Manuel
As evening encroached on afternoon, the diner began to fill. The bell on the door rang out a silver cheerful sound with each entrance and exit. Mostly these were bachelors tired from a long day of work looking for fare filling and simple. Here and there sat the occasional ladies who just wanted a teacake and some place to gossip. Seats were beginning to fill and Victorine's own waitress gave her a couple glance to see if she was still occupying the space.

Mid-February in Briar Ridge gave way to any type of weather. Sometimes snow, sometimes rain. Colorful bursts of the earliest blooms were usually nothing more than dandelions but welcome splashes of cheer against gray slush. Victorine had spent the better part of the afternoon watching the rain pour down against the window panes and hoping it might let up before she was to leave. 

Fortunately, her patience was worthwhile. A silver half-dollar, dull with age, was tucked beside her plate for her waitress' patience and attention to keeping her tea kettle full. Stepping outside, Victorine saw the sky alight with the brightness of a coming sunset after rain. The streets were still damp and eaves still dripping but the air was clear, if cold. 

"Far too cold," She murmured to herself only a few paces from the door. Pausing near the window, she pushed home all of the shiny black buttons on her woolen trench. Made of polished buffalo horn, they were an inconspicuous touch of luxury on the practical coat tailored to her slim form. She preferred only half of them buttoned *For fashion's sake*, but the cold curled its fingers down her collar where she would not permit it. 

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Glenda
A rumbling in her stomach alerted Lily to the fact that she had not eaten anything for a full day. Hunger came with a distracted mind and a distracted mind in turn came with sloppiness, something they could not permit themselves to exhibit. Time to sample the local cuisine.

After walking around for a bit Lily spotted the diner, rewarded with another complaining sound from her stomach. They found a table in a corner that allowed her to overlook the diner, and more important to overhear some of the conversations held within. Nothing as entertaining and useful as idle gossip. They ordered and paid for a simple meal. Eating it while shamelessly listening in on a group of women. If they wanted to keep the details of their talk private they should've spoken at a less obnoxious volume. 

A patron sitting nearby stood up and left, a sliver of silver caught her eye, a silver half-dollar. A day's work for some in this town. Lily never said no to easy earnings. If the diner staff had wanted to claim it as a tip they should've been paying better attention to their customers. As they made their way out of the diner she walked past the table. With a smooth and well-practised gesture the half-dollar found its way into her pocket. _Thank you kindly for your patronage._ She continued walking as if nothing had happened, hoping the brief glance around would prove adequate and nobody had seen her swipe the coin.

Lily exited the diner, wrapping her coat tightly around her to shield from the cold left behind from the recent rain. Rain felt cleaner here somehow. They took a deep breath, filling their lungs with the crisp humid air and started walking into the direction of the room they were renting.
Manuel
One of the many privileges that came with being born wealthy was the ability to be generous towards others while experiencing no personal loss. A silver half-dollar, ultimately, was nothing to her. But she still felt smug satisfaction in spying the smile through the window, like a phantom benefactor. The tendency towards these gestures was because she was both good and kind, and certainly not because holding sway over peoples emotions was its own form of power. 

So it was that in tightening all the fastenings of her coat, Victorine's eyes took a little longer than a glance in looking through the window. The waitress that she'd come to be familiar with in the afternoons was named Maggie. And it was not Maggie's hand that retrieved the silver coin, but the hand of another. Setting her small mouth in a hard line, she watched the smallish woman pocket the money and make her way out of the diner.

She was slick and seemingly unbothered. A fact that stirred Victorine's ire. Perhaps the young heiress felt safe in Briar Ridge. These were not the wide, paved streets of Washington DC or New York City. The eyes here were not often greedy. And though the words may have been uneducated, they were often genuine. These facts instilled the muddy roads with a softness that urged the girl to moving. At a distance, of course. 

The tall blonde woman was, unfortunately, not one that blended much into a crowd. She knew as much, and kept her distance. Or so she thought. She made no effort to conceal herself otherwise, because who was she if not someone with all the right in the world to walk where she pleased?

