Impressive kid. Any guesses about what's wrong with his brother such that he doesn't just come back to school?

Not yet. I'm gonna head to his house after school; if the brother's still hanging out there then I guess we'll find out.

She doesn't get access to the basement the first time they hang out, but it doesn't take her very long. Maybe she has a trustworthy face. When Chris does, eventually, admit to having reanimated the dead, and subsequently introduce her to his brother Daryl, she's..... underwhelmed.

     "Don't look at me," says Daryl, with entirely more feeling than Karen thinks is really necessary.

"It really doesn't look that bad."

     "I'm hideous. My own mother hasn't seen me, do you know what it would do to her?"

"You're... I mean, you're a little discolored and a little less symmetrical, but so are lots of normal people who haven't died, you know?"

     "No one could love a face like this. What, could you?"

Paging Alex. I think I'm being asked out by a zombie. I really didn't have a plan for this situation.

You have that whole religion, right? Isn't that a good way to let guys down easy? I'm on my way -

I mean he's not a dangerous zombie. Probably. He's just gonna make me look super uncool. I'm pretty sure you can't save me from uncoolness.

"I feel like... I mean, there are lots of people out there with diseases and stuff, you know? But like - you're alive, you know? You might not be, you know, the most popular kid in school anymore, but - you can watch movies, and you can go see sunsets, and - maybe you have to wear a ski mask or something, although honestly I think people will mostly be too polite to stare, and - you don't actually have to hide in this basement indefinitely, you know?"

Daryl does not seem super appeased by this.

What's even the problem, is it something cosmetic surgery can handle?

Honestly it looks like it? He's mostly concerned about how ugly he is. It's not even that bad. I guess everyone does know that he's dead and stuff, which sort of complicates things logistically, but - and we don't know that the effect will hold up if he leaves the Hellmouth -

Yeah I guess there's that. Uh, suggest plastic surgery anyway? Having logistics be the barrier to your dreams can be a lot nicer than having it be something that doesn't look doable, even if the logistics are a headache.

She tentatively approaches the sobbing zombie.

"Look. Even if you think nobody's gonna talk to you now - which I bet you is false - plastic surgery exists now? I feel like there are multiple solutions to your problems. You just need some help."

     "Well how?" demands Daryl. "What, are you going to help me?"

"Yes," says Karen, after not very long of a pause at all. "I will help you."

Sooo, do you have a plastic surgeon and therapy for kids who have died stashed next to the anti-aircraft missiles?

Those sound like things money can buy, so, yeah, we got that. 

Bet I can get you Chris's lab notes for them.

Well done.

So she convinces Chris to let her borrow his notes, conditional on her getting help for his brother.

Jack O'Toole is less straightforward to investigate, given that nothing he says makes sense and also he somehow still has his knife, despite repeatedly threatening students with it on school grounds. It's kind of mysterious. Maybe he gets away with it because he's a zombie. 

"So he's definitely a different kind of zombie than Daryl. More than that is sort of hard to say. I felt like we were getting somewhere, but in hindsight we weren't really, and that is when he thrust the knife at me, and that is when I kidnapped Katie."

"Is Katie actually sentient or is that just a game he's playing?"

"Oh it just has a name. I think. Gosh, I really hope it's not alive. I think people just name their knives sometimes."

"That's probably all it is but just in case I know a way to check."

She hands over her kidnapped knife.

He pulls something out of a desk drawer. It looks like an elaborately embroidered handkerchief with little beads in it. He passes it over the knife. "Not a person!"

"That's good. And she's away now. So I guess if he sees me again and is upset about it he'll have to just punch me."

"Is problem-solving skills part of the Slayer powerset or are you just good at that all by yourself?"

"...I dunno. I never really tried to solve any problems before."

"It's the only way they get solved, far as I can tell. I got you a cookie." It is melty on the inside.

"Aww!" Best coach trainer telepathic alien bodyguard person ever. "I only half-solved the zombie thing, though. Any progress with Daryl? Oh, and the possessed cheerleader thing?"

"Uh, Daryl has a therapist and we'll cover plastic surgery if he and his brother can come up with the first two thousand dollars since it seemed good for Chris to get a job that isn't bustling around Daryl's sickbed and allows him to look out for him - not my call, I outsource people stuff. I'm gonna ask Amy to stay after class and unpossess her then because I want to be able to support post-possession Amy and explain what happened and so on."

She nods seriously. "Does that clear out the sidequest queue, after that? Back to generally becoming less killable and possibly figuring out the vampires thing?"

He still needs to seduce a guy who will be willing to show up at the Tuesday archery class he's now running and be affectionate in public like it's not a big fucking deal actually, no one here will edit your brain for it. 

"Yeah, that's all the sidequests. Michael and I have been spending the weekends filling the sewers with crosses, if you want to join us for that."