The Shooting Star

6. Geo & Astro

    Averine walked down the street, constantly waving and smiling at the people that passed her by. She was thankful her little tactic was doing well so far, as it kept her awake almost for as long as she needed. It was causing an increasing amount of pain from time to time, but that's something that she was choosing to ignore. Seeing delusions was a bit concerning...especially ones that seemed to be a bit more vivid then usual. Nevertheless, she kept on her path and stayed on the road.

     After a small trip, she arrived at the quaint house she was once at. It felt somewhat comforting to come back to, and it put a smile on her face. Averine softly knocked on the door, staring at the peephole like she could see through it. Obviously she couldn't, but it would leave a silly little surprise for whoever was on the other side.

༻Hello! How can I-Oh it's you! I didn't think you'd be coming back so fast!༺

The door creeped open and Patricia stepped out, and she had an excited smile on her face.

❝ Oh hi! I was wondering if Haven was home right now? I had a few things I wanted to ask them about if they aren't busy. ❞

Avery's tone was light and cheery, and she had a rather high amount of energy now. It would be enough to easily overwhelm the average person, but she was doing a great....good job at containing herself.

༻ Unfortunately Haven headed out an hour or two ago. They said there was someone they had to go out and handle. You know how it goes with all that. You're more then welcome to come in and wait if you'd like, though I'm not too sure how long that would be. ༺

Avery looked off to the side, with a slightly disappointed look on her face. She was hoping to spend a little time with them, but she did her best not to show it too much to Patty.

❝ I appreciate the offer, but I'd have to decline. I guess this give me the chance to peek into that news report from a few days ago...❞

Averine mumbled to herself and glanced down at her phone, digging around for a moment and pulled up a picture. It was blurry and somewhat hard to see, but she turned it and showed Patricia. It looked like a distorted...person? It had a wide mouth with what looked like two tongues. Everything else about it was either unexplainable or simply not visible.

❝ You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you? I saw it on a report and I haven't seen many people talking about it. I know people make scary stuff for fun but something about this feels...different. I'm doubting if it's real, but I can't get to a solid conclusion. ❞

Patricia squinted and stared at the picture, zooming in and moving it around. Her expression was quickly changing from warmth to slight discomfort the longer she stared at the picture.

༻ If I'm being honest...the background looks like it's a real location, and the picture looks...horrendous. It might not be a fake...it looks like it's made too well to just be for laughs. The thing that isn't clicking is why this was the only picture reported...I'd say to take it with a grain of salt I suppose. Could you send me that picture though? I'd like to have a good quality one to peek at. ༺

  Avery nodded her head and put Patricias' contact info into her phone, and gladly sent her the picture. With that they gave each other a small wave and parted once again, with Averine placing her phone in her pocket again. She wasn't able to make heads or tails of it, and because of that couldn't decide where or even how to start.

   She began to walk out back to the city, and suddenly stopped in her tracks. There was a tree casting a shadow to her side, which wouldn't be if any note on it's own. What made her stop were two white circles that were in the middle of it. They were positioned like eyes...and definitely felt like them too. She stared at the circles that showed no movement...but they vanished as soon as she blinked.

❝ That felt...a little too real to be another hallucination....but it wasn't like...❞

Averine glanced around her for a moment, and didn't spot a single trace of what she just saw. It felt like someone was trying to get into her head with little stunts. With a heavy sigh, she kept on the path to a city ahead of her.

   Averine covered a short distance before finding a small clearing that broke off the path she was on. The trail was lined with different flowers and vines, which instantly entranced her. She turned down into the side path, and walked down the gorgeous path. It was strange how so many plants grew during the cold...which only made more questions in her head arise. Her curiosity grew as she walked down the flowered path, into a small room like area. It was covered in different plants and flowers, and had a sunny skylight. It may have been fake but it was still gorgeous either way. It was like a small botanical Garden.

Averine walked through it with a smile on her face, with the amount of colors meeting her eyes being simply delightful. She saw someone ahead of her with a gorgeous forest green sun hat, and they were tending to the plants.

❝ Excuse me? Do you know what this place is? It's super pretty but it's out in the middle of nowhere. ❞

The person she spoke to jumped in surprise, and quickly spun around. Familiar Hazel eyes met Averine, and she recognized them immediately. She gasped in shock, and her eyes widened.

❝ Haven?! What cha doin all the way out here? Did you plant all of these on your own!? It looks amazing! ❞

A faint blush spread on Havens' face as they listed to Averine speak, with her eyes drifting off to the side. It was supposed to be a secret, but hearing such kind words about it made them happy.

˗ˋˏ°• It's....I did technically. I made the seeds to plant and gave them a little bit of extra fertilizer, but everything else was just me going day in and day out...•°ˎˊ˗

Havens' tone was timid and shy somewhat, scratching their cheek as she spoke. Averines' face began to glow when Haven spoke, becoming increasingly excited.

❝ THAT'S AMAZING! Is the trick you used a form of....uh...the earth moving...geomancy I think it's called...?❞

Haven glanced back, smirking at Averines statement. It was close to the right answer, but just shy of it. They appreciated the interest however.

˗ˋˏ°• It's geokinesis, but that's close enough. I can basically use the Earth almost at will, I'm still working on trying to master it though...which has been a very tedious process. •°ˎˊ˗

❝ Oh I get that completely. Training can get soo tiring, especially when you're doing it on your own for so long. ❞

Averine spoke with a mix of joy and curiosity. She had several questions she wanted to ask Haven, and each one was...probably answerable. Right before she could get another word out, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Averine pulled it out and checked the notification...and her expression quickly changed to one of concern.

❝...so it wasn't a fake...You're garden is super pretty, but I have to get going to take care of something. Stay safe! ❞

Averine gave Haven a smile and a wave, and quickly ran out the way she came. Haven watched her run out, walking just out of the garden.

˗ˋˏ°• ...I didn't get to ask...how you found it to begin with... •°ˎˊ˗

With a light sigh, Haven turned back to...a clearing of trees..? The plants weren't lined in anyway, nor were there vines. It was a simple bundle of trees and bushes that seemingly led to nothing. They did nothing but shrug and turned back, and the gorgeous scenery appeared yet again. Haven walked through it, and it returned to a simple clearing right after.