Moonlit Dementia [Neutral Case File]

"The grande finale." He muttered to himself, though the sense of accomplishment was soon gone upon noticing that the druggie was gone, vaporized, poof, gone with the wind. There was no sorrow in Archibald's heart, but pity for the poor fool who was a victim of this situation. Pity perhaps. But the Laughing Rogue had no remorse, the guy was gone the moment he went full demon, he just brought peace upon the lost soul who yearned for release. "Released from the spell of the demented mother. Returned to earth, mother of all."

When the Wicked Bitch asked about their current state there was a growing laughter coming from the blank and happy mask.

"It seems like i have committed a fumble in my dance, it hurt quite a bit. Hahahahahahah... Shameful."

Marta remained quite silent. His body didn't move an inch as his newfound supernatural disguise melted into his...rather mundane disguise. Although he had technically helped kill a man, that wasn't quite what was on Marta's mind. No, something rather else was on Marta's mind. Incredible embarrassment. The drug somehow seemed to have affected him to, helping him awaken to a brand new power that he little understood. That was already distressing enough by itself, but the fact that he had quite embarrassingly and incoherently babbled his way into such powers was absolutely mortifying. He was shocked to see nobody...outright mocking him for this.

However, the woman had transformed back into normal, and he almost felt a twinge of sympathy for her...just because she had simply gotten caught up in the same mess he had. Plus, unexpected politeness was always a better way to disarm enemies.

So in fact, he bowed his head towards the disabled dealer, "I must apologize for any strange babbling of mine. I do hope, do suspect you understand my situation. That being said, I do recommend jolly cooperation as a highly preferable alternate to possible dismemberment."

The witch surprisingly turned towards Marta, seemingly a little miffed over the killing of the junkie. In a purely intellectual sense, Marta figured that normal human beings would be remarkably disturbed, traumatized by such an act. Marta himself was...rather unaffected. He had barely done much of the work himself, to the point where it felt like he was watching a movie, not engaging in combat himself. Yet, would it be too strange to be unaffected? He responded, "Yes...I think so. Thank you for your concern. Self-evident though, I suppose..." Marta gave another head-bow to the witch, although this one was a bit more respectful. He decided to be honest. "Hm. In all honesty, I find myself with rather little opinion on the matter. I suppose...what's the saying, 'better him than us?'"

The dealer scowled back at Wicked in indignation. "Fuck off, won't you? So what if they turned into them? They're all brain dead losers who weren't even going to be worth anything in the first place. You'd have to be a fucking moron to not see dollar signs when drugs are involved--."

The katana's edge curled towards the woman's chin as the detective's eyes narrowed. She fell silent upon the Kuzunoha's quiet request. Raidou sighed and gave a look towards Wicked as if saying she would handle it before paying attention to their target again. She was at least glad the party was mostly okay. The detective knew when it came to a situation surrounding illegal narcotics, so much wrong can go sideways from the get-go. Even if this was the best situation possible, and with no casualties on their side even with one of them going mad, the deaths put a bad taste in her mouth. But this was Endymion and the time after the Divide, death wasn't something so far away in its reach nowadays. "It's as she said, we've dealt with him. You have no reason to worry about him any longer. Tell me, where is your distributor for these... Giddy drugs? You must have gotten them from somewhere."

The woman hesitated before giving a glance over to the rest of the party. Knowing that they've all managed to take down an insane, but ridiculous tweaker, and outnumber her, the decision was a quick one to make. Especially when there was a samurai sword at her neck. "East Eden. There's a run-down farm uni there. They got an operation that handles making this shit."

"Who's they?" Raidou pressed forward as they finally began with the questioning.

"A company, they call themselves the Devil's Auction. I don't know much about them... but they do shit like trafficking demons and humans. Not sure why they would get involved with this kind of stuff, but they work with I think what they call the Jest... Infinite Jest? Like those clown-faced weirdos from that stream a while back?" The dealer replied hesitantly, unsure what to make of any of this or if the answer satisfied her captor.

Raidou, on the other hand, frowned at this information and sucked in her teeth. It was getting worse than she thought. Not only were such narcotics being distributed, people have been kidnapped. It explained some of the disappearances these days, at least. But this information was good, she now knew who her targets were from here on. At the same time, a thought began to form in her mind. But it was a question to ask later. "How many of you are out there in Sunlake peddling Giddy?"

