Alice Liddell 011 // Sneaking out

[madcuriosity]

Who: Alice Valjean and open
Where: All over Espoir and inner edges of Somni
Style: Either
What: affected Alice Valjean snuck out of the manor during the night
Status: Open

[She peeked all around the field, Basil in her arms. She'd never been outside the manor by herself before. And most certainly not at night. She gazed up at the night sky and

Comments

[insorrow]

[Oh hey, does your mother know you're out?

[Something nobody had ever told Ken about being in the police before he joined it - before it was too late to wonder if maybe he should have joined the army instead - was that when nothing was happening? Which, when you were on night shifts and on patrol and it wasn't chucking-out time, added up to a surprising amount of the time? Being a police officer was actually extremely damn boring. Well, at least it wasn't raining? That was something.

[The one positive, he supposed, was that when nothing was happening and had been for quite a while a guy was so relieved to stumble across something that was actually going on that he'd go and investigate just to say he had something to do. And really, a small, blonde eight year old girl where a small, blonde eight year old girl really probably shouldn't have been? Yeah, she was out of place simply by definition. Besides, boring as it was right now Somarium wasn't always the best place to be at night, if you were small, blonde and eight...

[Trying his best not to scare her by looking too like a cop - which wasn't easy in full uniform but he was giving it his best shot all the same - Ken hurried over to her.]

Hey, are you lost?

[madcuriosity]

[She jumps a little and turns to look at him. She blinked and most certainly didn't recognize him but she didn't feel frightened by him.]

Oh um... not lost I would say.

[insorrow]

[Well, she didn't seem to be scared of him. Good first step. One of the things Ken definitely did not like about being a cop was that you could never be sure if a kid would have been told that you were there to try and keep them safe or if they'd think you were going to try and arrest them just because you were standing there with a uniform on. At least this girl wasn't one of the latter, that was something. Especially since she probably shouldn't have been out, right?]

No? Well, that's something...

[Ken smiles, a little awkwardly. Okay, so she's not lost and she looks nervous which means she probably snuck out and her parents are going to be worried sick. Of course technically he could just drag her back to the station and work things out from there, but there are about a million and one reasons why he doesn't really want to do that. Okay, let's try and Be Reasonable about this.]

It's kinda late to be out though, isn't it?

[madcuriosity]

Well... yes I-I suppose it is...

[She knows that it's late. But she had wanted to find Cheshire and explore a bit. She hoped to be back before anyone noticed she was gone. This was her first time being outside of the house alone.]

[insorrow]

[Ken nods and smiles. Reasonable. He can handle this, right?]

It is. Everything's closed, pretty much. Don't you have school tomorrow? You probably need a good night's rest if you're not gonna fall asleep in class.

[madcuriosity]

Ah well... yes I suppose. But I've not been to any of the schools. I'm tutored at home.

[insorrow]

You've still gotta be up for that, though...

[Tutored at home? That gives Ken pause. He blinks, looking down at the girl. Wow, she's got to be rich if she's got a tutor. Rich and sheltered.

[That kind of explains what she's doing out, he guesses: though he doesn't know a whole lot about rich, sheltered kids, the ones he's seen on TV have not only been rich and sheltered, they've also been bored. This girl, he thinks, is probably bored as well - and her parents would probably be very unhappy with her if he just dragged her back and woke them all up... basically if he was a cop about it all. Okay, there had to be another way to handle this.]

So, um... couldn't you sleep?

[madcuriosity]

No, I was playing with Cheshire. He left as he's won't to do... and I decided to follow him this time.

[insorrow]

Cheshire?

[Yeah, that sounded very bright. Nice going, Hidaka, that's really going to inspire confidence in the force. Cheshire's a funny name for anything but it'd be a pet of some sort, right? Probably a cat. Cats do things like that, don't they? They just wander off - and so do children, if they're worried about the cats.

[Okay, kid outside after dark looking for a missing pet, let's go with that. Just in case Ken glances about himself, but he can't see anything around here that looks like a stray pet.]

That's... Cheshire would be a cat, right? Your cat's gone missing? They don't normally go that far from home, unless you've moved recently. Where'd you last see her?

[madcuriosity]

Cheshire is a stray I take care of you see. And he comes and goes every night. Tonight... I decided to follow him and see where he went. He isn't actually my cat, he just enjoys seeing me.

[insorrow]

Well... I'm pretty sure I've not seen a cat round here recently. I don't think there's any need to worry about him, though. Cats are good at looking after themselves. Aren't you getting cold?

[madcuriosity]

Ah well... a little yes.

[insorrow]

Maybe you should think about heading back home, then. You don't wanna catch a cold or anything. Do you have far to go?

[madcuriosity]

Ah no I don't think so. The Valjean manor isn't too far from here is it?

[insorrow]

[The Valjean--

[Wooow. So this was Valjean's daughter? Now that Ken thought about it, he reckoned it figured - looked like he'd been absolutely right in thinking this girl was rich and sheltered. He manages to keep most of the surprise out of his face, though: a minor miracle, that.]

No, it's not far from here. Do you want me to walk you back, or will you be okay to get home by yourself?

[And you really should get back, you know. Your dad's gonna worry.]

[madcuriosity]

That won't be a bother for you will it?