Six impossible things before breakfast [Giselle]

[Deleted]

Well...this was certainly a strange thing to wake up to, wasn't it? You would think that the very last thing on Alyss' mind would be breakfast, but even as she was staring at a face that she didn't recognize, she could hear her stomach let out a rather unladylike, atypical of Alyss Heart growl. Not that she had been looking the least bit like the typical Alyss Heart right now...actually, now that she thought of it, how she looked reminded her of the cover of Reverend Dodgson's book. Blonde curls, managing to look even paler than she used to...how on earth did this happen?

And further, why wasn't this bothering her more? This should have been something of a straw to break the camel's back, another thing to make her bemoan her inability to just be normal for a little while. She should have been wanting to turn back into her original form, especially since that was the truth in comparison to what Dodgson had done to her under the name Lewis Carroll. This should have been stirring up the unpleasant memory of being thoroughly betrayed.

Yet it wasn't bothering her. In fact, the things that had left her staring at the ceiling in an insomniac state not seven hours ago felt...it felt like they weren't quite as burdensome at the moment. For a moment, she instinctively went to thoughts of Dodge...and the ache that she had been feeling at the mere thought of him for her entire life seemed to just...not be there. She remembered him clearly, but all the pain that she had been putting herself through since they were first separated seemed to have healed over. It was very well remembered, but it had faded...

So that was two very odd things, wasn't it? Another thing that was odd? Apart from the slight look of confusion...she realized that she was smiling a little. It was enough to have her wonder who her reflection was and what had it done with her former self.

Shaking her head, still having that oddly bemused smile on her face, the newly blonde Alyss Heart began heading out of her room in search of some means of sustinence.

Which, of course, brought her to the cafe, even if the line was quite long. She let out a sigh; ah well. She didn't have classes for a while, it wasn't such a bother...still, she could really use some coffee right about now. With a little cream, medium....it was really only around the time that her hands began to feel warm that she even thought to look down at her hands to realize that some coffee had materialized right in her hands.

Letting out a gasp, it didn't take Alyss too long to realize what must have happened, except for the fact that she didn't want to dare to hope. One of her eyebrows raised warily as she glanced around for any signs of anyone else who may have done this to mess with her, particularly a particular head of red hair...but no. It seemed like Redd wasn't around...besides, what were the chances that the devil woman could read minds?

Actually, she didn't want to think about that right now.

What she did want to think about was whether or not it was at all possible that, perhaps, by some miracle...this had been all her doing. She narrowed her eyes slightly at the coffee cup in her hands. Well, there was certainly one way of finding out, wasn't there? But first she took a taste of her coffee so she could at least have a point of reference. All right, it had the cream...

Narrowing her eyes and concentrating on the coffee, she tried to Imagine that caramel sauce was being poured in...oh, and whipped cream, most certainly. Perhaps that was more dessert than breakfast, but right now she hardly cared. And now was the moment of truth...and the minute she tasted something impossibly sweet for just coffee, she nearly yelped.

So that was four odd things and she was fairly certain it was barely nine o'clock. Shaking her head incredulously, she slipped out of the impossibly long line (oh, that was five, wasn't it?), wondering if this was a sign that her day was going to be even more out of the ordinary than most of her days.

[Deleted]

Giselle loved little cafes. They were ever so cute and quaint and quite adorable. And even though she had never been in one before (they don’t have cafes in Andalasia, or at least, not that she was aware of anyway) and she was rather excited.

She was in a delightful mood today, wearing a dress she’d only just made and there were ribbons in her hair. She simply adored wearing ribbons in her hair. Though it had been a bit tricky to do her hair when she didn’t have her forest friends to help her. But she was quite sure she would see them again very soon. Edward simply must be coming for her. Surely Pip would come if not Edward, but Giselle was very certain that Edward was coming. Then they could sing a duet together, share true love’s first kiss, then ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. Giselle sighed happily. Today was simply just a lovely day!

And the woman behind the counter of the café had such lovely eyes! Giselle made sure to tell her so, but the woman only rolled her eyes and mumbled thank you. She must have thought it was a lovely compliment! Giselle certainly thought so!

Taking her muffin and cup of tea from the woman she thanked her graciously and moved out of line. It was quite long, but Giselle gave the people in line a cheery smile as she passed them, hoping it would make them happier while they waited in line. She knew that it would make her feel much better knowing that someone had smiled at her. She loved when people smiled. Their whole face just seemed to light up. It was quite delightful.

