Studying had gotten rather boring for Astra, seeing as she'd already finished before Luna and Cobalt had. It wasn't that she was necessarily smarter than them, just that she read and wrote fast, so all of her notes had already been taken in a scribbled mess that only she could read.

Going back to her dorm wouldn't be much more fun than sitting in a quiet, stuffy library, seeing as Lily was out for a special birthday lunch with her mother, but at least Astra could use the time alone to print some stickers or something. The rest of the team were always annoyed by the noise of her printer.

But when she opened the door, the dorm wasn't empty after all. Lily lay on her bed and when she turned to face her as she walked into the room, Astra couldn't help but notice the dried tears on her face.

"Woah, are you okay?" Astra asked her, concern shooting through her. "Did everything go fine with your mom?"

Lily sat up and wiped her face. "Yeah, it's…it wasn't that. It's fine."

Astra frowned. "No offense, but you don't look very 'fine'." She walked across the room and sat beside her. "Wanna tell me what happened? We are supposed to talk more, after all."

Lily sighed. "Someone recognized me while I was walking back here and yelled that they didn't want any criminals near them. They threw a cup at me."

Astra's eyes widened as her concern grew. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

Lily shook her head. "It was just an empty foam one. It was what they said that really mattered." She looked away. "I probably can't expect you to understand."

Astra hesitated briefly, before letting her energy drop enough to get properly serious. This wasn't something she'd spoken about to anyone else before. "I understand better than you think." She replied simply. "We're not really that different, you know."

Lily glanced at her. "What do you mean by that?"

The memories were painful to think of, but Astra let them come as she explained anyway. "I grew up as a transgender faunus in Atlas. It wasn't exactly easy."

Lily's gaze shot to the ground. "Right, I…I shouldn't have assumed. You just always seem so happy…"

Astra shrugged. "I am. I'm happy a lot. But that doesn't mean I'm not still hurt by the things some people say and do." She brought her knees up and rested her chin on them. "I realized I was trans when I was eight. My mother was totally supportive, but we couldn't find anywhere in the city that would prescribe me puberty blockers at that age. So, for four years, I was subjected to discrimination and hate from people just because I didn't look the way they thought a girl should. And then when you add being a faunus on top of that…" She gave a bitter laugh. "Some people wouldn't even let their kids play hang out with me because they thought I might be 'dangerous'."

Lily's eyes were full of sympathy. "I know exactly how that feels. I'm sorry you had to deal with it too."

Astra found her gaze drifting out the window. "Discrimination for things people can't help is always going to be a problem, I think." She stated. "And I don't think there'll ever be a time where we won't be hurt by it. But my mother always told me to face it with a smile. Someone insults you, you laugh along and do it back as if they're the funniest clown you've ever met. And never let them see how much they've hurt you. It only gives them power."

"Hm," Lily leaned back. "Good advice, in theory, but I'm not sure that'll work every time."

Astra chuckled. "Probably not, no. But it's fun when it does work."

Lily grinned. "Maybe I should try it sometime."

At that moment, Luna and Cobalt came through the door; Luna dropping her books on the floor with a thud and flopping onto her bed.

Astra bounced to her feet. "Nope! No resting yet!"

Luna didn't even look up. "Whhyyyyyyy." She moaned.

Astra jabbed a finger at Lily. "Because Lily's had a not-very-good birthday and we're fixing that!"

Lily blinked in surprise. "Uh…we are?"

Astra grinned at her. "It's your 18th, right? That's special!"

Luna lifted her head out of her pillow and blinked at Astra with tired lavender eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

Astra flapped her hands impatiently. "Shopping, of course!" She looked back at Lily. "Unless you'd prefer something else."

Lily blinked. "Uhh…I honestly don't know. The lunches with my mom are all we've ever been able to afford to do to celebrate before."

Astra gasped dramatically. "So you've never even had a party!? Shameful! We're totally grabbing part supplies while we're out."

"Sounds like a plan," Cobalt chipped in. "I'm in!"

Luna rolled off the bed with a thud. "Alright. I'll sleep later."

"Great!" Astra grinned triumphantly. "Let's get going." Grabbing her wallet, she bounced out of the room, her team following behind.

As they walked, Lily hurried to catch up to Astra.

"So, uh…what exactly are we shopping for?" The dark-haired girl enquired.

"Anything you want!" Astra replied enthusiastically. "What's something you've always wanted, but could never get before?"

"Ah…" Lily looked awkward. "It's kind of dumb."

"Hey, nothing will be too dumb," Luna piped up. "It's your birthday and we're not going to judge you remember?"

"Well…I have kind of always wanted a leather jacket." Lily admitted sheepishly.

Astra gasped. "Oooohh, you'd look great in one!" She squealed. She could picture it now; a stylish leather jacket would look much better on Lily than that baggy old hoodie.

"You know," Cobalt added. "A leather jacket isn't quite complete without the right outfit."