She was confident in following the thief, even from the denser area of the town center to where the road grew rough, and buildings were further apart. These were residential areas. Folks here and there made their way home, but the crowds had gone. Though the sun still lingered in the sky, it was sitting low and lantern lights had already begun to wink alive on the other side of dim window panes. 

Her interest in finding where this little thief was going had begun to dissipate. Or perhaps that was the gnawing anxiety of common sense finally come to harangue her subconscious. Sighing, she walked double time, closing the gap between herself and the girl she had trailed.

"Hello," She said, coming along beside her. It was not uncommon for the residents of Briar Ridge to say hello to any stranger in passing. But it was less common for them to keep pace and walk along beside them. "I thought I saw you at the diner back there." *Thought* Became *Thott* And *Diner* Nearly lost its letter *R* Altogether. Her crisp accent was unquestionably Transantlantic, though spoken at a natural clip, without the fervent melodrama of movies and radio. She seemed almost friendly, purely conversational. She even offered a little smile.

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Glenda
Lily left the diner unaware that she'd been spotted. Her sleight of hand had not been covert enough. _Sloppy._ She may have failed at going unnoticed, the blonde woman prancing about like she owned the place was doing an even worse job at staying hidden. Lily had long since understood the importance of staying aware of one's surroundings. Especially when those surroundings changed but the people in them did not. The woman was following her, that much she knew. Her motives were a mystery. Had she come to collect the bounty that still remained on her head? Had she been sent to finish the job those men had failed so miserably at? Whatever the reason, Lily did not want the impending confrontation to be held in a place with onlookers. Lily was far too new to town to have any sway on its people. On top of that, should this woman be connected to the ashes of her burned past, she'd rather not see those scattered on the wind, blown into the eager eyes and ears of Briar Ridge and its inhabitants. 
_ _

She kept her pace steady. Step one of leading someone to a place of your choosing was making them believe you were not leading them at all. If the blonde figured out Lily was on to her she might start doing things entirely unaligned with Lily's best interests. She was not sure how long the other had been following her, but over the course of a considerable number of minutes, the thief had managed to get them both closer and closer to the edge of town, away from prying eyes. The revolver she kept hidden on her person burned against her skin. She would not hesitate to use it, should the situation call for it. It had served her well so far. The sound of hasty footsteps in her direction made her hand shoot to her skirt, hoisting up part of the fabric to get to the weapon strapped to her thigh. The action had been much easier when she still wore short dresses. How did women do this here? Before she was able to draw her weapon the blonde had already started talking. Her words were non-threatening, much to Lily's surprise. Brooks stood still, one knee exposed, skirt in hand, just barely covering the band hidden higher up on her leg. Had this been a situation of real danger, Lily would have been screwed. She'd have to find a solution to this particular problem later. Pants maybe.
_ _

"Sorry, thought I felt a bug there." Not one of her best lies, perhaps one of her worst in fact. She quickly pushed her dress down again, smoothing it out while taking another step back, just to create some extra distance between her and Victorine. She had an accent she'd heard before. One belonging to fancy folks. Fancy folks that, in her freshly formed opinion, did not belong in Briar Ridge. Then again, Lily did not belong here either, and yet here they both were. Her own accent was also non-local, she was raised in an orphanage near New York City and hints of that origin still lingered in her intonation. She'd moved around a lot and as a result, so had her speech. Her words came out woven in an accent formed by years of intermingling and existing in different cities. She was working on pushing it to sound more Southern, but did not have nearly enough practice yet. Locals would easily be able to notice that she was not one of them. "You may have, what's it to you? Why are you following me ma'am?" Her tone was accusatory, as if Victorine was the one at fault here, not Lily. In Lily's mind this rang true, she didn't know the silver coin had originated from Victorine's purse. The friendly tone of the other did not match her actions. Friendly people did not follow others halfway across town. Lily did not return Victorine's smile.
Manuel
Of all things Victorine expected from this person, it was not that she would start hitching up her skirt in the middle of the path. Victorine was the last person on earth that might wear a gun under her skirt, so Lily's lie was clearly not believed, but her real intention was also not suspected either. Victorine's dark bushy eyebrows raised, her gaze alight with curiosity. "An insect, of course," She said, glancing around the slush-filled wintry roads.

