A/N ...Alice and Brandon test eachother's knowledge. :D BTW, I don't own the song I use in this or the random rock bands I have Alice listen to. The lyrics are my translyrics for Still Doll.
"Brandon~! Braaaaaandoooooon!" Alice chimed, waking Brandon. "Time for school~!"
"Aurg, dammit." he said, waking up groggily.
"Are we still picking missions to do or are we stuck with Stein again?" Alice asked. "The way Kidd runs the school is a lot different than this."
"We go back to class to check in our mission. Then, tomorrow we can pick a new one." he explained, getting his clothes for the day.
"Oh, OK!" Alice replied cheerfully. Then Alice grabbed the clothes sge was going to wear that day and stepped into the shower. She quickly finished and got dressed. "Your turn."
"I know." he said groggily. He quickly showered and got dressed. "Let's go." he said, quickly grabbing his books and walking out of the door. Alice got her own books and followed.
They soon arrived, and went quickly to their classes. Brandon saw a cage outside and knew they were doing another dissection. "Stein, why must you cut up everything you see?" Brandon asked himself as he sat down in his seat.
Alice sat down and looked at Brandon with a strange expression on her face. "Why are you asking Stein something when he's not even in the room?"
"I was talking to myself." he said, turning his head to look at her.
"...Oh..." She replied simply.
"You really need to acquaint yourself better with social matters." he said, looking forward.
"Social matters?" She asked.
Brandon just starred at her. "Never mind. Here comes Stein." he said, turning to attention.
Alice turned her attention to the familiar grey-haired scientist. Stein walked in, using another large crate, and quickly unveiled it. Within the cage was an ostrich. He soon ended its life, and passed out the organs. Brandon was given the brain. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, stabbing the small cerebellum with his scalpel.
Alice, who'd received a kidney, looked over at Brandon's brain. "...Hm... I wonder if animals have kill-switches..."
"Your still stuck on that, aren't you?" he asked, squinting to cut the brain.
"What? Stuff like that has always fascinated me." Alice cut into the kidney.
"You enjoy the mind? I thought you just liked fucking with them." he said. With his mind distracted, he accidentally cut his finger with the scalpel. "Aurg! Dammit!" he yelled, shaking his hand.
"Yes, I do enjoy messing with people's heads. It's simple psychology. The mind itself is also quite fascinating. Memories, for example. How are they created? How does one recall them? And emotions, why do we have them? And do we really need them? I'd like to be able to answer those questions one day!" Alice said.
Brandon just starred at her. "Have you ever heard of 'google'?" he asked, expecting her to say no.
"Yes, Brandon. I have." Alice said plainly. "I look down upon you for not knowing that scientists haven't studied the brain long enough to know these things."
"Well sorry for not being up to date on neurology." he said, removing his attention once again from where he was cutting, slicing his finger again. "Goddammit!" he yelled, holding his cut finger. "Do you see what your making me do?" he yelled quietly at her.
"You can heal it, right?"
"Yes, but it still hurts!" he said, healing. "By the way, to help augment your neural knowledge, pain is transferred through your nerve system to your brain, causing the charge to make you recoil from the object that caused you pain. Trust me, I have enough first hand experience to confirm it." he said, shaking his hand.
"I already know that, Brandon. And for the record, that's the nervous system. And because flinching is a reflex, it goes to the spinal cord then back to the muscles. It goes to the brain last." Alice replied.
"What ever. I know it's because of the brain that you feel pain." he said, slicing the last bit of the brain.
"Well, at least your somewhat intelligent." Alice smiled, slicing up the kidney.
"I take that offensively." he said, bagging up the tiny slices of the brain. Alice giggled at the sight of Brandon being mad.
"I'm knowledgeable in most areas, just not advanced specific stuff." he said.
"Why am I not believing you?" Alice asked sarcastically.
"Well screw you too. What's the average life-span of a great white shark?" he asked.
"Hey, I didn't exactly say I was the most intellegent girl alive, now did I?" Alice said. "Besides, I'm more interested in people than animals."
"Fine, by the way, it's 35-40 years." he said.
"Ah, I see. I why would I want to know this, exactly?" She retorted.
"Because if you're going to act like a smartass, you might as well have some extra information if someone calls your bluff." he said back, getting a bit angry.
"I guess you're right," Alice replied. "But for your information, I am a professional at lieing."
"Fine." he said standing up. "Here's the brain, Stein." he said, handing the bag up front and returning to his seat.
When Alice was done, she just stared ar what used to be a kidney with a bored expression. Soon after that, class ended.
As they were walking home, Brandon suddenly asked a question. "Why are you so obsessed with minds? You have to have some alternative motive than just a yearning for knowledge." he said.
"If I learn about the human mind, then I will be able to understand the mentality of a witch." Alice answered simply.
"If you want to know the mentality of a witch, just ask Kim." he said, shrugging.
"No. Kim is a good witch. And so is Chrona. I want to know what goes on in Medusa's head. I want to ruin her psychologically and finish her off. See if she stays dead for good." Alice replied with a twisted grin.