"Can't think of any exact digits off the top of my head. Probably in tens. I couldn't even tell you where any of 'em are. Everyone's got their own secret spot, doubt the ones supplying even know or care. They just shilled their happy pills and left us to our devices. Numbers are only gonna grow from here on out. Can't help you with that, sorry." She shrugged nonchalant in her answer. Raidou narrowed her eyes at the dealer. This was going to be one hell of a headache trying to ferret out each dealer. Who knows when they would spread even further into the City? The detective tried to think of any other question to broach upon related to this. Though one of them was far more personal than the last.

"The demons in this part of the forest, what happened to them? Was a bear-like demon here?" She continued to ask. Her grip began to tighten in anticipation for the answer. But her eyes didn't betray her suspense.

Ignorant of the purpose of said question, the dealer replied back. "Demons...? Oh, yeah. Remember how that Auction traffics demons? They nabbed them and I just called dibs on this place when they were done. I guess there was something like a bear or something. All I know, they have it back in that uni like I told you before. Why would you care about some demons when you just killed one? A human at that?"

C-c-click!

Raidou would find the stern gaze necessary, since just as she cut the dealer off she would look back to find Wicked with her hand shaking on her revolver breathing ragged breaths and with her hand trembling. Her head tilted toward the demon summoner to register the look before tilting her revolver up and away from the thug but she still had something to say.
"Thin fucking line, bitch!" she shouted, tapping her gun against her arm to emphasize her point, "Thin fucking line...!" The witch huffed and tugged on her hair and continued to pace. She didn't know what she wanted to do. She didn't know if she didn't want anyone else getting hurt or if she wanted to turn this chick into hamburger and leave her for dead. Those words cut deep. She just tried her best to listen and pay attention.

When Jingles spoke it made her wanna cry, not from what he said but like... that he was saying anything at all. These were the last words that were ever gonna be given to this guy and then he was gone. She knew how it was and she knew the punk was right. He didn't mean anything. But people don't start out that way, everyone comes from somewhere and to be just... just thrown away like that. Like he meant nothing, he was worth nothing. She knew how real that could be and how close she could be to being just like that. All it took was crossing a line and it was a line she knew she could cross if she wanted. This wasn't some worst case scenario, all of this could happen to her. But she'd keep walking back and forth feverishly puffing off her cigarette and trying to keep her hands occupied when the crazy dude answered her question. The guy who's mind was taken.
"Yeah well you should probably get one," she snapped, "If you can take it or leave it you shoulda stayed at fuckin' home. I don't care what you fuckin' do but if people are gonna be fuckin' dead you need to care a little bit. 'Kay!? 'Kay."

Wicked wasn't completely innocent. Sure, she went out and tagged demons for funzies but that was different from this, nobody got hurt except anyone that asked for it. But if it was gonna be like this and you were gonna get involved in it you should feel regret, wronged, joy, duty, SOMETHING that wasn't "eh, whatever". People died. People with lives. That was worth more than a goddamn shrug. She twitched and vibrated in anger up until she felt a hand on her shoulder. The witch's head snapped to Rampage's and she rolled it with a growl, peeling her maw off of her shoulder.
"Ha ha we just killed someone tonight so yeah. I'm a little FUCKIN' on edge!" She shouted a challenge and puffed her chest out toward the giant, throwing her arms out in a standoffish display. But it didn't last long. She took a shaky breath and retreated into herself with a shuddering sigh.
"N-not tonight. Sorry, it's just all this shit goin' on and I don't wanna fuckin' deal with it! I don't. I don't!" She swept her arms and got back to pacing her line in the ground.
"Like just... not tonight. Okay? Not tonight, just leave me alone..."

Patty didn't wanna be here anymore. She wanted to go home and get fucked up on Xanax and not have to think about any of it or deal with it or anything like that but she didn't even know if she'd do that or if she wanted to or... and it scared her. She didn't know what she wanted to do, she could do anything right now and when she got like that usually something bad happened and it made things worse. The pills took that away for a while. And she couldn't leave, she was stuck. Locked into nothing but pain and stuff she didn't wanna do with no choice but to face it head on. It made her want to run away and never ever stop. But she was here, it couldn't be helped. Patty took it all in, the who, the what, the why even if there wasn't one and it wasn't her to try and guess. She didn't give a shit about the why. She gave a shit that this was fucked up so she was gonna hurt people for it.