Somehow, Lily's unsmiling expression did not seem to faze the tall woman from half a foot below her. In fact, she only seemed to smile more, a practiced expression that was equal parts demure and sweet. "Well, it is such a lovely diner, don't you think? I often go there for eggs and tea, but I've seen people eat delicious looking things like hashed potatoes and the most divine smelling fried rashers. Have you tried them?" 

In the yard of the house nearest them, a large dog barked, his noise sounding hollow in the chilly air. Fortunately, he was tethered, but his message was clear. He wanted these two to move along from the borders of his property. As with many things, Victorine seemed to pay him absolutely no mind, waiting for Lily's expected agitation. A few drops of drizzling rain pattered down on them, catching up in her hair like tiny pearls. 

"I also found it quite interesting that I left the waitress a half dollar, and I saw it go into your pocket rather than hers." There it was, that accusation. Strangely, it came with the same friendliness, wide-eyes slow blinking, the tone not at all matching the meaning of the words. It wasn't clear whether she expected explanation, defense, or simply to be returned the coin. Catching people off balance with vagaries was its own special kind of finesse.


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Glenda
There was snow still covering nearby bushes, the temperature far too low to be hospitable to any crawling creatures. "_Thought_ being the keyword there, I was mistaken. Obviously." She smiled, a smile that did not fully reach her eyes. She had a bad feeling about this woman, a feeling that only grew stronger as she continued to speak.

Lily's head snapped to the direction of the dog, Victorine remained calm and unbothered. That was something that made Lily incredibly uncomfortable. She was not used to someone else clearly having the upper hand in a situation. She was not used to having nobody to fall back onto, nobody to pull her out at the last second. They were not used to failing. Maybe she was not as good a criminal as she believed herself to be.

Victorine was onto her, Lily had barely been in Briar Ridge a few days and already she'd lost her touch. Stealing in populated places was so much easier, they couldn't hide here, couldn't melt into the anonymity of a crowd, there were no crowds to be found here. She'd have to adapt, find new ways of sneaking things neatly into her opened pockets. They'd have to accept that she was not adapted to her current environment yet. The thing that bothered her most is that someone who clearly was not trained in the ways of moving through the world unnoticed had noticed her. Victorine reminded her of the nuns in the orphanage, a holier-than-thou attitude and harsh words spoken in sweet tones. People like that never failed to make Lily feel on edge. 
_ _

The kind tone of this woman made the blood in Lily's veins boil. It was a heat that did not show on the outside, Lily had mastered the act of _'yes sir, of course sir, no ma'am you are right that was my fault, yes ma'am I will atone'_ long before she stepped foot anywhere near Briar Ridge. Being able to remain calm while facing accusations, whether well-founded or not, had proven to be an asset. Lily was someone who would remain stoic when yelled at, plotting revenge quietly while acting remorseful. She was also someone who knew when she was beaten, and this was one of those moments. Lists of options raced through her mind, scripts, emotions, actions, all part of complex and well-practiced formulas. They made a split-second decision and hoped it was the right one. _Use what you have, twist it if you must, and hope for pity._

"I'm sorry I-" She looked down, breaking eye contact with Victorine. "I really needed-" She nervously rubbed her hand. "I can give it back just" They look up again "_please_ don't tell anyone. I just got here, I can't go back, I can't be-." They paused, taking a deep breath, time for the truth. "I have nowhere else to go." She could easily do without the dollar, but she truly had no place else to go. If the people of Briar Ridge found out she was nothing more than a common thief, would they still welcome her?
Manuel
Her head canted to the side, the sunset glowing faint behind her. There was something knowing on her face, a subtle albeit persistently perverse sort of satisfaction. Did a manipulator recognize their own kind? It was impossible to say. Her dark hazel eyes gave a glimmer, and the painted lips pulled just so to the left. She was no threat, certainly, with her hands sweetly laced in front of her. But there was an unyielding self-assuredness that could be found unsettling. 

