Open - Just a Camping Trip...Really!

Reclusive Hill

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Yeesh! It was a bit cold for this kind of thing... brrr. Chelsea shivered in her pink coat as she continued along the dirt trail. It had not even begun to reach a true slope yet! Fall had fully set in and winter was certainly right around the corner. There was no one willing to drive her up this 'cursed road' Even though there were tire marks. It must have been from the police that had traveled it back during the murder. She could not even use her automated bicycle! Her aunt had restricted her access to it as punishment for spending too much time with her investigations.

The girl gave a huff at her situation. Life was starting to become a lot less pleasant for her. A mean auntie, her families company snatched out from under her. A lack of communicating with her old friends. While generally cold to most people, she did cherish true friends when such relations were formed. Unfortunately you miss out on some things when you are engrossed... maybe even obsessed with finding out the truth behind your parent's death. Chelsea refused to accept a mere accident. None of the police were doing anything! That was something she agreed with that Truther show about most. useless law enforcement. Taking her families money and spending the time eating donuts and drinking coffee! Boo!

Well, she did not need help! She would solve this by herself... it was dangerous sure but... what was left? Playing games all day? Giving up her future dreams? No! She refused. Period. So there, stupid destiny how does it like that!?Chelsea was lost in her thoughts and frustration. It was probably because she was cold and alone on a trail in the middle of nowhere. That witch scientist person must have been a real freak of nature she thought. Living up here like this. Going all the into the city just to work... the determination to be left alone was admirable but yeesh!

Chelsea stopped for a second to adjust her large backpack. It was stuffed with things for the trip. Mostly her investigative equipment. She was going to tear that place apart when she got there. Sure the police may have had a lot of equipment of their own but she still had enough money in her old allowance savings to spend on extremely high quality analysis equipment. Technology was amazing like that. Truly the greatest thing for sure! Hmhm!

Just a bit further to the place this Elizabeth Crowley lived. The cursed home of a cult leader... supposedly there was something left but a big dirt patch. Well, maybe she would find something in the area or something to prove it was connected to that Chris person. She wanted him off the CEO seat so bad... she did not know how she would get the company back but her intuition would not to let this man stay there.

Time to resume her 'camping trip'...

 

"Yeah, yes. I'm perfectly fine." Raina wasn't really yelling but, nonetheless, she had a rather loud voice by default. "No? I'm not coming back. Not yet!" The kind of voice that made one put the telephone a few centimeters away just so they wouldn't get deaf. "Why? Because! I'm already 14 years old! I can take care of myself! I don't need a bunch of Gorillas to babysit me anymore!" With that, she pressed the call end button on her mobile phone. God was she angry despite having had this conversation a few times already.

It was a rather old model. One of those that didn't have a color display, the only game was something like Snake and the ring-tones consisted solely of monophonic stuff. It wasn't because Raina was into the old-school cool, but rather because these newer smartphones were too easy to track. Of course, she owned a smart-phone too, just didn't have it with her.

"Seriously what the hell are they thinking?" Raina vented annoyingly as she watched the vibration of the phone kept going and going. Whoever was on the other end tried to call her relentlessly. "As if anyone would kill or kidnap a cute or delicate flo-" The blonde-stopped mid-sentence as she noticed another shade enter her vision. Another person. On this lonely road. A girl? She looked about the same age. Whatever murky feelings she just had were suddenly gone. In place was now joy and excitement.

"Hey!" The blonde called out in a friendly voice as she pressed the power button to turn the damn thing permanently off and running closer. Raina herself wasn't dressed like she was about to go hiking at all. She didn't even have a backpack or anything else to carry rations and her clothes were anything but made for this road. A suit with some fancy, yet dirty, shoes.

If anything one would think she came straight out of some meeting. Nonetheless, though the girl seemed fast for her size and age. "Hey...!" Raina repeated herself as she was now close enough. "What are you doing here?" The blonde seemed rather over-excited about just having met a random person. Truly a weirdo.

