Random Rides, and Encounter in Waiting.

[Kezaa (retired)]

Kezaa needed a break.

As of late, his mundane routines of keeping watch around the school campus had began to wear thin on his nerves. Jesika was out and about; though they lived together, it was like they hardly saw each other anymore. And with her carrying that new life within her.....he still was not sure of what exactly he was, anymore. Much less this new life teeming and growing in his wife.

And as far as he has come in this perilous and occasionally threatening life of his, Kez still only limited himself to being a mere pseudo-student of this magical facility. The protectorate Head Boy, floating about the grounds, awaitnig any sign of danger that may or may not ever rear its ugly head. In a sense, he had not changed since that night when the gentleman Cole had murdered him in the forest.

Had Kez lost his meaning, his drive to live, before he even died?

The night sky seemed dreary as clouds flooded through the great and vast void that filled itself with the countless myriad of stars. A storm was brewing. The air felt heavy as an occasional breeze blew by, fluttering the deceptively young looking man's hair with the grace of an angel's feathers. Taking his crooked HB badge in hand, he shoved it into his left breast pocket, next to the badly tied necktie that also lifted gently in the breeze that blew by, with the sudden appearance of the bus before him.

Kez stepped on board, left foot first, and threw all the galleons he had in his pocket to just let the bus take him as far as possible. He needed to have a long look at the world, and what he became, what would become of him. He slumped into his seat, and slid his hand over his face and through his bangs as he waited for the bus to make its final call.

[Kaiser]

The doors to the bus shut tight, and the Knight Bus continued to roll along at an insane rate. The speed and recklessness being the trademark of the Knight Bus itself, such a quick movement would not startle anyone who had been on the bus before. Then, suddenly, the bus slammed on the brakes. The door opened, and a man stepped on board.

His hair was snow white, and his eyes were a pale blue. He wore a simple black shirt, and a pair of black pants. With the exception of the stark white mane, there was nothing exceptionally interesting about him - or so one would think. He stretched his neck as the door shut behind him, and threw a couple buttons at the conductor.

"Hey, this isn't -"
"Not now."

He wasn't in the mood to deal with conductors, and the conductor - surprisingly - seemed to understand that. The conductor scoffed and went back to driving, leaving the man completely alone. The man was Kaiser Inferno, the Third Valkerie, who in his demon form no human man could ever stand to challenge.

Except for one, that is, and that man was surprisingly sitting in the back of the bus. "Hmm, yes..." Kaiser said to himself, eyeing the man and coming closer, "Kezaa Kushriev, I believe? We dueled once upon a time - long long ago. Do you remember me? I'm Kaiser Inferno."

[Kezaa (retired)]

Kez flinched somewhat as the bus stopped abruptly in mid flight. It must have stopped several times since he got on, and he scarcely even noticed. This time though, it stopped with such a panicked insistance, he would have thought something or someone stepped in front of the bus and halted it with his own hands.

Still relaxed, and unmoving from his spot, Kezaa's hand moved away from his face and looked upon this new traveller, and felt a sudden ping of memory. Kezaa still had trouble grasping to any particularly distant memories pre-empting his untimely death, but there was definitely something familiar about the young man that stepped onto the bus. Just from the icey irises that swirled lazily in the man's eyes through the sheet white hair falling in ivy cascades, this man was hiding a lot more than he let on. Just like, Kez.

There was something amiss, though. Like he knew the man before him, but the corresponding feeling that went along with gazing upon him was one that was all too alienic. Kezaa had met him, but he was still naught but a stranger.

Time seemed to stop in the span of Kaiser's greeting. The few groups of guests here and there also seemed to vanish, as Kezaa tried hard to place their previous meeting, this duel, in his memory. After moments of silent contemplation, he did recieve a few faint inclincts as to Kaiser's words. Indeed, these new, scary feelings were not placed correspondingly with his heated and exciting duel with the valkyrie. Something about the man before him was, different. There was a quiet and forceful malevolence that brewed in him, a side that could and would rob every person on this bus of their lives in a flash. He seemed subdued, controlled, however.

Then again, perhaps he was always like this. Maybe it was Kez whom had not noticed. Maybe it was he whom changed.

"Yeah, that's me." Kez answered finally, with a lazy non challance trailing with perfection from his voice. He had to keep his cool, if he wished to keep this situation as quiet as it was.

"I'm surprised that you recognized me. Its been at least three years, and I barely even recognize myself at times."

[Kaiser]

Kaiser began to laugh quietly at Kezaa's lazy response. He obviously had a lot on his mind, though what exactly it was Kaiser was unsure. He wanted to find out as well - last Kaiser knew, Kezaa had a large status at the school and was newly married. What was on Kezaa's mind would have a lot to do with the way things were.

"I am afraid you must underestimate me, Mr. Kushriev. I remember everything." Without asking any permission, Kaiser sat down on the opposite side of the table which Kezaa sat upon. His eyes noted, but paid little attention to, that the table and chairs were bolted to the bottom of the bus.

"I suppose it's good to see you again, despite us never really having such a deep friendship." He tapped his fingers on the table, making a loud rapping noise. "How are you, Mr. Kushriev? I do believe it has been many years since we last met - I think it was at your wedding."

