The closer she walked to the small hotel that she stayed with her companions, the more dread the orange haired woman felt because of the disaster she expected to see. Strange how she had just told one of the knights yesterday that she should expect everything and Alice was now only expecting the worst. She heard no loud noises when she stood in front of the door of her hotel room. It was a one person room or well it held a queen size bed that she had shared with Hecate the night before, the night before that, when they were with the three of them in Hargeon she had had the bed for her alone while her companions had taken their beast form to sleep. She put her hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath and opened the door by twisting it a little to the left, next to the right and opening it with a little push against it. As she stepped inside, she noticed that it was quiet, no one screaming, no one yelling or crying and she turned her face to the left side of the room and noticed two happy looking animals, vastly asleep. Alice shook her head and a smile appeared on her lips, she took the keys of the room and closed the door behind her immediately again. She would go out for lunch and let the two stay a little longer together alone. Now that she was back on the street again she needed to find a place to stay and have lunch. She didn’t like much sitting somewhere alone so it would be wonderful if she could take something to go and that made her head back to the square of Hargeon town to find something there. There were enough things, little shops, cafes and also little stalls that you could have to buy food to go, she found a falafel wrap that she could order to go. She watched with curiosity in her eyes as they made it and wrapped it up very neatly. She didn’t know where to sit or so and just walked around, curiosity about what was happening in town and so on, what kind of effect spring had on this town, she had arrived in summer, left when autumn had made its entrance. She took a bite and went to finally sit down somewhere near the fountain to really sit down and relax while eating her lunch. She wondered if there was a job for her to do, but from this point of view she could see that the quest board was empty and that made it later depressive that she was alone at this point. It was scary how much she got used to have her companions around. So she decided that she should find something as she had done before, just walk around and else head back, at some point the two would wake up again from their nap from this afternoon.



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First she would simply eat and think by herself, what would have happened with Jupiter might still be bugging her a little. Because what would happen if he did it again, run off again? What if he ran off with Hecate? She would be so afraid that they wouldn’t come back, she didn’t only depend on them as companions in her new battle against the possible world of... ‘evil’.. But also on a lot of other things, on their friendship, she couldn’t just simply let go of the image in her mind that they might leave her just as he had done before and no one was binding them to her. Alice took a deep breath and tried to empty her mind, which was definitely difficult, she thought a lot about her companions, her children and the whole situation. If she stayed here much longer, she could pick up the dress in Crocus before returning towards Orchidia where the children perhaps would be. She should return to the hotel room to write a letter to Kon to explain why it took a bit longer. She took another deep breath and tried to release the air as slow as possible. She focused again on eating, which was difficult if a lot of thoughts were swirling through your mind. So she thought about the flavours, the texture of the wrap and the falafel and so on, the spices and before she knew it, the wrap was gone. She had finished eating it and as she had not focused on her feeling of needing food, she felt a bit stuffed now. Perhaps that would make it better to take a walk before heading back, talking to Hecate and Jupiter and write that letter to tell Kon they were on their way home. Would it still make sense to write a letter if she was on her way herself? She sighed this time, making a ball of the paper that she had still in her hand and threw it at the trashcan. She could have aimed better but she didn’t and stood up to pick up the paper ball and throw it still in the trashcan. Now that she was standing, she put her hands in her pocket and walked off to go do nothing but empty her mind. She should simply talk to Hecate and Jupiter if they thought about leaving her, if Jupiter wanted to return to the wild as his cousin was there as well. Would that work for them now that they were able to turn into a human? What a complications came with such issues and she decided not to say anything about it just yet, but empty her mind, stop freaking out before just ask curiously, depending on the mood in the hotel of course. She looked up at the skyline, the hotel she stayed at was too small but it brought a smile on her face to remember they stopped fighting now and were napping together again.



