Welcome to Gaia! ::

Malodore walked out through the doors to the auditorium and kept going, until it could no longer make out distinct voices. Now the prom was just a dull roar in the background, a faint glow throwing small shadows back from the tree it finally settled against. Nobody would bother it out here. It could consider things calmly... or, at least, in a calm setting.

As if confirming its arrival in a 'safe' location, its phone buzzed again. It produced the device, still wary. Riley - or possibly 'Riley' - again-





... It frowned, inwardly. Would anyone other than the genuine Riley have thought about that? It had indeed taken her bed things... and now that it thought about that, well... it was kind of creepy. But it had thought she was dead! She had been dead! And now she comes back and has strange texts on her phone and it had stolen her bedsheets and oh, Jack, she was going to think it was a maddened stalker. The plague doctor groaned and slumped to the ground, covering its lenses with its free hand.

... Another text.



...

Now it was just nonplussed. It hunched over its phone, composing its own response.



What didn't come across, of course, was the long pause after writing I would like to see you. It had no claim on her. It didn't. Memories were just that, memories. And yet it wanted her, wanted her so much that it was frightened by that want, that need. It would be so easy for that desperate love to twist into something worse, something sick and foul. Something tainted.

It was not going to let that happen.

... And it was not going to tell her about the bedsheets.

Malodore remained still, brow furrowed underneath its mask as it wrestled with its own emotions. After what felt like a small eternity, the buzzing of its phone brought it back to itself.



It closed its eyes again for a moment. A test, was it... and a Bogeyman was with her. If they were daring something like that, then surely... surely she was stable enough that its own emotional turmoil would not be a danger to her? It was just one person, after all, and they were going to take her into a room containing most of the student population. Some of whom were going to be very surprised to see her...

... well.

It took another deep breath and let it out, slowly. It would have to talk to her, if she were willing to hear it - to clear away some of these maddening assumptions that were only fueling the storm of emotions within it. To find out where they stood, and then move forward based on facts. It was not sure if she would be willing, but... well, if she weren't, that would be its own answer, wouldn't it?

Better to know, and deal with that, than to guess at half-truths. It straightened and tapped out another message before getting to its feet.