Editing Brahnamin's Characters - Alice (section)

==Background==
It was the constant rebuilding, repairing, replacing and adapting to her various cybernetics through her formative years that led to Alice's interest in surgery and medicine, but she never had the credit or sponsorship to go to medical school and become a proper doctor. 

But she studied, and she learned, and she . . . practiced.

Folk on the streets always needed patching up, and it was rare the most badly hurt among them dared show their faces at the hospital or local clinic, where the staff had to report suspicious wounds to the authorities. So there was always opportunity. And when she found her learning lacking, (say that twelve times fast while skipping), Alice always managed to find a duty-bound shepherd or nostalgic browncoat willing to teach a wispy-faced kid the next new thing.

And then there was Nix. The girl mostly knew machine parts, but cybernetics required a certain understanding of human anatomy, tolerances, and physiology, which the older girl could usually be prompted to grudgingly pass along if Alice asked her while she was doing the work.

Nix was dead now. Offed by dust-tweaker for a handful of chits.

When she finally caught him up, Alice spent days showing him every way she knew to keep a traumatized body alive until the cumulative inflicted damage was more than even she could heal. 

Fun Fact: Fresh bubblegum did a fair job at masking the stench of stale urine and fresh feces if you didn't chew it flavorless before popping in the next piece.

Now she just had Kenjin. Her Sensei. 

One-legged old drunk could still put her on her back twice as often as she managed to put him on his. Probably. She hadn't actually sparred with him since she left the dirt for the ships and stations of the black. 

They still waved regular, though.

But her sparring was now mostly with off-grid spacers who thought they could stiff her for her services because she looked like a tattered bit that might get sucked into an air vent if she walked to close. With any luck, the ship she had just signed on with would offer better opportunities.