Ghost and Aster Russo
Gus's residence > Stoneview Town Centre
Collab with @TheQueensGuard
Dawn brought with it the subtle glow of orange and pink hues in places where dark grey clouds had parted in sections though the threatening storm seemed to suffocate the morning sun leaving a dim light cast across the earth. Whistler's small huffs and puffs could be heard in the upstairs bedroom as he lay asleep at Nissa's feet. The air had grown uncomfortably cold, Nissa's fingertips clutching her old doona around her form as she lay on the old bed. She was so exhausted she had completely ignored any sense of keeping an eye on Aster Russo and had instead ended up in her old bedroom for the remainder of the evening.
It was a rumble of thunder that prompted her eyelids to snap open, her breath hitching in her throat as she found herself thrown from the small ounce of slumber. Easing herself up she felt her muscles strain and pinch from tension whilst using a foot to nudge Whistler awake. Her head pounded as she grimaced and looked about the room, for a moment feeling a disorientation from the familiar sights around her.
"Ugh, get off you hog." Nissa mumbled at Whistler as the dog yawned and slowly slid from the bed, shaking his body as a small plume of dirt shook to the floor from his form. She sat up slowly and took a moment to gather herself before she gently eased up from the old bed, feeling the cold air hit her skin as it pimpled in small goosebumps from the chill. Whistler had already left the room, scampering off downstairs to look about and sniff the air as Nissa trudged slowly back down the staircase to where she had left Aster the night before. She quietly stepped into the lounge where she had left her jacket strewn over the coffee table. She picked up the tattered coat up and slipped it over her shoulders, wrapping the leather around her form to keep the cold from chilling her further.
Aster had been up for a short while. She worked on her hair, which had gotten a bit messy tossing and turning in the night, and gathered her things while she let Ghost get some more rest up stairs. She was in the kitchen, spraying some hair spray in her hair as she looked into a cracked and dusty mirror that sat propped up against the counter wall.
"Goodmorning Ghost!" Aster called from the kitchen, peaking around the corner as she heard her come downstairs along with her dog. "I was going to make some coffee, but I left it with my group I think. I have some crackers though if you'd like some!" She went back to fixing her hair, giving it one last spray before putting the can back into her bag. "You have had coffee right? Some of the Sisters in Providence say those outside the city haven't had a lot of the luxuries we have inside the city."
Nissa appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, watching as Aster gave her hair one last spray. She couldn't help but smile, Aster's circumstance of carrying a can of hairspray speaking volumes of her innocence. Nissa had begun to wonder whether Aster had spent much time beyond the captive walls of Providence.
"Morning.." Nissa murmured as she stood watching the younger woman. The offer was lovely though Nissa wasn't one hundred percent keen on sharing food with someone from Providence.
"Thank you but that I am fine, i'm not too hungry right now," she lied as she glanced about the kitchen. She swore the kitchen sink was once higher, remembering how she had to lean up onto her toes to open the cupboards. The smell of freshly picked fruits that sat in the small bowl beside the window seemed to waft in memory as she gave a small sigh. The question prompted her to nod somewhat.
"I have, there isn't much but we make do." Nissa replied before changing the subject. She needed more information, something to help her work out what to do next.
"Aster...I need you to tell me what happened to everyone. What happened to your group?" she asked her.
Aster frowned, looking down before nodding. "Okay." She said softly, looking up at Ghost. "This first week went alright. It was different, than what most of us were used too, but we were alive. This week was terrible." She paused to get a drink from her canteen. "We were almost to the center of the city when we ran into a group that looked sketchy. They talked to the scientists from Breez, Miss Ramadan specifically, before they went off on their own. A little while later is when we were first attacked. We didn't know they were there, but when we were setting up camp Mitchell yelled out." She paused, adding before continuing the story "He was one of the guards. We never saw him again, we went too look when we heard heavy footsteps. A troll, the size of a house came out of nowhere. It got Clyde first." She paused, picturing it happening in her mind.
"I watched as he disappeared down the trolls throat." We went running, when we saw these littler trolls, about as big as a person, chasing us like a pack of wolves. They'd swing from buildings, move through the alleyways and cut us off. Katelyn got hurt, but we kept going. We thought we got away but the little ones found us again. They finished Katelyn off but the rest of us got away. We caught up with the group we ran into before and set up a camp with them. Miss Ramadan wanted to call the whole mission off, but the guy from Folly didn't want too. When they were arguing, the people we were camping with tried to rob us. Another one of the guards drew his gun and they shot him."
