{ EVENT } The Train That Couldn't Stop - Main Dining Cabin

[Arrien]

((Vic is still accusing Salali.))


"Are you tryin' to implys somethin'? Y'got somethin' you wanna come out and say t'me, mate?" If Vic had stopped to think about it, maybe she'd have decided that giving Betty a shut your mouth or you'll be next sort of look wasn't exactly going to win her any favors. But let's face it: Vic wasn't the tactful sort. She was the chest-beating, sword-waving, first-into-the-fray sort that only after all was said and done might pause and ask herself, was that really the smartest thing to have done?

The answer would probably be no. It was stupid to take offense over the question - in less dire circumstances, after all, Vic would be happy to take the credit, and she'd be lavishing them all in exquisite detail of how she imagined she'd done the deed, too! But this was just a bit too serious for that, and the implication that she would have really done it was more than a touch offense. Vic was a pirate, sure, but she saved her looting and pillaging for the high seas!

So, she snarled at Betty and snapped, "Giiiirly, ye'd better be watchin' yer step if yer goin' to be waggling yer fingers at me! Lemme tell ya somethin' - if I were going to start busting heads, I wouldn't be startin' with some bony no-name I ain't even laid me eyes on before. I'd starts wit' the snooty witches what ain't got enough brains t'tempt a zombie!"

Somehow, Vic seemed to forget entirely that she'd been asked to provide an alibi. From the sounds of everyone else's, though, it didn't matter - nobody had any sort of solid alibi. How could they? They'd all been here. Unless somebody'd been holding hands or necking under the table with another passenger, how could anyone verify whether they'd been the one to commit the crime or not? This alibi business was ridiculous!  

[Sosiqui]

Puck scowled, then jabbed one spectral finger at the skeleton lady. "Just watch 'er. She's bones. It'll get her next, mark me. Just watch. F'it's slobbery, it's the acid-spitter. 'Fnot, then we think more." Honestly, was everyone just going to be happy spinning around in circles? That was only funny when he made them do it!  

[Mediciner]

Addressed directly, Haku happily trotted to his seat, plucked said book from his seat, and held it out front for the warlock (and everyone else, were they not engaged in the spat between the skinwalker and that one girl) to read: LAW. No seriously, that's all it said. It was apparently a used copy, as others had previously drawn in pencil or pen various, sometimes inappropriate, drawings amongst the pages - one creature apparently thought it hilarious to scribble an extra L in the title, for instance. "Normally I wouldn't bother with secondhands, but the scrawl helps break up the monotony," Haku explained, returning Ahikiko's gaze levelly as he returned with the book underarm. He decided it wasn't necessary to add that he didn't get jack from most of what he read.

"No-one's exploding," he added to the rather uptight female Reaper and the beetelgeuse with a soft snort in passing. "At least, hopefully not. The food didn't look that bad."

Now there seemed to be a big mess starting up, and he didn't see a point in entering the finger-pointing directly just yet. For the moment he settled next to the firstly accused, this "acid spitter", and looked on, the large law book in his lap. "What was the staff thinking?" he mused to himself. "No Boogeymen on a train bound for the Academy! Lock up more than several spitfire students and you'll have things like this; it's asinine."  

[Lucifer Force]

(( Back from work/school! Kasumi is withholding accusations at this point, and wants further information. She's listening to people right now. She does not believe Oliver did it, but is suspicious of several people. ))

Kasumi turned to the passenger beside her, sighing. "Look at all this fighting." She shook her head, watching as everyone flung accusations at each other. She wished she had a better look at the bones, but they didn't look to have any acid on them, at least that she could see. Without any extra information, she didn't want to start pointing fingers.

Still, the hysteria was something else to behold. Since everyone was moving around, she didn't know the original positions of the passengers, and anyone was suspect, regardless of specie. "Whoever did this, I would assume, would have some sort of motivation? Unless this is all just a random occurrence, in which case, my point is moot." She sighed, her forehead in her palm. There would really be no way to tell.  

[Discordancy]

( Lumi doesn't believe that Oliver is the culprit. )

All this noise was making Lumidee nervous. Very, very nervous. Nervous enough for it to be one of the few occasions where she didn't want to be here - not only on this train, but in Halloween proper. As a result, she was a little more flickery than usual: the wide-eyed stare that turned on every one of the bantering, threatening students parsing in and out of view as if there was a lamp with a bad bulb at her core.

