{This story acts as a playoff to "Figure someone out" - for which the story and its reason for creation can be found there. Anywho, today's music-aide for the weekly indie story: "Ashley's Theme (Anti-Nightcore) Music box" [1.] (WarioWare Touched OST remix) and "Memory/His Theme Music Box version"[2.] (Undertale OST remix).}

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- A childhood acquitance -

[1.]

The winds rustled on these hallow and spooked grounds, the howls and hoots sounded off and the moon casted a dark blanket upon the land - a perfect night for witching and thievery. Crunches of leaves echoed throughout the forest trail, papers were heard rustling and flapping about and a cough every so often. The wheezing walker stopped in their tracks and squatted behind a bush, moving their hands to peer through it and recheck their sight. A smile formed slowly across the concealed mouth, yet the wheezing interrupted that moment and few cough drops were consumed. The sight that was peered was the haunted mansion, yet it was claimed to be a source of loot and maybe some gravitas for the brave soul in the city nearby. A bag was soon dropped and ruffled with - a blackjack club, water arrows with bow, lock picks and a lighter was the stock of the trade for expert thievery. Before moving out of position, a picture of the infamous Thief was pulled up, Garrett was the name, and the picture was smooched on for good luck - the picture sliding back to the bag.

As the moon slid further into position, the thief snuck towards the premises - avoiding the strolling skeletons, flying spirits and a mail deliverer walking away from the mansion. Yet, whence they reached the wall from the front-side, a ball of fire shot up through the mansion - magic was brewing and the front-side would be occupied for a while. Changing courses, the thief clambered down and went about the backdoor entrance and scaled the wall again. Soon the kitchen door was being lock-picked and slow creaking emitted as the thief deliberately opened the door slowly. Tiptoeing about, the thief stumbled into the kitchen - where only one skeleton resided and was consuming milk while being distracted. Exiting the kitchen after snagging a "cured" mandrake root, board creaks silently announced the steps but no ghoul nor skeleton heard such disturbance to their loud tempo outside and the story above. Soon a hatch was spotted and the thief worked hard at it to open it - another success accrued in this raid's start.

The hatch creaked loudly, which the thief panicked for noises would attract personal to come and inspect - yet nobody came. The thief sighed in relief and began sliding down the railing 'til they stumbled to a basement library, truly quiet as no person a story above can hear from below. So began a mad dash to nab all map-marked items and encased objects - following the footsteps of a certain Thief, but a legacy certainly betrayed as seen with this thief's recklessness and rationale. Soon a levitating giant book with a skull on the cover awoke, tiredly questioning:

"Hey! Who keeps making the ruck... us? Huh, was it just the rats again... oh Flyin' Dutchman this is too early to wake up! Ashley knows I work three hours from whatever hour this is, not now... Eh, whoever you are, stop fumbling around..."

And the giant book lay flat on the floor and snored once more, the thief began being disturbed with the name. Ashley ringed throughout the thief's minds as a friend was named something very similar, for that friend used magic and shared that secret as the thief shared about thieving, and that friend helped with many thieving endeavors while they were together and not shunned away from their home town. But before the thief quibbled on, the memory was shut down quickly as mere coincidence and the tiptoeing commenced for the rest of the pilfering amongst the polished wooden library. Stoic as the thief may portray to the whole world, 'twas not derived from Garrett's Stoicism but a mere expressionless "stoicism" that developed from all the prison labouring that came with capture. Reaching the center, the thief pulled up the map and smirked once more as the original contract was found - a slightly burnt and tattered contract signed both by the Witch-in-training and her impish aide. The walk towards the center was slow, methodical and careful to ring no alarm, but none was set about and now only air stood between the two.

Before laying one finger on the contract, a voice was heard calling to the thief:

"Hey yah bugga'! Don't touch that darn contract... hey what yah starin' at? Haven't yah seen spoons talk before! Welp, I ain't doin' this because I have a heart of gold, but because I don't want to see another me in yah. Yes, I wasn't a thief, in fact I was her teacher - yet a spoon I am now because I held the contract and nearly burnt it, that's why it looks crispy..."

"And I assume you'd haven't been tossed out or burnt because?"

"Because we patched things up and she forgave me - well not enough as I am a mere spoon. But at least I still teach her stuff and she uses me whenever she brews a potion or spell in the cauldron... Do I see a tear form on your face, were ye friends?..."

"What? No, we weren't - just was repressing a laughter that your fate is left to this now."

"But those tears and yer body language suggests..."

"You may be a large cooking spoon, but you haven't registered I am clothed and covered to a t - haven't school taught you to be skeptical of something 'til you can prove something definite?"

"Ah... but you don't know, maybe you... Hey, don't put that lighter near me, the mansion will burn!"

"Keep quiet then, a giant book is sleeping and they'd probably have a word with you."

As the teacher promised quiet obedience, the thief snagged the contract and rolled it up. But as soon as the contract was snagged, a loud wind flew by and unlit all the candles and torches in the mansion. Using the darkness against the mansion dwellers, the thief low-crawled towards a spot close to the library basement entrance but away from the walking path. The decision bearing good fruit as the skeletons rushed by without spotting the odd one out in complete darkness - yet one skeleton stood guard at the entrance, but the posting being of help as soon this Ashley figure flew by towards the center. The center's candles lit up and her aide, Red, transformed back to himself as Ashley unmounted the broom - when she reached the pedestal, a weeping began amongst her, Red and the skeletons. Looking at the contract, the thief noticed the magical enchanting and fully realized their nabbing was worth more than speculated. This contract was stamped on by not any agent, but by Lucifer's seal and later re-stamped by two other seals no-one knows who from. But those two stamps, one with a white circle and a centered blue flame and the other black circle with a red flame, being rare nonetheless generated countless myths of their stampers and their divine powers.

