Darlene almost faltered when she got a better look at the woman. She was pretty, and that thought made all of the colour drain from Darlene’s face. Under the other’s stare, Darlene dropped her gaze, eyes discreetly going to the side as if to see if anyone else was watching her; as if she was all of a sudden conscious of her surroundings and how she acted. The black wood rosary beads hidden beneath her cardigan suddenly felt heavier, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Girls can think that other girls are pretty. That doesn’t mean a thing. Darlene managed to look back up at the woman eventually, and when she did, her cheeks tinged pink. “A map?” Darlene frowned a little. “I can’t read maps. And why would I need one? They’re for boys, men, not girls.” She hugged her bedsheets to her chest when the woman held out a hand for her to shake, and stood there staring at it. “Darlene Sadler.” Her lips thinned. “You’re not the one who is goin’ to be showing me around, are you?” It seemed a stupid question, considering the woman was already here to at least welcome Darlene into her new bedroom. Darlene glanced inside before adding. “I mean, around the… whole… place. There are a… lot of’ – sinful people around here. I don’t really want to be around them.”
Alix’s mouth opened at Darlene’s words, like she was going to say something but didn’t quite know how to. Which she didn’t, really, but Alix rarely knew what to say in any given situation. “I... I’m not sure how it is where you’re from, but you can read maps here if you want to. Everyone can. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe I can help you? I’m not that good at it myself but we can figure it out together.” She swallowed and smiled, eventually letting her hand drop from the space between them once she realized Darlene wasn’t going to shake it. She was odd, Alix decided, though she didn’t let the kind smile waver on her face. Wherever she had come from and what she was used to was obviously very different from the academy -- and the whole reason Alix was there was to help her get to grips with that. She hadn’t been told where Darlene came from, or even anything about her apart from her name and room number, and wondered if it would be rude to ask questions. “It’s nice to meet you, Darlene.” At that moment she remembered the girl was probably wanting to get into her new room, and she stepped back further inside, so as to let her pass. “I -- I am going to be showing you around, yes.” At first Alix frowned, wondering if she’d done something wrong -- until Darlene said something more and she realized it wasn’t anything to do with her at all. “Oh, well... we don’t have to see the whole place today. Just the main places. So you know where you’re going when you need to eat or want to speak with someone. Then maybe tomorrow we can look around other places, if you feel like it.” She hesitated, wondering if the brunette had a problem with other people in general (what was that sinner comment about?), and took a small step closer to her. “If you’re worried about, y’know, other people being around then we can take the tour in between classes. Then everywhere will be empty.”















