@vertigh0stWow, they would be such great friends.
Yeah, I guess that would have been pretty traumatic. Guess we'll just have to erase some trauma as the story progresses!
Well, she's scared of losing anyone else to the point where she doesn't want anyone getting close to her anymore. Hence, the nicknames. Instead of the purpose of it being given so it symbolizes how much one treasures the other, for her, not calling them by their names would make them nameless people in her life - unimportant to her.
And I imagine she would be denying attachment to the group even though deep inside, she knows she's growing closer.
Er, that was the whole 'broken down' thing that I plan on showing anyway.