[Shinji is working in one of the kitchen cars. It looks like a complete mess. There's flour everywhere and the whole car smells strongly of cinnamon and sugar, and Christmas, simply put. Piles on top of piles on top of mountains of cookies can be found there.

Snag a few cookies?]

[It's one thing for someone to get on a train and think it's the wrong train because it starts heading in the wrong direction. It's a complete other thing when you know you're on the wrong train because it's snowing in the car.

Belphegor had left his things in the first car he was in and began exploring to kill time. Or at least he was exploring until he found the snow car. And now? Well, now he's just confused.

Bel reaches up to brush some snow out of his hair, and then shoves his hands deep into his pockets, surveying the area, especially eying that sleigh ride over there]

What the hell is all of this...?

[Somehow, the saiyan state alchemist has found himself in the snow car. He's not too thrilled about it either, the snow clinging to his uniform, his hair, his glasses, and especially, much to his dismay, his tail.

One thing is for certain--it isn't all that familiar to him, and the sleigh has him rather confused as well.]

...So...damn...cold...

[He's definitely seeming a little dazed and out of it. He might not recognize those he's run into right now and seems to be mumbling the word "Briggs" over and over.]

[While on his search for Marlene's dearest belonging he was unfortunate enough to step into a nicely decorated car. He doesn't notice the plant hanging from the ceiling at first, but when the car won't let him out his gaze goes around the room and then he raises his head and sees it. He narrows his eyes. Does this thing have anything to do with that?

There are no mistletoes in Spira.

And so? He tries to burn it -- but the freaking thing just grows again, again again. He groans and sits down on the floor, trying to think about a way to get out of this miserable situation.]

[So Senel has found the "Last Minute Special" Car. And from the looks of it, the teenager is more mystified than anything as he's watching shoppers duke it out for some "Bakugan" toy or another robotic hamster.]

We're not gonna get off.... so where did these people come from?

[Either way, it doesn't look like he'll be moving from the door. These random shoppers are scaring even him.]

*You might bump into Aki if you're wandering through the train. He's looking into every single car he comes across, apparently searching for something*

*actually managed to find his way to the library car after his little adventure in the ice rink - but there aren't any books he's really looking for right now. What he has found is a shelf of photo albums. He's flicked through a few and returned them, before finding photos of his own family and settling down on the floor with the book in his lap, looking through the pages slowly*

[In his favorite bar, there is a Sam who is sketching instead of drinking.

There's a glass that's rather full with a rather potent cocktail, and yet it appears as though he hasn't drank any of it yet.

He looks down at the page in his book, noticing something very wrong with the picture. Instead of erasing the mistake, he rips the page from the book and balls it up before tossing it over his shoulder and starting again.]

Dammit....

[... let's hope you don't get pelted with a paper ball?]

[Library car, again. Patchouli is reading a book and taking notes.]

This is most interesting. It's the only book about it, though, disappointingly...

I guess it can't be helped.

Negi was still in a sulk after Seishirou.

He was in the library reading for the most part, looking over a book on Christmas holidays for the most part. In Midchilda they didn't really have Christmas per say, but it was close.

Lately though he had been feeling restless, like something needed to be done.

He hoped Zashi was okay.

[A very snow covered redhead is now standing in front of a fire in the Christmas car, not that he really wants to even be in this car but it was the first one after the snowball war one. That was not particularly fun.

Lavi's grumbling under his breath about stupid snowballs flying from everywhere, yes grumbling, he has his voice back. Might have been hit at least a hundred times, probably would have been more if he hadn't had his ATs on.

He's got his hands extended to the fire, getting colder by the minute instead of warmer. Eyeing that stocking with his name on it.]

Wonder if it'll come back if I take it down.

ooc: Gonna get his memory back.

[Kaoru is trying to head back to his sleeping car for something. Unfortunately there's an entire floor of sheet ice in the way. And he can't find any skates. Not that he CAN skate but... they'd probably help]

*he hesitates, then carefully steps onto the ice, clinging to the side for dear life balance and looking up the car with a degree of trepidation before carefully edging to the side wall of the car in order to make his way up*

[Once again, the restless assassin seems to be wandering the train again. Yuri never really cared much for the holidays, but he had to admit, it was good to have a period where one could rest up and basically train to make sure he was ready for anything.

...now, if only he could find the training room car, life would be good for the assassin.]

Where is it...?! I thought it wouldn't be this hard to... find...?

