* a s t e r !

Aster Montero –– 22 years old –– Auror Recruit, Pacific Squad –– She/They Points: 100 Cases: –– The boy in the painting (w/ todd)

[astermontero]

jdelacruz​:

Pacific Squad office, sometime mid-October, @astermontero​

He’s surprised, but not disappointed, to see his name on the stolen timeturners case that people have been whispering around about, a clear worry among anyone who has heard what happened that something as seemingly unthinkable as the Department of Mysteries being breached. It’s a big case, which is part of why he’s surprised—June Norwood may seem confident that she knows who is behind it, but there’s still a lot at stake here.

That’s the other reason he’s surprised to find his name on the case: June Norwood. He’s worked with her before, a handful of times, on other cases that were tangentially related to the Department she’d founded sometimes in her early thirties. They have, in all honestly, worked fairly well together when called upon to. But there’s the slight detail, the little wrinkle that, well, she hates his guts. 

Still: it’ll be nice to see her. It’s been a while. And it’ll be nice to tackle a case where the risk is not so much bodily harm to his person as much as irreparable damage to the time stream or whatever. 

      “Montero,” he says, leaning back in his chair and looking over his shoulder at their desk, catty-corner to his, where they’re visibly reading the same case file he is, looking attentive and studious about it. She’s a smart kid, a good auror. He thinks Norwood will probably like her. If they don’t already know one another. He can never quite keep track of which of the younger aurors on this Squad are related and all of that. “Have you ever been to the Department of Mysteries before? If not, you’re in for a real treat.” 

.

Aster is admittedly pretty thrilled when the case file gets handed to her. This beautiful, exciting, thrilling case. It makes her mind race a little bit –– because its the Depeartment of Mysteries, the real fucking place, and June Norwood. As far as Aster is concerned, June is a fucking hero. So bright, so smart, changing the damn world in cool and secret ways. Okay, so, its kind of unfortunate that her and Becca are linked so intimately, so strangely. Family. So she would probably hate Aster, because Aster can imagine Becca talking bad about her to everyone. 

God, she hoped June didn’t hate her. 

She was engrossed in the file when Julián came over to her, grabbing her attention. Her lead here. She really didn’t know what to think of him, hadn’t taken much time to pay attention to the finer details of his life. He didn’t seem to have many friends –– maybe that meant he was difficult to work with, maybe he just kept people at arms length. Vesper Branwen treated him like he was amazing, though, and maybe that meant something too, because he seemed to care about them in equal measure. 

“This might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” She says, with an ease that surprises her. And then, a little bashful. “I mean, actually. This is super serious and we’re going to solve it in no time, before reality as we know it gets messed up beyond repair.” 

“But like, it’s also super cool.” She rests her elbows on the desk, looks up at him. Excited more about the case than about anything else. Time turners, so much at risk, and probably the coolest place on earth to explore. “How do we start?” 

[astermontero]

beccasavage​:

Muller Family Farm Corn Maze, Idaho, a day or two after promotions, @astermontero​

She can’t believe it. Can’t believe that the world has decided to personally victimize her like this. It’s been four months and so far she’s managed to avoid having to work directly with Aster Montero, has felt blessed by the universe for it, and now some force of fate must be laughing at her, because not only does she have to work with Aster on a case, but Aster is her lead. She’d been feeling so good, news of her promotion—finally!—from recruit to cadet, hadn’t even been mad that Aster had been promoted the very same day.

But this. This feels like a practical joke or something. It’s so unfair. 

So, okay, maybe she’s feeling passive aggressive, when she sees the case file, sees that Aster isn’t at their desk, and instead of waiting around for them or checking the break room, just sends them a telekit message, picks up her stuff, and apparates ahead to get a look at the corn maze they were supposed to be investigating.

     Headed to the corn maze to scope things out. Meet you there, it says, terse and overly punctuated compared to her usual messages, boring and professional-sounding. But she needs a minute to collect herself so Aster won’t be able to tell she’s upset about this. Needs, at least, to not feel like she’s one step behind already, on top of her already wounded pride and all of that. 

She’s not there for very long, when she hears the pop of Aster apparating behind her. She’s basically walked a circuit around the place once, waiting for Aster before actually talking to anyone because she might be a bitch but she’s still an auror, professional to the end. She’s just getting a feel for it, the vibe of the place, has just finished her little circle and gotten back to the beginning.

      “Hey,” she says, as Aster steps forward, getting their bearings, and holds up her case file. “You ready to get started, now?”

She has to take a second to reign herself in from the flare up. The annoying burst of feelings in her chest, when she realises that Becca ditched her on her own case. It was so fucking infuriating, and childish, and rude, and unprofessional, and of course Becca would do this. Of course she would take something Aster was excited about, leading a cae, and twist it in to something else. Make it something bad, make her feel like shit for it. It wasn’t her fault they had picked her for it over Becca –– who had already gotten to lead one anyway. Ugh. She sits at her desk and she breathes for a few moments. Deep inhales and exhales, the negatives locked away in a little box. A leaf on a fucking stream, and she lets it drift off. 

Aster flips her hair over her shoulder, smooths out her face, and packs up her stuff. All of the things Cass told her were important to bring on cases, just to be sure. Her wand, her telekit, paper and pens and a voice recorder, pepper spray and spearmint gum. The repeititive motion of going through it all in her mind helps calm her down. When she’s ready, she lets out a final huff.

Becca might be a bitch, but she wouldn’t ruin Aster’s first case as a lead. 

And Aster wouldn’t stoop to her level. 

So she’s the picture of calm when she gets to the maze. When she sees Becca. Perfectly refined, perfectly in check, not a hair out of place. “Born ready,” She says, breezily. “Glad you’re as enthusiastic as I am to get working.” 

“I think we’ll talk to Hopscotch first, since we’re here. Get her account of things. And then head over and have a little talk with Voss.” She says, already tracking her eyes around the place, finding the girl who must be Eliza by the ticket stand. She barely waits before she’s moving in that direction, expecting Becca to follow her without question. It’s easy to get her attention, as she stands there, and she greets them with a warm smile. 