Everything was just turning out to be quite delightful today! The sun was shining, the birds were singing and she was having a lovely breakfast of a muffin and tea. Giselle was just bursting with energy and life. But only as long as she wasn’t being chased by ogres. That was usually when bad things happened and she fell off of things. It was really quite a bad habit. Luckily, there always seemed to be someone there to catch her.

Giselle looked around for a place to sit, when she noticed a girl with very beautiful curly blonde hair. Suddenly distracted Giselle made her way over to the girl. “Your hair is lovely,” she said with a smile. She would have reached out to touch it too, had her hands not been occupied. As it was, she only looked and didn’t touch. “And your eyes sparkle. The man who holds your heart must be very lucky indeed.” It didn’t cross her mind once that the other girl may not be in love with someone the way she was. Even if it had, Giselle was certain that everyone was looking for their heart’s duet. Didn’t everyone want a happily ever after?

[Deleted]

It wasn't too long before Alyss encountered what would probably be her sixth impossible thing before breakfast (not that she was really keeping such a desperate track of it). She hadn't even found a seat for her yet when a woman with impossible to miss red hair strode over and began to compliment her out of seemingly nowhere.

"Oh...thank you," Alyss remarked, unconsciously brushing one of her curls behind her ear. "It's..." She laughed just a little, seeing as she was about to declare a major understatement. "It's a fairly new thing...." And wait...her eyes sparkled? That....was an entirely new thing that she had absolutely never heard from anyone before. Flattered and bewildered, she remarked, "Well you're certainly one for the compliments, aren't you? Thanks...though I'm not actually interested in anyone..."

Oh wait, this was the part where she complimented someone back, even if the compliment in question caught you completely off guard. After all, how often were you told that your eyes sparkled by a rather perky redhead? Come to think of it, she didn't encounter perky redheads all that often; Redd was too evil and Della was too cynical. This was rather peculiar now that she thought of it...because why would this stranger be interested in "the man who holds your heart" anyway? Thankfully, Alyss was merely curious, not exactly suspicious. She'd save that for when she had confirmation that it was needed. After all, it was possible that the girl was just friendly...

"And I love your dress," she remarked, taking a sip of her coffee afterwards. "It suits you." All right, so it wasn't much at all, but again, caught off guard. Thankfully she realized rather quickly that this could become awkward rather quickly unless she did something, and why should they part so prematurely? "I'm Alyss, by the way."

[Deleted]

Giselle liked to see the girl laugh. It was really delightful. So very delightful when people laughed. It made her feel so bubbly and she almost felt like singing. Almost. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” she told the girl. She hadn’t realized that anyone wouldn’t have a significant other with whom they could share true loves first kiss. How very unfortunate. “I do hope you’ll find your happily ever after,” she said earnestly. “Everyone deserves a happily ever after, don’t you think?”

Everyone did deserve a happily ever after. Giselle was one of the few who was almost there and she couldn’t wait for her happily ever after with Edward. She was looking forward to it so much. But now she just had to wait for Edward to sweep in and bring her home. And she couldn’t wait to see Pip again too, since he was her very best friend.

“Oh, do you?” Giselle asked. “Thank you so very much. I made it. It was very difficult without the help of my forest friends. The rabbits and mice are excellent sewers and my very best friend Pip has quite an eye for fashion. I wasn’t quite sure about it, but I’m so glad you like it,” she gushed in practically all one breath. She swished her dress unconsciously.

“Oh, I’m Giselle. From Andalasia. It is very nice to meet you.” She really truly meant it too. She loved meeting people, especially very nice people. “Isn’t this a very nice café?” she asked. “We don’t have cafés in Andalasia, but I like them. They are very pleasant.” Then Giselle realized that she wasn’t being very polite. They should sit. “Oh, would you like to sit?” she asked Alyss. She spotted an empty table by the far wall, next to a window. “There’s a table over there, next to a window.” She pointed with her muffin. “Would you care to join me?”

[Deleted]

Alyss’ expression immediately softened at the other girl’s wish for her to find her true love. Well wasn’t that unusually sweet? Alyss didn’t think of herself as the least bit naïve, don’t get her wrong, but how could someone hear a thing like that and not feel overwhelmingly warmed up to the other person? “Well thank you. With any luck, I suppose,” she stated, offering the other girl an incredulous little smile. “You’re very kind…and well…” She pondered how to answer that honestly. She could certainly think of those that didn’t quite deserve a happily ever after. Redd had caused far too much harm, family or not…whoever it was that did kill Westley (she was really going to have to get back in touch with him at some point, it had been far too long, and he was really one of her first friends back at Avalon)…but why would she wish to upset this jovial girl?

