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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:36:34 GMT -6
Bad news liked to come all at once, Aster supposed. He never did like fall. He wanted to establish this first and foremost. It wasn't that he had anything against the people who rejoiced when it was 'sweater season' or whatever again... Or, okay, maybe he did, a little. Or a lot. Liking people or finding excuses for them had never been his forte, and Aster liked summer best of all the seasons. He liked to be warm. He liked to wear less if he could, within reason. In the winter the days were short and he was chilled and miserable, and in his eyes, autumn was just the beginning of the end. The celebrations associated with it were tainted by that association, and anyway, he didn't like that kind of ruckus either. An excuse for people to get together held no value for him. But he wouldn't have come out with Avander today if he didn't have a good reason. 1
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:39:39 GMT -6
He really would have liked to stay home, of course. If not inside the house, then definitely inside the confines of his property, or at least going somewhere remote where he didn't have a strong chance of meeting another person. That would have been nice. He didn't really think much of it since it was basically his day to day, but now that it was being threatened, he did miss it.
If given a choice, he definitely wouldn't be beelining for a party thrown by some nut in the city, where there was bound to be plenty of people, none of whom he would want anything to do with.
Well, almost none, anyway. If it was really none, maybe he wouldn't have gone.
"Fly faster, won't you?" Aster said, nudging Avander with his knees.
{I'm flying as fast as I can,} Avander said, which was an unusually serious reply for him.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:48:13 GMT -6
Under normal circumstances, Avander would probably have responded a little sarcastically, but the Wiurn could tell that things were serious. Their emotional link told him just how stressed Aster was about the situation. Even Avander had the tact not to joke at a time like this, for which Aster was thankful, though the consideration made him feel strange too, in that Avander was going out of his way to be nice about it.
It made him feel kind of sick. As if something bad really was just about to happen.
If the party had been attended only by people he didn't know, Aster certainly wouldn't have bothered to go. At least half the problem - no, in fact, most of the issue at hand - was the fact that Aubrey had gone. And Aster couldn't really turn a blind eye to something if there was the possibility that Aubrey's life was in danger.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:50:49 GMT -6
"That idiot," Aster muttered under his breath. This kind of condemnation wasn't something he was used to aiming at Aubrey. The guy had sense, most of the time... Probably? Aster was thinking that maybe he hadn't known Aubrey as well as he thought he did.
Maybe it was the sheltered upbringing. Sure, Aster had had a singularly awful childhood, and that wasn't something he wanted to see reflected in anyone he was taking care of. But maybe keeping Aubrey away from all of it wasn't the right answer either.
Would Aubrey have gone if he had more of his wits about him?
It was hard to say. Hindsight, and all that. But then, it wasn't just Aubrey either. As Aster drew closer to the location, he could see that there were plenty of people at the revel already, and all of them had been foolish enough to come to this place.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:56:32 GMT -6
There was a saying that there was a sucker born every minute, but Aster was seeing some real proof of it now.
There wasn't any time to dwell on it though.
{Do you see him?} Avander asked. Aster was scanning the crowd, trying to do just that. Where was Aubrey? Times like this, Aster wished they had a telepathic link, though he knew that the vast majority of the time, that kind of thing would just be intrusive, not to mention a nuisance. But now it was deeply frustrating not being able to communicate with Aubrey directly. And while Aster knew his Harachiu form well, he knew Aubrey's Sprite self much less well, as far as his physical features were concerned.
Besides which, everyone was in costume. And he was viewing them, if at an angle, still mostly from above. If Aubrey had his hair covered, then Aster was screwed.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 16:45:57 GMT -6
{Hey, look over there,} Avander said, and Aster turned to look where the Wiurn was looking. {Didn't Aubrey have one of those big orange guys?} And sure enough, there was an Agate Tat-lung standing in a long line for something. Aubrey had been raising one, that much was true. But from where they were, Aster couldn't tell if Aubrey was there, and Agate Tats were a standard breed for their species. It was impossible to tell whether it was Aubrey's or someone else's, just by looking at it from this distance.
Aster was about to ask Avander to fly them closer anyway, when a muffled roar from inside the building caught everyone's attention at once. "Damn it," he said. "There's no more time. Let's just go for the tower."
Avander roared out a response to whatever monster was making that noise, and shot through the air straight at the tower.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:33:42 GMT -6
Avander must have misjudged the landing. Maybe Aster’s own emotional state was affecting him. If that was the case… Aster felt a bit bad about it, and tried to tamp down the impatience in his heart. But it wasn’t easy to stifle, even as he sat on Avander’s back, shifting his balance as the Wiurn tried to find his footing. His claws scrabbled over the stone, and it took a moment before he was able to gain purchase.
In the meantime, the sudden appearance of a big dragon landing on top of the tower had sent the crowd below into a panic. Even on a holiday like this, this was more than they had bargained for. Aster listened to the screams and sighed. Most of them were already running away… Though he supposed it was a good thing, all things considered. Better to fight without a crowd than with one surrounding them.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:34:16 GMT -6
This way, there wouldn’t be as much potential for unintended casualties, and Aster and Avander wouldn’t have to hold back as much if they had to fight something out here.
