Elsewhere down in the lab of Whipstaff, Casper after hours of playing and messing around with the Lazarus had finally managed to get most of the ingredients. All but one that is. There was just no way to figure it out on his own. What was that last ingredient that he needed..? His father had done very well to hide his special formula and keep it out of the hands of those who'd try and use it for their own scheme's. "I know my Dad had a special place where he hid all of research papers. The ones that worked and the ones that didn't he just burned.." Floating from spot to spot the confused boy looked and prayed to find the paper work. "I wish that I would've payed more attention to what Dad said.." Getting rather frustrated at this point Casper placed himself down on one of the tables. What could he do now...? One obstacle after another. It'd take him forever to look through all of these papers that his father had stored. It was then that he heard Kat's voice as it sounded through a voice chute his father had installed. It was something J.T. had built to make things easier on knowing just when dinner was done, or when someone had arrived for him up at the door. More often than not it was used for the second more th an the first. Usually J.T. ate most of his dinners down there while he invented things.
"Casper...?? Are you down there...?" Kat's voice echoed down the pipe as she listened for a reply.
Casper just stared at the pipe a moment and sighed. He had hoped that he would've been able to surprise Kat by being human again when she came home today. Well that was just great now wasn't it..? It was then that it dawned on him. Perhaps if he told Kat she'd be able to help him with his search to find the ingredients..! "It'd be nice to have some help and it'd be a lot less lonely at that." Without wasting another second and a smile plastered upon his face Casper laughed and took off quickly up through the floor. It only took a matter of seconds before he reached Kat. "Hey there!" His voice happily rang out.
"Gah!" Crying out Kat jumped back. Though he hadn't meant to Casper accidentally scared Kat a moment. Closing her eyes tightly she placed a hand over her chest and sighed with relief as she looked at Casper with a little scold in her eyes. "Don't... Do that again." Lightly she laughed, a smile having formed soon after.
"Heheh, s-sorry. What's up...? Didja have a good day at school...?? Sorry I didn't stop in I kinda got side-tracked by something." Smiling Casper nervously explained and hoped that she understood. This was Kat though so he wasn't too worried about it.
"Yeah, I did except..." The tone of her voice sounded confused and yet concerned at the same time. Those brown eyes rolling to the side as she thought about what she wanted to say.
"Except what...? What happened...? Who did it...?" Quickly Casper tilted his head and even stretched out his neck a little to keep eye contact with her. It always figured that when he didn't show up she had a hard time with someone.
"Well there's this new guy at school named Boomer. The thing is...that... I... I think it was Stinkie.. He played this really LAME fart-joke on me and got the whole class to laugh. That and he was hitting on Melle the whole time. It was... kind of disgusting. I'm just worried that it might've been him. I don't want him to be messing around with Melle's head like that. I mean, she's... kinda like a little...sister y'know..?" Frowning she clasped her hands together and sat down on a seat with a light frown. Casper listened closely and nodded putting a finger to his lip. It was rather shady, a person just suddenly coming there and all of that having happened. He wouldn't put it past his Uncles to do something so devious but, Stinkie...? It almost made him laugh as he wouldn't have figured him to be the type to talk to females like that, or at all for that matter.
"Well I've never witnessed my Uncle hitting on a girl ever, not that I can remember right now anyways. I just don't think he'd be the type interested in it. Even if it were just for giggles..." Shaking his head Casper shrugged and tried to explain to Kat.
"Whatta ya mean?? I can hit on a ghoul..! A course I'm interested in dem, I certainly ain' inta guys..." Shuddering Stinkie cringed and stuck out his tongue. "Jus' watch dis...!" Well if that hadn't been a bad sign already he flew over and placed his arm around Kat's shoulder. With his head tilted upwards he then proceeded to belch rather loud and long. "Hey dere beautiful, wanna help me in da moines an' dig fa gold?? Heheh..It jus' kinda sticks to ya..!" Cackling he winked as he pulled out something of the sort from his nose.
"EEeeEEEeeeeWWWWwwwwW!!" Disgusted by what Stinkie had just done Kat raced over to Casper and just stared at him.
