A Day of Happenings

[Verity Lohlepher]

After travelling to Clover Town after her mishap journey to Hargeon Town which had accidentally lead her to Kunugi Village, the girl was hoping for some calm days. It had been a ridiculously eventful week and she was feeling the need to be a tourist and travel. A good attraction spot she had never been to before was Hosenka Town. It was old-fashioned and pretty flashy if she could say so herself. Best known for it's spas, Verity decided that she wouldn't see the standard things of tourists. Instead, she'd see the town. Seeing the people who lived there made her wonder whether her roommate back in Fairy Tail had come from here after his time with a dragon. Lots of people were wearing traditional clothing and it made her look at was she was wearing herself.

She was wearing a dark red dress that came up to her knees. It was halter neck and honestly, not very traditional at all. She shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't like she had come to Hosenka to be a local. Her dagger was strapped to her thigh mainly because she had learnt that it was ridiculously stupid to waste mana re-equipping things. The blonde looked over longingly over her shoulder. Okay, maybe there was no real point at visiting another city and neglecting to see its tourist spots. But for now, she’d explore the woods surrounding. The woods surrounding where part of the town after all.

Vera exited in no time and found she was wandering amongst trees again. She decided to play a mini game of spot the differences. It was the woods of Hosenka vs the woods of Magnolia. Surprisingly (or not), there were some differences. If she didn’t know any better she’d have thought that they were the same. Turns out that wasn’t the case. For one, she found the woods of Hosenka to have pointier leaves than Magnolia. Also, they were less able to be climbed with branches that reached slightly above ease of climbing level.

[Astra Creed]

Astra brushed her bangs out of her face as she looked around. This stupid map was useless. Mostly because she wasn’t sure how to read maps, and probably should have thought of that before she ran off to explore the nearby countryside. She didn’t though; the amnesiac lamia scale wizard had a way of seemingly randomly being completely ditzy and cunning alternatively, and even she didn’t understand it. Whatever had happened to her a few months ago… She shook her head. There wasn’t any point thinking about it, a few difficulties or not she was pretty happy with her current life.

The girl with the red streak in her bangs was dressed in her usual less than modest way; she had a hoodie on, but the material on the torso only went down to her stomach. With it, she was wearing a set of shorts that were only just barely long enough to count as shorts. Also as usual, it was all black. Her tastes weren’t consistent with her personality at all, but she didn’t mind.

Suddenly, she spotted a blond girl in the distance, seemingly wandering through the woods. Had she decided to take a shortcut through the woods instead of staying on the road too? Maybe she actually knew where they were. “Hey!” Astra called out as she shoved her map into her bag, “Excuse me! I’m rather lost. Do you know where we are?”

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity was a little surprised to hear herself being called out to by some girl. She turned around to see a petite girl with short hair. Unfortunately for the girl, she didn't actually know where they were. "Uhhh...in the woods?" She intelligibly answered. So much for being helpful. Vera decided to go up to the girl. She didn't know how being closer would help but some inspiration might strike later. The blonde reached where the other girl was a few seconds later and tried to adopt a helpful expression. It was kind of failing. "Sorry, I don't particularly know...I was just wandering..." she apologised before her predestined moment of inspiration came. "Hey!" She lifted up her hand unconsciously. "MAPS!" The blonde realised it probably sounded a little strange. She coughed. "I meant, do you have a map? Maybe I could help if we had a map,"

Maps were a good place to start. She wasn't the best at reading maps but she could try. The important thing was reading the legend and then getting the latitude and longitude right? That sounded easy enough...except she didn't know which way was north and south or what the latitude and longitude of their current location was. And did it have to be exact? She was just confusing herself. Maybe she should introduce herself to? Yeah. That sounded like a good idea. "I'm Verity, but you can call me Vera!" She said, holding out her raised hand.

