Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was something naked about the park today. It looked like it never had before. This was because Vanessa could not really see it, could not really think about anything other than what she had lost. She sat on a bench, enveloped by the shade of a towering sycamore. The tree was her companion today, and Vanessa looked unusually morose as she festered beneath it.

Super Van was at home. Vanessa could not bear to look at the costume that John Jr had helped her to build. It reminded her too vividly of what had happened- of the thing she would have liked to forget, but would always remember. Hairy Pete's face, ever present, floated like ripples in a pond at the back of her mind. Vanessa wasn't a girl who did anything in halves, and had loved this man with all of her heart. He had been a very dear friend, and she missed him terribly.

It was her fault that he was gone, and this knowledge made the sting of loss particularly sharp.

Vanessa sat very still on the park bench she had chosen. There was a distant expression on her face. She looked to be thinking very hard about something and was, in fact. Her mind had been made up days ago. As soon as she could face herself, and the sense of guilt that plagued her soul, Vanessa would embrace the identity of Super Van once more. And she would avenge Hairy Pete's death. It was the only solution to this problem that she could fathom.

Her temper would be easily broken today. It was in tatters, and she was just barely holding on. Golden eyes swirled with the storm of poorly concealed fury.

Khalla hadn't had many chances to follow Amara after the library - after all, the two of them rarely saw each other to begin with and stalking was hard work to pull off correctly.

Today had proved to be a turning point in the investigation, though. Khalla had figured out exactly where Amara was leading her after a few minutes into the walk and had gotten fairly excited over the idea of going to the park. That was a typical meeting place for lovers - she would know, she was always bumping into them in the most inappropriate places during her clean up work.

The park had also provided much better cover for her in her attempts to remain unnoticed by her target. So instead of just having to stick to shadows she had been able to use the trees and foliage to hide herself. It was behind one tree that she was taking cover and watching Amara when she made a beeline for a girl sitting on a park bench. At first Khalla thought this had been yet another fruitless adventure - Amara was apparently just visiting a friend.

Then came Amara's rather interesting display of public affection and Khalla's whole theory was turned upside down. Amara was dating a female? Her eyes widened a little and her mouth gaped at the idea. It wasn't really the idea that she was dating a girl that upset her, it was that.. a girl might have done all those awful things?

The force of the blow combined with Amaravati's injured ankle (along with her tendency for melodrama) sent her sprawling onto the ground, looking up at Vanessa with the most pathetic, wounded expression. However, when she finally spoke, it was with angry tears in her eyes, and an accusation in her voice. "It... it's just like you t-to pretend you don't know m-me in public!" The hot tears welled up, and spilled down her cheeks, and she brought her hand up to cover the growing red mark on her cheek.

"You w-would s-say that t-to m-me!" From Khalla's perspective, Amara would probably appear to be the injured party. But Amara knew very well that she was manipulating and misusing both girls, and didn't care. She needed to. Her continued survival might depend on it, and she could not risk that. "Well... I ... you c-can't control me anymore, do you hear me?" Her voice broke on the final word, and she brought her other hand up as if to ward off a blow.

"I'm done t-taking hits for you." Tears still pouring down her cheeks, she stayed huddled like that, waiting for the inevitable outburst from her roommate, who she knew to be watching. With Vanessa above her, she flinched, and the movement looked almost... habitual. It was carefully designed that way, of course, carefully practiced, but neither of them would have any way of knowing that.

There was almost a quiet defiance about the set of her shoulders, though the way that she cringed away from Vanessa made it clear enough that the defiance was weak, and easily subverted. The situation was incredibly suggestive of just what Khalla wanted to see, expected to see. In fact, it was almost written out for her, but Amara didn't think she would pick up on that. Not when she was likely so proud of herself for 'catching on'.

Vanessa had heard stories about lunatics. Vanessa had even been accused of being crazy herself. She had always secretly thought it would be pretty cool to meet an insane person. Now she wasn't so sure. This stranger seemed to sincerely believe that they had been involved and, if she hadn't been so pissed off at being assaulted, Vanessa might have felt just a little bit sorry for her.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Vanessa's chest heaved violently with the efforts of her breathing. She had expelled a lot of of pent up fury with that lonely, although, very successful (she was a little smug) strike. It was good to not feel so damned helpless anymore.

Khalla laid claim to her attention, and Vanessa spun on her heel to watch the screeching girl through narrowed eyes. Crazy women were coming at her from all angles, it seemed. Vanessa didn't really know what to do. This surprise attack, coupled with the grief she still felt for Hairy Pete, overwhelmed her. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

So she fumed, eyes flashing red as Khalla marched closer.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking abou- OW. What the fu-

Vanessa really should have seen it coming. She really should have, but when Khalla swung, she was unprepared. A very solid fist connected with her jaw, and tears, inspired both by physical pain and the leftovers of despair, threatened to pour down her cheeks. Anger mounted, but Vanessa didn't have time to react. Before she knew what was happening- before she had time to register the taste of blood on her tongue, something hard and uncomfortable made contact with the soft flesh of her abdomen. She gasped in pain and collapsed to her knees, with one arm wrapped tightly around herself.

The tears in her eyes made it difficult for her to see, and even harder to fight back.

"You guys suck."