“Eliza Hopscotch?” Aster asks, confirming it when she nods. “Cadet Aster Montero, Pacific Squad. We’re looking to ask you a few questions about what’s been going on in the maze here.” 

[astermontero]

aurorduffyzanetti​:

For some reason it really doesn’t hit him that they’re dealing with a case about a very real little boy, until he sees his picture in the case file, and suddenly he feels like he’s about to throw up. Thirteen years, this poor kid has been missing for thirteen years, without so much as a trace of him. If Charlie or Sophie suddenly disappeared, and was gone for that long, he’s certain he’d go crazy, and probably hope against all hope that something like them getting stuck in a painting was the cause, rather than the much more sinister option. 

As Aster thankfully continues to talk to Chaves, all he can do is stare at the small little picture, until Chaves shuts the case file and hands it to him, effectively breaking his trance. 

“Uh yes, yes, we would like to see it,” he nods, as he attempts to regain his composure. He’s not too afraid if Aster notices the sickly expression that likely had washed over his features, figuring she had to know this kind of case wouldn’t exactly be the easiest for him to swallow. 

Once Chaves gives them the go ahead, he picks up the case file, then leads the two of them to the small room the painting had been hanging up in. When they get there he finds its a small conference room, with the painting of the farm scene hanging up on the wall. On the table directly in front of it are a collection of blown up photographs. When he takes a closer look, he realizes it was what the painting had looked like previously, first when there was no message, then during the first one that appeared. 

Looking back up to the painting he can see the second message “I am Alberto Blas” still written out in the paint, alongside the boy. Opening up the case file he sets the boy’s photo down on the table next to the others. 

“Fuck, I really hope this is that kid, as weird as that would be,” he sighs as he looks between the collection of photos and the painting itself. “Stuck in a painting with a cow is definitely better than any other scenario for a thirteen year old missing person case.” 

.

She feels a little bad for Todd, in a distant kind of way. Aster is smart enough to know that a case like this will never be easy, not really. Not for someone like him, not for a father with young children of his own. It must cut deep, to the very core of him. It must make him ache. It makes Aster ache, a little bit, but she’s so good at holding herself back and away from things like that, so good at making sure that she doesn’t get too upset, that she doesn’t get too caught up in her own emotions.

Getting too caught up in things is dangerous, after all. 

She lets it pass, respectfully, without comment. Better to be as professional as she can, let Todd do the leadership thing and go with the flow of it all. They had a mystery to solve, and at the end of the day he could go home to his own children, happy and safe. 

She stares up at the painting, with curious eyes. It’s exactly as described in the case file, and she gets a little caught up in it for a moment. The message is written there, the boy beside it. She scans over the image. "There are worse places to end up,” She muses, watching him. “Still, it must be terrifying.” With a tilt of her head, she considers it. “Do you think he can hear us? LIke...other magical paintings?” 

She turns to look at Todd after she asks it, because it would make sense. She can see how it might not work, though. It wasn’t the same as other paintings, made on purpose, with willing subjects and the right magic. Clearly Alberto hadn’t chosen to lock himself behind paint and canvas. They lock eyes, and before anything else can happens, she see’s something shift in the corner of her eye. 

The painting changed, when she looked back. A shift. An arrow, pointing toward the grazing cow. The cute little thing. And words beneith it, a repitition. Help me. 

“Um. What?” 

[theaurorfileshq]

– Stolen Timeturners in Anchorage 

CASE LEVEL: Two

POINTS REQUIRED: One Hundred Seventy 

OVERVIEW:

MACUSA’s relatively newly formed Department of Mysteries has recently opened an off-site headquarters a few miles outside the city of Anchorage, Alaska. The headquarters is heavily warded against no-maj presences, and only those with the highest clearance should be able to find their way to it. It has two entrances, one through a door in MACUSA headquarters keyed to specific personnel only, and one that can be accessed by driving through the several layers of wards that surround the building and gaining access through the locked doors. It was a great surprise, then, when the new head of the Department, Former-Auror June Norwood, reported that someone had stolen several time turners from their storage boxes. The four golden necklaces are some of the most advanced time turners available for use or study in the United States, and in fact most of the world. Since the destruction of the time room in the Department of Mysteries in the United Kingdom, they are only rivaled by those possessed by the Russian Ministry.

June Norwood followed all necessary protocol’s in contacting MACUSA about the theft and the security breach, and has already begun an investigation of her own. According to her last communication, she has narrowed the suspects down to the one most likely –– Emerald McAllistair, an extremely ambitious yet troubled young woman who was recently appointed to the department by higher ups at MACUSA. Emerald denies any involvement in the theft, and continues to show up to work every day to complete her duties. However, several other co-workers have claimed to see Emerald in more than one place at a time. She also has a great interest in more valuable and…top secret artifacts that may or may not be being studied by the Department.  June has requested the assistance of Squad Aurors in proving Emerald’s involvement and recovering the stolen time turners before any damage can be done to the world, or the time stream in general. She has provided Pacific Squad with the necessary information and full access to the Anchorage headquarters for whatever they need in their investigation. 

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Emerald McAllistair: a new employee at the department, and the most likely suspect when it comes to the theft of the time turners. Emerald has been behaving strangely since the theft, has been sighted in strange areas of the headquarters and is reported by co-workers to be ‘poking around’ in projects that don’t belong to her. 

June Norwood: The head of the new department, and a former auror with a great deal of experience, both in time-related cases and in general investigations. June was awarded the rank of Lieutenant on Central Squad before she left the job and began to focus on magical theory and experimentation instead. It was at her insistent lobbying that MACUSA formed their own Department of Mysteries to expand their knowledge of the unknown. 

Jeremy Salle: The first employee hired by the newly formed Department and Norwood’s loyal second in command. He supports June’s assertions that Emerald is involved in the theft of the time turners, but believes that all employees should be questioned and looked into further, just in case she has any accomplices. 

CHIEFS’ NOTES:

It is very troubling to me that the Department of Mysteries has experienced a breach of any kind, given the numerous dangerous artifacts in their possession. We must do our best to determine where this breach occurred and help the head of the department make sure it never happens again. 

