The halls of the Medical section were cluttered with people by the time Fee left the ward.

  On her way out, she spotted Brin through the window of a library door. At the far corner, surrounded by high shelves, the Scots woman was deep in concentration and carefully painting a model train, while missing her right arm.

  Fee tapped on the glass and entered.

  'Yo.' She said.

  Brin looked up over her glasses.

  "Hey. You been cleared?"

  "Just got out, was on my way to see you two reprobates. Also, I see you're missing piece.."

  Brin glanced at the space.

  "It was taken away in case I was prone violence; y:know? Let slip the Animus. Long story short, I proved them wrong for I am completely armless."

  They both smiled.

  'Jesus," Fee said. "How long have you been sitting on to that one?

  "Ever since I got here. Seen Tomoko, yet?"

  'Tommi is being kept overnight." Fee said. "Delayed. Concussion." She spied a couple of philosophy books on the table. "These yours?"

  'Would it surprise you? That I wasn't some meathead who's only good for tanking?"

  "I never thought of you that if anything you've and Tommi have always been..." Fee stopped dead in mid-sentence, very nearly opening up

  'Always what?"

  "I can't say; It's embarrassing "

  '0h?" Brin said. "Oh!"

  "Don't add an extra :oh'!"

  'Why not? It's the only fun I'm getting.'" Brin said and put the brush down. "Seriously though. I don't want this to ruin our friendship, but I like my meat on the outside."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Agh!" Fee made the noise of something halfway between a gargle and a wretch "Couldn't you have found a better way to phrase that? Also I'm in same boat."

  "So what's on yer mind?"

  "Ever since I've known you guys, I've come to see you as more than friends. You're like the sisters I never had."

  Brin blinked a tear and looked down 'Here I was ready to roast and instead you pull a sneaky resolution to a Shojou arc."

  "DO NOT tie me in with your Japanese romances."

  "It's like that scene in Kimi ni Todoke, where Sawako, Ayane and Chizuru reunite after aisunderstanding." Brin then looked at Fee. "Even more so now you have a love interest."

  "Since when?"

  "That guy who keeps hanging around you."

  Fee sighed and and leant against a bookcase.

  "Oh right," she said. "A bit late to the party with that one. We used to date but he kept his identity hidden until I was slapped on the face with it."

  "Was he ordered to?

  Fee made a weird face joined with an awkward shrug.

  "Well...yeaaaah. I understand why he had to, but still....it left this gap between us. How can I trust someone who is flawless at lying? What else can he hide?"

  Brin nodded solemly

  "Trust is a delicate thing, it is easily broken and an incredibly difficult thing to rebuild once shattered. It requires a depth of vulnerability, openness and consistency that few of us are willing or able to muster.. You need to tell him where you stand, it's easier for both of you."

  "I don't know!" Fee said. "This is where I am at the moment. Either I stay with him, but end up a paranoid wreck or I walk away with the weight of regret following me around. How can I trust others, knowing what I know about it?*

  "I see where you're coming from. Earning trust is a slow painstaking process, that demands patience and empathy. It requires a willingness to put in the effort to understand and meet the other persons needs. Throw in a little give and take, and you have a choreographed dance where one misstep could undermine the foundations of faith. This must remain essential for any meaningful connection to flourish."

  Fee dropped down onto a child's seat and sighed

  "I shoulda stayed in bed. Never leave the room and avoid all this mess."

  Brin chuckled. "The point of life is to embrace the mess and to fill with colour and memories." She folded her glasses and looks away. "Life can be seen as a perpetual experiment where each day offers a new set of variables and outcomes waiting to be discovered. All analysed and incorporated into the ever-evolving blueprint of who we become and how we engage with world around us

  "That's easy for you to say."

  'in the great tapestry of our existence our individual stories are but a single thread, woven together with countless others to create a rich, complex fabric of reality. Each choice, each action, each interaction...they all contribute to the intricate pattern that defines our lives and shapes the world around us. And yet despite the overwhelming scope of our existence, its the small intimate moments that hold the greatest significance, a shared laugh, a whispered secret, a gentle touch. THese are the threads that connect us and make lives worth living and meaningful."

  "Brin!"

  "What?"

  "You can't drop just that shit and shrug."

  "I didn't shrug."

  "Well, you may as well have." Fee said and walked to the exit. ,"You know, this whole thing may have been mistake, but meeting you guys was worth it."

  "Damnit you're gonnae set me off again."

  Fee nodded and took her leave.