Lugubrious

A School for Deities.

After watching the Evera girl depart -to talk to Ashil of all things- Phobetor was pretty dead set on leaving. The fleeting memory of the lovely cherry blossom tree outside alerted him to the fact that the countryside the bus sped through would be very nice to behold; it was more inviting than those in here, regardless. He quickly ran over how it would work in his head: after discretely pulling down his window, he'd become a gecko and scale his way to the roof of the bus, where he would reform into a wolverine so as to keep a good grip on the roof against the onrushing air. From there, he would be fully able to appreciate the landscape.

The window was already down when Phobetor felt something tugging at his mind. Such a sensation was not unknown to him, and even bestowed upon him a rush of excitement, for it was the feeling of someone's dream. Like a hot-out-of-the oven apple pie or a shiny ring perched on a storefront shelf, it cried out to him--"Come and get me. Phobetor placed a hand on the back of his seat and stood halfway up, looking around. Evera was just finishing up with the moron, the shrine maiden murmured inaudibly to Taiyo...ah, there! The gaudy-haired boy, the one who had made a fool out of the bully. His lids lay closed in obliviousness and his thin chest heaved up and down rhythmically, but it wasn't the kid's sleeping form that interested the God of Nightmares. It was just his head, a box full of treasures screaming to be cracked open. Grinning toothily, Phobetor sat back down in his seat and reclined, shutting his own eyes. When he opened them again, they were solid black with radiant purple pupils, unmoving and unblinking.

Phobetor entered Andrew's dream.

A School for Deities.

Disappointing weekend. I guess Overwatch will be absent every weekend, not just that first one.

A School for Deities.

Through the magic of plot armor, you will have had been with us all along!

RWBY - Haze

Not really sure what I can do, to be honest. Do I just file out onto the greater space with everyone else?

A School for Deities.

Though the brief exchange between Asmodeus and Ashil was spoken in the low turns of intimacy and embarrassment respectively, its intensity allowed Phobetor to hear. The God of Nightmares, forgetting his current shadow puppets -gorgon and a scorpion, the latter of which had been losing badly- listened in. To hear the bashful-sounding blonde speak so differently practically screamed something unusual. Maybe the kid was a schizophrenic? Phobetor always enjoyed the dreams of the mentally ill the most, since he didn't need to do much to make them a wild tumult of chaos and madness. It was like being a director and sitting down to enjoy a movie made by someone else, though understandably more horrifying.

Phobetor turned away from the conversation, making sure not to look at Ashil's. He was pleased to see the brute finally get a little of what was coming to him, but in the wake of such a humiliation he would probably be even more of a pissant than usual—this sentiment had settled in his mind even though he'd only known Ashil for a few minutes. Phobetor's hand had already returned to their original positions before he realized how incredibly bored he was with shadowplay. A lone, brilliantly pink cherry tree on the side of the road caught his attention, and he watched it until the bus left the pretty plant behind.

Just then a girl's voice reached him from a few seats over. He practically whirled to face her, and was met with the same plain face and brown hair that belonged to Evera; he had marked her name when the shrine-maiden had called it out. Instantly he felt that his privacy had been intruded on, like a child trying to play his game away from the prying eyes of his fellows. Why would someone else be interested in what he was doing? Why would she be watching in the first place? He decided that she must have some sort of angle. With a flick of his wrist, the shadows vanished. "Killing time," he finally drawled, purposefully filling his tone with the idea that he didn't want to be disturbed. Unfortunately, he was sure that such an answer wouldn't satisfying this girl's curiosity, and he had better fill her in. "I bring darkness to life," he added cryptically, holding up a open hand and making sure his disfigured, clawlike fingernails were visible. Perhaps that would put her off.

A School for Deities.

“Last but not least,” the God of Nightmares snickered in reply. While the shrine maiden was easy on the eyes, he was immediately turned off by her obvious timidity. She responded to his voice by looking his way, attempting to assign a face to the strange name. The two locked eyes for a moment, soft pink on marbled black, and Mai practically trembled. Since the pretentious blowhard Ashil had already decided to make a scene of himself, Phobetor decided to keep it subtle. He rolled his eyes as she put down the clipboard and sat in a different seat.

Then the ghost wound up to speak again, declaring that all was accounted for and the vehicle could begin its voyage. As the bus lurched into action, Phobetor briefly examined Taiyo, watching him drift over to 'Evera' and begin to chatter. For a second he was jealous as the girl did not hesitate to open up to him, but he consoled himself by concluding that she couldn't possibly have anything worthwhile to say anyway.

As such, Phobetor quickly transitioned to amusing himself. Not wanting to create poor first impressions in such a cramped space, he opted to make puppets instead of try to frighten the others. Holding his hands in the air right in front of him, he cast shadows onto the back of the seat, contorting them into different shapes. In quick succession, he made a Pegasus, a Hydra, a bat, a cow skull, and an Orthus. The final image he settled on, and allowed more magic to flow into his two-dimensional creation. In response, the miniature two-headed hound began to move of its own accord, loping across the seat back and baring its teeth at nothing.

Phobetor snapped his fingers and a second puppet appeared, this one in the shape of a snake. As he watched, the two images began to fight, a brutal and short duel. While the fangs of the Orthus's heads raked the serpent's body, its crushing constriction spelled the beast's doom in the end. He spent a moment thinking of another matchup, and waved his hand to alter the puppets into a spider and a spear-wielding satyr. As the two began to face off, he reclined in his seat as much as he could to better enjoy the show.

The Heroes of Beacon

Abel greeted Gren's simple response with a blink. He hadn't expected a straight-up apology from the boy, whose shining green eyes and bulky armor gave the appearance of a brute. Much less had he expected a sincere apology, but Gren's voice conveyed what his hidden face couldn't. This guy actually seemed genuinely unhappy that he'd put the lives of his companions at risk.

Which, Abel considered, was exactly what he had been wanted.

While others might have given an affirmative smile, as if to say everything was okay now, he did not such thing. He merely listened to Bridget's words, which hammered in the final nail in the coffin. "Yeah," he finally breathed. "Maybe I was a little hard..." Avoiding the eyes of the others, he peered out over the cliff's edge at the sea of red leaves.

His focus was brought back to those around him when Bridgett's concern alerted him that someone was hurt. Following his partner's voice, he found Kuhaku limp in Gren's arms, with Bridgett kneeling at his side. "He looks bad," Abel remarked uselessly. As if realizing the profundity of his comment, he quickly moved on. "Medics!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, not wasting any time. As the small team of medics approached, his eyes shifted from Kuhaku's twitching body to Bridgett. Strain and exhaustion were obvious on her face, despite her best efforts to keep up a good image. Nothing was visible through Gren's carapace, however. "Maybe you ought to get checked out too."

RWBY - Haze

Gotcha.

It is unfortunate that I'm running into so many hurdles with you two. I don't mean to, honestly. I guess I'm just trying to do things too differently. I'll have Abel follow along with the others more closely in the future, and since he's a follower by nature it shouldn't really mess with his character.

A School for Deities.

Are we the only ones in the bus, or are there various other unnamed, unannounced students present?

RWBY - Haze

I'll edit when I know what to edit it to.