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As she was walking around, she wasn’t paying much attention, it didn’t matter at this point but in the end of course that could only bring disaster and as someone bumped into her right shoulder, she apologized and started to look around again. There was a young boy that looked in a state of panic and she looked left and right, no one else seemed to bother and that’s when she noticed that there was a badge, a Rune Knight, the symbol of a page and she decided to take it up to her to ask if he needed any help. As mentor of a couple of people, she couldn’t help but help another one as well right, for now, just as she helped Asura along. ”Hello there,” She said and held up her hand for a short wave and smiled, the boy was about her age, he couldn’t miss her. And he sure didn’t, as his eyes turned to her, he only looked more nervous as he turned pale, ”L-Lieutenant.” Eh.. well the words stopped travelling when she left, ”Actually I quit.” she said with a nervous smile, perhaps she should have asked someone else to help him if he became nervous from her, ”You are the Red Whirlwind right?” She nodded slowly, never used the title but heard it was given to her, the Council had called her that when she was promoted and she heard the name again when she went to the party as a guard for a Lord, with Snowflake. She wondered how her friend was doing.



But right now she couldn’t think about that as she turned her attention back to the boy, ”Now you know who I am but please call me Alice, who are you?” she asked friendly. At this point the boy thankfully didn’t annoy her yet, she could understand people were nervous but sometimes it was best to just get the job over and done with so you wouldn’t have to be nervous about it anymore. The feelings weren’t futile but it would be best to just simply work it out and get over the nerves. The boy introduced himself as Collin Simmers and she smiled at him, thank god he had already suspected that she was the lieutenant still so she didn’t have to ask him officially if he was a knight, she understood so to say very well. ”So on what job did they send you?” And she heard that Colin was asked about a patrol through the streets of Hargeon. The Lord wanted more eyes and ears around as there had been drugs dealed around, funny that she had seen Lord Reign of Hargeon Town this morning. He might not know her as lieutenant anymore as she never introduced herself like that but that was all good, she let it happen and she nodded, perhaps that was the busy meeting that he had this morning that made her babysit Petunia. There was only one way to help.


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”Well if it makes you nervous, would you like me to come along? I have nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon so I wouldn’t mind.” She offered, which seemed to be something that made Collin a little less nervous and he thanked her for the generosity, she had not even done something yet. So in the end she would walk with him through the streets, chit chatting about nothing much. She kept her eyes and ears around and was indeed the first to notice two people, a large man with a brown tweed jacket and a large gray moustache and brown matching hat, and another man. They seemed to be dealing drugs and she stopped Collin and wished he wasn’t so obvious in his staring but too late. The two of them noticed them and bolted. Wonderfull now she had to work today again, ”Follow that old man.” She muttered as she took a sprint into the alley where the other had left, the bald man was easy to spot in the sea of people but he knew his ways around, unfortunately for him, she was fast. So she made her way towards the man and when she had a clear view on him, she moved her hand diagonal to cast her vulpecula spell and bound the man to himself and let him crash. Which definitely looked painful, but she didn’t care, everything for the safety of the citizens of towns in Fiore. She took the drugs he had and asked him about the other man in case Collin would have missed the opportunity to catch the man. The man first didn’t answer, but Alice had done this job before, in Oak, with Yami and Yumi.. which made her realize now that the names again looked so familiar. It didn’t matter, she punched the guy in his face before he finally gave answers. She let him be arrested by the knights that showed up for the drug trafficking and walked back to the last spot she had Collin, where he had indeed been waiting. Which was good. So with that done, some jewels in her pocket and a satisfied day, she decided to leave Collin to his round, he would surely be able to do it now by himself. He seemed to be more nervous when she suggested that but she ignored it. She had other plans, she would order some take-out and take it to the hotel, hoping that the peace would have lasted and believing that she might need a good chit chat with her companions as to see if they planned to stick with her for longer than she was afraid off. Perhaps Jupiter would give her some answers, after all, he had apologized and she wondered if he took up her advice to tell Hecate and might perhaps be able to tell her as well. She would see, no hopes, no expectations, that would probably be for the best right now, no disappointments.



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