And the dealer caught another nerve. Not like that was hard. Wicked spoke up immediately.
"You shouldn't go in the woods at night," she sounded out, her voice eerily quieter and a lot less angry but still shaken, "...there are demons out in the woods at night. Last time people came out here at night they wound up dead. One looked like his neck was broken, but the other girl looked a lot worse, she was missing her head ah ha ha..." Wicked changed her pacing to swagger slowly toward the pair exchanging questions. She got close enough to be threatening but far enough away to leave Raidou in charge and unhindered. She didn't have her hands on any weapons. Yet.
"Anyone know you're out here? ...don't answer that ha ha I know the answer is no, I know how we play that game. Just some dealer thug not worth anything to anyone."


Patty paused to let that sink in. If they killed this chick... they would get away with it. Guaranteed. And she knew that. Patty didn't wanna kill anyone else but didn't want to and wouldn't were two different things. She had one more thing to take care of that Raidou didn't have to worry about.
"What's your name? Actually nevermind, fuck that, gimme your fuckin' wallet. I know you still got your ID with you, you're not even that fuckin' smart." Patricia would wait for the wallet and the name. She would wait for the freakin' wallet. She was getting it no matter what, even if she had to pull her gun out and kneecap this bitch, kick her in the teeth, something, she was gonna get it and rifle through it and take anything that told her about this chick. But she wouldn't take any money. If she could get her hands on it without doing anything drastic she'd toss it back and toss out what she gave the tweaker to smack her in the chest along with it.
"So we're gonna get one thing straight: you were never here tonight. You went somewhere else. You didn't see anyone but your client, you don't know where he went after, you don't know where THIS guy went when you were done..." she pointed to her dead muscle bleeding on the ground, "...and you sold all your Giddy. You're not gonna go to the cops about this. Ah ha ha you're not gonna go to the cops about this because I can do any number of things to you you don't want me to do. I can report you for fuckin' murder and drug possession. I can kill you myself or just break your legs and let the demons get you. Fuck, I can force feed you your own shit and just see what fuckin' happens ah ha ha but I'm not gonna do any of that. Not right now. You're gonna go back to dealing your shit and you're gonna open your FUCKING ears and pay the fuck attention because I'm gonna come back and ask questions and when I do I'm gonna make a decision and it's gonna be relevant to just how damn useful you are to me. Ah ha ha... karma's a fuckin' bitch, ain't it...?"

Wicked laughed. Just as dark as before. For all she cared she wasn't some bleeding heart, she did what she had to do. And she would screw anyone as hard as she thought appropriate and do anything she thought necessary to accomplish what she thought needed to get done when she wanted to enough. There were bigger things at stake here, herself, whoever's kidnapped, this operation. That was worth more than the life of some demonic meth dealer and if it'd do any good she'd blow her brains out right there. Patty was fuckin' done playing nice humanitarian. Now she could learn why she took the name Wicked.
"I want names of the others. I want any names of Devil's Auction or Infinite Jest or what the fuck ever. I want backdoors into this place, the keys to the mansion, what these people can do, how they're doing it, ANYTHING you think is important to tell me because if you're not worth it... I'll save myself the trouble and I'll tie up this loose end. ...'kay?"

"......How about you gimme your phone number or some shit?"

> Wicked gives the dealer 2000 VC

Doctor Fate took a deep breath. Alright, well, the cool guy thing worked. No need to thank him for being a total badass, or anything like that. It wasn't like he'd just pushed himself to the point of being unable to manifest his Persona.

...oh wait. He had. Assholes. Which was a shame, he'd figured he'd heal up the Tweaker to make sure he didn't die or somet-

Oh.

Oh fuck.

The guy was fucking gone. He hadn't run off, Fate didn't think. Somebody would have said something, or done something. But no. He was gone. Literally sent to the Shadow Realm. If Doctor Fate didn't feel sick, he might have laughed. Sure, he'd talked big game about killing that Skelter guy if he was an issue, but there was a bit of a difference between talking about people you didn't know/care about killing a guy, and actually helping people kill someone. He hadn't attacked the Tweaker once. He'd thrown out comments about him getting his ass kicked, but...