- Chief Lin

Norwood? Fuck, it’s been a minute since I heard that name in the department. I worked on a case with June years back on a prison escape case that crossed squad jurisdictions. You tell her I said hi, yeah? And I’ll get her those thirty galleons I owe her the next time I see her. 

- Deputy Chief Harbird

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

| RPG HOME | PLOT | WANTED CONNECTIONS | OPEN CASES |

[theaurorfileshq]

– The Puzzling Corn Maze in Idaho 

CASE LEVEL: One

POINTS REQUIRED: Fifty

OVERVIEW:

As autumn and the coming harvest season begins to settle in across the country, numerous autumnal festivities have begun to pop up alongside nearly every rural American stretch of roadway. One of these such festivities is the infamous corn maze, where farmers can bring in additional revenue for the season by transforming their fields of corn into intricate mazes all for the cost of a few dollars. These corn mazes can range from family friendly affairs to horror shows, only recommended for the brave at heart. Just this past weekend local wixen farmers, Brent and Nathaniel Muller of Cocolalla, Idaho, opened up their yearly corn maze which had been a local favorite for the last thirty years. 

Guests of the Muller Family Farm’s Corn Maze, can usually expect a fun filled afternoon, where they’ll be treated to a free cup of mulled cider or hot cocoa, a free miniature pumpkin, and a wixen maze like no other. The maze itself generally takes about 20-30 minutes to complete, and is well known for its dead ends that house dazzling Halloween displays crafted by magic. This year, was expected to go like any other, however that quickly changed after the first guests of the maze returned with varying tales ranging from the strange and bizarre to the absolutely horrifying. One of these tales included a family of three being chased through the corn maze by some horrific creature they can only describe as “goat-looking”, to tales of “corn children” running about wildly and stealing guests pocketbooks. Some guests even complained the maze took them up to two hours to complete, not because of its difficulty, but rather because something kept transporting them back to various and random points in the maze. 

The Idaho Auror Division, along with the Muller family, have made countless sweeps of the maze but so far have found little luck finding what precisely is causing these strange events. With another busy weekend ahead, the Pacific Squad has been called in to help solve the mystery inside the corn maze, before any further harm can be done to visitors or the family’s business. 

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Brent and Nathaniel Muller: Brent Muller, and his husband Nathaniel, have been running the corn maze out of Brent’s ancestral family farm for the last thirty years. Both men are wizards, and have become well known in the area for their festive Halloween themed corn maze, as well as the barn dance they throw on Halloween night. It is the two men’s belief that a neighbor is behind the strange events occurring in their maze, as they’ve outcompeted them for decades. 

Shiloh Voss: The owner of the neighboring farm, and a rival of Muller’s business for decades. Voss operates a pumpkin patch and has been witnessed on several occasions complaining about the Mullers, mentioning that their habit of giving away free pumpkins has hurt their business. Voss also lost their entire field of pumpkins last year to a mysterious blight which they’ve since blamed on the Mullers, believing the men purposefully infected their yield with it. 

Eliza Hopscotch: A teenager who works for the Mullers as their cashier during the busy autumn season. Eliza is the one who many guests have gone to complain to, as she’s often found working the front booth where so many visitors frequent. As more complaints came in, Eliza began keeping a log of every incident that occurred in the maze. Eliza considers herself a bit of an amateur sleuth, and has been conducting her own investigation ever since the first incident was reported to her. 

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Because this is a wixen run farm, there’s no risk to the Statute of Secrecy, but we really must be diligent in finding out the cause of this matter. As of now, no one has been injured during these bizarre occurrences, but with it being so early in the season that could soon change. 

- Chief Lin

I’d use this Hopscotch kid to your advantage. She’s the first person every visitor has gone to so far for their complaints so she’ll be a good source of information. 

Oh and by the way, you mind grabbing me a mulled cider while you’re out there? Love me a good mulled cider. 

- Deputy Chief Harbird

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

| RPG HOME | PLOT | WANTED CONNECTIONS | OPEN CASES |

[astermontero]

beccasavage​:

late but probably not late enough for this to be justified, Vesper and Rafael’s party, the balcony, @astermontero​

As much as Becca loves a party, even she needs to get some air every once in a while. Luckily, there’s plenty of air to be gotten, because Vesper’s house has an incredible balcony that she finds her way towards, the whole thing lit up with floating lights and little silver streamers, and it’s surprisingly empty, probably because it’s beginning to get cold. She’s not quite shivering, in her minidress, when she goes out, but a quick warming spell on the area makes a neat little pocket to stand at, leaning over the railing, her drink in hand, looking up at the night sky from here. It’s hard to see the stars, here, too much light—it feels, sometimes, like the whole west coast is just one big splotch of light pollution, though she knows it’s the city more than anything else, and the sky never looks quite the same as it does back home. 

She’s out there for a while, before anyone else comes out—losing track of time, a little, through the pleasant buzz of the champagne. But not long after she starts thinking that maybe it’s time to go inside and find Emmy again, she hears the door opening behind her.

She turns around at the sound of the door, sees Crow and Aster making their way through it and onto the balcony themselves, and meets Aster’s eyes first, half expects her to turn around and walk back inside having seen her. But she doesn’t. And then Becca notices that she’s half supporting Crow, a shoulder under his arm, hand steadying him from behind, and he looks… well, pretty fucking wasted. 

     “Oh my god,” she says, setting her glass down on the stone railing and moving over to them, taking Crow’s face in her hands, checking to see just how drunk he actually is, her voice pitching soft and low as she mutters to him. “Hey, ghostbuster, you okay in there?”

Aster honestly should have known that trouble was bound to bloom in a place like this. You take Crow, put him in a situation where he shouldn’t lose his goddamn mind, and of course he was going to do it. He was a mess, but that had been the case for a hell of a long time. He was a mess at school as well, and he was a mess now. It was the one constant in the universe. And the bounds of family mean that if he’s going to be a mess, it’s likely that he’s going to do it near Aster, so that she has to swoop in and save him from his self at the last moment. 

