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Malodore peered curiously at the trees, Luce bounding beside it, the cwn annwn apparently none the worse for wear despite the train crash. One minute, everything had been okay (if somewhat deathly boring - couldn't anyone on the student council come up with a decent activity?). The next minute, everything had become... exciting.

A raid! Most fascinating. Luce begged up on the side of an unpainted tree, snapping at a low-hanging branch, as Malodore focused on the tree Professor Shox said contained another world. Even here, everything felt different somehow... the FEAR it was so used to feeling all the time seemed far far away. Christmas Town was something parents told their little fearlings about, usually to coerce them into behaving. Filled with JOY (and regular joy, one presumed) and sparkles and possibly even rainbow unicorns.

... Ew!

There was weaponry to consider, apparently. Malodore thought for only a moment before grabbing a bell from the items offered. It seemed to fit quite naturally into its hand, and the plague doctor opened its beak in a smile. It wasn't anywhere near as pleasurable as surgery, but it was healing of a kind. It would do.

((Draven will be shifting between raven and human, and he is choosing Tangled Christmas Lights as his weapon.))

Draven's eyes fluttered open. His head hurt, he was cold and he was definitely outside. Which was not where he was supposed to be. The last thing that he remembered had been chatting with Eracs and Alerick when an announcement had come one. In fact, he had been about to ask Eracs something....about something the scarecrow had said. Though at the moment he had no idea what.
The announcement had been followed by....oh. OH. The train had crashed. Was he ok? What about everyone else? Laying out here was not going to help anyone. He was on his back, so he rolled a bit to the side and moved to place his arm---only to find his arm didn't move the way he had planned.

"Oh, Candlejack!" he cursed. He was in his true form. A twist, a hop and a flutter, and the Mock Raven righted himself, his feet sinking into the snow. His true for was that of a raven, huge and black as pitch. Why in Jack's name had the pin stopped working? Draven concentrated, and willed himself back into his human form; now was not the time to stuck in bird form. Nothing happened. He tried harder. Still nothing. He ruffled his wings in annoyance, looked around to see if anyone else was having troubles of this sort, but realized that the ground was not a good vantage point. He couldn't see much of anything, and that was simply not helpful.

Draven opened his wings and gave them a test flap. They seemed to fine, perhaps a bit sore, but if he didn't strain them it would be fine. His eyes shot around him again, this time looking for -there! He hopped, flapped and landed lightly on a piece of what used to be their former train. His clawed feet gripped the metal, and as he perched his eyes scanned the crowd, looking for signs of his friends, Eracs and Alerick. He could not see them in the chaos, and he hoped they had not been carted off by the gnomes as he saw some students were.

Proffeser Hellma stole his attention, and he folded his wings to listen. 'Interesting,' he thought to himself.
Then the gnome started talking. Oh. Well. That explained a lot. So, he was going to have trouble shifting forms. Clearly. He wondered if he would have to stay in his bird form. It could be useful...but he didn't want to fly the whole way, not while carrying a pack. He certainly didn't want to leave the pack, either. He couldn't. It had thing he might need to survive in this JOY-filled world.

Draven decided now was a decent time to grab a pack, so with a little leap he was in the air. He swooped low, and did his best to avoid other students. He landed off to the side, near the packs, but let his momentum carry him as he hopped towards them. He selected one, grabbed it with his beak, and hopped backwards. Yeah. Raven form was great when you didn't need to carry things. At least he was large enough in this form it doable, if just a bit awkward. He stopped when he was a bit away from the and let his pack rest. After going back in for his weapon, Tangled Christmas Lights Draven sat, perched on his bag willing himself to turn humanoid again and watching for signs of his friends, Alerick and Eracs.

Tsetsiliya rubbed her aching head, blinking away the white powder that had accumulated in her eyes. She sat up and took in her surroundings. ... Just where were they? Her hands gripped the snow she had landed face-first in and she brushed her robes off. Over the sound of her buzzing head, she heard the voice of her headmistress.