[Astra Creed]

In the woods? This girl was pretty perceptive. The sad thing was that that particular thought wasn’t sarcastic at all. Astra hadn’t taken the time to think about how she was in the woods. Only that she was taking a shortcut through it. Her brain was weird sometimes. “I’m wandering toooo~” Astra walked up to the girl semi-casually, looking like she was rather enjoying herself with the way she randomly flailed a bit. “A map… Oh!” Astra took off her traveling bag and unzipped it again, pulling out a crumpled map. “I forgot how to fold it…” she chuckled, not all that concerned that the poor map was now creased… everywhere.

“I’m Astra, Astra creed. From Lamia Scale!” she told Verity happily, brushing her bangs aside again. It was becoming a habit. Habits were interesting. “You can call me Astra,” she nodded as if she was brilliant for telling Verity to use her full name. “I’m wandering around the area cuuuuuz I can. Also because no one said no.” It was hard for the people keeping an eye on her to say no to the damaged girl wandering if they didn’t know. Her eyes widened for a second, remembering how Kade was all polite when he greeted people. "Oh! Hand!" She extended a hand to Vera, though she was reaching slightly up since she wasn’t even five feet tall.

[Verity Lohlepher]

The great thing was this girl seemed to be just as strange as her. Perhaps even more. At least it appeared to be that way upon a first impressions basis. Vera stared blankly at the girl saying she forgot how to fold a map. The 'how' bit was definitely strange. Oh well. It didn't affect her whether the girl's folding skills were up to scratch or not. Her face resumed a smile and she held out her hand to receive the map from the girl...only she didn't give it to her. She introduced herself as Astra Creed from Lamia Scale and Vera's smile increased. "Ooh Lamia Scale! Lamia Scale is pretty awesome," Well that was what she thought upon meeting Kade. While Astra left her hanging with the whole handshake business, she didn't mind, instead just keeping her hand there....because. She found the girl's next sentence a little curious though. "Because no one said no? Why would you need permission to go in the woods?" She asked, head titled in curiosity.

Finally she seemed to realise the whole handshake business that occured when people first met existed and decided she'd ask for one. Good thing Vera didn't drop her hand again. The things that could come in handy! However, the girl was still shorter than her so she was still required to move her hand downwards so they'd meet. She shook her hand formally before frowning as if she'd forgotten something. "Oh yes, map?" She asked again, hand still up to receive the holy grail of...maps.

[Astra Creed]

“Lamia Scale is pretty awesome,” Astra agreed, obviously happy that Vera shared her opinion as she looked up at her with a grin. Vera asked why she needed permission to go into the woods, and Astra let out one of those chuckles that people tend to do when they know they’re doing something they were told not to do and have been caught. “Well… It’s a long story… mooooost of which I guess I don’t remember, and I don’t remember lots of things, and people are worried I’ll get myself hurt if I don’t remember stuff before I leave, at least without an escort.” she admitted in a way that probably didn’t really make sense.

She handed Verity the map, trying to help smooth out the poor piece of paper as best she could. She pointed to Lamia Scale on the map, having memorized where that was… Unfortunately, she’d just forgotten where she’d been since. “That’s Lamia Scale,” Astra decided with a nod, “Aaaand I kind of didn’t pay attention which way I went after that. I guess I’m a bit airheaded still, huh?” she asked, sticking out her tongue as she made fun of herself. At least she didn’t feel bad for losing her memory. How as she supposed to feel bad for something she couldn’t remember? That just didn’t make sense.

[Verity Lohlepher]

((I'm just going to say in advance 'deoffensify' is definitely not a word))

The blonde grinned back at the other's grin. She wasn't really surprised by the other girl saying Lamia Scale was pretty awesome. It would have been strange if the girl reacted negatively since she was in the guild and all. She cocked her head to the side when Astra explained...or rather tried to explain why she generally needed permission to go traversing in the woods. She was getting nothing either than the fact that the Lamia Scale wizard was an amnesiac and she needed an escort. She knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. "But aren't amnesiacs allowed outside without somebody with them?" She asked. She didn't understand this girl.