[Kezaa (retired)]

"Heh, forgive me. Do you think the blonde look suits me?" Kez asked with relaxed sarcasm, not sounding rude but hoping to open this undoubtably revealing conversation with a somewhat jestful note.

"These past several years have flown by; there's little to really denote of what has happened since that beautiful day. The past seven months or so, though...." he trailed slightly, intentionally letting his hook catch on to Kaiser's perpetual and deepening interest. Kezaa somehow had a feeling that Kai was fishing for just such a story.

"I died. And it wasn't a very beautiful death, either. Miserable, desperate, my soul was torn from my body, but not from this world. My next experiences were nightmarish over those next couple of weeks, til some students saw it fit to resurrect me." Kezaa paused, to wait for any sort of response, verbal or facial, his white haired friend before him had to say.

[Kaiser]

Kaiser grinned as Kezaa commented on his new appearance. "In all honesty, I do. The color red reminds me of a certain someone who quite frankly I never want to be reminded of." Kaiser continued to rap at the table, listening to Kezaa's story with great interest. The rapping noise became louder and louder as the story progressed.

As Kezaa described his death, Kaiser was reminded of his own. Despite keeping half a mind on Kezaa's story, his thoughts went out to little Ariana, wherever she was, and his last moments in life. Then, as he thought more of his last moments in life, his thoughts went to the person who he had desperately tried to keep them away from. He continued to rap at the desk. The conductor continued to accelerate.

'Til some students saw it fit to resurrect me.' With Kezaa's last words, the bus stopped abruptly, the doors opening wide again. A rather portly man stepped on board, his robes looking very disgusting and greasy. He held in his hand a rather gooey treat, and he munched on it happily. He took a seat at the table next to them.

The bus's doors closed again and the bus continued on. Kaiser's eyes turned from the stranger back to his friend, stopping his rapping. "They resurrected you? What student has that much power? And how did they do it?" So far the only two resurrections he had ever seen belonged to himself and the Vampire Acerbus Aecus. Kaiser repeatedly brought himself back to life after accumulating enough energy to give himself life. Ace, on the other hand, was brought back by a dual effort between his lover, the Ex-Vampire Queen Michaela and the Headmistress Wilting Rose.

The news that a few students, not only humans but not very powerful ones, could bring back a person to life without a scratch but a change in hair color made Kaiser very intrigued. He awaited Kezaa's response with curiosity.

[Kezaa (retired)]

"Powerful? I guess that's one way of putting it." Kez started as he leaned his hand down, watching his finger trail an invisible line in circles around the clear table. Apparently Kaiser wasn't the only one fidgeting over something amiss on the bus. He peered through his thick bangs, his irises glowing a cold, piercing blue as he gazed scrutinously upon this homely individual whom took his seat so unassuringly close to them. It was not as if this topic was up for open discussion. But then, their voices did not once hush themselves. In fact, they acted as if no one was there. Well, if that dirt over there wished to listen in, then he could be Kezaa's guest.

"I don't doubt for a second that they were each incredibly sharp students to have a magic sense high enough to actually fuse my soul back with my body. Of course, I believe it was mainly their apt timing of the situation and their conviction to their ritual that brought me back so flawlessly." he explained, his tone and pitch still conversational, as if they were discussing homework or the like.

"I contracted my soul to that of a student named Mable. I have not seen her since the incident. Hell, I haven't even had the chance to thank her. I wonder if she's still doing okay, but something inside me tells me she is."

[Kaiser]

'I contracted my soul to that of a student called Mable...' Whatever Kezaa said after that phrase was completely lost in Kaiser's own thoughts. "And by contracting souls...you don't mean that you are joined in mortality, are you?" He hoped that it was simply a misunderstanding. After all, his second resurrection was caused by fusing his soul with that of Amiri's, and what a wonderful situation that placed him in.

Staring over at the stranger once more, he resisted the urge to fidget again. He didn't seem to show any interest in the two, but he wasn't sure whether or not appearances could be trusted.

(OOC: Sorry about the shortness, couldn't think of much else after that question. ><)

[Kezaa (retired)]

(OOC) Not to worry. You at least gave me enough to work with. I, in turn, shall do the same for you.

(BIC) "Perhaps. But then, I certainly do not 'feel' as mortal as I did before." he said with a faint uncertainty as he looked up again, revealing his face fully for the valkyrie to see. The same youthful face of the boy that Kaiser looked upon when they first dueled, as opposed to a man in his mid-twenties. Something had indeed changed Kezaa in his return, though the Head Boy could still not, for the life of him, find out what it was that happened to him.

Kez felt a little more relaxed now, as Kaiser did not seem to wish any immediate harm on any of the people here. This ease was misplaced though, or perhaps besieged, by the oddball sitting right next to them. Neither staring at them nor through them, it was like this man was not even there. Like he was floating through the skies of his own little microcosm.

He shot a look over to the Valkyrie in front of him, his glare questing for an answer as to what should be done about the man beside them. OUt of all the people in their immediate proximity, this was the only figure that put Kezaa at unease.