The last thing she wanted to do was deal with Crow while he was fucking shitfaced tonight, but that was what her night was going to be, it seemed. She pushes his hair out of his face and asks him questions, listens to him whine at her about not wanting the cute Officer to see him drunk or sick or anything in between. It occurs to her that the best thing to do is to get him out of site and sober him up a little bit, so that she can figure out a way to get him home without him splinching one or both of them as they apparate. There’s no way he can do it when he’s this drunk. 

The balcony is near enough, so Aster holds him up slightly and brings him there doesn’t even feel the sense of doom when she sees that Becca Savage is already out there, because okay, this is Crow, and Crow will be the soothing balm between them both if nothing else can be. She wishes she had picked somewhere else, but she’s here now, so she stays still and holds Crow up as Becca tocuhes his face. He laughs at her, a warm and silly thing. 

“Hey, pretty girl. Good, Good.” He says, “Best, obviously.” But it’s slurred slightly, and Aster makes a slightly impatient noise. 

“I found him throwing up in one of the house plants. He’s fucking wasted to new heights.” She says, and shifts his weight so that she can drop him down to sit on one of the benches, pressed against the wall of the balcony. She gives Becca a signifgant look, as if to say that now this is her responsibility as well. 

He frowns up at her. “Snitch.” And its half a whine. “This is why no one tells you shit, As.” He says, as he tilts his head back and sighs. He looks small, there. And tired. And far too drunk to cope, honestly. Aster wished he wouldn’t get like this more often than not. 

“Whatever.” She sighs. Looks at Becca, already turning to go. “I’m going to get him some water. Make sure he doesn’t fall off the edge, will you?” 

[astermontero]

beccasavage​:

She gets caught up in it, for a second, remembering; before she knows it, she suddenly realizes she’s feeling like they’re fourteen again, like nothing’s changed, like Aster is her best friend and they’re taking about their hopes and dreams in the Ilvermorny dorms. But they’re not. They’re not friends, anymore, Aster had made sure of that, and they’re not kids anymore, either.  The challenging back and forth, the competitive thing, both of their sheer confidence that they were unstoppable—it’s a thing of the past. There’s no room for it here, there can’t be. She won’t give Aster the satisfaction. She can’t. 

As much as she’d love to win, as much as she’d love to rub it in Aster’s face that she’s the better one here, that she deserves this… it’s not worth it. She’s better off just ignoring Aster, the way she has for so much of the past four years. Because Liv had been right. Aster didn’t deserve to be a part of her life. And Becca isn’t the forgive-and-forget type, comes by it honestly. 

     “I don’t know,” she says, tone even, falling back into the cold politeness, like an aural mirror of Aster’s own Ice Queen thing. “I have no doubt I’d win, but it seems a little childish, doesn’t it? We’re aurors, we’re not twelve anymore.” 

     “Speaking of,” she adds, holding up the file of paperwork her new Deputy Chief has left on her desk for her to fill out so she can get her new badge, get everything settled. “Work to do. Have a good first day, or whatever.” 

[astermontero]

aurorduffyzanetti​:

He’s grateful that Montero seems to take the floo thing in stride, and doesn’t try to put up some kind of fight or apparate on her own without him- which he’s pretty sure Hattori would do if he were in Montero’s shoes. 

When they finally do get to Guam the journey there is a pleasant one, and all it involves is dusting off some of the floo dust off his trousers before he steps into the small Guam division. And small it certainly was- at least in comparison with something like the California division. With only the island to call their jurisdiction, the building looked no bigger than a standard no-maj sheriff’s office. There seemed only to be about ten desks sitting in the division’s bullpen, which he could see clearly from where they just stepped through the fireplace. 

Being such a small building, it’s only within seconds of them first stepping through does someone go to greet them. 

“I’m guessing you’re the big-time squad aurors MACUSA sent over?” The man greets with a smile before he extends his hand out for Todd then Aster to shake. “Sergeant Chaves. I was the one who first saw the painting’s message change. Damn crazy thing that was. We’re hoping you’ll be able to help us figure what’s going on here. We’ve been searching up and down for this boy for the last thirteen years, it’ll be a relief to know we finally got him- if it’s him of course.” 

“Does that seem to be the common belief around here?” Todd asks, figuring it was a good idea to get an idea of how the local aurors saw this thing. “That it is Alberto Blas in the painting?” 

“Really depends on who you’re asking, to be honest,” Chaves shrugs, before looking around, as if he just remembered they were still in ear shot of about half the division. “Here, follow me. I’ can show you the original case file we got on the kid.” 

Aster finds it easy to smile, for the moment. Excited to be there, excited to get started on this case and see if they can’t solve a decades old mystery. The man who greets them –– Sergeant Chaves, seems friendly and warm enough, and Aster gives him a firm handshake when he offers it to her, just the way that Cassandra always taught her. They follow Chaves to his desk, tucked away in the corner, and he pulls out the case file, clearly already prepared for them to come and take a look at it. 

He opens it up for them, and Aster leans in to take a look. The story of the little boy is one she’s sure she’s read before, in newspapers, or seen in documenentaries. Cold case shit, the things that people would make podcasts about. She’s no stranger to that specific brand of online content, in this day and age. There was that one podcast with the two witches –– that one was good, and it was always nice to hear crime discussed by women, their unique perspectives and advice, the interesting disucssions they had. She scans through it quickly, again feeling a little ache for this little boy who disappeared without a trace thirteen years ago. There’s a picture attatched of his face, and he looks like a sweet kid. She hopes that it is him, in there, if only so they can have found him and will be able to put him out of his misery and get him home as soon as possible. 

She glances up at the two of them, looking to Todd first for guidence, or to see his reaction to the file in general. As she does it, she finds herself asking, just to see, just to know. “The painting. It hasn’t changed again yet? No new messages from the kid?” 

