When the elevator jumped and seemed to crash to a halt, Alex started, dropping the thick article and nearly toppling herself. She was barely able to grab on to the bar closest to her, but she did manage not to fall on the floor. Blinking, she pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at Lucy as though truly seeing her for the first time. Something hummed, she felt -- something familiar, like something on the tip of her tongue, half a memory, something faded by time but too strong to ever be truly gone. For a moment, she saw someone else -- taller, more voluptuous, glowing, almost unbearably beautiful -- before she blinked and saw a girl, thin, wan, but still cheerful. Wearing a hat. And... a wig.
"Hi," she said belatedly, trying to reconcile that other image superimposed on the real. Then, she looked up at the blinking buttons next to the door and said, "Well, I think the elevator's decided not to work again."
She sighed, shaking her head. "This thing is... less than reliable."
Leaning down, she picked up the paper, dusting it off despite the impeccable cleanliness of the elevator. "Normally they fix things fairly promptly here," she said.
Then, for no reason she could fathom, she said awkwardly, holding the paper to her chest, "I'm Alexandria."