Slowly, she forces air into her lungs. Breathe in. Breathe out. Bertholdt’s here, and there’s nothing she can do about it either way, so she’s just going to have to deal with it. At least he isn’t brand new, so she doesn’t have to give him the whole spiel.

“It’s not real. I don’t really understand how the whole thing works, but it was supposed to be some kind of fake world. A simulation, they called it. So that we could practice using our powers —” here she gestures at the wall he’d been rebuilding “— without destroying things in real life.”

She huffs, eyes fixed at a spot on Bertholdt’s cheek, because that’s easier to look at than his eyes. “I didn’t even volunteer in the first place. Just — poof. Showed up a couple days ago.”

It doesn’t sound like Bertholdt knows the details of Ellipsa yet, so she continues, crossing her arms over her chest. “Anyways. I don’t know if Jean told you yet, but this place is based on another world called Ellipsa. There’s magic and stuff, and people show up from different worlds so that they can save this one. Also, there’s really good food.”

That’s it. That’s the explanation.