Rachel pondered about this a bit. Then she looked around, and off into the distance where the hardware store was.
"No." She said, and then sort of smiled. "Not in cash, anyway. She lives so far out in the country, that it's hard to find a decent hardware store. So, all we need to do is buy her some needed parts. I could call her right now to see what she's needing. She used to make little trinkets for me if i brought her like a high class hammer of some sort."
Rachel laughed at that thought. That kind of person wasn't greedy. Just extremely creative in ways not many people are.

Rachel stood up, and walked into her room, carefully looking for her phone. Yes, it was a flip phone, but she liked it. She'd customized everything.
She dialed the number in what seemed like a second and a half, and waited, cautiously climbing back onto the roof top.

The conversation went a little like "Hi..... what's up?....... nothing- well.. something-....... what tools/items are you looking for exactly..?......... I could get those! But, do you need any other things specifically? I need to get some mini robots for digging-...... yeah..... uh-huh..... okay. See you in a few hours." and then she hung up, putting the phone in her pajama pocket.
"She needs a few of these little.. like.. specialized nails that are on a curve, and she needs a bit of steel, and ANOTHER high quality hammer. not to mention another anvil for forging metal..." Rachel said, and then took out her phone to make a little checklist of what was needed.
"And she does it for nearly priceless things.. she gets so much help from others... it's almost as if she doesn't care about money a bit.." She said, while multitasking on her planner. "So i've got to go to her house later this afternoon..."

Rachel shrugged. Then, she looked down at her pajamas, really taking in what it's look like. It was a white tank top, with a blue outline -a bit knitted like at the neckline- and a pink bow in the middle of the neck line. Her pants were sky blue, the same as the outline of her tank top, and they had white clouds, but at the ends of her pants there was a pretty sunset on her left bottom. So, it was like a sunset w/ a matching top.

She shrugged, reached into the window, grabbed her coat, and stood up, walking to the edge of the roof. But this edge was a bit more concealed in her little bush of trees. She looked over the edge.
"Coming?" She asked back, and effortlessly hopped down, followed by a creak of a bit of.. metal.

[[sorry if this is taunting.. i'm just getting like Spring Fever, and i can't stand the fact that my dad messed up his back, and won't let me put up the trampoline. IT SUCKS! god i'm STRONG enough for crying out loud!]]

Rachel had just managed to get off of her trampoline when Lila came.
"Whoa- didn't mean a nanosecond after i jumped- but okay!" She said, smiling, and then getting back on to jump around a bit. It really was fun.

"Oh yeah- the hardware store. hang on." She added, walked over to the house, pulled on one of the multiple panels that overlapped each other, entered a fast, and long code, and pulled out 2 hundred dollar bills, before closing it all back up.
"Sometimes Clarisse likes a lot of stuff- just spare storage.." She added again, and then smiled. "We could go do something if there's left over cash... i don't really want to put it back.."

Rachel soon had been waving the money around as if it were a dessert.
"You coming or not?" She asked, and started off towards the road. Rachel was a strange girl. She never really spent her money on anything. Not even a decent phone. She'd just ask Clarisse for something, and trade.
She didn't care for money any more than Clarisse did, though she always used it against other people because to them it was just SO important.
Yeah, for food, it was.. but for extra clothes? 'Just make your OWN' She thought, and by that time she was already by the sidewalk.
"The hardware store is just down the road... over there.." She said, pointing to a small shop in the distance along with all the other ones in the city. Compared to the bigger ones, the hardware store could have been mistaken for a thrift shop.

Yet, as Rachel walked, she couldn't help but think of wanting to go to a corner, and just sit there crying, because her loose hair didn't fly around as much, since it was nearly a third as long as it was. She shook that thought away immediately though, because she hated sorrow.

Rachel noticed as it took so long for Lila to catch up. Something about the air made her uneasy, and the fog was really thick. Looking back at her house, she could only see her mom's black minivan.
Then, the next question struck her so hard she almost stopped walking and then tried not to cry. "No..." She said, and her voice faltered. "I didn't cut my hair.. someone tried to cut ME, but missed.."

Rachel looked back at Lila, a small smile crept onto her lips.
"Guess the Stalkers know each other. I was running towards where i saw the cars pull in from your.. now destroyed apartment, and i heard the sound of a knife cutting something. So, all of a sudden i had a LOT less weight on my head. I turned back, and like 2/3 of my hair was just lying there, on the ground, and a small sharpened knife was in the brick wall a few yards away. After that, i picked it up, fixed the braid, and continued onto your place." She said, and then pulled at the now perfectly cut strangs of hair, though she despised them.

[[*screams* have you ever left jello in your mouth so long that it starts to taste like that fluoride stuff Dentists try and give you!? WELL I JUST DID! *goes offline for the night, and washes mouth out w/soap* IT TASTES BAD!!!]]

