...They might have been there for a bit too long. Ice pleasantly having this moment of human touch while Alice seemed to be having the same thing. They didn't have anyway to know when the debate would be over so they just stayed in Alice's room, but now Ice was starting to feel antsy again. The man slipped his hands out from around Alice and lightly pushed her away from his embrace.
"Th-They must be about done now, and I want to check on Allie and Calvin." Ice hadn't really thought before about how close he was getting with Alice, but now his face was starting to heat up. How many minutes had they been hugging, especially on Alice's bed?! This was definitely most improper and while Ice might not have been the most proper of people, he still wanted to treat Alice with the respect she deserved.
"...So-" Now, that would just be more embarrassing for him to apologize! If Alice didn't realize what he was thinking about, she would probably be confused and come up with the wrong conclusions, and Ice wasn't about to let that happen. With an annoyed sigh, he got up and stretched, flinching a little at his achy hand and arm.
"Thanks... for agreeing to come with me," he wanted to get his emotions in check before looking back at Alice, so he didn't turn to her before walking over to the door. Finally, he opened the door and turned back to her,
"Shall we?""Erm, y-yeah! Let's go check on the others..." Alice agreed as she followed behind Ice, mentally punching herself in the face for not keeping track of time. Or really, just embarrassing herself in general.
The two of them hurried up to the second floor, the sounds of arguments not even heard from their vantage point. Had they arrived too late? How had the debate gone? Ice's heart skipped a beat when he remembered Aleecia's determined face. Had Calvin been able to stop her? Had Cyrus? Nothing was discernible from the other end of the hall. They were just reaching for the door when-
Faith had taken the opportunity as the debate wrapped up to make her way to the door. A couple of other Infinites had grouped over to look after Allie, giving her the perfect chance to make her escape from the room as quickly as she could. Seeing the girl break down as she did... it hit her somewhere she tried desperately to keep quiet. How determined she was to use her own life for the sake of her friends - it was commendable, but equally stupid, in her eyes. To let such a young and innocent girl give herself to a fate most likely worse than death; Faith shuddered at the thought of letting that happen, each stride taking her closer to the door of the Diner.
Her hands reached out to push the doors open, planting her palms firmly against them and forcing her body weight against them to drive them open in one movement. The moment she did, Faith took another stop forward, but immediately stopped in her tracks. There was something there, in the way; Ice and Alice.
"Huh?" the sound crawled out from her throat involuntarily, and quickly she reached up to wipe her slightly damp eyes,
"O-oh, hi! If it isn't Isaiah and the Exodus~! Did you change your mind on joining the festivities~?""Move." It was fairy dust again, the girl that made the hairs on the back of Ice's neck stand on end. Why did this situation have to happen again, and for the love of crumpets everywhere, Ice
really didn't want this to end the same way. Ice moved slightly in front of Alice, not wanting Faith to get closer again.
What really was unnerving Ice was the expression Faith had had on when she first came out. What could be so horrifying as to make someone like that tear up? All of this was worrying the broody blood donor and his heart involuntarily sped up. This was really not the time considering his condition. This whole situation made him want to pop a candy in his mouth, even with his lack there of.
Alice herself didn't want to deal with Faith at the moment, the night of carnage being more important than whatever the matchmaker wanted, so the recon decided to deal with it and move on. Cause the faster the two reached the dining room, the better.
"What do you want, Tinker Bell? Make it quick." She asked, unamused.
"Well that's not very nice~!" even despite her cheery and seemingly playful outset, it was seemingly obvious that she wasn't expecting such a harsh welcome from the two. Whether it was because she was oblivious to how they thought of her, or simply because she blatantly ignored it, for a brief second her face flashed something of a solemn look, before regaining its usual happy smile,
"Y'know, the debate is practically over. Pretty sure I managed to convince Allie to stay behind and let the others deal with Nariko, too~! is that what you wanted to hear~?"Ice took a longer glance down at the girl,
"You met Aleecia? If you said anything to hurt her..." Images played through his head and he almost started shake. He knew that everyone in the room, including Calvin and Ellie, wouldn't let Faith physically hurt the girl, but there was no way to block words. While he did care for Alice and Calvin, Allie had become Ice's main concern. She was the one that couldn't fight and was defenseless, reminding him of his younger sisters so long ago... There was no way Ice would let her get herself involved with this. Ice's blatantly annoyed looked turn venomous as he stared her down.