She was glad when they got back on more familiar waters (more by a fraction that is) and Astra was showing her Lamia Scale and saying she was an airhead. Well not she as in Vera but she as in herself. Either way, Verity probably would have had kind of the same answer - just more adapted to the person who was being called the airhead. She nodded her head in recognition of Lamia Scale's location. "I'm getting that impression too," She said as a joke but at the same time, entirely serious. It was a true statement! Her facial features were smiling so at least that helped to 'deoffensify' the statement. She returned her gaze to the map and tried to figure it out. Well north was up so she could point the map 'up'....but that didn't seem right. She could try though right? She pointed the map up and still didn't get it. She frowned. What had she learnt about map reading before. "Hmmm...well either then we're in the woods. We're near Hosenka Town?" she said, her mind still concentrating on how in Fiore one worked a map.

[Astra Creed]

Astra had to think about her amnesiac question. She put a finger on her lower lip, and looked up innocently at the sky for a second. “Um… I guess they might be? But Master Daedalus says amnesiacs don’t normally have as… broken of a memory as me,” Astra admitted, her aquamarine eyes flicking over to look at Vera. “I don’t remember the most random things, but I do remember other things that amnesiacs don’t always remember. Like my name and my birthday and stuff,” she nodded as if she had given a satisfactory answer – at least for herself.

Vera agreed Astra was airheaded, and even the bubbly girl twitched an eye slightly at her agreement. She didn’t want to be stupid, she just had a hard time thinking was all. Though at times the fog in her brain receded and she felt a lot more competent. Which woods were they in though? They were apparently near Hosenka town, which meant she’d somehow managed to go the right direction. Astra squealed a little bit, jumping up and down. She might have been eighteen, but her size and disposition tended to make her seem otherwise. “Well at least I’m only a little lost!” she exclaimed to Vera, even going so far as to hug her. A big grin was on her face now, and the skimpily clad girl seemed fired up again. “Maybe I’m not so hopeless after all!” Except for, you know, neither of them were good with maps and didn't know where near Hosenka they were.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Astra’s response was as satisfactory an answer as any. The girl was curious as to why her memory was more broken. Maybe she could even fix it! With that farfetched goal in mind, the blonde grinned and looked at the girl. “If it’s broken, than it can be fixed!” She exclaimed determinedly, a (*cough* bad) plan started brewing in her mind. She swished her dress to the front again and clasped her hands behind her back, pouting her lips. If someone’s mind was like a window, wouldn’t it make sense if you put all the pieces back together? Maybe her brain had fallen out and needed to be put back together! That made a whole lot of sense! She was about to procure her idea to the other when she was hugged quite unexpectedly by the aforementioned. Her pout changed into an uncertain smile. Oh who was she to care. She grinned again and continued on, not hugging her back though. “Definitely not!” And then it hit her. From above. She didn’t see it coming, the nasty tree that decided dropping a branch on top of the unsuspecting girls would be a nice gesture.

While the force did not knock her out, it was certainly enough to drive her to her knees, having fallen over to avoid getting hit on the head. On her way down, she dragged the other girl with her unintentionally as they were still somewhat attached. Her guildmark, previously hidden by her hair, was now visible. She looked up and frowned at the tree. Even though it probably couldn’t hear here, there was no harm in directing anger at it right? She turned to look at Astra. “Are you okay? That tree is mean for interrupting my sentence…and now I can’t even remember it!” She grumbled, at the same time shooting more daggers behind the girl, at the tree.

[Astra Creed]

“If it’s broken, it then it can be fixed!” Verity told Astra right before she had tackled her with a hug. She pulled back, pulling her red and black bangs back again. No one knew why she did that so often. It was a habit that never really seemed to help, considering her hair naturally fell back into her face. At least it wasn’t that long, at least for a girl. Astra didn’t need anything fixed. She was curious about her past, but she was equally afraid of it. She knew who she was now, not then. If she found out who she was, would she still be the same person? She didn’t know how any of it worked, but she did know that whatever she’d done before, she’d gotten hurt enough to be in a coma.