"I... don't think this road leads to anywhere but the Lair of a Great Witch?!" Raina wanted confirmation. Traveling together was always more fun, after all! "I am Raina, H-" It seemed like she wanted to add something more, but decided against it.

@Lady N

 

The more she walked. The more lost in thought Chelsea was becoming. What if there really was nothing up here? No clues? Nothing that would help? Was it truly a cold case like the police had reported? Just like her parents as well. Weren't these sudden rising murder rates a concern?

"Hey!"

One of the loudest and most obnoxious sounding 'heys' Chelsea ever heard came from behind her. Chelsea turned slightly and looked at some girl who came running towards her like she was some kind of celebrity or something. Well, she did want to be famous for something, but only as a result of her inventions in the future. Not now. In fact right now, Chelsea wanted nothing more than to blend in and and be inconspicuous. Otherwise she was going to have a lot of problems.

"....Hi."

She said a bit uncertain what to do. She had no expectation of someone else being here... not another girl her age for that matter. Her outfit was also completely out of place. Who... who the heck was she? Yeesh! Chelsea had a back up explanation as to why she was here of course. So she was ready to use it. The girl excitedly told her her name, Raina... she thought she heard that before?

"I'm... Chelsea...."

Still trying to figure the girl out she shifted her backpack some. It was pretty heavy. She was certainly not going to give her last name to this person. Then it came to her... was this... Raina Raythean? The outfit, the name. No way would a daughter of a family like that would be out in the middle of nowhere. Going up some hill to look at a old abandoned crime scene of some witch. Oh... oh yeah right. Chelsea kinda fit that profile and look what she was doing. Whatever, just nevermind. Hmph!

Raythean was one of the few competitors Nexus had these days. Her father talked about them time to time. It was how she knew the name of the daughter... what strange time to meet her though. Worse still was her no longer being a heiress and this girl was. A tinge of envy was now very present behind her cold look. Chelsea would not let this girl see weakness in her... ever.

"I'm heading to the top of the hill. I am... camping out for a while. It's a hobby."

She did not make it obvious she knew who the girl was. Just in case she was wrong and this was not the Raythean heiress. Chelsea turned away and continued up the hill. If the stories were true. There was absolutely nothing but a big dirt patch where the large home of Elizabeth's used to be. Chelsea would see this with her own eyes soon enough.

Now hopefully, Raina can totally, absolutely, most definitely NOT follow her...

@Seigi

 

"Oohh!" Raina responded in surprise as her voice was clearly close enough behind Chelsea that she totally, absolutely, most definitely was following her.

The blonde didn't seem to be taken aback by Chelsea's more timid behavior at all. Catching up with her to be right beside the raven-haired girl the blonde instead continued nonchalantly. "Camping as a hobby? All alone?" Yeah, what was a child doing all alone up here?! Maybe Raina was onto something? "Must be nice with all that freedom." Raina added with a slightly sad smile. More directed to herself than Chelsea before resuming her usual energetic self.

"On top of the hill, right? That's awesomely great! It just so happens that is where I am heading, too! ... I think?" Raina wasn't THAT sure, but the Witch's Lair was supposed to be on top of this, didn't it? Just follow the road, they said.

"The Great Witch of the South lives there! Have you heard of her?" While 'of the South' was not a title that the deceased genius officially held, considering Raina came from Boston, it made perfect sense to her.

Ultimately, Raina was just happy to have someone of her age group to tag along with and talk to. A lot of kids Raina talked to found the blonde too weird or simply wanted to exploit her. But, smart as she clearly was, she neither told the raven-hair her last name nor added some hero-nonsense to her introduction! Clearly a sign of growing up. Though, if she was truly that annoying, it should be easy to just tell her off, no?

@Lady N

 

It was only maybe four steps before any hope of this girl leaving her alone without being pushed went poof. Yeesh...

Then she said how nice Chelsea's freedom was. Really? Considering how she would be punished by her aunt if she learned of this, and just how much of her future was ripped from her. Cheslea was not very happy with this' freedom'. It was not like Raina knew her situation so she left it alone and just trudged along with a split second furrow of her brows. The excited outburst about the Witch of the South... uh...