"I said move."In response, Faith simply placed her hands on her hips and pouted. What had she done to deserve such cruelty?! They'd barely met and they were just so mean to her! Their last interaction, she was under the impression she had helped; not only had she given Alice an insight into her hidden ability, but she had given Ice an opportunity to grapple with himself - and this was the thanks she got? Even the bland people in her old game were more receptive to her help then these two. Allie hadn't been upset when she talked about magic, so what was the problem with these two?! She simply couldn't fathom it - not in the slightest. They were in a Killing Game, even something as outlandish as magic in modern day society should have been less surprising that
that"Hurt her?! No, never! I'd never hurt anyone unless they deserved it~" she smiled, releasing the pout from her face with newfound energy,
"Hey, I was thinking - you shouldn't be fighting Isaiah!" her blatant and random change of subject hung in the air for a couple seconds before she started again,
"Not cause you're an ordinary human or anything, even though that contributes a liiiiiiiiittle bit. But cause you're injured; you cant hide those bandages from me~ What are you gonna do about confessing if you're dead~? Soooooo, don't fight~! We wouldn't want you to get killed after all~"It wasn't that Ice was exactly taking Faith for her word, but he knew since Calvin was there that Allie would be okay. Therefore Ice was able to switch topics over to the fight at hand... The one he knew would be merciless.
"If I can move, I can fight. It might look like a narly road rash, but I can still move pretty much everything if I take off some of these excess bandages." Ice brought moved his right hand up his shirt to slip the chained blade out.
"I can fight as well as anyone, got that? There's no way I'm not going to give that pompous Flib a piece of my mind, one that will leave her in smoldering pieces." The bandages that had been badly wrapped around his head fell away, his right eye becoming more visible through them and just as dark as Alice had seen during the trial, though the darkness that involved him was only a fraction of what it had been when he had seen the murderer of his family.
"Hey, hey- Calm down, calm down..." Alice told Ice, a startled expression on her face as she put a hand on his shoulder. As she looked back at Faith however, it changed to a more apathetic look.
"Look, if he wants to fight, just let him. Okay?""Hmmmmm..." she pondered for a second, watching the two defend Ice's capabilities. The emergence of his weapon was something of a surprise, but Faith didn't let it show on her face. Where he had been hiding that she wasn't sure, but at the very least she could tell he was relatively used to combat to have such a weapon; a blade on the end of a chain - a unique approach.
"You two are close, aren't you~?" she suddenly asked. leaning forwards to look at the two of them,
"I can see emotions, y'know, and look into people's hearts~! Hey Alice, would you really wanna let him fight in his condition? I mean, lack of magical assistance aside, he is injured. But maybe I was wrong - maaayyyybeeeee, you like each other~? Hey, hey, what if he died? Wouldn't you have wished you'd listened to my advice then~?" She paused, letting the two formulate a response, but quickly cut them off before they could say anything.
"I get it, though - you really wanna fight Nariko cause she's a big meanie. Buuuuuut, you shouldn't fight her; emotions are nice and all but they might get'ya killed. Oh - oh, since you're so bent on fightiiiiiing~" she took a quick bound forward, so they were truly face to face,
"How would you mind accompanying me, eh~? I wanna fight, but Davis kiiiiiiinda weakened my magic, so I need a buddy! And I can totally stop you from getting killed~! No fighting Nariko, though!" she took a glance over to Alice and smiled,
"Let's leave that to the real fighters~""I don't think- Wait, what?!" Alice exclaimed, eyes widened in shock.