"What is going on..?" She winced, the dull ache settling in now.

She listened to Hellma fill them in on why they were here. So it was a raid, was it? Her eyes turned towards the provided weapons. Well, this certainly made things interesting. Even if she didn't feel at the top of her game (with Christmas being made of JOY, well, that made sense), they had arrived. It was mission time.

Oh, wouldn't her parents be so proud to know what she was about to do!

The voice of the zombie who had called so worriedly for her car members carried over the crowd, and Tsetsiliya decided to pick her weapon and go to where Rain was. There were quite a few to choose from, dancing back and forth between the Sack of Joy and the Christmas Wreath, but she kept glancing over her shoulder to where the student council member was standing so she made a blind grab.

"I-I'm okay!" she called back to Rain, the Christmas Wreath looped around her arm as she hustled back over. The Sack of Joy had looked equally appealing, but she wasn't sure she could handle all that weight. So far there was no sight of the people she had spoken to earlier on the train, and she was a little concerned. It seems Belladonna and Jack had been right - maybe she really should have stayed paired up with someone.

A lesson learned too late, then.

Danny was busy being a flirt on the train moments before it crashed; throwing him and his pin in two different directions. He immediately phased threw the wall of the car and ended up in the snow. He looked down at himself and he was no longer human. He had become a Husky once again. "Candlejack!" He cursed out looking over his ghost-like paws. He had enjoyed the opposable thumbs.

He sat up and looked at the train cars that seamed toppled onto each other. He was almost glad he was a ghost. At least he wouldn't feel the pain of that crash. But he worried for Sin and all the lovely Ghouls he had met. He floated about the train to see where they had gathered only hearing the announcement over the icky-com. 'Best to find where everyone was gathering'. He thought to himself. He glided about finally seeing the teachers handing out weapons. Most of them which was useless to a ghost without opposable thumbs.

So he took the wreath. As it looked most like a Frisbee- and that was something he was common with. He put his head threw the hole and wore it about his neck like a collar. Now to make sure everyone was okie.

"Uuuuugh."

Why was he so sore? And why were the parts of him still able to register temperature so cold? Getting his arms beneath him, Johan pushed himself out of the snow drift he'd landed in, and tried to make sense of what had happened.

The last thing he remembered was being completely livid that Christof had used a page from his book to write his name upon. With blood, nonetheless. But, as he'd just stood there, staring at the hunchback with a severe expression, there had been an announcement about...

Johan frowned, that part of his memory was one big blur. Standing up unsteadily, he brushed snow off of his clothes, and looked around. When he caught sight of the derailed train, the rest of his memory clicked back into place. The announcement had warned them they were about to crash, and Johan had grabbed onto the seat until the violent gyrations of the train had flung him off, and then... he was here.

It seemed that all the students from the cars were now spread about the area, and from what he could see, the pins weren't working very well here. There were at least two giant serpents of some kind moving about in the snow, a giant blue beast, and a white dog, too. Thank Jack he didn't have an alternate form. It was bad enough the soles of his bare feet were numb from the cold. Shifting between forms looked incredibly awkward. Shuffling toward the gathering, Johan nearly tripped over the remains of a violin. This... looked familiar. Still somewhat dazed, it took him a few seconds to realize this had belonged to that one boil in his car. The one who had played earlier on, though Johan couldn't see that boil anywhere nearby, just a sea serpent creature and someone else. Well, perhaps he could do something for the instrument once they left wherever it was they had crashed. Johan tucked the pieces into the bandages beneath his vestment, hoping the fabric would help keep the instrument dry.

He shuffled onward towards the larger group, and arrived just in time to hear Prof. Shox sing (Mein Gott. What a noise.) about how they were raiding Christmas Town. It was indeed a relief when a gnome spoke plainly about what they were expected to do. Since it didn't seem he had much choice in the matter, Johan picked up a tent, and the two pills. Remembering how ineffective he'd been at fighting on the train, he decided the Carol of the Bells would be the best item for him to take. It seemed he wasn't the only student to consider that the best choice, noticing a thin, beaked student with very sharp claws also taking one. How very curious. Was that a mask? No, the student just smiled. Johan couldn't even tell whether it was a ghoul or boil.

