[b]Dieter Bauer[/b]

Dieter spun around with a slight startle as he heard someone address him from behind, the voice soon followed by another that even spoke his name. Upon turning, he found himself staring at two familiar figures, and it didn't take him long to connect their faces with names and talents. After all, one of them was one of the few people he'd actually somewhat interacted with, so far; Morgan, and the other the girl who had spoken rather loudly during the chaos earlier, Edie. The latter sounded rather forceful, and that made Dieter take a step back in reflex. In contrast, the Super High School Level Magician, much like the liar guy he'd talked to earlier, seemed way too chipper considering the situation. It was suspicious and just a bit unsettling. And now he was alone with them both. Crap.

He cast his gaze low, not really sure what to answer to Edie. A simple "Sorry, I was just... looking... around?" Was all he could muster in the end.

What bothered him even more than the awkward situation itself, though, was Morgan's naivety when it came to poisons. The ignorance tugged at something within the boy's mind, urging him to pipe up until he could no longeer help himself.

"Not an effective form of torture?" Dieter repeated out of the blue after Morgan had already moved on to other things, his usually timid voice having taken a somewhat sharp, deep turn somewhere along the line. There was an excited grin-like expression dancing on his face, one normally rather uncharacteristic of someone as meek as he was. But when it came to talking about his job, he couldn't really help it. "You couldn't be further off the mark!"

He crossed his arms and rested his back against the counter behind him. "Getting poisoned is extremely painful, both mentally and physically. Depending on the poison used, your body could be trying to fight off death for hours, all the while gradually breaking down at its core. Breathing will get increasingly difficult, your skin may change colors and swell... oh, and in many a case your heart rate will fluctuate as if you're about to experience a heart attack, only the symptoms will last longer and there's no quick death to save you. There can be changes in behaviour, as well as extreme cases of vomiting, diarrhea and of course, bleeding - both internal and not. Then there's acid..."

He shrugged his shoulders. "And that's just the physical side of it. Mentally, it's arguably just as taxing. You [i]know[/i] you've been hit with something deadly, and as the symptoms grow worse, you know where your body is headed. Imagine cases where you can actually see your skin change color as the poison advances. Sometimes, you can feel the poison moving in your veins. You know it's there, you know you're about to die - but you can't do anything about it. Of course, that hasn't stopped some victims from trying; I had one trying to scratch out his skin and muscle to get to his veins. That ended badly."

Dieter chuckled, stopping for a while as if to relive the memory, eyes cast up into the ceiling like he was viewing a movie. And then, as quickly as his change in behaviour had come about, his peculiar voice and expression were gone, returned back to his usual, scaredy-cat self. And he instantly let out a small peep.

"Ah! Um, s-so..." He mumbled, fingers tapping against each other from nervousness. Morgan had acted like he wasn't there, and the other girl hadn't bullied him so far and now... now he had probably grabbed both of their attention again. Great. Wonderful. "Poisons aren't... a-all that ineffective.. um..." He looked up at the other students, nervous. "Right?"