Lesh leaned forward, his gaze fixed on her, an expression of intrigue playing across his face. "Alice," he began, his voice steady in an attempt to have her focus once more. "Tell me about her. For you to react like that, she must be something really unique which means we can absolutely use her somehow as an invaluable asset." His curiosity grew with each passing second.
Alice however, was not so easily swayed. Instead taking a sharp breath as her face set in a grim line, not liking how this was going at all. "Fine," she practically spat, her foot stamping against the floor with a force that surprised even Lesh. "I won't even mention how Braedon said similar things about Rebecca and that ended with you getting shot." Her voice dropped to a level of seriousness he rarely witnessed, her eyes boring into his. "So I want you to promise me. Promise me you will go to her immediately after I tell you about her and that you will take full, unequivocal responsibility for her actions and anything that might happen because of her." Her words hung heavy in the air as her eyes seemed to flash slightly, for a brief moment shining with a sickly yellow light and slitted like a cat's before returning to normal in a blink. Lesh wasn't sure what to make of her current mood or if what he saw actually happened, only able to give a slow and brief nod in response to her uncharacteristic seriousness and tone.
Seemingly trying to keep a measure of control over herself she finally began to tell him about her, her gaze unwavering although he noticed a faint tremor run through her. "Her class is oddly similar to my own but more… broken?" She hesitated, before continuing. "You know my class, 'Cosplayer,' right? How I become a twisted but enhanced forms of whatever outfit I choose to embody?"
Lesh arched an eyebrow, a hint of amusement softening his features. "Indeed. You had given master John quite a bit of interesting details in regards to it, not that you seem to have tried any other type of outfits since teaming up with master John," he commented, his eyes playfully raking over her current attire.
Alice's jaw tightened, her gaze flickering away for a moment as her fists clenching at her sides. "Yeah, well, I like being this way. I don't want to risk losing more of myself by changing to something else, even if it might make me stronger it scares me, okay? At least as Alice I know how to be and what I can do but should I try something else I worry about how the character would change and how it might change or twist me, as Alice its madness but if I become Titiana the fairy queen what chaos would I cause? As red riding hood would I end up letting loose a whole bunch of wolves? I don't know how it could affect me, what it would take or how much of myself I'd lose… Unless I have absolutely no choice I refuse to lose more of myself like that." It was a rare glimpse into her vulnerability, a quiet admission of her own fears surrounding identity and power as she seemed to barely manage to hold back tears.
She turned back to Lesh having managed to get herself back together before getting back onto the subject but a shiver seemed to still run threw her. "She was pretty open and told me how she was born with issues, that she had been isolated and bullied by everyone around her ranging from family members to strangers. She lost her parents at a young age and from then never truly fit in anywhere, her aunts and uncles shuffling her around before ending in foster care. Then she got the class 'Phantasmal Dreamer,' and she claims things change. When I call it broken, I mean it's really fucken broken. She needs this special collar that she created with her ability to help keep it under control and restrained and happily admitted that even that is barely enough to keep it restrained since she can still create weapons and other things!" Her voice rose, laced with a raw frustration.
"She can materialize and bring forth anything she's ever seen before in fictional media. Be it a regular book, an anime, a manga… anything she's absorbed she can manifest regardless of how impossible their existence is. She told me how she would lock herself away in her mind and get lost in cartoons and anime any chance she got before things happened and medication didn't seem to help, she told me all this while giving me this creepy smile. I genuinely tried to relate and to connect with her but, well I couldn't understand half of what she was saying. It was like she was speaking in a different language or in a code I couldn't crack and when she noticed that it seemed to cause her to frown and look sad, maybe even a little hurt before closing off from me and withdrawing into herself." Alice squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, picturing the unsettling vacantness in the girl's eyes at the end when it happened. "I'm telling you now, she's truly dangerous and I don't think shes someone you will be able to control like you expect. She's got the potential to be far more deadly and deranged than I could ever hope to be! If we leave her be I'm genuinely worried she's going to end up hurting someone or even killing one of our own! I don't feel we can trust her and that we should either kick her out or kill her before she can really do anything to us!" Alice's voice resonated with a hard unyielding yet almost pleading tone, desperately trying to get across the serious nature and risk these women possessed.
"Wow, why don't you tell him how you really feel about me." A flat female voice cut through Alice's tirade from the doorway drawing both their attentions with startling abruptness. A small, frightened 'eep' escaped Alice's lips as she practically vaulted away, scrambling behind him as her fingers instinctively forming a cross.
