Secretly, Lillie was worried and upset. She had hoped that Agate would distract her so she did not have to think about Elise and the incident that took place there. That was a horrible thought, however, as she'd just tried to use her friend instead of enjoy her company. It did no good for her to run from her problems, but she kept trying to. With a deep breath, she realized what she had to do. Even if she had not meant to offend Elise, the other had been offended. She owed the other an apology, whether she liked it or not.
With that realization, she left the Trade Depot where she had been looking at some Silk Country goods. Her eyes glanced around, desperately trying to find the other girl. And to get this over with. As she searched, Lillie noticed feeling oddly warm. However, she just brushed it off and continued looking.
It took her a while to track down the girl. She had wandered over into the west side of town, briefly running into Raeger on the way. He was going to visit Mistel, which left her with a bitter taste in her mouth. That boy was corrupting Raeger, even if he couldn't see it. However, that wasn't her problem right now.
More villagers passed by, each one stopping by to chat. However, none of them were Elise. It was more likely at this point that Elise was out by the mountain trail, as she was not in her manor.
With that in find, she walked outside,. Just in time to run into Elise. Or more, have Elise run into her. Without warning, she had gone from standing up to sitting down, where her behind painfully hit the road.
"Oww," she complained instinctively, looking around. As she looked up, she quickly saw the reason for her predicament. A shocked Elise stood above her, mouth open.
"Lillie!" she said, as if shocked. "I wasn't expecting you here!"
"Elise," she began slowly, looking down as she hauled herself up. "I have something to say to you, about earlier."
Before she had a chance to speak, the other cut her off. "No, I have something to say first. I'm sure you're hear to tell me off for being ruse. I- I was being rude. But.. I have to take responsibility for my actions." She looked down, taking a deep breath. "I.. I'm sorry for yelling at you, Lillie."
Lillie stood there in shock, certain the running river had distorted the other's words or that she had simply been too distracted to think properly. Elise was apologizing to her, it seemed. As much as the weather girl hated to admit it, that just did not seem plausible. After all, the blonde was so irate before.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked slowly, blinking in surprise. That only seemed to make the blonde more embarrassed, and some anger showed on the other's face.
"You heard me!' she snapped, blushing in embarrassment. Looking down, the richer girl forced herself to say it again. "I said... I said I'm sorry," she mumbled, hiding her face in her hair. She felt so ashamed of herself, and Lillie could see that clearly. In turn, Lillie felt bad for being so mean in her thoughts.
"I forgive you," she managed, realizing it was more true than she thought. Elise was turning out not to be as bad as she originally thought. At least, for right now. However, nothing this nice could ever last with Elise.
In the span it takes to blink, Elise's bashful face turned to one of arrogance. Simply a mask thrown over what's there, but used so often that it was nearly impossible for someone unskilled to see through. "Well, goo!" she scoffed, turning away. "If you didn't, I would have to wonder about your intelligence. Thankfully you're smart enough to know it forgive when someone as rich as I says something of that nature!"
"She wouldn't like me even if she got close to me anyway," Lillie piped up, looking annoyed but otherwise not bothered.
"What?" the blonde suddenly snapped, She whipped around, cheeks as pale as the snow. She met Lillie's set yet disapproving face.
"That's what you're thinking, right?" she asked, tilting her head. "That's why you act so rude all the time, right? Since you're scared to get close.
"H- How- Why-" Elise stuttered helplessly, gaping like a fish. How would Lillie know?
"Oh, so it is true. You know, you shouldn't try to hide your true self from others, just because you think they won't like you," Lillie scolded, crossing her arms. "You will never know unless you try, right? So start being a child and start trying!"*
Of all the responses the anti-social blonde expected to receive, a scolding was most certainly not one of them. She actually froze for a moment, mouth opening and closing in befuddlement. She had been meaning to stalk away dramatically, but the words had stopped her in her tracks. "..What?" she finally managed to respond, blinking slowly.
"It's not too complex, Elise. If you want people to like you for you, the first step is letting them see the rel you! I don't think the real you is the girl who makes snide remarks and makes people miserable. I think you're a good person inside, but you don't know how to show it." She had most certainly not thought that this morning, but recent interactions had started to slightly change her mind. "If you could do that, then we could be friends. Alright?" She stuck out her hand in offer of friendship.
What a peculiar girl.
After a moment's hesitation, Elise reached forward to take the other's hand. "Very well, we will play it your way. However, do expect how to learn not to be such a pushover," the blonde commented airily.
Internally, Lillie sighed. You could try all you like with Elise, but she seemed to perpetually have that less-than-savory side to her on , one day, she could outgrow that.
*Favorite line in this fanfic so far
FunFactWithJJ#1- Puppet master!Mistel's character ws inspired by both Ciel Phantomhive [Black Butler] and Izaya Orihara [Durarara].
FunFactWithJJ#2- I was going to combine two chapters into one so that Mistel and Raeger could sneak in here, along with Iris. However, I thought I'd just keep them separate.
Hope you likes this, and have a wonderful rest of your day.
