It had been another typical day for Stanton.

He'd woken up, made breakfast, gone to school, pretended to pay attention in class, and doing his best to avoid Neville and his thugs. The last part of that tended to be pretty hit or miss for him. Today was definitely a miss though, as he found himself running down down the alleyway to escape them.

"Get back here you little shrimp!"

"Get him!"

Well, for now he'd just keep running until he had decided for sure. As he turned around the corner, a figure suddenly leapt down in front of him. Stanton slid to a stop as a rather large… cat? Cat girl. Yeah, she was definitely some kind of feline creature. For a moment his mind raced with curiosity, but he began reaching for his cards.

Before he could, the creature walked past him. "Step aside kid," Basteta said just as Neville and the others rounded the corner. They stopped as soon as they saw her.

"What the hell is-?!"

Basteta suddenly let out a loud roar, cutting them off. The three yelled in fear, turning and speeding off as fast as their feet could carry them. Basteta smirked and crossed her arms. "Yeah, better keep running ya assholes," she said before turning back towards Stanton. "You okay kid?"

Stanton blinked as he looked up at her. She had feline like features, but the bandages around her were definitely signs of a mummy. "Are you a hybrid?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well first off, you're welcome for bailing you out kid," she said smirking down at him. She had been pretty curious when she spotted him being chased from the roof up above, but she had pieced it together pretty quickly. "And second of all, yeah. I guess technically I'm a hybrid. But I don't think that's badass enough of a name to round out all the awesome shit I'm made up of."

Stanton walked around her curiously. "A werecat mummy hybrid I'm guessing. I've never seen anything like that before," he placed a hand on his chin.

Basteta clicked her tongue. This kid was a bit of an oddball. "Well kid, I'd love to stay and indulge ya, but I really wouldn't. Besides, I gotta get going. Catch ya later, and hope those assholes stay off you back."

She turned and made her way off, and Stanton just stared after her. He hummed and then pulled out his journal before he began scribbling down in it.

Basteta cracked her neck as she prepared to lift the dumbbells in front of her. It was time to get some reps in. She reached down and lifted them up, then raised it high above her head. Before she could continue though, she spotted a very familiar figure standing nearby. "What the hell?!"

She jumped, her powers going off and her hands burning right through the metal bar and causing the weights to fall to the side. She then looked down at Stanton, who was writing down in his journal. "Huh, that's a lot of weight. I guess hybrids can lift more than the average werecat or mummy," he said.

"What are you doing here kid? Did you follow me?" she asked. If so, how did he get here? Was security just slacking at the front desk or something?

Stanton shook his head. "I come here a lot. My step-sister works here."

"Your step-sister?"

"Little partner is Renee's brother," Levi said from a few feet away.

She looked down at him as he kept on scribbling away inside his journal. "What are you writing in that thing?" she asked, confused.

"Your page in the journal," he said simply. "I add everything new or interesting."

She hummed. "Yeah… you're a weird little kid you know that?" He nodded, not even looking up towards her. "Just make sure you get my good side…"

Basteta smiled as she watched from the cafeteria doorway. She had snuck a special surprise into Astro's lunch, and now she was just waiting for him to get to it. This was going to be amazing.

"Your tail moves when you're excited…"

She jumped, shooting off a small wave of flames, and turned around to see Stanton behind her again. "You burned my pencil…" he said before taking out another.

"Kid, you really need to wear a bell or something!" How in the hell did he keep on sneaking up on her like that? Was he a freaking ninja?

"Your hair also stands up when you're surprised. It seems like you're more werecat than mummy. You definitely have more of the features there," Stanton said.

Basteta looked over her shoulder, and then stepped back behind the door. "Listen kid, I'm trying to lay low so the snow prince over there doesn't notice anything. Once he eats the pudding cup then-"

"You mean the pudding cup he just gave to Junji?"

"What?! Shit!"

She rushed across the cafeteria and jumped across the table, slapping the pudding cup out of Junji's hand. The dragon frowned as he looked down at the spilled sweet. "Aw man, my pudding cup…" he said sadly.

"What was that about?" Micah asked, confused.

Basteta laughed nervously. "I just… you know, think ya should be watching what you snack on. From the lips to the hips, ya know?" she said.

Junji looked down at his stomach. Was he putting on weight or something. Astro narrowed his eyes. "You put something in the pudding, didn't you…?" he asked.

She scoffed. "No! What even made you think that."

"You rushing over here like a mad woman to knock a pudding cup out of Junji's hand."

"There was nothing in the pudding! It was just regular old nasty ass pudding!" She held her hands out and suddenly incinerated what was left of it. "See, it's gone now! Not even worth bitching about."

Astro clicked his tongue. "Yeah, okay…"

Stanton walked over and hummed. "Wow, you even run like a feline when you're trying to move fast," he said, impressed.

Basteta frowned. "Yeah kid…"

"Look, I know he's ya little bro… but he's sort of bugging me. I don't know if I there's any advice ya can give me to help me deal with him, but…"

Renee hummed and closed her book, looking up at Basteta. "Yeah, Stanton can be a little much when someone catches his interest. But the way I see it you have too many options. The first one is just to talk to him and answer his questions. It'll take him an hour or two, but it'll let him get him out of his system," she said.

Basteta raised an eyebrow. "And option two?"

"You could just ask him to stop. Stanton doesn't get social cues very well but he's not trying to be annoying. If you tell him he's bothering you he'll just stop," Renee explained.

"You mean all I had to do was ask?!"

"Yep," she said nodding. "Hear that Stanton?"

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Basteta jumped again, another round of flames coming off of her, and then glared down at the boy. "What the hell are you kid?!"

"Sorry," Stanton said as he closed his journal. "I know I can get pretty obsessive when I come across something new or interesting, and I'm not good at reading people. But if I'm bothering you then please let me know. I don't mean to pester anybody."

Basteta sighed. "Uh… look kid, you do come off a little strong, but it's fine I guess. I mean how can I not expect a boy to be totally consumed thinking about all this," she said gesturing to herself.

Stanton stared at her. "So does that mean I can ask you some questions? And maybe get some quick drawings in for the journal?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Sure. Just let me check over e'm to make sure ya get my good side and emphasize all the right stuff," she said.

"Yeah… maybe I should help with that too," Renee said. She had a feeling if left alone Stanton would end up drawing something… inappropriate, with her influencing him.

Stanton walked down the hall as he got ready to head home for the day. He's gotten a lot of info and a few sketches about Basteta in the journal, so he was pretty content for now. He would sort through some more stuff from his dad's notes tomorrow.

"HA!"

He jumped as a figure suddenly leapt out at him, nearly dropping his journal. Basteta smirked down at him. "Doesn't feel too good getting snuck up on, does it kid?" she asked.

He let out a breath. "No… no it does not…"

"Yeah, so you better not do it again… wear a bell or something."