Suddenly, a branch flew downward, determined to bonk Verity with what looked like a painful amount of force. Astra gasped. “Are you okay?” She asked, putting a hand on Vera’s shoulder before she noticed the Fairy Tail tattoo. Fairy Tail. Tatsuma. A look of concern crossed her face, and her eyes reflected a sudden distrust. “You’re from the same guild as Tatsuma,” Astra exclaimed quietly. She didn’t want to think they were all like him, but they did let him stay when he did extreme things.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Vera detected the other girl's change in demeanor. She seemed to be distrustful. The blonde frowned. What could have brought about that? And then she spoke. Same guild as...Tatsuma? What did that have to do with anything. More importantly what did Tatsuma do to provoke that reaction? As if Fairy Tail was something bad. Fairy Tail was absolutely not bad. Fairy Tail was great. Maybe she was talking about a different Tatsuma? That was a distinct possibility. There must be a million other Tatsumas...but then there was only one in Fairy Tail. She frowned in confusion. "I guess so? Why?"

It should be safe to ask why. The blonde realised she was still on the ground and picked herself up, brushing off any dirt on her dress. "Is there something wrong?" She looked curiously at Astra, trying to study her more closely. Maybe if she tried hard enough she'd achieve a telepathic connection with the other girl. She'd heard that was possible in the past, telepathic connections with people. But then that was between twins and not actual people. Hang on...twins were actual people...oh but Astra and herself weren't twins sooo point defeated? Nevermind, she'd still try. Nope, she was getting nothing. All she was achieving was possibly looking like a creepy person trying to stare into the soul of another.

[Astra Creed]

Astra stood there for a moment, a concerned look on her face. Her usual slightly dopey demeanor replaced with a more alert, on-edge one. She habitually pushed her bangs out of her face as Vera got up, obviously confused as to why she would care about Tatsuma, even asking why she’d stated anything about him. “Tatsuma Shinju was the Fairy Tail boy I went on my first mission with after joining Lamia Scale,” she told Vera, an edge to her voice that had been missing a moment ago. “We were fighting people in a dark guild in your home town. He wanted to…” Astra was obviously bothered by even stating the next part.

“He wanted to kill the leader… in cold blood. To make an example of him. He… he said if he didn’t more would pop up… He told my friend Kade… that it was his town, and his decision. I… I basically tackled him and wouldn’t let go of him while I begged him not to. He just thought we were being stupid and left…” Astra let out a sigh, her eyes reflecting the fact that she was reliving an unpleasant memory. She shook her head, unable to keep that kind of focus for too long even after months of trying. Her voice even reflected the change, being much more pleasant, if not happier. “I was sad the whole trip back. I don’t want to think everyone’s bad at Fairy Tail, but I don’t know why he was being so mean either. Or why... you'd let someone like that be around...”

[Verity Lohlepher]

She could tell something was wrong by the way her demeanor changed even more. From her voice she could tell that there was something definitely wrong. But from her words, there was obviously a grudge or something like that, that she held against her current roommate. It didn't sound that bad at first, Tatsu teamed up with Lamia Scale to take down dark guilds - that was standard but she knew there were more things to come. And come, the more things did.

Vera's eyes widened. That didn't sound like Tatsuma to her. She knew he could get a little...unhinged at times but this...this was different. Suddenly she didn't trust this girl as much. But then she mentioned Kade, Kade whom she remembered got really jumpy upon the bad weather during their brief encounter. His strange turn of mood could have been because the bad weather reminded him of Tatsu and he didn't like him but what she know? It could be a different Kade of course but he was from Lamia Scale and Astra was too so she wouldn't hedge her bets too far.

She frowned at Astra's last statement and opened her mouth to protest. "No, you shouldn't think that," She agreed before continuing. "I know I didn't know that Tatsu appreciated making examples by killing so I don't think anybody else at the guild would have known that either. Don't blame us. But I don't know, that doesn't sound much like that Tatsuma Shinju I know," She finished uncertainly. It was true, she'd put it out there. Maybe she'd get a particular time and date. He probably had issues back then, well she thought so, because to her, he had drastically decreased in psychoness from the moment she actually met him til now.