Rachel shrugged, and her walk turned into a light jog, letting the cold air pierce her lungs a bit more than she wanted, but she still wanted to run. barefoot was even better.

Finally, after a few minutes, Rachel stopped, and looked up at what could have easily been mistaken for a closed, and old, shop, or a thrift store.
She peered into the window, and then opened the door. "You first." She said, waving her arm in the direction of inside, where it was warmer, and little pieces of who-knows what-they-were-called hardware junk.

[[sorry for late reply... putting my avatar picture into photobucket and linking it.. i need editing and OMFG!!!!!!! it's missing her necklace OH MY GOD! *panics, but shakes it off* I'll fix it later.]]

Rachel walked in, and pulled out her phone, looking at the list. She looked up, and around the room, glancing at each type of metal type.
"Um, excuse me." She said, walking over to the man behind the counter, who was trying to guess why Rachel was wearing pajamas. "I need an order of that Steel over there.. Clarisse needs it without the shimmer- and she needs a 3x3' order you can mail to this address.." She said absently, as if she'd memorized everything from previous experiences, as she pulled out a piece of paper, and neatly wrote the address, and looked back at Lila. A look of annoyance was just coming across her face when she turned back to finish.
She did the same sort of 'order form' for three other materials, and then set the two hundreds down, and got a $20 and a $10 back. She hated change, and just neatly folded them, and walked over to where Lila was, putting a hand on her hip.
"So we wait a bit.. and then Clarisse can start building.. but what do you want to do now? I'm kinda seriously bored.." She added, sighing.

Rachel frowned at that thought. She hated being near Police Officers. they never let anyone speak for what really happened, and arrested innocent people, and let the NON innocent people go.
Plus their jail cells were free, so if you really wanted a house, get sent to Jail. That always made her angry. that and the Welfare Program. And taxing the rich people out of their money, and making almost a communist country. 'EQUAL taxes you idiots.' She thought, and then released her grasp on her hip.
"Okay, well I'll see you later. I'm gonna head home. Have fun." She said, waved, and left, letting the little bell on the door that alerts someone of a customer ring.

Rachel stopped in her tracks when she heard that car go by. An idea popped in her head. If she had to wait for Clarisse to be done with the robots AFTER the delivery came, that'd be so much time wasted. Rachel was good with time USING.
She changed directions, and immediately waved her arms for a taxi. She didn't want to RUN to Clarisse's place. Even though it was only a few miles, Rachel wasn't ready for it.
She called her mom on the way, and notified her that her sweet little Rachel wasn't gone for good, just off to visit a friend.

When she'd gotten there, the conversation was immediately about Clarisse's new deliveries, and the little robots. It went on for about 20 minutes, getting into specifics, and all of that jazz.

[[can i have a serious spark? like- deadly? wait.. not too deadly.. we need Clarisse.. but like- close to deadly? I've got some ideas in Clarisse's forge... *evil laugh* sorry- i like torturing my characters if you haven't noticed. *blinks innocently*]]

Rachel had just about finished her conversation, when she left out the most important thing. The amount of time it'd take. That conversation in itself was about 5 minutes long, and finally wound down to letting Rachel see the forge, having not been there in about a year and a half.
She had to take off her jacket when she got to the inside of it, because it really was hot. See, Clarisse worked in a giant forge her parents owned. There were some other workers, but only about 6. Everything else was operated by the Mighty Clarisse, and that in itself was awesome.

[[smiling still more than i was. okay- key word: FALL IN]]


Clarisse had gone upstairs to her normal house to change into some reasonable clothes, instead of her thick work jeans, and her long sleeved shirt. All while Rachel was wandering around, admiring all of the work she'd hung up on the walls. She'd made shields, swords, swords with electricity in the tips with a solar powered handle/half blade, and anything that was interesting to look at.
No armor, though, because it was just not fitting for every person, and oddly, Clarisse thought it was weird.

Rachel neared by the lava pit that was at the far corner of that underground mess. It wasn't really lava, but it was close to it. melted metal churned about in that little area, and if you got close enough, you could FALL IN.
Then, Clarisse came running down the stairs, and started to lead Rachel to an exit, as if it meant everything to her.
"You've got to get out of here!" She hissed, while Rachel tried to sit herself down, not wanting to leave. "Someone's looking for you, and he has a knife."
Rachel could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. Before she could calculate it fully, a dark shadow slid down the stairs quietly as Rachel started to turn nto for the exit, but for the other side of the forge, away from the dangerous lava/melted glowing metal pit and to some of the finished pieces of work. Towards those swords.

Then there was a painful-to-hear scream, and Clarisse was then out of sight. Rachel found herself facing a man's eyes, that same ninja freak, and then backed up slowly, avoiding him. But what she didn't know is that she was being headed towards that same lava pit...
Sadly, her mind wasn't ready to think that way, because if she turned away, he could just as easily use his knife on her, which she was prepared to dodge. But she had to be facing him.