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West hadn't even realized it was possible to get fleas this time of the year. He supposed if any creature would manage it, it would be Master, his phoenix scareon. If it had been one of his armassum, he would have just abandoned it somewhere. Pets were pets, and they were all so horrible and needy and UGH! But this was Master. She had taken on a crazed horse... thing when she had only been a few weeks old, and her reign of badassery continued into the present. If anyone deserved a flea bath, it was her.

The scareon had allowed her owner to carry her from the Fitness Club's meeting room where he had hosed her down, but once they reached the demon dorms, she demanded to be released from his grasp with a loud screech and a lot of wiggling.

"Hold up... stoppit!" West muttered, wrestling with the towel-wrapped creature. He ducked into the demon common room, lowering Master onto one of the couches and holding her there as he vigorously toweled her off the rest of the way. "I dun see why y'can't jus' burn th'water off," he said as he continued drying the animal. Her fiery fur began to singe the edge of his towel, as if to prove his point.

The boil's hands stopped their abrasive scrubbing and he turned sharply, narrowing his eyes at the newcomer. Master took the opportunity to scramble away from the towel's confinement and hop up on the back of the sofa where she immediately began to groom herself. West turned back to the animal, briefly frowning at the phoenix scareon before glaring at the new demon once more.

"Dryin' my scareon, wassit look like?" he muttered, finally turning around fully. He dropped onto the couch to one side of the partially burned and now vacated towel, peering at the ghoul with what might have been termed "curiosity" if one was being kind. Truthfully, it was just distrust. She was the first new student he had seen up close since he had been repeatedly warned that trusting new students was Bad, and he wasn't about to make a fool of himself by unwillingly providing Hunters with information they didn't already have. Even so, if this ghoul was a Hunter, it seemed like it wouldn't hurt to show them exactly what they were up against.

"What're you doin'? he countered quickly, leaning forward a bit in his seat and struggling against his nature in an attempt to be observant. She had moths. A scareon too, but... lots of moths. Why? Would humans voluntarily surround themselves with bugs? He didn't know.

"Nice... moths."

"Hmm," he grunted in response to the ghoul's compliment. "If she is it's nothin' I've done," he said. "I jus' let 'er stick around 'cause she can hold 'er own inna fight." West's face brightened at this, a faint but proud smirk remaining on his lips as the other demon continued to speak. He had to admit... if this was a human, not only did they have a very talented costume designer, but they'd done their research. The courtesy, the properness, the very lengthy name--he was reminded of his mother and some of the demons she'd called his aunts, even though neither she nor his father had any sisters. He suddenly felt slightly twitchy, as if someone would burst out of the woodwork and scold him if he did something improper.

"West," he said, watching her bugs scurry about. The boil supposed he had to admit they were better than cuddly animals, despite the fact that they seemed to be doing quite a bit of cuddling. "Sure," he cautiously agreed. "Bugs're better than most." He stood, belatedly offering her a water-pruny hand to shake even though she had already curtsied.

"So," he said, suspicion giving way to genuine good old fashioned curiosity. "What y'think of Amityville?" As oblivious to most news as he was, West couldn't help but be aware of the kind of press the school had been getting lately. It was hardly flattering. He wondered how kids convinced their parents to let them come here at all nowadays.

Master abruptly ceased her furious grooming as if she somehow felt the other animal's stare. Her wide, golden eyes met the other scareon's, and she promptly hopped off of the back of the sofa and sniffed at him curiously before taking a seat nearby. She really didn't start fights unless provoked, despite what West seemed to imply, but as a mostly outdoor pet, she often had a lot to be provoked by. Master extended a paw, moving it toward the other scareon with the intention of poking at him in greeting.

When their shake was complete, West's hand retreated behind his back. He remained standing, a slightly wary expression on his face that seemed to suggest he didn't know what to do with himself now. He quickly came to realize he was being stared at by a multitude of shiny black eyes. The boil reached out a hand toward one of the moths, the hand that wasn't behind his back, but he pulled it away just as quickly. "Nah, that's okay," he muttered, his eyes on her litter bug. "You can jus'... yeah. I'm sure they're happier over there."

A slight huff of laughter escaped his lips, conveniently distracting him from his curiosity over the ghoul's pets. "Stimulating" and "varied" were two ways of looking at it, he supposed. She seemed so happy to be here amid the rumors and chaos, but then again, so was he. His last school had nothing on Amityville as far as the teachers or quality of the students were concerned, at least in West's opinion. Too bad that was something he would never admit out loud.

