She threw 2 large doors open and started walking down a darkly red and purple lit eerie hallway, the windows on the left of it being a purple mosaic, which were mostly shattered letting the red moon light in.
She took deep breaths while confidently walking down the hall. Her confidence was very much fake because she was terrified, but she had to pretend to be brave in case there were any ghosts around. She looked at each door, which luckily had labels on them to let her know which rooms the doors would lead her to as she searched for a door that seemed like it'd lead her to what she needed.
She chuckled, thinking Namulenza must've been as forgetful as her if each door was labelled.
She eventually found a door that said, 'Utility' and walked in. The room was lit more normally in the hallway, sighing with relief that this place wasn't as creepy as the hall she closed the door behind her, then started looking around. There were a bunch of vials filled with mysterious liquids, and a bunch of artifacts that instead of giving powers gave limbs or items. Which she found curious because no one had mentioned something like that to her before. Eventually she found some charms and jewelry that was labeled 'Deity Protection.'
Which she wasn't sure if it meant that a deity would protect her, if it only protected deities, or if it protected her from one, but it was the closest thing she could find to what she required right now. She glanced over all of them, then found a sun looking earing. She grabbed it and put it on her left ear, then she muttered "Forsaken Realm", and she was out of the realm again.
As she saw the stairs again, she crossed her fingers while gritting her teeth hopping that the earing would work, and as she stepped onto the stairs again, she saw a bright flash of bright red consume her, then spiral around her and disappear into the air.
She let out a sigh, letting out a slight giggle as her eyes were still wide. She was fine, sure she almost had a heart attack, and her limbs were numb, but she was fine. She laughed a bit while walking upstairs then quickly regained her composure when she was nearly fully up.
She finished going up the stairs, everyone was still gone, besides the residential shark girl, "Hey you lazy shark, where is everyone?" Kala looked up from laying on the floor, "I'm not lazy! I'm bored. They went to Medio to get something and left me here with you." She looked down at her then rolled her eyes, "Get up sharky, I'm sure they told you about something."
She'd be lying if she said didn't want to yank Kala up by the tail and throw her outside to get her to do something. But she wasn't going to because she hadn't forgotten about what Tundra told her about Kala so she thought the laziness might just be a part of the shark instincts in her.
Kala stood up and stretched; the stretch seemed to magically give her energy as she no longer looked tired and now, she looked like a toddler on a sugar rush. "They told us were robbing a casino!" She said with a dumb smirk.
Hirune stared at her for a moment with an eyebrow raised, "You're... You're serious?" Kala nodded hard, then Hirune smiled. "Is it a good casino?" Kala nodded had again. "Is it likely we'll get caught?" Kala looked down and sighed while nodding. "I don't think we should do it, I'm not willing to serve prison time. Especially considering my reputation here. They'd probably give me a death sentence."
Kala pulled out a map and pointed, "Actually it's not in Triste, it's in Guardian. The place next to Triste."
Hirune sighed while shaking her head. She looked at Kala with pity, wondering how stupid she could truly be. Sure, Hirune only knew how to read up to an 8th grade level and had no clue geography was a thing up until now, but even she had enough common sense to know that neighboring towns knew her reputation.
She placed her hand on Kala's shoulder and smiled at her, "Listen Goblin Shark, we may both lack a lot of knowledge, but we can teach each other. I'll teach you common sense, and you'll teach me geography, okay?"
Kala stared at her for a moment, then bit Hirune's arm. She yanked her arm back and screamed while holding it. Luckily Kala bit softly so it didn't draw blood but that hurt like hell.
Kala looked at her with a scowl then said, "Oh by the way, Ellen said it was mandatory." Hirune stood up straight while groaning, "Okay, fine, I'll do it. But our clothes don't really match what people wear to casinos."
Kala shook her head, "And you were talking about how dumb we are. You watch too many movies nobody goes to casinos in fancy clothes." Kala walked over to the minibar and pulled out some clothes from behind the counter, "Luckily for you I've watched just as many."
***
Hirune now wore a white baggy long sleeves shirt underneath a red button up short sleeves shirt. Her pants were up to her bellybutton, making the shirt puff up a bit around that area. She put on some purple glasses with lavender stars that matched the mark on her clavicle on them then looked at Kala. Kala was wearing a navy-blue shiny dress, and low heels that matched her dress. She was applying a blue lipstick while she looked back at Hirune.
"You don't match what you said," Kala said as she finished applying the lipstick and put on some whale earrings.
"Yeah I do, I wanted to go with an earlier 20th epoch look. I also don't like wearing dresses, my knees get caught against the fabric." Kala rolled her eyes and stood up, "That's because you didn't know what size you wore until now, not to mention you lived off of money you found on the street. I'm surprised you're not more of an asshole."
Hirune rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny it because she knew Kala was right, but she also wanted to know how Kala figured all of that out. Sure, they went to the same school before all of this but it's not like anyone knew her there.
Kala grabbed Hirune by the arm and pulled her into the bathroom. She sat her down on the toilet seat and felt her hair, "Have you ever had a haircut?" Hirune looked up at her, "No...?" She was unsure of how to answer, an awkward smile on her face not sure where this was going.
"Would you like one?" Hirune's eyes shined brighter than the sun for a moment, "Really?" Kala laughed at her and nodded, trying to regain her composure. "Yes please! I've dealt with it tangling for way too long now!"
Kala took deep breaths while calming down and took out some scissors from a drawer on the bathrooms counter and a large towel. She tied the towel around Hirune's neck, "We don't have any of the actual utilities for this, so I'm doing with what I've got."
Hirune stayed quiet, she was just happy that she'd soon stop dealing with her hair tangling as often. She felt the cold scissor blades cutting through her hair, Kala trying to straighten it as she cut so it wouldn't come out chopped all over the place.
After roughly 10 minutes, she was done. Hirune's hair was now slightly below her nape, she looked at it in a hand mirror, then looked at Kala with a big smile. "Don't worry, it's free. After all we've been in the same place."
Hirune stayed quiet for a moment, considering how to phrase her next words without sounding rude, "So, uh... I appreciate the haircut but, how'd you know about my situation before this?"
Kala looked at her for a moment, seemingly dumfounded then said, "I saw you picking up nickels from the streets every day. Not only that but you also seemed like you didn't take good care of yourself. To be completely honest, I was in the same place as you before I learnt how to hide my tail, so I felt pity. But I also felt anger and disgust because I used to believe those Witch stories about you, but even since I actually met you... You're just a poor girl that deep down never grew up. All of that maturity you showed back in town now is clearly fake to me."
Hirune's mouth was slightly agape as she didn't break eye contact with Kala in complete shock. No one had ever seen past her facade before, yet Kala read her like an open book just by actually taking the time to know her. Know her to a degree sure, but she still knew her.
She tried to get some words out but couldn't, she stood up and walked out of the bathroom, "Well thank you." She said as she pretended to ignore everything else Kala said.
Why should she care about her? She barely even knows her, same for Ellen and Tundra, why'd they care so much. She was glad that she hadn't spoken to Clint yet, but now speaking to her seemed like yet another person that would blindly trust her and care about her just because they had one conversation.
She was annoyed, or she thought she was annoyed, but she was blushing too hard to be annoyed.
She looked at Kala while walking up the stairs and said, "C'mon were going gambling with our future."