It slowly sank in that not only did he let this happen, he contributed to it. Every heal, every speed-up, everything he had done the whole fight...had led to this guy dying. He felt like slapping himself. Maybe if he'd dragged the Witch away, and told her to forget about the bidding, and leave the clearly mentally unhinged person alone that guy'd still be there. He was numb, only half listening to all the chatter going on. Part of him tried to muster a bitchy one-liner, or some cool guy thing to say. What came out though, however, was-

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?" He hadn't signed on for this. He only kept up this stupid Terrorist game to help idiots survive if they got caught out at night. He didn't sign on to help fucking kill people. "Look, I know all about Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but I have fucking standards! I'm a Doctor, not a Hitman. You guys can keep up this...whatever the hell you think you're doing all you want, but I'm getting out of here. Keep your cash, lady!

Doctor Fate would leave as quickly as he could. Being Persona-less made this difficult enough as it was, he wasn't sticking around waiting for something else to go wrong.

Action:

Rampage nodded to Wicked as she rejected her offer, though as she went after the dealer she only glared at the woman that had been selling the drugs, before walking over to wicked once more, she had said her piece and Rampage kneeled down to speak to the girl "If you need to talk later, or just someone to listen and hang out with here..." she handed her a slip of paper with her phone number on it, it was clear that Wicked needed to talk about things, and a friend at least could help with that, granted it was a secondary phone that she had bought after she started the whole underground fights and what not, but she could by a third if she really needed to.

Then she heard a shout from the one calling himself fate, and she looked over and sighed a bit, he was trying to leave and she could understand but she felt that he needed to be talked to as well, "This group seems to need a center....thank you Astarte for keeping me calm and being able to handle all this..." she thought to herself and her Demon as she walked over to fate gently placing a hand on his shoulder, catching up to him was easy her stride being quite large so thankfully he hadn't left quite yet.

"I don't think any of us wanted to kill him, I know I certainly didn't....and I can tell you Wicked didn't" she spoke quietly and gently to him as she lowered herself down to one knee to speak with him.

"We needed to defend ourselves, does that make killing him right? no I don't think so, however sad as it might be, he was dead the moment he turned into that creature, I am not trying to pass the blame or trying to deny that we did it, however don't think I am happy for having done it, we all didn't want to kill an innocent person, but think about this, if we don't follow through with all this, if we don't find the people responsible, more people that they have addicted to this drug will turn out like this guy, we have to stop them, all it would take is one of the people making this stuff to slip it into a drugstore supply and suddenly it's in the main public rather then being sold by random assholes trying to make money off these poor people, and then the problem could be worse." she sighed a moment as she spoke she needed him to understand, this would only get worse if they didn't follow through.

"You say your a doctor, then help us stop others from suffering like this, we are not hitmen, we are not thugs, I came here to stop these drugs from being sold to people, and now it sounds like even people are being kidnapped by this group that is selling them, I am not going to walk away while people are being taken from their homes, maybe even children, and having this stuff tested on them, or them just being sold off to pay for the creation of more of these drugs. I can't and won't force you to stay, but I will ask you to at least think about what I said, the if we go after these guys we might need your help" with that she let go of his shoulder, and stood back up before turning to look at the dealer.

She walked forward and looked down at her "So you have a problem with demons? then I have some god damn bad news for you....Your looking at a very VERY pissed off one right now!" she said with almost a bestial growl, as she reached down and placed her hand around the woman's neck, her grip was vice like, but she wasn't choking her...yet "I think your forgetting something, you gave the man the pills that turned him into a demon, and I don't think you want to be taking that kind of tone when honestly...we have no agreeable way to deal with you...and I don't know about the rest, but a good deal of us would like nothing better then to beat you into the ground for the SHIT your peddling" Her grip tightened only a little but she held the woman still.

"So then I would suggest agreeing to help my friend here, if not...what use are you? and now? I have your scent...." she leaned down and glared at the woman, her horns digging into the ground with how close she was getting close to staring the woman right in the eyes "And if you try to run? if you try to hide...let me just say....there are horrible things that Hide in the dark...and a lot of them know each other...and a lot of them know me...and I can make sure...that they find you...and I will make sure they know not to let you get off easy...it will take months...maybe years for it to end...do you understand me? You will beg for it to end...you will wish for it to end...and I will make sure they know not to let it...you think death is worst that can happen? if you aren't more helpful...I will make sure you learn that it's not..." she was lying...mostly, she didn't know any other demons really, but she did know the woman's scent not that she could do much, she wasn't exactly a tracker, but hey this bitch didn't know that, and she definitely didn't really look human at the moment ether, unlike the others who looked like people in outfits, so why not use the difference? as for the suffering? oh she did know people that could make her suffer, they were not demons, but there was a lot that happened in the underground, and she could make sure the "right" people learned of this woman.

