Welcome to Gaia! ::

Paperwork seemed to follow Taima wherever she went, whether it was notes for class, half-finished essays, or independent research. Today it had trailed after her to the creepateria, forming a semi-circle around her half-empty plate of fish sticks. However, unlike other days, this wasn't work to get ahead in her coursework--in fact, it wasn't related to anything scholastic.

Taima didn't claim to know the first thing about the insanity, but there had been so many more questions raised than answered that it suddenly seemed important to know more. These were notes on all that she had seen in the inverted Haunted House, from the appearance of the giant insanity monster to the sudden weaponization of students to the apparent resurrection of one of their own. She read over what she had written so far, occasionally swallowing a fish stick or amending her notes.

Taima offered Danny a tired grin as the other ghoul slid in beside her. "Hey, Danny." She didn't protest as Danny practically draped herself over her, merely adjusted her body so the taller ghoul didn't topple them both over. Physical contact was something she'd almost come to expect from the flame demon and, to be honest, today it was welcome. Not all of the people who had gone into the final chamber of the Haunted House had come out, making the presence of those who were still here that much more reassuring. She even took some notice that Danny's normally bright flame was somewhat duller today, but she was no mother hen. She patted Danny awkwardly on the back, immediately exhausting the full extent of her knowledge of how to comfort others.

She did push the plate of fishsticks closer, though, just in case. "I'm going over what happened in the Haunted House," she explained. "The messed up students, the path through the house, the giant fog monster, even the hunters losing their weapons--looking for the how and why of it." She watched as Danny looked over her shoulder and, puzzled, turned to look too. Nothing looked out of the ordinary to her. "What's up with you?"

"Who's Red?" There had been so many people Taima hadn't recognized, Halloween and hunter alike, but she didn't recall anyone being particularly red. Except for the lead hunter guy. He had leaked a nice shade of it. She took another fishstick as remembered it. If Danny wasn't going to eat them, she certainly would.

She watched the teachers get up and leave, trying to figure out what Danny found so fascinating about them. On one hand, it was Danny, so it was just as likely that the fire demon was distracted by something shiny on one of them as it was that the whole group of them was, in fact, doing something suspicious. On the other hand...well, it was Danny.

"A video?" Taima repeated, considering. That was actually a pretty good idea. Enough weird stuff happened at Amityville that it would make for some pretty interesting BooTube videos. Maybe next time. "No, these are just my own observations. I was there, just..." She trailed off, shifting uncomfortably. "In a non-combative role."

Taima quickly pushed her notes--and her lunch--out of the way as Danny flopped onto the table. "No," she replied, regarding Danny with the kind of focus she usually reserved for things she was about to eat. "My old school didn't believe in outside influences. Tell me everything."

Yes, Danny, Taima is totally going to eat you. Be afraid.

neutral

As a general rule, Taima took everything Danny said with a grain of salt because the demoness, while sweet and well-meaning, was also air-headed and tended to be overdramatic. She had never before heard Danny speak with anything in the same galaxy as seriousness, but that the other ghoul did so now lent a certain weight to this particular story that none of her other ones did. It made Taima listen more attentively to Danny than she would have normally. She found herself reaching out to squeeze Danny's shoulder consolingly as the tale wound down. For the incident to have taken so much of the spark out of the normally bright flame demoness even as a recollection a year later...

"It's okay," Taima said quietly when it appeared that Danny might become too lost in the question of how a supposedly dead teacher had risen, live and whole. "We're Halloween, right? We don't die, not forever. Maybe it just...took her longer to pull herself together." Taima hadn't been there, of course, and had only just now learned the real reason why the upperclassmen had seemed so shell-shocked. It explained a lot, though.

Taima withdrew her hand and crossed her arms over her chest. It was easy to transition from awkward comforting to the cold, hard facts now that her attempt at consolation had been rebuffed. This was more familiar to her, anyway. "Any of us has the potential to hurt someone on accident and on purpose," she pointed out. "But she was...killed once before. If it turns out that she's still a threat, I'm sure it could be done again."

"It can't be incurable and fatal if a teacher came back from it," Taima replied, exasperated. "Unless death is the cure, in which case it's not really death, it's more like...hm." Taima paused a moment, her attention turned inward as she replayed their conversation. "What if it's not really death?" She posited. "When Red turned to stone, what if it was just, like, some kind of stasis? Like her body protecting itself while it fought the Insanity infection? What if that is the cure?"

Taima was distracted from her speculation by Danny's minor freakout. "What? Tell who you said what?" Don't worry, Danny, your secrets were safe with Taima.

"But people have a right to know," Taima protested. "If this effects everyone--and if it's spreading among the student body, then it very well could--shouldn't we be doing all we can to raise awareness of it?" Her feathers fluffed in agitation. She hardly knew what Insanity even was, but if there was a chance that she, too, might one day turn into a big(ger) raging monster that could potentially harm others, she'd want to know so she could remove herself from the situation.

Or document her own symptoms. She wasn't picky.