In the mall

"I read about that," Jasper smiled at Luna. "I thought it was really interesting, but I wouldn't suggest going near the Olympic wolves. They're...different. More violent than an average wolf."

'Nice warning, Jazz,' Alice thought in her head, then said aloud, "Yep, they're pretty scary. And they're huge, even by wolf standards."

'Alice, silly, you're piquing her interest,' Jasper mentally facepalmed. 'Just shut up now, darlin'.'

"Really?" 'That's odd... Never heard of a wolf like THAT. And I've heard of all of them.' 'We know, sweetie, we know.' 'What I wanna know is what the specifics are. Hey, Luna. Ask.' "I was getting to that!" Luna stopped dead in her tracks. "So!" She started, disregarding her outburst. "How large are the Olympic wolves? Like 8 feet, 250 lbs, something like that?"

Alice exchanged a glance with Jasper, "Yeah, that sounds about right, probably more around seven feet, but you get it. Pretty big."

'Um, what was that about?' she looked at Jasper, who merely shrugged.

'Nutcase?' Jasper thought, knowing Alice would smack him if he ever said it aloud. Alice was very sensitive when it came to calling people loony. Probably because of her past, but it was annoying, censoring his words to protect her feelings. The things he did for love.

"Does anybody know why they act so crazed?" 'Luna... how did you let that slip?' 'You know that I don't get out much! You're lucky that all of this isn't getting out!' Going back to the conversation at hand. "Lack of food sources, loss of habitat, something?"

"They're not exactly crazed," Alice began cautiously, "More like, defensive. As long as you don't mess with them, you're good. But they can get scary pissed if you go into their territory."

'Alice, why don't you just say, "they're only violent if you're a vampire," and then explain that?' Jasper thought as he placed a warning hand on her shoulder. 'Just don't tell her where the territory is, she might go check it out.'

"Hmm...." Luna thought for a moment. 'Reminds me of Aunt Rita.' 'Us too...'

"Reminds me of my Aunt Rita." she relayed. "You do NOT want to trespass on her. She'll bite your leg off!" 'Way to drop hints, idiot...' 'What? I'm not telling them!' 'But they MIGHT CATCH ON!'

"Haha, sounds like our friend Sam," Alice laughed breezily. "He's a nice guy, but his temper is
downright wolfish."

Jasper gave her a warning glance, wondering what Alice was up to. She smiled sweetly at him and turned her attention back to Luna, "So...what kind of books are you into?"

'Action and comedy.' 'Romance.' 'Meh, anything that catches my eye.' 'Mythology.' All the voices rang through Luna's head. She decided to break even.

"I like Romance, Action, Comedy, Mythology, stuff like that, you know?"

"Wow," Alice blinked as Luna began listing her favorite genres. "That's quite a variety. Which do you like better: Greek or Roman mythology?"

"Like you care," Jasper teased. "Alice, we all know you're only interested in vampire books."

Alice pouted, "Well, vampires are interesting."

"Well, I'm somewhat of an expert on the Roman Deities. I've had a lot of free time. Cause I've never had many friends." 'Speak for yourself. I had tons of friends! You just never came out enough.' 'Me too.' 'Ditto.' "Oh you can just shut up." Luna paused yet again and sighed.

"Ok. There is no way you're going to ignore that one, right?"

Alice glanced up at Jasper, wondering how to take this new development, "Um, that wasn't directed at us, was it?"

Jasper stared at the new girl, wondering why he felt four different emotions at once radiating from her, 'Almost like she's four different people...'

"Well... No. That was to... Them. Uhhh.... How do I explain?" "You know what, Just let me take over." Luna's voice changed slightly. "Hi. Alice, right? My name's Laura, the actual owner of this body."

'You never let me have any fun...' 'You were stuttering up a storm out there. If I didn't save you, you probably would have drowned.'

Alice stared at Laura/Luna, wondering what was going on.

Jasper smiled in satisfaction as he put two and two together and got four, "Um, pardon me for saying this, but do you have MPD?"

"MPD?" Alice was confused, then remembered what she learned in her psychology class. "Oh....yeah, that would make sense."

'And I thought I was the crazy,' she thought. 'Wow, this is insane.'

'HA! I finally figure something out before Alice!' Jasper mentally happy danced.

Laura laughed nervously. "Yeah... That was one of the reasons I was hiding from you earlier. Sorry if I worried you."

'Well, they're not running away, that seems to be a good sign.' 'Yep! I made some friends, though! And I'm happy!' 'Well, I'm happy for you.'

"It's alright," Alice smiled warmly at Laura. "We were wondering why you seemed so antisocial."

"And little miss busybody here decided to learn why," Jasper smiled jokingly.

