The first time someone came down the stairs to the platform Koda had perked up and span around to greet the Ghost Girl again, only the words died on his lips as realized they were not, in fact, the Ghost Girl, but some other nameless pedestrian. Or so he assumed, they loitered in the subway away from him and looked nervous, followed by another, and another, and soon he realized they carried masks of their own. [color=#baa47f][i]The Others,[/i][/color] he realized, somehow he'd thought they'd arrive as one, or at least headed by their ghostly guide, but no, it wasn't until the last arrived, another young girl, that the Ghost Girl returned. She didn't acknowledge him specifically, but he felt her attention turn to the group he stood with.

Then she gave him the one thing he wanted; the opportunity to get answers. This was something new, and as with all new things that came into Koda's life he wanted to explore it, learn about it. He barely slowed enough to let another finish asking their own questions, but they were weak questions, why and what were a good start, but phrased like that? He didn't waste his breath on the scoff he wanted to let loose, there were more important things to know:

[color=#baa47f]""Transported to a different world,""[/color] he quoted, mentally slapping the name 'Irriss' on a label under 'Other Worlds' and continuing on, [color=#baa47f]"how is that achieved? Can we come back? Will we be using a wormhole or quantum transmitters? Is it dangerous? Will we have to account for time dilation? How did you get enough energy into a subway train to power this kind of travel? When you say 'world' do you mean it as in a planet or as in a parallel universe? What kind of-"[/color] His tirade of questions, the first few of the horde he'd been brewing since she'd left him here to fetch the others, was briefly interrupted when the mask in his hands made an awkward and insistent lurch- He barely paused for breath before swapping one question for another; [color=#baa47f]"-and what the hell is this and why does it feel like it's [i]eating my fingers?[/i]"[/color] He demanded with an annoyed look at the mask, raising it up to for emphasis. The misty blackness at its edges had expanded to wrap tightly around his fingers, much like a baby's hand might do, though decidedly creepier- and pricklier too. He kept forgetting it was in his hands, but it seemed to have had enough of being ignored.

It was... he didn't know. It confused him, made him feel... emotions he wasn't used to, couldn't properly name. He decidedly looked away from it, eyes snapping up to meet the Ghost Girl's in a silent challenge for answers. Already the annoyance from the weird mask was fading, replaced once more by excitement. He was going to learn something new here, and his lab back at Talos was finally going to get some use. Eventually. Apparently they were going on a field trip where these kinds of advancements were common place, or at least he hoped they were.

His mind was moving too quickly with the possibilities to even begin to guess at what he was dealing with; aliens? Actual ghosts? He was a scientist yes, but that didn't mean he was a skeptic, like how some scientists could reconcile their faith with their understanding of how the world worked- he could reconcile his understanding of how the world worked with the fact that some things he just didn't understand yet. It was actually a comon occurance that he didn't understand something, especially in his family where everyone was at least ten times smarter than him- [color=#baa47f][i]but not this time, this time I'm the one doing the researching, finding the answers to something new![/i][/color] He realized suddenly he didn't have any equipment, just his phone, but the Ghost Girl had the answers, he could prove her words later.

The what wasn't the only thing he had problems ascertaining either though, it was also the why, and the more he thought about it the more credit he gave to the boy who'd asked questions before- sure Koda prioritized different concepts in their sparse ten minutes, but those other questions, pointless as they had seemed a moment ago, now might have actually had a point. He was suddenly faced with the fact that he didn't know where he was going, why he was going there, what he'd be doing, what he'd find, or when he'd come back- [color=#baa47f][i]and it's Kenan's birthday tomorrow too, I'm going to miss my flight...[/i][/color]

He was distracted by the mask once again, it's tangible shadow-like edges had pulled the tops of his fingers tightly against the edge of one of the hard glass-like triangles and he was forced to trade hands so it wouldn't cut him. Surprisingly the mask gave little fuss and relinquished his fingers with ease, only to try and ensnare the new ones that now held it in his off-hand. He really wanted to get this thing under a microscope, it felt like holding a sleepy octopus. He hadn't noticed the small aura of dark cloud-like tentacles surrounding the mask before, but they seemed obvious to him now, but after a second of looking at them too long they seemed almost... not there? As if they were switching between visible and invisible, which of course only made him want to study it more.

It only took a few seconds for Koda to consider all this; remembering his utter lack of information, acknowledging his possible disappearance, the mask's weird behavior, and then he was zeroed in on the Ghost Girl again, because she was the one with the answers.