Angstbomb, mysterious and brooding as always, sulked. He did it because that was what he was good at. In fact, it was the base of his powers. You could tell him it was dumb, that it was downright stupid, but he would not care. In fact, he'd glower at you and mutter curses in Fey as he did. The boy just wasn't right. If he had only possessed a sunnier disposition and dropped the anti-conformist image, he'd be a male model in no time. The fashion biz went gaga for Elves and pretty boys after all. 

His head was still throbbing with pain from hitting it on the marble floor after their benefactors little outburst. As people began to move from the table to freshen up, he pushed his hands into his pockets and began to move towards his room, hood dragged over his head to give him the air of a "troubled" person. 

It did not stay there long.

The weird reptilian beast from earlier jumped in front of him, its face only a few feet away from his. Worse, it was intent on looking [i]right at his face.[/i] Not that it could be blamed: he was, of course, a multidimensional treasure. But it was bothersome nevertheless, and the scaly, feathery thing had an optimism that was [i]absolutely stifling.[/i]

"Hey!" squawked the creature. She spoke loud enough that it knocked his hood back and made a mess of his hair. "Hey! Why so down? Need to talk?" The raptor tilted its head this way and that like some sort of crazy bird. "You look mopey, which really is a shame as there's quite a lot to be thankful for, like [i]our FIRST JOB AS A SUPERHERO TEAM!"[/i]

The optimism was [i]really[/i] stifling. Little bits of spit flew out from the overeager monster's wide open mouth as it roared those last few words in a sing-song tone. With each droplet of Dino-spittle, the waves of positivity washed over him like a tidal wave cooling down lava. The poor fey was the village trapped between the two forces of nature. His eyes flew open wide and he almost fell backwards. He stared at those teeth. They looked awfully sharp.

"Get away from me you... you lizard!" He cried out. "Ughhhhh!" He mumbled and regained his mopey mood as soon as he averted his eyes from the overgrown creature. "You are blocking the way. Can't you see I am busy?"

"No, I'm not!" the raptor insisted cheerily. As Angstbomb stepped on forward, she stepped on backward, keeping an even pace with him as the two went down the hall. "And no, you're not busy, either! I mean, your legs are busy, but the rest of you isn't."

"I am deep in thought! Obviusly. [i]Uuuughhh."[/i] Angstbomb insisted, furrowing his brow. The creature hadn't even flinched at his insult. What was she, to stupid to care or too cheery to register the venom of his words? She was an ugly bit of sunshine in his gloriously dark existence. His eyes narrowed. "Scram!"

"I think you are just a [i]little[/i] confused," answered the clearly feather-brained dinosaur, holding up a single talon. "I," she began, "am Raptora. I'm your teammate. We're going to be working together to beat some villainous behind!" She demonstrated just what she meant with a kick at the air and a violent squawk, then continued stepping on backward in the same direction as Angstbomb, much to his chagrin. "Plus, I've been genetically endowed with knowledge of various principles of warfare. Did you know, for instance, that most battles are won or lost before the fight even begins?"

"LEAVE ME ALOOOONE!" The fey burst out suddenly, shooing the Dinosaur away best he could. "Can't you see I am being [i]deep?!"[/i]

The dinosaur paused in her tracks just for a moment. "Not really, no," she answered in an honest tone.

"But," she went on as she took a backwards leap, "you should [i]really[/i] do something about that negativity. Battles are won with confidence and morale and stuff. You should work on that." She paused again, then suddenly transformed again right in front of him, body twisting about and popping as she became a tall, dark-skinned woman.

"That's your door, by the way," she added with a grin, pointing at the one right beside hers. "See? I wasn't in your way at all!"

"I... What... I..." His eyes blinked, he looked puzzled. Why was she smiling? Why did she insist on smiling like that? As a murder-lizard she was at least cool and scary. Now she was just, just happy. That wasn't [i]right.[/i] Angstbomb rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He stormed past Raptora, not dignifying her with another word. 

For her part, Jessica stood outside the door a moment, nodding to herself. Several seconds after Angstbomb had gone into his room, she finally went into hers. "One step at a time," she mused as the door started to shut behind her. "We'll have a well-adjusted team soon enough!"