Bad Dream Girl

**Bad Dream Girl** is an InCryptid short story. It is second, chronologically, in the Antimony Shorts, but it can be read as a standalone.

## Synopsis

Growing up as the youngest of three is never easy. Doing it when your brother is a genius and your sister is a world-class ballroom dancer is even harder. Doing it as the latest in a long line of cryptozoologists, monster-hunters, and fugitives? Borderline impossible. Maybe that's why Antimony Price needs to blow off steam every once in a while. Her extracurricular activity of choice? Roller derby.

Under the name "Final Girl," Antimony Price skates for the Slasher Chicks, a flat-track roller derby team and part of the larger Silver Screams derby league, skating out of Portland, Oregon. She never expected work to follow her onto the track, but now derby girls are collapsing, and someone could be seriously hurt if the cause isn't uncovered in time. But no pressure.

With the help of her cousins Elsie and Artie Harrington, and her friends on the track, can Antimony prove that she chose the right derby name, and really make it to the end of the bout? Because this Final Girl is in one hell of a lot of danger...

## Plot

Antimony attends roller derby practice, where Fern shows off her sylph density tricks. After practice, Elsie gives Annie a ride home. They grab some milk and cookies and share with the Aeslin mice.

On Friday, they participate in an inter-league match. Another team's player has a suspicious injury that Annie thinks may be cryptid-caused, but she isn't sure what kind. Later, when play resumes and the teams are warming up, Annie introduces herself to the Rose Petals captain Cylia and asks about the mysterious player, Adrienne. After the match, Annie looks up the player's stats and discovers a long history of injuries in the bouts she played. At home, Annie does further research and gets information from Artie as well.

A few weeks later, she watches another injury appear while Adrienne is on the track. Afterward, Adrienne offers to drive Annie home. She confronts Annie for asking around about her and leaves Annie by the side of the road.

The next day, Annie asks her team captain for a spot on the All-Star team in order to deal with Adrienne. Elmira agrees. The All Star roster goes up at practice and Annie is congratulated.

At home, Annie's parents minimize her involvement in roller derby and the threat of Adrienne. Annie figures out that Adrienne is a mara and creates a neutralizing concoction, in the form of perfume, for when they play.

During the All Star game, Annie bumps against Adrienne to get the perfume on her. Adrienne is pissed, but the other cryptid players back Annie up. Carlotta effectively bans Adrienne from ever playing roller derby again.

## Characters

* Antimony Price
* Elsinore Harrington
* Fern Conway / Meggie Itwasthewind
* Carlotta / Pushy Galore / Carly
* Arthur Harrington
* Elmira Street
* Bear-ly Legal, Bad News Bears player
* Shomi d'Money, Concussion Stand blocker
* Adrienne / Ivana Cutya
* Cylia Mackie / Triskaidekaphilia / Trisk
* Marnie, derby girl with a pool
* Kevin Price
* Evelyn Price

**Mentioned**

* Jane Harrington-Price
* Theodore Harrington
* Sarah Zellaby
* Verity Price
* Alex Price
* Princess Leya-You-Out

## Field Guide

* Sylph
* Lilu / Incubus / Succubus
* Mara
* Chupacabra
* Aeslin Mice
* Fricken

**Mentioned**

* Cuckoo
* Oread
* Lesser gorgon
* Pliny's gorgon

## Locations

* Portland, Oregon
	+ Price compound
	+ Roller derby warehouse

**Mentioned**

* Manhattan, New York City
* Columbus, Ohio

## Organizations

* Roller Derby Community
	+ Pacific Northwest Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association
		- Silver Screams league, Portland
			* Slasher Chicks
			* Concussion Stand
			* Block Blusters
			* Stunt Troubles
		- Poisoned Garden league, Wilsonville
			* Rose Petals
		- Beaverton Honeys, Beaverton
			* Bad Idea Bears
		- Coastal Cruisers league
		- Grim Grinning Girls (league or team?)
	+ Colorado teams
		- Rocky Mountain Rocketeers
		- The NCOs
	+ Wisconsin teams
		- Cheesetopia
	+ Toronto teams
		- Maple Griefs

**Mentioned**

* Covenant of St. George

## Continuity

* Adrienne returns with a vengeance in Magic for Nothing
* Per description of Sarah, appears to take place before Midnight Blue-Light Special
* Antimony is all about Emerald City Comic Con

## Trivia

* The league contains at least half a dozen identified cryptid players, possibly more.
* Succubi and incubi can sense each other, but not lilu of the same sex.

## Quotes

* "Sometimes, being a cryptozoologist means admitting that monsters have a right to exist, no matter how much you might disapprove of them. From there, it's just a matter of minimizing the damage that they can do."

### Aeslin Lore

* The Festival of Giving a Mouse a Cookie

### Epigraph

* **Alice Healy:** "There are three parties involved in any conflict: you, your opponent, and the terrain. Get the terrain on your side as fast as you can. If that means bribing a mountain, well. Stranger things have happened."

### Pop Culture

* Antimony makes nerdy references such as Emerald City Comic-Con, the Hulk, My Little Pony, World of Warcraft, Capcom video games (i.e. Street Fighter), and comic book artist Warren Ellis.
* Artie references Glee when Annie is discussing regionals.
* Someone, at some point, introduced the mice to the children's story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. They made a festival of it.