"D'aww... Well if it was a REAL ghoul dey woulda said yes!" Groaning and rolling his eyes Stinkie floated on out of the room with his arms folded over his chest as if his feelings had been hurt.
"Okay...so...maybe we... DON'T have to worry about it... But... It'd still be good to... make sure... in case?" Still rather disgusted about what just happened Kat grabbed her throat as she nearly gagged. The last thing that she wanted to see or hear was THAT.
"Sorry about that... Well My day hasn't gone so well either. I finally decided that I wanted to find my Dad's ingredients list so that I could make the Lazarus just like he did a long time ago! The problem is that I can't find it all by myself. There's so many papers to look through in the lab. I need help but my Uncles won't help me and I wouldn't dare let them know what I'm planning on. They'd probably try to find it and hide it on me." Frowning Casper looked up with saddened eyes at Kat.
"Well.. I've got some time before dinner's ready. C'mon I'll help you look." Gently Kat smiled as she started up the winding stairs with Casper. When they reached the top she placed herself happily in the seat ready for the ride on down. "Now, You DID disable that Up and Atom machine right...?" Squinting her eyes suspiciously at Casper she only prayed that he had.
"Yeah..! I think I did... one way to find out huh..?" Shrugging Casper pulled the latch and started up the chair.
"Casper..are you... Casper..! What do you mean you think...?! Casper, no, I can't get these clothes dirtied up like thaaat...!" Crying out the second Kat hit that area she started being pampered and prepped up by the machine. Irritatedly she let out one last, "CASPER!!" to show just how annoyed she was by that little mistake.
"Heheh...Oops..Sorry Kat." Rubbing the back of his head he figured he'd get an ear full once he got down there.
Meanwhile Stinkie who'd watched them kinda smirked to himself. He managed to lie to both of his brothers for the time being about getting any information. After all if he was going to tell on this fleshie there'd have to be something like motivation behind it. So he figured hey, he's home, he's not dressed up like a school boy anymore, time to have some fun spying on her here..! Of course he wondered just where Ghastly was she was something he'd have to deal with before getting any alone time with Melle. Though as long as he stayed invisible he was alright, except for his smell. So... how was he going to hide that...? Tapping his chin he pondered to himself as he flew up the stairs and towards the girls room. Turning himself transparent he allowed himself to peek through the wall. Oddly enough Melle nor Ghastly were anywhere to be found there. Stinkie raised an eyebrow in confusion to this. He KNOWS that she's here because nobody left the house yet, not that he knew of anyway.
"Dang..."Dey ain't he'e. Hmn, Her notebooks are though..! So I know she ain' doin' her homewoik yet." Quietly he chuckled. There was a sinister grin as he figured he'd just let her do the work for a few of the subjects she was really good at, then just copy it all down and submitting it himself. Of course he'd be smart enough to change a few things to make it sound like his. Hey, It was at least ONE way of getting this work done without having to spend all night on it himself. "Well s'long as I'm waitin' might as well get good an' doity..! Heheh, her toilet's da woist one in da whole manor..!" Chuckling Stinkie just allowed himself right on through that door. Not paying a lick of attention to what's going on around him he just lifted the lid on the toilet. It was then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Almost in slow motion his head turned and those eyes of his shot wide open his pupils shrinking to what he saw. There in the tub sat Melle freaked out and covering herself up the best she could with her arms and legs pulled up to block the view.
Those golden eyes looked her up and down briefly as a hand clasped over his chest. It wasn't that he was completely startled, but something almost felt like it throbbed inside of that empty chest and even down near his gut. "GAH, DON'T SCREAM!!" Stinkie closed his eyes tightly and waved his hands in front of him as he blushed deeply. "I PROMISE, I didn' come in he'e ta peek or nutin' like dat..!! Y-Yer room jus' has da grossest toilet...! I wanted ta get myself stenched up badly, a-an yer toilets good fa dat. I'm sorry...I didn'... mean ta..do dis..!" the ghost swallowed and in his mind he asked himself, just what the hell he was apologizing for?! Shouldn't he be GLAD if this chick screamed and freaked out. Why didn't he take advantage of this situation a little better..? There was something that stopped him. Which is what puzzled him the most, what stopped him and what the heck felt like it was throbbing in his chest? He didn't have a heart..! Did...he?