"The school's all right," he said instead. "Most of th'kids're annoying dumbasses, but that's everyone, really," he continued. If she'd ever been to the maul and paid any attention at all to the creatures there she would surely know what he meant. "Some're okay though. Friendly." He said the last bit rather sarcastically, but when he spoke next, his voice was back to its normal slightly angry gruffness. "Classes are okay too." He paused. "Mosta what I've learned here has been on field trips, actually." As if he had only just realized the fact that that was kind of weird, West shrugged. "Yeah. I dunno why."

He rolled his eyes at her silent suggestion that he take a seat, but a moment later he did so anyway. What else did he have to do right now? Prior to this, he had been voluntarily bathing his scareon for Jack's sake. Despite the fact that he had initially dismissed it, his mind lingered on the extremely slight possibility this ghoul was a Hunter. He didn't want to storm off if there was a chance he could get some information out of a human. West reached out toward the ghoul's Litter Bug again, rubbing at its ruff with a finger and resisting the urge to continuously poke at it to see if he could knock it from its perch.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Hands on." He thought about his agility training with Levi and how spectacularly he'd failed at making his way through that mysterious cave he'd found. West also thought about the R.A.G.E. boat and the various guns he had used and been injured by since he had started attending this school. He wasn't sure any of it would help him in the human world, but those experiences, even getting shot, had certainly been hands on and they had been fun. He supposed she was right. "But it's good. We hafta know how t'take care of ourselves when the humans come." He brushed at the Litter Bug again, watching Evelyne-Aglaya out of the corner of his eye and trying to gauge the ghoul's reaction to the mention of their mortal intruders. Too bad he was really crappy at being subtle.

Master, on the other hand, felt no such need for games and secrecy. The other scareon's timidity amused her, and she sat up straighter, drumming her front paws against the ground before settling back to stare at him again, her demeanor calm.

Oh, now that was no fun! It was more than a little bit amusing though. If Master had possessed the ability to grin, she surely would have done so in response to the butterfly scareon's timidity. Instead, she decided to back off a bit for the time being, retreating up the arm of the sofa closest to her demon. It might have been entertaining to continue teasing the other animal, but the phoenix scareon knew woody material when she saw it. Even though she couldn't recall a time when she hadn't been able to control what she burned, Master thought it would be best to stay away from her playmate while he was hiding behind a pair of potentially flammable limbs.

As the Litter Bug hopped onto his hand and curled its tail around his wrist, West gradually stopped petting the animal, his entire body going still as the rest of the bugs began investigating him as well. It made him feel as though he had contracted a swiftly moving skin fungus, and even though there was nothing wrong with contracting a creeping skin fungus, West wasn't accustomed to it. He focused on the other demon's question rather than her laughter, equally as concerned as Master that one wrong move by the scareon and set the place alight.

"Danger'us, sure," he agreed. "Kinda... stupid too." He had always been too busy kicking and/or running from Hunters to contemplate their relative smarts, but really? They always seemed to be following orders. And there was that time he had just landed on that one and it had kind of exploded. He smirked and distractedly resumed his Litter Bug petting. "Yeah, they've killed us all a lot," he continued. "But we come back most of the time. Y'know, Halloween'll never die n'all that."

West didn't actually believe the mantra everyone had been chanting at Red's memorial, but it seemed as good a time as any to bust out a bastardized version of it. Give the ghoul a little hope.

For a moment, West wondered if he had said something more objectionable than usual when the moths froze in place. He didn't respond again at first, not even when the ghoul asserted her faith in Halloween and its citizens. He wasn't quite sure what to think of their chances overall, but he was at least determined to remain alive as long as he was able.

"Yeah," he said cautiously. "It would be like... tryin' t'kill all th'humans're somethin'." Impossible. He smoothed his expression to neutral in response to her smile. Contemplating the end of everything he knew was not something he normally spent much time doing, and doing so now left him itchy somehow.

Master might have hesitated at burning an entire demon, but a gang of moths gave her no pause at all. She batted at the bugs, golden eyes wide with glee, at least until West grabbed her paws and lifted her into the air by them, flipping her onto her back in his lap.

"Stoppit," he ordered, voice low. "Y'can't smack 'round other demon's stuff, y'bit..." He trailed off, glancing back up at his companion guiltily. One did not call a scareon a b***h in proper company. Master hissed, and he responded by covering her face with his palm.

"I, um, think I should go?" he said, remaining seated as he continued containing the struggling minipet. West didn't want to just leave, but burning down the demon dorms probably wasn't the best idea either.