To Meet Oneself In The Halls Of A Bus [Open]

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Since the announcement, Matt had done his best to clean up everything and prepare a pile of food. There were small sandwiches, various snack foods, chips and several bottles of soda. It was simple snack fair, but it was enough to give people reassurance that there was normal food within the lunacy.

Rein puttered around, the little girl heaving up seats and moving them to accomodate the meeting place in the dining hall, pushing together chairs and tables with surprising strength. The pair worked busily and soon were prepared for whatever would come.

"Seems like we're all ready," said Matt, wiping his forehead. "Made all sorts of snack foods, and I've got the slow roast in the pressure cooker for those who want something hearty."

Walking to the door and wiping his hands on a rag, he opened the door to the bus to welcome anyone who was coming in.

Comments

[billy-blin.livejournal.com]

"Ah, so this is the bus I've heard so much about," Blin said in his heavy Irish accent as he walked through the door. "I've been wonderin' where the damn thing is. This is the place to go to talk about magic, aye?" He said, an eyebrow raised towards Matt and Rein. The place glowed to magic, but checking was the more polite thing to do. Especially considering how his meeting with the Seer had gone, he was glad to have finally found this place.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Yep, this is my home more or less," replied Matt with a light grin. "I'm Matt, and this is Rein. This is the WITCH Magic School, brought from Heatherfield. Make yourself at home, there's plenty of people to meet soon."

[billy-blin.livejournal.com]

"William Barlow, but please, call me Blin. It's nice to meet ye." He pushed his sunglasses back up his nose and tapped his cane along to find his way around a bit... with this much energy, differentiating objects was a bit of a challenge. Like a reverse of the rest of the ship. "A magic school, eh? Interesting. Back home, magic is something that has to be either hidden from public or done wearing fancy costumes, not somethin' that can be learned in a school."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you Blin," replied Matt. "And yeah, it's a magic school. Normally people who don't have any magical sensitivity only see it as a pink bus. Those who can use magic can see the logo on the side which designates this place as Kandrakar's official Earth-Based Magic School."

[billy-blin.livejournal.com]

"Interestin'. I may have seen that myself, but my major magical mojo is the ability to see anything at all. Literacy's a bit out of my league." He tapped his sunglasses with a smile. "So, what's this about a meetin' now?"

[enter-aeneas.livejournal.com]

And, just like at the costume party, Aeneas made a point to get there early. This instance, however, might prove to be easier to get into than the other, since Matt already knew of the alien’s…abilities in the culinary arts.

Yes, that’s why he’s here. Aeneas wants to cook.

Trotting with surprisingly good humor into the painfully pink bus, the alien had come prepared with some catering tools and notes that he’d taken on his Omnicom from one of the human recipe books in the Media Library. Matt was, as usual, easy to find, especially since he’d managed to avoid the crowd this time.

“It is always a pleasure to see you again, Matt Olsen,” Aeneas trilled pleasantly, readjusting his utensils as he glanced around, “I trust you know why I am here?”

With all that gear the creature has, it should be fairly obvious.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Oh Aeneas!" exclaimed Matt, noticing the things he had. He grinned at the sight and added, "By all means go ahead and use the kitchen! Rein's in there now just prepping the drinks. Why don't you go say hello? I've got to meet people at the door first before I settle down to talk to people."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara was happy to see that people were starting to arrive and one of the first to do so was Aeneas, the alien she'd met and gotten along with at the Poles. Without even thinking about it, she ran forward and gave the alien a big hug. Seeing him always seemed to put Katara in a better mood.

"Aeneas, its good of you to come!" She said brightly. "I'm hoping there's a pretty big turn out today, and its all because of Matt and this bus that we might be able to reach more people!"

She noticed the cooking materials gave them both a sincere smile. "Thank you guys, really. I'm so glad we're doing this!"

[enter-aeneas.livejournal.com]

Aeneas was expecting a social person such as Katara to be there, but even then she managed to sneak up on him, grabbing the alien around the waist from behind as he was about to head into the kitchen. The warm, fluffy creature would’ve gladly returned the gesture; however, his hands were full at the time. Aeneas was still able to give the human female a cheerful grin.

“It was the least I could do,” he purred humbly, deciding to at least give Katara a friendly nuzzle by laying his head on top of hers, “It was the least any of us could do for the comfort of the crew.”

And then Aeneas blushed heavily and backed off, realizing how close he’d just gotten. Katara might’ve found the proximity uncomfortable.

Right.

“I will be in the back,” he purred abruptly, trotting briskly into the kitchen.

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

Rein looked up at the arrival of Aeneas into the kitchen. "Hello there!" she chirped, holding onto the cookie cutter that was nearly as big as she was. Pressing it into the rolled out dough, she inquired, "You're Matt-kun's friend, right? I'm Rein! A pleasure to meet you!"

Pushing the pan to the side, she floated around to the other side and said, "You can use this side, it's closer to the food! Please use whatever spices you want!"

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

"FOOOOD." Danny said, entering the bus.

The Dining Hall

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

When everyone started eating, Katara waited a little while. After all, it was probably good to make sure everyone got to eat before she started in on all of the unpleasant things that had been happening. After a few minutes had gone by, Katara got in the middle if the dining hall. Although she was used to talking to big crowds before, this was a little different since the people were varied, with all of their own stories. She cleared her throat.