[Astra Creed]

Astra let out a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding when she saw the guild tattoo. Her face changed into a frown when Verity defended him, but the truth was, though the original Astra was actually pretty intelligent, the one that had taken her place had trouble thinking any more clearly than Verity ever did, and she stepped back slightly, her arms drawn more closely to her, betraying that she was unsure of herself at the moment. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. I just know bad stuff happened and I have trouble having a clear head for very long… so…”

Astra sighed, her hands resting on her hips just below where her skin ended and her pants began, looking down at the ground as her hair fell back into her eyes. “I don’t wanna be rude,” she admitted to the other girl. “Maybe I should just go. Sorry to bother you or say bad things about your guild.” With that, Astra backed up a bit before running into the woods in the direction of Hosenka. She didn’t know what to think. Would Verity know Tatsuma better? Probably, but he had definetly wanted to kill the guy. She remembered crying hard and begging him not to do it. She remembered him being disgusted with her for being weak. She wasn’t wrong, was she? Kade had even left to travel out of anger because of the kid…

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity hadn't been reprimanding the girl at all. She had only wanted to express her opinion. She didn't need an apology. So that was why she frowned. "It's fine," She said, unsure why Astra was saying sorry at all. She didn't understand. And then suddenly she was running off somewhere after saying she hadn't wanted to be rude or to offend her guild. The blonde froze in the spot for a second before registering what had happened. "Hey!" She called out after the girl. "There's nothing to be sorry for!" She didn't know whether the petite girl had actually heard her and followed suit. "Hey! Wait up!" She called after again, increasing in her pace. When it came down to it, she guessed she was a pretty fast runner. She didn't know how fast the other girl was though. Wanting to be heard, she decided the next best thing was to shout after her.

"I didn't mean to make it seem like you were saying bad things about my guild! I want to know why though. I won't tolerate killers in my guild any more than anyone else!" The blonde followed with her idea and continued running after. If she stopped, she would stop too-

Or not.

The ground loved her face. Like really loved her face. In fact screw that thought. Nature in general loved her face. Really loved it too. Particularly today. They just wanted to greet her personally either by hitting her in the shoulder or dragging her down to the ground. The girl tripped over a root and found herself saying a not-so-friendly hi to the ground for the second time that day. She growled and started to get up.

[Astra Creed]

Astra missed the tripping of Verity. She was too busy running off and feeling upset to listen properly. She loved being around people and talking to them, but she felt terrible for insulting her guild by talking badly about Tatsuma, even if he had tried to do some bad things. She didn’t even know he’d actually killed a couple of them and Kade had kept that a secret from her so she wouldn’t feel even worse. The small girl ran for awhile before running out of breath, and then kept walking. Eventually, she found her way to Hosenka Town, and was immediately distracted by its foreign architecture and touristy sights. She wasn’t at all familiar with this. Had she ever been?

A combination of her flighty cognitive abilities and the new sights and sounds had her completely distracted now that she was in Hosenka. She didn’t even notice the suspicious men hanging around one of the alleyways and discussing something both important and underhanded. One of them, the shortest, held up a hand and pointed a thumb at Astra, who wasn’t even paying attention. “Didn’t you kill that girl?” he asked the largest man. “Because I am pretty sure I ordered you to kill her along with that woman who crossed us.” The big man looked confused as well. He’d never failed to kill anyone with his special magic. It didn’t even leave any clues as to how the person died, which was why it was so useful. “I did what I always do, boss. Did she have a sister?” he suggested. The shorter man shook his head. “Follow her. We might just have to tie up a loose end.”

[Verity Lohlepher]

After she got up, Verity continued running forwards after Astra. She didn't actually know why she was running after the girl anymore but here she was. The trees blurred behind her, a smudge of green in her race to catch up, but soon, she found she couldn't keep up with where the girl was going. She could have gone anywhere from deeper into the forest or back into the town. It was kind of hopeless to continue chasing after (to which the reason she didn't actually know). The girl sighed and decided to walk back to Hosenka. Perhaps she could just continue on her merry way.