Chaves shakes his head. “Not yet, no.” He says, almost disappointed by it. “I’ve been checkin’, almost every hour since we first noticed it. But there hasn’t been anything new since the last time.” He points at one of the little rooms, across the way again from his desk, past the others. “Hung it up in there, so we can all keep an eye on it as best we can. Don’t want to miss a thing, just in case he has anything more he can tell us about the painting.” 

Aster nods in agreement, thinking about it. It would be best to keep a close eye on it, who knew when the smallest aspect could change and reveal something new about the case. “Smart thinking.” She says, and gets a small smile from Chaves. It’s like he can tell she’s pretty new at this, and it feels like an encouraging thing, a sign of warmth.

“I bet you’ll both be wanting to take a closer look at it yourselves.” And with a tap to the old case file, he shifts to talk to Todd. “You take as much time as you need with that, now that we’ve cracked the old thing open again. And you can head in whenever you like too. Got a few more cases to look in to myself, today, but I’ll be around the department if you need me. Just shout.” 

[astermontero]

emmyyaxley​:

Emmy let’s out a little noise of triumph at her admission of boredom, she knew it. After all, she knows Aster well, even if they aren’t nearly as close as they had been as kids, somethings don’t change, some things you don’t forget, and Emmy keeps the things she care about close to her heart, always wants to be able to understand with just a look how the people she loves are doing, even with something as simple as a moment of boredom. Her smile falls, though, when Aster mentions Crow.

First, she’s confused hearing about an accident on a case, certain she would have heard about something from her parents, because she’s sure they already know if this happened, what, a few days ago maybe? Then, she’s pissed that they didn’t tell her, that no one told her, and that she had to find out something so serious about her cousin in such a roundabout way. But mostly Emmy settles on worry, really, really deep worry that Crow apparently had a bad enough accident on a case that Cassandra the Elder is transferring him. She knows how he is, has seen the person he’s grown into over the years, having been old enough when he was born to be aware the whole time. And knowing him, he’s not going to be handling it well, even if he thinks he is. He’s more of a deal with that in five years when it’s been festering so long it can’t be ignored anymore sort of person, which maybe in some ways works coping wise for the immediate day to day, but she knows is really not good at all in the long run. 

She’ll have to make him come over ASAP, pry all the details out of him, she’s always been good at forcing everyone else to talk, even when they think they don’t want to. Catharsis, it’s needed, even if he thinks he doesn’t want it.

So the first thing she does is hold up a finger, pull her telekit out, and sends a message to Crow, simply saying ??????? Once that’s sent off, she puts her telekit back down on her desk and looks back at Aster shaking her head, frown deep on her forehead. “Holy shit, do you know what happened or anything? Is he okay? I mean, I’m glad he’ll be here, because of course Lin’s gonna take him, she’d be stupid to not, especially when practically the whole family’s here anyway, but fuck, you were right, that is a really good secret,” Emmy sighs, still shocked by it all. “When did you find out?”

.

Aster crosses arms over her chest, where she leans against the desk. She knew that Emmy would want to hear about this –– and she knew Crow, as well. Better than people really gave her credit for. She wasn’t one of his super special best friends, not really, but she still loved him and they were still family, and he still loved her too. He was... one of those soft precious things in the world, he felt far too much and he was more delicate than strangers would imagine. But he as bad at this. Crow was bad at hurting, and bad at admitting when he was in trouble, and bad at making good decisions with himself. Emmy adored him, but he probably wouldn’t tell her what had happened if it was serious, if it was strange and awful and as bad as Cassandra’s grim expression implied.

But Emmy had to know, because she was one of the three people he might actually talk to, in any genuine kind of way. Aster imagined that Becca would get defensive, if she came up to talk about Crow. Kestral would already know, but Crow was well practiced at avoiding her so she wouldn’t have to feel his pain. Emmy was the cloest to both of them, and probably the safest bet. She knew how to handle Crow, Aster knew that much. She waits patiently as Emmy sends off the message, no doubt to the boy in question, things already kickstaring there in her imagination. 

“Only in the vaguest sense.” She says, but nods her head. Crow was okay. Probably. Physically. As much as Crow was ever okay, and that was a guage that seemed to change depending on who you asked to evaluate it. “Hes –– Crow. You know Crow. Hes ‘always okay.’” And she holds up a little peace sign as she says it, which is something that Crow had actually done at her once, right after he vomitted his guts out in her bathroom. 

“Just this morning. Don’t worry. Mom’s been a mess over it, though. Oficer Micheals died out there, you know –– fucking shit all around.” She pushes off, looks down at Emmy with a warm expression on her face. “Em,” She starts, and offers one of her smiles, easy to slip on after years of practice. “I just figured you and ––” She casts a glance over at Becca’s empty desk. “Well, you’ll take care of him, when he gets here. We all will. Better gather more juicy gossip to feed him though, you know that makes him stronger.” 

[astermontero]

Aster Montero + Anniversary Party Look! 

[astermontero]

beccasavage​:

This is just… a reality she’ll have to live with, as much as she doesn’t want to. Aster Montero showing up to ruin her dream job, like fate just doesn’t want her to have her way. It’s fine: she’s never let Aster Montero ruin anything else for her before, and she certainly won’t let them ruin this. Not when she’s been working at it so hard, for so long. No, she’s going to thrive, just to spite them, that’s what she’s going to do. 

The funny little bet. Everything Aster says sounds condescending, sounds like she thinks she’s so above everything they used to be. Was that it, then? What had caused it? Had she just decided it was time to grow up and Becca wasn’t grown up for the great Aster Montero? She doesn’t know, she has no idea, she’s never known why Aster decided to hate her and she’s not sure she ever will. But she remembers the bet, of course she does. She remembers every moment with Aster, but especially that one. Late at night, when they were both thirteen, lying draped across the foot of Becca’s bed in their Ilvermorny dorm room, talking about their hopes and dreams, their futures. It was stupid: whoever solves the first case, someday when they’re both aurors, the other one has to stand up in front of all their friends and say that the winner is the best auror ever. She wanted to win it worse than she’d ever wanted anything in the entire world. 