"True," Luna agreed. "We'll probably need to get some matching jeans, maybe a nice shirt…definitely a belt, with actual holsters so that she can put her weapons in them instead of in her front pocket." She glanced back at Lily with a playful grin. "That's not too safe, you know."

Lily blushed. "Wait, I can't ask you guys to buy me a whole new outfit!" She protested. "It'll be so expensive!"

"Uh, you're not asking us," Astra insisted. "We're giving. That's the point of a gift."

As the team headed into town, Lily continued her flustered protesting, but Astra wasn't about to let up, nor were Luna or Cobalt. They were a team! And good teammates got their teammates cool birthday presents! Besides, it was probably about time Lily got an outfit change, Astra figured. Hoodies and baggy pants were fine enough for cold weather, but it was spring now! If she kept that hoodie on while the weather got warmer, she would most definitely roast. Astra wasn't sure how warm Vale got in summer, but it would surely be too warm for a hoodie, unlike Atlas. Cold, hard, miserable Atlas. Astra would be happy if she never went back.

They travelled around to various clothing stores- plus a party store, of course- and ended up grabbing bags from three different ones while also stopping by at a café to grab the fanciest cake they could find. As they went, Astra could tell Lily's mood was lifting. Even when the occasional townsperson shot the group a nasty look, Lily made no attempt to hide and Astra felt a warm glow of pride for her. She hadn't been sure that she would ever be able to befriend the moody teenager, but now she was certain that she'd be able to form a friendship with her. And she probably couldn't even call her moody anymore, to boot. She was still fairly antisocial and still didn't smile much, but things had been getting better and better since their talk. It made Astra practically glow with delight.

By the time they returned to the dorm, their arms full of bags, the sun had almost set, sending long, contrasting shadows across the room's floor. A chuckle floated in the air as Astra and Cobalt discussed their favourite band.

"…They're not that great live," Cobalt commented as he placed his bag, containing the cake, on the small kitchen's bench. "But I think their point is how good they are with using electronics to make themselves sound good."

"Oh yeah, absolutely," Astra agreed. "I mean, have you heard their remixes? They're practically experts."

She tossed her bag to Lily. "Go get changed!" She instructed eagerly. "I wanna see how cool you look."

Lily grinned, looking happier than Astra had ever seen her. "I still can't believe you guys actually brought all this…"

Astra tapped her foot impatiently. "Come oonnnn, just go already!"

Lily chuckled. "Okay, okay, okay! Give me two minutes." She ducked into the dorm's bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Luna tipped the bag of party supplies onto the bench. "Are you sure we needed all of this?"

"Of course!" Astra insisted. "This is her 18th and her first birthday party! If anything, we should be doing more." She frowned. "Pity they won't let first-years have alcohol on campus…" She slammed her hands on the table. "Now help me blow up balloons and put up streamers!"

Luna chuckled. "Whatever you say, 'leader of friendship'." She grabbed a balloon and began puffing air into it, while Cobalt grabbed a roll of streamers and began taping them around the walls, being the only one tall enough to reach.

As Astra grabbed a pile of balloons and sat herself down on one of the bench chairs to blow them up, Lily came back out of the bathroom. Astra immediately jumped back up with a gasp, all the balloons spilling onto the floor.

"You look amazing!" She squealed.

Lily shuffled her feet shyly. "Do I?"

"Of course!" Luna assured her. A thought seemed to pop into her mind. "Oh, wait! You need one more thing to tie it all together." She headed over to Lily, pulling a hair-tie out from under her sleeve. "Do you mind?"

Lily shook her head. "Go ahead."

Luna gently grabbed most of Lily's dark hair and pulled it into a ponytail, tying it together with ease. Suddenly, it was easy to remember that she had a little sister.

"There." Luna hurried over to one of the bedside desks and grabbed a mirror, holding it up to Lily. "What do you think?"

Lily stared for a moment, as if she could barely recognize herself. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, but for once, they weren't from negativity.

"I look…pretty." She breathed.

"You say that like you didn't before." Cobalt chuckled warmly.

Lily ran her hands over the strands of hair Luna had left hanging loose. "I just…I didn't think I could look this good. I never thought I'd have clothes this nice…" More tears fell from her eyes and she sniffed, wiping them away. "Thank you, guys…this is really nice."

Luna smiled softly. "Hey, after all you've been through, you deserve something nice."

Astra felt her glow of pleasure grow brighter, the light inside her filling her entire body. Perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising, but helping people felt good, better than anything that could've happened to her. The pure kindness and compassion wasn't exactly something she'd seen a lot in Atlas, except for from a few select people she'd only met a couple of times. It made her wonder, was this just something that was more common in Vale, or had she just lucked out in the team she'd wound up with? Whatever the case, she was grateful and proud. Deep down, she wasn't entirely sure she deserved it, but she was happy all the same. Far from her days in Atlas, she was truly, completely happy.