Once she was back in the city, she found her feet hurt. Unsurprising as she just was running around in a forest. She couldn't see any other reason not to so she took off her shoes and stored them away. So now that she was walking around barefoot she could hardly see the point of not wearing them. Her feet still hurt. She probably just needed a really comfortable shoe. That meant... shoe shopping? Yay? Verity didn't know how she felt about shoe shopping. As far as she was concerned, fashion meant buying more clothes. Verity didn't see the point with more clothes (and it showed). Why change when you had the one piece?

The shops around also didn't look very... Verity style fashion either. They were all way too traditional. While she didn't care much for tradition there was also the thing that they looked like what Tatsuma wore. Daily. She kind of didn't like what he wore. It was weird to say the least. While she didn't have a particular taste (so she thought), she liked clothes that looked nice (like everybody else). She sighed and walked a little further. Unlike Astra, she noticed the two suspicious men in the alleyway. She saw them pointing at someone and looked at where they were pointing. Astra! But then... she looked sideways at them. They were suspicious. She decided to continue listening. From the gist of their conversation, she thought they wanted to kill her. Whether the 'her' was Astra or not... killing!

Verity didn't waste time. Ever. That was probably why she immediately tackled the first one she saw onto the ground. "Hey!" She yelled after she tackled the man. "Who are you killing?" If anything, she increased the volume of her voice. If people hadn't already gathered to see the spectacle, they certainly turned their heads.

[Astra Creed]

Astra’s eyes opened wide as she heard the voice of the girl she’d run away from tackling someone. “Wha?” she didn’t have time to assess the situation though. When Verity attacked her attackers, the big man who had apparently tried to hurt her before charged her, picking her up by the collar of her jacket and grimacing at her. Meanwhile, the shorter man who had been giving orders was underneath a certain blond girl who was demanding to know who they were killing.

“This girl here, and now you are witnesses. That means we can’t go leaving you alive,” he explained as his hand tightened its grip, causing Astra to start gasping a bit for air. It wasn’t horrible yet, but he certainly had the intent of doing worse to her. Astra made an ‘eep ‘ noise as his hand closed around her head.

Suddenly, her head started hurting worse than she could ever remember, not that that was that far back. She yelled out in pain as her head seemed to heat up, but rather than feeling the pain he was trying to inflict, it was like it opened the floodgates back to her brain. Images of friends she’d quite forgotten about flashed through her mind. Images of training to be a wizard, as well as her master came to the surface. Worse though, were memories of a very similar situation.

In her mind, she saw her beloved master fall to the ground lifeless as the very man that held her cackled darkly, enjoying his magic entirely too much for someone who had just ended such a precious life. “No!” she yelled out, causing the man who was attempting the same thing again to react with surprise, letting go of her. “No! Leave us alone!” she yelled, her aura magic seeming to explode around her, shoving the man backwards into the wall.

The man under Verity used the distraction to push her off. “We’ll tie this up later!” he cried. “Someone’s going to hear this.” With that, he ran off, his cronies following close behind. Astra, however, felt suddenly dizzy as memories flooded into her head. Everything she’d forgotten… even her ability to think coherently was suddenly coming back, and she couldn’t take it. She stumbled… then she fell into blackness. Had she had the presence of mind to think it, she wouldn’t exactly be excited to wake up to the most recent memories she had never had a chance to experience properly before.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity stared puzzled at the man. "What?" She was confused, things were happening too quickly to understand what's going on. They wanted to kill Astra? Well it seemed so what with the man holding her by the head. Normally she would have attacked the man. But she was too shocked to comprehend what was happening around her. She watched as he did something to the other girl, causing her to yell in pain. Her breath stuck in her throat. She was transfixed. It was... horrible, but she couldn't look away and she couldn't move. What was happening? She could sense the magical power in the air, it was... dangerous, unstable. And then Astra yelled.

