Zelena had realized that Alice seemed to think the rules outside were less strict. She couldn't seem to find a way to get to what Alice's logic was enough to get her to do things inside on her own. And she only did it a little outside. They started to spend more time outside and Zelena just waited while Alice did what was close to exploring to her. She'd still have to be encouraged at first but after a bit when nothing bad had happened she seemed to open up even more and would walk short distances without waiting for Zelena to tell her she could. Often Robin was with her.

"Hey, Alice?" Zelena needed to go inside but she would let Alice stay out here if she wanted to . "I need to go inside. Do you want to come in or stay out here?" Zelena had stopped only asking if she wanted to do one thing. All that caused was her thinking she had to. Now she gave her a few choices so Alice had to make a decision. It was a learning curve for everyone. Sometimes Alice would give an answer quickly, sometimes she'd sit with her thoughts for a bit, and sometime she'd just freeze and stop doing anything. Everyone knew that it was hard for Alice to make decisions and so they waited until she gave an answer. Sometimes that pause felt like it went on for hours.

Alice blinked, staring up at Zelena. She was still adjusting to the new way Zelena spoke to her. She didn't make what she was supposed to do clear any more. But she hadn't gotten in trouble for any answer she'd given. She liked it better outside and Robin was out here so if she needed anything she could go get Zelena. "Outside." Alice pointed to the grass she was sitting on.

"Okay, I'll be inside." Alice nodded.

Once Zelena left Alice glanced over at Robin. She wanted to play a game. But she wasn't supposed to ask for things. She was outside, though. And the rules out here were different. And it was just Robin. Alice opened her mouth but before she could get a word in Robin had her own suggestion.

"Do you want to_" Robin cut herself off. "Wait were you going to say something?"

Alice shook her head. She'd do whatever Robin wanted to do as long as it didn't go against any of the rules she thought still applied outside. "It's okay, Alice. You're allowed to talk. What is it?"

Alice knew that Robin didn't mind when she spoke. She'd been the first person to ever tell her it was okay to say whatever she wanted to say. But she was still scared. She glanced around. Zelena was inside. She couldn't hear her. Not that had ever brought her a lot of comfort with mother but she could try. And if it failed she could handle it. She hoped.

"Game?" Alice forced out one word quietly. But Robin understood what she meant. Robin was in shock. Alice had never asked for anything. She just went with whatever she was told to do. She never activley sought out what she wanted or even needed. This was a huge step. And it had to be handled carefully. She needed to give Alice exactly what she wanted. And make her feel like asking for things wasn't scary but good.

"Yeah, I'll play a game with you. Let me go get the cards. And maybe Henry?"

Alice nodded. Had that actually worked? She'd never been able to get what she wanted just by asking. If she absolutely needed something she'd occasionally ask but mother would always yell about her bothering her. Or tell her to leave her alone after doing it. Or hurt her for so much as thinking it was okay to ask when mother was clearly busy. Alice was overwhelmed by the situation but really did just want to play a game.

Robin returned with the decks of cards in hand and Henry following behind her.

They both sat down near Alice and Robin tried to hand Alice the cards. "Do you want to shuffle or want me to do it?" Alice blinked. Another choice? This had quickly become exhausting to her. She wasn't used to making her own decisions and now she had to do it all the time. Alice didn't particularly care who shuffled the cards, she just wanted to play the game. It would be quicker if Robin did it, she guessed.

"You."

"Okay." Robin shuffed the deck then dealt them each a hand for the game. They played for a while. And in the middle of the game Henry decided to try and make conversation with Alice. He had no quite adjusted to her near silent passive take on the world.

"So, Alice, what's your favorite food?"

Alice looked at him. She didn't know what he was asking her. "What?" she considered that an answer to his direct question.

"He means what food do you like the best, Alice?"

Alice didn't know. She ate whatever was handed to her and just didn't care. Food was food. Eating was just another thing she had to do whether she wanted to or not. Just like everything else. This was starting to change but she still only made her own decisions if someone gave her clear choices.

She didn't know how to quickly say that so she went for something that barely made sense. "No."

Henry blinked. Did she just say no to that question? It didn't really make sense as an answer. Henry was going to ask her what she meant.

"I think that Alice means she doesn't have a favorite food, yeah?" Robin clarified.

Alice nodded. "Well, my favorite is choclate anything. With a little cinnamon."

Alice didn't have any idea what chocolate or cinnamon were but listened to Henry's description of foods he really liked anyway.

It was Alice's turn again. She didn't play this game in the way it would normally be played. It usually required a lot more speech. They had two decks and she kept one card of each number in front of her that she'd point to and she'd either point or look at the person she was asking or sometimes manage to choke out their name. They played a lot of rounds of card games until it started to get dark then they headed inside. Alice was starting to get frustrated with how Zelena had began asking her questions.