Aboard the bus

[Ada Turing]

The bus was reasonably nice, as far as such things go - not quite a tour bus, but certainly with more padding in the seats than the average metro or school bus. Ada chose a seat near the middle of the bus, on the driver's side, and stuffed her bags into the spaces overhead and under the seat in front of her.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Huh. I suppose I'll join you then." Kahlen grabbed her bags. She wasn't too excited about the prospect of another cramped space, but now she had someone to talk to.

Kahlen shoved her bags in the storage area and hopped up the stairs to the bus. She paused to look at the sign on the door to double check. "Yep. This is it." After a cursory glance around the bus, Kahlen headed to the middle. She began to untangle her headphones from her hair, noticing that she had accidentally put her headphones through her ponytail holder.

"Hey, Ada, mind if I sit by you?"

[Ada Turing]

"Not at all." Ada said, scooting over towards the window. "Listening to anything fun?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen sat down by Ada, crossing her legs in the fairly small seat space. "I've got Shostakovich on now. I'm a dancer, so I like music I can dance to."

She tugged at her headphone cords, finally releasing them from her hair. "Argh. I always fix them in my hair. Anyways, where are you from?"

[Michelle Wilcox]

Michelle boarded the bus and immediately made a beeline for the rearmost seats. She took the window seat on the left side and placed her luggage on the seat next to her. She would move her bags if someone attractive with needed the seat. However, the furry boy who was still outside the bus sniffing people and the odd-looking cyborg girl would have to sit somewhere else.

[Ada Turing]

"Chicago," Ada explained to Kahlen. "The parents made good on their threat to send me to boarding school, so here I am."

[Druu Tandy]

Druu also headed straight for the back of the bus, taking the window seat opposite the 15 year old. She held her backpack on her knees and looked around at everyone else, bored.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Oh! That's cool. I've never been to Chicago. I've only been to New York the few times I've been to the states," Kahlen said. She didn't think it would be polite to ask about why Ada was being sent to this school.

Kahlen fiddled a bit with her MP3 player, finally deciding that she would break it if she continued with this habit. A good coffee was what she needed. The small cup she got on the plane didn't last nearly long enough. Silly airplanes, not allowing liquids. After putting her MP3 player in her shorts pocket, Kahlen turned to Ada and looked out the window. There were still a few students milling around the bus stop.

"So, what are your other interests?" Kahlen grinned.

[Somariel Lamaron]

Finding a seat near the front of the bus, Somariel stuffed her suitcases into the overhead compartment and shoved the duffel bag under the seat in front of her. Then she slung her backpack and computer case onto the seat beside her and dug a battered book out of the backpack before sitting down.

[Ada Turing]

"This and that," Ada said to Kahlen. "Computers, mostly. And games."

[Tlanextli Izel]

After the plane ride, which had adhered faithfully to the time-honored standards of being cramped, noisy, and not a little turbulent, the idea of sitting down again, pressed far too close to other people, did not appeal to Tlanextli Izel in the least. She had seen the bus pull up as she'd left the terminal, and had eagerly hurried forward despite the milling crowd, relishing the chance to stretch her limbs even as her bags weighed more and more heavily on her shoulders and back.

Having caught a few glances of the people pushing by her up the narrow steps, Tlanextli had reluctantly concluded that they at least looked more interesting than her old classmates, but that wasn't to say she was looking forward to the bus ride with them; divesting herself of her bags and pushing them up into a luggage rack, she stretched sore muscles and continued walking.

After a few trips up and down, she eventually found one of the few seats not yet occupied, although a few people with room to spare had given her vaguely friendly or at least non-homicidal looks, and flopped down with a sigh. Across from her, a red-headed girl who seemed to be about her own age was settling into her own seat.

Tlanextli was rather relieved to see that she had already opened a book, and, the threat of imminent conversation removed, leaned out cautiously to look around at the rest of the bus's occupants. The term "diverse" didn't do them justice, as it suggested that, whatever color they might be, all the people described were entirely human.

A smile flickered across her face, just for an instant. They might turn out to be rude, crude, idiotic, contagious, or one or more of the above, but, in looks at least, they were definitely more interesting than her old classmates.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Ah," Kahlen replied. "I don't know that much about computers, but I can use them well enough." As a dancer, Kahlen didn't really have much use for computers. She tugged absentmindedly at her shoes. "I'm much to impatient to play most games. Some of the newer games involve activity, so I like those."

Kahlen's face lit up as she thought of something potentially fun. "I could teach you dance and you could teach me about computers, if you like!" Kahlen enjoyed showing others how to dance. It allowed her to show off a bit. She also thought Ada might appreciate the idea more if it involved computers.

[Rena Thompson]

"I can't believe I made it..." Rena said, exhausted. she placed her backpack at her feet and took a seat about halfway down the bus. "Well, there's more than one way to do things. If high command want a show, they're not getting one. Hah! St. Dymphna's here I come!"

[Aelita Selena Auberon]

A child, dressed all in pink, appeared in the front seat of the bus. She had large nearly translucent wings, golden shimmering hair, and eyes the color of storm clouds. She was enchantingly beautiful, at least she would have been if she had not in the middle of a tantrum.