“Well, I’d like to think that there should be enough happily ever afters to go around,” she stated, finding it a bit odd that the fairytale phrase was on her tongue (for a princess of a magical land, she didn’t really use the phrase often…at all). It really wasn’t so much of an effort to keep a smile on her face as she spoke, even if this was something of a sore spot for Alyss. After all, she hadn’t gotten anything close to a happily ever after. She had been struggling just to even feign happiness for most of her life, and even with those days being over, it wasn’t an easy thing to think about. Perhaps most people deserved a happy ending, but did that mean they got them? She supposed only time would tell, because as of right now, the best case scenario for her future wasn’t a happy one; it was one of duty and a great deal of loneliness, just because of the accident that she was born Wonderland’s princess. She really didn’t want to think about how the worst case scenario meant that her ending would be bloodier and sooner than it ought to be.

But moving along from that, it would appear that Giselle had quite a unique assortment of friends back in her own country. Alyss supposed she could have found that a bit odder than she did. She hadn’t yet heard of people having animals that were not only as good friends as humans, but were also stylists, but then again, who was she to talk of strange friends? “Well then, it seems that your friends’...” Hmm, what to say about animals who somehow managed to sew a dress? “Talents have rubbed off on you, or perhaps you were just good at it on your own.” She shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee and mentally noting that she was quite enjoying this conversation. It was so nice, really, being able to actually enjoy herself now. No doubt before, back before she was even blonde, back when she still acted as if the world was simply going to end on her and the worst part was that she wouldn’t have minded at the time…surely that was why she didn’t have so many pleasant conversations such as this. She was far better off now, when she wasn’t acting like her heart was haunted.

“Oh, it is. We didn’t have too many of these back where I’m from either…well, either place I was from, really,” she agreed, managing a weak smile. It appeared that along with her new independence, Alyss didn’t feel quite as torn between her two worlds. Honestly, the only thing that was bothering her about it was the fact that one day, she would be queen, and that…she wasn’t sure if she wanted that. Thankfully she wasn’t given too much time to brood over that, because that was the very last thing she wanted to do. “Oh yes, that would be lovely, thank you Giselle,” she answered, actually grinning as she headed towards the table, making sure she was just at her new friend’s (she hoped, anyway) side.

[Deleted]

Giselle was pretty sure that everyone deserved their own happily ever after. Even if they weren’t the nicest people. She would like to think that everyone was inherently good, even though people did bad things sometimes, like push people down wells. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t change. And then they could live happily ever after. “Oh, I’m quite sure there are,” she told Alyss brightly. Giselle was purely positive about it. There just had to be, that was all.

Giselle was just ticked that Alyss liked her dress too. “Oh, thank you! That’s very kind.” It was very kind of someone to say that she had talent. Giselle hadn’t known she was talented at anything besides making friends. She could make friends very easily. Everywhere she went she was making friends. The people here were just so lovely!

But she didn’t understand how someone could be from two places. She had led a rather sheltered life so far. She had always lived in the forest with her forest friends in Andalasia for as long as she could remember. But there were a lot of things that confused Giselle about this place, so she let it go. She walked alongside Alyss. “Isn’t it just a beautiful day? I was out exploring this morning and then I got hungry and I saw this café and I was so delighted to see that they had muffins,” she chattered, taking a seat and setting down her tea. “I haven’t even been here for very long, but I quite like it. I think my Edward will like it very much when he comes.”

[Deleted]

Alyss had to admit, there was something refreshing about how quickly Giselle was able to agree that there were enough happily ever afters to go around. In recent events, Alyss came to realize that there were two different sorts of happy people; those who went through hell, and that was how they learned to be happy in spite of the harsh realities in life…and then there were the ones that life had been kind to, so kind, in fact, that sadness hadn’t really been a reality for them. If Giselle’s behavior in the past five minutes were any indication, the redhead was surely the latter, and even if Alyss was a new woman, of sorts, she couldn’t help but envy Giselle that. Oh well, perhaps some of Giselle’s happiness would prove to be infectious, because truthfully, Alyss was worried that she would return to dwelling on her misfortunes if she wasn’t careful. She would very much like having someone like Giselle around to perhaps keep her in check, and besides, she had proven to be such a pleasant companion already.