"Yes, she is dead. Don't you watch the news? This hill is a murder zone. It could be... haunted you know?"

She shifted her eyes to Raina who was now just merrily walking alongside her like some kind of annoying stray dog that wanted attention. Maybe the haunted comment would scare her away. Honestly Cheslea was unsure why she was even letting her follow her. She could have just said to leave.... never mind. It was not important anyway. What was is that she had to keep going and hope this girl did not mess up her investigation here.

"I take camping very seriously. It's a important thing. Very, very, important."

She hoped to chase her away even with the tone. This girl was already applying silly titles to murdered cult leaders. So it was inevitable that she was going to keep it up with that sort of thing. Chelsea hoped to nip it in the bud quickly. She looked at Raina. She was a tiny bit shorter, had a look of such energy. Chelsea was slowly losing that kind of excitedness. It used to come all the time when she talked about her inventive ideas and looked over blueprints with her father. Urgh... she decided to walk a bit faster to not be so near her. She was bothered by the girl. It was hard to explain. Chelsea just felt uncomfortable. Likely from her desire to do this undisturbed or her assumption of just who this girl was.

"Once we reach the top. I want you to not touch anything I set up okay? The camping equipment is... very delicate and such."

Chelsea could see the large patch from here. It was a large clearing and just as she had read... completely barren. Was her equipment really going to discover something that the police could not?

@Seigi

 

Dead?! For a moment, Raina seemed very surprised before taking on a saddened expression. The girl had mixed feelings. No, she straight-out felt horrible. Calling it a murder zone implied she was killed and Raina more-or-less went ahead and made fun of it.

Maybe Raina should just leave? Chelsea sounded like she didn't want her here anyway as she also picked up in speed. This sounded serious and the blonde knew nothing. Was she even allowed to make fun out of it?

As the hero-girl was putting herself into a sort of despair-spiral that turned her mood sourer with every second while questioning her life-choices just like that, it was Chelsea herself that pulled Raina unintentionally right out of it.

'Once we reach the top....' meaning, despite her earlier disapproval, the raven-haired girl didn't mind Raina tagging along at all?! Pushing these grim thoughts to the back of her mind the blonde reminded herself of what she had to do as she suddenly caught up with the other girl. "S-Sure!" She nodded with a very happy smile.

"Murder, you said? Haunted? Maybe we can ask the Witch's Ghost for what happened and bring the baddies to justice!" She said with a child-like innocence. "So, are you a fan of hers? Or a paranormal investigator?! Oh please be a paranormal investigator! We can totally share stories around a campfire while eating yummy marshmallows and all!... Though I'm not really prepared for camping... and... maybe I'm pushing it too far with not coming home the entire night?" Raina whispered the last few words, or rather sentence, more to herself than the other girl. Nonetheless, it seemed like the blonde wouldn't leave Chelsea so soon anymore! Talking about staying the night and everything already.

As they reached the supposed-to-be-top though, the girl was in utter confusion. "Isn't there supposed to be a ghost mansion or something here?! ... Maybe the spectral plane already took it! Or did I, we, get the wrong place...?"

@Lady N

 

Chelsea looked with a subdued expression at the plain dirt that covered the field before her. No grass, just dirt. Did they take the house down? She remembered that the body supposedly vanished from the hospital too. Yeesh, maybe this was a waste of time. Chelsea dropped her backpack and her gaze shifted again to Raina. A eye twitched for maybe a second as the blonde was getting more and more excited about... um... well it was beyond Chelsea how this girl could be someone with a upbringing that matched that of a CEO's daughter. Then again.. maybe she was wrong after all. Regardless this girl was really annoying. It was like she was on a sugar buzz. Please let the crash come soon... pretty please?

"Uhhh... well.... *ahem*."