"Y-YEAH RIGHT! You sick twisted perverted ghost..! AUGH...! Don't you DARE look at me or when Ghastly gets back you'll feel such pain even for a dead guy!" Turning away from him she blushed deeply and narrowed her eyes at her knees. That was the last thing she had expected to have happen to her. The last thing that she wanted to have happen after such a great day at school..! "If you're gonna put yourself in the toilet, do it already.. I'm still.. mad at you..! Acting like you were my friend around the house but then treating me like you did at the school..." Her lower lip quivered as she nearly wanted to cry. "I thought you were different... nicer than those two."
Staring at her backside Stinkie placed himself half way into the toilet and sighed. "Heh, Stretch makes da rules aroun' he'e. I can't go against my older Bro. He's done so much fa me an' my brudder. Wit'out 'im we usually ah kinda lost. It's a ghosts job t'scare anyways. Not dat it made it right fa me ta do dat ta you, but, y'know.. it was fun I'll admit."Lightly he chuckled and grinned. "Sorry... Maybe if ya tried it sometoime you'd like it..! Scarin' I mean..heheh. I really... uh... was bein' nice dem toimes. But, when it comes down ta it I'mma ghost an' a ghosts gotta scare..!!" with his arms folded over his chest. "It's how dis woild woiks. So... Whatcha doin' takin' a bath...? I mean I thought ya's didn' like dat kinda ting.." his voice disappointedly trailed off.
"I'm taking it because I need to get rid of the dead itchy skin. If I didn't Kat was going to spray me with perfume. Nyeh... That and there's this guy.. I wanna impress. NOT that YOU'D care about anything like that... or understand." With her head tilted she looked over her shoulder at him.
"Impress a... GUY...?" A Grin formed on his face. It worked! She was buying into his charms he'd been laying on as a fleshie. "Well...lemme tells ya 'bout guys. Dey like it best when ya's jus' be yaself.. an' when ya's truthful wit 'em. Heheh, but from where I'm sittin' looks like all ya gotta do is be yaself, he'll notice ya's plenty wit dat bod- ..." Slapping his hand over his mouth Stinkie swallowed roughly and looked at Melle in a panic. He couldn't believe what he'd just uttered!
"W-WHY... YOU... GRAH, GET OUTTA HERE YOU PERVERT...!!" Melle screamed at the top of her lungs as she stood up and stormed towards that toilet.
"G-GAH...! G-GOTTA GO, I'M FEELIN' RATHER FLUSHED..!" With that he pulled the lever and made his way on down and outta there just as the lid was slammed down. There was NO WAY he was going to stick around and deal with her wrath after saying what he had to her. Boy could he have been any stupider with how he phrased his sentence there...? That's the last thing she probably wanted to hear, but he couldn't help it really..! Though he wondered why he couldn't help it. As he splashed out of the other end covered in sewage and more he just sat there and stared ahead of him. A firm grip tugged at his chest and gut as he wondered just what the heck was wrong with him. "I was...bein'.. nice...an'... I complimented her..?! I... I liked her...b. NO!! WHAT AM I SAYING?! A COURSE I didn'...!! Hngh.. w-what's dis stupid feelin' in my chest, an' what da heck's up wit dis gut..!? It looks a lil bigger den it should be.." He growled and hit himself there just to see what the heck would happen. "HNGGGGGH!" Both of his eyes bulged out as he gave a very fine high pitch whine and slumped into the sludge.
"Stupid jerk..." Blushing to herself Melle stepped on over and dried herself off after letting out the water. "Grr... how dare he just... augh..!" She narrowed her eyes and whined. The last thing she wanted was to hear him making fun of her and how she looked, but, it turned opposite and he said something nice! Was he just being sarcastic or was he being truthful? Some part of her hoped he was being truthful but another part hoped it was sarcasm. Why did she feel funny when she was around him there? It was almost as if she'd known him from somewhere. Though the poor girl couldn't put her finger on it. Still now not only was Stinkie confused but, Melle was too..! "Stupid Ghost.." She quietly mumbled as she finished getting dressed and started on downstairs.