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The events of the past week, including everything leading up to it, had left Aldara disgruntled and out of sorts. She had attempted to hole herself up in her room, head buried beneath the blankets in her makeshift nest until her head sorted itself out but that had left her feeling even more agitated. She had then pondered sparring partners but, not wanting to actually do physical harm to anyone else (no matter how tempting) simply because she was in a poor mood, she had eventually settled on going for a walk.

She had stuffed her eyepod into her pocket, plugging the buds into her ears to drown out everything with sound before slipping out of the Monster dormitories, following one of the many paths that intersected heading back to the school. She was trying to give off her best 'leave me alone' aura, but in the end the ruffled feathers and tousled hair only made her look like a bird trying to puff itself up; all squawk and no bite.

The music coupled with the fresh air seemed to be doing its work, though, as she soon began to mellow, humming along softly with the music.

At some point the music had stopped, leading Aldara to open her eyes so that she could see what she was doing as she pulled the eyepod out of her pocket. She gave it a shake out of frustration, huffing at the blinking 'low battery' only to tuck the device away again, looking up once more just in time to see a flash of black and orange.

She froze in her tracks, eyes wide as she did a double take before bringing a hand up to rub at her face, hoping to clear any traces of lingering sleep from her eyes. Was she dreaming again? Breaking the strings was supposed to have been the end, but...

"Clara." She said simply, more a statement than a question at first. Twice now the ghoul had been a figment of her imagination. Third time's a charm.

Aldara's brow furrowed as she brought her hand up, firmly pinching her own arm to make sure that she wasn't dreaming only to yelp at the pain. Not... That pinching herself was really the best way to judge, considering how real the dreams created by Alice had been, but...

"Jack, that smarts..." She rubbed at her arm, glancing at the other ghoul again to make sure she hadn't disappeared.