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Hellu stoodents! Yuoo mey nuteece-a thet I smell deefffferently tudey. Thet is becoose-a I em tryeeng a noo culugne-a. It mekes me-a smell munly.

Tudey's Menoo Is:

-Cheeckee Permeseun

-Speenech und Erteechuke-a Dip

-Speghettee

-Seled

-Cheeseceke-a

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Walter had actually, amazingly, slept late, and was just waking up as he wandered his way into the cafeteria and grabbed some of everything for lunch. Even the spaghetti, which was the first time he'd touched the stuff since shooting it from his fingertips.

He found his usual window seat and sat down to stare vacantly out the window.

Research was hungry work, and Nadia didn't have time to cook, so she headed for the cafeteria. She grabbed some of everything, added a bit of hot sauce (though she was too distracted to add her usual amount), and headed over to find a seat.

She did all of this while only barely looking up from her notes. What could possibly be the connection?

Walter caught sight of Nadia and waved her over. He looked curiously at the papers she had with her. "What's going on? Workshop project?"

Nadia shook her head. "I wish. We seem to have a ghost problem on campus." Nadia set the notebook down and turned it so Walter could see what she'd written:

People who definitely have ghosts:
Alphonse - his mom
Veronica - Aaron Echolls (tried to kill her)

People who probably do, according to the radio:
Archie - talking to someone, refrenced being haunted - Jack?
Bel - talked to people about ghosts, seemed distracted
Molly - seemed to be talking to someone, bad dreams
Draco - talked to himself
Lana - ran out of Scoobying, talked to herself
Tyler - "joins the ranks of the agitated"
Joxer? - acting weirder than usual last night

"That's just what I know so far. I'm trying to figure out if there's a connection."

Walter scanned the list and frowned, partly at himself for failing to notice anything wrong with Alphonse. "When did you find this out? How long has it been going on?"

"Yesterday. And as far as I know, only for a ocuple of days. I ran into Alphonse yesterday morning, and talked to Veronica about it last night at Caritas, before you and Blair got there. Al and Veronica are both really upset by it. I'm just trying to see if I can help."

"Of course. Who else knows? Is this supposed to be a secret?" That explained the I'll talk to you later look Nadia had given him before.

"Sort of? I don't know. I didn't feel comfortable talking about Al's haunting to Veronica last night. It just seems really . . . private. But it's all over the radio, now." She shrugged looking back down at the notebook. "I also didn't want to ruin Blair's first night of drinking."

Walter nodded and looked the list over again. "If it's all started in about the same time, that sounds like a connection right there. Are you working alone so far, or do you have any help?"

He smiled tightly. "I'm better at action than research, but if there's anything I can do to help, anything at all..."

"I'll let you know." She tapped her pen against the page again. "I haven't really talked to anyone else about it, yet, and Veronica's too distracted to really research right now. I'm going to head to the library this afternoon. This is more important that learning to be an entertainer." Her mind was still whirling. Why these people? Why not everyone else?

"If I can, I'll speak to Alfred about it tonight. Perhaps he'll have some ideas. I'll keep my phone with me at work, if anything comes up, call me."

He tapped the paper to get her attention and tried to frame his next request in a way that wouldn't annoy her. "Don't go try to kill anything without me. I know you can take care of yourself, but don't deny me a chance to fight, alright? I need the practice."

"Considering the fact that ghosts are already dead, that shouldn't be a problem." Nadia smiled ironicly. "But I'll try, okay?"

"Fair enough." He smiled back and touched her hand. "If I can, I'll come by the library this afternoon to see if I can be any help."

"Thanks. We'll probably need all the help we can get. I just wish I knew how to get everyone organized."

"If all these people are being haunted and don't know that they're not alone, starting with them would help. How else are you going to determine how they're connected?"

"I guess. I just want to make sure I have something to tell them, first."

"'You aren't the only one' seems like a good start. I would worry that I was losing my mind if my parents came to haunt me. Or someone who'd tried to kill me."

"Yeah, you might be right." Nadia added another note to the bottom of the page about the fact that, apparently, Anakin could see Aaron Echolls.

Walter raised his eyebrows at that one. "That's helpful. That confirms that it's a haunting, or at least something outside Veronica's head, rather than a group of students all hallucinating."

Nadia nodded. "Apparently he said the ghosts can't hurt people. Well, not physically, at least."

"Yeah, but I can't imagine that being haunted by someone who wanted to kill you is a good thing."

"No," Nadia said softly. "It really doesn't seem like it is."

"Nobody here is left on their own." Walter squeezed her hand. "We both know that. I'll help any way I can."

Pippi slid into a seat at her friends table with her lunch.

"Hey."

"Hey Pippi." Nadia looked over her food, realizing she wasn't really very hungry. "How are you?"

[ooc: and since Pippi and Nadia don't talk about the ghost stuff until after lunch in the library, we must tread carefully.]

"Hey Pippi." Walter let Nadia's hand go and turned back to his food.

"How are things?"

"Hey Nadia, hey Walter. It's... Been good, for me anyway."

Nadia nodded, still looking down at her notebook. She glanced over at her food. "Hey, sorry, guys. I'm not as hungry as I thought. I'm going to get to the library."

"Alright." Walter made a note to bring her something. "I'll see if I can get there later."

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