Total RetCon (Alice)

[Salem Hirch]

Since when did Salem take cryptic messages from girls he just met? Apparently since yesterday. That was when the quiet fellow bookworm know as Cat had near cornered him at the bookstore, where he was just trying to be alone; and dropped a note in his lap. A very well written note on very nice stationary with a sickening sweet perfume sprayed all over it. Which made Salem want to gag a little, granted the overly girly handwriting was not helping matters. It was a simple not that said for him to meet a girl named Alice in The Book Nook and it gave a brief if not very self centered description of Alice. Kinda vague, but whatever. It wasn't like Salem had anything better to do. Only days before he had pushed all his friends away in one fail swoop. At the moment, he didn't really care. 

His lack of caring showed in his appearance as well. The blonde hair was unbrushed and wild, his clothes were clean, but obviously wrinkled. No doubt about it, Salem was a mess. His eyes were still slightly bloodshot and the lids were red from straining with his powers. With very little thought, Salem sort of just fell back onto one of the couches in the store and waited. So what if this girl requested a meeting. She obviously knew who he was and he had no desire to stand there and watch every girl walk in like some creep. With this minor thought, he tilted his head back on the couch and closed his eyes.

[Alice Halifax]

Alice had arrived at the bookstore long before the time she had requested Salem to meet her there. She was seated on one of the many couches the bookstore had about. She was reading a book on the life of Vincent Van Gogh, one of her favorite artists. Catherine had suggested another book for Alice to read but to be honest, Alice found it boring and over her head. Cat was sweet, but her taste in literature was greatly different than Alice's. That didn't matter though as Cat's usefulness was centered in other places. Alice was sort of surprised when Cat brought her attention to Salem, but he must have impressed Cat somewhere and somehow so he was worth a look. From what Cat had told Alice, the boy was suffering from the recently loss of his brother, a sad but perfect set up for Alice.

When Salem walked in, Alice saw him and smiled slightly. She played with a lock of her hair as she continued to read her book, all the while stealing glances at Salem. Despite his handsome features, Salem looked a wreck. His clothes looked as if he had slept in them and his hair looked as if it hadn't seen a comb in weeks. He was broken and a perfect potential recruit for Alice's newly founded 'family'. She would give Salem a bit to wait, to see if he was really curious about who sent him the letter. Alice might have went a bit overboard with that letter, but that was just who she was. It mustn't have offended him too bad if any seeing how he was here. Alice continued to read her book, looking up here and there to watch Salem.

When Salem laid his head back and closed his eyes, Alice casually closed her book and stood to her feet, leaving the book behind. She ran her hands over her skirt some to press out any wrinkles. The long green skirt fell just above her ankles but flowed loosely. Her top was a light silver and made of silk. The neckline plunged low and the sleeves covered about a quarter of her upper arms. Her hair was up in a bun but at each side of her face was one curled lock of her hair. She wore small silver hoop earrings to match her top. Her eye shadow was a light green, softly added to draw attention to her eyes. She wore lipstick the same color as her eye shadow. A rather bold look, but Alice was a bold woman.

She walked toward Salem, her stride fluid and somewhat silent. She stood in front of the boy for just a moment before finally sitting herself down next to him. She slipped her high heels off and brought her feet up under her, settling in the corner of the couch. "Salem Hirch I'm guessing?," she asked, smiling as she brought one arm up to rest along the back of the couch. "I'm Alice Halifax. Sorry for the silly way I requested to meet you, but it was the only one available to me," she said, locking her cold blue eyes on Salem.

[Salem Hirch]

The boys mind had slipped away for a moment, as it had tendency to do anyway, and he was not in the bookstore. No, he was miles away on a farm, playing some stupid childish game with his brother. It was catch and each time Salem caught the ball and looked up, Aiden was further and further away. In reality, his fists clenched. There was nothing he could do to keep Aiden from slipping further and further away and it made his heart ache, but that ache turned to anger quickly. It wasn't just his heart though, a different pain was pulling him back to reality. The pain only caused by using his powers.

Honestly, Salem just got his eyesight back from that event and the soft, if not now dull, blue orbs were still very sensitive to the light that he produced when his powers decided they wanted to work on their own. Back in reality now, he raised his hands to his face, but as he did he felt the room shift near him for some reason. No, wait...someone was near him. At least he thought so, not that he really cared. Not until he heard the voice of course and only then did he open his eyes. Slowly, he lifted his head to look at the girl who spoke. When his eyes finally fell on her, he snorted. Old Salem would never laugh at someone, but this was new Salem. Improved Salem. A retcon if you will. "Silly way? Oh, you mean the letter, yeah...whatever it's not big deal."

It wasn't to him at all. Regardless of what this "chick" wanted. "So, you're Alice." His face was unmoving with no discernable emotions. "Sure it's not Barbie?" Even though this was a sarcastic comment, his voice was almost flat and he didn't let her respond before he asked her a question. "I'm here, what do you want?" His voice still flat as he took the girl in fully. Yes, to him she was a barbie doll. Plastic, cold, more than likely unfeeling, but at the same time...he really didn't care. He was more interested in what this person wanted with him, more than what she was, or who she was for that matter.

[Alice Halifax]

Alice hadn't expected much more from Salem but at least hoped for more pleasant conversation than what she had been treated to thus far. Alice let Salem's tone and his appearance slide for the moment, it was clear he wasn't used to dealing with a lady of Alice's standing. The girls now were too masculine and had no idea of what manners were. Dressing in whatever they could dig from hamper and somehow believing that a pony tail was an appropriate hair style. The world had lost its sense of taste and sadly, manners seemed to be nothing more than a relic lost in the past. It was sad really, to see such promise squandered. Thankfully for Salem though, Alice was here to finally introduce him to a real lady.

