...Despite many things, Rita was not much of a believer in the Unexplained. Granted, she grew up Christian so she believed in God and all that but ghosts, zombies, and vampires she knew to be made up. To be fair, ghosts were supposedly people who didn't go to the afterlife because of a grudge or something strong enough to deprieve them from their afterlife and that'd been a superstition for millennia. Zombies, or at least something like Frankenstein, was made in the 19th century by Mary Shelly having a friendly competition with her Author friends. As for vampires, they've been a thing since Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, to say nothing of recent decades ruining their existence as a monster with movies like the Twilight saga.
As for most cultural oddities, it was assumably local stimulation of life there fueled by intense intoxication from herb and brew, a practice common for most of human history when "communing."
But right now, in the middle of her dorm room, was a black figure shaped like a cloaked void that clearly noticed her as some semblance of a head turned to her direction. Frozen in fear, she watched as it seemed to quietly shuffle toward her as black hands stretched out to grab her. Trying her best to shuffle out the door, she realized too late that she closed the door behind her as the figure was right next to her, it's black hands draping over her shoulders. From the dark form an attempt at a guttural whisper could be hear, "I'm glad you like my Halloween costume."
Standing there, she blinked in confusion as a slightly hysterical giggle could be heard as the laughing figure bends forward while stepping back to pull at the darkness around it's face. Removing a hood and a fabric mask revealed the grinning teeth of a smiling woman 2 heads taller than Rita with ginger hair and freckles continuously giggling. "Surprise, think i'll win the costume contest this year?" She took a slow deep breath with wide eyes to replace the air she'd let go of in shock as she slid on the door to the floor before replying, "Bitch... what are you wearing Sammy?"
Samantha O'Brian was the tallest woman in the dorm with the strongest Irish genes on campus... maybe. Her cheery personality made others' days a bit better sometimes, although her mood was always a bit wild. She also happens to be living in the dorms as a talented Fine Arts Major. She's always been a bit mischievous but she's a good person, you never know though what she'll do next though.
Rita looked her up and down as the tall woman did a twirl and replied, "You know the Vantablack controversy a few years ago? Weeell I got ahold of some Black 2.0 which isn't as good as 3.0 but it's cheaper, and just got a bunch of strips of sheer cloth enough for a mummy or 2 and made an outfit! There's 2 main sections, the inner part i'm wearing is a black unitard that doesn't have the stuff on it, but the other one that's like a cloak I covered in it as much as I could without making it stiff except for the outside!" Doing another twirl she exclaimed, "And damn if this stuff doesn't work better than I thought it would!" Watching her spinning so much it was definitely a weird and spooky outfit with a chance to win, there's not much of a chance many others put in as much effort for a costume.
Getting up from the floor, Rita smiled as she shook her head and went to her wardrobe. Looking through for something comfortable to wear on the road she wondered if Sam might know some places around town. Spending an hour or so talking with her roommate to catch up as she decided on an outfit for the cold, she also got some details on a good store for outdoor survival called, "Wild Mike's." She also told about her latest assignment for the director and how she'd be spending at most a week looking around the mountains for a supposed medicine woman.
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Samantha, having changed herself and sitting comfortably on her own bed said incredulously, "Seriously? what are you going to find from a person who barely has a social security number in the woods, the way it sounds she might still use an outhouse for a latrine and get water from the river." Shrugging, Rita began to text her boss about how she'd need someone to cover her for a week at work because of the sudden assignment by the department of her work study.
"Who knows, the Director is hoping enough she might be an Awakened enough to send me, but also doesn't want to waste time with someone more in the inner group for a maybe. She could have a gate to Shangri-La in a decked out hidden palace through a cave entrance in her back yard, or she's just an old woman taking care of herself as a recluse. Either way, the department is paying for my stuff as long as I bring back the receipts, and i'm alright with a camping trip to get away from a desk for a while besides."
After talking for a while more about small things, it was getting towards the evening, so after saying her goodbyes for now to Sam who went to late evening classes, she went to town on foot.
After looking up the directions she found on the internet she began to make her way from campus. Taking her time as she had a bit of walking to do, she reimmersed herself with the feel of the town. A decent town, Hemmingburg was a mining town centuries ago, remade into a college town in the 70's as the age of computers were starting to take off. It has it's quirks, but for what it is, it's a nice place to live as you work off your student debt while taking classes.
Hearing a voice that was shouting as she crossed one of the roads, she heard him louder and louder as she crossed a particular square of downtown to see a guy on the permanent event stage with a small crowd gathered. "The truth is clear for all to see in this modern era of communication! The forces beyond have stopped ignoring us and we need to be prepared! Look around you, how many of you haven't actually heard about the chosen few 'round the world gaining strange powers and abilities, it's surely a sign of a higher beings' plans for us all! Be it aliens or God himself, we must decide on who's side we'll be on in the coming days!"
The crazed guy yelling at the top of his lungs with a "The Truth is Out There!" T-shirt, as his mixed response from 15 people staying to listen, while some recorded on their phones, while everyone else kept walking, described the past 3 years pretty well. To Rita, the only problem with the town was the whackos getting riled up lately at the internet's uptick in recorded sightings of paranormal activity.
To be fair to them, unlike what really happened during peaceful protests, normal videos of David Blain wannabes, or alien sightings for that matter, in recent years we now have actually too many 1st hand witnesses with cellphones. Nothing big enough, for now, to nuke the planet out of fear, but enough people actually had to take any "credited" paranormal investigator seriously now.
Managing to find her way before sundown to Wild Mike's, the front had 2 display windows with a large entrance door between them. The left had a small display of a collapsible chair with a fishing rod, tackle box, and canoe. While the right had a tent with a mannequin wearing a vest, visor, cargo pants, and thick boots. The owner, a chill guy actually named Mike, with a wild look to him of a man who'd spent 5 years in the wilderness, was minding the counter.
With an easy grin he nodded and said, "Welcome to Wild Mike's Outdoor and Survival Emporium. If ya wanted to chill under the stars by a campfire or kayak the rapids or just hang out in nature my store's got what ya need." After talking with him for a while, Rita talked down the price pretty well since she was buying so much at one time, and under the assumption she'd buy more later he managed to convince her in return to get a free membership. Since the purchase gave points with the store she could spend on free stuff or discounts later, though she was confident that wasn't happening, she relented.
At 6:27 p.m., with her camping and travel gear purchased, she began to collect her things when she actually paid attention to her purchase and said to herself, "... now how am I getting all this back to the dorm?"