AW The Ghost of Ashville: Act 1

[Lijosu]

[Plot Page]

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Ereshkigal spun around its red star, the sun rising above the horizon. The voidly night receded and gave way to a warm, red, yet dim and moon-like glow. Black grass swayed hauntingly in the wind. The neon lights of the city lit the distant valley. Meanwhile, Ashville, Chaldea was being lit by streetlights and moonlight towers. The houses among these suburbs began to stir. A young, 25 year old adult began to wake. They had long, curly, golden brown hair that flowed and tangled in and all around their body and sheets. White skin, twig-like form; only weighing a tiny 38 kg. Although a short, ~147 cm tall, they were visibly underweight too. Their eyelashes were unusually long and their shoulders broad, their body a cacophony of masculine and feminine traits.

A wire ran up their bed, plugged into a small device resting with them beside their head. Its screen lit up as an alarm rang from it, breaking the silence. They let out a sleepy groan and began randomly prodding at the area where they expected the device to be. Finally having found it, they repeatedly and forcefully tapped at the screen until the noise broke. Restful silence again. A subtle, vibrant and green flash of light zapped underneath the bed sheets. “Began to wake”... Or not. Another morning overslept, then.

PLAYER 1: READY!

Two hours later, they finally began to toss and turn. They sat up, pulling the mass of frizzled locks and coils with them. Their eyes opened, revealing a stunning silver-grey. They neglectfully swung an arm out and snatched the smart device from beside them, pulling the cable until it detached in the process. The screen lit up the dark room as they punched in an arbitrary pass-code. “388453”. It spelt “FUTILE”. They amused themselves with this for a moment. Although not the initial meaning behind this password, there was an irony that the act of setting a lock itself felt futile at times. They had initially tried to use the default setting of a finger scan to lock the device but for whatever reason, such an endeavor did seem to be FUTILE, all capitalized and translated to numbers on a digital keypad.

They set this thought aside and began scrolling and skimming through their software. Soon enough they made it to their social media of choice, where they had received a series of messages from a friend:

 

[LittleWasp]

The messages began explosively, sent by a friend of his:
Wend1go: "so fucking sick of this arse banditry holy shit"
Wendy's words were exceptionally colourful when she was upset, both crude and creative at the same time.
Wend1go: "patricide really is ok sometimes, I swear"
So, it was about her dad. Nothing new there. It was almost a relief to know it was just a 'normal' cause of outrage.
Wend1go: "you know what that buttnugget did?? THAT BUTTMUNCHER???????"
With her immediate frustration vented, Wendy's grammar improved significantly.

Wend1go: "So, you know last year when he and mum got pissed at me about what I said about Lady Shitar on mum's bday? He sent me a message this morning telling me not to come to their 20th wedding anniversary next week. Everyone else will be there. EVEN BOB, but not me. I'm so mad, you have no idea. Mum and I argue, but I still wanna be there for her, then dad comes and fucks it up. Mum forgives me, but dad just doesn't let go. He'll probably tell everyone else how horrible I am and exaggerate it. "

With her rant now out of her system, Wendy slumped back into the bench she was sat on, dropping her smartcom into her lap. Her narrowed, brown eyes glared intently at the screen, waiting for a response, though her wide, circular glasses magnified them comically. Her hooded silhouette was clad in a ghostly grey halo, produced by light from one of the towers overhead, shielded from the patter of dark rain by her loose coat and hood. She'd been awake since early in the morning, unable to sleep owing to her familial woes, which was attested to by her frequent yawns.

 

[Lijosu]

They sighed and read through the initial three messages, before crawling out of bed when the last one seemed to be taking longer to type out. The young adult began changing with their own device resting on the bed while she typed. They put on a pair of black cargo pants, a pastel-olive colored long sleeved shirt and a denim jacket. The shirt had a shattered ace of spades on the front. They turned back to their smartcom and picked it up, reading the message while they leaned against their bedroom wall. A synthetic clickity-clack sounded as they typed.

Teleftaia_Apoleia: How is it that you always seem to know to message me precisely when I have woke up?
Teleftaia_Apoleia: While I am asking, what the fuck kind of name is "Bob"? What is with your family and names that sound like word-vomit.

They pocketed their com and swung their bedroom door open. The house was still. Unsurprising. Mum and Dad were always working this hour. They paced down the hallway outside their room and turned to begin their way down the stairs, the base of which was adjacent the front door.

 

[LittleWasp]

Wendy grinned to herself as she pondered her response, pushing her glasses back up onto her nose before they slipped off. In the constant humidity, the danger of dropping them was ever-present.

Wend1go: "Only my torment can rouse you. That's why we get along."

The following question made her smile drop, eyes narrowing once more, to be replaced with an indignant scowl.

Wend1go: "Ok, teleftato_apopoleelee." She shot back snarkily. "With uncle Bob, at the very least I do not need to triple-check the spelling on his name, you dork."