She had been sleeping, herself. It was a rather dull sleep, only hampered by her seatmate scooting in on her when she disappeared for a little too long. Well, that and the knucklebone that smacked her in the temple. She assumed it was a knuckle. It looked like she imagined one might, but she was no bone expert. She'd never seen hers, after all.

The knuckle(?)bone was handed in with all the other segments of the poor skeleton, granted, with some reluctance - bone piercings! can you imagine? - and since then, Lumi had been fearfully watching the accusations and insults fly. She should probably uh. Say something, maybe. Something useful. What would be useful? "I-I agree with the little guy," she piped up softly, rubbing hands across her cheeks before gesturing to Haku. "It's weird that there's no Bogeymen here. Aren't they everywhere? What does it say about the people running this ride if they let us go without protection?" A half-braided hank of hair fell across her lips, was blown absently out of the way. She wondered if her voice sounded as tiny as she felt.  

[DraconicFeline]

(She is suspicious of Haku, but not ready to accuse. It will take more 'events' to make her rash... Or even just decisive.)

Balumf took another gulp of water.
Alibis were going nowhere.
But... Was everyone's alibi REALLY the same?
the smart dog-demon (Haku) had said he was in the far back of the car. That was different, that was a specific place. And a very suspicious place that wouldn't have been easily observed.
And that bone in the pages... That was part of the skeleton.
Now why would he do such a thing, surely with a book such as that he would have a bookmark of his own?
But what if- she had heard of this- he was keeping a 'souvenir'?
If he was the one who had done this, why wouldn't he keep a memento of whoever he had done in? It made sense to her.
But it could all be coincidence, and he could simply be an innocent. She had to find something out.
"You... ah... Dog-demon. With the book. Why did you sit in back, anyway?" she asked, trying to say it carefully, "and will you be giving the bone back?"
She just had to make sure, judge his strength and reactions.  

[Ary Keeyara]

Salali did seem visibly relieved to hear multiple assurances that no one would be exploding. It calmed a few of her tremors, but not all of them...but then it was possible she was naturally full of shakes and shivers to begin with. But fear in this situation wasn't surprising...she was frightened of humans, let alone the idea of another passenger of the train being an attacker of some kind. All of this fear made her...oddly hungry. But there were no raisins or anything desirable to be seen and...she wasn't sure her nerves would have let her eat anyway.

"Why smile?" she asked Kashi and Jack. "The sun doesn't come out at night...! Or does it...? Sometimes?" She pointed her toes together under the table and stared down at the table as though thinking over this.  

[Dragain]

{Fauste has no opinion yet.}

It was supposed to be a normal train ride, but then again, when were things ever normal in Halloween? The Necromancer frowned, his eyes scanning the train cabin as he tried to make sense of what was going on; there were countless accusations being flung around, and he really didn't want to get involved in the discussion... Although he did feel sorry for the skeletal passenger that had exploded; poor thing! Its going to take some time for him to be fitted back together.

"Wait, there's no Boogeymen?" He blinked, not speaking to anyone in particular but spoken out loud as a response to that little piece of information. He then turned to the soft-spoken ghost who was seated nearby, "It is weird... I didn't sigh up for this..." He then lowered his head, staring at his shoes as he muttered something inaudible under his breath.
 

[Mediciner]

"No-one signed up for this, I'd like to think. Seems the cat demon's explanation is right," Haku responded with a small sigh of his own to the ghost that agreed with him; the one, he noted with a slight eye twitch, that had referred to him as "The Little One". "Unless this is a bizarre test . . ." Considering what he had heard about some of the staff at the Academy, it wouldn't be surprising. How some of them seemed to be enjoying this minor chaos, though, he never would understand. "Or a random occurrence like the girl said." In which case he'd suggest maybe everyone return to what they were doing and let the staff pick up the mess and happily get on with their lives. He seriously wanted to finish the book and get it over with already.

'Course, if he suggested it, that'd make him suspect. So did not saying anything. So did siding with someone, or accusing someone, or - Candlesticks, anything he did or didn't do could be misconstrued as suspicious, what with some of them just naturally suspicious of everyone! The inugami grumbled at the catch-22 he found himself in, stopping when once more when someone called him.

