this is very long, so please don't feel required to write the same amount :3 also, this talks about bugs, but none from the handbook. can be set daytime or shortly after dark
Ashley was here looking for spiders.
She recognized this was a silly thing. But. Meeting Joseph at the party, hearing him say she'd... let her aura show, as she handled a silly bug at the party. It stuck with her, stayed in her thoughts when she woke up late and couldn't sleep. Once upon a time, she'd kept Agostina's cat in her room at night, and she would speak softly to him when she woke up cold or hot or uncomfortable.
Now, she woke alone, lately from... dreams about spiders. And then thought about them more as her eyes burned in the near blackness provided by a closed bedroom door. Today, when she had no healing to do and was feeling better than lethargic, she went out in search of them. Decided to drive further than usual for a change of scenery. Parked in a dirt lot by the pond.
She checked under benches, in tree branches, in spaces under raised trash cans. For the life of her, she was spiderless. Thunder rumbled when she was as far from her car as possible, but Ashley was determined. Neurotically so. She'd have a thousand more dreams of spiders until she just...
Found one, and held one. Or something. She didn't know, really. But it was an urge that nearly overwhelmed her, leaving her almost tearful as she poked around the park like a curious child. As the first fat raindrop fell, she knew she was in trouble. Ashley was
not a runner. She decided to duck beneath a tree, hoping the dark clouds above would pass quickly with the breeze that rushed in with them.
They did not. Instead, they opened to a torrential downpour, soaking through her clothing in what felt like seconds. She cradled her phone against her chest, shoved it clumsily into her bra, hoping to keep it dry. At a clumsy run, she circled the pond, feeling like it was at least a mile to get there. (It wasn't, but she was no sprinter.) As she made it to the car, she flung the door open, threw herself in. Turned the key, blasted the heat, shivered, dripped. But her heater was always slow to start unless the car was moving, so she put it in reverse, glancing into the mirror as she sought to pull out of the lot.
A few inches, and then the car stalled. Her front tires spun, an unfamiliar and alarming sound. Ashley frowned, tried to drive the car forward, but the wheels ground and squealed. With a shivering huff, she pushed herself out of the car and dropped the keys in the seat, rain meeting the inside of the door immediately. Slamming it behind her, she circled to the front to find the wheels just... utterly dunked in muck. Cold and frustrated and desperate, she moved to the front grill of the car and just...
Pushed. Pushed, as if she could shove a car out of a mud puddle. It was foolish, and she knew it, but Ashley felt almost frenzied to accomplish
something today. Thunder grumbled above her still, and naturally, the car didn't budge. But she turned to face away from it, pressing her lower back to it, feet sliding in wet earth. (Putting the vehicle in neutral would have helped; she didn't know any better.)
Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Ashley groaned in frustration, eyes screwing shut, fingers curling into fists. The rain was slowing to a drizzle, but it wouldn't get a car from the mud. She couldn't call for a tow. It was expensive, and she lived... so cheap. So on the edge of her budget. All of this for a spider she couldn't find.
Around her, and around the car, a low cloud formed. Sparse at first, but thickening, especially with the lessening precipitation. It was some fallen part of a storm. It was living, breathing. Alive. Mosquitoes by the hundreds, hovering at her sides. Pressing their bodies to the car, as if a thousand spindly limbs stuck to droplets could push it along. Instead, they squirmed and twisted as they stuck to the damp hood, to her wet jeans, to her arms.
She didn't feel them so much as a frantic inclination to get the car free. Making a scene, but not seeing it. She was drenched and red-irised, the now rain a mist, and her silhouette fuzzied by a thrumming shadow.