Zarina had left the safety and light of the Campfire, the crowds of blabbering mouths and boasting had gotten too much to bare. The documentarian had all she needed with her, a notebook and a pen, and she was happy. She'd searched for a suitable place to sit down and get lost in her thoughts for a short while, coming across a fallen tree, deciding that was good enough, she sat down heavily.
The woman had made sure not to travel too far off this time, she could still see the glow of the fire and hear the echoes of distant chatter. The glowing aura was good enough to be her North Star, she'd be able to get back quick enough in case trouble were to arise. A smile crossed her face as her attention was buried back into her writing, what she would write about, that would come later, but she was content enough to be away from everyone.
The whole concept of being away from her crew was something Zarina had yet to process, she missed them dearly and wondered if they somehow ended up in the Realm too, the Realm was separated to house and create areas for the sick games. It couldn't be too farfetched to imagine that they could be here too? She pushed those thoughts to the back of mind, it'd only serve to do more harm than good to the documentarian.
Feet pattered against the mushy ground, the forest ground was much different than the ground at the Estate. The ground at the estate was rocky, sharp and had glass littered all around which made it impossible for Rin to effectively tread the ground without gaining another cut or two. She traveled deeper into the forests, the thick fog seeming to almost lift and replaced with a distant warm glow of a fire in the distance.
A fire? Rin's better judgement knew to not explore the source of the flames but her curiosity would prove to get the better of her. She tread forward, each footstep forcing a grunt of pain from Rin's lips. Grunts of pain and breathing echoed throughout the forests, alerting anyone within ears reach of the vengeful spirits arrival. In the distance, a figure sat below a tree. Rin's first instinct was to believe it was her father, but the paranoia quickly faded as soon as she got a closer look. However Rin knew she couldn't get too close, after all she knew her place in this realm and she knew the survivors.
Rin took a few more painful steps, each one receiving a now muffled grunt as she bit the insides of her cheeks to keep quiet. The fire could wait for now, there would be more fires but there wouldn't be another chance to see a survivor as up close as she was. Rin situated herself behind a tree where she could peer and watch the survivor.. Perhaps she was lonely, gone mad as she would have never considered pulling a stunt like this when she was in school. But alas here she was. Watching an unknown woman write unknown things in an unknown journal
The documentarian had caught the sound of unevenly light feet on the forest floor. If she were honest she'd like to say it wasn't an easy task to sneak up on her, but more often than not she'd be too frozen to lift a hand to do something about it. Zarina closed and lowered her journal fall into her lap, turning her head to face the figure she'd heard.
She saw two eerily white eyes peering at her with an intent she couldn't place, it didn't seem malicious, rather more curious. Fearful, even, perhaps just as much so as herself. Zarina gulped back the fear that had begun the dreadful bubbling deep in her stomach, offering no judgement in her gaze to the figure she could now recognize, The Spirit.
She assumed the poor girl had recieved her fill plus some of judgement, it was obvious really. A sorrowful anger clear to see. Zarina often found herself wondering on times like these, just what haunted her past? What misfortune ended her here?
"Hello." She offered in a soft voice, hoping to appear benign, as her intentions were the same. She didn't offer a smile to the other yet, she wasn't sure why she was even here. Or how she even found her, for that matter. Had the girl come to seek her out? Had it just been a coincidence? For Zarina's sake, she'd assumed the latter.
While Rin wasn't stupid, she wasn't one known for coming up with a plan. So of course when the documentarian began to spoke to her, Rin was already at a lost for words. Common for her. Rin wanted to turn away, pretend she had never heard Zarina's voice and ignore this ever happened.. but well. She couldn't. Something about the comfort in Zarina's voice, it was warm and welcoming while she might have described as Zarina's expression as cold. Many survivors saw Rin as a ruthless monster, incapable of emotion.. Where they got this idea? She'd never truly know. She was like them was she not? She was a survivor, a mangled and broken survivor but still one nonetheless.
Stumbling away from the trees, she slowly made her way till she could see the whites of Zarina's eyes but even then she still kept a good amount of distance. Her body twitched, the sound of bone and glass snapping and shattering along with it. A truly painful watch for anyone witnessing it but a sad reality for Rin. A sad reality she had grown completely used to that it became second nature to her. She knew nothing else but this constant lingering pain, the broken bones that didn't seem to heal but still allowed her to move her body freely, the stinging sensation of the glass piercing into her skin. It was all too familiar.
So Rin gave a simple.. "Hello." In return. Zarina was nervous, maybe reasonably so, but what did Rin gain from hurting her? She wasn't responsible for her mothers murder. She had never met the woman standing before her and judging by the clothing, she never would have. Odd how that played out, survivors from a time that she didn't even know exsisted. A time she could have experienced had she only tried a little harder in life. Gone a little farther.
Zarina watched Rin with a certain dread-filled pity, a feeling she despised through and through, one that churned her stomach. Sadness and sorrow blooming each time the poltergeist twitched in a manner that seemed entirely unpleasant.
Relief replaced pity as Rin responded to her greeting. If she had meant her harm, why would she respond, however a flat tone, but hopefully not one of ill will.
Studying the girl further, the documentarian couldn’t pinpoint an exact timeframe on her, unlike she had with the girl from the saloon. She wore no items that displayed any era, no cohesive hair style, just long and unkempt. A strange thing she had noticed, however, was the difference of how Rin’s hair seemed to float weightlessly, as if she were completely submerged in water, during Trials, when she appeared most angered. Zarina decided that it could be an emotionally fueled thing, her hair became a storm when mad and settled when neutral.
“It’s... a nice night, nice weather.” She offered, giving the ghostly figure a smile, hoping to get any positive reaction. She hoped to see if the girl still held any normalcy or humanity, she wouldn’t be surprised if not, and in all reality, she couldn’t blame her either.
Rin watched Zarina, following her eyes as Zarina checked for any sense of time in Rin.
Though Rin couldn’t remember seeing her before, Zarina still felt somewhat familiar. Maybe it was her face, or maybe it was the clothes.. they looked like something she might have seen in a movie she watched when she was younger. Whatever it was, Zarina was the closest thing to familiar in this realm.. not even her own home felt familiar, nor did the hulking man that shared her realm.
Rin took a few steps forward, each step looked painful with her severely broken toes. Rin didn’t feel anything, thankfully.
Nice night. It was always night. Rin didn’t mind the weather, but she obviously felt it more than anyone else could.
“The weather is better here than it is in other places..” she was mostly referring to ormond, but there were many realms that Rin had issues with. The coldwind farms and even her own home were some of her least favorites. But why was she here? Why was she talking to this random woman she seemingly never met.