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"I bet being up that high is like flying! You could see everything! ... Though, um, it does make a big mess," Anna added, looking almost guiltily behind her at the trail of smashed trees that led to their current location. Her eyes widened at the mention of small. "That is not small," she said, firmly. "Not even a little bit small."

Shibey tilted backwards a little further. < I am not. I am walking. Backwards. That is not the same as running. > He looked towards Anna, as if asking for help (!), but while she had turned to look at Chaya it wasn't because she was worried about her familiar.

"Are you new? To the school? I don't... I mean, I don't see lots of people anyway, 'cause I'm kinda... kinda shy but, um. I don't think I've seen you before?"

A ghost as big as five of her? Wow! Sura seemed to half-swoon over this story that Chaya told her. It was just magical sounding to her, after all. "That sounds almost like my biggest of passed siblings." she said in awe. "The mother-father creature says that he was so tall that he was able to touch the sky and bring its wrath down upon those who stepped into his domain." Sura then stretched out her arms. "Then one of my sisters who ruled over the sky was said to be so long that she stretched from horizon to horizon and could just fly on forever."

If she'd been the kind to kirakira, she would have been doing it right then. But there was an obvious tone of excitement in her voice. She'd found something she loved talking about - the passed siblings.

"I am but a bit bigger than the smallest passed siblings who ran and brought destruction in their wake with the force of their bodies, so I do consider myself rather small. Strong, but small."

Sura had never been to the ghost dorms before, so it seemed to pique her curiosity a bit. "I have never been under the tombyard before. Are they nice? I live over in the monster dorms. I was fortunate to meet a rather nice individual when I was moving in which made my move-in come much easier, so I hope your first day here is proving to be just as helpful to you."

"They sound amazing," Chaya said, her tail thumping the ground more energetically. "Really really big. Did they step on lots of things? Amazing! I like the ghost dorms, they're very nice and lots of mirrors. I don't have lots of things so I just put them in the room and came out for a run because smells." Clearly that was sufficient explanation.

"Well, you're friends with us now, right?" she asked Anna. "It's not hard to make friends, you just tell them your name and talk and play and then you're friends. Can I chase your familiar? I really want to chase your familiar," she said hopefully.

"O-oh... I see." Anna shuffled awkwardly at Sura. "I'm sorry..."

Fortunately, the monster moved on to talk about much, much easier things. Anna straightened, relief audible in her voice. "We can... I guess we can do that, huh? Just say 'we're friends' and have it become true?" She looked from Sura to Chaya, trying to figure out if this was legitimate or not. It seemed like it was, though... "I would like that," she added, a little shy.

Then she parsed Chaya's last question - and Shibey's glare that was directed not just at the ghost dog but Anna herself - and burst out laughing. "Do you really want to chase him?"

< No! > Shibey protested.

"Aw, you always say I need exercise... maybe you should get some," Anna said, eyes bright with mischief. Shibey reared back, alarmed; he knew Anna had it in her to be bright and lively, but it had been so long that he had nearly forgotten the possibility.

And then the Incubator was gone, heading for the nearest tree.

Sura was unaware that the tail-thump against the ground was meant to be a happy gesture, but never the less she mimicked Chaya in that regard, causing the ground to be disrupted by the forcefulness of the gesture.

That was part of what came with being a walking wall, however.

"I think I would like that as well." she confirmed. 'Friends'. Now all she had to do was remember their names. She'd manage that, but probably only after some effort of fumbling them up over and over again, unfortunately.

However, as Shibey went running, Sura seemed to marvel just a bit. "He certainly runs quickly." she noted thoughtfully.

Chaya rapidly caught up to Shibey where he was trying ineffectually to scramble up the tree; she pounced on him, an action that probably would have been considerably more uncomfortable if she hadn't gone insubstantial a moment beforehand. Her forepaws passed right through the Incubator with little more than a tickle, and the slurping lick she delivered a moment later was likewise harmless, though it did leave a goopy trail of ectoplasmic saliva in its wake. "Just chasing," she called back cheerfully. "Not hunting."

Shibey's face still looked like OwO, but as Chaya pounced the rest of the Incubator's body language suggested something more like O_O or >_O or even >(. He staggered upright after being thoroughly slimed, staring at Anna. < Unsummon me right now, then summon me again, > he said to Anna alone, mental voice cold as ice.

To his complete surprise, his words didn't make her pale - instead, she just finished laughing, then nodded and flicked her fingers. The Incubator vanished, and the ecto-spit fell onto the forest floor with a wet splat.

A few second later, Anna repeated the gesture, and Shibey reappeared next to her. "Come on, Shibey, she didn't hurt you," Anna said, with surprising merriment.

The Incubator didn't dignify that with a response.

"Oh, well," Anna said, her face still flushed from giggling. "What else do you like to chase, Chaya? Maybe a minipet?"

At the offer of a seat, Anna looked surprised again, but gratified. "Th-thank you! I don't mind dirt, but... doing laundry is kinda hard," she admitted. smoothing her skirts before taking the offered seat, patting at Sura's tail with her gloved hands. She felt so warm!