The sad reality that nothing she had said had chased this girl away dawned on Chelsea. Instead it seemed to only invigorate her. Boo. Now she has to deal with this girl's ridiculous antics for that much longer. Well, whatever. More important things to worry about.

"There is no such thing as ghosts, so I think you will be disappointed... and no! I am not a fan of some witch, hmph! Are you.... serious?"

A small blush almost appeared on her stoic face. To think she would ever be thought of as a silly kid like that. Chelsea had a short period where she might have gotten into garbage like magical girls or something. That was quickly lost when she saw her first Super Sentai which led to mecha and finally she dismissed silly fantasy altogether for that which she could create in reality. This girl will not get such a reaction from her, blushing to her childish comments. Nope.

"Technology surpasses any fictional magic junk any day. It does not take much intellect to see that."

She gave one more sharp stare as if accusing such lack of intellect on Raina before shifting her attention back to her backpack on the ground. Unzipping it and beginning to set up several devices next to her.

"I-I'm just here to camp. Not investigate! I camp... like this. And n-no... I did not bring marshmallows... I brought a pack of Twizzlers if you want any."

As she began to attach wires between her small satellite holding boxes. Chelsea was starting to stutter a little as she came up with things to respond with on the fly. Then she stopped with her mouth half open after her own last comment. Why did she offer this girl anything?! Sigh... yeesh. She pulled out her pack of strawberry ones and waved it at her. Maybe if she chewed on them she would be quiet so Chelsea could work.

The concept that they were in the wrong place was on Chelsea's mind as well, but she was sure this was it! Totally sure! Finishing all of the set up. She now sat on her knees and started to type away furiously at a small device with a keyboard. The satellites started to spin and low hum came from it. A holographic screen appeared above the set up and she pulled out her glasses to put them on.

"I'm doing some homework... you can go home if you want. It is really okay. Really."

She said the last part absentmindedly as she worked and her eyes moved quickly from one line of words to another. Several graphs were appearing and the land was being scanned for any traces of objects, DNA whatever. This was extremely high end equipment worked into a very little and pieced together looking package.

The fact the machinery said property of Nexus Corp and had their logo all over the place kinda missed the girl's attention in her own state of focus. Another thing that she was missing was the sound of singing some distance away...

Someone was approaching!

@Seigi

 

"Magic is great! You just got to believe. Hmpf." The raven-haired girl appeared to be like most others. Happy, no, content with their boring, ordinary, every-day life.

"I may not be able to prove that ghosts are real but you can't prove that they aren't! Besides, weren't you the one saying this place may be haunted?" Though she did get bonus points for actually going camping in this day and age! At least until she pulled out all that techno mumbo-jumbo. Why did that girl go camping anyway? With all that stuff she could have just stayed home.

Even Raina had a hard time believing, by now, that Chelsea was truly just camping here but... there was no reason for her to lie! The blonde didn't want the raven-hair to lie, at least. Thus, she simply took the things she said word for word. "Thank you!" Raina simply responded as she got some sweets. Dawh, deep down Chelsea was actually nice, huh?

"Homework? What is it about?" Raina now asked before eating another piece of the strawberry Twizzlers before she continued speaking. At least that hinted that the blonde respected some kind of manners. "So you go to school?!" Overly excited, once again. It now made sense why she brought along all this...equipment. "I have another friend that goes to school, too, but she never had such equipment! Isn't that stuff super expensive? My dad talks sometimes about that company!" At least that sealed the deal that Raina truly was who Chelsea thought her to be, or did it?

"You hear that?" The blonde continued without giving the other girl a chance to respond. "Someone is coming! Did this turn into a hotspot or something? Or maybe a creep?! Or a vengeful spirit? Don't worry, I can protect us!" Her daddy was, after all, obsessed with Raina's protection. Which included being able to protect herself.

Though, generally, singing people were of the nice kind. Then again Raina wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea had a taser or something, too.