A wave of her magic exploded around her and sent the other man flying. She barely registered the man squirm out from under her. She continued the stare at Astra. She didn't understand what was happening. She finally shook herself out of her daze and looked after at the two men fleeing. She didn't feel like chasing after. She swivelled her head back around to look at the girl when suddenly, she collapsed. Verity didn't waste any more time. She rushed over to her and immediately drew a blank of what she should do. Never in her life had she needed to be around and unconscious body. It made her feel helpless. Much like when her sister was dying. At least she had been awake and could tell her she actually couldn't be saved. For Astra... she didn't know. She hoped she wasn't dead. She shook her head again and forced herself to concentrate. So maybe she wasn't a pro with unconscious people but she should still try. First things first was checking she wasn't dead. She did this by? She racked her brains, doctors, books, first aid! She'd read a first aid book before. She needed to... check the pulse! Which was on the wrist or on the neck. She decided to go with the wrist. She lifter the girl's wrist and checked it. Well she seemed to be alive. Great. What now? Well it seemed a little unnecessary to- oh screw it. She couldn't do this process thing. She needed to try and wake her up first!

"Hey!" She yelled in her ear. "Are you okay?"

[Astra Creed]

Astra’s head was swimming in the blackness. She was slowly regaining consciousness, but at the moment, she was confused and disoriented. She could barely get her eyes to work. As they opened, she took in a sight she didn’t recall seeing at first. She was in a town… the architecture… she wasn’t quite sure about. Not yet. It was familiar… and yet… Not everything had come back quite yet, apparently.

Finally, Astra groaned, her eyes focusing a bit as Verity tried to wake her up. She got up on her knees, leaning over on her hand, the other over her right eye. “V-Verity?” she asked as what had just happened returned. She was alive, and that was good. But she’d lived twice. Why? The last time… someone very important to her… She nearly started crying right there. In fact, she did, though she tried to keep it to leaking tears instead of actually sobbing.

“Thanks,” she finally managed, taking a hand off of her head and managing to get herself into a seated position. “I don’t know what would have happened if… if you wouldn’t have come.” Parts of her memory were still gone. She didn’t know why this town seemed familiar. But things were returning little by little. “On the bright side… I think that problem keeping a clear head may be gone…” she explained vaguely. She looked sad now, not frightened from nearly being killed. She even buried her face in her knees as she tried to collect herself.

[Verity Lohlepher]

The blonde breathed in relief as Astra came back into conciousness. Her relief didn't last as the girl started crying. Alarms went off in her head and she widened her eyes, shaking the girl again. "What? Are you okay? What happened? What did they do to you?" She realised that probably wasn't the best thing to do and stopped, leaning back. She was sure the girl would tell her in time. For now though... for now she guessed the best thing to do was let her rest and do whatever she wanted. Perhaps not jump off a building if that was what she wanted.

She was confused as to what the girl was meaning. She decided to try and piece it together. So dude 1 and 2 had wanted to kill Astra. Vera had come along and tried to stop dude 2 from killing her. She was successful. Her only problem was that she hadn't managed to stop dude 1 from trying to kill her. He did some mind voodoo thingy-ma-bob on Astra's head and suddenly Astra was some super magic genius (maybe she was exaggerating) and pushed the guy away. Now she was saying she had a clearer head. Perhaps she got her memory back? Which was funny since it would be entirely coincidental with Vera. She put it down to luck that she was nearby and nothing else. She didn't know how to respond so she returned to her earlier questions. "Sooo what was that about?" She asked, unsure if she was sounding inconsiderate or not to someone who had just been knocked out cold. Well she did deserve that much at the very least.

[Astra Creed]

Astra didn’t move for the longest time, despite Verity’s prompts. She was crying yes, but she was trying to think more than anything. There was so much more information to process than she had had to deal with before. She kept seeing the same horrible image, over and over again like it was yesterday. But her mind told her that a different Astra had been around for months since then. After what seemed like forever (and yet wasn’t that long at all), Astra raised her head enough that tear-soaked eyes could be seen above her arms.

