Gina had a strange habit of finding peculiar things in her wandering—and, if it didn’t seem to belong to someone, she occasionally commandeered it. They weren’t always important things… in fact, they were mostly animals that seemed like strays. This occasionally gave Gina scratched arms, particularly if she tried making away with animals that were typically not accustomed to flying. But, Gina never learned. She was incorrigible. Today, she was meandering about the gardens when she found the most peculiar gnome. It hadn’t been there the day before, and was actually downright ugly. And there weren’t any other, ugly gnomes that looked just like it, which meant that someone had probably put it there as a prank.

“Well, aren’t you a looker-?” Gina murmured, grunting the last word as she hefted the gnome up. Though it wasn’t exactly your usual garden-gnome, it had a certain charm to it. Maybe she could show it to Agnes?

“Stick with me, bub,” Gina said to the inanimate statue, “I’ll take care of ya.”

She tucked the thing under one arm, and helped support it with the other, marching towards the Mansion. She couldn’t wait to show it to Agnes, who would probably be thrilled that Gina hadn’t tried to adopt something living for once. Gina marched up the front steps and in through the main door, toting her boon along with her.

“Guys, guys,” Gina exclaimed, “I found this really cool statue out in the garden! You have to see it.”

“That’s nice, Gina,” a glowing boy said in exasperation, rolling his eyes. Whenever Gina found something, it never seemed to end well. Gina hummed, shrugged a shoulder, and continued towards the stairs.

It was easy to get lost at the mansion, specially if you were new and not entirely sure where you were headed. He'd been told the place had a library but he didn't know if it was located on the first floor or the second and while he had managed to find the infirmary and admissions office already, this mystical place filled with books and computers he could use still eluded him.

Miles dogs were following him obediently when he headed for the stairs to try his luck on the first floor but as he reached the top of said stairs, he noticed a woman like none other he had seen so far. He had already met some mutants at Sanctuary and a few more here at school, but this particular woman had grey skin, horns on her forehead, Spock like ears and most impressive of all, wings and a tail to boot, like a pale dragoness wearing clothes, minus the scales. Under her arm, she carried a small statue of some kind of monster she'd found outside and she seemed pretty content with her prize, despite the sarcasm from another nearby student. While she didn't seem to be having that much trouble hauling it around, 'Gina', the other boy had called her, was now headed towards the bottom of the stairs.

It was odd. She looked scary, but she didn't act that scary and he knew from his very own personal experience that a dark looking mutation didn't necessarily mean a dark person. Miles ordered his dogs to back a little to give Gina enough space to pass through the stairs undisturbed, but then he figured he could go the extra mile and maybe get some directions in return.

"Do you need any help with that?" he asked as he started trotting down the stairs. He was not the muscular type but he had been taught basic politeness and courtesy back at home. "Let me give you a hand".

Guglin was hunting. Running behind a prey, a stray dog ​​with a giant bone that still retained some meat, then he saw a glimpse of the stranger artifact. Everything seemed to spin around quickly in its surface that reflected the light, then each single object of the mirrored world changed into thousands of colors. The object that humans called Sidy seemed to pulsate with energy of its own in a way he had never seen before and with each pulse it produced new colors than in exchange turned into a strange mesmerizing melody that ordered him to come closer.
Unable to refuse the direct order of the inanimate object, Guglin put aside his safety and left his hiding place.

A hear beat later he was being carried sideways, flying toward a wooden staircase he had never seen before. And though his mind insisted that there should be a large garden with grass as green as his skin, his yellow eyes showed nothing something completely different, so for a moment the little creature remained as docile as a statue trying to find an explanation for his lost memories.
The human voice took him out of his reverie, pushing his mind back to his wiry body at the instant the human moved to touch him. Without hesitation the little monster bit the air in warning and then began to twist his body in an attempt to break free from whoever was holding him.

Gina was carrying her boon along proudly, a rather smug grin upon her face as she went. It may be an ugly statue, but it was her ugly statue, of which she was proud. She was marching towards the stairs when a boy addressed her. He had two dogs with him, and seemed rather polite.

>> "Do you need any help with that? Let me give you a hand."