"I have a name, you know: Haku. as for why I was sitting in the back, I was one of the last ones to get on the train and no-one was sitting back there. For pun's sake, I was dog tired and glad to be able to hop into any seat, especially one near the door I scrambled through," he explained. "Though to be frank, even if I was punctual I would have gone to the back. Denizens tend to crowd the front from my previous experience, and the back is also near a door so I don't have to wait in line to get out. As you might have assumed," he added, tapping the book in his lap with a hand, "I wanted to read in peace, and that's all I've been doing up until now." Holding the book sideways, the skeletal bone showed that he was well into the thing's contents, about three-fifths or so; mostly skimming since the book's vocabulary was beyond him sometimes.

"As for the bone itself, of course I would give it back." As if just noticing that it might be rude to be using someone's body for a bookmark, Haku slid the finger out and dog-earred the book, holding out the bones for Balumf to take if she so choose. "In fact, go right ahead. I didn't fully realize what it was since the initial shock and conversation caught me."  

[Sosiqui]

Puck slid one long arm out and snatched at the bones that Haku was holding out. "Very very good alley-bi, very good. Too good? Suspicious?" He grinned at the bookish one.  

[Discordancy]

( Lumi has grown suspicious of Haku. )

Her seat was in the middle of the column, near a window: somewhere that would obviously not be left untaken. Lumi didn't want to lose her seat if she happened to blink out during the ride (it could happen!) and she always wanted to see more of the world. Now, however, her position was an unexpected saving grace. Lumi's eyes could dart around at just about everyone on the train with minimal difficulty. This they certainly did, with marked anxiety.

The shiftless glances only slowed marginally when Lumidee felt someone turn toward her from the next seat over. This deathly stranger seemed to be thinking allowed as much as he thought to her. Lumi's hands fisted in her lap as she leaned over to hear his thoughts nonetheless and nodded gently in response. "Yes, no Bogeymen aboard. The attendant said it earlier, I think... Not a one!" Her tone leaked disapproval; she didn't happen to think that the absence thereof was just a silly coincidence. "And I don't think any of us wanted this... We were only supposed to get a simple train ride." Simple as anything ever was in Halloween.

Still angled toward the unusual boy, Lumi turned bright eyes to the little guy's (Haku! his name was Haku!) interrogation. Someone suspected him? But he was so small! It wasn't until he lifted the finger-bone from the pages of his book that Lumidee's fisted hands rose to her mouth, a gasp coming from behind small fingers. Using a bone from that poor skeleton as a marker? Did he think otherwise, or of course, that the poor thing would want his digit back (nevermind that she had only just been thinking of what a nice nose ring said chap's knuckle would make)? How horrible!  

[Sinister Nonsense]

(Very suspicious of Haku)

Ahikiko watches as the other trots back to his seat returning with the book. " I asked for the name not to see it...." His suspicion of the other slightly raises. Watching as Haku takes a seat near Oliver he snorts and turns his attention towards the other students, taking note that others seem to be just as suspicious of Haku as he. The warlock yawns slightly, and starts to think. " ...what if we partner up...then if something happens again at least your partner could account for you to? " He offered, while slightly fidgeting in his seat. Or if someones partner ends up mangled we will know who to blame, he thought to himself.  

[Mediciner]

Haku gave the poltergeist a dry look. "I was there. The whole time. Trying to read a book that's above my comprehension. Stupid, sure, but that's what I was doing." Ever the Haku manner: overextending to compensate. Ear flicking to the girl's gasp, he glanced at her and shrugged. "Like I'm the only one who caught a bone here. I wasn't intent on keeping it, so you don't have to be so aghast." It just didn't look right, a finger in a book. Maybe it was giving you the bird. Or maybe it was one of those self-regenerating hands . . . Eeegh.

He returned his gaze to Puck briefly. "You personally look a little too happy about this situation if you ask me. You and the cat demon." Opportunists? Just great.

And it seemed the more he talked, the more trouble he was somehow getting himself into. "Yeah, you asked for a name; and if I just gave you any ol' one, you might not have believed me. You have my proof in the flesh," the inugami pointed out. "What else do you want? Check my seat if that satisfies you, I don't mind. But I can agree to the partners . . . Anyone know if putting the skeleton back together might reanimate him while we're at it? If so, we could hear what he or she saw and piece it from there." Worth a shot at least.