The Girls of Virtue

[13-1] The Path that We Walk

Even when she finally stops running, Beginning isn't tired. Her body feels no different than before... and from the feel of things, she probably ran halfway across the town. Where she's at now, wherever that may be, she can see Judgement's church rising out of the fog a little too clearly. That's the part that leaves an unhappy chill running down her spine.

Beginning sits down near the most stable-looking wall she sees, leaning back against the rough brick. She sighs, looking up at the sky; the endless sea of white without a single star peeking through.

She... may have done something she shouldn't have. The situation with Vanity is starting to make Beginning nervous. Selfishness was one thing. Upsetting her is a common thing, and even then, she hadn't looked anywhere near as scared as Vanity did. With her memory helpfully supplying that Judgement had a reason for focusing on Vanity as well, Beginning shudders. She doesn't like to think about that kind of thing for too long.

There are a couple of moments where Beginning is truly alone, closing her eyes to the world around her. She's not sure how long she sits there, mulling on what she's seen before the feeling that she's being watched starts to settle in, a wall of anxiety crashing down onto her with force.

Beginning's eyes snap open. She's in what amounts to an alleyway. The only thing across from her is a wall about four feet away.

Staring, hoping desperately that this won't be what she thinks it is, Beginning focuses her attention on the wall. Her breath starts coming short. She has that same, bad, bad feeling, the one she felt every time--

In the same moment Beginning sees a pair of pale, clouded-over eyes in the wall, a voice calls out to her from one end of the alleyway.

With a flinch, Beginning blinks. As soon as she does, the eyes are gone, not a trace of their existence left behind. There's nothing there but the jagged outlines of crumbling brick. Beginning stares, feeling panic in her veins. That's-- Once again, she's seeing things, seeing people where they shouldn't be. She's either hallucinating or something far, far worse.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, Beginning."

Beginning jolts. She'd been too caught up in her fear to register that someone had gotten closer. She gets to her feet quickly and awkwardly, coming face to face with one of the last people she wants to deal with.

"Oh... Hi, Manipulation." Beginning lets an awkward grin tug at her lips. After last time, she has no doubts that the other girl is here to do harm.

"Hi to you too!" Manipulation gives a too-sweet smile, looking so fakey that it almost hurts. Beginning's reached a point where she can read Manipulation better than she ever wanted to. An advantage maybe, but seeing how two-faced the other girl is is starting to just be one disappointment after another. She appears to be incapable of 'genuine'.

"Were you looking for me?" Beginning is sort of afraid of what the answer is going to be. Every other time Manipulation has sought her out, it's ended in a temper tantrum or some other sort of blow-up.

"Yep! I was looking for specifically you." Manipulation tips her head a bit, giving an expression that's the picture of harmless flattery.

"Ah, okay... Well, what can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to apologize. For real this time. I know I've been a total bitch to you this whole time, and you just don't deserve it." She's giving Beginning an uncomfortably genuine expression, what looks like legitimate friendliness hovering in her pitch-black eyes. It's disconcerting.

"Are you sure about that...?" Beginning crooks a brow. Manipulation has to be planning something. What it is, she has no idea, but there's no way that someone like her would truly try to apologize for her actions.