It was late evening by the time Alice made it back to Stornway. She stood outside of the Quester's Rest, bathed in the light of the inn, incredibly unwilling to take the initiative and go inside. Even without thinking, she knew that all hell would break loose if Erinn had been made aware that Alice had 'disappeared'.
Stella glared at the back of Alice's head, "Standing out here isn't goin' to get the Starflight Express back up and running, Alice! Get in there already!" She smacked Alice on the back, making her stumble into the door, smashing a small hole through the door. Alice flailed as she tripped on the small piece of door that was still on the ground, and fell flat on her face. Everything was silent on the inside of the inn.
Marine stared at the motionless girl that had just kind of broke the front door, before she realized that it was Alice. Luckily, Erinn and the others were out getting groceries. It's a good thing I told them that Alice had just taken a little stroll. They probably just think she got sidetracked, like when we were traveling.
Shaking herself free of her thoughts, she helped Alice get up, and propped her up on a table, looking her up and down threateningly, hands on her hips. "And where have you been?"
Alice snorted, and gave Marine a menacing smirk, "What's it to you? You ain't my mother. Take that stick out of your a-" She straightened up suddenly, and beamed at Marine disarmingly. "-I mean, I uh... got lost. Yeah."
Marine raised an eyebrow at her strange companion, but said nothing about her odd behavior. She waved a hand, "Well, whatever. You're back just in time, we were about to make dinner. The girls should be back soon."
Right on cue, the remaining pieces of the door fell as it was 'opened'. "Marine~! We're back~"
Sheila twirled around, Iris making sure that the bare-footed girl didn't step on any of the broken pieces of wood. Patty swore up a storm, glaring at Marine.
"What the HELL did you do to my front door?!" She growled, smacking Marine upside the head. Marine rubbed the sore spot on her head, and muttered her inner thoughts about her 'boss'.
"It wasn't me, you stupid woman! It was Alice!" Everyone looked at Alice, who had gone unnoticed up until then. Iris's eyes widened just a little bit. Even though Marine had told her otherwise, Iris still had a hunch that Alice had left for home. Seeing her back here made her confused. Why isn't she back home? Wasn't she over the moon about going home to her family?
Tilting her head a fraction of a degree, Sheila innocently spoke their secret thoughts on seeing her, "Alice? Didn't you go home?"
Marine and Iris simultaneously face-palmed, only imagining the reaction Erinn might have at the implication that little Alice had made the (supposedly) long trip to her hometown that nobody knew the whereabouts of.
Needless to say, they were surprised when Erinn voiced her agreement, "Your parents have to be incredibly worried about you by now, Alice! Shouldn't you be going home now?"
Alice hummed, shaking her head back and forth, "Nah~, nobody will really mind if I take a little while longer to get home. There's really only a few people that will worry, but two of them are... occupied."
Thinking about it further, Alice furrowed her eyebrows. Why hasn't Aquila come looking for me yet? I mean, I imagine that there were a bunch of other Celestrians that might have fallen to the Protectorate... but wouldn't Aquila make me first priority? I'm his beloved pupil, after all; not to mention that we're 'family', kind of. I thought we were best pals...
Iris bemusedly watched Alice's face get grumpier and grumpier. The others had gone to put the groceries away after Alice had suddenly stopped responding to their questions of why people wouldn't care if she wasn't quick to return. Watching her facial expressions was amusing to Iris, who usually only had to deal with Sheila (and occasionally Marine, when she got too out of control).
Alice suddenly reached a hand up and started scratching her forehead while hissing, catching Iris's attention. Iris grabbed her hand before Alice could inflict any real damage, and Alice made no attempts to stop her, just going back to her grumpy mumbling.
"So, Miss Alice," Alice snapped her head up, indicating that Iris had her full attention for the moment, "Why did you come back? Not to be rude, or say that you're not welcome, but... you were quite enthusiastic about leaving... so...?"
Alice withdrew her arm from Iris's grip, and rubbed her chin while humming. "I... suppose it's because I wanted to go on more adventures with you gals," Against my will, that is. "just one more time, and then I'll go home. The King did say that there's a town beyond that checkpoint, right? I wanna go! Let's go!"
At the end of her statement, Alice had started jumping up and down excitedly. Ignoring the fact that she had said suppose rather she was sure, Iris had to agree. Although Alice had spent most of the time fooling around, Iris had enjoyed the short amount of time the four of them had spent together. She knew for a fact that Sheila enjoyed spending time with Alice, even more so than was probably warranted.
But, well, it's understandable that Sheila would like the company of somebody who sees the same supernatural things as she. At the very least, Miss Alice can vouch that Sheila is not mentally unstable, like her mother had insisted. Iris scowled at the thought of that terrible woman, but brushed it off once Sheila reappeared in the room, having been waved off by the other girls from grocery duty.
Just because I broke a few eggs... and dropped the fruit... and tripped over the bread... She pouted, but quickly occupied herself with teaching Alice some games. It was amazing to her that a little kid like Alice had no clue had to play simple child games.
Eventually everything was set up for the night-shift workers, and Alice was dragged to bed by Sheila and Erinn, whom were banned from working nights, for obvious reasons that they didn't understand.
Leaving the ever-so-patient Iris to deal with the night walkers, Marine made the necessary arrangements for their expedition to Coffinwell tomorrow. After an hour, she decided to go to bed without even returning to her shift once. Iris would be incredibly upset with her come morning, but Marine decided she could handle it.
As she walked to her room, she was surprised to see Alice wandering the hallway in a long red nightie that pooled at the floor. Marine suspected that it actually belonged to Erinn, but then again, it didn't look like Alice really had any other clothes. Putting that matter aside, she tapped Alice on the shoulder, making her jump.
"Oh, geez! Marine, don't do that!" Alice put a hand over her heart, over dramatizing her shock. Marine rolled her eyes.
"What are you doing out here this late? Didn't you already go to bed?"
Alice shrugged, not giving her a response. Marine raised an eyebrow at her, and crouched down to be eye-level with Alice.
"You shouldn't be out here this late, even if you're in the staff's quarters. You know that, right?"
Again, Alice shrugged, but quietly whispered, "...I was thinking."
"About what?"
"...About stuff. Secret stuff, y'know? The stuff that you can't think about in a room occupied by two squealing girls. I mean, Sheila and Erinn are cool and all, but they're too loud." Marine was slightly taken aback at how... mature(?) Alice was sounding, but it was all shattered when Alice suddenly started laughing hysterically.
"Ahaha! You should see your face right now, Marine! You look hilarious! Well, I'm off to bed, see 'ya!" With that, Alice saluted her as she ran back towards Erinn's room, leaving Marine behind to her thoughts.
I've decided that this won't be the completely girl's only traveling group that I originally intended. I would appreciate it if somebody would give me two male OCs. I assume everyone already knows the standard formatting that OCs require, so I won't say anything about it. They won't show up until (spoilers! kind of, I guess) Alltrades Abbey, so you've got some time.