Their relationship has always been a little strange. Especially after the season they were last together, the season in which Orca carried Hawthorne’s son… it had hurt the feelings that Alice had convinced herself she didn’t have. That was alright, then, if she didn’t have them to start with. Though things sat strangely in Alice’s head, she was over it. She was generally over it, that was. The clockwork angel wouldn’t remind herself at this moment that she had Seamus recovering in the den where her pups slept. Halo and Herschel, her third litter, first by her imprint. First time she’d ever actually found her imprint, yet there were women her age that had been through two, three, four. Alice had all but forgotten that imprinting was a thing, having Hawthorne for so long.
Having. Not really having but you know what she meant. Alice chuckles, a strange and brassy sound, where it resonates in her chest. “Bears are large.” The words are frank, but she could have been joking along with the laugh. It could go either way, and she’s dry about it. Tail swishing at her hind, amusement flickering in her bright eyes. Sturdy, put together from things that weren’t meant to be fragile or break. Built like something that’s not quite… woman but all the same, Alice. That was her life.
She nods softly. “Wherever I may roam, I always wind up back here.” She sighs. Alice sighs gently, watching the man with something strange fueling the fire that always burns there. There was the fire that kept the steamworks running, all the clockworks turning, and the angel steady on her feet. It’s something that she isn’t upset by. This time it’s more gentle than usual. Yes, something in her bones, the humanity edging back from the fringes. Alice’s had been misplaced a long time ago, but over time parts had returned. It explained how good she was with children, her sense of duty when it came to those that etched their way onto the heart of gears and clockworks.
Alice snorts a laugh when the man lick between her eyes, sneezing lightly in his direction. “Always thought the red suited.” The clockwork angel is struck then, struck by something that’s… strange. Something that lifts her heart and her spirits from the events of the day, something that… lifts her up. She’s playful, for a moment. Paws moving quickly across the ground, tossing herself into the river with a splash and another brassy chuckle. “Not like we have a whole river.” Sarcasm. Gentle sarcasm.
alice
the clockwork angel
all we've got is this family unbroke |