 

[Lijosu]

Their phone vibrated halfway down the stairs. They only stopped to check it once they were at the bottom. Their face was cool and unimpressed.

Teleftaia_Apoleia: You'd spell it wrong regardless.
Teleftaia_Apoleia: Besides, that is my username. I quite like yours.
Teleftaia_Apoleia: Do you have anything else to say before I walk to the service station?

This was an empty ritual. They were well known for using their smartcom while walking. They had almost got hit by moving vehicles multiple times.

 

[LittleWasp]

Wend1go: "You say that like your real name is any simpler. ]:<"
Wend1go: "Thanks. "
Wend1go: "I'll say it to your face. Meet you there."

She rapidly tapped out each message, managing to slip them in between her friend's with expert timing, even with how fast they were arriving. Once they were out, she hopped to her feet and wrapped her coat snugly around her before walking off, hoping to get to the service station first. She was already outside, so she had the upper hand, and it was nice to have small, private petty victories now and then.

 

[Lijosu]

True, that. Most people just called them "Josie". With that, they pocketed the device once again and took their key from the coffee table beside the stairs. They opened the door, which was unlocked, but were greeted by a rude breeze smashing into their face and blowing their hair wildly like a windsock. Worse, the wind was subtly wet. Ah, the misery of this hellhole. They rummaged around the coat rack above the coffee table, half-blind from the hair in their eyes, and picked up their mothers spare scarf and finger-less gloves. It would do little to help with the clothes Josie picked out, but there was no chance they were walking all the way back upstairs to put something warmer on.

With that, Josie left, locking the door behind them.

 

[P0rcelain]

PLAYER 2: READY!
A woman with long, black, scraggly hair stood behind the counter on the far end of the station's store. It was tied back in a pony tail that creeped far down her back, yet it escaped the bind towards the front of her head; stray bits of hair waving their way down her face. She had freckles under her eyes, which were emerald green. The body beneath her uniform was muscular and toned, telegraphed by the subtle definition in her exposed, crossed arms. Leaning against the wall in her retail prison, she stared into the darkness out the window opposite her. Beyond the empty road was a vast field of black grass, swaying and lashing in response to the wind. She was longing to be out there; Free of this tedious chore.

A lolly sucker was resting idly in her mouth, the stick pointing sharply out from behind her lips. She did not suck on it. Instead she allowed her saliva to slowly eat away at it, the sugar pooling on her tongue. She had a smartcom of her own, of course. Although, she was not glued to it like some of the people she had seen. She preferred to keep somewhat of a distance from that ravenous hurricane of media.

 

[LittleWasp]

The auto-door rattled open, allowing Wendy into the store, where she peered around with a smug smile on her face. First. Her gaze fell on the lady standing behind the counter and it occurred to her that it might take some time for Josie to arrive. She had to occupy herself to pass the time. Too self-conscious to just stand around and with no desire to step back out into the darkness, Wendy drifted over to the drink cabinets and, after some consideration, plucked out a bottle of iced tea. From the attendant's perspective, she could see the girl turn to look at her, peering over the shoulder-height shelving with her bug-eyed glasses. Wendy approached, her pale cheeks dimpling as she put on a friendly smile.

"Good morning, Miss!" she greeted cheerily, placing the bottle onto the counter and fumbling in her pocket for her wallet. "How are you doing today?"

 

[P0rcelain]

The moment Wendy came through the door, the woman's pupils snapped onto her with laser focus, her head unmoving. Her eyes were bored and half-open, though her gaze was essentially unblinking. When Wendy stared at her from over the cabinets, she looked back out the window.

"Thriving." The woman stated matter-of-fact-ly in a flat tone of voice. Her accent was strange and foreign. At first Wendy thought she might had been one ethnicity, then it escaped her; replaced with another. Then, that would escape her too. After enough processing, nothing about this ladies voice would had seemed familiar to Wendy's memory.

 

[LittleWasp]

For a moment there was an awkward silence as Wendy puzzled over the lady's accent, now paying better attention to said lady's physique as well. Had she seen her around before? Surely she'd remember a woman like this? The younger woman jumped when she realised she was lost in thought, blinking rapidly and fumbling with her card. "Great. Um... How much is it?" Wendy asked.

 

[P0rcelain]

"Five hundred credits." Her voice sung piercingly.

She had already scanned the bottle and was waiting impatiently for Wendy to snap out of her trance, having been just about to interrupt her train of thought before she had asked the price. The woman always found this job odd. She did not understand why she had to tell the customer how much their shopping costed if the prices were right in front of them as they picked it up, but her manager insisted.

 

[Lijosu]

While Wendy bought her iced tea at the counter, the doors of the service station slided open. Josie came pacing through, hands in their pockets as they began observing the stock on the shelves. Their shoulders lowered as they wandered about, becoming used to the warmth of the store compared to the cold outside. They frequented this service station most days, but looking at the products on the shelves was an obsessive habit. The top of Josie's head barely poked over the top of them.

