Alice stood quietly, her arms lightly crossed over her chest, resting against the warm wood lining the fire place, the warmth sinking into her skin and settling deep into her bones as she listened to Jack recount his past life to her.
"I think there was this one girl in our town that I had a crush on. Her name was Anna. We went to school together. I remember because I used to flick her braids and would occasionally sneak frogs into her desk during the play time between classes." He chuckled, blue eyes twinkling as the memory stood strong, having been refreshed by a recent trip to the Tooth palace a few months back.
He turned to Alice, the normally solemn, serious girl looking surprisingly relaxed, politely intrigued by his story as she watched him recount his past life so far behind hers.
He tilted his head, looking at her in curiosity, taking in her stunning eyes and long dark lashes. "Did you ever have any crushes or boyfriends when you were alive?" Jack asked, smiling mischievously, fully expecting her to blush, perhaps punch him in the shoulder for him asking her such an "inappropriate question" or ask if he was raised by wolves "your manners are no better". But what he hadn't expected was for her to suddenly freeze, stiffening into something worthy of being a statue.
Alice stiffened, her jaw almost automatically clenching at the thought. No. She hadn't the time, temperment, or even sanity to maintain a healthy relationship with herself, never mind another. Not to mention the men she did come into contact with were either perverted or thought themselves well established and above a mad orphan for a potential partner.
A woman who thought and spoke for herself? Hardly an acceptable trait in the society she had been born into. Women were to be seen, used, and never heard. And she refused to be any of the above. Bumby, for all of his plans of corruption, his disregard for children's innocence, he could not destroy her confidence.
"No." She said, bitterly. "It wasn't a priority." She said shortly.
Jack blinked, leaning back slightly, practically feeling the lingering acid that laced through her words. "Oh... okay." He said slowly, and after carefully glancing at her, he began to steer the conversation back towards safer waters
But, as Jack's voice moved to soothe her anxieties as he spoke about his believers and the other guardians, Alice considered his question.
No, there was no one in her past life that she wanted. No one willing ask for the hand of a mad girl who struggled to maintain a grip on reality, and refused to hold her tongue about the truth. But perhaps, she thought, watching Jack's pale hands accentuate his words as he passed his staff between hands. Love is not a matter of asking. But a matter of letting it happen. Of simply letting ones heart guide you homeā¦.
