Alice was hunched over a cluster of opened books- mostly electronic but one was in fact an old paper one- scales, notes, weights, and tools, her phone sat a few inches away with a calculator clearly visible on its screen. 

“Right, so if I adjust the weight in the rear it’ll yaw less when it hits something, but it might not fly as straight… the copper coating discarding also adds another factor to consider…” she sighed, grabbing her phone and punching in some numbers before growling in frustration, pulling her reading glasses off and dropping them on the pile of scrawled notes and ebooks. “Why is this so hard?!” she hissed, slumping back into the plush cushioning of her desk chair.

Her head whipped around as the door opened and someone entered, mumbled words accompanying. Diving sideways behind her bed and out of sight, Alice whipped out the revolver she’d only recently acquired and popped up slightly with it aimed at the intruder...

Or Lily, apparently.

Lowering the gun, she gave her a puzzled look, “What?”

“We need to talk,” Lily repeated and closed the door behind her. “And no, it can’t wait.” She stepped further in and sat down on what she assumed was Celica’s bed.

“I see.” Alice stuffed the gun back into her coat, where it somehow seemed to vanish despite its size, she walked back to her chair, falling into it as the air in the cushions rushed out with a ‘poomf!’. “What did you want to talk about?” She asked flatly.

“Issues. Specifically the ones we have.” She leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees. “First of, a little something I need to tell you: I told you about how my life was pretty shit before I came here, and how I had a cardboard box and whatnot. That was a life I’ve been clinging to for the last two years, and I still do. It’s such a huge part of me that I can’t just let it go.” 

She paused, drawing in a breath in preparation for what she was to say next. “But that isn’t important. We are soldiers, not school children. Sylphide told me something that I needed to hear to get me to let my shit go. Basically, you need to be able to trust the person next to you in a combat situation, ‘cause if they don’t watch your back then nobody will.” She stopped then, looking Alice dead in the eyes for several long moments. “For that reason, I want to start over. I don’t want to be the bitch that tried to kill you because of an insult and me not being able to handle it. What I want to be is someone whom you can trust if shit ever hits the fan.”

Alice looked at her somewhat blankly for a second, then nodded slowly. She smirked imperceptibly, speaking evenly, “Hi, my name is Alice.”

Rolling her eyes, Lily nodded as well. “Lily Strider. Konbanwa.” 

Alice smirked, visibly this time, “Добрый вечер, then.” she paused, “And for the record, I’m pretty sure we all have ‘issues’. This place seems to attract us psychologically scarred people like moths to a lightbulb.” she paused again, a look of mild irritation coming to her face, “Hold on a second please.” 

She propped her artificial leg up on a small stool, pulling her pant leg up and eyeing it before sighing, “Damnit, connector’s fritzing out again.”

She turned back to Lily, “Sorry about that, was there something else?”

“Not really,” she replied, eyes quickly glancing down at the prosthetic leg. “Except, perhaps… Tomorrow morning at 0630, wanna go for the Holo Room, or whatever they call it? You know, the place where they have us train alone. I wouldn’t call us friends--far from it--but it’ll be something that doesn’t include trying to kill the other.”

Alice shrugged and nodded, rasping out a “Sure.”