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The place felt odd, his stitches chafing almost as badly as they had in Christmas Town as he shouldered his shovel, intent on following the sounds of voices- there were definitely other students here. Mistress? He called out mentally, hopeful his Mistress would indeed hear him if she was close. Hurrying his pace, he was sure he could make out figures....

"Thanks, LW," Ren said, smiling warmly at the werewolf. "But I'm fine. Gabrian only weighs a couple thousand pounds (what have you been eating lately, anyway?), so I'm okay.

"Also," he added, jabbing a finger at the snake. "Quit yer whinin' up there. I know you'd rather be carried than be trampled on by the crapton of students meanderin' around here, so just shaddup and take it, mmkay?"

However, Ren was momentarily distracted from needling Gabrian more (it was rapidly becoming one of his favorite pasttimes) by a familiar voice wafting through the fog.

"Alessa?"

Peering through the thick fog, he could make out the slender form of the nagual stumbling through towards their little motley group. Ren took a step towards her, reaching out to grasp her wrist and keep her from falling, or going too far. "Alessa," he said again, a frown crossing his face as he took in her distressed expression. "Hey, you okay? We're all here - " He gestured towards LW, then halfheartedly towards Gabrian, indicating the rest of the students around them as well. " - be careful of your step - "

This time it was an unfamiliar voice that reached his ears. Keeping their little foursome together, one hand still steadying Gabrian, the other holding Alessa's wrist (LW was holding onto the nix as well) Ren turned his head towards where he thought it was coming from.

The source of the voice was a ghoul; but not just any ghoul - she did not look...normal. Ren was not quite sure as to why he thought that, but there was just something...different about her; something strange.

And she was staring right at him.

"Er," said Ren.

"Where exactly are we?"

Kasumi blinked and sighed. "You're very right. But then again, what should we do? Should we just... start walking parallel to the gray thing instead, maybe?" The ghost was about to turn around when something big and yellow and noisy stopped somewhere near them. She took a few steps backwards and stood very still, wondering if she could indeed phase out of sight even for a moment to do some spying. Before she could put her plan into action, however, the big yellow thing deposited two very odd-looking individuals who looked straight at Ren and Gabrian.

The ghost froze completely.

After the strange woman spoke and turned around, it occurred to Kasumi that maybe it did work! Maybe she could be invisible! But when she faced the others, they looked right at her. Obviously if they could see her, so could everyone else, right? Kasumi turned back to the people from the Big Yellow Thing and blinked.

"Did they just... not... see us? And it's not just because I'm a ghost. How... unusual." she said aloud. She turned to Ren. "It seems to me like we're all... invisible here? Or did I just misinterpret that entire exchange?"

It was worth a guess!

"I'm not whining!" Gabrian hissed, still rather comfortably perched on top of Ren's head, "Dear Jack, forgive me for trying to be nice. I won't make that mistake twice," a pause, and then a scaly frown followed, "And for your information, I am not fat, birdbrain, I'm just big. I'm a serpent, not a snake," he sounded much more annoyed than he really was; after all, this was still part of their daily routine and not only familiar but calming in such a strange place as this. He also didn't want to point out that he was actually small for a serpent, and that he was looking into trying to accentuate his growth. It was one of the things he hoped school would help him with.

Alcyone's voice caught his attention and he turned his head, seeking the ghoul out. When his gaze landed on her, he slithered his tail and then wrapped it around her wrist, giving her a small tug, "Alcy? Are you quite alright?" and of course, it was right around then that he heard Alessa's voice calling out too; he'd been hoping at least she'd managed to stay out of this ordeal, but it looked like she'd had no such luck. Seeing as how Ren seemed to have the situation mostly under control, he contented himself with letting go of Alcyone's wrist and peering down at Alessa from his perch, blinking owlishly at her. He allowed his eyes to hood over and his tongue to slip out and back in several times when the Gryphon pointed at him, "Don't be so rude, Ren. You're the one who-"

He cut himself off as the unfamiliar voice reached his ears, and he unconciously wrapped his body slightly more tightly around Ren, actually taking the time to curl his tail around LW too. He probably would have done likewise with Alessa, but his position around Ren simply wouldn't let him. When the ghoul (er... human? ...) was done talking, the nix scowled, "How rude!" he hissed disapprovingly, "What appalling lack of taste!" he sounded deeply insulted; why, if he weren't so utterly keen on holding onto their little quartet... he would have given her a piece of his mind. As it was, however, he hissed out rather loudly. Certainly loud enough for 'Sara' to hear at any rate.

"BOO!"

Sara shrieked and jumped half a foot, before turning around to see the perpetrator, David, grinning ear to ear. "David, I am going to ******** kill you. She rammed one of her fists onto his shoulder angrily.

"Dude, I told you I had band practice today, tomorrow's go night, remember?" Sara's boyfriend took the defensive, backing up slightly as to not get hit again. " 'Sides me and the boys, still have work to do after this, so we can chill for a couple of hours and then I gotta jet."

She could literally feel her own blood pressure rising. "You... made me wait for ten minutes here in this stupid place and you can't even hang out with me for... an evening? David, seriously what is wro-"

"Shhhhh." David's expression suddenly turned serious: Sara recognised it as his 'intense' mode, when he was busy trying to be zen, or summon the devil, or something, why was she dating a goth again? Said 'goth' drummer squinted as he stared right at thickest ensemble of Amity students. "Do you see something?"

Sara sighed, counted to ten, and looked at where David was staring. "Oh, lets see." Her tone was entirely sarcastic. "I see, a tombstone. Oh wait, how bout, another tombstone. And oh look, another one. And oh, that might be my boyfriend who is more interested in staring at an empty cemetery over ME."

Thankfully another bus stopped then, and whatever the couple had to say would be said in front of all the poor bus passengers.

Christof made a startled noise as Riley suddenly nabbed him, pulling him in the right direction. He hadn't even seen her! He was so absorbed in trying to decipher their surroundings she had taken him completely by surprise. Stumbling towards the rest, he glanced around with wide, somewhat terrified eyes while clutching his shovel tightly. At least he had joined the group and wouldn't get left behind in this strange new place!

Mistress? What is going on? Where are we? What happened? There was all this fog and then.... I didn't touch anything, I swear!

Sarah might not have jumped at Jericho's roar, but Sammy sure as hell did! Once she settled down she scowled back at Jericho, but it seemed too late as the two figures boarded the metal tube with wheels.

"Well great! They left!"

She paused watching as the metal tube moved a bit, pausing again just down the lane to deposit and gather other figures. Sammy suddenly had an idea. Turning back she waved to the others. "HEY! Those long metal tubes seem to stop and pick people up! Maybe if we wait like those two did we can ride these things over to that pendent or something!"