A shining stareater in darkness

Chie's eyes scanned the city as she looked down on the tall buildings squeezed against each other like sardines packed tightly against one another. The congested traffic of a busy weekend night seemed to never die down, permanently filling the streets with crowds of cars. The sky was mirky and just as tightly packed with clouds, and occasionally another hero or villain seemed to zip by. None of them noticed the stocky teen girl on her perch, statuesque in her position tucked away behind the ventilation to the skyscraper she currently rested on top of. A tall building like this was perfect for her powers, she could see everything from there. Every individual in each car that passed by, each rat that scurried from the sewers and into the alleys. To others things would look like ants, all shrouded by the dark night sky, barely illuminated by the lights of the city that muffled any gleam the moon or stars might give. To Chie, the night sky was as clear as day. Her eyes glowed softly, like a cats as she scanned the town. She had seen minor crimes; pickpockets and small-time drug deals, daily occurrences in the seedy nightlife here. Nothing she bothered to deal with anymore. She had struggled to get to her perch and she wasn't going to squander it on a petty lowlife trying to make ends meet.

It had been a painstaking journey to the roof. With the building locked up, she had to climb her way to the top. Thankfully the fire escape was low enough to the ground that she could make her way up. Nevertheless, she had to walk up at least a dozen flights of stairs and then climb the rest of the way onto the roof. A few years ago this climb would have been nerve-racking for her, one slip and she would plummet to her death. Now she had faced death every other day. A climb was nothing. It was worth it for the view at least.

A breathy sigh emptied her lungs as she cracked open a soda and looked over a new set of streets around her. She was in for a long night, as per usual. Just as she got comfortable, though, a gust of wind and a loud WOOOSH came overheard. Chie stayed still, practicing at hiding in the shadows she knew that she was better off not cowering further into the dark. She would just give herself away with her movement. Instead, her hand slowly slithered towards her bag of shurikens, preparing to see who might have come to her domain.

Another night where sleep meant nothing to Astrid.

She had been circling around the east coast of the States for a while, mostly out of boredom. Stareater often had a nagging feeling that it was unwise to travel at night due to several reasons. One being the cold gave her less room to recharge, and another being how much easier it was to pinpoint her flying across the sky, and possibly blast her to the ground if they wanted. Especially in the colder places like Canada or New York City. But lately, she'd been getting a better handle on her powers, so as to fly more efficiently. Thus, these areas were a bit more available to her. It was starting to get late, and Astrid felt like relaxing somewhere high up, so she landed very loudly on a building.

This was how the robot attack started a while back. Stareater resting on a skyscraper in NYC. Hopefully she could actually relax this time.

Little did she know, she was being watched as she sat on the edge of the building. Her helmet glowed like a lantern with the same monochrome energy as the trail she left in the air, easily marking her as less than ordinary.

Chie watched with scrutiny as a glowing figure landed with a powerful crash. The area around her shook, and Chie questioned the safety of such a move. She was just glad no one was in the building that would panic. Looking the figure over, their Chie found their static-like head somewhat intimidating, but more so they seemed faintly familiar. It dawned on her as she looked over this stranger's suit. They had worked together before, allbeit briefly. It was a relief to know that at the very least, this ominous figure was on her side

Cautiously, Chie crept from hiding, skulking towards this stranger in a low crouch like a leopard lurching towards prey. Chie got fairly close before she stood to her full height and spoke. She was ready to move in case she startled this person too much, she didn't need to be blasted to oblivion.
"Sightseeing?" Chie quipped with a hand held on her hip, exuding bumptiously as she smiled at Stareater.

Stareater did not notice that Chie was there in the background. In a sense, they were opposites. Chie was a ninja, and she was a barbarian. One was quiet as the grave and the other was heard before she was seen. Because of this, Stareater nearly jumped out of her skin, twisting around and almost atomizing the girl who snuck up on her. Monochrome energy flared in her hands before she noted who the fuck this was.

"Who the-... You. Where do I know you from?" She asked, in a low-pitched, reverberated voice that sounded like a distant scream for a second, before Astrid caught herself.

She recognized this girl somewhere... Didn't she?

