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The professor in question was in the middle of something. Something that involved her talons and the edge of the vending machine. With a nonchalant stretch Red removed her hands from school property and began to riffle through her belt pouches.

"I mentored under one for a brief time," Red answered carefully as she withdrew a silver pumpkinseed. "I very nearly became one until the boogeymen took me away and demonstrated what exactly some of them do. Why do you ask? Do you seek to mentor beneath one?"

The answer was a definite maybe.

The professor blinked at the news, tilting her head to one side to consider the ghoul before her. "Aye. It was more for the tricking side of things, however. When I was a student, detention was my second dorm room. I always kept to the thin ice." A smile quirked at Red's lips, her attention drawn back to the vending machine.

"There was this fellow named Boss Lummox that fancied himself a criminal. He was one, actually -- he and his gang went around recruiting teenagers to do the dirty work for them. Y'know, a flash mob there, acts of violence and teenagery there. The Boogeys came to Amityville and gathered a few of us up and planted us in likely locations."

Red clicked her claws together, gesturing with her hands. "Thing is, Boss Lummox had bigger plans. It was one thing to use teens as a distraction. He had bigger plans. Have you been to other worlds?"

"Imagine a bright world. A world so bright that it hurt your eyes to look at it," Red began wistfully, her gaze going distant. "The grass beneath your feet is long and dark green, akin to the emeralds a dragon would keep only in their secret hoard beneath a sky so blue it took your breath away just looking at it. And the trees! The trees were so tall that you had to crane your neck back just to look up into the tallest branches, but it wasn't up that you were supposed to look."

Red cupped her hands together, the heels of her palms together as the tops of her claws formed a rough oval shape. "They varied in size and color. Each one was painted with care. Some were elegant pieces of art that a demon would sell their own kin to have whereas others held a charm and beauty as if they were painted by a scareling. Hidden within the grass and bushes were these... These eggs."

"Things from other worlds are very expensive and very hard to get. With the right Fear and the right spell, it's possible to place a... a seal of sorts on them to prevent them from warping due to Fear." Red continued, raising a cautionary hand. "But these items are also highly, highly illegal. Boss Lummox was going to bank on the trill of doing something illegal to make off with a lot of money, as well as use us to take the fall."

"But then!" Red clapped her hands together, "We were caught up in hunting for these eggs that we didn't realize some of us were disappearing, one by one. Soon, there were only a small handful of us left. Each and every one of us clutching a basket full of ill-gotten goods as we stood, back to back staring out into the foreign land with Boss Lummox wondering, waiting to see who would be taken next."

"I could feel the weight of someone pressing against my back," Red began slowly. "We were warned that things could happen; none of us imagined something like this. Before I could blink there was a sudden gust as the person I was back-to-back with vanished! Boss Lummox couldn't take it anymore. He broke and ran, leaving the rest of us to stare at one another."

The teacher swept her arm out to one side. "And off he ran! Crashing through the bush as if Jack himself was on fire and chasing after him! There was no way I was going to stick around. I dropped the basket, shifted, and ran after the jerk that brought us there in the first place."

"On and on we ran, him and I. Well, me chasing him. I didn't know what was going to happen and I didn't want to find out. But the thing is? We weren't alone."

"Picture something so that that it would be barely big enough to fit in this hallway," Red began as she swept her hand up to indicate the nearest vicinity, "You'd think that by looking at it the ground would quake with every step but no, this being was silent. You'd turn around and wham! There it was, looming over you!"

"Its eyes were bottomless voids that could entrap you with a single glance. Its teeth were long and strong enough to crush the sharpest of blades, its claws long and thick enough to disembowel you with a single flick," Red's index finger formed a hook-shape, going through the motion towards Hel's belly.

"We made the mistake of blinking. In an instant we were surrounded by these creatures. Boss Lummox shoved me at one in an attempt to get away. The nearest creature reached out, claws stretched to snatch at me then --"

WHAM!

Red's draconic tail slapped the side of the vending machine, making it shake and shudder. "From above came the boogeymen! They landed on their feet and filled in the gaps between the creatures, Fear ready to attack the Boss. Lummox didn't take kindly to them, but before he could blink? Wham!" Red's tail slapped the side of the machine again as she snapped her talons. "Who was last to fall but the Emerald Edge himself? And he landed RIGHT on top of Lummox, too! No ceremony, just a double-kick to the head and he was out. Arrest made, flawless capture!"

Red stared. She stared and stared at Hel as if Hel had suddenly decided to strip down and run around Amityville in nothing but a loincloth while shouting BOO RAUGH DAGH! at anything that moved. A faint sound akin to a squeak of disbelief came from her. "You... You don't know who..." Red slowly shook her head, shoulders slumping. "Ah, of course not. My heroes are probably really old in comparison to the ones you may have."

"As far as the rest..." Red scratched the back of her head, shrugging. "Emerald Edge made the arrest, the creatures wanted to arrest Boss Lummox and try him in their court while the Boogeymen objected to it. While they were busy arguing Boss Lummox started to sneak away with his handcuffs on. It was then that I knew that I had to step up and make the arrest myself!"

Red raised her fist, striking a pose before dropping it. "Except when I tackled him, one of the creatures reached out and grabbed me by the neck in one massive paw and Boss Lummox in the other. It was... short-lived, needless to say. It was a good lesson, though. Turns out that you can't sneak away from everyone. Although..." She trailed off, thinking. "Come to think of it, we never did find Boris after that trip."

The teacher fell silent, shifting from foot to foot before shrugging awkwardly. "It doesn't have that exciting of an end, but the lure of going to other Worlds and hunting down a criminal that didn't want to be caught had greater appeal to me than pranking and gathering Fear. Not to say that being a Trick or Treater comes with its own skills and perks, mind," she added quickly, "It just wasn't for me."

"Oh? Who said anything about sticking to the path?" Red grinned widely. "The path is a guideline. One can stick to it, run alongside it, veer off to create their own path, leave it and come back to it later or forge a new one entirely. What one seeks to do is up to them. Whether or not those I am now mentoring choose to heed my guidance about the path or strike out is up to them."

She shrugged, then leaned back as Hel asked. She knew of him; she also knew that he and Hel had dated before then broke up according to the grapevine. Red opted to not share that information with Hel. She wasn't quite the creepy teacher stalker. Yet.

"Aye. He has passed my interrogation and found worthy to train. However, whether he lasts through training or gives up remains to be seen. Is there something about him I should know?"