Welcome to Gaia! ::

Upon exiting the forest, the gnomes are nowhere to be seen, but hey, there's some more students over there! They look a bit ragged, but maybe one or two of them would make a good traveling companion? There's three paths to take and hmmm...the northernmost one look like a good bet to you!

The air is thin, clean, and crisp up here. Icy peaks tower above and an endless carpet of pure white snow lays at your feet. It's definitely colder up here in the mountains, but maybe one of the friendly locals will bring you a cup of hot cocoa later!

Iolanthe noticed the temperature dropping and the snow growing thicker as she made her way up the icy, mountain path. One good thing she noticed immediately, however, was that the jack damned awful peppermint smell was abating. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to smell clean, non-repulsive air.

"Finally," she breathed out in a puff of white haze, watching her breath curl up and away from her. She wasn't sure if she wouldn't regret this later, considering how cold it was getting, but she could see Aksaja ahead and knew the others were close behind. There was comfort to be had in familiar faces in a strange place.

"We're all on the way," she called out to Aksaja as she saw him watching the path behind him expectantly. Once she reached him, she stopped at his side, curling her hands around her upper arms and silently wishing she had thought to dress more appropriately for this place. She could use a giant puffy coat right about now, no matter how unfashionable it might be.

He hadn't realized how badly the forest reeked until he cleared it and stepped out into the mountain area. Hecate, was it really that bad? Had his senses completely shut down out of reflex or something? Gah, what a horrid place. The fresh air was so clean, it made him cough a bit just to clear his sinuses and begin to feel better. Now he was starting to notice the colder temperature and his nose wrinkled a bit. That was a pain, but one that could be dealt with really. Just as long as no horrid winds swept through, it should be livable.

Seeing Aksaja and Iolanthe up ahead, he raised a hand and waved to get their attention. "Two more after me!" He then looked around and wondered if West had made it safely. Odd. The fellow avarice had taken off after Aksaja... Maybe he took a detour? Hmm. "Just need to wait for Corbin and Braum." He joined them a bit after Eracs spoke, so he wasn't aware it had happened at all, but he studied the new person and inclined his head politely to him all the same.

By the time Gabrian was half way up the path... he was sorely tempted to turn right back around and go find his comfortable, happy, snuggly, warm place back on the larger serpent's back. The cold up here was just unbearable, and somehow, he doubted he was going to get lucky enough to find a couple of nice, sweet girls willing to carry him if (or rather, when) his shifting started to act up.

He was so torn, that he actually stopped moving and looked back longingly towards the forest. Then he turned to look back up the icy path, where he could see his sister's form in the distance, "I'm insane," he decided as he wrapped his arms around himself and began the painful trek upward.

"I'm going to die," he informed Iolanthe when he finally reached her side. Then, utterly shameless, reached out an hugged the demoness, pressing himself to her in what could have been read as ... him being worried for her, but was just his attempt at gathering just a bit of warmth, "Dear Jack, did you have to chose this road? Couldn't you have gone south? I hate this place. The trees were Drunk, and I think they are mentally retarded, or got dropped on their heads upon birth. And the snow is jack damned awful!"

Still holding onto the al basti (which was probably comical since he towered over her), the demon finally turned to take in the other members of their 'party'. He recognized Eracs from his own group, but didn't know the rest, though... they did look rather interesting, "Huh. Io... did you make some friends in my absence?" he seemed genuinely amused as he finally let go of the girl, turning to face...well, he wasn't sure. One looked like a demon, and was dressed in green (of which Gabrian instantly approved). He wasn't sure what the other boys were though, "My name is Gabrian," he introduced himself, then motioned back, "Formally Gromble car."

His friends hadn't caught up but there were plenty of new things to make friends with!

At the sight of Corbin, Eracs fell over into the snow. What in the name of Jack was that! Another humaniod-bird thing? Why him? What has he done. He peaked out from under his hat at him. "Hi?"

Getting up, he back up another few feet, just in case... He waved to Gabrian. "I'm, uh, Eracs... Gromble too." He stared out at the others, taking in all the different creatures. The scarecrow looked at Corbin again. "You aren't going to attack me, are you?" He had to be sure.