@Lady N

 

No... there was nothing! Nothing that her equipment could pick up anyway. Boo beyond belief! It was not helping that one way or another, her blonde sidekick here was blabbing her ear off. Luckily, Chelsea was kinda sorta good at blocking stuff out? It was a needed skill when you were surrounded in school by bragging types. Raina was however, pointing out the holes in the logic Chelsea was offering... yeesh. Great, so she was sharper than she came off as. Or just really focused on being annoying whichever worked really.

"...Ne- um... a Academy. I used to be home schooled but things changed..."

Her eyes shifted to Raina for a second before returning to her work and shaking her head as if a thought she disliked came to her.

"It's...it's none your business."

So Raina's father had interest in Nexus? It was not total proof of Chelsea's assumptions considering the Nexus name was pretty much everywhere. Just another tilt in that direction though. Chelsea shifted her glasses some as she continued to do one last scan. That was when Raina said something important and worth attention for once.

"...Sigh.. could you please... w-what?"

Chelsea lowered her glasses from her face as she looked back and heard it too. Singing. It was hard to make out the words... were they foreign? Whatever! It did not matter, what did was getting out of sight really quick!, it could be a police officer or the murderer coming back to the scene of the crime! Grabbing her stuff and quickly stuffing it into her backpack she leaped up and grabbed Raina's arm.

"Come on, get to cover quick!"

She did not know why she even cared, probably because she just did not want to see a girl this dumb get into trouble for something she did. The blonde had no reason to be here so she ... wait that in itself was suspicious. What if Raina was somehow in on this? Yeesh... impossible unless she was just acting like a idiot.

Chelsea was definitely the weaker of the two young teens. So if Raina had struggled she would have been impossible for Chelsea to get behind any of the bushes or trees to the sides of the empty area. The singing grew louder as Chelsea did her best to remain motionless even with her heart beating very quickly under her calm expression.

A thin young woman approached the area. Becoming clearer and clearer as she advanced. The closer and clearer her words became. The more Chelsea saw that... this was all very strange. The black haired lady's face was white as snow, her hair long and a bit unkept. Her face had makeup that made her look like she was in KISS or something. Frankly she was a total freakozoid. Yeesh... it was the killer wasn't it? This was it... and it had nothing to do with Nexus then? With that Chris guy? Chelsea adjusted her glasses and tried to make her out from a distance...maybe it was just her eyesight at work here.

Honestly she did not really know what to do, so she waited. The presence of Raina not her center of focus right now.

@Seigi

 

She was homeschooled, too? That was... Raina could surely totally 100% relate to that! Maybe they could become actual friends. Clearly, in Raina's head, her parents must be rich too. And while it was true that the raven-haired kid was a bit rough around the edges she seemed to have a good heart.

Before the blonde was able to ask some sort of question in that regards, however, Chelsea seemed to... panic? No, that wasn't quite right. The girl agitated but calculated. Going so far as to even hide the two from... what exactly?! Maybe... "The murderer?!"

Raina whispered under her breath. A police officer was, kinda of, bad too. Surely he'd annoy them with questions like who their parents are and then the whole adventure was over anyways! If it was the criminal maybe they could catch him! Sure, they were just two little girls and a murderer was clearly some brawny creep but they had the element of surprise... and maybe Chelsea had her taser! If only Raina would have at least brought her handbag.

To her surprise, however, as the mysterious stranger was finally in vision range behind the bush and green they were hiding, the person was anything but a brawny creep! It was... "A ghost?" She whispered unintentionally to herself. That girl looked as if she was right out of one of these Japanese horror movies! Scary. And rude, how incredibly rude of Raina to think that, wasn't it?

She was actually quite beautiful in her own way, maybe it was just a goth?! Questions over questions piled in Raina's mind that wanted answers as she decided to have enough of this. She wanted to be just as brave as Seigi! And as much as she hated to admit it, Chelsea was right, real ghosts and all were just a fantasy. She knew that, sadly.

So, ultimately, all Raina saw was a fragile-looking, kinda creepy, girl. How could that be anything but harmless? Why was she still hiding?! The more people the merrier! Maybe it was an actual, way more mature looking, class-mate of Chelsea also here for the homework! "I don't know about you but I'm finished hiding." The girl whispered to Chelsea.

