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Kettil meandered in and paused a moment.

...First he had to antagonize his favorite cowboil, "HI MOT HIIIII. HII. YOU ARE STILL ALIVE GLAD TO SEE IT."

Don't question it. It's Kettil being himself.

Sort of.

Maybe a bit crazier than normal.

Being without his familiar is probably a bad thing.

Then he saw Muka and Freya. Mot was thankfully saved from having to deal with Kettil brand insanity by Freya and Muka. Perhaps the cowboil should thank his lucky stars. All of them.

"My brother and my ghoulfriend in the same place together? This must be the best day ever." Kettil then moved to sit with them.

"Oh," the djinn frowned, glancing around quickly before back to the masked professor. "Oh, um." It wasn't a question of what the symbols meant, but of why they were there to begin with, and Hadiyya couldn't say she had an answer for him. It had never occurred to her to ask, just something she'd grown up with.

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "I suppose you could compare them to make up, in a way." It really wasn't a good analogy, but she wasn't sure how else to explain things. "I'm sorry."

Holding up a hand to the amphisbaenia as if saying "One second," the professor walked to the center of the old theatre's stage.

"Ah, thank you all for assembling tonight." The professor's voice was not loud, but his dry, raspy tone seemed to project across the ancient circle. "As you may have gathered, the wardens of the Scarefari Zone are in need of many assisting eyes, to trap and document new colouration patterns found in this year's pygmy dragon migration.

"We will be travelling to the scarefari zone by bus on the weekend so as to not interfere with student classes, overnight sleeping and eating arrangements will be provided. Pygmy dragons are found in the following zones: Misty Plains, Dark Forest, Bloodstone Cliffs, Landown Bog, Howling Karsts, Stormstruck Peaks, and the Southern Beaches. Volunteers will spend their day trapping pygmy dragons in these locations. A warden will be available in each of these zones if you require assistance in any matter, and will document new finds as you capture them."

The professor paused to look over the group.

"If you have any questions, you may approach me at any time."

Frost was there. He had been. He was sneaky wolfos.

The bells were heard first, grabbing her attention back to the approaching boil. Olivia gave him her own look, one of confusion, "what's not... odd?" She asked him, actually addressing a question.

Did he mean his bells? Though, maybe they were a little for a wildlife expedition where they would attract attention but they weren't that weird, she'd seen others fight while wearing them after all. The Wight never once considered his clothing, and really she wasn't one to judge since the only thing outdoorsy about her own attire were her boots and maybe her peacoat; she had a ruffled skirt and top on underneath after all.

The icy boil gained himself another quizzical look before Olivia turned her attention to the Professor as he gave further instructions. As best she could, she mentally took note of the locations; or at least the ones that seemed like those she'd actually venture to even though she had no idea what the places were like. Wardens and assistance. Did she have any questions? Probably not, but she still decided to linger around a bit.

It was then she noticed a few more people had shown up. They had been loud to begin with but she had been a little preoccupied.

Raja

Olivia doesn't think his bells are that weird...

Xiu beamed when she caught Molan's return-wave and smile, but she was promptly made aware of her immediate surroundings when other third year friends began to arrive. Mot's appearance was met with a bright laugh, and she eagerly jumped forward to give her friend a big hug when he held his arms out towards her. "Hi Mot! How have you been?"

Her gaze sloooowly slid between Mot and Gene and she cleared her throat.

And then there was suddenly another voice addressing them, one that was not entirely familiar. Perking up, Xiu turned to face the newcomer curiously, a warm, welcoming smile immediately spreading over her lips. "Yes, of course you can come with us! We're here to help, after all." That, and the baku always loved meeting new students. Gene and Mot, she was sure, were the same. She took a step back so that she could drop into a small bow, "My name is Xiu! And you're...?"

Danny was there next, and the baku returned her greeting with a cheerful one of her own. However, when she started saying something about a cousin, the small ghoul's expression became puzzled. "Your...your cousin, Danny? He or she is among the new batch of students?" Curiously, she turned to eye them again, attempting to pick out anyone who might have reminded her of the fire demoness from among the crowd.

It sounded like it was almost time for them to leave too, if the professor's instructions were of any indication. She listened intently, giving a little nod when he was finished with his spiel. Well, this would be an interesting trip to be sure!

Xiu seemed content to return to her reunion while they waited for the teachers, which left him to the short ghoul before him And waiting for a reply. Unbeknownst to either of them, they were probably equally awkward with people in their own ways. So they'd both probably sort of shrunk away from the group. And no one seemed to keen on bothering either, so it was fine for now.

Her reply finally came and proved... his brother was right. Etzer had said on more than one occasion that his bells made him stick out like a sore thumb, and it was true. Not that he was going to get rid of them anytime soon due to it, but apparently that was the cause of all this. He followed her queue, issuing a single word to start. "Oh." He paused, not sure what to do at that point, having been the one to bother her first, obviously it was his bad for misunderstanding, but he wasn't sure how to move from there. He didn't feel like he needed to apologize, she had been staring. Even if he did that too sometimes. "Well... nevermind." He paused, eyeing the teachers a moment. "I guess we're going soon." They'd been taking count of the group earlier, so he assumed as much? Why else would they be figuring out how many students had come?