[quote=@PaulHaynek]"Peace, Mad Hatter. I am not here to demand anything from you." The young Oja greeted the yokai. "In fact, I only offer my apologies for not breaking the fight earlier. Eeeven if you, sorta, started the whole thing by transforming into a fully-armored warrior with a scary, glowing axe."

"A-Anyway, that's besides my point." Takeshi waved his hands. "I figured you must be tired from all... that. So, wanna ride? Kuro's a big horse, after all. Consider it my apology too."[/quote]
It was true. Alice was tired. She’d expended a lot of energy on her back-to-back fights - barely having recovered from her real fight. The battle against Gringor was already forgotten; a brute was no challenge, nothing worth her memory. He was not worth her memory. In that same vein, she had written off the others in that moment; a flash fire did not selectively take victims, but all involved. Such was her temperament. Incinerated in her thoughts, burned husks of memories were all she would dedicate to the High Orc, the Wererabbit, and the Jurougumo, and the Jiangshi.

For a fleeting moment, those unforgiving flames of grudge reached for the Human before her, before she swatted them away with a mental sweep of her hand.

[color=0F52BA][i]No.

He apologized.[/i][/color]

[right][color=9966cc][b][i]Poorly. Sloppily.

Dared to place blame on Our defensive reaction as the catalyst...[/i][/b][/color][/right]

[color=0F52BA][i]...but, nevertheless... he apologized, as terribly as Humans do.[/i][/color]

[right][color=9966cc][b][i]Eventually, he will burn you, as all Humans do.[/i][/b][/color][/right]

Alice opened her eyes, and regarded Takeshi...

"[color=0F52BA][i]I am not so tired that I cannot continue on my quest, however, I should opt for better supplies. My combat style is intensive on my Demon Energy - funny, we just called it "Magic" in Wonderland...[/i][/color]" Alice smiled... a smile missing cheer; a sad smile that turned to a frown. "[color=0F52BA][i]I’d like to shop for tonics to restore my Magic in combat,[/i][/color]" she says, mounting the offered horse, and riding sidesaddle like a proper queen. "[color=0F52BA][i]If you know such a place that sells what I need, I would very much like to go there. Even if you don’t, marketplaces are always good places to ferret out such knowledge.[/i][/color]"

Despite being soft-spoken, Takeshi could tell it was no act; she was like this, defensive and demure, yet backed up by force and might... as if... she were two people... vying for control of one body.

He couldn’t be sure who was in control: Alice... or the other Alice? However, he wasn’t attacking or threatening him, so, at the very least, he could be comfortably sure that she wasn’t his foe.

For now.