Taking stock of the situation, Rita would need help getting her equipment back to the dorm. Confident it'd be okay to sit in their shared space for at least a day or 2 before she left on assignment for a few days, she wasn't too worried about storage for the time being. But... big things like a tent she could stand in with a front section for shoes and such, a folding chair, a small grill with poles to have over a fire, an emergency propane grill incase it rained, as well as small necessities like a lighter stick, extra pegs, and testers for water purity... was too much to carry back. Looking at her new things and the world outside with a flat look, she checked her phone and looked at their dorms group chat.

She was on good enough terms with all the girls in her dorm room but only 3 had cars. The rest, herself included, was usually content to walk or were well off enough to not need a job or didn't want to work on top of everything else, and were at least good at budgeting well with their scholarship money. Looking through the list she was happy to see the name "RulerxOfxThexDamnedxRegister" was set to available and called.

Sitting in a vibrating old compact car her dad gave her as a going to college gift with metalhead seat covers, a chain driving wheel, a skull for a stick shift head, and more filling the car's interior, sat a tired blonde woman in a store uniform. As her shift had ended a bit ago, she was loudly enjoying a heavy metal music station when the light of her phone showed she was receiving a phone call.

Leaning over with a tired look she smirked at the nickname she set for Rita, "Slave_of_the_Weird_Mind," and accepted the call as she lowered the music. "Hey Rita, what's up, does the cult gopher need a ride? Yea, these bodies need to be buried in the usual spot in the hills and the regular driver is too busy with his wife about to birth a new great one for our dark master." Laughing silently to herself has she played with her septum piercing she continued, "Oh alright, where ya at then?"

Given the address, she turned the music back up and drove to a parking spot in front of Wild Mike's. Getting out and seeing Rita at the door who was alerted to her arrival by the loud music, they greeted each other with a hug. Talking for a while about the trip as Roxanne, her driver for the night, checked the place out. To her surprise, her chauffer bought a sleeping mat hoping it might help her sleep better, making use of the 2nd discounted purchase on her card and adding to her rewards punch card.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Just being thankful a different person was at the register so the owner wouldn't chat for another hour with her ride, they put her stuff into the car and went back to the dorms. In as few as 3 trips, after getting help from 2 more of their roommates with the promise of pizza for dinner, everything was stashed in a corner for later.

A day later later of researching the area she'd be combing to look through, she was still sure she'd need to spend at least a day or 3 out in the woods looking for the old woman from the file. Trying to make things a bit easier on herself, after she fully packed the large carrying bag she took a practice day with her equipment and outdoors outfit out back, with permission from the dorm mother so she wouldn't get yelled at for having all the equipment out. Getting the tent set up took a while, she forgot to put the sheet underneath down 1st so she began a checklist for the order of unpacking to not do that again. Knowing it was just a bit of practice, she wasn't too hurried to get everything unpacked and set up, her camp was fairly nice when everything was put out.

Spending most of the day in her camp to get acquainted with things, she was visited by most of her dormmates, curious what she was up to. Taking her time through each thing and what they did and were for, time flied until the afternoon, when they decided to use her grill to make smores as they got suitable chairs from inside and chatted while looking up at the stars.

Relaxing in the moment was enjoyable for Rita, sitting under the sky, a mostly a black void because of the light pollution of the city as she tried to spot what stars she could. Breathing the crisp night air, while she simply was, with people who's company she enjoyed. She felt a sense of calm fill her heart as she listened to someone's phone playing a woodfire ASMR as they sat close together near the portable stove keeping them warm. She exhaled contentedly, the gentle strum of the banjo making her feel light as she looked up at the sky full of stars...