Private Two Friends, the Mall, and a Credit Card, Whatever Could Go Wrong?

Raella was running late. Was this a surprise to anyone at this point? Unfortunately not. She glanced glanced at her watch - 10 minutes till meeting time. “Oh no.” She whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

Flinging open her closet to reveal six exact same copies of the same onyx dress, the girl paused in a moment’s contemplation before hastily grabbing a random one. After pressing down the creases and folds from her waist to the hem of the dress, she was ready. No time for walking, it was time to fly.

Almost as though she was guided solely by instincts, Raella headed straight for the mall. Thankfully, the building was hard to miss; being the largest mall in the city definitely made it stand with a certain kind of prominence.

Raella landed right before main entrance. Picking up the pace, she quickly hustled in, leaving the doors swinging behind her. Out of the canvas of her vision, she finally spotted her old friend. Making sure her exclamation wasn’t too loud, she called out: “Liliana!” The demon rushed over and threw herself onto the other in a tight hug. “How are you? Goodness, it’s really been too long since we saw each other!”

“Goodness, I havn’t heard from you for too long! My apologies, I was visiting family so I was basically uncontactable for a while. I came back pretty recently actually. Everything’s just as I left it! Only difference is that the dorm’s rather quiet.” Taking a step back, the demon let out a contented sigh, giving her wings a few slow flaps as she continued “you look amazing too! How was life back here while I was gone?”

Raella's mind spun as she tried to process what was going on. Even though she had been away for less than a year it felt as though she missed out on an eternity's worth of things. "Woah what? What is going on around here? Dark crystal academy?" Her expression slowly morphed into one of slight confusion. "I've heard of them but never in detail and what do you mean by they're back? Have they come here before?"

Indeed, Raella was much more clueless than she'd ever thought possible. "People doing things out of character?" Pausing, she glanced at Liliana as a flash of concern crossed her face "Oh no, do you have any friends that have been affected by this?"

“An entire school frozen in time? That sounds so whacky.” The girl paused for a short moment as her expression went pensive. “Makes me how everyone’s memories just disappeared like that. While I admit magic can be cool, it’s a little scary sometimes.”

Upon hearing about her friend being literally kidnapped, the girl let out a sharp gasp. With her voice coming off as a little louder than she’d hoped, she then exclaimed “Are you okay? How did that happen? Goodness, are the teachers taking any action against the perpetrator?” Letting out a concerned sigh, she then spoke once more in a more composed tone. “Be careful alright! I never knew the situation right now was so dangerous; if you guys are still investigating, please stay vigilant!”

“Oh no, I hope your reputation isn’t affected or anything! Having a look-alike running around isn’t exactly soothing for the soul.” Letting out a sigh of relief, she fished out her phone for a short moment to check her shopping list.

“By the way, is there anything urgent you need to get? All i need are groceries and, well, whatever nice clothes I see along the way.” Placing her phone back into her pocket, she turned her gaze back to the other as shecontinued, her tone carrying a hint of playfulness. “Do stop me before I go completely broke okay?”