[center][h2][color=F0E68C]Asteria[/color][/h2][/center][hr][hr]
Their telepathy experiment seemed to have failed, but at the very least Asteria discovered that there was indeed some sort of energy within her that could be only magic. For the next few moments, she kept her focus on it, getting a feel for it, calling it to her, keeping it building, then slowly letting it dissipate, and repeated the procedure a couple of times. She may have managed to attempt more if Jason hadn’t interrupted her, suddenly making off towards the dying light of the bonfire Mother Rat had alerted them to. Asteria frowned at it. She remembered it burning more brightly and wondered what happened. And she was technically part of Jason’s group now, so she followed, having to intentionally keep her running pace slower so she was able to go alongside the group. Now that she had to pay attention not to outrun the rest of them, she was much more aware of how her body worked to run. She focused on the flexing of her muscles, the way her fore- and back limbs moved in concert, the manner in which her tail stabilized the rest of her. Her head was slightly hunched between her shoulders, kept close to the ground, so she could easily sniff out a scent to follow if needed. She felt the wind resistance in her whiskers, ears and along her fur, the wind ruffling it lightly. Her front and back digits dug into the earth somewhat, providing the grip while her palms and feet worked to push her forward and helped her land each step gracefully.

In no time at all, they reached the bonfire, the sudden stop startling Asteria into a light stumble. And…there were a lot of monsters. Or rather, what turned to be former humans in the guise of monsters. Jason wasted no time barking orders at them all, mentioning an individual named Crispy and a horde of goblins outside that wanted to kill them all. [color=F0E68C][i]Fucking great.[/i][/color] Asteria glanced at the crystal cache, a quick count revealing them to number somewhere between fifty and sixty pieces, though about a dozen was grabbed up right away by some of the former-humans. Asteria glared at the mana crystals. Not that it was the mana resource’s fault that they had an imminent battle to [i]look forward to[/i] but that was certainly part of the cause in her mind. She was downright appalled at how terribly organized they were and could only pray their enemy didn’t have a half-competent commander. Because even if Jason proved his worth with some quick tactical thinking, not everyone at all was inclined to follow his order. One Wisp even challenged him directly, and Asteria might have been amused and inclined to agree with the floating ball if she hadn’t proven to be even pushier and more high-handed than Jason was – quite the feat to be truthful.

Asteria almost groaned out loud when she heard Jason assigned her to digging out a hole for [i]the freaking crystals[/i]. Weren’t there any better and more important things to do? Maybe looking around the cave to see if there were any other people and potential allies around? Or worrying about the fact that they had no way to escape once the enemy decided to attack them? Not that she had the time to suggest any such thing, because Jason wobbled his slimy self away together with a goblin for some kind of digging elsewhere, and Edward had already moved backwards and was diligently digging into the yielding soil. With a sigh, Asteria followed, nudging Mother Rat to go along and help them in their task.

[color=F0E68C]“Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”[/color] she suggested, shoving her paws into the earth in determination, scooping out as much as she could as fast as she could. [color=F0E68C]“Then we can try finding or digging out an escape route. Because I don’t know about you, Edward, but I [i]really[/i] loathe the idea of being trapped in what could be our graveyard, with the only current potential exit leading directly to a horde of monsters just waiting, or worse, preparing to slaughter us all.”[/color]

[@Searat] [@Zeroth]