     “Are you still willing to bet on beating me, Montero?” she asks. It’s hard, not to let some of that old tone come into her voice, the friendly rivalry they had when they’d been friends, when they’d pushed each others buttons because they loved one another, because the competition drove them both to succeed. Maybe some of it slips through, maybe she can’t help it. If it does, she’ll just make it up by winning. 

Something new and familiar slips in to Becca’s voice, mingled in with the sound of Aster’s name. It sounds like the past, and it makes her ache more than anything else has today, more than anything else has all week. It’s stupid, but she misses things like this. She misses the way that they were always able to bounce off each other, the way they always seemed to be on the same page –– now Aster feels like she’s in an entirely different book, and Becca picked up everything she left behind on the old pages. Becca was better friends with Crow, better friends with most people, and seemingly doing just as well as she had always imagined for them.

She shouldn’t really let it spark something in her –– but Aster had been raised around Cassandra and Abel, after all. Being compeitive had practically been the order of the day. Even as happy and in love as her parents were, they always had fun when they were working against each other, happy little compeitions and bets that were always going on in the background of life. Game night had been a disaster, every single time. 

That old part of Aster wants to play into it, wants to pretend even just for a second that this can be normal. She wants to fucking win the bet, the way she argued that she would, so many years ago. Back then she had been beaming through it, laughing, ready to shove at Becca’s shoulder with a light kind of playfulness. Back then, she was allowed to feel things like desperate longing and an intense drive to be tied together forever. 

“I’m definitely willing to bet on myself.” She says, with a tilt of her head. “But I wouldn’t hold it against you if you wanted to back out now.” She smiles, shakes her head. “Your choice, if you want to play. The stakes can stay the same and everything.” 

[astermontero]

aurorduffyzanetti​:

He feels like there’s some kind of story behind her response to his cow joke, but figures with a kid possibly stuck in a painting for thirteen years, they should probably hold off talking about anything that’ll get them too off track. 

“Gotta be, that or someone has watched The Witches way too many times,” he says with a shrug. She was right though, the only way they could really get an idea of what was going on here was to see the painting themselves, maybe even talk to this colorful sounding old lady who first purchased it. The only thing he didn’t like by the sound of it was apparating clear to Guam, which made his head split just at the thought of having to ride-along for that long of a distance. 

“All the division’s are connected to the floo network, right?” He asks, although he’s fairly certain the answer is yes. “You want to use that to get to Guam? No offense to your apparating skills or anything, but I’m definitely going to hurl if I have to do a ride-along across the Pacific Ocean.” 

Standing up, he grabs his case file as he waits for Montero to follow along. He’s hoping she’s not going to be weird about the whole having a squib as a lead thing. Sure, the fact she is even on a case with him means she didn’t check the “no squib” box like de la Cruz did, but she probably didn’t expect one outranking her on a case either. 

Aster had done her homework on the people she was working with, in a vague sense. Figuring out who they all were, what their stories were. She’d made note of the family pictures on certain people’s desks, who liked who and who hated who. Todd, from observation for the most part, seemed like an alright guy. Kind of sweet, a little less put together than his other half. Aster had definitely heard him, Emmy, and that Sözen girl call each other the Squib Squad, which –– was cute, nice for them all to band together. 

Aster is curious about what things are going to be like, when they get out there. She has all her stuff ready, so she follows Todd along with an easy gait. She’s interested to see how he works. Aster has never been one of those people who underestimated squibs –– how could she, when she knew how amazing Emmy was? When she had been raised by someone as spectacular as Abel, who was, the way that Cassandra told it, one of the best aurors on Central Squad before they had been found out. She hoped that she could impress Todd, somehow, and be just the support he needed to get this one in the bag. The way Emmy talked, there were a lot of people around the office that probably underestimated them. 

“They should be,” She agrees, and shifts out of her seat to gather her things. She even graces Todd with a small smile, because even she doesn’t like the odds of them making it over the Pacific by apparition. She’s pretty dependable, but she’d hate for something bad to happen, if something went wrong. She’d extra hate for Todd to hurl next to her, when she was wearing her new coat. “Can’t blame you for that one,” She says, with a nod of her head. “Floo is definitely the safer option.” 

They reach the floo point, and its a quick trip to the department in Guam. She dusts herself off when she walks through, and steps aside so that Todd won’t stumble over her when he comes past himself. She perks up, when she sees him, excied to get started for real, and lingers until he starts to lead his way. 

[astermontero]

aurorduffyzanetti​:

location: pacific squad offices

time: week after the nbo attack 

status: closed to @astermontero​

Even though he’d now been an auror for a good couple years now, with the vast majority of that time spent in a local division, he feels a bit like a lost puppy when he steps into work that morning and for the first time Brittany isn’t accompanying him. She’s off on some case, leaving him helplessly alone and incredibly bored at their desks. He still hadn’t quite fallen into his role yet socially within the squad, sure he’d gotten friendly enough with his fellow squibs, but other than that he still felt very much like the new kid in a division that mostly skewed young.

After he refills his coffee that morning, and returns to his desk, expecting to work on some more paperwork from the erumpent case from the week before, he’s instead greeted with a case file. Harbird must have dropped it off while he was away, which seems to be the deputy chief’s thing. The case though, just from the brief description alone,  does seem to be a rather interesting one- a kid trapped in a painting, and in Guam of all places. Interesting enough it’s his name listed as the lead auror- which honestly he didn’t think would even happen yet. 

Picking up his case file, he scans around the bullpen looking for the auror with “Montero” listed on their nameplate and quickly realizes a bit lamely its the auror that’s been sitting right next to him for the last two weeks. 

“So a kid got himself trapped in a painting, huh?” He asks as a way of greeting, as he looks over to the younger auror. If having two little kids didn’t make him feel old enough, having an assisting that’s almost closer to Charlie’s age than his own certainly did. 

“You got any theories on who could have done it? My money is on the cow personally.” 

“Tricky animals, cows, never know what they’re really up to.” 