So Alyss smiled as she settled herself down while Giselle went on about what a lovely day it was. Alyss certainly agreed with her now that it had been drawn to her attention. Before she had been concentrating more on her odd little transformation, for lack of a better term, so much that she hadn’t quite realized how the sun shone through the leaves of the trees while she was walking towards the café. That would teach her to play with her hair so much, she supposed.

Sipping on her Imagined coffee, she tilted her head slightly once Giselle brought up the name Edward. “Edward…oh, I suppose that’s the man who holds your heart, Giselle?” she queried with a wry smile. Even if her own experiences with love weren’t quite so happy, she could recognize the look on Giselle’s face. Well, good for her, that was what she had to say there. “And you’re right, it is pretty nice here. I’ve lived here for over a year now,” she added, because when you really thought about it, in spite of all of the drama and danger…this was a nice little city, with nice people…it was definitely the sort of place where you could figure out your life after dealing with so much.

[Deleted]

Alyss was quite right! Giselle’s life had never really been a sad one. Her life had been sunshine and roses and particularly lovely! Why the only bad thing that had ever really happened to her was when that mean old hag had pushed her down the well and she’d ended up here. And that wasn’t even too terrible because here was really quite nice! She really quite enjoyed it! Everyone had been so very kind and she was making friends already! But it really wasn’t too hard.

Giselle sipped her tea carefully when Alyss asked about Edward. “Oh, yes indeed! Edward is my one true love! We’re going to be married,” she informed the other girl, positively glowing. She loved talking about her Edward. It was just so wonderful to be so in love. It made her want to sing and dance, though just about everything made her want to sing and dance.

“You’ve been here for over a year? Oh, that’s a very long time. You must a student then. I’m a student at the university. I just registered the other day and I’m quite excited. I’ve never been to a proper school before and I do so hope that the teachers will be friendly.” Giselle had been homeschooled her whole life. All of the forest animals had taught her things, like which mushrooms were safe to eat and where to find nuts and berries. They had also taught her things like how to sew and had always been very helpful. She really hoped that this school would teach her such practical things like that.

[Deleted]

So it would seem that Alyss’ assumptions about the unfamiliar name were correct. So correct, in fact, that Giselle and Edward were to be married. “Well congratulations!” Alyss exclaimed and realized that it wasn’t just some sort of show that she had grown so good at. She truly meant it. Perhaps it was Giselle’s infectious happiness, but the idea of Giselle marrying who she called her one true love, as cliché it sounded, well, it sounded like something to be happy about. But then it occurred to her that Giselle had mentioned that Edward was coming, and perhaps it was the fact that it was sweethearts being separated, but that interested Alyss very much indeed.

“Do you have any idea of how soon?” she asked, figuring that it was polite enough, even expected when you found out that someone was getting married, but chances are she would find out why Edward wasn’t there at the moment if the two were so much in love. As she awaited further explanation, Alyss couldn’t help but see if perhaps this would stir up the old emotions associated with Dodge. It wasn’t like she missed them at all. No, she just wanted to see if perhaps she had spoken too soon, that perhaps this would send her spiraling downward once again. After all, it seemed almost too good to be true, that she would suddenly lose all of that pain overnight.

But once again, she remembered the events clearly, but the pain was just not there anymore. Instead of being surprised, bemused even…somehow that was giving Alyss a sense of dread, just for a moment. She had loved Dodge, after all. She had thought that her world revolved entirely around him, even when she was denying that he even existed. It would’ve taken something so very impossible for her to just stop feeling for him…it was strange indeed.

Yet she brushed it off after that moment. After all, what good at pining over him had really done for her? In the year that she had been here alone it had caused her unnecessary suffering, hadn’t it? So being over him…surely that was a good thing. It was just going to take some getting used to, was all, seeing as it had been how she felt her entire life. Nineteen years, and suddenly nothing…well, of course it was confusing. But it would all be fine, Alyss was sure.

She couldn’t help but smile slightly as Giselle went on about how she was about to start school, had never been to a proper school before she arrived. Alyss had, of course. The Liddell’s were a proper family, and any proper family let their daughters be educated, of course…it was how she learned that her own name’s spelling wasn’t even proper enough for them. She certainly liked it here at Tintagel better, she realized, where the idea of her being the princess of Wonderland was actually quite mundane in comparison to some of her peers’ life stories.