Iolanthe had wiggled, yes, and she'd (sort of) berated him, true, but he'd also felt the way she'd pressed up against him, almost as shamelessly. Knowing her, she hadn't been really physically close to any of the other students in her car, which meant that his presence was a bit of a life saver for her. Rather than voice this though, he arched one elegant brow up at her and then pulled away from her a few steps, enough to allow him to brush himself off; some snow clung to his clothes, but he didn't look too bad off. The small tears and singes were from the train wreck, actually, not from the fights within the woods.

"Lug, she calls me," he snorted slightly, "I will have you know that I left behind a nice, warm, cuddle... pile and an absolutely amazing ride just to be with you. You better bloody well be grateful. You're insane for picking this path," he shuddered again and rubbed his bare arms, hoping to Jack he would not shift anytime soon.

He turned and nodded to Livi, a small smirk tugging at his lips as he took in his appearence; Gabrian obviously approved, for some odd reason. He'd also caught the way the demon had reached for his bag when Io had yelped, which rather amused him, actually, "Pleasure to meet you," turning his head to look behind him, he hesitated only a moment before shaking it, "Not that I know of? I do believe that most headed off towards the island," he gave Io a pointed look here, "Where there's, you know, WATER, Io," then he focussed his attention back to the avarice demon, "I might be wrong though. And actually, the trees attacked us relentlessly. I took the one that attacked me out in one hit though. Didn't even touch me," which was more than he could say for his sister; he'd seen that scratch on her cheek.

Eracs spoke up then and Gabrian found himself blinking slightly, "I... believe it's in his best interest not to attack you, worry not. Safety in numbers and all that," he nodded to Corbin, almost a salute, "Eracs was with me in Gromble," a pause, "He's just a pretty cheerful fellow, s'all."

Draven ran towards the group of students, he could see that Eracs, Alerick and even more from the Gromble car were already there, too.
Behind them he could see mountains and snow. The air was nice here; he was glad they had chosen this path. He liked the feel of it.

As he caught up to the group of students he gave them a quick look. Quite a few new faces, maybe he would get to know them on this trip. He inclined his head towards them in greeting.

"Made it, sorry about the wait," he said, moving to stand near Alerick and Eracs. He noticed Eracs seemed a little worried, but Draven wasn't sure why-oh, must be that bird fellow. He was sure Eracs would be better in a few moments, though. He was tough for being made mostly of straw. Draven gave him a reassuring grin.

"Can't wait to see what's in store for us ahead." He motioned to the mountains. A new path, new faces and new surprises. Draven was actually rather excited about this.

((Have to run for a bit-Just pretend Draven follows. ))

Nodding to Livi, Corbin gave him a reassuring glance. "Just cold," he teased, giving his wings a long and wide stretch. They shivered, one or two feathers falling loose to the white coated ground.

The scarecrow's reaction was not entirely unexpected, but Corbin felt a bit guilty for it. He reached out to help the guy back to his feet but he was already there and quickly backed away. Had there, perhaps, been another bird creature the poor scarecrow had encountered that did attack him? A wry grin appeared, though understated due to Corbin's outwardly stunted emotional nature. "Only if you attack me first," and he retracted his hand, not wanting to intimidate the scarecrow further by initiating a handshake. "My name's Corbin." Maybe a little small talk would calm him down.

Then others began to appear, quite a few in fact and all from other cars. He supposed it was possible Seila had gotten mixed in with another car if she was not in the infirmary? Maybe she was down with the others and the island. If that was the case, he figured she was safe. It was either one or the other, he couldn't keep worrying that she was injured or worse.

He greeted the others gathering with a simple wave, curious of them but not intending to approach without due cause. Far be it from him to intentionally set people off like he seemed to have done with the scarecrow, he didn't need anyone thinking ill of him or being in poor shape to defend themselves. In particular, though, a brown haired ghoul came running up and looked quite cheery, even greeting the group with a resounding "Hey~". Corbin's black feathered ears perked up and his smile grew--to a point. "Hey," he returned, noticing only after the fact that she had a tiny little rabbit tail over her rump. Cute. Very cute.