Well, this was the same city where that big ass robot invasion happened, and Stareater just happened to be around at the time. This girl- Chie- Was one of those heroes that helped save the city. Astrid simply blasted away into the sky before anyone could stop and ask who exactly she was, be they cop, fellow hero or grateful city people.

"...Yeah. Sightseeing."

Chie had been ready for the sudden movement, and she side-stepped when she saw the energy flare up in the woman's hand. Still, having seen firsthand what those blasts could do, Chie wasn't sure moving to the side would really be enough. Trying to save face, she did her best to mask her fear. Right now she was Shuriken, a hero, not a teen girl.
"Easy, I'm a friend. Remember?" She asked with a slow, easy tone.

Shuriken instead kept her smirk when she saw the glow of energy fade in Stareater's hand and her arms folded across her chest as listened to the other person. Good, she didn't recognize her. It wouldn't do well for a silent ninja if every hero and villain knew her name.

"The city is really dazzling at night. All the lights, all the people. You picked a good place to watch" She mused as she moved to the static woman's side, slowly and carefully. She didn't want to keep this person on edge. It wasn't wise for her and it couldn't be comfortable for them.

Below them was Broadway, and the orate signs for each play going on were surrounded by ads and other bright, vibrant neon lights that made the streets glow like the sun was still out. The light danced and swirled with the shadows of cars and people of all shapes and sizes walking down the streets. The further from the ground, the dimmer the lights became until the last streaks of illumination clawed at the shadowy roofs of the colossal buildings that towered over the people below them. From up high, the people seemed so trivial, barely a speck from such a height. If there weren't so many moving at such a hurried pace, they would seem trivial. Still, even from hundreds of feet above them, they swarmed like a chaotic sea, lacking any current or flow as the people passed in every direction.

Stareater quickly mellowed out. "Yeah, I remember you. The ninja girl, Shuriken, right? I'm Stareater." Normally people had a funny reaction when she gave out her hero name. Heroes usually had some sort of brutalist, or cocky air about their personas. A pyromancer might call himself Hotshot and a teleporter might call himself something harsh like Ambush. But Stareater was more thematic, so people didn't really get it at first and so she sometimes had to follow up with a big explanation. But they had already met and Shuriken was aware of her anti-reality lasers. So Astrid felt like the point got across that she was a different type of cape.

"I normally fly onto roofs like this all the time and just stay for a while. Sometimes I catch someone in the act when I stare long enough. But it's also quiet enough, that I don't have to worry about anything." Astrid said this as she laid flat against the roof like a beach day. "Everything seems fine even after all the giant lions, huh?" The giant lions stood not a chance against white light that fragmented atoms on contact. Astrid's casual demeanor was like a cognitive dissonance against the destruction she wielded.

Shuriken's eye raised at the name of the hero she was looking at. New york was a menagerie of heroes and villains and both in the streets and on the screens she had learned about weirder names. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but feel a bit strange about the name 'stareater'. It sounded more villainous than anything, but it certainly had more panache than 'Shuriken'. Having seen this stranger's powers in action, the name definitely fit.
"Long time no see, champ. Good to see people actually remember my name" Shuriken replied with a gleam of glee in her eyes. It was nice to get some recognition.

Shuriken sat next to Astrid as the static girl laid down on the floor, and though Chie's eyes scanned the area around them again, her focus stayed on the conversation. Seemed like heroes think alike, Chie had come to love the relative quiet serenity of the rooftops herself. Her attention on the streets was cut off at the mention of the lions, and Chie couldn't help but chuckle under her breath at the notion.
"This city has been destroyed and rebuilt twice over, a couple of robot kitties are just drops in the ocean" She replied with a hint of exhaustion in her voice.

Chie had grown up here, and seen the constant clash of heroes and villains. It was mundane to her, and likely to everyone around them. Chie flung her head back and laid back just like Astrid, her eyes now cast up into the sky. The lights of the city made the normally dark blue hue of the sky lighter, a soft purple color. The moon, though its power was diminished, still hung like an anchor in the sky. A plane passed overhead, and dozens of people left the city at immense speed.

"Let the city take of itself tonight It's rare I get some pleasant company up here"
Chie added with a long, heavy sigh before she turned over to look at Astrid. Chie's eyes glowed in the dark like a nocturnal animal.
"Tell me, what's it like to fly?"