She was silent for a moment, taking the break for another drink of water. "They were gonna tie us up, but I think the gunshot drew the trolls back to our scent. I was separated from everyone else, but Miss Ramadan told me to go back to the city and get help. Last I saw, they got away."
She motioned towards Ghost. "Then when I was leaving the city, I ran into you. That's it." She took a deep breath and wiped her eye. "Anything else?"
Nissa remained silent as she watched Aster recall the events which had led her to the present point in time, making sure to take note of the details she gave her. Specifically the initial meeting between another group had caught Nissa's attention and though it wasn't unusual to have come across another group on their travels, Nissa did wonder what had been discussed and exactly who they had been. People seemed to lose their humanity when it came to survival and she hoped that at least the group may have left before her own band of misfits had arrived in town. Hearing that Kathleen Ramadan had decided to turn back didn't surprise her though the fact that one of their own guards had the mind to shoot someone for their opinion was a concern. Things just didn't seem to be a hundred percent right in her mind and Nissa nodded as she thought about the remainder of Aster's recalling.
"Yeah…" Nissa murmured as she thought about the fact that Kathleen Ramadan was out somewhere on her own if she wasn't already dead.
"When you left Aster...how many of the group were remaining with Miss Ramadan?" She asked her as she lent onto her other foot in the doorway.
"Six." She said, thinking back as she nodded. "Zach and Ella, both Inquisitors. There was Miss Ramadan, Sister Evie and Brother Liam and the Folly guy." She snapped her fingers trying to think of his name. "I think it was…. Ewell Porter. Yeah he was a strange one, smart but real paranoid."
Nodding again as Nissa took in the information and did her best to smother the taste of dissatisfaction in her mouth when Aster mentioned people from providence and a paranoid guy from Folly.
"Okay...I'm sorry you had to go through all of that horror." Nissa tried to come across as comforting despite her lack of compassion for anything Providence related. Another distant roll of thunder prompted her to glance out of the grimey window briefly.
"I hope you have something warm to wear, it isn't going to be a nice hike from here to locate my group." She told her.
Aster nodded and forced a smile. "It's alright, it's what I'm trained for." She tried to put on the guise of confidence, but even Aster knew it wasn't convincing. "I have a jacket." She went towards the side door leading outside. "I'm gonna get some fresh air while you get ready. We should head out soon, if you're not hurting too bad." Without waiting for a response, the Providence girl headed outside.
~~
A few hours later, the trio made their way deeper into the city in search Ghosts group. They briefly stopped at a decrepit supermarket where it was evident someone camped out the night before. A large group of footprints headed towards the East, even further into the city before splitting off into two pairs. "Why do you think they split up?" Aster asked, hopping up onto the hood of a car to use the old cars as a walkway. "To cover more ground?"
The storm clouds loomed in the distance. A boom of thunder accompanied by a flash of lightning sounded nearer than Aster would've liked. Hopping off the cars and walking beside Ghost, Aster watched the storm curiously. "Do you think that's one of those magic storms? I don't see them too often up in Providence."
Whistler padded ahead of the two women, his nose snuffling against the ground whilst Aster talked away and asked Nissa more questions. Truth be told Nissa wasn't in the mood for talk though she did her best when it came to answering questions on tracking where her group had moved to and why. The camping spot in the supermarket was now hours old and she hoped it was at least a camp which had been occupied by the group.
"There are more footprints here than the people i set off with...but I can see some that would match the people who were travelling." Nissa openly spoke as she carefully knelt down to examine the tracks. As the three followed the tracks further into the city the split caused Nissa to wonder why. Glancing at Aster who was walking along the car hoods she bit her lip for a moment.
"I think perhaps at some point they met with another group but we weren't met to be meeting with anyone else so i can't tell who the other people would be," she explained before studying the split in direction as the wind pushed dirt along the ground eerily.
"It's not smart to divide, there could have been a multitude of reasons for the split but again...not a smart idea around these parts." She stood back up and stifled a grimace whilst glancing up to the sky. It was darkening too quickly, much too fast to be a simple storm.
"Looks like it, we are going to need to find some cover soon, who knows what's going to come out of that thing,"she answered wearily.