"Okay guys," Katara said, "I'm glad to see that all of you are still here. Like I said in the post, I'm sure we all have a lot of reasons for fearing the Nightmare King. I know that some of you aren't quite sure what he is, or how to fight him. Well, that's what we're here for. Right now, the thing we need to give each other is information. I've got a little bit, and I'm sure that some of us have also gathered some information we can give each other."

She looked at all of them. "Have you all had nightmares yet? More importantly, have you been injured in any way?"

Re: The Dining Hall

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

"Had the nightmare's and i think the minions might've TRIED to hurt me, but I blasted them before anything really happened," the halfa spoke up.

Re: The Dining Hall

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, exactly," Katara said. "I know you're a ghost, so you don't feel what they were trying to do to us. They are trying to get to a point where we won't be affected by the things that the Nightmare King knows about us. But that's not our only worry either."

She paused. "I had a joint nightmare last night, where the King tried to hurt my friend, and he did. If he gets stronger, who knows what he'll be able to do? It is why I was hoping you all could be here: I want to to see if we can find a solution."

Re: The Dining Hall

[theregularguy.livejournal.com]

Sokka slunk into the dining hall, hands jammed deep into the pockets of his jacket. As usual these days, he was armed to the teeth with shotgun, boomerang, a knife and his sword in various places across his body. He gave Katara a small nod before taking a seat in the back, listening quietly.

Re: The Dining Hall

[billy-blin.livejournal.com]

Blin loudly cleared his throat before he said anything. "If ye all are aware that this Nightmare King has his minions in yer dreams, why not change the dream? Cage them or wall them or some such."

It seemed basic to him, but then again, they hadn't come into his dreams, and there might have been a reason for that.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Zuko is depressed and quiet when he creeps in. The stress of the nightmares has clearly gotten to him. Or maybe his lack of success at finding Aang has - at this point, it's hard to tell.

He tries to avoid detection, but for a ninja, he's not trying very hard.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara was obviously going to notice when Zuko arrived. She was hoping to see all of the Avatar crew (and Mai), and so far, Zuko had been the first to arrive. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. It was a warm hug, but it was also a hug that acknowledged that she knew he was trying.

"I'm glad you're here," Katara said. "I know you're the one that's been trying the hardest to find Aang, even before Sokka and I arrived here. But now that we are here, maybe we can exchange information and find out more about what's been happening."

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

He didn't return her hug, at least not immediately, frazzled as he was by nightmares and failure. And when he did put his arms around her waist, he let go quickly.

"I wish I had something for you," he says, disappointment evident in his voice. "There's nothing I know that you don't already. And the Nightmare King's finally getting to me."

The once, at least.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara moved away, almost surprised, but her body relaxed when she realized that it was still pre-good Zuko, Zuko before meeting up with them. He was still adjusting to the fact that we trust and care about. Zuko that had helped her twice, both with her mother's murderer and when he took that hit from Azula to save her life.

And it hurt her a little to realize he didn't know about any of that.

She swallowed, then shook her head, She was glad for that training from Sheeana right now: it was a lot easier to take that sting when you could control your nerves. "We're still looking for information Zuko. I'm sure we weren't the only ones that saw Aang when it comes to the Nightmare King. He's still trying to protect everyone."

Here, Katara a hand on his shoulder, but not an affectionate one, an acknowledging one. "You're not the only one. He showed me things that really scared me about myself. He's not something tha can be allowed to stay on the ship anymore."

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

If it helps, he looks less offput and more . . . tired. Very tired. And unhappy.

He looks away from her, not in the mood to talk, but not in the mood to be left alone, either. He does put his hand on her shoulder as well. And there is some affection in the gesture, just enough to show that, shared past or not, Katara is becoming someone around whom Zuko is comfortable.

He didn't really figure that would happen.

"You . . . probably don't wanna hear what he showed me. It'd just remind you why we weren't friends in the first place."

[diana-inthecia.livejournal.com]

Diana stared at the bus. So this place was the safe haven. It sure didn't look much but she knew that magic could come in any form. It certainly didn't look like a creation of the gods, but then again, the beings known as the gods no longer existed. It felt lonely in a way.

But that wasn't the point. Diana needed rest and this was the place to do it.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara, who was always looking to see if there were any superhero types aboard, spotted Wonder Woman. Now naturally Katara didn't know who the woman was, but she could see from the look on her face that she had a purpose, and though she might not be here for the briefing, she was definitely here for something the WITCH bus provided.

She approached the woman, smiling. "Hello! Welcome to the WITCH bus! My name is Katara. Can I help you with anything?"

[diana-inthecia.livejournal.com]

Diana usually stuck out like a sore thumb. If her gauntlets, tiara, and lasso at her hip didn't make her stick out, it was her usual stance that screamed stereotypical superhero. She really wasn't that great at acting human.

She greeted Katara with a smile. Diana recognized the name from the communications about this place. What a strange name it had. "Hello. My name is Diana of Themyscira. I'm looking for a place to relax without worrying about nightmares. I hear this is the place?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

The costume was definitely something that Katara wasn't used to seeing, even after meeting several superheroes and dressing up like one herself. That wouldn't stop her from showing her around the bus, but she would definitely be asking her about the outfit and what it meant.

"Diana Themyscira," Katara repeated the name carefully with a smile. "It's a very nice name, one that's pretty foreign sounding in my world, but no surprise there. You've come to the right place! Normally it would be Matt giving the tour, but he's indisposed for the moment. Come on in, I know a few places you'll like!"