It’s been pretty easy to settle in to the swing of things here at Pacific Squad, since she first started. Things have become rote, almost muscle memory, and Aster is all the more certain than she ever was before that this is exactly what she should be doing with her life. Still, she’s been dying to get in to more intense things, into juicer cases with more responsibility. Aster wants to start proving herself, pulling herself up the ladder. She wants to be an Inspector by the time she’s thirty, but it isn’t nice to think about where she got that particular drive anymore, given the unfortunate family connection to Becca Savage. 

Aster is at her desk, coffee in hand, when Harbird brings along the case file for her, one which seems to fulfil her wishes. She doesn’t try to stop them or cacth them in any kind of conversation, now clearly not being the time for such a thing. She finds the case enthralling the second that she opens it, as she reads through the words and gets caught up in the mystery and the problem. A little boy trapped in a painting isn’t something that you get handed every day. She would have thought it would have gone to someone higher ranking than her and a Cadet, but then again, she supposed the stakes for them were fairly low. There weren’t very many chances for a wand fight, she imagined, when dealing with an old lady and a little boy in the medium of oil on cavas.

Todd comes back to his desk, and Aster doesn’t try to catch his attention until he speaks to her. They haven’t paid each other much attention, as much as they’ve been sitting next to each other all this time. Aster isn’t here to make a bunch of new best friends, or to get too caught up in anybody elses lives. 

“I never found cows to be particulalry nefarious creatures.” She says, slightly bland, but she does allow a spark in to it after a moment. “But you wouldn’t be the first person I’ve met with these hangups.” 

She tilts her head to the side, slightly thoughtful. “I’ve been trying to figure it out. How do you get trapped in a painting? It must be cursed or charmed, something like that. We might be able to figure it out if we head over and take a look.”

[astermontero]

beccasavage​:

Once upon a time, she would have taken Aster’s congratulations as sincere. Once upon a time, years ago, she would have thought they might have walked side by side into this office, ecstatic to be here together. It had always been both of their dreams, to be here, or somewhere like it, and of course they’d both been too stubborn to let go of that dream, even when they’d let go of each other in the meantime. Even when Aster had inexplicably, one day, decided they weren’t friends anymore, didn’t need each other, that she was better off on her own or whatever the fuck she’d decided that had made her stop talking to Becca, made her act so high and mighty and above it all. 

Instead, it sounds like sarcasm, in that flat, icy voice Aster uses, her voice somehow gone colder than Becca remembers in the years since they last spoke, since they both left Ilvermorny for different auror academies. Becca isn’t insecure; Aster can imply whatever she wants about Baron, because Becca knows she got here of her own merit. She knows Aster did, too, as loathe as she is to admit it; they’d always been neck in neck, in their class, for valedictorian, always both been so driven towards this. It feels, for a second, impossible to imagine a world where she got this and Aster didn’t.

She just wish the universe didn’t have to rub it in her face like this. Because the idea of the excitement she’d felt just moments ago about being here being dampened every single day by the sick, uneasy feeling of regret she feels every time she sees Aster… 

No. Not regret. It wasn’t her fault. If she doesn’t want to be friends with you, Liv had said, their soft hand on her shoulder a few days after it happened, while she tried to explain it all to them through her tears, it’s her loss. 

     “Of course I will,” she says, smoothing over the anger and frustration, setting herself back on track, recovering from momentarily being knocked off balance by it. “I’m Becca fucking Savage.” 

And of course you will, she thinks, but doesn’t say. You’re Aster fucking Montero.

Becca Fucking Savage. Indeed. Aster doesn’t know what else she should have expected, except for the blind confidence. If there was one person who could suceed here, it was probably Becca. She had the legacy and she had the determination, she was tough as nails and when she got an idea on her head, it was hard to change her mind. It was something Aster admired her for, when they were back at school. Back in those days, she thought everything that Becca did was wonderful –– she shone, she glimmered, she was a fucking fury taken right out of greek myth, and sometimes she made Aster shake in her fucking boots. She was one of the bravest people that Aster knew, and sometimes Aster had hated her for it, but most of the time she had just loved her instead. 

She’s proud of herself, for how she doesn’t appear shaken by this. She knows she could, but her smile doesn’t falter and her gaze doesn’t shy away, even when she thinks it would be easier to. “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll both have a super swell time.” And it’s true, they probably will. They’re born and bred for this, and Aster knows they won’t drag each other down. If it gets too hard, Aster can just tough it out for a year and then get transfered somewhere else. Mountain Squad, that might be nice. But now isn’t the time for escape routes, now is the time to act like everything is normal, like none of this has ever been hard for her. 

“Hey, remember that funny little bet we had, when we decided we were gonna do this?” She brings up, with a coldness that the memory doesn’t deserve. Aster knows that she’s the reason that they aren’t friends anymore, but she also knows that Becca got a hurt feeling and went fucking apocalyptically bitchy about it, before Aster could even try to really make it right. “About which one of us solved the first case?”

[astermontero]

emmyyaxley​:

She remembers vividly what it was like when she was a kid to meet Aster, all the things her dad told her before they got to play, that she needed to try to be calmer than she usually was, that he would be there in the room with them just to make sure everything was okay. He had made it into a game to help her understand then, it took a while before she fully understood why they were watched so closely when they played, unlike when she played with April and Max, and then she had only felt closer to her, really, because she had something different about her, too, even in the exact opposite way. It was nice to feel like someone could understand, and to fell like she could understand her too, even just in some small way. There were very few times that she was truly devastated that she wasn’t allowed at magic school as she called it as a kid, but several of those times had to do with not being able to go to school with April, then Max, then Aster.

Then, as it tends to happen, they had both gotten older, and Emmy had moved to Scotland for nearly six years, had decided to live her life in the no-maj world, and every time she came back to visit, Aster seemed a little further removed from her. Which she understood, they were living in two very different worlds, and that’s what happens with friends sometimes, even if nothing bad happens between them, but she still misses that closeness. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t still consider her a friend, though, she’s just not quite as sure sometimes how to navigate it, what is too much, what is too familiar, but she tries not to worry, tries to just act as she would with anyone else in the office.