The girl in the doorway merely rolled her eyes, a gesture of profound disinterest. "I'm not a damn vampire or a devil or anything unholy for that matter even if I wish I was at times. Having the power of destruction or wings or even a rosary I could break off to let loose a badass version of myself… that would no doubt be fun to try and a real good way to escape." She tilted her head slightly to the side, her gaze distant as she no doubt already envisioned the fantastical scenarios she would do with such abilities.
"How did you get in here?!" Alice practically shrieked, peeking out from behind Lesh, her eyes wide with disbelief and renewed terror. "Why are you here? And you see? She talks about things that make no sense!"
The girl seemed to sigh wearily at that, it seemed to be a bit of a habit she had formed that showed she was far too used to dealing with people like Alice when it came to matters such as this. "Just because you don't understand what I'm saying or referring to doesn't mean it makes no sense. What makes no sense is how Ash Ketchum remained young forever, or why he never used his old Pokémon in the big leagues till near the end or to help train his new captures. I can understand wanting a fresh team each new place he goes but in the biggest tournaments? He should have at least tried trusting his old friends." She paused, a visible wave of frustration rippling through her monotone delivery as a bit of fiery emotion entered her flat tone. "Or how a Death Note was never noticed or even registered in people's minds before Light came along. Oh, or why they like to create a character or creature super strong and then use a stupid, nonsensical way to end them when they realize they're too powerful instead of doing something decent. Like what they did with Madara in Naruto or Meruem in HunterXHunter along with Netero , since they were too strong they had to be taken out in a stupid way not related to the main character, practically forcing a means to their end that never truly fit properly." She concluded her passionate, if flat, monologue, pulling up a chair for herself with an almost lazy grace. Her gaze then settled on Lesh, her eyes narrowing and for a faint second, they seemed to glow a deep, mesmerizing purple.
Lesh's lips twitched upward in a slow, genuine smile. "My God, you and master John would probably be the best companions ever," he chuckled well shaking his head. "He was just as much of an otaku as you, even knowing some of the really, really obscure ones well having similar questions and frustrations." As he spoke, he gave the girl a thorough once-over. She seemed young, perhaps in her early twenties though it was difficult to tell precisely. Her short, bob-cut black hair with a few bands that framed a pale, almost ethereal yet tired, drooping eyes that seemed to hold an unnerving depth. A simple tank top and black pants peeked out from beneath an assortment of mismatched pieces of thin, stylized armor that haphazardly covered her, as if she had just taken whatever could cover without a care.
"Who?" she asked as a small, genuine grin finally broke through her otherwise stoic expression at the prospect of finally having someone to talk to who could understand her. "And really? What would he find 'obscure'? I will have you know I've watched and read a lot of manga and seen so many anime and cartoons that I am really well versed in them, so I will be the judge of if he does know obscure or not." A spark of competitive amusement danced in her eyes.
"Hmm, well, John is the owner of this body," Lesh clarified, gesturing vaguely to himself. "I am one of the many beings who reside within his mind though certainly not part of his core personalities, if that makes sense." He pondered her challenge for a moment, a thoughtful finger tapping his chin. "If I were to give an example of obscure, maybe 'Eden of the East'? No, no, hmm, 'Law of Ueki'? No, I think that may have aired at some point much like 'knights of the zodiac' Oh, I know! 'This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Shittier than Real Life!' Hahaha, I remember he rather enjoyed that one even though it was a somewhat recent one, oh he also quite enjoyed 'Drifters' and couldn't help but remark how unfortunate it was that 'Re:Creators' failed to get a following for being a game version of 'Fate'. How about I mention 'Horizon in the middle of nowhere'?" Lesh's suggestions, almost gloating in nature elicited a confused and bewildered look from Alice, it was as if he were speaking an entirely alien language to her but from the girl's wide eyed and beaming smile it was clear she perfectly understood.
"Well, I stand corrected," she admitted, her grin widening even further as she leaned forward, her earlier monotone replaced by a genuine, if still subdued, enthusiasm. "There are some obscure ones there. I can also see he has some taste, tell me, is he a man of culture?"
"Oh, most definitely," Lesh commented back, an amused twinkle in his eye. "But since there was no Bonk stick doggos around to keep a level of control he did lose control at one point." This earned a surprisingly hearty laugh from the girl, a sound that momentarily seemed to shatter her calm façade making Alice bounce in mid fright like a startled cat.
"Oh gods no! You've made him as nuts as you are!" Alice suddenly shrieked, dramatically collapsing to her knees, pounding the ground with both fists. The sudden burst of theatrical despair startled both Lesh and the girl. "Why, you sick, fucked up gods! Why do this to him! I was supposed to pull him and John into my madness, so why did you allow some random women to corrupt him instead of me!!!" she screamed up to the ceiling, her lament a melodramatic echo in the now strangely lightened atmosphere as both John and the girl looked at her.