A return

[knifewithnoname]

Who: Little One and Open
Where: Luggage, Cabin 1:C and then throughout the train
When: Egret, day 21
What: Little One wakes up in a suitcase and then investigates any changes in her time away
Warnings:

Waking: Luggage

This had happened to her before. A voice from the screens and then waking up in a suitcase. But this time she had been on the mission and now she was here.

Why? Why had they taken her off the mission? She had been doing well. She had figured out the stupid space ships and the guns. But she had still disappeared and was back in a suitcase. She sat up with a sigh and looked around, instincts kicking in. Checking for danger, for people, for anyone who was too close.

Once she decided it was safe she clambered out and moved towards the exit. She paused near the door to bring up the ICP and click onto the passenger list. New people. Some names missing. She did her best to commit them to memory. She checked the day, she had been gone a while. Longer than last time. Most people were still here though. That was good.

Cabin 1, C

The first place she headed to was her room. She still had the bag she had carried on the mission and she wanted to put it down before she went elsewhere. She headed to her room quickly and opened the door with a wave of her ticket. It was strange that things that had seemed so strange only months ago now felt familiar.

She entered, planning just to throw her bag onto her bag and get changed out of the flight suit and into trousers and a hoodie.

Throughout the train

She is headed to the kitchen, as she's pretty hungry but not so hungry that she isn't going to investigate the train as she goes. Checking up on people she knows, watching them from a distance. She takes note of new people, doing her best to match their faces to the pictures she had seen on the ICP. It's difficult though, there are a lot of new people to keep track of.

But she watches, listening and taking in everything she sees as she makes her way from carriage to carriage.

Comments

[knifewithnoname]

She gets a grin in response and she follows Alice into the kitchen and nodded. "I did be practising a lot."

It hadn't taken long to work out how the people on the train were polite to each other and what they expected. And since being polite to the likes of Tony and Ignis got her nice food and honey cakes, well there was no point in not being.

Sometimes it was harder, when she was angry. But Alice was nice and so it was easy.

"You do be being polite as well, so you must have been being a rarity too."

[irrationally]

"Do you want to know a secret?" She turns back to look at the girl. Well, it's not really a secret, especially if you observe Alice around most other people, but still.. "I'm only polite to people who deserve it."

Which means not too many people yet on this train. But Alice is definitely not going out of her way to be mean to a child that isn't being a brat.

"It sounds like you've learned quickly though. You also seem smart enough to be able to tell some people are most certainly not worth being polite to."

[knifewithnoname]

"Yes." She liked secrets, she always wanted to know them. But it couldn't be all that much of a secret if she was offering to just tell her. She grinned at the words and the implication.

"Well there do no be being any point at being polite to stupid people. They do no be appreciating it."

[irrationally]

Stupid people. She may have laughed at that if she wasn't as emotionally stunted as she is, but she seems kind of amused all the same. Maybe some people might not appreciate kids' brutal honesty, but in this case Alice sure can.

"Right you are." While waiting for the water to boil, she's already grabbing some things to make the sandwiches with. "Respect must be earned, rather than expected-- Is there anything you'd like on your sandwich?"

[knifewithnoname]

That was true, respect must be earned. And there were few people who had earned it in her eyes.

"I would be liking honey, please." She tilted her head, "Do you be needing any help?"

If being polite was getting her food, then politeness would continue.

[irrationally]

"If you want to." It's not like making something as simple as sandwiches requires a lot of effort, so it's not something Alice actually minds doing. Even making extra for this girl isn't too much of a big deal. Regardless, she takes a step aside so there's space for her to work at the counter too if she wants. Alice has already grabbed the honey, so she can put it on the bread if she wants to.

".. Ironically enough, with this talk of politeness, I'm only now realising I never even asked your name last time we spoke."

[knifewithnoname]

"Oh." She shrugged, "You can be calling me Buttercup if you do be wanting to."

She wasn't really sure what to do to help, it wasn't like sandwiches were exactly difficult.

"You do be being called Alice, right?"

[irrationally]

Considering how used Alice is to wordplay - all those people who live in Wonderland were saying strange stuff all the time, after all - the nuance of what the girl says doesn't go unnoticed. There's a difference between what you can call someone and what they are called in general, after all.

Still, she doesn't ask about it. It'd be pretty hypocritical, coming from someone who plays so many things so close to her chest herself.

"That is right." A slight pause, and then she adds: "You're the first Buttercup I've met."

She's not even talking about people, it's just that she's spoken to a lot of different flowers before, but never a buttercup.. Welcome to Alice's strange world.

[knifewithnoname]

"The first?" She grinned, that was good. Being the first in anything was bound to be a good thing.

"You do be being the first Alice I did be meeting too."

[irrationally]

"At least that will stave off any name confusion here on the train." Oh, Alice, you have no idea just how many alternate versions of you could end up here.

She holds out a finished sandwich to the girl. "Here. With extra honey."

[knifewithnoname]

She nodded, it would be confusing if people had the same name. She took the sandwich with a grin. "I do be thanking you."