"Hey you!" Raina now called out after she exited the green while making sure that Chelsea, if she decided to not come out, was still more-or-less hidden. "What are you doing here?" Cutting right to the chase. "That was a nice sounding song, even though I couldn't understand any of it." Just like how it was listening to all these anime songs. As long as they were catchy it did not matter?

"I'm Raina!" The blonde added with a broad smile, still keeping her distance though. Visiting the 'Witch of the South' wasn't really a thing anymore so... what was she even doing here exactly? ... Making friends? Why not just add 'Wanna be friends' bluntly to it.

@Lady N

 

"Possibly. Who knows? That's what we're going to find out."

Chelsea once again used 'we' almost instinctively. It was kinda annoying that she was doing that. Maybe Chelsea was more lonely than she thought... to the point where having even a girl like this bothering her was better than nothing. Poking her head just enough. Chelsea eyed the black haired lady. She was so out of place that it made her feel like she belonged right out here on a abandoned hill like this. This person was either a musical artist of some kind, a totally drugged up weirdo, or just ...goth. Then Chelsea remembered a important detail. Elizabeth Crowely was a witch right so... then maybe this person.... huh?!

Chelsea's eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped open, yes this is the second time, at the sight of Raina getting up and heading towards the creepy girl. Uhhhhhh what?! Chelsea's eye glasses fel half off her face as she leaped frantically hoping to grap the dumb blonde and pull her back into safety. This could get them in trouble, or arrested for trespassing, or... much worse. Unfortunately her chin met dirt as she missed in a very cartoony scene of gabbing air. Lifting her head up with her eyes set on the two. Well.... yeesh. Too late now.


The black haired female was standing arguably dead center in the clearing. She was completely motionless almost like a doll until Raina's voice cut through the air and she stood a bit aways from her. The girl casually turned towards her as she put her hands into her skinny jeans.

"....Why...."

She seemed to sit on that word for a moment before bursting into a friendly smile, amazing with her creepy looks. She waved a hand nonchalantly and ran her hand through her long hair.

"...Why hello there kid! What a small world to see others up here. You two were having some intimate moments behind that tree? So sorry to have ruined the mood. I didn't really expect to come across others. My song? Heh.... Thank ymg' og much gof'n!"

She took a step towards Raina and twirled a strand of black hair around her finger still smiling.

"I'm Alice. Some people just call me Grigri. Whatever works for ya really."

Another step.

"You know... you both came at a very good time. I was going to greet my old mentor with a bit of spit and piss. Isn't it amazing how plot works? You all show up right when I did, so that I could have some company. The voices tell you that you know...? You know right? What this all is?"

Chelsea had finally managed to get herself off the ground as she was hearing everything. This... was probably really dangerous, actually no, this was really dangerous! She ran up beside Raina.

"So Raina... right? Funny not using your user name isn't it? Heh... I have trouble with my backwards name too. It can be such a chore but the voices and words... they demand it much like god does. Do you know god? He is watching you know... enjoying how much you ar-"

"Umm... I think we have taken enough of your time ma'am so we will be going! Hahaha... right Raina?!"

Chelsea nudged Raina and really hoped she had figured out that this person was a complete wack job. No way was Raina was that dumb right?

"Wait... don't leave! Elizabeth would have chased you away but I welcome you both! The truth will set you free you know! When you see how hot as fuck god is you won't want to go back... trust me! Have you seen my website...? I'm not that good with web programming and SHIT like that Everything is so much harder in this place. Come be free with ME... want to go to wonderland with me? Don't end our thread yet! I want to play a little... just give me some screen TIME!"

The creepy girl took another step towards them. Okay.... time to run away... yep. Chelsea realized a bit too late that not bringing a taser or something was a bad idea. But... but what about finding out the truth? Chelsea was really in a spot now. She wanted to ask questions and interrogate and all, but this person was completely out of their mind. This was enough proof that things were not normal in this case and that was enough for now!