There’s already a smile on her lips, then, as soon as Aster perches on the corner of her desk, promising a secret. She makes a big show of closing the file of paperwork she was doing, putting her pen away, getting comfortable before looking up.

“Alright, you’ve got my attention,” Emmy says with a fond roll of the eyes. “Do you actually have a secret, or are you bored and want me to entertain you? Either’s fine, but I don’t wanna get my hopes up if there’s nothing juicy.”

.

Sometimes its strange to look back on it, the fact that Emmy Yaxley, for all intents and purposes, was her first friend. It had meant so much to Aster, at the time. It still meant so much. She’d been such a lonely little thing, back then. Devoid of fun and love and joy, of the things she needed to balance herself out. She knows that they were worried about what might have happened of Aster lost control, but as far as she’s concerned, Emmy only made it easier to keep things together in those earlier years. She made the world a fun place, delightful. She gave Aster something to hang on to outside of the realm of Cassandra and Abel, something to tether her to the world, something that made her want to do the opposite of blow up and die. They weren’t the same, but they were kindred spirits, but they understood each other because they were different from all of the others. 

So Aster is glad, now, that Emmy can smile at her so easily. She knows that Emmy and Becca are...close. Closer than Aster has any right to claim from either of them now. But the smile warms her, and the fact that Emmy is still happy to sit and talk to her, to indulge her in simple little conversations that help keep her on balance. Not too isolated. Not too close. Don’t feed the beast too much, but don’t forget its there, don’t forget that it might hurt them all if it got the chance. 

“Hm.” She allows, leaning her hip against Emmy’s desk, glad that so few other people are around, so she can let down a fraction of the walls she usually keeps carefully mainatined. “Okay, so part of me is bored.” A roll of her eyes, but there is something serious beneith it all. “But there really is news. Just not the funnest, juciest kind. It’s about Crow.” 

“I heard that he had like, some kind of accident on a case. And ‘Chief Montero’ ––” She makes air quotes around the name, because it just feels wrong to call Cassandra mom when she’s a couple of floors down trying to do her job. And when Aster wants to be taken seriously, here. “ –– she like, totally freaked out about it. You know how she is with Uncle HQ and Athena. She think’s shes gonna like, kill their darling boy, so she’s transferring him. Probably here, if Lin takes him.”

[astermontero]

beccasavage​:

Nothing can get her down today. No, today is the best day of her life, she can feel it, she knows it. Her first day on the Pacific Squad, everything she’s ever dreamed of—and Lex will be there, and Emmy, and April, so many people she admires, so many people she wants to impress. She gets up early, spends extra time on her makeup and picking out an outfit. She has breakfast with her mom, who pats her on the cheek and gives her that proud look before she heads off, ready to arrive a few minutes early so she can get the lay of the land before the office gets too full.

It’s the first day of the rest of her life, the first day of her dream job. She’s on cloud nine. Nothing could possibly go wrong. She’s got a skip in her step as she walks into her office, the fashionable woman whose desk is closest to the door pointing her over towards the desk that’s going to be hears now. Nothing could possibly bring her mood down today, except—

Aster Montero is sitting here, at one of the desks. Earlier than her.

It must be her first day, too. They graduated at the same time, Aster couldn’t have been faster than her, she got her offer from Pacific Squad before graduation even happened, she’d been told this was the earliest she could start because of all the paperwork, and pay periods and—and Aster Montero got here earlier than her on their first day.

There are a million reasons it feels, very suddenly, like a disaster. A little spark of anger and resentment flares up in her chest as she makes eye contact. But she can’t possibly make it look like anything’s wrong. She can’t let Aster have the upper hand. Not today, not on her day.

      “Aster,” she greets, with a wide, polite, but entirely fake smile as she takes a seat at her new desk, the whole momentous experience a little soured all of a sudden. “Would have thought Cassie would get you a spot on her Squad, if she was pulling strings.”

Aster is used to the look on Becca’s face when they see each other. It used to be so much softer –– Becca used to light up when Aster walked into a room, and Aster would do the same. They were the kind of friends that glowed when they were around each other, fell into stride without any effort at all. Nowdays its more like ice, its more like Aster is the last person on earth that Becca would want to see. 

She’s used to it, now. It’s what she expects. And she keeps her own face as cool as it’s ever been, unaffected and unconcerned with whatever crude comments Becca is probably going to throw at her, like some kind of petty child. It was typical Becca to be thrown off her game and then lash out. And if Aster was a worse person, she would feel some kind of sick satisfaction that she got to throw her off first thing in the morning, be the impactful presence of her first day here. She’s selfishly glad she got here first. 

She’s almost amused at what Becca goes with, when she throws out a comment. The fake smile is so typically Becca, as bitchy as it was polite. It makes Aster want to laugh, almost. The imlication that she needs Cassandra to pull her strings for her. As if Becca wasn’t equally as privilated when it came to parents in high places, as being an auror didn’t run in both of their blood. Becca has known for a long time that it was Aster’s dream to follow in their footsteps. It was a dream they ended up sharing. And it kind of stings, as well. Because Aster knows something that Becca doesn’t. She knows that Cassandra always looked out for Becca, a remnant of the old connection, always did everything she could to make sure Becca got what was owed to her, in terms of a postion. She probably would have got it anyway, even without the reccomendation letter that Cass wrote. And Aster almost wants to throw it in her face, let her know about it, so that she can think twice before she fucking brings Cass in to whatever the mess between them is these days. She swallows down the thought, because hurting Becca Savage isn’t ever what she actually plans to do. Of course, things slip out against her will. 

“Lucky for me, I don’t need my mommy to pull strings for me.” She says, before she can really think better of it. Okay. Not eactly what she planned. It still comes out as cool and relaxed as ever, almost an afterthought more tahn anything else. She carries on anyway, because a polite air and a cool distance is everything she strives for these days. Something almost like the high road, though Becca always takes her icey voice as more barbed than it is. “Congratulations, though. I know you’ve wanted this for a long time. You’ll do great.”

[astermontero]

[incoming telekit message] blocked sender: Are you a Dementor? Because you just took my breath away.

I would sure love to do that perminantly.