And finally a familiar face came into view. Christof limped up to the table, and picked up a large sack. Johan waved to attract the hunchback's attention. There seemed little point in remaining angry at how the undead boil had vandalized his book, considering the rest of the pages were no doubt scattered about in the snow, and completely ruined.

Alcyone was a little confused as she crawled out of the wrecked Gromble cart and there was a crowd of students that was beginning to crowd around the Headmistress. Her hair was tangled black mess and her clothes were tattered here and there. This was... unfortunate; she really liked this outfit. As she listened to Hellma's speech, Alcie felt her heart begin to race as she realized that they were going to be battling once again. They were going to raid Santa's workshop? Oh jack! This was so exciting. Though, Alcie was feeling a little weak and once again, they weren't allowed to use their natural abilities or fear. This was upsetting... This put her at a disadvantage in battles because demons weren't particularly physical fighters.

Stepping outside of the cart, Alcie felt her foot slip into the snow and the water demon gasped a little as she felt the coldness. Shivering slightly, Alcie smiled widely realizing that this is what snow felt like. She'd only heard stories but they were true! Snow was just frozen water. She felt a little more relaxed knowing that they were somewhat close to a water source even though she couldn't use her natural ability.

Glancing at all of the unfamiliar faces, she didn't see Sin or Lizzy or any of her other friends. But then she looked around once more and saw Gabrian holding up his broken violin and Junko close to her. Oh no. "I'm sorry about your violin, Gabrian. Are you two alright?" She didn't know what else to say but it must have hurt to see your violin like that. Tilting her head as Gabrian changed to part of his serpent form, Alcie liked his natural form very much. Turning her attention to the weapons and support items, Alcie decided to take the sack full of joy. She didn't want to be unable to do any damage or help her friends when the time came.

His thick combat boots helped in him trudging through the snow, staving off most of the cold around his legs but his arms were decidedly more vulnerable. Rubbing the exposed parts of his white flesh, Corbin rolled his flannel sleeves down, covering his spiked bracelets, and began buttoning up the black and white striped fabric. As he did this, his eyes were preoccupied and he didn't see he was walking right into a very large, very spectral dog.

Still, it had the same problem he did--no phasing here.

With a quiet off, Corbin fell back on his rump into the snow, wings flapping indignantly at the motion. It took him a moment of staring but he realized, from the scarf and all of the other students stuck or chaotically shifting to and from their natural forms, that this poor pooch was a student. "Sorry," he offered quickly and gave the ghost dog a quick pet and pat on the back before standing. He nearly began walking off once more but stopped, saw the bell and knelt down so they were eye level. "Do you know what we're doing here?" Having been unconscious for all of Hellma's orders and briefing, the Wraith was at a loss and his black feathered ears folded in worry--his face, however, seemed largely blank.

Another scan showed Corbin that nearly everyone, natural form or not, had picked up an assortment of items small and large, some even having what looked like bazookas. "What's all this for?" The Stalkman in his pocket belched, letting out a quick riff before ceasing its music.

Still glowering at his bell while thoughts of revenge were dancing in his head, Christof caught sight of Johan's wave, and waved back to show him he had seen him and was glad he had all of his own limbs attached at least. Then he spotted Barth flying into a snow bank and immediately limped after his friend. He didn't know the Sloth Demon had come along on the train ride! He hadn't been in his car! Immediately, he crouched by him to offer his hand to help him up, eyes wide with anxiety. If Barth got hurt then there'd be NO chance of getting into the school play! Besides the fact if he stuck by this friend he could do his talking for him. After all their rehearsals, Barth seemed to be getting a better hang of interpreting his gesticulations at least. And maybe he'd even have a pen and some paper on him!