#barry 01

“The stars here are totally different from the ones back home, aren’t they?” It was one of the very first things Aster noticed on his first few nights here. The constellations of home were familiar to him after so many nights on the road camping under the stars, but he hasn’t been able to find any of them here. He smiles over at the man next to him-- hopefully the guy doesn’t mind Aster’s chatty nature.

Though, Lloyd wouldn’t need to act on his own this time, as a strong blast of magic cut through the beings before him; instinctively shielding his face from the light that came from the spell. At first, the brunette thought it might have been Kratos, or even Zelos who had found him.. but as he lowered his swords, he found a hooded figure before him instead.. and it was.. floating above the ground?

“A ghost..?!” he looked almost like the monsters back from Aselia, but.. there was still something very different about him that Lloyd couldn’t put his finger on. Still.. if this being saved him, then that must’ve meant.. “A.. are you on our side?”

“Hey, watch the-- OW! What the hell are you doing?!”

Susie wasn’t planning on going to the hospital that day, and probably wouldn’t have if Kris didn’t talk her into it-- her wounds from the fight she’d gotten into earlier weren’t that bad, and she’d taken care of worse plenty of times before. It was hard to say no to her best friend though, especially when they were that worried about her-- but Susie swore, as soon as she was getting out of the exam room she was in, she was going to kick Kris’s ass for making her sit through this.

“So this is the place, huh...?” What an odd building. Ed's only just arrived in the city, but a castle like this is way different from the architecture he’s seen so far. A little tacky in his opinion-- but the little girl did say he couldn’t miss it.

He knocks on the door, leaning back against the frame as he waits. He’s still not sure what he’s doing here, but he’s been on the road long enough to know he needs to chase every lead he can get his hands on. For all he knows, this guy could be some kinda phony, but he’ll never know unless he checks it out.

“Hey, does someone named Barry live here?” The person who answers the door... it can’t be him, right? He looks so ordinary. “Some weird little girl told me to meet with a scientist by that name.”

“Hey! Uh, a little help here?”

Just a few seconds earlier, Leon had been all confidence, assuring this guy that he could ‘totally make that jump’. Turns out skiing is a lot harder than he’d remembered, and he’d gotten a little too cocky with his stunts. It’s like the universe doesn’t want him to relax and enjoy some leisure time.

Luckily his reflexes are as sharp as ever, and he was able to grab the edge of the ramp before he fell-- but that still left him in a precarious position over a pretty steep drop. Don’t look down, Leon.

“This spot appears to be safe for the moment.” It’s a small storage room-- mostly for supplies, from the look of things, but there’s no art stored in here. Hopefully for a little while, the monsters won’t find them. He stands away from the door just to be safe, regarding his companion. Hopefully this person isn’t intimidated by the shackles-- he knows they make first meetings a bit harder.

“If you’re injured at all, I have healing artes-- it might be best to rest up while we can.” There’s one more thing that catches his attention about this man, and that’s the patch and bright red robe he wears.

What...happened?

The last she remembers, she was on the Starblaster. Taako, Magnus and Merle were fighting the Hunger, and they were ready to seal it away for good. She cast her barrier spell, and then... she’d woken up here.

What had she done?

There’s equal parts panic and relief when she spots a familiar face in Barry. Just Barry... where are the others? It hasn’t been that long since they reunited, and she’s worried he’s still angry, because why wouldn’t he be after all the things she’s done?

She’d been here long enough to know how the city worked in a lot of ways, specifically that things inexplicably taken were completely out of reach and would eventually be returned. Apparently. However, she wouldn’t be where or who she was today if she’d ever listened when the advice was either “wait” or “don’t”

Besides! She knew everything there was to know about her ship and that included how to teleport back to it. That signal code was burned into her core! So what if she didn’t really know where this planet was? So what if she didn’t really have all the ideal materials or the correct power source! If everything only worked exactly one way then no one would try anything else!

So here she stood in a park on what was possibly the most ramshackle, bootleg teleporter on this side of the galaxy. Commands were keyed into the laptop and she stood on the small pad. The mast began to hum and crackle before a pulse of blue light washed out. Just as soon as the crescendo rose it was silenced, and before the look of disappointment could even hit her, it exploded. 

It wasn’t a terrific explosion, very minor all things considered. But it was enough to scatter a good portion of her away. It took her a moment to sway back onto her feet and notice that everything looked much bigger. Oh great.