Snippet #2301234

Alice seemed to ponder Jacob's response for a moment, gazing silently into the middle distance as she mulled over his analogy. It was a mere moment of blankness, yet it was something that she seemed to do often. Much like how a normal person might mutter a "Hmm," or a "Well," or perhaps some other meaningless vocalization while they thought of a response, Alice seemed to simply blank out, speak when she had something to say, then return to the unfocused, sleep-like state which seemed to be her usual demeanor. However, since the boy began to speak again, after a few words she seemed to set her musings aside as her eyes refocused... somewhere in the direction of the boy, at any rate. It still wasn't clear if she was looking at or through him, but at least he - apparently - had her attention. On some level, at least. That vague, unreadable expression of hers really didn't help when it came to understanding what she was thinking about or paying attention to.

As the boy held out his hand and gave his name, Alice didn't move in the least. Her own arms remained hanging almost limply at her sides, and, at the very most, she might have shot a single glance at the boy's extended limb. And yet, she seemed either to not understand his gesture, or to reject it, and just kept gazing blankly at him.

"So you are," Alice said at last, giving another one of her bizarre, somehow sly un-smiles, the edges of her lips rising ever so slightly in an expression that might have been some sort of grin or another, yet looked somehow conspiratorial or knowing. It wasn't clear if this expression was meant to imply something or if she was just proud of deducing his name from his very unambiguous self-introduction, but it was pretty obvious that she'd dodged his question, as she quickly began to space out again. It was pretty clear she was thinking about something, but it didn't seem likely that what she was pondering was her own name. Maybe. With her, one could never tell. However, when she finally did speak up, it was quite obviously not an introduction.

"Why are you asking if you can ask a question?" She said, cocking her head to the side slightly in a manner that might have signified confusion. "If you're going to ask a question anyway, why not just ask the one you want an answer to?" Alice added, seeming to be interpreting Jacob's request literally, if her perplexity at his politeness was any indicator. "You're weird. Like a person who finds a magic lamp, then wishes he found the lamp in the first place. Pointless."