( she hums, a considering — if not wholly unconvinced — little sound. still, she lets that argument fade without another word, like honoring a children's session of make-believe to keep from trampling on their unrealistic dreams. better to let alia's imagination think of alina starkov as a lovable creature — alia's own imaginary friend, dreaming alina to be something more than she actually is. )

Could you? ( her head lists to one side, squinting at her screen, as though genuinely measuring alia's through the screen. a tap, tap, tap of her fingers against her chin distracts from her growing smile, slinking across her face like a stealthy cat in the night. ) If he's a mouse, wouldn't that make him much quicker than you?

( — says alina starkov, fellow mouse, in mouse solidarity. warm mischief drips from alina's eyes like melty chocolate as her stare skips to the feathers ruffled in alia's hair, choking on her own laughing amusement when she continues: )

You look more like a plucked goose than a ferocious dragon right now, anyway. Hardly scary to a mouse knight.