@scarestress from here / thrownsoul asked: are these the same people that came after you last time?
"i have. honestly. no fucking idea."
she has a girl-in-a-horror-movie instinct to nudge the mugger-turned-unconscious-heap-on-the-ground with her toe. but she's seen a lot of horror movies, and also kind of lives in one if you think about it, so. she knows better than to do that. she shifts her weight and takes a step away from him. glances, just for a second, up at alice.
"normally. when somebody comes after me. i kind of. already know who it is."
"so if you don't know. is that better or worse."
maybe better or worse is not a useful metric right now.
alice is trusting that this guy is down for the count, but only because scarab is telling her so. another part of her brain, quieter, goes: how down? is he going to wake up at all? how do you know how hard to hit someone with an energy beam, or an armored fist?
do you trust scarab to tell you?
"i'm glad i was here. i think," she says, slowly and practically, "you should put me on speed dial."