This was getting dicey already and this was just after they came out of a tiresome battle. Raidou wasn't liking the direction this entire conversation was going. One already ran off on their own, unable to cope with the situation and another was on the verge of breaking down. But she'd allow the event to play out a little bit, even if it did put her on edge. The detective seriously didn't want to be on the side of the dealer, she really didn't.

It didn't take long for her wallet find its way into Wicked's hands and then back into hers again. She wasn't dumb. The threat felt very real with how much venom there was in the Psyche-Terrorist's voice. But it didn't stop the criminal from glaring back at her in the process, though there was the fear laced in her eyes. Though just as she was about to talk, the hulking figure gave her a distinct feel of deja vu by holding her by the neck. Even if the Psyche-Terrorist wasn't choking her, it was an intensely uncomfortable feeling to be held by the neck.

"That's enough!" Raidou barked sharply at both Wicked and Rampage, the latter mostly. She grasped her wrist tightly before following up with a command and a commanding scowl. "Let go, now. Let me handle this."

The Kuzunoha would let go if Rampage complied. But if not, Rampage would feel an immediate pain in her wrist from the instantaneous tightness of her grasp with astounding strength, enough to force the Psyche-Terrorist to let go. Even if she weren't a Persona User or some supernatural you'd commonly see in Endymion, she was still a Kuzunoha, not one to be trifled with at all. She had enough of this and was going to take command of the situation whether any of them liked it or not. When the dealer was let go by her prompting and while said dealer was busy rubbing her neck and coughing, Raidou began to address her. "I'm sure you can understand your situation by now. Tell us what you know."

She waited patiently for her to regain her bearings. And was promptly rewarded with some information. "Fuckin' bitches... all of you... We use the gym portion of the uni to get inside. Leads into the labs and to ship stuff. Like those demons and humans I talked about. But I go in through the stairs entrance outside that leads underground. Can't miss it, only I use it 'cause it's easier to get in for me. I dunno much about the Jest or the Auction. They don't bother to share much. But two of 'em calls themselves 'S'. The other, 'Faust'. Dunno anything else... Can I now go and fuck off elsewhere?"

"Your number. I will call you, I'll need you again." Raidou said as she swung her katana to the side and sheathed it. "I will handle the body."

The woman swore again, but grudgingly gave it before starting to leave with one final mutter. "...Thanks."

As the woman began to retreat away from the scene, Raidou watched her. And when the criminal was far away enough, but still within line of sight, she pulled out a bamboo tube before summoning a green light. Out of the small burst came a lithe figure.


The fairy-like creature flew away in a hurry, but not before suddenly disappearing into thin air to cloak herself from detection. The detective watched as it all happened and once the dealer and the fairy were clear to be gone from sight, she heaved one last sigh while pulling down her cap in a moment of thought. There were preparations to be made. She wasn't quite sure if the current team could pull off what she is planning to do, after losing their cool. So unlike the Cadets, indeed. But, they were able to do their jobs even though the behavior just now was uncalled for. Perhaps it was time to call him in...

"Thank you all for helping me. I understand that this situation has been... taxing for all of you. I don't think I would've been as successful without any of you. Especially, you." Raidou spoke to the group and began to address Wicked in particular. "You've done a remarkable job, all things considered. But this line of work, requires patience and... calm. It's difficult, I understand. It takes time. If you want to talk to me on something, please stop by my office."

She was remarkably impressed how the Psyche-Terrorist played up the gig from the start and how they were able to maneuver the dealer even though said methods were distasteful, but effective. But even then, her inability to retain composure was a concern. Though hardly as damaging to Rampage's approach, now that she began to talk to her as well. "I don't care what your intentions were, but you were causing unnecessary harm. Leave the questioning to me, being this physical is unwarranted."