"Yeah, I guess so." It was funny how many times a city could be destroyed without it really meaning anything. Even in the state that Boston was in, it was still Boston. Though, New York didn't really have wizards and mushroom people spilling through its doors... Or maybe it did. Wizards did exist, after all. And after everything that had happened, Astrid was still, at the end of the day, Astrid. "People are hard to kill."

Letting the city worry about itself was a good idea. Astrid had no need for sleep, or food. She was awake 24/7 when most heroes were snuggled up in their nice, warm beds. But Astrid hadn't felt the warmth of sleep in... A year? It certainly felt like a year, but also like a billion lifetimes when she tried to go by memory. Time didn't work properly in the Whitespace, meaning a second was stretched out to the lifespan of a universe, from birth to death. To anyone else, time went normally. But to Astrid, she was the oldest being in existence. Naturally, she tried not to think on it too hard, lest she give herself a headache.

Or... A pocket dimensionache. She tried not to think too hard on that either.

"Flying... It's liberating. I've been to three different countries just because I can fly. Here, Canada and the UK. I could get across the Atlantic ocean in just two, maybe three hours. It's just you, the sky, and wherever it is that you're going. I can go anywhere I want, whenever I decide to. You should try it something."

Chie felt a wave of relief wash over her the longer she looked away from the streets below. She had been burning the candle at both ends, fighting crime with reckless abandon, training nearly every day of the week, and trying to balance her doomed school life with it. For a moment she nearly dozed off, but the glow from Astrid kept her awake. At the same time, there was a nagging feeling of duty clawing its way back into her mind. She had fought crime with the relentless energy only a teen could muster. Part of her felt bad knowing she was essentially dooming someone to a mugging, or worse. She was a hero after all, and justice was supposed to never sleep. When Stareater spoke up, Chie listened to them with earnest interest. Her mind swirled with the idea of seeing the deep ocean up close, seeing the sights beyond where the trains could take her.

"yeah, when I grow some wings I'll be sure to check it out," She remarked with a snarky roll of her eyes.
"It sounds like a lot of fun though, you should take me with some time" She added, a hint of sheepishness in her voice. She had wanted to fly for a while, and feel the wind in her hair, but besides frontline, she didn't have anyone to ask. Not wanting to drift off back to sleep, Chie sat back up, using an arm to prop her upper body up as her legs remained sprawled out. She couldn't help but stare at the city again, mesmerized by the thousands of people passing by. It dawned on her that for almost all of her life, this city was all she had ever known.
"How does the Big Apple compare to all the sights you've seen? Must seem pretty trivial to someone who can see all the sights"

If I ever figure out how to carry a person without atomizing them while being able to steer, maybe I will," Astrid remarked.

She leaned up slightly, looking up out at the sky as if it held the answer to Shuriken's question. With all the places Stareater had been,  everything seemed to blur together at some point or another. She had been to every province in Canada, relaxed in Death Valley to recharge, and saw monolithic structures built by some heroes. There was no real rhyme or reason to where she went, barring the fact that she wanted to go to those places. So, answering Shuriken's question was somewhat difficult, because you couldn't really compare those places to each other. Hell, she could go into space if she wanted, relying solely on the sun and the lack of gravity to get to places.

"Everywhere I go, there's something there that's worth going there for. Some incredible heroes are here, I saw the door to Eugenia over in Boston and almost decided to walk in. Across the ocean there are entire skyscrapers that some heroes built for their HQs, like something out of a movie. "Trivial" doesn't really apply. When you travel enough, you learn how to appreciate everything you see. It's weird, you'd think you would get bored eventually, but it's really the opposite. You just... Get a yearning for it that you can't get rid off." The part that Astrid didn't mention out loud is how she forgot that most of Earth even existed, and that travelling to every corner of it helps her to remember. Spending an eternity in a pale void took a toll on her mind that still isn't fully repaired.

Chie recoiled at the thought of being utterly atomized, but it was a valid response. With a heavy sigh of exasperation, she once more put her dreams of flying to the wayside. She tried her best to keep her disappointment off her face but she was a teen, a happy one at that, and her ability to hide her emotions was not very well developed. Fortunately for her, the other question she had asked was enough of a distraction for Astrid that she was able to recover from her moment of pouting.

