Molotov, Eve, Velocity - Triptych Students from the Age of Dinosaurs!

"I have an idea!" Eve said.

It always started that way. Even though her Tripper companions were known as the wild ones, she almost always came up with all the basics of their antics. They were just both crazy enough to go along with practically anything she wanted to do.

This time, it was to get Molotov elected Class President. Now, to be fair, there had been weirder Class Presidents in the past. Plenty of them. Even before Carramba was known as a galactically-available, magically-viable campus, it had some pretty bizarre people attending.

They'd been attending Carramba since their Freshman year, so they knew a lot of people. They had their own circles of influence. Molotov was actually a popular student, and not just because he could intimidate the crap out of almost anyone - student or staff. Molotov had a kind of charm that meant he was always chosen to run interference whenever distraction was needed. Well, that and he habitually stood taller than the Math building and breathed fire...

Students like them, shapeshifters, were required to maintain as much of a typically-humanoid appearance as possible during classes. Unless the class required them to shapeshift of course, or utilize some of their natural abilities. Half of Molotov's instructors didn't even realize that he wasn't just a normal grey-looking alien. He was polite and attentive during classes, enough so that Rich McPanda was impressed by his Tea Ceremony skills. It was Velocity that was the twitchy one, though he was able to pour on the charm and attract darn near any girl around. Velocity was not known to be able to salvage an already-botched operation, except for the ability to run the hell away if need be. Eve... Well, Eve was their plotter and their backbone. Plus, she was able to use any given power that the trio had among them, up to and including monstering out into her own Triptych at a massive scale.

So it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to get Molotov on the ballot. Eve designed some badges and pins to distribute, handed them off to Velocity and within an hour, half the school had them. Molotov shook hands with everyone between classes, performed fire breathing tricks at lunchtime, even offered to show off his massage skills learned in his class with Zoeller after school.

The only problem was their competition. There were two other entrants to this ever-so-important popularity contest. Vance Rapier, the superhero known as the Unstoppable Glacier in his spare time, and Loopey the Zekiran - Iiliuupiu, a Dragon Master on her world. Both of them would put up some stiff competition - stiff but fair, knowing that Vance's reputation was on the line if he cheated, and Loopey was under constant scrutiny by the instructors to keep from using her powers against people. So it would have to be brains versus brains, charm versus charm.

They dug in and had a think-tank session about how to deal with this. It was three weeks until the election. Classes had barely started a couple weeks before, but everyone had largely settled in and had a good routine. So Velocity would watch for habits of certain people - his photographic memory was good for that. He noted which classes their competition shared (Fur-side Studies, that gave Loopey the advantage since she was more overtly non-human than either Molotov or Vance) and how each of their campaigns were going. His speed was vital there, since everyone knew he was on Molotov's camp.

Molotov had Betting and Odds with Loopey, while Velocity trained with Vance occasionally in their Security Assistance course. And to be fair, both Velocity and Eve preferred the competition with Vance, over Loopey. The Zekiran could pull some harsh tricks, she was known to use whatever skill or power was at her disposal to win in other events. But she was also deadly clever, and had apparently scored a lot of points with her dedicated interest in local politics and history as well as the Furries.

"But... we're furries too," Molotov said, shifting gently from his humanoid shape into a more accessably-sized kangaroo. "And she's not even really furry, those tentacles of hers are just a mutation, aren't they?"

Eve tapped her chin, "so they are..." She fell silent, thinking about what groups they could sway best.

"Vance is a stand-up guy," Velocity pointed out, "I'd rather try swiping votes from Loopey than him, just because he's a hero."

"Right..." Eve picked at her teeth with a claw, "right... One thing they don't have is the 'nobody' vote."

"... The nobody?" Molotov asked, still in kangaroo form, with his long ears flopping at angles.

"Yeah," Eve explained, "the kids who don't even care what they're ticking off when they get the ballots. They're not paying any attention."

Velocity looked at Eve with a glint in his eye. They both looked at Molotov, whose muzzle suddenly broadened into a very toothy grin - and a lick of flame escaped his lips. "I can make them pay attention, can't I."

It took another day to get around campus and decide what aspects of school life affected those 'nobodies'. Some were bookish, some were dumb jocks, others were even outcasts and 'losers' who ignored things because they were being ignored right back.

"I can get your voices heard," Molotov said in Speaker's Square, stalking around as a miniature t-rex. The plaid-wearing un-hip 'Textiles Club' had just gotten out and could be heard muttering that no one ever took them seriously. They perked up a bit, unsure of what to make of it, as people usually just mocked their bad fashion sense. "Textiles are everywhere," Molotov said, having heard one of them a day or so before say such a thing. "And who wants to just wear... silk or something, like Loopey does, when there's burlap and linnen and wool to experience?"

Everything Molotov said, sounded so true. Whether he was talking to the Chess club or the BookBindersBunch, he always had something good to say about the group, as well as delightful suggestions of what he could do while in office to help their causes. Velocity took notes, mentally, making sure that if they did win this for him, he didn't screw up later and forget everything promised.

That was the key though: he didn't really promise anything much. But he suggested things, and got many involved that had no interest otherwise. Pretty soon it became clear that Loopey was going to pull something out of her tentacles to combat this. Both Molotov and Vance were surprised when it was... a dragon!

"Now, she's only a baby, so be careful around her," Loopey said with a broad, mostly-sincere looking smile. "She's a Forest dragon, they're a bit shy. Oh of course I don't ride them, they're meant to fight for us!"

Even Vance was a bit put off by this. Pretty much anyone who was anyone had a dragon, right? And she certainly considered herself 'someone'.

"Dragons... Dragons..." Eve paced. Occasionally a flicker of her dark Jackal shape would appear, and she kept the horns from her goat form almost constantly. She'd already arranged for the local vampires and satanists to vote for Molotov, 'his fire won't burn you' was the slogan for that rally.

"Zekiran dragons aren't ... well, they're not like the ones in classes here," Molotov pointed out.

"Yeah," Velocity said, perking up and letting his nervous claw tick at the floor. "Yeah, they're pretty much just animals, and what's more, they're used for fighting things - isn't that like... illegal?"

"They don't fight each other," Eve said. "But that is a good point. She's a Dragon Master - she's not its partner, or even its friend..."

Velocity wrote that down, scribbling quickly as Eve brainstormed again. He stopped when she said:

"We should get dragons, proper dragons, then. It'd show everyone what a real dragon could be."

Not unsurprisingly, Vance turned out to have had a similar idea. All four of them showed up at the Dragonry Prep office early in the morning, to check up on where they might be sent in order to achieve this goal.

Hollis stood in the doorway, watching them. They had their good points: they were all basically good kids, Eve a little shifty but meaning well for her and her friends. Vance, well he was as upstanding as they came - Hollis didn't doubt for a moment that the human Hero boy could bond. But... a t-rex? Well, to be fair, Molotov wasn't a big violent idiot like that one kid years back who monstered out during a football game and it had to be completely cancelled because the field caught on fire.

So Hollis looked over their applications with more than just a casual eye. He couldn't play favorites of course - as an instructor he had to maintain neutrality. So ... they did look as though they'd all make reasonable bonds or even sponsors. "I think I have a good spot for you three," Hollis appraised some paperwork. "It's actually got dragons that might even be related to some of ours, distantly anyway."

They perked up, though he did glance at Vance, "though you I think will be headed elsewhere, don't worry."

Akelara turned out to have several big clutches on its vast sands, and there were other dragons already there... to bond? So, sure of themselves now, the Trippers felt like they could be themselves. Though it was a little weird for Velocity, since he turned frequently to she on those very warm sands!