Extra honey sounded like the best sandwich ever.

[irrationally]

"You're welcome."

She takes the sandwich she made for herself too, taking a small bite out of it. At least Alice is proper enough to first finish the bite before she starts talking again.

"So, how did things go for you back out there in space?" Maybe she's speaking a little too casually about space for someone from old times, but honestly, she's been there now. She's allowed to be all nonchalant about it. She's seen stranger things.

[knifewithnoname]

She also took a bite, it was as delicious as she had imagined. She shrugged at the question, "It did be going fine until I did be disappearing."

That was annoying, and confusing, she had been snatched right out of a space ship and ended back on the train!

[irrationally]

"Disappeared?" Alice's eyebrows rise a little. Not enough to look completely shocked, but still slightly surprised. "And then you just reappeared back here on the train?"

It's not really a baffling idea to her - she's seen much weirder, hence the lack of surprise. But it's true that she can't imagine that being anything but very annoying. Especially if it'd happen in the middle of everything that had been going on out there.

[knifewithnoname]

"Yes." She nodded with a nose wrinkle. It had been weird and annoying.

"It did be happening to me before, but then I did always be being on the train, I did just be disappearing and be being in the luggage carriage and I did be missing some days."

[irrationally]

Missing days can't be a good thing. Sure, Alice has missed days. She's missed years, in fact, but that's exactly why she knows that can't be a good thing. Especially for a girl as young as Buttercup. What is this train or whatever force is behind it even thinking?

"It shouldn't do that to you," she says with quite some conviction. "What use is it even to make you disappear like that? It will just make the people who care about you worry."

And she's pretty sure there have to be a lot of those. Buttercup seems like a very likeable girl.

[knifewithnoname]

"It should no be doing it at all." She agreed whole heartedly. "It do be being very stupid and it did probably be making Peter be going all leaky eyed." Not that Peter needed much of an excuse, but it was annoying that it would be because of her.

Even if it wasn't her fault!

"Sometimes people do no even be coming back, they do be leaving the train and they do no even be saying goodbye."

[irrationally]

"Leaky eyed?" With Alice's wild imagination, she's imagining that slightly too literally for a few moments.. But after said quiet moments, she suddenly realises what the girl means.

"You mean he cried?" Alice may not know who Peter is - as she doesn't bother to remember the names of most people here on the train, really - but at least it's obvious why he must have done that. "That just means you have people here who care about you."

She manages to say it without resentment. Alice is used to people not caring about her, but she'd never carry a grudge towards anyone who's stuck in the opposite position. If anything, it's good that there's people caring for such a young kid.

[knifewithnoname]

She nodded, leaky eyed was a much better description though. Crying just sounded weird. Peter did care for her it was true, she was his friend and he was hers. However.

"He do be going leaky eyed over lots of things. He would be being sad if anyone did be leaving or dying. That do just be being how he do be being."

Weak.

Which was such a strange thing because he was so strong in other ways.

[irrationally]

"Some people are like that."

It sounds mostly like a neutral observation. Because it is. Alice feels like she doesn't really have the right to judge anyone about whether they cry or not. She's cried, after all, although she prefers to not do it anywhere someone can see her. That's too much vulnerability on display.

"But from the way you make it sound, you aren't."

[knifewithnoname]

She shook her head, "My face do be being un-leaky." That was only a good thing. Tears were the most stupid thing. They did nothing but give you a headache and make you hurt.

She had cried, obviously. But not in a long time. It was a wasteful activity and not something she had time for.

Alice didn't seem like the person who went leaky faced either. She seemed sensible and strong.

[irrationally]

Deep down Alice probably knows somewhere that it's healthy to cry. That never crying is not that great, especially when you've got things you probably should be crying about.

But giving a child the advice to cry feels much too hypocritical. Especially since Buttercup might just be in a situation where she can't afford to. Like during one of these missions, for example, if she's not one to hang back.

She takes another bite from her sandwich as she seems to consider it before replying. "You're a strong child." That much is obvious. Maybe a little too strong. "Don't make too much fun of others for crying though. They can't help it. Unless they're being completely ridiculous, then it's fair game."

[knifewithnoname]

She pulled a face, "It do always be being completely ridiculous though. Even if they can no be helping it."

Especially if they couldn't be helping it. She sighed, "I did be trying to be teaching Peter how to no be trying but he did be getting all scrunch faced."

Peter was stupid sometimes, all the time. But he was her friend.

[irrationally]

"You sound like you like this Peter a lot if you went through all that trouble for him."

Especially since it sounds like the girl has little patience for those kinds of emotional things. Which Alice can understand to a certain extent, honestly.

"But if he truly cries as much as you're saying, it might just be a natural kind of reaction to him. In that case it can't be helped much. Some people are just raised that way."

[knifewithnoname]

"Well. He do be being my friend." That was important. So of course she wanted to help him be less of a leaky faced baby.

"Maybe it do be being, I do no be thinking he can be helping it. He can be being very brave sometimes too."