Fortunately for both Vanessa and Amara, Khalla wasn't really the type to keep beating someone when they were down. Sure, Khalla was angry and sure, she wanted revenge on this awful, awful girl for doing all those terrible things to her roommate but she wasn't the kind of person that went into a blind rage and hurt someone until they couldn't speak. No, it was only the initial blows that Khalla wanted to get in and then she felt like her duty had been done. She'd taught the lesson she had come to teach!

As her anger died her senses slowly began to return to her and she started to hear the words of the girls around her bit by bit. She couldn't find it in herself to answer Vanessa - she couldn't reply to anything she said. She could only look at her with a face that spoke extreme disapproval from the set of her furrowed brows right down to the heavy frown of her lips.

So instead she turned away, her dreads swaying and blocking Vanessa from her view. Her eyes instantly landed on her roommate, the roommate who was looking faint and in pain from that ankle injury only this girl could have caused. "We'll go home right now," she said in a slightly harsh tone, though it was clearly still a leftover resentment for the girl behind them. Her hand reached out for Amara to help steady her on her ankle and without a glance spared for Vanessa, she tugged Amara a little forward and away from the scene to begin their walk out of the park and home to their dorm.

She was going to have a long talk with Amara once they got there, she was already going over it in her head.

As conscious as she was that she was doing this for the greater good, Amaravati still felt a twinge of guilt when the other girl had her outburst. It was her fault all of this had happened, not poor Vanessa's. Worse yet, she didn't know how she was going to make it better. She really didn't. Why she felt she had to, she didn't know, but... no matter what she did at night, no matter what duties she might have, there was one universal truth, and that was that she was using both girls. Using Khalla felt worse than using Vanessa, who she didn't know outside of this one run in. From what she could see, she didn't know if she wanted to try to know her.

Vanessa, after all, had every reason to hate her. Hate didn't make for grand companions. When the girl made to tackle them, she let out a soft, strangled scream, the sound terrible for its subdued quality. It was as if she could not muster anything more full, anything more telling. Perhaps she had learned not to scream. Perhaps someone had taught her. But she wavered on her feet, nearly unbalancing once more. It was a close thing. A %*#$ close thing. Sniffling, tears of pain and fear on her cheeks, she tried to shield her body from the enraged young woman.

If anything, that was bound to send Khalla into a rage. Of course, it was entirely possible that her roommate would surprise her. Khalla didn't spend as much time with Amara as either of them might have, if neither of them had had... other obligations. "S-Stop," she stuttered, hands and arms up to shield her face, shoulders noticeably shaking. She had learned how to bring about that response. Lately, she'd been reeling in predators for her hunts, and there were ways to get their attention without having to sneak up on them.

... Yes, that thought was creepy, but at least she was doing the city a service! Really she was. Then again, how many of those 'predators' were actually a threat? No way of knowing. "P-Please... please stop," she begged, her voice strained and small. She wondered what she would think of this later, lying awake at night. Would she feel remorse? Or would it be another one of those cases that she dismissed because she was slowly changing? Would she regret manipulating and bullying these girls? Perhaps. If she did, she would find ways of making reparations, or at least of not making them suspicious.

The sound of Amara's strangled scream cut threw Vanessa's fury like a dull blade. It registered, but slowly, and helped Vanessa to realize what she had just tried to do. She landed on her chin in the grass, having missed Khalla by inches, with a bruised ego and swiftly beating heart. It slowed as the adrenaline seeped out of her blood, and Vanessa pushed herself to her knees with a frustrated groan.

A blade of grass and some dirt were stuck to her lips. She said, "Yuck," and brushed them off with her hand.

If these strange girls really were crazy, which seemed entirely plausible, then she would achieve nothing by fighting with them. It was amazing that she had recognized this fact, but undeniable. No good could come from delivering bloody noses to a pair of girls who wouldn't understand why she was hitting them.

The dark haired one seemed to think they were -or, at least, had been- some sort of item. The light haired one seemed to think her friend needed to be protected from Vanessa.

Since that wasn't exactly untrue, Vanessa relented. But, she could not help that she was still angry.

"What are YOU crying for?" She hollered at Amara from her position on the ground, aware of the other girl's tears, and wiped away her own with the back of her hand. Nobody had jumped out of the bushes and assaulted her. Amara had not held her friend in her arms as he had died. Vanessa had more reason to cry! She was furious at herself for doing so.

Khalla was mostly ignored. Vanessa sniffed back her tears.

Khalla didn't stop to listen to the girl behind them. She didn't want to give her a chance to explain herself, she didn't want to hear anything that came out of her mouth. Khalla's mind was a whirl of anger and guilt and there was nothing that was going to break through that haze and make her act rationally until she got Amara out of the park and away from the girl that was lying on the ground behind them.

If she never saw Vanessa again it would be far too soon.

Vanessa was shrinking behind them and the park entrance was growing larger as they got closer and closer. Her anger was ebbing slightly as the world beyond the park became visible and she at least looked away from the dead set path ahead of her to the friend at her side. The grip on Amara's arm lessened and she frowned slightly at her before she found the words she had been looking for.

"I'm sorry," it was all she managed to get out. She had tried to find something more articulate but between her lack of knowledge on whatever was going on in this relationship and her anger, it was all she could find to say to her. She stared at Amara for a few moments, but finally just looked ahead of them to the looming entrance they were about to pass through. "We're almost there, anyway, and it's over." She hadn't even started to feel accomplished yet, she just wanted to get Amara away safely.