Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zurine milled about the auditorium along with the rest of the students as they waited for the assembly to start. As she waited Zurine wonders - not for the first time - why she had agreed to be a part of this program, who in their right mind would consider doing such a thing? Even if you like adventure, even if you were the type to do such a thing it was hard to forget just how scary and intimidating the horsemen were...and the thought of following them back to their lairs so to speak was a little bit on the insane side as far as Zurine was concerned. But then, whenever she started to have doubts, whenever she found herself on the verge of backing out she recalled that last trial.

The one where they had been stuck in that strange version of Halloween, where they had seen what might happen to their home if they continued to allow these Hunter people to run free and keep hunting them unchecked. It was no secret that the Horsemen wanted to fight the Hunters and from previous rumors and that clandestine meeting in the bathroom oh so long ago now Zurine knew that they intended to use Halloweentown students as a part of that offensive, they had after all offered to train them..and now after the trails it seemed they were going to make good on that promise.

And she had decided to join in, How could she not? After hearing what she'd heard and experiencing a world where the Hunters ruled ? It would take a very selfish person to turn away from stopping them now and Zurine was far from a selfish person and thusly..despite her inner nerves she stood here and waited with the others for the announcement that was to come.

Thankfully she did not have to wait long, it was in the middle of these inner thoughts that Arel shouted out his plea for attention - very loudly - and Zurine winced slightly at the sonic barrage to her large and sensitive ears. Turning her attention to Arel she couldn't help but recall the more tattered version of him she had seen in her last trail, the way he'd looked more weary then anything else and it only hardened her resolve.

His speech was fairly straight forward as far as Zurine was concerned - it seemed to consist mostly of not bothering the horsemen overly much and behaving themselves as ambassadors of Halloween. You know typical school type lectures, thought she still tried her best to pay attention to what he said. It was the words about the classes that got her attention the most, she had already chosen the two she wanted to take part of and had been hoping for some more details - in that she found herself disappointing as details were not forthcoming. Oh well she'd find out when she got there right? The news of homework elicited a bit of a groan..but she had halfway expected something like this - and then a slew of rules which Zurine listened to in a half hearted way.

She was far to distracted by the horsemen that suddenly made an appearance and asked them all to follow her - now they were getting some where interesting and filling out of the auditorium along with the others Zurine walked eagerly along towards the weeping forest, now quite caught up in the spirit of adventure and having nearly forgotten her fears and reservations only a little bit ago. She paused briefly as she reached the door, listening carefully but no terror filled sounds from other students reached her ears and as far as she had seen no one had come running back out in horror. Zurine chose to see these as good signs and stepped through the door and into the darkness beyond.

After a few moments of darkness she found herself standing on a large ledge, blue waters as far as the eye can see beyond while a warm wind tugged at her clothing - it might have been quite beautiful if the entire ledge didn't sway in such an unnerving manner with especially large gusts. It wasn't until the horsemen that had brought them here spoke again that Zurine directed her gaze downward and took note of the four islands breaking the seascape below. The differences in the Isles were stark and Zurine found herself once more wondering why she had chosen to take part in this little adventure, while some of them looked almost inviting death and famine were a little bit less so ...the parting words of the horseman as the class schedules and instructions were handed out did not help her reservations any. Checking her schedule she shuffled along with others from her class towards the proper portal.

((Exiting))

He had stood too his feet, his expression not improving as the horseman(woman?) stepped onto the stage to speak to them. There was suspicion in his gaze, his tail twitching as he wondered about any underlying motives and what the horsemen had in store for them. For all he knew they could be following right into something even worse than the trials had been. A visible shudder, he was still struggling with that.

However his expression did change at the sight of his friend, and though his smile was only half-hearted, he was genuinely glad Petro had at least stopped by before he left.

"I wish you were going with us."

But he understood why Petro had declined. He himself was still wondering why he had signed up as he really did not like the idea of stepping into the horsemen's home. Well, it was too late now wasn't it.

"I'll let you know anything I find out."

The last statement was spoken in a whisper, for the horse's ears only. He just hoped he would return with the chance to tell.

