WHO: Max Guevara & Alice Quinn WHEN: After the Brunch at Napoleon Solo's House WHERE: Alice & Max's apartment WHAT: Alice suddenly has no magic but can shoot beams of energy from her eyes. Uncontrollably. Cue roommates trying to figure out WTF is happening. WARNINGS: Cursing? Mildest of spoilers for S3 of Magicians
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Alice pushed her key into the apartment door and gave it a turn as a hand moved up to push her red rimmed glasses back up the bridge of her nose. A moment later, she was stepping through the door, giving Max a wave of greeting, as she set the keys down on the catchall that was near the entrance. Having spent the morning at Napoleon's, and been obligated to the bank heist the day before, she was looking forward more than anything to sitting down in her room and truly going over everything that was now in her head. She'd not spoken up and told anyone of how she'd woke Friday morning with a tremor before rage had consumed her. No one knew that she wanted to find a way to get her hands upon the Librarians and make them pay for what they've stolen from her friends. They weren't the ones who were supposed to forget. She was.
And while Alice didn't know if that was necessarily something she still wanted, or would have considered given her knowledge in this life in Tumbleweed, she knew her friends didn't deserve to lose their entire support systems and be thrust out with new identities. Helpless in the world with the Monster fully aware of who they were and how defenseless they now were. Her mind was fixated there and it was propelling some of her other responses, making her feel off and combative. She'd been quiet through brunch and she was just thankful to be home.
The good thing about Max was that Alice didn't feel an obligation to be pleasant around her. She socialized with her, frequently, and felt she was probably one of her closest friends in this world. But if Alice needed time to herself? She never felt as though Max was going to be upset with her for being antisocial. After waving in her direction, she made her way to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
She let her hand reach out, fingertips brushing against her pokeball on the bookshelf, as she made her way towards her bed. And she was just about to try to a nap when she felt a blinding flash of pain hit her, a headache brought forth with no warning. Her eyes had shut immediately and she yanked off her glasses, tossing them aside, as her hand moved to rub around her eyes. A small whimper escaped and she sucked in a breath through her teeth. When she dropped her hand and opened her eyes, she had no way of anticipating the red beam of light that would shoot from her eyes, directly hitting window and going out into the afternoon. And while she immediately shut her eyes, she didn't fully realize that a scream had broke from her concurrent with the beam.
Max had every intention of just enjoying her Saturday afternoon, which, when Alice had popped into the apartment, had been her being in the process of a pedicure. It was summers, sandals were a thing Texas seemed to like to wear, and so painting her nails felt like the clear winner of things to do today. She'd been midway through her right foot when Alice had screamed, and she'd quickly stuffed the brush and lid back in the bottle of polish, and headed for the door.
"Alice?" She called after her roommate. "Are you alright? What's going on?"
She'd stumbled back, hitting the backs of her knees against her bed, which caused her to fall upon it. Both hands were covering her face now as she tried to remind herself that panic was not going to solve anything. It was likely only going to make things worse. There was a moment where she thought, maybe, that it was just a one time incident. She wouldn't know how to explain it but it was possible was it not?
She removed her hands and opened her eyes fearfully. She didn't even know in which way she was looking. But another blast shot out and with it she shouted, "Duck" as she slammed her eyes shut, hands going back to cover her face.
"Whoa, fuck!" Max exclaimed as there were lasers coming from Alice's eyes? What the fuck was that? She moved, quickly, cat-like reflexes kicking in, and she leapt across the room, so that she could be beside Alice rather than in front of her. It seemed safer. "Careful, okay, don't panic, we'll figure this out. Likeā¦" Don't panic seemed easier said than done though, and Max wasn't certain on ideas. "Just sit still for a minute. Can you see?"
She kept her hands pressed against her eyes but she was using her feet to push herself back on the bed, crawling into the corner. She was trying to wrack her brain for any possible explanation. She knew very little about the Monster. It was feared by even the Gods. But if it was here, and it was suddenly inside her, she would know. This couldn't be a manifestation of his powers nor did she think it was a manifestation of any from her world. "I don't know, I don't know," she repeated, shaking her head. It had startled her when she'd opened her eyes that she didn't know whether she had been able to see through the beams or not. It didn't seem worth trying to find out.
"There has to be a simple explanation," Max frowned. "Hold still, Alice, okay? You're safe for right now - at least there's no one else around, and anyway, I'm here." Which felt like a pretty reasonable claim to make. Max could handle a lot of shit. "Is this something that's magic?"
If anything, Alice was glad that it was Max who was here as opposed to Lance or Shiro. They wouldn't have been as quick to get out of the way as Max was. She just shook her head back and forth. "No, this isn't ours. I don't --- I don't understand it."
"Okay, well, we'll figure it out, in the meantime, I don't know." Max frowned. Telling Alice to just sit with her eyes closed didn't seem like the easiest. "All right, keep your eyes closed, and I'm going to grab a scarf, so we can wrap it around your eyes for right now. It'll help you remember to keep them closed hopefully." Of course if that didn't work, she might not have a scarf after. Well, Max would get one of hers.
"I'm not going to open them," Alice agreed, her voice jumping when she said so, but she swallowed to keep herself in check. Her chest rose and fell as she took in attempts at calming breaths. "Can ---Can you tell Margo? And the others? It could be magic. Maybe." She didn't think it was. She truly did not.
"Yeah, okay." Max jumped up from the bed and headed towards the door. "In fact, I'll post on the network and see if any other strange things are happening. I'm sure there's some explanation. We'll figure something out."
Alice just nodded her head again. She pulled her hands away but her eyes were clenched tight as she bowed her head to rest against her kneecaps, while arms moved to wrap her knees close to her chest.