She was screaming, louder than would seem possible from her small stature. "Nooooo!1!!! I'm not going! You can't make me! You won't!" She dropped to a whining wheedling tone. "Daaaaaddyyyyyyy." She finally looked around, and realized that she was on a bus filled with humans.

She promptly sat down, crossed her arms and stuck her lip out, pouting.

[Malakai Meir]

Malakai ditches his disguise of airport janitor in the bathroom. No one had suspected that he was listening to their conversations. He was getting better at the disguises. He picked his things up from the airport terminal and boarded the bus.

He sat behind two girls talking about Chicago, and prepared to eavesdrop some more.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

After a failed attempt at making conversation outside the bus, Less Than Beta decided that he should claim a seat of his own. With a quick glance he identified a free seat near the back which was perfect for listening in on conversations. Unfortunately, while making his way over there he tripped over someone's backpack and fell on his face with a yelp.

[Ada Turing]

"I'd like-" Ada started, before being shocked into silence by Aelita's sudden appearance.

"You saw that, right?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"I heard that before I saw that," Kahlen replied, scratching her ear. The loud pink girl was much more than she was used to. "I hope she won't be like this during school. I don't think anyone would put up with screaming like that."

The girl didn't say anything after her outburst, so Kahlen turned back to Ada. "Anyways..."

[Ada Turing]

Ada blinked a couple times, not entirely willing to accept that people could appear out of thin air.

"Yes, I'd like that," she said finally.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

After picking himself up, Less walked over to the two conversing girls. "Hey, is that normal for people to do? Appearing from nowhere, I mean?" For all he knew, everyone outside of the tundra could teleport. Magic was weird, so nothing about it would really surprise him.

[Damien Griffiths]

(OOC: sorry, was away. Did make a response outside. ALSO CRAP WRONG ACCOUNT POST)

With his shoulderbag uncomfortably heavy on his shoulder, Damien shuffled into the bus, and almost collided with the walking tantrum in the seat next to the aisle.
"Whoa there, take it easy. Anything wrong?" As she started pouting, he shuffles by carefully and starts making way to a seat, preferably next to a window somewhere near the back - but not all the way.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen grinned. "That's great!"

She promptly forgot about Aelita and her strange appearance, too excited about her new pupil. (Of course, she would have to learn something about computers, but that would be fun, perhaps.)

"Things are getting pretty interesting already, eh?" Kahlen whispered conspiratorily to Ada, who looked rather baffled.

The werewolf asked about Aelita. "No, that's not normal at all. If you just ignore the weird in things, they don't seem as weird," Kahlen responded, trying to be helpful.

"Would you like to join us?" Kahlen asked. She'd never met anyone non-human before. He seemed nice enough.

[Rena Thompson]

"Oh god, sorry, are you alright?" Rena said, apologising repeatedly as she moved her pack and tried to help the boy up.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

((S'ok.
EDIT: Less is not furry except when in wolf form. He looks like a normal human save the odd hair colors.))

As he glanced away from the two girls, Less Than Beta waved Damien over to him. "Do you think those wings can support her?" he asked, easily ignoring the noise. Nothing could be too loud after all those years of winter blizzards. He didn't even consider that leaving off talking to someone to get on a bus might have been rude. He fiddled with the rabbitskin bracelet as he spoke, carefully tugging at the braided strips.

Then he turned back to the girls. "Can we both join you?"

[Damien Griffiths]

"Oh... not as they are." He smiled at Less Than Beta. "But she looks like some sort of fairy, so I guess there's something like magic involved. She can probably fly, but I think the wings are more of a decoration than actual flying wings." He eyes the seats left open, and spots a couple free ones.
"Hey, wanna go sit down? You must've been standing out there for a while."

[Michelle Wilcox]

Michelle's look pf boredom turned into a nasty grin. If the girl throwing the tantrum was always that easy to set off, Michelle would have some fun with her. Michelle's smile grew as she imagined herself smacking the brat across the room with a flyswatter.

[Damien Griffiths]

Now noticing the girls, he stops.
"Oh, you wanna sit with them? 's okay with me."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

((Oops. Sorry about that. I will remember that for the future.))

"Sure, why not?" Kahlen said to Less. She waved to the pair of seats next to her and Ada. "We've just been talking about dance and computers."

Kahlen uncrossed her legs and shoved her backpack under the seat to give her more room. She wondered for the hundredth time when they were finally going to get to St. Dymphna's. The wait was making her legs cramp.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"We can both sit with them, right?" The 'right' was directed at the girls, and sounded a bit plaintive compared to the rest of the sentence. He would not ask what fairies were. He would not ask what fairies were. He would not- "What is a fairy?"

He clambered onto one of the seats and gestured to Damien to join them. "I know dancing." Sure, it wasn't any kind of dancing one would learn in a studio, but it was certainly dancing.

((Edited to include a response to Kahlen))

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Of course," Kahlen reassured Less. "Really, go ahead and sit down."

She was a bit perplexed about the fairy question. Had he never read fairytales? She looked over to Ada to see if she would respond.

"Uh... fairies are, no were, mythical creatures with wings. I guess they are real." Kahlen shrugged. "You dance? Would you like to practice sometime?"