intraspective | The Boiler Room, Sunday Evening

Jenova	Jenova's patience was vast. Incomprehensible to humans and those of their ilk. She had outlasted stars. Outlasted all her enemies. Waited for years in this prison and never once stopped planning. Her tolerance for failure, on the other hand, was far less. The girl who the children had been playing with was useless. Had run. She was not pleased with useless. Jenova's displeasure was abruptly made apparent as her presence intensified, pushed down on, wrapped around those in the room and was utterly not ignorable. <<Explain.>>
Alice	Alice sniffed and folded her arms. "I don't take orders from blue gelatinous freaks," she said. "I'm sorry that one didn't know what you were seeking. Choose another victim. Slaughter her and read her entrails, for all I care. Your games bore me."
Jenova	Intangible threat rode the air like a murderous kiss of wind. <<Such a child.>>
Alice	"Murder, mayhem, mother," Alice sighed. "Only things which begin with an M. Mutant, and misfit, and malcontent. I was hoping to break the hero, and now I shall have to start over. I wonder if she has a pet."
Jenova	Did the girl (unwanted, unneeded, useless) ever stop nattering? Mechanics whirred and spun. <<You try my patience.>> Jenova's warning.
Zack	Zack's teeth cut through what was left of his ball like a hot knife through butter, and he found himself sitting in the middle of the floor for a moment, a mouthful of rubber, the other half of his ball in his hands. He frowned and threw it, sending it ricocheting in random directions before spitting out the bite he'd taken. Cheap. It was about that point that he looked up and realized something was awry. "Where'd Jen go?" Nobody ever accused him of being sharp as a tack.
Alice	"She had a very pressing appointment," Alice said, raising an eyebrow, "but asked us not to fret. She'll return for tea, but only if we all get unbirthday gifts for one another. I've a scarf for your mother, in case her head gets cold in that vial, and I should purchase you a new ball, but I confess, I've no idea what Jen might want. Breathers are so very difficult to shop for."
Zack	Zack tilted his head, considering that. "I bet she'd like a snow globe," Zack decided with a satisfied nod. "Everybody likes snow globes."
Jenova	Jenova was—not amused. Snowglobes were outside her ken. She increased the pressure on her son, just slightly, enough for him to feel that she was unhappy. <<I am still waiting.>> For her explanation.
Zack	The pressure squeezed in on Zack like a vice, and he almost found himself whimpering again. Mother was unhappy. They'd failed Mother. "I'm sorry," he murmured, head down, eyes closed. "We'll find somebody else, Mother. You'll be free soon, Mother."
Alice	"We could crack the glass and let her float out," Alice suggested. "Then she could flop around on the floor, glaring at things and barking commands."
Zack	Zack looked up at that, wide-eyed, as though he honestly couldn't believe what he'd just heard. And then he gamefaced. "Mother isn't a fish, Alice." There was a 'yo mama' joke somewhere in there, dying to get out. But was anybody out there stupid enough to when the butt of the joke was snarling like that?
Alice	"She isn't one of us, either," Alice seethed. "I made you. I brought you to the dark. I gave you life and all she has done is glare and complain. And yet you call her Mother." She hadn't put on her own game face. Zack didn't deserve to see it. If she killed him, it would be with her bare hands.
Jenova	<<Enough.>> Jenova let up the pressure on her son. He was obeying. He was hers.
Zack	Zack almost seemed to sag with relief as the iron-fisted grasp on his mind eased off some, but his game face didn't fade. He was giving Alice a look that would have made Sephiroth wince. Or, at least, Sephiroth as Zack knew him. A hero. Heroes were such jokes. "I'm hers," he informed Alice, his voice a low, old growl. "You were only borrowing me."
Alice	Alice had not realized she could still be hurt. Zack's betrayal struck to the very core of her. She didn't flinch. Only looked her last before deciding the puppy was forever dead to her. "You didn't deserve the dark," she spat. "I hope that beast drowns you." Alice turned on her heel and stalked out. To find better amusement elsewhere. Perhaps to kill someone cheerful with dark spiky hair. It would be a slow death.