“Oh, thanks!” Gina gasped, shifting the statue in her hold, “I found him out in the garden, and he wasn’t there yesterday! Isn’t he great? He’s just so charming-looking. In an ugly-mug kind-of way.”

Gina sighed happily.

“I’m Gina, by the way,” Gina introduced, “Agnes is going to be sooo happy I didn’t bring a stray animal home. Or a hobo clay-man.”

Gina had just began to hand the statue over to the boy, when it suddenly snapped its teeth.

“Oh!” Gina gasped, releasing it. Her heart leapt a moment, in shock and confusion. Statues… weren’t supposed to do that…

The girl was indeed friendly despite her looks and apparently she had a taste for pretty ugly artwork. Up close the statue was downright grotesque, the complete opposite of charming, to the point Miles' mother would have doused it with holy water before letting it in her house, or worse, with gasoline and a match to put it out of it's misery, but he wasn't going to express his opinion on it just like that, so he stuck to being polite. He 'mhmm'd' in agreement as his mind tried to decipher what the heck was a hobo clay-man and introduced himself to Gina with a curt "I'm Miles, nice to meet you" as he shifted his body in the middle of the stairs trying to get a grip on the green statue.

Wait a second... GREEN!?

His hand was a mere inch from grabbing the head of the now moving creature in Gina's arms. He immediately pulled his arm away and actually felt the monster's warm breath and two droplets of spit touching his fingers when it almost bit his hand off. Miles lost his balance, leaned backwards hitting his back with the hand rail and landed his buttocks on one of the steps as his left foot slipped and let him sprawl on the stairs. His eyes opened wide as saucers as he instinctively covered his head and face with both arms and the one thought in his mind throughout it all was...

WHY DID SHE DO THAT!?

He had been nothing but friendly and polite, the way he usually was whenever he found himself in a new environment. Was this some sort of prank? Because he was new? Ha ha, he's new, let's BITE HIS HAND OFF!

Miles heard Gina gasp in surprise, a hint that maybe he was jumping to conclusions, but then she DROPPED the creature free a mere couple of feet away from him! If she could turn ugly statues into living, vicious critters then she was downright overpowered and this was THE MEANEST PRANK EVER!

His warning bite was enough to fend off the wicked man, while his continual struggle finally set him free from her grip. Guglin landed a step above the girl, just between his two captors.
His amber eyes watched the man as he fell back while his dogs remained strangely immobile; even so, these creatures seemed to be extremely dangerous so the best option was to go down.

A whirlwind of emotions went in and out of his head changing his feelings at irregular intervals. One moment he felt curious about the sudden change of locations, and the other he was wishing he could be somewhere else. The cold eyes of those dogs remind him of horses, filling his small heart with terror.

Taking advantage of his speed and size, Guglin slipped to one side of the woman to begin the difficult descent. The height of the steps made it impossible to go down in a conventional way, so he started to jump one by one, when he was half way to the floor, his great hurry and a bit of bad luck made him roll all the way down.
Once he managed to stand up and overcome the little dizziness, he began to run in the direction of the large wooden door that appeared to be the only way out. The green goblin jumped with all his might to grab the doorknob but the key-like device did not turn. The door was tightly closed. With terror dominating his thoughts, he began to run again toward what looked like a living room where he expected to find a good place to hide. Maybe he could find refuge behind a couch.

There was not an ounce of an attempt to hide the accusation in the boys’ eyes. Obviously, Gina was at fault for trying to pass-off such a creature in disguise. As if she knew the statue were going to come alive and snap its teeth at him.

“I’m sorry,” Gina murmured reflexively, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it-“

Was alive. And kicking… and now it was on the move.

“Hey, wait! Statue guy!” Gina called out, “Come back!”

Even if the creature was bolting now Gina had brought it in there. Which, in a funny sort of way, made him her responsibility.

“Hey!” Gina said, descending the stairs in pursuit of him. She glanced over her shoulder, and gave the unfamiliar boy and abrupt, “He’s getting away!”

As in, “He’s getting away, help me catch him,” before continuing to run down the stairs. First, he tried the door, without avail. By the time Gina had come to the base of the stairs, he’d given up on the door and ran for a sitting room.

“Hey, little guy!” Gina hollered after him, “Little green guy, don’t run.”