She smiled at Salem, letting his rude comments roll of her like water of a duck's back. It wasn't a secret that something ate at Salem, his appearance told Alice that. Also, Catherine had filled Alice in on Salem's current loss. Losing family wasn't easy, and while Alice was an only child she surmised losing a sibling was painful. Still, Alice couldn't excuse Salem's poor attitude for long, the poor boy was in need of educating. "Such angst and hostility," Alice said sort of mockingly, smiling at Salem, "I sort of like Barbie though, she has everything," Alice added, brushing Salem's comment to the side. It hadn't been the first time she was labeled as a plastic play pretty and if others were foolish enough to label her as such, Alice wasn't going to correct them. If others thought Alice was just a pretty face with no real motivation or drive, then it played to Alice's favor. So, Salem was putting himself under Alice's thumb without even knowing it.

Alice let her smile drop just slightly and she took a moment to put her thoughts in order. "I want to offer my condolences on the recent loss of your brother. Losing a family member is never easy," Alice said, following proper etiquette, "I won't insult you by saying I understand or I could imagine how you feel." Alice did make sure to maintain eye contact with Salem though, although she imagined such an act was lost on one in such a shape. "We'll get to why we're here shortly, I thought we might get to know one another a bit first. The art of conversation is lost in today's world, but I'm an old fashioned girl. I like to know who I'm dealing with, what they're like, what sort of personality they have," she said, admitting the truth about part of her personality. Alice wanted to know the person she was approaching before she offered something to them. Salem would make a great fit to the Family, but was he open to the idea. A few well crafted questions would let Alice know that.

[Salem Hirch]

So, this meeting was going swimmingly. At least that was the overly sarcastic comment that formed in Salem's head. He didn't speak it out loud however, only because he was actually slightly curious what "Miss Plastic" really wanted. The boy had seen many girls like her, usually stuck in a mall or behind the wheel of some expensive sports car that they're daddies bought them for their sweet 16 birthday. All of them were alike as far as he was concerned. Alice was certainly no exception. Though Salem did pause for a moment to think. Maybe it would be fun to just play along with this and see what happened. She spoke and Salem had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, angst and hostility go hand in hand usually." It was a bit of a snide comment, but he didn't care about that one too much. She was a big girl and as far as he was concerned, could put on her big girl undies and get over anything he said.

"Oh, you would like Barbie wouldn't you.." He said very, very quietly under his breath as he gave a sweet little smirk that dripped with that angst she had spoken of. That little smirk faded as she offered her "condolences". A little fire of rage grew in his chest, but he kept himself calm and quiet. Merely because she had locked eyes with him. Salem had gotten his fill of hearing people say they were "sorry", or that they "understand". The hell they understood. Even if they really did, he didn't care, much like now. The reason Salem was angry was not the fact she brought it up, but the fact that she knew. There was only one way she could have possibly known and to be honest that thought hurt a little. Cat had to have told her, that was the only explanation. Alice had no right to bring it up, and Cat had no right telling her. For now however, he decided to let it go.

A puzzled look crossed his face as Alice spoke again. "She wants to get to know me?" He thought as he wrinkled his nose in contemplation. Wondering what game she was playing at, he listened to her continue. Alice was certainly an old fashioned girl, which Salem somewhat respected. "Alright. Even though it appears you already know a lot about me, we can chat I guess." Now, he turned his face away and looked back up at the ceiling. "Anything you wanna ask, feel free."

[Alice Halifax]

Catherine hadn't lied about Salem's poor attitude, but Alice had expected less. Salem had so much anger in his voice and his movements were stiff, rigid. The boy was a walking time bomb and while that should have been a red flag, to Alice it was a green light. She herself was emotionally explosive, although unlike Salem she hid her crazy a bit better. Alice wanted people who were strong, who had reason to be motivated. People who were complacent deserved whatever wrong was inflicted upon them for apathy was death. Yeah sure, Alice might seem well put together and not all that different from your other typical wealthy spoiled young women. She worked hard at putting that image out there as it made those around her more complacent in their assumptions of her. Alice like being spoiled but she liked having control even better. This was a small part of why she put together the Family and why she insisted on being the sole member who recruited.

Alice's next move would undoubtedly set Salem on fire. It was his fault, he was the one who opened the floor to any and all questions. Giving Alice such permission usually meant someone's downfall. Like Alice needed permission from anyone for anything, but pointing out Salem's mistake made for a good scapegoat. For a moment though, Alice simply looked at Salem, watching him. She studied what she could see of his face, looking for emotion. It wasn't hard to find it. Asking her next question did seem like a bad idea to her but only briefly. This was Alice, the oncoming storm of drama. She wasn't about to let a moment like this slip by without poking it with a stick.

"Tell me about you and your brother. It seems the two of you were close," she said calmly, sort of softly as if the question carried no weight at all. Alice knew the force it would have. Salem was already volatile and shaking his emotions like this was only going to make him explode. Of course, this might have been the plan all along. If Salem was angry, then he wasn't in control and if he wasn't in control then it meant Alice was. Right now, Salem was raw. He was like a wild horse and like all wild horses, he needed to be broke. Salem needed to see things from a certain point of view and this was the first step in helping him see things from the position Alice wanted him to see them.