"If you want to finish her off for good, torture her until she begs for death. Then, destroy her morality and ask her how to do it. That's how i would do it." he said, one of his eyes glowing red and a spike-tooth grin crawling onto his face.
"I'd rather mess with her head." Alice replied.
"Torture is a great way to fuck with minds too." he stated.
"I'd rather see her mentality crumble over the years and watch her slowly grow paranoid. Then destroy her." Alice retorted.
"Have it your way. Can we stop by the instrument store quick?" he asked.
"Sure." She said, handing Brandon a gold coin.
"Thanks." he said, and jogged off. He entered the music store and bought a grand piano. He had to push it home though, which wasnt easy. He then openned up one of the garages and pushed it in. "Like it?" he said, unboxing it.
"A piano? Cool! Maybe if we have Soul over some time, he could play it." Alice commented.
"You know, I bought it cause I could play it too..." he said sadly.
"Really? You seem like the kind of person who would play the guitar." Alice replied, staring at the massive instrument.
"No, I like the classical stuff better, even though I do listen to modern rock." he said, sitting down on the bench in front if the piano.
"I like old 80s rock. Y'know, Led Zeppelin, Queensryche, The Doors. Stuff like that." She replied.
"Cool. I play all sorts of stuff on this." he said, playing an E. "Do you play any instruments?"
"No, I don't. I'd rather listen than take the time to actually play." Alice giggled.
"Really? You seemed to be the type of girl who could sing pretty well." he said, cracking his knuckles.
"Maybe..." Alice said, unsure of her abilities. "I've never tried it before."
"You should. I'll play, so it would give you a good tempo. What do you want to sing?" he asked, pulling up his phone and opening his sheet music app.
"Are you sure about this...?" Alice asked.
"Positive." he said, a look of confidence and reassurance appearing on his face.
"OK..." She said, and began to sing.
"Hi Miss Alice, with glass eyes what do you dream? What are you entranced by? Again for me, my heart is split in two, broken in half. Memories flow into the wound. Hi, Miss Alice, with a fruitful mouth to whom are you throwing your love at? For whom are you greiving for? I am already spinning and twisting my words. The warmth on my tongue has cooled completely, and I am no longer able to sing. Still, you do not answer..."
Brandon quickly found the song she was singing on his app, and began to play along. Alice continued to sing and the song quickly ended. "You sounded amazing." Brandon said, lowering the lid of the piano. Alice blushed, looking very embarassed. She wasn't quite used to being praised. "What?" he asked, noticing her blush.
"I-I'm just not used to attention... that's all." She replied, lowering her head sheepishly so Brandon couldn't see her face.
"Its fine. There's no one else here. It's ok to be embarrassed." he said, standing up.
"..." Alice wasn't sure how to reply to that.
"In this place, there's no social restrictions. You can laugh, cry, or just plain be yourself. This is your home." he said, walking over to her.
"OK... If you say so..." She said. Alice wasn't the kind of person who got over embarassment easily.
"You want to sing something else, or do you want to play a video game?" he asked.
"P-Play a video game." She replied quickly.
"Ok then. You go first." he said, turning on the generator. Alice put Portal into the Xbox and started playing it. "It's like you know these puzzles inside and out." he said, watching her go flawlessly through the puzzles. Alice grinned, even though she wasn't used to complements, she still enjoyed them! Her hour passed, and it was Brandon's turn. He stood up and put Call of Duty in. After playing for a little bit, he started to get frustrated.
"Dammit, why are none of these guys dropping revolvers?" he yelled, mowing down row after row of terrorists.
"Hmmmm, Dunno." Alice replied.
He killed a few more. "Goddammit, give me a revolver!" he yelled, knifing someone in the throat.
"OK..." Alice said, looking at Brandon like he belonged in an Insane Asylum.
"I said...GIMMIE A FUCKING REVOLVER!" he yelled, his eyes glowing red while murdering countless insurgents.
Alice flinched, a bit scared and surprised that someone would get so mad over a silly game.
No way was she going to tell him that.
He then slammed his knife into a random enemy's throat, finally dropping a revolver.
"There we go." he said, picking it up. "Boom, headshot. Boom, headshot. Boom, headshot." he repeated, dropping enemies left and right.
"Brandon, you are batshit insane." Alice told him.
"Told you you're too late." he said, showing her a half-grin.
"Why are you getting so mad over a game?" Alice cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Because I get into games that I really like. I start developing an emotional attachment to the characters and such. So, when it doesn't do what I want it to do, it's like a friend is ignoring me. And, I get angry because of that." he explained, quickly looking back and forth from the screen to her. Alice looked at him confused. "It's hard to explain." he said, shooting some enemy's head off.
"Well, If you know what's causing the problem, why not put a stop to it?" She asked.
"Because it's fun." he said, grinning. Alice really didn't get it. "Like I said, it's hard to explain." he said, and turned his attention back to his game. His hour ended, and he checked his phone. "It's 9:00. Want to get to bed?" he asked, putting his phone away.
"Sure. Why not?" She replied, climbing into her sleeping bag and immediately falling asleep.
Brandon soon followed, climbing into his sleeping bag and falling asleep.