She stopped in the doorway. Little green guy had slipped out of view, but it was one of those rooms with only one entrance, and no exits. He had to be in there.

“Little green guy, it’s okay,” Gina said, “There’s no need to hide.”

If there was one thing that followed a prank after it had been successfully pulled off was the inevitable deluge of roaring laughter and guffaws, mostly from the prankster herself. To see Gina quickly switch into apologies instead of finger pointing mockery made Miles realize that maybe he had been wrong and she had no idea that any of this would happen.

The 'ex-statue' had fled downstairs as quick as his little green legs could take him and his little green head, back and rump could roll him. He latched onto the door, failed to open it and then sped back inside into the mansion with a confused Gina on his tail.

Gina addressed Miles as he started to get up, urging him to give chase as well but the boy's brain was still processing the whole ordeal. He quickly realized something was amiss here. He had loyal dogs at his service, undaunted and undead protectors willing to give their unlife for him, right at his beck and call. He had been almost in mortal peril (well, his hand anyway) and his dogs answer to all of that had been... staring with a bored expression from Astor's side and Tinaker wasn't even paying attention, busy as he was sniffing his own privates.

"What the... GUYS!" he said in exasperated fashion "What's WRONG with you! Sometimes you're overprotective and other times you just forget that I'm.... oh"

Sometimes Miles forgot what orders he gave his dogs, specially when those orders were several days old. When he enrolled in school, he had tried to prove how obedient his dogs were to DocProf so the school staff would allow them free roam around the premises. He had told them that time "Do not bark, bite, growl or attack anyone within the mansion, no matter what they do" and this had given DocProf peace of mind and Miles got permission to bring the dogs to school. Except that now, Satan himself could punch through the living room floor, open the maws of hell and bring down armaggedon and the dogs would yawn at him, unless ordered otherwise.

"Follow me!" he said in a loud voice as he himself followed Gina to a room downstairs. Apparently the little green creature had taken to hiding. Miles' dogs were now at his sides while Gina was trying to convince the critter to come out but the boy doubted he would. There were two hellhounds and a horned, winged woman with claws keeping him trapped in a room telling him 'it's okay!'

"Let me try something" he suggested to the girl as he mentally commanded Astor, his biggest and scarier dog, to back away out of sight. He then told Tinaker "Crouch and crawl as slowly as possible and find the little green guy. When you do, stay still."

The dog obeyed as he started to crawl, using his acute nose to do the deed. The idea was, this way they could at least pinpoint his location and a crawling dog always had this cute and playful vibe to it, despite it's bright, red glowing eyes.

Soon the smooth marble floor gave way to a fully carpeted one where the sounds of his footsteps were completely muffled. On another occasion he would be grateful for that small moment of luck, but this time the lack of sound did not provide him with any advantage. He had entered a room with no exit but big enough to hide.
The weak sun-rays penetrated through the curtain of the only window covering everything with half shadows that provided enough cover for him to find its way through the maze of couch and giant pillows. What appeared to be an ideal area for relaxation had become a trap with no exit.
With no way to reach the window, and without being able to return without meeting the couple, the little goblin jumped under one of the biggest couch.

The space below that comfortable place to sit was not at all pleasant, the gap was so small he could not move comfortably, limiting his movements to a slow crawling while the air was so full of dust that made it difficult to breathe without swallowing some dust. Clearly his agitated breathing, result of the small race did not help him to keep the dirt away from his mouth, or to hide from his enemies.

In an unwise attempt to capture him, the woman appealed to his ingenuity calling him with gentle words, but Guglin was smart and saw the trap immediately. She must have felt it; soon she stopped giving him orders. Then, as he feared, the man returned. From under the couch, he had a clear view of the monstrous red-eyed dogs that moved toward the human. One remained at his side to guard him while the other, more slender and agile entered the room. Like with his green paws, the dog´s legs were light and did not provoke any sound on the carpeted floor, making its progress even more unnatural.
With horror, Guglin watched as the animal caught a scent and began to follow a trail that lead directly to him.
The moment of tension extended for several seconds until the dog descended to look straight into his eye. The animal´s red eyes meet his big yellow eyes. Strangely the animal did not move.
Guglin growled using all the fierceness of which he was capable of, using all the strength of his small body but he did not achieve to scare the hell-hound. After the first attempt, he tried to show his teeth, but the animal did not respond to any of his provocations.
Confused by the strange attitude of the animal, Guglin decided to observe silently.