[When he opens the door to a random car, he finds himself greeted with a winter wonderland -- snow covers much of the ground, and there's even a few trees visible as he walks around the clearing, the soft white powder crunching under his feet.]

...hn. A snow-filled car. Fitting, I suppose...

[He looks around, examining some things before he suddenly gets the urge to try and make a snowman. Anyone who walks in will see him rolling a large white ball of snow around... bother him?]

[There's a yellow-ish, creased piece of paper sticking to the notice board in the dining car, and this is what is written on it:]

Want some free stuff? Meet me at 11pm, next car to the left

[The car he's talking about is freaking enormous in regards to space and quite dark. There's sofas in the corners and small tables that provide enough room for a bottle of beer -- or two, or three, or four, maybe. The beer can be found in the fridge at the entrance of the car if you're thirsty. Nothing but beer, by the way. You get in there, you're doomed to get out only one way: high and drunk.]




[[ooc: Get wasted, my friends! Everyone is invited to Shinji's big drug party. There's enough for all of us. Thread-hijacking/hopping is absolutely encouraged. Let's party! ♥]]

*Akihiko sits in the lounge car in one of the comfortable chairs. He seems to be lost in thoughts and stares at the police badge in his hands*

...Simon?

*stepping slowly down one of the generic carriages - one foot in front of the other, head tilted to one side, lower arms extended to brush against the seats at either side of her* *mumbles, seemingly unaware of doing so*

...olly olly oxen free...

[There is a Hazuki, sitting in what appears to be a normal car, slightly... sleepy-looking, studying a few diagrams.]

None of this makes any sense whatsoever. I suppose it shouldn't be expected to, though...

*you'll find Kaoru in a dining car. He's become very wary about lingering around less-frequented areas of the train (call it prudence ._.) so he's sticking around better known places for the time being. He's sitting in one of the booths, his back against the wall and his legs stretched out across the seat, watching the view in the window opposite, drawing absently.

There's a mug of tea beside him but it's long since gone cold. He hasn't been bothered with getting up to refill it*

[Ryoko has left a couple of things on the notice board in the dining car (along with taking down some of the outdated notices). One of them is a handwritten note:]



( Plain text for the screen readers or, well, it's some kinda painful handwriting to read. )

[The other is a print out of a photo of her with a half-cropped out blonde girl* over her shoulder. It's the kind of photo you take of yourself and your friends, holding out your own camera in front of you; Ryoko herself appears to have taken it. She looks happy in a black polo shirt; the blonde girl is wearing something one shouldered and blue. Both girls are in stage makeup.

Underneath this Ryoko has written:]

This is me ☺
I don't wear that much makeup normally, though!

* It's Tiara rather than Sharpay, for the one person - two people? - who know the HSM cast.

---

[Ryoko herself can be found at a table in the mentioned games car with two stacks of board games and her laptop, concentrating hard.]

*Lucia is in the computer lab. She's not physically in the computers this time, but she's hooked up to one of them with cables. The screen shows a number of songs being written out in code and then transferred to her memory.*

I wonder who wrote these ones?

[Duo is investigating the loss of his voice still. He has his suspicions, but isn't ready to make accusations yet. In the meantime, he has gone a few cars down to a car that looks suspiciously like a game room of sorts with tables between seats. He flops down in the nearest seat, pulling out his mahjong set. He might as well play a solo game of mahjong to steady his nerves.

That is, unless someone wants to play mahjong with him or help him figure out where his voice has gone off to.]

*A rare sight - Hikaru in the library car, apparently looking for something. He made quite a mess by throwing books all over the floor and tables*

There must be something here that could be useful!

[After many experiments with the herbs from a garden car Seishirou has finally managed to make it work as intended. Now beware if you want to make yourself some tea! He swapped the safe stuff for the poisonous. When it comes in contact with hot water and is swallowed, it'll leave you with an inability to speak for a few hours up to a whole week, depending on the strength of your vocal chords. Of course it's not as fun when you can't see the results, so Seishirou has made himself comfortable in the dining car.]

[Here's a fury that hasn't been seen in a while.

The pyromaniac red head is tearing through the cars, always leaving something burning in the one he just left. There's a rather large and striking white bandage where his bandanna normally goes.

Might account as to why Lavi doesn't recall you if you stop him. A hard hit to the head erased his memories up to five months from boarding the train.]

Where the hell are they?! Damnit!