All the same, being the niece of Redd Heart was certainly exciting enough…and not in the good way, so when Giselle mentioned that she hoped that all her teachers were nice, Alyss’ thoughts turned to her aunt. Even in her new state, the thought of her struck fear in her heart. It just didn’t seem as paralyzing, which was certainly on her list of impossible things (she wasn’t sure if she had exceeded six yet, she was beginning to lose count). In fact, after a quick once over of the café, she leaned in closer to Giselle, her expression a bit more solemn.

“Some of them are, certainly. Professor Cazaril was always kind to me,” she began, not yet knowing that her sort of friend had also gone through quite the transformation. “…but some you’ve got to be careful about.” As much as she didn’t want to risk Giselle’s perpetual happiness, Alyss felt as if it would be irresponsible to not, at least, tell her to look out for her aunt. “See…my aunt teaches here, and she is…basically as far from nice as you can get. So…promise me you’ll be careful if you hear someone mention Redd Heart? She’s not someone you want to cross paths with more often than you must.”

[Deleted]

Giselle simply loved talking about her one true love, even if it was terribly sad that they were apart for the moment. And she was quite delighted that Alyss had asked her about Edward in the first place. It was really so nice of people to notice just how in love they were. Giselle really was such a supporter of true love and honestly believed that everyone would have their chance to live happily ever after too! It was really just so wonderful. Love was wonderful!

“Oh, I really don’t know what Edward will come for me. You see, on the day we were supposed to be married a mean old hag pushed me down a well and I ended up here. But I’m quite certain that Edward is looking for me. We’re so very much in love that I’m certain he’s trying very hard to find me. And my very friend Pip is probably with him too.”

Of course there was no doubt in Giselle’s mind that Edward wouldn’t find her. Of course he would. He was a prince and princes always came to rescue the damsels in distress. And even though she wasn’t in distress Edward had told her that he loved her and that was like a promise that he would always rescue her, even when she didn’t need to be rescued. That’s just what princes did.

But Giselle listened as Alyss talked about the professors. Professor Cazaril. She would try and remember that. And she nodded seriously when Alyss mentioned she had to be careful (although it was advice that would probably slip from Giselle’s mind the moment she walked out of the café). But she was looking serious, her eyes going a little wider when Alyss mentioned her aunt. “Oh, I’ll be careful,” she told Alyss. “Though I am quite surprised that anyone related to you couldn’t be nice.”

[Deleted]

If it had been anyone else speaking to Giselle, at least someone unfamiliar with the ways of this school, they probably would have found Giselle to be stark raving mad. And yet it was Alyss who heard the story and found her eyes widening, not because it was so unbelievable, but because it was so familiar. Mind you, she hadn't been literally pushed, but it had certainly been metaphorical...and it wasn't a wedding, but a birthday, and admittedly, with some adjustments, her dress would have suited a wedding rather well. Well...that was certainly uncanny. Giselle was just lucky she got a fairly tame version, otherwise she wouldn't have been nearly as cheerful.

"Well, let's hope so...being stuck here, never being able to come home again...that would be awful..." she said, perhaps feeling like this was too close to home to not be more than just sympathetic, which manners should have stopped.

Now the question was...should she mention it? It was always difficult, deciding on that sort of thing. On the one hand, Giselle would clearly understand. Alyss could even open with "I know how you feel," but then again, it could end with Giselle feeling sorry for her, and that was never pleasant.

It would seem, however, she was given the perfect opening when Giselle reacted to her warning regarding Redd. With a rueful smile, she said, "Well, it's very nice of you to say so...but she's sort of my hag, if you will." There, surely that would be fine. That way Giselle would only hear more if she really wanted to, and Alyss had a chance to escape the topic all together. Because honestly, it was all in the past...right?

[Deleted]

Giselle didn’t seem to notice at all that Alyss was reacting strangely or anything like that. In fact, Giselle thought that her new friend was just enthralled in her story. It was really a very exciting story and one that was probably in all sorts of books. The heroines were always being pushed down wells or something like that. They were always being taken away from their one true loves, which was really quite. But in the end it always worked out. The hero always found the heroine and then they lived happily ever after.

But Alyss was sounding quite sad. Giselle nodded, soberly. “Yes, that would awful,” she agreed. Never going home to Andalasia sounded very sad indeed. She missed all of her friends, but to never see them again would be unbearable. Simply unbearable. It would be torture. But she wouldn’t have to never see them again. Edward was coming for her. She knew he was. He was going to find her and they were going to live happily ever after in Andalasia.