The boy followed after the gargoyle, and it was at around that time that Gina took notice of the peculiarity of the dogs. He mildly asked the girl to let him try something, and Gina nodded, falling silent and stepping aside. Odd, black dogs with glowing red eyes… had to be something to do with his mutation. Gina redirected her attention from the larger of the two, who’d taken a few steps back and out of the doorway, to the little one.

>> "Crouch and crawl as slowly as possible and find the little green guy. When you do, stay still."

Gina grinned as the dog did as he was told, and began to creep along the floor. A small smile touched the gargoyle’s expression, and she resisted the urge to squeal, “Cute!” as she watched the dog go. It took a hand clasped over her mouth to say silent, though. The dog continued to crawl along, and came to a pause at the couch, staring intently at the unseen, escaped former statue.

There was a growl from beneath the couch, which was most ferocious indeed, but muffled, and little—and dare Gina say it, cute. The dog didn’t flinch.

“Little green guy, it’s okay,” Gina called-out again, “The dog’s nice.”

As she said this, she tilted her gaze at the boy beside her. Right? What happened next?

Good boy, Miles thought as his canine had successfully found the little critter's hiding place. He then turned to Gina to give her a 'what are you going to do now?' look only to find HER giving HIM a 'what are YOU going to do now?' look.

Miles sighed. Since when had this become his problem? It's not like he had brought the little monster into the mansion, but then again, Miles had already realized it was an honest mistake on her part and he shouldn't be placing blame, but helping her find a solution instead.

All right. Solutions. Hmmm... She kept insisting on talking to it, even though little Yoda had given no indication whatsoever it even spoke english or... at all. It was hiding under the couch, so maybe he could try and lift the couch from one side, giving it ample wiggle room to get out unharmed but... no. He'd have both of his hands busy lifting the couch, which would be blocking his line of sight to the little beast and it's large, round, bony head was dangerously close to crotch height, so he immediately scrapped the idea.

Remembering how it had almost bitten his hand off, Miles' next set of ideas involved firecrackers, the vacuum cleaner or maybe the fire extinguisher, but then he pictured Gina 'pranking' him with a fist to the jaw, seeing as how fond she was of talking to it like it was some kind of cute, innocent, little smurf. Then a cartoon lightbulb popped up over his head as he thought up the perfect solution.

"I've got an idea" he said with a smirk. "You wait here and make sure he doesn't leave. We'll E.T. him out"

The boy took a quick trip to the kitchen and scavenged it out, picking edibles and scraps from the table, the fridge and even the trash can. He figured the little gremlin was not a fan of 80's classics and even though he failed to scrounge up a bag of Reese's Pieces, he managed to return with enough stuff to make a line of food all the way from the couch to the door.

Miles tip toed his way next to his dog and then told him to go wait by Astor's side. The dog complied and Miles then placed the most delectable of his kitchen finds on the floor, close to the couch: A Granny baked chocolate chip cookie, partially eaten. He then backtracked a bit and placed a strawberry, plucked right out of the fridge. Then a peanut buttered half of toasted bread, a cherry and then.... things less delectable like a broccoli and an almost eaten up to the core apple, which he had fished right out of the trash, but at the end of it all, there was a delicious looking, whole, shiny red apple that alas, was made out of plastic, which he had picked from the fake fruit basket on the kitchen table's centerpiece.

The snaking food chain of goodies had been placed about a foot away from each other and even though the plastic apple was inedible, it had been placed close to the door, where they could get the jump on it. Scratch that. Where Gina could get the jump on it. He had no intention whatsoever of getting too close to the little chupacabra.

The quiet observation of that diabolical dog did not provide him with any useful hint on how to get away from there. Still, that boring task was totally necessary for him to understand his enemy even when he had no way to fight back since he was restricted by the small gap between the floor and the couch.
Aside from all those limitations, the cave was a good place to defend with claws and teeth. He knew it would be easy to fend off the humans from that uncomfortable position, but the dogs added a whole new threat to the battle.

