That is, until an enemy stand decided to attack them both! Alice felt someone tackle her to the ground as a large slash mark appeared across the stone wall where she was formerly standing next to. She had a split second of panic before she realized it had been Giorno who had tackled her. His stand manifested and suddenly, she was turned into an origami paper crane that he put in his pocket. She didn't see the fight go down but after some time, he took her out of his pocket and turned her to normal. She appeared, sitting on a table with a look of bewilderment for a moment as she was now surrounded by an odd looking group of teens/young adults. "Huh? Wait, why did you bring this old broad here?", the shorter, dark haired one said, causing Alice's rage to flare up. She snapped at them, "I'm THIRTY, NOT old! And this 'broad' has a name and that Name is Alice A. Nightengale!". The kid in question rolled their eyes at her before looking to Giorno, "So, why did yah? you know Bucciarati isn't gonna like this.", completely blowing her off. Alice, before she could stop herself, said as she jumped up to her feet, "Don't you know its rude to dismiss someone like that?! did your parents not teach you any manners?!". There was a sudden tension in the air as the kid looked at her with an-all-too-familiar-look in his eyes, "Not really. My dad was an asshole and my mom died when I was 10, so I didn't get many lessons from 'em. How about you, old broad?". Alice went silent upon hearing this and her glare softened as she realized that the young man shared a similar pain to her. When she spoke, she was looking him in the eyes with a softened look in her eyes, "I'm. . . . I'm sorry for your loss and for my outburst. I have. . . . .a bit of a temper and sometimes it gets the better of me". The kid glared at her still before Giorno spoke up to try to break the tension, "Well, um, I brought her here because she might be of use to us. You see, Alice is a stand user and-", but he was cut off by Bucciarati saying as he entered the room, "And what is all this about? Who is this woman and why is she here? Who brought her here?". Everyone pointed to Giorno and before Bucciarati could scold him, Alice spoke up, "Bucciarati, is it? Sorry for the rude and sudden introduction, but my name is Alice A. Nightengale and Giorno brought me here because he believed you and your fellow group members might need my assistance-", she manifested her stand next to her, "-as a fellow stand user and ally". Narancia was the first to comment as he said in shock, "holy hell, her stand is a sexy-cat lady?!". Alice snapped at him, her cheeks flushed a bit at how crudely he phrased it, "LION-HUMAN HYBRID! L-I-O-N, NOT simply a cat! More specifically, I am THE BEAST stand user and this is my stand, Amber Claw!", stating the last part with a bit of pride in her voice.
After a bit of discussion, it was agreed upon that Alice would be able to help them out under the condition that she didn't utter to a soul about their working alliance. "Fair enough, deal, in all honesty", she replied casually to the younger male in question. Narancia seemed a bit off put by her joining, to which she noticed. However, later on that day as she had brought her things to the location and was reading over a file about the newest, possible chemical components of the material they were trying to make back at the lab, she found the young man trying to look over her shoulder at it. "Curious?", she inquired, her eyes not leaving the page. He jumped a bit before saying, "Well. . . .what sorta language is that?", he gestured to the chemical makeup/latin name sheets she was mulling over. She chuckled before responding, "Though it's not an official language, per say, its the coding for the chemical makeup of a material we are currently working on back at the lab". He looked confused still, so she broke it down into easier terms and began to show him examples and essentially teach him a bit about chemistry and geology. He listened in, trying to remember all she said when he cut in, "Wait, so basically everything is made up of Molecules? And the shape and combination of molecules that makes them up make them what they are?". Alice smiled encouragingly before holding up a sugar cube, "This is refined sugar, more commonly referred to as 'table sugar' in simple terms and is made from refining Sucrose. In chemistry terms, Sucrose, with a formula of C12H22O11, is synthesized from sugar cane or sugar beet. so essentially, whenever someone gets on your case for having sugar, you can just counter by saying your eating a refined vegetable!~", before giving the sugar cube to the boy. He seemed to find some humor in that and smiled at her as he ate the sugar cube.
As time progressed with her in the group, Narancia seemed to look up to her a bit more and with the addition of Trish, Alice's protective, almost motherly/big sister-side would surface more often. "All I'm saying is that its a bit cold today, so wear it!", Alice said as she had removed her sweater to give it to Trish. However, Trish wasn't having it. "Ugh! You seem to wear it almost all the time and besides that, why should I?! It's not even that cold out!", her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. She thought the gesture was sweet, deep down, but the fact this woman was only wearing a sports bra and a tank top that seemed a bit too form fitting made Trish a bit insecure about herself. Alice looked at the girl, noticing her posture and the subtle cues before she said, "I'm doing this to make sure you aren't uncomfortable, but seeing as I am making you that way, I'll put it back on. I'm sorry for doing the opposite of my intentions". Trish was touched by her concern and stopped Alice, asking for the sweater. Alice gave it to her and smiled warmly at her. "You know, you kinda remind me of me when I was your age, a bit more pretty though", Alice said with a thoughtful smile. Trish stammered out, "W-Wait, really?, a bit shocked by her thoughtful compliment. Alice noded before saying, "Yes, you act one way to try to protect yourself from getting hurt from making ties with other people because of your self-doubt, but deep down you have a big heart and you just want others to genuinely like you for who you are. However, if you swallow your self doubt and let others in, you'll find the happiness and peace you are looking for", all the while, she was absentmindedly fiddling with the silver ring on the chain that hung around her neck. Trish looked taken aback, unsure of what to say this. Alice was right, but Trish was shocked on how close her words hit home. Se was about to ask Alice how to do so when Alice put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Besides, I've heard you on-off singing and humming and if you are able to excel at that, then overcoming this will be a piece of cake for a beautiful, sweet girl like you!", smiling encouragingly at Trish. Trish, now fighting back tears, was left speechless by her kindness. to try to distract herself, she asked Alice, "Um. . . .so, whats up with you and that ring? You seem to fiddle with it on and off. Is it something special?".
Alice's smile faltered a moment before she sat down on the table and sighed. "It's a long, bizarre story. However, to put it simply, When I was about to years older then you are now, I went on an adventure to save a classmate of mine's mom. On this adventure, I made friends with them and our fellow group members. Well, all except one. His name is Jean Pierre Polnareff and his stand is the Silver Chariot. He and I buttheads reagularly because he was arrogant and proud and goofy and aloof and a bit of a flirt and I almost always ended up having to save him. However, as time progressed, I learned more about him and he of me, until one day I realized that we were more similar then I first thought and that I had feelings for him. Due to missions sake, though, I kept it hidden until I thought I was gonna die at the end. When I didn't and our mission came to an end, he gave me this ring as a promise to see him again one day, when I was older. Its a symbol of our promise we made to another and i'm going to keep it until I see him again", Alice said with a wistful, far-off look in her eyes before she looked at the ring with a hopeful, sweet look. Just as Trish was going to say something, Bucciarati walked in and said, "Get your things together, we are going to Rome".