He scanned the crowd below one more time to see if he could spot Aubrey somewhere, but if Aubrey was there, Aster didn’t find him. The Agate Tat was long gone, and Aster knew his attention needed to be elsewhere now. Putting the matter out of his mind, he turned his attention to the tower entrance. There were still a couple of people there. Aster figured they weren’t party-goers. There were still a few costumed people left in the crowd too, either too stupid or too wasted to run away, but they weren’t his concern anymore. He would try not to hurt them, if it came to that, but he could only make an effort.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:34:41 GMT -6
“Take us down,” Aster said. On Aster's cue, Avander let go, and beat his wings a few times to slow their descent, landing heavily on the ground below. The two people who had rushed out the door at his arrival stared at him now, and Aster stared right back.
“Who are you?” said a woman, stepping forward.
“Former employee,” Aster said.
The woman gave a snort. “Go home, party crasher. Don’t you have anything better to do than ruin a good time?”
“Cut the crap,” Aster replied. “You know what the owner of this place is like? I had to do the cleanup the last time his little experiments went wrong, and it sounds like I’m going to have more work to do today.”
At his words, the man standing next to the door paled, and glanced at the woman. She glanced back, and shook her head minutely.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:34:59 GMT -6
To Aster, she said, “That’s none of your business. There’s no job for you here today, and now you’ve scared away all the guests. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave now, before you cause us any more trouble.”
Aster stared them down and considered his options. He could muscle through. Avander was here, after all, and Aster had a few tricks up his own sleeve. None of them were close to what Avander could bring to bear on another aberrant monster, but they were more than enough to clean up a few human upstarts. Their show of intimidation could very likely just be that - a show.
But if they weren’t bluffing, then Aster didn’t know what they had to back up that kind of confidence. Monster tamers and magic items were a dime a dozen in this place, at least compared to anywhere else he had ever been in his life.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:35:41 GMT -6
There was no knowing for sure until they came to blows.
Another bellow came from within the tower, and Aster frowned. “I’ll consider leaving if you tell me what the hell that is,” he said.
“Haunted house,” the woman replied. “Special effects. It’s that time of year.”
Aster resisted the urge to laugh. If people wanted a haunted god damn house, they could have just gone to the mansion. Why did they have to come here, of all places? “Haunted house, huh?” he said. “Let me go in then.”
“Are you kidding me?” The woman’s brows arched up and she looked him over.
“Well, it’s not like you’ve got a line anymore.” Aster jerked his thumb behind him, which was indeed mostly empty. The woman scowled, while the man behind her was looking more nervous by the second. “Your partner there doesn’t look so good."
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:38:02 GMT -6
The man jerked to attention to find himself the topic of conversation. Aster crossed his arms. "What, is there some kind of secret surprise in the haunted house that you don’t want people to know about?”
The woman stared at him with narrowed eyes for a long moment, then shrugged. “Suit yourself. The lizard stays outside though,” she said.
“Done.” To Avander, Aster said, {Come find me if I call for you. You can take care of these two, right?}
{Do you even need to ask?} Avander replied.
"Cocky bastard," Aster muttered under his breath.
"You say something?" the woman said, looking back at him. She and the man had stepped aside, but she was still scowling at him even as he walked past her and into the tower.
Aster ignored her, and walked toward the door into the basement. The man followed behind him, holding out a set of keys.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:57:02 GMT -6
The man’s hands were shaking as he lifted them to the door, but Aster didn’t have anything but contempt for this guy. If there really was something terrible down here, and Aster was pretty sure there was, then they would’ve been feeding the party-goers to the damned thing. Either this man didn’t know about what was down there and was just an idiot regretting his choices, or he was somehow more comfortable sending ignorant innocents down to its waiting maw than someone who might actually know what they were up against.
Where did this mage find these people?
Aster approached the stairs without a backward glance. The door shut as soon as he had taken a few steps, and he could hear the click of the lock sliding back into place behind him. But then, he had expected as much, so at least that wasn't a surprise.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:57:18 GMT -6
Based on the woman’s hostile attitude, she at least had some inkling of what was going on.
“Sure would be convenient for these guys if I just died down here, huh?” Aster muttered to himself.
{What, you’re not giving up, are you?}
The connection was still live even over a distance, of course. Aster could feel Avander’s presence at the edge of his mind. Despite the Wiurn’s best attempts to sound nonchalant, Aster could also sense the worry bleeding through.
“Don’t worry. If I need you, I’ll call,” Aster said.
{Who’s worried?} Aster rolled his eyes at Avander’s response, but he felt a bit heartened by it all the same. And the Wiurn belied his own words a moment later: {Don’t do anything stupid.}
Summer would have said the same thing. In fact, Summer wasn’t going to be happy once she catches wind of what happened here.
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Post by Noa on Oct 31, 2020 17:58:02 GMT -6
Not that Aster had known it would be like this going in, but she would have wanted him to get out as soon as he'd realized.
But Aster put those thoughts out of his mind, and focused on his surroundings. The stairwell was narrow enough that he didn’t think there was any immediate threat of being attacked, but it wouldn’t be good to let himself get distracted and ambushed, even so. The thing that roared had sounded pretty big, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other nasty surprises waiting for him down here.
The first thing he noticed as he descended was the smell. It wasn’t as obvious at the entrance, but as he went further down, the stench of rotting flesh became impossible to ignore. Aster forced himself to breathe evenly, and recalled that this was only a little worse than some of the conditions he had put up with in his youth.
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