Although different from all the animals he had met, the dogs had all the characteristics of standard breed. It had a muzzle, two eyes, two ears, four legs, and even a tail. It could have passed for a common animal but for the glowing red eyes that reminded him of hellfire. Aside from these fiery jewels there was something more subtle in these creatures, something that took him more time to find out... the animal was still. Completely still. It chest did not move, not even to breathe.
That strange property to remain as still as a statue was what finally managed to convince him that the dog would not move, so he finally let out a long sigh of relief to release all the accumulated tension.

Curiosity finally won over common sense. So he awkwardly moved his hand to reach the dog's nose where his four fingers closed with no reaction from the animal. A second later his friendly grip dissolved into a caress that descended down its neck. The animal never moved. That behavior not only left him perplexed, but also confirmed his suspicion that the hellhound was not going to attack him, so that gave him freedom to concentrate in other matters.

His golden eyes pierced the shadows accumulated under the couch, casting his gaze to the well-lit door where the human couple waited anxiously for his return. Of course, Guglin knew very well what kind of welcome they had for him, so he remained in the same place not only because he sensed danger outside but for an obvious lack of space to move freely.

When the man disappeared, Guglin crawled with difficulty receiving hits from the couch and floor alike. If he wanted to escape, that was the perfect time. Or so he thought because when he arrived to the edge he saw the evil dogs guarding the only door. He never noticed when his silent watcher moved to the same place as his brother.
If he were to run in that direction, one or both of the dogs could catch him and tear his green limbs... that if he came out from under the couch on time. Contemplating the few chances he had to successfully escape, he soon hid under the couch again where he felt safer.

That was when the man returned from somewhere with his hands full of foodstuffs. His weak sense of smell did not give him much information aside from the fact that these things were in fact food, and in consequence edible. So he quickly changed his focus to one of his stronger senses, his sight. His golden eyes gave him enough information to make him drool over the dusty floor, there where cookies with chocolate pebbles, along with another cookie like thing with a strange sauce that looked disgusting but tasty at the same time. Of course, he recognized the fruit, but these were not his favorite.

With great caution, the little green monster approached the edge of the couch again, moving his body away from the center of the cave as much as he dared but without leaving the protection of the sofa. Once there, he extended his green arm in an attempt to reach the cookie... but it was far away. After crawling a few inches toward the outside world, he tried again with the same result. Then he moved once again and again until he realized he had crawled outside his cave, it was then that his hand reached the cookie that was thrown mercilessly into his mouth where multiple razor-sharp teeth destroyed it. A few bites later, the cookie passed away.
Once he finished the small cookie, he found himself lying on the floor with no protection at his back so he stoop up as tall as he was, trying to look ferocious.

Since the boy had sent his dog in after the little green humanoid, Gina had only presumed that this had meant that he had a plan of some sort. She looked towards him for instruction, and was answered by a quizzical expression from him.

The boy with the dogs announced that he had an idea, instructing Gina to wait there to guard the door while they “E.T.’d” him out.

“E.T.?” Gina echoed. Her question hung in the air and was left temporarily unanswered, so the gargoyle stood with a hand upon her hip, looking around absently, but focusing upon the couch. Soon, the guy came back with an arm full of odds and ends of food, which looked as though it’d been scrounged out of a garbage can. The gargoyle watched with muted interest as the boy began to line food up, making a line towards the door. When Gina realized what he was doing, a grin touched her face—oooh, that made sense.

“That’s smart,” she complimented. The gargoyle could genuinely admit that she wouldn’t have thought of that. Gina watched the couch closely for any sign of movement, and saw a slender arm reach out from under the couch, but barely missing it. There was some adjusting, another attempt to grab the cookie, which then failed. Soon, the little green guy emerged and snatched the cookie up, before gobbling it down.

The guy finally noticed the two full-sized figures watching him, as well as the dogs, and Gina’s tail flicked inquiringly. She tried not to squeal over how cute it was, but it really was cute. She managed to contain herself, however, and offered an informal, “Hi.”

Yeah, the display of ferocity didn't really impress Gina. She was too distracted by how tiny he was-- the green guy was literally too small for Gina's sixteen-year-old brain to take seriously.

