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[X] Carefully wake Alice. Offer to walk with her.

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After a moment of thought, Grimnír gently pats the dollmaker's shoulders. He whispers her name a few times until she groans irritably.

"Ugh, I can find that book later, lemme 'lone..."

"Alice?"

Without warning, she raises her hand and slams it hard on the armrest with a bang. She opens her eyes sleepily and frowns at him.

"Dammit Marisa!" she cries. "I told you to wait till I -"

Alice stops speaking and stares blankly at him. He smiles at her nervously. She blinks again. An awkward silence passes between them.

"A-ah! Grim? I-I didn't know, I'm sorry, I just -"

"Don't mention it. My fault for waking you."

She nervously starts brushing at her hair with her hands, as if to make it neater. Honestly, he thinks that her golden hair is already quite lovely as it is, but he takes the prudent step not to say that out loud.

"Well, I thought that I'd offer to take a walk with you, but it seems that you're a bit busy right now."

"Busy? What do you mean?"

He nods at the materials and designs scattered beside her. Alice takes a glance at the table, then back at him. Suddenly, her eyes widen in horror. Her face turns white and her lips start quivering.

"Iyaaaah!"

"Huh?

"Shanghai, go!"

"What the, MMPH!"

Grimnír gasps in surprise as the doll hops up and hugs his face. The tiny doll's grip tightens as he cries, 'Mmph' a few more times. Shanghai seems intent on blocking his vision, and he can feel no intimacy from her hug. Well, maybe he can feel a little. Despite her grip, the doll seems to be taking extreme care not to injure him. From the side of his eye, he can see a worried expression upon her face. After a moment, he calms down and stops struggling. There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger.

"Hurry! Take that one too!"

He perks up his ears to listen. From the sounds nearby, several things are being quickly moved away. Then, a couple of minutes later, he hears Alice sigh in relief.

"Ah, s-sorry about that," she says. "It was just so messy that I had to clean up and -"

She pauses for moment.

"Shanghai! Didn't I say you could let him go?"

The doll reluctantly pulls away from him. Then, Shanghai does something surprising. She gives him a little wink. Then, she turns around and bows obediently to Alice. The doll floats to her side with a seemingly solemn expression.

"That's better!" she says. "Sorry, I don't know what got into her right now."

Grimnír looks around curiously. All traces of her work have vanished from the area. He frowns for a moment. What would she be hiding?

"What's wrong, Grim? Looking for something?"

He turns to Alice. She smiles nervously as she waits for him to respond.

[ ] "Not really. I must be seeing things."
[ ] "Not really, since I already found you."
[ ] "Not really. But did anything happen earlier?"
[ ] "Yes. I am in search of food."
[ ] "Yes. Where is Marisa?"
[ ] "Yes. What are you hiding?"
[ ] Custom