Rolling it up again, the thief clubbed the guarding skeleton and caught their body before it fell. Slowly descending them to the ground which allowed the slow trek up the stairs to begin. The stairs creaked, but thankfully never enough to attract the weeping mass below - then a closed hatch door presented itself to the thief which was all too fresh in the thief's memories and the door began to be braced. Counting up to five, the thief opened the hatch and made a mad dash to the kitchen, bunny hopping the entire way to the kitchen door. Soon the ground faced the hard running steps of the thief and the mansion exploded alive with rushing skeletons pouring out from the basement library and a Witch-in-training hovering all above them on a broom. The thief used the dagger to quickly scale the wall and get out as fast as possible - soon skeletons began pouring out from the kitchen door and announced the intruder was at the backyard. Before clambering down, Ashley and the thief made eye contact for only a moment but the race for survival truly began.

A Witch scoured the forest with her imp right behind to figure out that someone. To figure out that someone which ransacked her haunted mansion and ran away in cowardice. Scouring the spooky trail now, she figured out their tracks! Someone wasn’t careful with getaways. She casted a path hex and it figured a path that led to that someone. The imp transformed for battle, figuring into her magic staff to combat that someone’s prowess. She figured that someone’s spot, which turned her hair white and her eyes flaming red! Tonight, the thief figured they’ll be hexed into a spoon. So the thief pulled out their dagger and unsheathed the face wraps whence the Witch came close, but nothing transpired as they both were fixed into place. The winds still pushed the branches, skeletons were rushing to catch up with Ashley and Ashley's hair wavered back to black and her eyes unlitting themselves - the thief reflected back by dropping the dagger and the blackjack club. Red transformed back to his imp form and was puzzled by the predicament - then both the thief and Ashley walked towards each other to brace, squeezing Red in the middle.

[2.]

The skeletal army reaching the scene lowered their arms and appeared confused by the scene, the Herald spoke:

"Has the thief been hexed into a lull state, Miss Ashley?"

"No, no ,Herald. There was no hexing... She's a childhood acquaintance I haven't seen in forever, and we finally met now."

"Ashuri~...

"It's... Yes I miss you, dearest Sadie... What's with the missing ear!"

"Lost it in a brawl, strong lass yanked it off... So, what happened to you on that fateful day?"

Ashley began tearing up, but soon withhold them to enjoy the moment of seeing an old acquaintance of hers. Saddie picking it up decided to let the question slide for now and remarked:

"Oh Ashuri~... We can talk about it later, let's recount our good times together and what happened afterwards. The mansion seems pretty nifty and the undead, who taught you to raise them?~"

"Sorry, but if I may. We were here originally Miss Saddie, just we decided to stick around the home we built and Ashley was kind enough to not turn us all to bone dust. I say, other than the lass's prowess, she kept us more alive by sticking to that mansion - else the city would've expanded here by now... But that's enough out of us."

"Yes the Herald's right, but that's enough out of us all actually. The night's creeping high and I think I need to really catch up with someone tomorrow. Come Saddie, I'll find you a place to hitch in."

"Can we hold hands, like the good ole days?"

"Sure... RED!~ Sorry for not noticing, you poor imp."

The red imp dropped to the floor and was heaving for air, the purple skin retracting back to a red tomato color. The skeletal war-band and Saddie chuckled a bit, but Ashley was blushing and comforting a gasping Red. Soon he was able to speak properly and stated:

"... Okay before we forget, can we have our contract?"

"Oh yes! Red is it? Red and Ashley, sorry for nabbing it. If I only knew..."

"All is forgiven - I'm impressed you snuck out like that and almost made a perfect escape... Let's go, Saddie the goat!~"

"Hey! I may act and sound like one... Ah whatever Ashuri!~"

Soon Ashley and Saddie held hands, with Red in the middle swinging about as Ashley and Saddie swung their arms. They told stories of their past: ranging from how they met for the first time, the mischief they caused together against posh people, the hilarious hexes Ashley casted that turned people to hilarious objects and how life's been since there. Upon returning to the mansion, Saddie reclaimed her entire gear and returned all the nabbed items - upon displaying the mandrake Red jumped and nearly fainted, which Ashley had to remind Red was already "cured." Saddie went on to explain all her recent adventures, crazy figures she looted from and even encounters with alien persons. Which Ashley chimed in with her latest stuff, her training and telling stories of such figures if she'd met them - the skeletons in the meanwhile resumed their activities from before and Red fixed the contract back into place. Upon Red returning, Ashley lead Saddie to her room and said she can base her activities here as long as she wants to - this house can act as a relay for all the new adventures she carried out, Saddie thanked her.

Ashley and Red went to their bedroom and Ashley magicked into her night clothes, placing the tiara on the nightstand and making the bed for sleep. Once they were both in the bed, Ashley almost blew the candle out but a door opened and Saddie poked her head through - Saddie smirked and said:

"Hmm, looking elegant as always. Just came here to say my goodnight - I can never sleep right without so. So goodnight, Ashuri!~"

And soon the door was shut and Ashley gave her goodnight to Saddie - upon that, Ashley blew the candle out and began to rest. With all these adventures, she really needed a break and maybe walking about town with her old friend Saddie could give her and Red the much needed. At least it'll get Saddie to know the streets and her coworkers better - with that thought complete, she poofed her childhood bunny doll and caressed it as she went to sleep. The night sky upon finally undisturbed began to play a windy tune with the trees, the night creatures and skeletons playing their own harmonies which only made the whole night time song beautiful.

Cited posts:

@theironfelix - "Figure someone out"

Cited images

"Ashley Fan Art"