Is That Really What you Should be Focusing on?

Staring at the dirty face in front of her and feeling the cold blade on her neck, Lily really couldn't help but regret coming outside for her smoke break. Why couldn't she have just smoked in the lounge? Although the madam would be a little pissed, she never really cared in the end and would say a word or two and leave it at that.

"Ahem, little lady, why don't we talk it out? I really didn't mean any harm, I was just cracking a joke." Slowly moving her hands, Lily moved both of them where Ava could see them, showing that she didn't hold any weapons.

Staring at Lily's face while taking glances at her hands, Ava gave a slight nod but kept the edge of the blade on Lily's neck regardless.

Feeling helpless, Lily could only say, "Do you mind letting me up? Or at least move a little? When I fell earlier, I landed on my smoke, and it's burning a hole in my ass as we speak."

Frowning, Ava eased up on her weight slightly. With a sigh of relief, Lily perked up her waist with ease and scooted her butt to the right a little distance before plopping it back on the ground and scooting back to the left, pushing aside a small cigarette butt that burned with a soft orange ember. "Ahh, that's much better. Thank you, little lady."

With a slightly hoarse voice, Ava said, "Stop calling me that."

Blinking, Lily was slightly surprised by Ava's soft voice and said, "Why not? I caught a glance earlier and saw you looked quite young. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Honestly, you don't know how many of the girls would kill to be a little younger… Hissss."

Lily hissed as Ava subconsciously pushed the knife deeper at the word kill. Realizing her mistake, Ava slightly eased up on the pressure.

Lily bit her lip and said, "Girl, couldn't you have been softer. Sister's gotta keep everything above the chest looking nice."

Hearing this, it was Ava's turn to be surprised. "Is that really what you should be focusing on right now?" As if to remind Lily, Ava pushed in a little bit with the knife again, although she only pushed with the handle and not the blade, simply applying some pressure to the side of Lily's neck and causing the thin wound to bleed a little more.

Letting out a slight chuckle, Lily whispered, "Well, you haven't killed me thus far, and I'm betting a lot on the fact that you couldn't bear to kill such a beautiful older sister. Mind letting me up? Promise I won't run."

Thinking for a moment, Ava eased up on the knife but kept it close to Lily before getting up and backing away a few steps in a single breath. Although Lily had seen her belongings, Ava had indeed been a bit rash in jumping forward in attacking her. In the end, she probably should have just run into some random alleyway before circling back into the market, buying a new mask at another stall, and calling it for the night. After all, even if this was nearing the slums, murder was still an annoying matter to deal with.

Feeling the weight come off her chest, Lily stood up with a slightly surprised and pleased expression before lightly rubbing her neck and grimacing. "I hope that cleans up well, or I'll have to come up with a really interesting story about why there's a cut on my neck." Thinking for a moment, Lily let out a silly smile, "Or I could start wearing a collar, woof woof! That'll drive some of the clients mad."

Staring at Lily, Ava couldn't help but feel her eyes fog up in confusion. What the hell was this girl talking about?

Realizing she was going on a tangent, Lily let out a soft cough and said, "Oh right, I never introduced myself. I'm Lily. I work in the shop behind this door. Umm, I guess you could say I'm a prostitute, but I don't do anything under the chest for now as the Madam says I'm too young. Just as well, really, always liked girls more than boys, and I heard the cleanup is messy."

Blushing slightly, Lily realized she was saying too much, "Um, anyways, would you like to come in and chat for a while? I'm sorry for giving you a fright. I really just thought it was cute seeing you hide coppers in a corner. Err, seeing that you're carrying so much stuff. I assume you're new here? If you want, we have a few spare rooms you could stay for a day or two while figuring out where to go."

Staring at Lily, Ava tried to process what just happened. Was she getting invited to stay the night? By the lady she had pinned on the ground just a moment ago? Staring into Lily's eyes, Ava tried to find a single reason for her to distrust the girl, but Lily's eyes were as clear as a sunny day. Frowning, Ava couldn't help but hesitate. The odds that this was a trap were quite high. It was unreasonable and illogical for someone to invite her in immediately after being attacked, right? It was much more likely that this was a trick to rob Ava of her belongings.

But in the end, Ava gave a slight nod against her better judgment. Anyways, she was here for a new lease on life. Perhaps this was what she was looking for. But perhaps more importantly, looking up, Ava realized that the building had quite a few windows that weren't that high up. With any luck, if anything went wrong, she had quite a few ways out.

Seeing Ava agree, Lily's eyes couldn't help but light up, "Wonderful, you'll get to meet the Madam and the other girls. I'm sure they'll love you." Pausing momentarily, Lily added, "Um, but maybe you should take a bath first. I can help you draw some hot water."

Looking down at her pants, Lily let out a sigh of relief as she realized the cloak had taken the worst of the mess from being pushed on the ground, but suddenly let out a frown as she realized her butt and thighs had been covered in a thin layer of dirt. "Actually, I think I'll need some water for myself too."