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"Just snow," Barth said to Colette. "and trees."

But there was lots more where that came from.

To Mandy he said, "Don't know. He gives things out for free, I thought. It's probably worth a try asking him for a ride back."

"Swim back?" Igneous felt faint at the thought. "I don't think that would work well for me, either! The last time I tried to swim I didn't do too well" In actuality she had sunk like the stone she was made from - it had been quite the effort to get her unstuck from the mud at the bottom of the pond!

"Perhaps they will find some safer way of travel on wheels? Or maybe get the amulets working again?" She peered up at the leviathan in some amazement. She never imagined her classmates could have been so... BIG!

Colette sighed, "Oh, great. Snow and trees," and she took it that she didn't miss much if anything, "at least you're all okay." It was sad she probably couldn't say the same for those in the infirmary, that place was a disgusting sight. Hopefully Belladonna didn't end up there.

The Reaper smiled at Mandy's question, at least it showed some were probably thinking a bit, but she wasn't happy at the only answers she had for it. "Well, first of all, the headmistress wants us to do something. She is definitely not known for being extremely merciful, from what I've heard anyway, and she'll probably.. do something horrible.. yeah, do something horrible if we don't get it done." Colette didn't want to cross the head of the academy, ever. She couldn't imagine all the things someone at the top could or would do to them.

"Secondly, we're stuck here. I don't even know how we're going to get back, the train is a wreck, but.. this was probably the reason we were sent out here anyway. If we can finish this, the whole goal of the trip, I'm sure the headmistress will get us back to the academy." She wasn't actually confident in how 'sure' she was, but there was nothing else to do. All she knew was she didn't want to stay out here in the cold longer than needed and get killed by any of those horrid creatures. 'Survival time' is what she would call it.

Colette grabbed her tent and held it against her waist for support, preparing to move out when everyone else was ready. Curious, and a little bored, she asked, "So, what did everyone grab?" Sure, it was sort of obvious in most cases; but it would make some conversation.

"Aww," Merope drooped his head a bit at their reactions. "It was just a thought, though now that you mention it, swimming would be rather bad." He couldn't help but to glance down at the wreath he was wearing around his neck. Something told him that he did NOT want to get that wet.

"Hopefully they'll get the pins working!" He agreed, "As much as I like this form, it's... rather hard to move around in on land. Though the train looked pretty bad... What do you think they'll get for us to go home in?"

Just then, something seemed to flop down into the middle of the group. Merope lowered his head and peered at Julian, blinking in surprise at the owl. "Uh," he began, "Guys? I think something got tangled up in some lights here."

If Colette didn't have any sort of psychic abilities, she might reconsider the thought for Belladonna let out a loud shout as she ran toward the group, crashing through the trees and into the snow. She let out a shriek as she fell. But she was up in a flash, her face redder than it should have been but somehow grinning in a stupid fashion that those savvy enough (or who knew the feeling) would understand. Honestly, she looked like a Halloween-version of Santa with a sack over one shoulder and her face all red, but she was at least happily brandishing a Christmas Wreath.

"Is everyone ok?! We didn't lose anyone, did we?!" She threw all her items down for a moment and grabbed Jackb in a hug before advancing onto Alwine, then Bartholomew, then Rain and whoever was close enough and not sneering at her. Everyone seemed to be here, though she knew there were a few people missing. It was lucky so many of them had made it through because while she only caught a glimpse of those injured, it looked bad.

"So... We're fighting JOY huh?" She asked, picking up her things once everyone had been hugged enough to assure the witch they weren't hurt. "What joy..." She grumbled, making a little joke for herself and quickly perking back up and returning to Jackb's side, still in the mindset to go in pairs. "Is everyone here? Let's get walking!!" The witch was much too ready for all of this to be done.

"To go against the headmistress's wishes means uncertain death or detention which is often worse," Rain added to the conversation. She was soon interrupted by a talking tree that seemed to have its attention on Colette. Rain had never seen such a big mouth in all her unlife. It was also quite cute.. for a tree.

With a small popping sound, Julian was back, standing in humanoid form and hopping back to kick a bit of the lights from around one of his toes.
"For future reference," he mumbled as he focused on kicking at the lights. "I can't talk when I'm an owl..."

One of the other boils was going to try and help him free from the lights. Or, at least he suggested that people help him out. He held his hands up and shook his head.
"It's okay, I g-got-" he started, but slipped on a bit of ice under the snow and fell into Belladonna. And popped back into an owl as soon as he did.