There was something about his intonation that struck Ida as odd, not that she could pin down why. But it was enough to make the young woman subconsciously tilt her head to the side, the way it always did when she encountered a bit of conflicting information. Politely of course, she did not comment on his poor academics. But he also seemed a bit… energetically awkward? The witch took another thoughtful sip of her drink, considering his friend and the fact that it was a joke. Ach, right. As usual, here she was reading into everything far too literally and too much completely, and he was simply being nice about it.

“Oh, well I might be reaching out to your friend,” she demured, now back to a bit more serious. This was a professional party occasion, after all, so she shouldn't be laughing so much anyway. It wouldn't serve her well to come off as too emotional around her peers. “I am interested in interviewing an even distribution of Animagi who are formally and self-taught in their transformation… If your friend happens to mention receiving a letter from a researcher about it, please let them know I’m not—” drat. There were truly limited options for turn of phrase here that sounded ladylike enough. Picking the least of evils, “—deranged, or anything like that,” she finished with a sniff and self-deprecating smile. The prospect of reaching out to strangers did not appeal to Ida, but this was an essential part of her work.

At what he said next, however, she was interested. If only on the basis that she didn’t realize there would be an entire spirit division. But it made sense, didn’t it, that it would take quite a pleasant person to deal with lost and restless souls bound to the mortal plane. “How on earth do you get a spirit to cooperate? It’s not as though you could threaten them with many consequences, can you?” It was genuine curiosity that furrowed her eyebrows rather than disturbance over the subject matter. Ida didn’t mind morbid, if it was also novel and interesting.

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