first walked into this whole mess.

The zombie had to admit, he wasn't ready for the punch after Clio put herself that close to him intentionally. With her that close, Finn almost had it in his mind to close the distance, but he shoved that to the back of his thoughts, wondering why in the world he had considered such a thing. For one, Clio obviously would have hit him harder than she had, and regardless of whether it hurt him or not, her hand would have been hurt. And for two, why did he even want to kiss her? The girl had been nothing but rude and spiteful towards him, but for some reason, the part of him that scoped out girls for nothing more than pleasure was out of whack. It didn't do a thing when he was with naiad, which shocked him more than anything. If he didn't wanna love and leave Clio, then what was he doing still talking to her?

Despite all this, he was. Despite all this, he didn't want to stop talking to her, but it looked like she was done talking to him. Not even registering the small line of blood coming from his nose, he stepped towards the girl and touched her arm.

"Wait," he started, then realized he didn't know what he was even going to say. He dropped his hand and just stared vacantly at Clio, at a loss for words for once in his life, and at his own hand, no less.