Giselle’s eyes went wide though at the mention of her very own hag. “Oh, how terrible,” she cried. “Oh, that’s just terrible. I’m very sorry for you. I wouldn’t want you to be pushed down a well away from your one true love as well. How very terrible for you.” Giselle really did feel terrible for Alyss because there was nothing worse than having your very own hag. Hags were really just the worst. The absolute worst and Giselle would never wish that on anyone.

[Deleted]

Giselle had reacted to her explanation just as much as would have been expected, and this was just from knowing the girl for, what? Twenty minutes at the very most. Alyss could only sigh and smile ruefully. “Well, I appreciate your sympathy very much…it was pretty awful…” She could have easily mentioned that it had happened a long time ago, but Alyss was tactful enough to realize just how stupid that would be. After all, Giselle’s best hope was that her Edward would rescue her soon enough, and if Alyss even dared to mention that she had been stuck in this world that she didn’t belong to for the past thirteen years? She didn’t even want to think of what that would do to the poor girl who had been so nice to her all morning. So no, Alyss simply refused to unleash her sob story any further. She was going to tug it back like Della would if Rook was trying to run too far towards something he shouldn’t.

“But…you know, things work out for the best,” she then continued, letting her smile broaden. Did Alyss believe it? Honestly, she wasn’t at all sure what she believed at this point. Was she going to be Wonderland’s savior? Was she going to ever find a way to really…belong anywhere? And while she was certainly finding that she was missing Dodge less, it was only natural to let one’s mind wander to love at the end of a relationship, wasn’t it? Was there going to be a new love for Alyss, someday? As if to answer her own question, a wisdom that she didn’t realize she had left her lips: “It’s simply a matter of…knowing how to get yourself to that point. It may be messy and difficult…but it has to happen, right? Otherwise how can you ever survive?”

Alyss then stopped herself, because…well, it was getting to be a tad depressing, this conversation, and reaching into her heart and finding that lesson…well, it was a touch overwhelming. She never even realized that she had acquired that knowledge in her years away from Wonderland, and couldn’t decide if she was glad for it or not. “But…yes, that’s just me.”

[Deleted]

Giselle would have pitied Alyss had she known the rest of her story, but she thought wouldn’t have even crossed her mind that it would take just as long for Edward to find her. Oh no, Edward would find her and hopefully sooner rather than later. And even if she was stuck here for years and years it wasn’t so bad. She had friends here and she liked the school and though she couldn’t go to school forever she was happy to be there now. She could make the best of things. She was really very friendly and even though most people didn’t like her singing she had still made friends. Very good friends too and she was sure that there were more good friends to be found.

Giselle brightened when Alyss said that things would work out. “Of course!” she cried in agreement. Things just had to work out for the best. That was the way it always happened. That’s why the damsels were always rescued by the handsome princes and then got married because that was how things would work out best of course! Alyss was perfectly right. Everything work out for the best. Edward would find her and they would live happily ever after for the rest of their lives. It just had to work out that way!

“Oh, I agree,” Giselle gushed. “I’m sure it’s different for everyone, but everything must happen for a reason. And then things work out for the best and then everyone is happy! And everyone gets their happily ever after of course!” She was really quite convinced that this was how it was supposed to happen.

[Deleted]

Alyss had to admit, she wished that Giselle had been around when she was in her depressed state just…yesterday, in fact. Good God, it was still mind boggling how…different she felt today. She had no idea as of why, no more than she knew why she had awoken blonde, but…she did like it. And she was certain that if Giselle had been around a week ago, or even earlier, she would have found the strength to battle through her dithering, self pitying self much sooner.

As it was, it still did the job of putting a smile on her face. Perhaps some people would resent just how sunny and optimistic the redhead would-be princess was (in fact, her roommate would probably give Alyss a look like she was being tortured), but…well, considering how she spent so much of her childhood staying in the negative, it was nice to be reminded of such positive things by the girl. She could very easily see herself becoming friends with Giselle for this very reason, in fact, even if perhaps Alyss had her skepticisms when it came to Giselle’s ‘everyone simply must live happily ever after’ philosophy. Alyss wasn’t at all sure if she would live that, but she decided that she would be satisfied with simply…well, satisfied. Whatever that meant.

All the same, she smiled at Giselle’s musings and decided to simply nod, that was the polite thing to do, after all, and Giselle had been so nice, and it would be a shame to not return the favor. After a moment of thought, she stated, “So, tell me more about your Edward. He just sounds so special, and besides, if he turns up, I’d very much like to be of any help I can, on the off chance you have trouble finding one another.”