The Girls of Virtue

[08-1] Continuation of the Eternal Present

Not long after her rather one-sided conversation with Jealousy, Beginning decides that it's about time she tracked a certain person down. She hasn't seen a trace of Cowardly since the incident with the church... and that's sort of worrying. Cowardly could very reasonably be hiding away somewhere, minding her own business and avoiding everyone else, but Beginning is a bit nervous that it's been quite as long as it has.

She doesn't dare ask around, but she does decide that going back to the place where she met Cowardly for the first time might be a good idea. It's difficult to track down an exact place amidst the clinging fog, but after a good amount of running around and roof-jumping, Beginning finds it.

It seems sort of weird to her that it was quite that easy to find one specific place. Perhaps she just got very, very lucky this time.

The area is a small, enclosed square, surrounded on all four sides by rotting houses, with only a small alley-- the one that they'd left from last time-- as an exit. The houses are all two-story, and appear to be in relatively better repair than most of the ones Beginning has seen. The fog is thinner here than usual, possibly blocked out by the tall buildings surrounding it. Which... really doesn't seem possible. Beginning is about to stop and question it, but reminds herself that she's looking for Cowardly right now.

"Cowardly," she calls out somewhat nervously, hoping that the wrong person won't answer. "Are you around here? It's Beginning. I wanted to talk to you again, if that's alright?" Beginning walks around the little square, looking for any sign of the person she considers almost a friend.

After a little bit, she catches sight of something shifting near one of the houses; a small crumble of debris crumbling down. She walks over to the blown-out window where the sound came from slight below, and hauls herself up to the sill, still slightly surprised by just how easy it is.

As soon as her head peers over the sill, splintery wood prickling at her hands, she hears a loud squeak, then sees Cowardly quickly trying to scramble away. Beginning blinks. She wouldn't have expected Cowardly to be afraid of her after how well things went the last time they talked. It's not like much has ever made sense in this world, though.

"Hello," Beginning chirps, setting her expression into a friendly, non-threatening smile. "I was calling for you. Did you maybe not hear me?"

"I-I-I heard y-you..." Cowardly stutters. "B-But, but I didn't know i-if any-anyone else was around, s-so I st-stayed here. I'm k-kinda surprised you noticed me..." She trails off, glancing all over the room, eyes in all different directions. It's disconcerting, but not any worse than the others.

"I guess I just got lucky, then," Beginning tells her, not wanting to admit that the nervous little girl got herself noticed. "But anyway, I'm just here to talk to you, and I'm alone. So no worries, okay?"

Cowardly makes a face like she doesn't really trust Beginning, but just as quickly, that expression turns into a smile. She sits up onto her knees, brushes her skirt off with sharp little hands, and looks up at Beginning with way too many wide eyes. "W-Well... come on in here th-then. I'm not much good at talking to people, but if you wanna... I c-can try." Her voice is hesitant, with a note of something Beginning doesn't quite recognize.

But she's not going to question that. Cowardly hasn't done anything bad to Beginning yet, and she'd hate to ruin a potentially good relationship by being suspicious. She can give Cowardly the benefit of the doubt, at the very least. It's worth the risk to try to get another person on her side.

So Beginning hauls herself up over the windowsill, slipping inside even as shards of glass slice thin lines into her legs. She sits next to Cowardly, crossing her legs and breathing a sigh of relief. The house they're in seems relatively stable, and honestly, even sort of cozy. There are only traces of fog slipping in from the outside, and the whole space is dark and small in a way that Beginning can imagine is very comfortable indeed for someone who gets picked on. And she knows already that Cowardly gets picked on.