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Malodore trudged through campus with its head down, refusing to look up. It might look towards the demon dormitories and... no, no, it wasn't going to even think about that. No looking, no thinking. Nothing. Only the walk, one hoof in front of the other.

The walk to the monster dormitories was - thankfully - less familiar. It let itself in, turning slowly towards Jericho's room. It had to help the dragon, to do what it could to heal him. It could not lose any other friends to this madness. And some tiny, frightened part of it wanted to know what had become of Riley's demon mark, of the bond the two of them shared.

It was at the door. Steeling itself, it lifted one hand and knocked.

"Malodore?" Shehk was already there from having come to comfort Jericho herself as soon as she'd been able.

She'd said she was going to stay as long as needed, and that was what she'd done, remaining in her seat she'd taken up in the middle of the room. But seeing Malodore, she stood up to greet it. "Guess we had the same though." she greeted, lacking enthusiasm entirely. She was tired, emotionally, and it showed in her posture.

The four had become three in their active fight, and Shehk wasn't going to let it get any lower than that.

Jericho stared at Malodore, noticing its struggle right now. Nodding quietly, he stepped back before closing the door after it. He turned towards Shehk briefly, then back to the plague doctor.

"We... Welcome home.." he whispered before gently resting a hand upon its shoulder. Mal had to be in a great deal of pain right now. Possibly even more so than what he was feeling himself.

"C-come.. have a seat..."

There were no chairs. And his treasure was all over the floor now, but it would do.

"Thank you," Malodore said quietly in response to Jericho's invitation; it responded to Shehk's hug with a small shudder before lifting its arms awkwardly around her in a quick return embrace.

Then it sat down, not even clearing a place before settling itself on the debris-strewn floor. Shehk's presence meant that it wasn't going to be breaking the... telling Jericho anything new, for which it was deeply grateful. It wasn't sure where to begin, though, until Shehk mentioned quarantine.

Its wings flared with anger. "They - the bogeymen, they took her from me," it snarled, claws digging slightly into the floor. "I wanted to go with her, when they wanted to take her. I told them I was a doctor, a scientist, her mate, and they-" The bandages around its neck were still ragged, clearly displaying where both they and the neck below had been sliced through. "They responded only with violence. Not a word! And they took her from me!!"

The plague doctor hunched, its small wings sweeping around it as if for protection. It was shaking now, and its feathers chimed dissonantly against each other.

Shehk looked absolutely appalled. Again, she was reminded how it was her goal in life had become shattered so quickly by the company they were given. Boogeymen. How could they have ever had someone like Red in their ranks? Someone so good surrounded by those who just..

The pricolici rumbled with a low growl of disapproval as Malodore related its tale and what had happened to Riley after Shehk had been forced away from her.

"I do not trust them to take care of Riley as she should be." she growled, much more tame in comparison to her fuming draconic counterpart, but never the less unhappy with this news. The Boogeymen were using violence against their students now. They were getting out of control. She'd have to find some way to stop that too. "We will find out where they took her. They can't hide her as they think they can."

Shehk could follow a scent, even one that was a few days old like Riley's would have been near the Quarantine, so it was a matter of if the Boogeymen tried to throw her off of that. At least, she would have liked to think it was a possibility for her.

The growls coming from the dragon slowly ebbed away as his grief overtook his anger once more. His mood had been rather unstable as of late, leading to sudden and brief shifts in his actions. Jericho did not seem particularly pleased that Cricket had been brought in on the equation, but Malodore had a point.

"We suppose at this point it doesn't really matter who finds out anymore. We are doomed no matter what," he said, sounding rather hollow as he whispered it out. They weren't going to find Riley. As much as he wished for it, it just wasn't going to happen. It was the same as finding a cure for him. The only lead they had was something they couldn't easily obtain.

"There is no way for us to get a steady supply of direct human fear.."

Malodore's beak creaked open in a very small, wan smile. It was deeply relieved that Jericho was not angry with it. To have to deal with a friend's rage as well would have been difficult to bear. "I think that would be wise," it said, nodding to Shehk. "There may be others... I must find them, and assist them. No other will fall to this affliction," it repeated, clenching its fists again. "That includes you, my friend. I will not allow it."

Then it tilted its head at Jericho, slowly. "Direct... human fear? This is something you, ah, feel you require?" it asked, uncertainly. "Have you manifested any other symptoms?" The plague doctor's voice was soft, shaky on the edges. It was doing its best to be professional, to tend to the needs of its friends, but Malodore itself was very badly damaged - and determined not to show it.

Not directly, at least.

Shehk gave Jericho a look even as he grumbled, tail thumping against the floor, but not pressing it any further. He knew her opinion, she wasn't going to beat him into sharing it with her.

However, the information as it had been obtained from Invictus was curious, Shehk having to wonder about that. "Sounds like we might want to talk to those DETH people again to see if they could maybe hook you up with another one of those human-world trips? I don't know how much it would help, but it might be worth trying....?" Jericho had been there when they'd gone on that trip with that strange professor.

And it'd be a way that they could go on such a trip without it being questioned too heavily. A.... job-shadowing of sorts maybe?

"But only if you're comfortable with trying that option to see if it has any sort of results." she looked to Malodore again. "I'm really at a loss for how much we would be able to get away with before the Boogeymen found out and started to try and.. quarantine us again.