"Oh, shut up, you," Alice smacked him playfully, then turned back to Laura, "So, how many of you are there? Is it just you and Luna?"

"Oh no." Laura started. "There are two others. Logan and Liliana. Logan bought me that expensive pair of tennis shoes and Lily hasn't come out yet."

'Hey, you best not be saying anything about those shoes I bought! They were cute!' 'They were a mens pair.' 'What does that have to do with anything?' 'You know what? .... Never mind.'

Alice thought over all this, and Jasper decided to ask, "So can you control them? Or are they too powerful in your consciousness?"

She glanced over at Jasper, wondering when he had learned all this psycho-babble, 'Has he been reading my textbooks or what? Smart Jasper is scary.'

He glanced back at Alice, feeling the surprise and fear she was experiencing, 'She's surprised by my knowledge, but what's she afraid of? I swear, if Specter's here...bitch will die.'

Jasper looked around the mall warily, but not seeing any hunters, he shrugged it off, 'I'll ask her later.'

"They're their own entities. They have their own trains of thought and even take over from time to time." Laura shrugged. "My therapist tries to tell me that they're just figments of my imagination but I don't think so. And neither do they."

'And you couldn't say 'we' because?' 'Hey, these are my first friends in this city. I don't want to make it seem like I use the Royal We from time to time.' 'But they already know you have MPD.' 'So? I'm weird. Don't question how I roll!'

Jasper nodded, "I think it's hard for a therapist to say that until they've experienced what their patients are going through."

'Smart Jasper bores me. I'd rather be shopping,' Alice mentally pouted. 'Sure, it's all interesting, but there are cute dresses to be bought!'

Alice then cut in with, "So, what are your styles?"

'How did I know she would burst in with something fashion related?' Jasper thought. 'Maybe I'm the psychic one...'

"Fashion-obsessed freak," he grinned teasingly, only to be smacked by Alice yet again.

"I like looking cute." "Tomboy." "Whatever I put on." "Dresses!" She spat out, voice changing between each phrase. "Whoa... That was weird... and the first time that ever happened.... Gave me a headache..."

Alice took that all in, "So, everything. We should go shopping together sometime, it'd be fun!"

"You mean y'all haven't talked like that?" Jasper inquired, interested in learning more abouut what it was like to have MPD.

"Pardon his questions if they seem too intrusive, he has yet to learn that curiosity killed the cat," Alice told Laura.

Jasper rolled his eyes, "At least I don't go around asking people to shop with me."

"That's way off!" Alice cried. "She's new, I just thought she'd like someone to shop with. It sucks shopping alone."

"Whatever."

"Well." Laura began, regaining her composure. "Let's begin with Jasper's question. We've talked like that, but never in rapid fire succession. The sudden changes in personality and mindset kind of dizzied me. And as for Alice, I would love to go shopping with you at some point in the future!"

"Hm..." Jasper thought the new information over.

"Finally, someone who likes shopping!" Alice happy danced. "Maybe now I won't have to drag Bella around the mall anymore."

"Alice, angel, people are staring," Jasper told her, effectively stopping her happy dancing.

"Aw, forget them!" Alice retorted and went back to her happy dancing to spite him.

Jasper sighed and sent Alice self-conscious vibes. She stopped dancing when she realized what he was doing, and murmured threateningly in his ear, "Jasper Hale, I swear if you don't stop that right this instant, I will tell Emmett about the karaoke."

She smiled sweetly at him before saying to Laura, "Well, here we are, the book store. Feel free to let me or Jazz know if you have problems finding something. It was nice meeting you," she hugged Laura. "Maybe we'll bump into each other again."

"Thanks for the help! And I'm sure we will!" Laura started looking for the Mythology section. "See you later Alice! Jasper!"

'Did you feel that?' 'What?' 'When Alice calmed down. She said before that she didn't care about people staring, yet she stopped anyway.' 'Yeah, that is a bit odd... Something weird is going on.' 'Weirder than a heterochromia werewolf?' 'Hey, this IS normal. For me anyway.'

Alice smiled and took Jasper's hand, leading him towards the romance section.

"Aw, Alice, you know I don't like romance novels," he objected.

She tilted her head to one side, "What do you think?"

"About Laura? She's nice, albeit different," he replied, "But there was just a bit of suspicion when I calmed you down. I hope she doesn't catch on."

"Jazz, we've been like this for over a century," Alice reminded him, "I think we're more than experienced enough to hide our secret."

"Al, being friends with humans is dangerous. It gives them that much more opportunity to learn what we are," Jasper countered.

"We'll be able to keep the secret."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, unless you decide to run around Forks screaming it at the top of your lungs."

"Like I'd do that," he scoffed, then turned to the romance novels. "Why do you like these anyway?"

"I don't," Alice admitted, "It was the only section totally empty."