Aster gripped onto her backpack straps nervously and nodded, looking at the storm. Not too far ahead a dim red light arched up into the sky. "Do you see that?" See asked Ghost, squinting to try and see it better. "A flare!" She exclaimed, pointing ahead. A second flare appeared a little farther towards the North, disappearing from view as the storm clouds swallowed them both. "Do you think they're in trouble?"
She picked up the pace some, intent on providing some sort of help. "We can't stop now we're so-" She came to a stop as the shape of a person limped out of an alleyway. He was twisted and malformed, his skin an odd blue tent as he gave out a low growl. "Ghost, what the hell is that thing?" She slowly started to backtrack back towards her companion, fumbling with the pistol on her waist. "Ghost?" She asked again as the mana starved picked up the pace.
The red glow of the flares were a welcoming sign despite the probable intention of signalling strife, Nissa's eyes tracking the clouds soon after as Aster asked if she thought they might be in trouble.
"In this kind of storm, I have no doubt they are," She commented. Aster stopped abruptly as Whistler seemed to completely ignore whatever had caught her attention. The panic in the girls demeanour didn't exactly surprise Nissa, she had heard and seen enough of these kinds of storms to know some pretty unfriendly shit appeared most often. Stoneview had once been a haven until such events had occurred.
"I hope your a good shot, otherwise give me the gun, it's called a mana-starved." Nissa exclaimed as she too began to edge backwards down the street. The figure looked grotesque but it was the shine of colour that most concerned her.
"Whistler come here!" Nissa growled at the dog as she took note of the buildings on either side of the street, looking for somewhere to which would have perhaps enough of an elevation to slow the mana starved from getting to them.
"Aster...hurry, see that glow? The thing can hurl magic shit at you so keep your distance, we need to get out of the street now."
Aster held her breath and tried to line up a shot as the Starved limped towards them. Its movements weren't fluid, as it hobbled about towards them, one of its feet were twisted to the side. She breathed out, frustrated that she couldn't get a shot lined up, but quickly handed the gun over to Ghost. "Here." She said, taking a step further away from the mana starved as she processed what to do. She heard the shuffle of movement behind her, and she glanced back to see at least a dozen more of those things heading in their direction.
"There are more behind us." Aster hissed to Ghost, getting closer to her friend trying to think of what to do. She looked back towards the flare, then to the single Starved. "I say we take our chances with one, rather than the lot of them." She looked around on the ground, looking for anything to use as a weapon. Spotting a rod of twisted metal Aster stretched out a hand towards it just as Nissa had raised the gun to take the shot. "Save your ammo, I'll take care of this one."
Nissa's finger lifted from the trigger of the handgun and flicked the safety latch before shoving it into the inner pocket of her tattered jacket. She glanced at the horde behind her as Aster began to show a different side to her, a courage that seemed to reflect a part of Logan that Nissa had noted some time before. It was a no brainer to get past one mana starved rather than a horde though for a moment Nissa considered the fact that she might hold Aster back from safety despite not knowing what lay ahead. Whistler had begun to snarl and bark at the mob moving towards them as Aster started to use her ability and Nissa watched on as she moved up beside her.
The rod shakily lifted from the ground, Asters telekinetic powers barely being enough to lift it. She took a deep breath and focused, the metal rod calmed some and hovered in the air roughly at shoulder level. Taking a look at the mana-starved, she swiped the rod towards it. The rod went flying in the air towards the creature, before impaling it through the head. It hit the ground, the dim light disappearing as a mixture of blood and a blue ooze seeped from it's wound. Aster laughed triumphantly before remembering their situation. "Lets go!"
Nissa didn't answer, instead calling for Whistler who had continued to snap and snarl at the approaching mana horde behind them. His snarls filtered into a protesting whine as he backed up against Nissa's side before she encouraged him to turn and move forward with her. She let Aster go ahead as she followed as close behind as she could, cautiously glancing behind her to see where the horde was at.
Heading down the road, the storm clouds quickly blew in above them. Drops of rain fell down on Aster, a clap of thunder made Aster jump as the rain started to pick up. A bolt of lightning hit a building up ahead, sending some rubble down to the road below. "Bloody hell this is awful." The young providence girl mumbled to herself, pointing to an alleyway towards their left. "We can cut this way, to the next street over." Before Ghost could answer, a dark creature flew overhead and roared, causing Aster to stare up at the clouds. "On second thought, maybe we could get inside."