"Huh."

Josie had stopped at the one shelf in the store that had desk toys and knick-knacks lining it. What had caught their attention was a small retail box of "magic orbs". They were little, glassy, electronic spheres made of plastic. The box had a cardboard sign promoting them, with instructions that said: "Ask me a question, then turn me upside down." The promotional material was littered with tacky, poor marketing phrases like "Commune the dead!" and "It knows your future!"

"...Heh." This was all awfully comical to them. A new product had been stocked and it was utter shit and completely nonsensical. The perfect victim for sassy young adults to vent their spastic fits of irony. Josie reached out with a gloved hand towards one of the desk toys.

 

[LittleWasp]

The scanner beeped as Wendy swiped her card across it and hovered her hand nearby, waiting until the word 'approved' was displayed before returning the card to her wallet. "Thanks, Miss. Have a nice day!" the girl said with a well-practiced, saccharine tone. She turned and took a few steps away from the counter before, with some relief, spotting Josie perusing the shelves and hurried over to greet them.

"Beat you!" she teased playfully with a grin as she arrived by their side, her gaze lowering to look at the object Josie was taking from the shelf. Her grin turned into a grimace of anguish and despair. "Josie, are you seriously going to buy one of those? Why do you keep wasting your credits on this sort of crap?" Despite her dismay, she made no effort to physically stop Josie; as a free person (ostensibly), Josie was free to make bad decisions as they pleased.

 

[Lijosu]

"Hey, relax. Check this out." Josie giddily held the orb in front of themself, gripping it in their palm towards the floor, then adopted a serious tone.

"Will the cashier forget to charge for you?" They whispered just loud enough for Wendy to hear. Then, they turned their wrist so their palm was facing the ceiling, and held the orb up to their own face.

A digital thunder cloud stormed and swirled inside the orb, and a crappy, crackly, and prerecorded voice thundered from tiny speakers: "The stars have decided it."

Josie looked back at Wendy with a mischief inducing grin, expecting Wendy to find this as hilarious as they did.

 

[P0rcelain]

The woman raised an eyebrow as Wendy pranced off and continued minding her own. When you have hours of standing behind that counter, staring at black grass through a window becomes a past time. When you are her, anyway.

 

[LittleWasp]

Wendy turned her gaze to the orb with a weary sigh, folding her arms and watching as Josie sought the wisdom of the fates. She didn't appear impressed by the orb's theatrics, turning her eyes back to Josie and skeptically peering over her glasses at them. "Josie. Have you seen the cashier?" she asked in a dry tone of voice. "She is HUGE and SCARY. I dare you to try stealing on her watch. Don't expect me to save you a beating!" She raised her hands as if to physically waive any responsibility for the consequences.

"Are you really gonna believe that stupid ball over your own friend's advice?" Wendy asked with a smirk, pushing her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. She felt confident about what Josie's answer would be.

 

[Lijosu]

"...Yeah," Josie said, "and actually, I'm not even going to do crimes. I'm turning over a new leaf. Ghosts are real, Wendy. Ghosts are real and they speak to us through shitty desk toys."

Wendy could tell that under that thick mask of unwavering irony, Josie was internally cackling. They took the orb with them as they picked up a premade sandwich, a bottle of ginger beer from the refrigerator, and put all three items down on the counter. Then, they stared at Wendy right in the eye and smugly took a pack of gum. Then another. And another. And another. That fucker. They were hedging their bets, hoping that with all the shit they were buying, she would miss something.

Then, Josie turned their smirk towards the scary woman behind the counter and leaned into it, conceitedly tapping a sharp, manicured nail against the sterile surface while staring her down like she was an angry bull.

"Just one small "zap"." Josie thought. "That little green stream of static leaping from my finger to her hand. This will be easy. Then it'll be the talk of the day. "I can't believe it actually happened. That's fucking hilarious." I only have to time it just right..."

 

[LittleWasp]

Wendy slumped her shoulders and groaned theatrically, rolling her eyes and watching helplessly as her friend strode confidently to the counter. With some reluctance, she followed and watched with growing apprehension as more and more stuff was piled in front of Mirie. This was going beyond mere antics. Wendy was getting a bit nervous that Josie was really going to screw with the scary muscle lady. Would they get a punch in the face, or just be yelled at? Maybe thrown out by their coattails? "Josie..." Wendy whined petulantly under her breath as she hovered nervously beside her friend, eyes darting between that stupid orb and the increasing quantity of things placed upon the counter.

 

[P0rcelain]

She casually glanced from her window back to the counter, then up at Josie's smug face. The woman had heard and was listening to most of the two's squabbling, though, she did not feel particularly strongly about any of it and was somewhat lost in thought during the insufferable whispering. With a bored, vacant expression she began scanning. First the sandwich, then the bottle. She picked up the toy with deliberation and began moving it towards the scanner, her eyes like those of a dead fish tucked firmly under lazy eyelids.