starbound - scomiche

011. ambush

please comment a thousand and one times on this it's long and i'm thirsty

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It's been a very, very long time since he's had a proper shower, but now that he's finally had one, he felt crisper than he has in years.

Sure, he struggled with the foreign nobs and advanced features at first, but a shower was a shower no matter what planet you were on, and he ended up smelling fresh and flowery either way. His hair was dried and straightened in no time with their fancy advanced tools, he felt exfoliated, his skin was softer than it's been since he was a child, and he looked like he was literally glowing. He admired the new and improved Mitch Grassi in the steamy bathroom mirror for at least twenty minutes before Avi yelled at him irritatedly to move it the fuck along, because damn, he was starting to feel as beautiful as everyone was telling him he was.

Their break in paradise was short lived, because Kevin insisted they had a schedule to keep to, and they were already way behind. So Mitch walked along the streets of Nalaheria feeling rejuvenated with a new spring in his step, ready to learn and train and be everything the universe needed.

It was going to be a good day.

The sun was beating down high in the sky, but the misty breeze was chilly enough to send goosebumps racing down Mitch's cloaked body. It smelled like rain and freshly cut grass around the outskirts of the city, and he couldn't fight off the tiny smile on his lips as they neared the ship bay. Gravel crunched under their feet as they walked, and if Mitch didn't already know he wanted to live here when this was all over, this moment right here would be enough to make up his mind.

Nalaheria's ship bay was the biggest Mitch had seen yet -- the planet was a very popular vacation destination, for obvious reasons, and the place was bustling with travelers yesterday. Which is why, when they entered the gates to the open-roofed bay, an odd feeling settled over him when they found the two acre lot completely empty. No ships, no travelers... just a whole lot of gravel and empty space.

"That's... odd," Kirstin said distantly as she  stepped forward cautiously, gravel crunching underneath her foot; which was odd enough, considering it was so loud yesterday that he could barely even hear himself think. She squinted her eyes, and the hairs on Mitch's neck raised when he followed her gaze to the single ship in the middle of the lot. Their ship. Exactly where they left it, untouched, and the only one within an entire acre.

"More than odd," Avi said coldly, glancing around himself nervously as he took a cautious step towards his ship. "Something is very, very wrong."

Kirstin and Kevin shared a panicked look, but Mitch just wrapped his arms around himself in fear. It was just a coincidence, right? This had nothing to do with his dream, or Scott, or... "Was there an evacuation?" His voice was weak and feeble, memories of whispered words and deep chuckles raking against his brain uncomfortably. "I mean... that's the only explanation, right?"

"If there was, we should've heard about it," Avi said shortly, jerking his head forward as a signal for them to follow as he took long strides towards their ship. "Come on. We need to get out of here. Now."

A thick lump of fear formed in Mitch's throat the closer they got to the center of the lot, and he swallowed around it with calm breaths. Wasn't it a bit idiotic to go straight to their ship when something weird was obviously happening? He didn't feel Scott, but that didn't mean he wasn't there, right? Were his dreams real? Was he actually on his way, and Mitch accidentally gave away their position, and...