This had better be some frigging joke!

ooc: Muse hates me for thiiiiiiiiis. He will get it back eventually, before Christmas. But for now he's going to be a grouchy-mcgrouch pants! 8D

*Archer is stretching in a car that looks like a ballet practice room. She sighs and looks around.*

This space is certainly cramped. This train's simply teasing me this week.

[Raven has been on the train for about 20 minutes now, simply staring out the window whilst sitting in one of the seats. Sorry for the delay!]

This isn't right. I can't make sense of anything out of the windows. What's the next stop for this train? I have business to attend to.

*Akihiko has been on the train for about a week now. He did lots of exploring and didn't sleep very much. That's why he ended up in the dining car eventually, making himself some coffee*

[A clattering can be heard as Bardock enters a car that can best be described as the library car. He glances back with an incredulous look now; his glasses have fallen off the collar of the shirt he is currently wearing--a green tank top. If one looks, they can see his State Alchemist uniform appears to have been hastily stuffed into his luggage.]

Not. Again.

[With a quick motion, he picks them up and inspects them--there is now a large crack across the lefthand lens, in addition to the crack that was already on the righthand lens.]

Damnit, there had better be a good alchemy book in here. If I wasted my time dragging my stuff here, I'm going to be pissed.

[He lays his luggage on the ground, then starts snooping through the shelves of books. Battle worn fingertips fall upon a leather book and a smirk crosses his face now. Maybe this is the one he's been looking for. He pulls it off the shelf and starts looking through it. Quickly, he pulls out his leather-bound journal and his pen, drawing the transmutation circle he has been looking for before placing his glasses on the circle. Two hands are placed on the circle now and he taps into the energies to activate the circle. When all is said and done, the glasses are fixed anew.]

There we go.

[He puts the glasses on now with a quiet smirk upon his face. If anyone wanted to interrupt him, now would be the time--while he is in a good mood.]

*is actually up; standing by the window in their sleeping compartment, looking out of the window at the scenery outside, a blanket draped around his shoulders*

(backdated to the start of the month, just after Hikaru's run-in with Seishrou)

[There's a very confused teenager looking around.]

What...? I-Where's Inoue? Rukia? Tatsuki? Rider?

This isn't the train I got on! Shit, where-CASTER! Is this your doing?! Dammit, answer me! Inoue! Everyone!

[Andddd excuse him, he'll just be running through the train, shouting all the while. Loud kid.]

I don't need you to make me hurry, I know perfectly well when the train is departing, Colo- ... Mu~?

[Looks around, her lips curled in a frown.] Colonello? General Reborn? [Pauses.] What an unusual trick... [Turns around to leave the train but the door is closed already.] I don't remember this thing closing behind me. Is it an illusion? [Touches the door and studies it but it won't buldge.] Mu~, too much for having finally completed that annoying mission.

Fine. [Turns her head a little to look at the black frog over her shoulder.] Fantasma, it seems we aren't allowed to go back home yet. Please, lend me your strength once more if things turn ugly here, let's hope we will get a decent pay once we return there. It better be high to make up for having to listen to Colonello and Belphegor tease me about my lack of punctuality. [Eyes the train car, at the very least it seems it's a train even if a strange one.] Now... Shall we find clues about this situation? An exit would be preferred, though the responsibles of this new game won't be a bad replacement to that option, mu~.

[Unusual for sure, but there's a young tween rummaging in the kitchen car. On the counter is a container of water, a candle, and a duck feather.]

There has to be salt somewhere in this car. It can't all be gone.

[Looks like someone's getting ready for something.]

[Crimson eyes stare at the display on Duo's cellular phone. There are no bars of signal.]

What is this? We have gone a long way, it seems, and still no signal? How will I get any information from Luan, Chat, and Sai now, let alone any information from Lin?

[Duo stuffs his cellular phone back into his messenger bag. He gives a frustrated look toward the window now, pulling a few bangs out of his eyes. Somehow, he seems more than just frustrated, but at the same time seems abnormally calm for someone so upset. A hand reaches into his suitcase absentmindedly; maybe for his mahjong set? But there is no one to play mahjong against, for now. But that could change. Or maybe he'll be too entertained to have to play mahjong?]

[After the incident with Ken and the Akuma, Rina has been sleeping almost two days straight since.

When she wakes up again, she's alone in the infirmary car, sore as hell and rather hungry. Unfortunately any attempt to sit up and move thus far as completely failed, and she's lying on the bed staring at the door, willing it to open so she can bother some one.