There wasn't a long good bye, just a wave and a 'later', Sheridan really couldn't think of anything else to say. After leaving Petro behind, the dragon's mood quickly dropped again, walking with his arms crossed and his tail twitching behind him. It was with great trepidation and only after hesitating for several moments (and probably at the end of the line) that he finally stepped through the portal and into the world of the four clans...

Exit

After being handed his class assignment, Herryk paused before exiting through the portal. He scrambled for his eyePhone - perhaps a last minute text, but he wanted to at least be able to say goodbye to Freya.



With a final sigh the draugr tucked away his phone and stepped through the portal.

[[Exiting]]

As the secretary talked about all the rules that this 'exchange program' would entitled, including the general "please do not go against the four clans because they are mighty and they are better then you' kind of crap, Poke just rolled her eyes, again feeling rather annoyed at how she was supposed to treat these pompous beings. Her knowledge of the horsemen and all that they entitled, was limited at best (aka she knew s**t all), and there wasn't much information available. Oh well, whatever. She'd just do as she was told. Regardless of her opinion, she knew better then to say anything against the four clans.

As one of the horsemen led them away, she followed along, excitement flowing through her body. As annoying as all the rules were, She was eager to get started, to learn as much as she could, and more importantly, train herself so she would get stronger. Strength was a important thing to the dragoness; she was aching to test herself against these horsemen, and to see if she could stand up to them.

Once she was through the door with the others, she was faced with a spectacular sight. Standing on a floating platform over a sparkling blue ocean, not unlike the human world, the wind making the platform shift underneath her feet. Damn, if she didn't want to take to the skies, but she doubted they'd let her or anyone else do so.

She soon focused in on what the horsemen was saying, trying her best to keep a neutral face when told to not ask questions, and disobedience was not taken lightly. With those words in her mind, she went to retrieve her schedule.

[Exit!}

West was late, but unlike his lazy initial showing at the famine trial, he actually minded that he was tardy this time.  In fact, he was pissed, which... probably meant his behavior wasn't radically different from how it normally seemed to the outside observer.

He shoved his way through the crowd as they were herded into the Weeping Forest, catching bits and pieces of conversation along the way.

...homework...

...best behavior...

...don't do anything harmful...

...do not interfere...

Hopefully there would be ways around such fun-crushing rules.

The demon hadn't brought a thing with him, but he quickly deciphered enough of the chatter around him to determine that they would be staying in dorms during this little outing.  He wondered if members of the Four Clans liked steaks and if they had any clothes lying around that were better than some musty old robes. He was signed up for classes with the death clan first, but if he was to be on his best behavior, he supposed he wouldn't be doing more than shooting constipated glares at them over his textbooks.  What he really wanted to do was give them a little something back in exchange for that waking nightmare, the visions that they had gifted him with during their trial.  He would need to be sneaky in mind rather than body this time, to look for an opportunity to stick it to these particular horsemen before he moved on to the completely awesome war clan for his second week.

West would need to employ something he hadn't had a lot of practice with.  Subtlety.

When he reached the door marked with the backward spiral, the boil wasted no time, striding through without a second thought.

(( entering and exiting! ))

Ah, and another face he hadn't seen in a while! "Amarus," Mort greeted heartily, trying to lift said ominous mood from Rafe's questions and their fudging answers. "Is good seeing! Come, meet new student, trying help a-acclimate best 'fore -"

And then came the announcement that they were to begin filing out to their individual isles, cutting the zomboil off before he could do much else. At best he gave the ghoul a nod, Herryk a brofist, and wish them both luck before he and Rafe (who was quite close behind) fell in line to their new destination.

(( Exit! ))

Siddie stuck close to Sammy as they followed the Clan representative into the forest. The door gave her a moment's pause, unsettlingly familiar, but this time it led out onto a high, bright platform; Siddie winced and pulled her hood up, fighting the urge to huddle closer to Sammy. She could stand on her own. She wasn't a weak little thing.

She was going to War; she was going to learn. She straightened her back and stepped through the portal with her chin held regally high.

((Exiting))