"Well well well," She said on an exhale, a graceful sort of breathiness that lofty ladies tended to take on. Her fingers unlaced. Like a pair of leisurely doves, they floated beneath Lily's jaw, one on either side. Resting there, the thumbs gave a stroke across each pretty cheekbone, the touch light but too intimate for strangers. "Sweet girl, how did you find yourself in this quandary?" Pulling away, her fingers trailed from Lily's face. The very last one of them, the index finger, tipped her chin up as a parting touch. It was almost harsh.

These actions, seemingly like all of them, measured Lily in observation. Stirred her to a response, something else to study. "Were you born in an unfortunate situation?" Her brows knitted together in sadness, and she shook her head. "I don't think so. You are far too sweet. And you are not from around here, that much is certain. So tell me, my darling, I know I must be prying just a little, but indulge me, hm? Why are you with nowhere to lie your pretty head?" 
 
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Glenda
Victorine's thumbs stroked their cheekbones and Lily froze. Her breathing sped up. She'd been in a position where she was treated like an object to be studied before. Hands had grabbed her chin, turned it this way and that to appraise her potential value, to see if hers was a face that could prove to be an _asset_. Fingers had trailed across her cheeks before, and she had pretended to enjoy it. No such pretense was present now. As the blonde woman's fingers left their face, the thief snapped out of the memories. Her right hand shot up to grab Victorine's wrist as her index finger tipped her chin up. "_Don't-_" The word was spoken through gritted teeth. She took a deep breath and she unclenched her jaw. "-touch me." She released her grip, roughly pushing the arm away from her. Her hands itched to hike up her skirt again, to reach for her weapon, to run again. But she couldn't, she wouldn't. She was done running. 

They recognized a predator when she saw one, someone who thrived in the manipulation of others, someone who relished in wrapping people firmly around their fingertips. Lily had been one, but now it seemed she was a mouse and Victorine the coiling snake. The other woman had an air of innocence, but Lily was convinced that something much more sinister lurked behind that mask. Lily did not enjoy being studied and something about Victorine made it hard to uphold their mask.
_ _

She huffed. "You know nothing about me. Or about the circumstances of my birth." There was a hint of anger in her voice. Who the hell did this woman think she was? _Remember Lily, she knows you're a thief, she has something over you, however small._ She couldn't very well tell this stranger what she'd done. Not when she was still a wanted criminal. _My darling_, sickly sweet words, they had the opposite effect on Lily. In another context Lily might have seen this as affection, as flirting even. But not here, not now. "You're right, you _are_ prying. Why I am here is quite frankly none of your business." She reached into her pocket and pulled the coin out, holding it out for Victorine to take. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I want _nothing_ to do with it. There. Take it. You caught me, red handed even. _Happy?_" They feared it wouldn't be that easy, but whatever plan Victorine had, Lily wouldn't go along with it willingly.
Manuel
If the tall and pretentious woman was after a response, she'd gotten one. Her eyebrows raised at her arm being grabbed and shoved away. It was a practiced expression that did not reach her eyes. 

What trauma lay behind this other woman's response? What darkness? What pain? What she wouldn't give to know the intricacies of it. To heal and comfort. What she would give to feel more of that rage, pushing her away, futile with the effort. But she realized quite suddenly, that she had clearly taken the wrong approach. If ever there had been a niche in the guarded walls that comprised Lily's person, even the smallest crack to slip through, she'd missed it. Those walls were closed up tight. 

Victorine only received the smallest taste of what she desired in the tinge of anger present in Lily's voice. It was subtle, but it was there. Victorine had overturned her confidence, had stirred something dark held close within Lily. No doubt, she would regain her assuredness away from here and now, but the urge to keep prying at those walls, with force if need be, surged like a hunger in Victorine. 

Her eyes went so wide, looking voracious, as if they might swallow Lily whole. Whites surrounded the golden-brown irises. Lily was reflected in the black pupils. Possibilities unfolded. Yearning bloomed. The dog letting out another string of barks from not far off reminded her of time and place.

Not here. Not now.

She swallowed that hunger, and breathed deep, an audible inhale through her nose. Her mouth spread into a smile. "You're right," She whispered. Whatever Lily was right about, Victorine didn't say. Her eyes glanced down at the coin, as if it meant nothing to her. Turning on a heel, she tightened her coat around herself and walked back the way she'd come.

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