That hold was completely unnecessary. They were already in a position of power over the dealer, numbers and strength. Causing this much apprehension was harmful to the investigation and it really began to make her question if working with Psyche-Terrorists like this was even wise. "Allow me to handle the scene. All of you can have the night off. If you want to keep working for me, you know where to keep being posted."

SQ Gained:

Social Link Opportunity:

Wiz left. So that happened. Guess he didn't have the stomach for it, Patty didn't blame him. But when the shit hit the wall you tended to find out exactly what you were willing to do and she was capable of this. She could let it rot her to the core and be just as wicked as anyone else, sometimes you had to. When you beat other kids with rocks just to get bottles of drinking water you learned pretty damn quick that when push came to shove you would do what you had to. She didn't think she was capable of stuff like this at one point. That was a long time ago. She picked it back up like riding a bicycle. Wicked took the phone number from cowgirl without saying a word for once, just stuffed it in her pocket and turned away. The lanky girl didn't want to associate right now, didn't want to connect herself even further with what was happening. That would be easier later when she tried to forget what happened and leave it behind her.

Wicked didn't give a shit how she was looked at. It didn't change anything. She was beyond being intimidated or offput or even being made any more livid than she actually was. She'd hit her breaking point and sat firmly on that wall watching everything push against it, trying to break her down further. But it couldn't. She was tough, this was how they did shit back in Monterey. Everyone around you helping you was your family and you'd do anything for them. Everyone else could get their teeth put to the curb. That's how you stayed alive and she was incredibly able and willing to take things to their final conclusion to protect herself and anyone else. That's how you stayed alive. She got enough info from the wallet to find this chick again if she had to, it wasn't a lot but an ID had a home of record on it and a name so if she put her wits to the test she could track this chick down and get whatever she wanted from her. She didn't plan on it coming to that but if it did...

She didn't move to stop Rampage or even vaguely react to her throttling the dealer other than to trace her with her glowing eye. Three parts of Patricia fought against each other. One side of her didn't want this to go farther than it had. One part of her wanted her to let go and leave the dealer alive and unharmed so she could get what she wanted. But the part that won out wanted to see her neck get broken. A faint and amused smile spread beneath the magical shade of her hat. It wasn't about justice or who got hurt or who was in danger. It was that the dealer pissed her off and she wanted to see her pay for that. You don't fuck with the top dog, you'll get your throat ripped out. The yappy little bitch is just asking for it, let's see some bones break! And then Raidou shouted and Patty flinched, it knocked her out of her evil thoughts. She bowed her head and backed off a couple steps, questioning just how far she could go now and worried what she was willing to consider. Someone else could of died and she wanted it to happen. That was worrying.

But it got her to talk and that was what Patty really wanted in the first place. She was looking for an edge, something she could use to master her situation and take back control of everything. She was comfortable as long as she had options to take and she listened quietly as the chick spilled her guts. Turned out she knew more than she said she did. And she took special note of the number she said. Wicked wouldn't forget it. Just in case she had to come back here and play the villain. Not that she wanted to. It wasn't her intention to follow through with this anymore, Raidou could handle it anyway and she didn't even know where she was going with this other than making sure herself and everyone else wouldn't get ratted out. The witch's head flicked toward the demon summoner when she praised her for what she did. Which sucked because Patty didn't feel good about anything she just did. The girl kept her head bowed as if she was getting scolded instead, she didn't mean for things to go that far.
"..........I'm sorry...." her voice broke a little. They didn't have any choice but to take the junkie out, she realized that, but she still didn't feel great about killing someone. And even less great that she could of gone and hurt someone else. She did what she had to, that was all.

Raidou didn't have to tell Patty twice when she told her she could go, she didn't wanna freakin' go anywhere near the body. She was done, she didn't wanna do this anymore.
"I-I'm gonna go home..." she mumbled as she turned her back on everyone and began to walk quickly. Her hand slipped around her hat and she tossed it off into the nothingness to look like a civilian again... and then began to run through the woods. Running just to run and move her body and do SOMETHING to shake off what just happened. She ran until she reached the edge of the forest and stepped into the suburbs. Patty undid her bandanna and took off her hat, stuffing it into her pocket. She took her hood off and wrapped the jacket around her waist even if it was drizzling. The cold needles on her skin would keep her moving quickly and she had somewhere to be. Anywhere but here.