Miles smiled at Gina's compliment about his idea but said nothing. It wasn't his idea at all, it had been stolen from one of Spielberg's classics, introduced to him by his movieholic cousins and he had just reused it. They waited patiently by the door and the line of food sort of worked. Halfways.

The point was to try and get the little goblin closer to them so maybe Gina could snatch it and eventually... you know, throw it out the door, but he was starting to feel a 'Hagrid' vibe coming from Gina though still not bordering on Elmyra Duff territory. The creature was small but it had this big head that gave off a baby/puppy impression, like it was very young and not adult like in the least. It.... or he?... Miles wasn't even sure anymore on how to refer to it anymore, since at times it acted like an animal and others like a wild, little human or mutant. The one thing he noticed and was absolutely certain of was his pointy teeth.

"Look at that jaw..." he commented, hoping to disperse away any 'let's keep it!' intentions from Gina "...that creature is certainly not a salad eater. And look at those claws! That can't be safe to have around the house with...uh..."

He took a glance at the gargoyle standing next to him. My, what sharp teeth you have there, Gina. And are those claws? Thread carefully, Miles.

He was clearly outnumbered two to one on the creature-looking mutations department, so he cut his sentence short in a heartbeat. Fine. So maybe having claws and sharp teeth didn't automatically exclude you from standing close to the upholstery, but where Gina seemed articulate, good natured and civilized, the goblin looked like a savage, little reptilian Rambo, with his cargo pants and bared chest. All he was lacking was a tiny AK-47.

Still, the pants and... were those pierced ears he had? Piercings weren't the sort of things you'd see a wild animal have naturally. Those two things pointed at a rather intelligent nature, primitive maybe, but not animalistic. It gave Miles hope that this could end in a civilized conversation and not with two mutants and two dogs tripping all over the furniture trying to catch a green whirlwind of panic fueled mayhem trying to escape.

So, the boy tried to follow up Gina's 'hi' with a formal introduction of the two. Looking straight at the yellow eyes of the little fella, Miles took both of his hands, slowly to his chest. "Meee, Myyy illsss" he said, slowly pronouncing his own name, then pointing to Gina and doing the same thing with her "Sheeee, Geee naaah".

Miles then slowly pointed to the goblin and asked "Youuu... whooo?" hoping to the heavens that 'yoohoo' did not mean 'We challenge you to war!' in goblinese.

The fierce battle of glances seized the will of all the presents, taking the ability to move away from them. The contestants were frozen in a silent demonstration of power, waiting for a jury to give its verdict. Even when he was very fierce, Guglin voted for the group formed by the man and his dogs. They were very intimidating. She could have won the first prize if not for her ever present smile and kind words. Of course that was her tactic to catch him but still that smile made her less intimidating unlike the goblin that was calm but showed his teeth with a mischievous smile.

Contrary to what Guglin expected, she was the first to break the short silence with a greeting. As if the audacity of the woman had given him courage, the man tried to follow her example, failing to become a crude imitation of a gorilla. The small green creature watched with amusement as the man put his hands to his chest, making a movement that Gug had seen many times in the past.

As the first noises came out of his mouth, Guglin moved his long ears in unison to capture and decipher the names of the humans that were very strange. When he received the last one, he could not avoid another amused smile. If there was something funny about meeting humans, was the fact they always liked to start an absurd contest to see who could speak slower. Bored by the lack of action from that verbal game, Guglin always let them win. Was there something about him that said he enjoyed that kind of boring games?

Then the long, pale man's finger aimed at him, demanding his identity. Guglin easily answered the question, breaking that stupid string of slow words he hated so much. "Guglin." Once he pronounced his own name in his peculiar high-pitched voice, the little monster raised his right hand to greet the group. He first looked at the woman and moving his hand from side to side, he pronounced her name. "Hi Gena." Then he stared at the man, repeating the process. "Hi ill boy."

Although that boring exchange of words seemed to be good for nothing but to annoy him, Guglin knew very well how things were with humans. He needed to earn his food with words and knowledge, and then eat. So, once the words were said, he advanced firmly toward the toast, without giving a second glance at the strawberry.