Seriously door. Open. :| ]

[This train car is filled with EXPLOSIONS. And the sounds of buildings crashing down and gunfire--it looks like a turn-of-the-century European city inside and outside the windows, or at least it would if it wasn't being turned into rubble. A few strange floating things--looking like mechanized hot air balloons from Hell, bristling with gun turrets and with a mask that looks like a tortured face--are gathered around one person, Ken, wearing his Exorcist's uniform and currently leaping all over the place to avoid being perforated by Akuma bullets while counterattacking with his activated Innocence.

No distracting him please. That would end very badly.]

White Sickle!

[calling his attack, Ken slashes his bladed hand viciously through the air, the four blades detaching from his glove and swinging toward one of the Akuma on long red ribbons, leaving gaping gashes in the thing's body before it blows up. His hand jerks back, bringing the blades with it, swinging around to cut through another one. Awesome.

They're not leaving the car, and their blood bullets seem to be far less lethal than usual, but they're still very much a threat and Ken isn't letting them stick around.]

((ooc: yeah don't get shot. won't be pleasant. Ken will be throwing himself in front of anyone in the line of fire 'cause where he's from this be fatal. On the train, as to avoid hax, they just completely paralyze you and hurt like bloody hell so you think you're dying. :D; These are just level 1 Akuma, but they're bad enough! There's about three left after the rampage of destruction. Of course more could be hiding, sneaky things that they are. Guns will only make them laugh, but any other abilities will probably be capable of destroying them. Anyone (Ryoma?) capable of seeing spirits can possibly see the soul bound to these things. I think that's it. Except for disclaimers of 'if this isn't cool let me know.'))

[From one of the cars with all those training dummies and whatnot, some very loud explosions can be heard, most of them with a preceding scream of rage.

Rina seems to be taking out some serious aggression, in the air and hurling fire like a mad woman at the moving dummies. Kagusuchi is with her, but the white dragon seems to be hanging back, watching in quiet worry.

If one dared to get close enough, around the burning 'corpses' and near the fire-wielding teenager, they would see that she's about three seconds from crying, grumbling to herself, and no amount of blasting is helping.]

Take me from my home... from Maes... didn't even get to tell Nina was I was sorry... keep making me lose my crap... lose sleep... can't ever have a normal life... IYAAAH! I WANT TO GO HOME!

[The scream is followed up with five dummies exploding all at once. Panting heavily, Rina collapses to the ground on her hands and knees, staring at all the burning dummies around her. After a moment she hangs her head and sighs.]

I just want to go home...



((OOC: Replies might be late. Heading to a studio class in a half an hour.))

[Ryoga can be found in his seat practically dozing off. That is until he hears something and jerks awake. After he glances around he assumes he was just hearing things. Perhaps a breath of fresh air would help clear his mind.

He turns to the window and goes to open it, only to find it won't budge. He tries again, focusing this time, using his super strength and still nothing.]

Well that's strange... Why won't it open?

[He's now staring at it as though it were a foreign object. It should've opened, especially when he used his power.]

It's not like I got money for a fucking long-distance travel.

[He slams the doors but naturally, they won't open. The glass is cracked though. He grunts, takes a seat and kicks his bag.]

Damn, I gotta be there on time. Guess that's not gonna happen. Oh, fuck it. Let's have 'em wait. They're good-for-nothings anyways.

[Sam opens up the folder of notes as soon as the car empties and the last person besides him gets off. Glancing around a little, he pulls out the stapled packet about The Prime Object. The pages are a tid crumpled together as he tries to search between pages half-stuck with what looked like ketchup or blood. He gives a half-disgusted face before setting them on the seat next to him and slowly easing his coat off. Blowing out a breath, the detective gently pulls two pages stuck together apart and furrows his eyebrows, attention focusing onto the page itself and his peripherals going all but blind. When he looks up though, he furrows his eyebrows, the sound of a train crossing suddenly dimming away into quiet. Curiously, he slowly climbs to his feet and draws his Glock from its holster, keeping a weather eye on both doors to the car. He slides over to the window and pulls the curtain back to see stars whizzing past the window. In a moment of anxiety, he reaches into his pocket and quickly clutches The Key before glancing around again. Something about the train is different to him.]

Shit.

[Urgently, he leaves his seat and moves up to the door of the car, his weapon still drawn. Taking a breath to calm himself, Sam knocks on the door.]

Hello? Is anyone there?

[He looks back at the empty car behind him.]

Jennifer?

[He knocks on the door again, more urgently this time.]

I need to talk to the conductor, I think I'm on the wrong train.