@Seigi

 

The woman, Alice, only said a single word at first before she started to talk. A lot. Like, really a lot! This might have been more than Seigi talked while being on a deluded hero-trip! The blonde wasn't even able to bring in an objection to the sudden accusations about doing kinky things behind tree number one! She was engaged anyways and way too innocent to even turn red upon hearing such things.

As Alice, which was way nicer on the tongue than Grigri, took one step too many forward, Raina instinctively stepped backward. Apparently, Alice wasn't aware of the Witch's death either, which meant that she couldn't be the murder! At least that's how Raina wanted to interpret it. No one could meet dead people.

Though, rather than mentor she just seemed to be a really fanatic groupie and... these people really had a few screws loose. With the username and the voices and everything it only made more sense! Locked in a weird state of fear and excitement it was then that Chelsea, just through a slight nudge, brought Raina's senses back completely to her.

Right. Danger and everything. The last wave of sentences that the goth-girl spoke without taking a pause only added to it. But... "Stop!" Raina called out.

While her new-found Nexus Corp ally could have been meant as well, it was more of a friendly warning towards Alice. If she was really such a big groupie spending all-time at home, which also explained the color of her skin, then there shouldn't be any problem to overpower her if worst came to worst.

Otherwise, as much as Raina's guts told her to run - and the girl generally listened to her guts - this was exactly the kind of weird but exciting adventures she wished for! She wouldn't let that go to waste. Not to mention there being the small possibility they could actually really discover something!

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Raina whispered behind her to Chelsea before turning back her attention to Alice again, standing between Chelsea and Alice like a big sister watching out for the little one! "I..." What was she even supposed to say by now?! Raina already spent way too much thinking about this already. Totally not her style.

Screw being apparently rude. Screw being afr- Afraid? Raina? Was the blonde wannabe super-hero until now seriously intimidated by that girl's antics? No. Never. Screw that. Raina was Raina. Dancing to her own tune and nobody would tell her otherwise. Especially not some hot chick that looked like it ran out from some Asian-horror-movie set.

"LISTEN to me!" The blonde said rather loudly, even by her standards. However small Raina just appeared, she was now back on track and didn't let anyone cut into her words. "I was just out running awa- exploring and stumbled upon this and that, BUT discovering the truth behind a murder sounds super duper awesome, too." Don't do it. "So, you can help us, me, to bring justice or just keep talking. Either way..." Do. Not. "...I don't need to be set free by voices or some god. I'll follow my path and fight by myself, for myself." Do you like dead ends? "So screw your god!" Apparently you do. "If he got something to tell me, might as well do it in person!"

There was no use telling a real crazy person they were crazy. No, you'd just challenge their insanity! A genius plan from genius Raina. Fight fire with fire. Clearly worthy to be the already shelfed heir of a leading weapons research company.

@Lady N

 

It was too late. Any hope there was of getting out of this without trouble was flushed down the toilet. Chelsea wanted to be as far from this as possible, but somehow she stood her ground as well. Raina was not going to protect anyone. Chelsea was a Nexon... they stood up for themselves. The strange young woman leaned back a bit as the peppy Raina went on. As if in a playful way treating the words like something dangerous to back away from. Her smile showed otherwise.

"....Hot stuff! You're on FIRE hon! Woo yeah!"

The girl acted as if Raina was hot and waved her hands at her. Then she quickly leaned forward and looked at the shorter girl closely. Dangerously close.

"You were right the first time kiddo. You are running way. Aren't we all? Running from the falsehood of life or whatever bullshit? Solving murders like the Scooby Gang are ya? I guess that makes me... what's that you say? A SUSPECT?"

She pulled back and shrugged right after saying that rather loudly in the blonde's face.

"... You know what... I... hm?"

Alice stopped and seemed to be somewhere else for a second. Then she took out a small pocket watch, like a literal antique in design and make. She looked at it and then back to the girl.