“I uh, I think I remember things,” she told Verity, blinking and wiping her face. “N-not everything… and… nothing good…” she told Verity. “She died… I don’t know why… but… My mentor… those people… they… and then they did the same to me… but… it didn’t work…” She wasn’t speaking in complete sentences. She wasn’t even sure if she was making sense. It didn’t make sense in her mind. She was… two girls named Astra? No… they were the same person, right? They didn’t feel like it right now. Or did they? The tiny girl let out a sigh, trying not to start crying again. “I don’t even…” she started again. She didn’t know what to think or say. She only knew how sad it was that she’d lost one of her closest friends.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Okay so her theory of Astra recovering her memories weren't that far off... in fact, they were pretty spot on. Score one for Verity! Beat that brain! If she hadn't been concerned over Astra's condition she might have given those thoughts a bit more time alive before letting them dissipate completely. Compassion filled the girl even if she had no clue what the hell the other girl was talking about. It must suck though. It reminded her of when her sister died. Her heart clenched just thinking about it. Number one horrible experience of her life. She'd never want to relive it again. Regaining that memory would be like reliving it again Verity thought.

The blonde felt awkward at being with Astra. She had no head nor tail on how you comforted someone who had amnesia but then didn't and was now going through the pains of her life. Or some of them. She wasn't particularly sure Astra had received all her memories back although she guessed there was probably more to come if that was the case. Who knows? She wasn't an expert. "Are you alright? Do you need anything?" Verity finally decided on her choice of words, saying them hesitantly. In her books people always comforted others by patting them on the back or something. Should she do that? Verity decided that yes, she'd do that. Take a gamble. She liked doing that didn't she? She lifted a hand and awkwardly patted the smaller, but older girl. Hopefully she'd feel better.

[Astra Creed]

Astra felt Verity’s pat as she sat there, thinking of things freshly in her mind. Verity was accurate. It was pretty bad thinking of bad things again as if they’d just happened, even if she knew time had passed. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, hearing Verity ask her if she was alright. Astra didn’t know. She had no idea if she was alright. She’d come out here to learn more about the world around her, not her old life. She’d always been afraid of what she would learn if she pried too much. She had always been afraid it would change her. Now she knew she’d been right… though… she didn’t quite regret it like she thought she might. She didn’t feel like a different person. She just felt like she had strangely disjointed memories and thoughts when she tried to piece what she knew of her two lives together.

“I’m… I’m fine,” she sniffed, raising her head and rubbing her nose and eyes with her sleeve. She gave Verity a thankful grin and looked off to the side, to where those men had been standing. “Thanks for saving me,” she told the girl. “I don’t know what would have happened if you’d not scared them with the noise you were making.” Astra both seemed and felt a bit less… ditzy than before. It was weird. After a moment, she got up, jumping into Verity’s arms with a full-on hug that she gave without warning. “I don’t know what to do now,” she confessed, shaking a bit. “So much new stuff… I can’t handle it…”

[Verity Lohlepher]

Seeing as the girl didn't jump away at her pat Verity guessed she was doing alright at comforting her. She observed Astra as she squeezed her eyes shut and concluded she was having some trouble dealing with everything that happened. Well actually she had concluded that sometime ago (she wasn't that dense) but probably more to do with being unsure whether she was alright or not. Verity never knew answering a question would require so much thought. She finally responded with saying she was fine and Verity kept her doubts to herself. She definitely didn't look fine. She grinned when she mentioned the amount of noise that she made and nodded her head. "Yes. I'm pretty good at that aren't I? I would have done that for anyone, try to help that is, not make noise," She kept her tone light-hearted and followed Astra's gaze curiously.

She couldn't tell what she was staring at. Space? And then woah, she was assaulted. Well not assaulted as so much get hugged by surprise. Verity did the awkward pat hug thing again. She still didn't feel very in place at the moment. God. Now she was expected to give advice? She didn't know what to do! It was possible a more experienced person in the situation might have said 'I may not have experienced what you're going through now but I can try and help. Tell me about the new stuff, maybe it'll help' in a really gentle tone but Verity was not experienced. At all. She was also pretty blunt. Combined with the fact that she aired more to side of logic than caring about other's feelings, she had a pretty hard time trying to think of things to say. In fact, she didn't even think. "Sort it through? Maybe chronological order could help?" She recommended cluelessly. Oh lord. Help her. She didn't know what to do.

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