"T-that's ridiculous!!"Ice was starting to feel numb again and that couldn't be a good thing. The Blonde Donor could barely feel Alice's arm on his shoulder and flinched slightly when he finally did feel it, talk about slow reaction time. If only Ice had been facing Alice, maybe that would have calmed him down, but his bloodthirsty fantasies were taking control of his morals. His hand tightened on the blade. It had become almost ritual for him to wind the chain up his leg in the mornings ever since Shona's death. Usually none of it was necessary since Ice didn't leave his room often.
Faith's question went over his head, all thoughts of Alice gone as he imagined slicing Nariko's head off, then Monokuma's, and finally, Davis's. Some man of conquest, hiding with his tail between his probably extremely heavy legs. Perchance had Ice been listening, he probably would have ignored Fairy Dust anyway, her ludicrous thoughts of magic driving him to a migraine. It was only when Faith brought up Nariko's name that Ice's eyes refocused on her. He didn't move when she came closer, his hand still gripping the blade tightly.
"What's the point of fighting if it doesn-" Then, realization slipped past his murderous notions.
Alexandria. The lack of rules. She would be easy to pick off. It wasn't like Ice could actually crush her existence, but maybe he could work off some steam and practice for when it was the time to go head to head with all of them at once. Sure, Ice was hoping that he would be fighting alongside Alice and the other stronger infinites of the group when they moved to overpower Monokuma, but practice makes perfect. They needed someone to stop the other sisters from going to help Nariko and Ice would rather eat his own shoes than let them help the mechanical witch.
It would be easy to agree with Faith right away, but Ice was too annoyed to take the easy route,
"Why should I accompany you? You don't seem like much of a gladiator to me."Faith couldn't help but give a smile at Alice's reaction. Even without seeing her face, she could tell just what thoughts were going through her head; telling when people were smitten was her forte, after all. Needless to say, though, she found herself a tad disappointed at Ice as he seemingly stared off into space, lost in his own little world. And when they were having an important conversation about their plans, no less! Had no one taught the man manners?! But even still, it wasn’t as though she could get angry at him. Anger was such an ugly emotion. It had no place in the palace of romance!
”That’s okay, Alice, you don’t have to admit it right away~!” she chirped, leaning a but over ice’s shoulder,
”Come talk to me if you need any advice, Kay~?” and at that she, took a little step back, with just enough distance between her and Ice for them to touch,
”Now then, Mr. Isaiah! Maybe I don’t look like a fighter, but you can bet your pretty little behind that I can~! Training was hard, but as an Heiress people do kiiiinda wanna kill me - can’t think why~! But, but, if you keep thinking with that attitude... well, you miiiight just get~” she gently tapped his nose with her index finger,
”Offed~!”As quickly as she she did so, Faith danced around him, and out of the doorway to the Diner, just off to the side behind them.
”How would you feel about helping us keep some of the Sisters at bay~? You’ll get your fix of combat, and I bet it’ll be tonnes of fun~!“Ice had already agreed to the request in his head, but somehow he was going to have to begrudgingly accept her out loud.
"..." Ice had opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Really, he was acting like such a child, even Ice could see that! But... he didn't want to do anything nice for this girl that creeped him out. He just finally scratched the back of his neck and nodded. Before Faith could react, he pivoted on his feet to face Alice,
"They need you and you'd better not die, got it?" The look on his face was blocked from Faith's sight, and Ice felt better that way. His past desperation from Alice's bedroom showed there again. Would the Recon agree to go fight Nariko? ...Or would she only fight if it meant Ice was there with her. Everyone needed Alice to make the right call, and maybe... Maybe Allie's life depended on it.
Alice wanted to yell at Faith for making such an assumption, and she wanted to question Ice's decision to team up with the matchmaker of all people, yet something inside the recon told her to stay quiet, so she did.
"...Right. I promise I'll stay alive." She answered, forcing a smile before walking inside the diner.
"You make one pass at either Alice or Aleecia and I'll slit your throat and smoke with your windpipe," Ice stated, starting the walk back downstairs. If they were going after any of the disfunctional Killgood family, it was going to be that yandere robot ruella.
"I wouldn't dream of it~" accompanied by a giggle were the only response before the Matchmaker vanished down the corridor.