"You are going to have a lot of fun someday aren't you with a personality like that. Be careful, you got enough deaths already to be tackling the A game. Life's heading straight to death but what's the fun when you're dead? All in the journey and the pleasures you get on the way! Isn't real life stuff dull as FUCK? God agrees and gives us gifts just like now! He gives me good sex though cause I got in real good with him heh. Ahhhhh it feels like it took DAYS to get this far in our chat didn't it? I got places to be so... toodles kid. Meet ya on the flip side."

She put the watch back into her jeans pocket and turned to walk into the woods. A strange feeling filled the clearing. As if Chelsea and Raina were surrounded by countless watching eyes. They both felt rooted into place until finally Alice was gone and the felling left them.

"Uh... okay so.... um."

Chelsea was at a loss for words. Not a lot happened really but this was not what she came up here to experience. Was that person the killer, did they know the killer? Sigh she was right back to not knowing again. Why couldn't she move? Was there really witchcraft behind this? No way! Magic arcane fictional garbage was not involved in her parent's or this woman's murder. Yeesh she had to get some rest. Letting this stuff get to her!

"I have no idea what that was about but at least she's gone now. Sigh... I'm done camping. I'm going home.."

She turned and made her way back down the hill with a thoughtful look. It seemed that she was not going to learn anything without actually... it was almost time then. Chelsea wanted to just write this encounter off as some weird thing and forget about it. This was not her thing at all. She turned back to look at Raina just in case.

"Are you... okay? That was some stuff you said. You know she could have had a gun right?"

She didn't want to but yeah. Chelsea knew she must have used a lot to do that probably. The girl followed her up here so it was partly her fault if she was bothered or hurt by the woman. Thankfully that did not happen.Chelsea did not need anything else to deal with.

She choose not comment on the girl's running away comment. So Raina did not like her family? How ironic and frustrating... Chelsea turned away again and headed on her way home.. Aunties place. Boo.

@Seigi

 

It felt like ages before Raina could finally shake that weird feeling off herself. Was it dread? Fear? Excitement? The blonde girl couldn't quite tell. Now, however, that Alice was gone everything suddenly seemed less strange than before. The stuff the raven-haired goth woman said, just how serious was Raina supposed to take it? Unless she spent some serious time thinking about it - and Raina wasn't all too fond of doing more than her gut feeling usually told her.

As for the weird talk about death and all, she didn't worry too much! The girl had, with the exception of a single thing, a very positive outlook on life and she was 120% convinced her chapter had just even started! No way it'd be over so soon.

Ultimately, Alice was most likely just some weird occult mad fangirl that shouldn't be taken too seriously in the first place. That thought alone was kinda conflicting as Raina hated it when people didn't take her antics serious either, however.

It wasn't until Chelsea asked the Raythean girl if everything was alright that her senses returned to reality completely. "Eh...?" She looked up in confusion for a second. A Gun? "Even if she had one, I don't think she'd just shot two random girls on some hill! You shouldn't judge people so quickly!" Did Chelsea even judge her? She was creepy, yes. Eh, no! Just... different? They barely even knew her! "Anyways..."

The blonde followed up to Chelsea before placing herself in front of the girl. "I... urm... it was fun! Yeah." Sure, it wasn't like going eating ice cream but it had been an odd experience regardless. That was enough reason to consider this trip fun! "Are you really investigating the murder and all? I'd love to help you more but I really have to go now or a certain someone will mobilize half the police-force if I take much longer..." Why even? Because they were family? Pffsh.

"BUT... how about you..." Raina started to stutter. "Y...you..." This was way harder than she imagined. C'mon, it couldn't be that hard, right?! "How about you call me later!" Yes, easy as that. "O...or send me an E-Mail?!" With that said, Raina gave Chelsea the phone number of her smart-phone as well her e-mail address which, to no surprise, included the Raythean last name.

"So there's that! I hope to hear from you soon!" Kind of embarrassed, and afraid of being shut down right here and now, Raina turned around and started to run away. It was totally and completely on Chelsea now to get in touch with a new friend...?

@Lady N