Astrid's answer to her question was a longer one than expected, but it made Chie look down at her home city with newfound admiration. Perhaps she was taking this city for granted. Many people visit just for a chance to see the sights and the lights, yet here she was calling it dull. Chie couldn't help but envy the younger woman though, she had such an exciting life and Chie let herself imagine all the sights they had seen. Perhaps one day, should she ever become a hero of renown, she could see these places too. Except for Eugenia. She preferred the prospect of never going there. If anything, she was shocked that Astrid almost took the chance.

"That's a beautiful sentiment" Chie responded with a pleasant smile.
"Sounds like you've learned a lot from your travels too. Where are you heading next, anyway?"

”Learned a lot? Yeah. Kind of. How to navigate big cities, how to tell which ocean I’m flying over, how to deal with different types of people, and all that.” The memories Astrid made along her journeys after receiving her powers were important to her. Astrid’s ability to remember things before that day was inconsistent at best. It was like living two lives and the original being a dream you woke up from. It didn’t feel real.

”I’m not sure where I’ll go after right now. Honestly, I might just stay a while. Sometimes it gets lonely, you know? I can go anywhere- I can probably go to Mars- But no one could come with me. It makes it difficult to be in a place with people.” Astrid, in all honesty, was always a bit of a lonely person. She didn’t make friends at school, she didn’t really know how to talk to people, and dear old father dearest never let her do anything. It suited her, in a way. But sometimes she didn’t like that.

Chie's smile dimmed slightly as the topic returned to the future. Chie had been sulking over her loss. Her school papers had been destroyed, but she was far from destitute. Stareater seemed far more lonely and purposeless than she did. They had great power but lacked the grounding to the world that meant anything. She wished so dearly that she could offer Astrid a place to stay. Her brother had moved out and there was an empty bed at the Jordan Household. Unfortunately, Chie doubted bringing an anomaly home would garner any favors.

Wanting to reassure her friend, Chie moved to gently place a hand on Astrid's shoulder. She didn't know them well enough for any other form of physical affection. As is, the shoulder was a risk.
"Well, if you stay around town it would be nice to see you again. I've enjoyed this talk" She responded with a genuine look in her eyes.
"It sounds lonely though, I can't say I envy you," Chie said but quickly added in an addendum to try to ease the pace.
"At least you know where to find me now, on the rooftops... if you can find me"

It was nice to feel that Chie cared. They just met, and she seemed like a pretty nice person. "I might, actually. You seem cool, and I don't know enough superheroes, for someone who flies all over the world." At least she seemed to be a superhero, Astrid wasn't entirely sure how accurate that was. But then again, she didn't have to atomize Shuriken yet, so she at least wasn't one of the bad guys. "Even after this city got swarmed by machines, I didn't really stick around long enough to get any names. But, I'll be around this time. For now, at least."

Was this what making friends felt like? It felt good.

Astrid leaned back, flat against the floor of the roof, staring out into the sky. "So, let me ask you something. How does it feel knowing you can take the mask off, and now be a hero 24/7?"

It warmed Chie's heart to hear the feeling was mutual and she slippered her hand away slowly, letting her pleasant smile display her sentiment. If this truly were her only career choice, it would be good to have some friends. Better yet, it was good that Chie had been one of the rare few who managed to make a good impression among the continents and all the cities in between.

"We should plan a meet-up. Do you have an instagram?" Chie asked, pulling out her cell phone, only to see the time on the screen. The sun would be rising soon and she would need to start making her way home. Astrid, seemingly sensing the shift, prompted for a final question.

"It's not as easy as it looks. I have to pretend like I don't see everything that's happening, you know?" She replied, adding a heavy sigh.
"But it is nice to be able to go home to my parents, even if they would kill me themselves if they knew I was sneaking out" She added, deflating at the thought.
"Speaking of, they will probably be up any time soon. I swear my dad wakes up at 6' sharp everyday"

Chie showed her phone's screen to her new friend, in front of a dozen or so apps and a Kuromi wallpaper was the current time: 4:37 AM.