[b]Brainstorming![/b]

The [i]problem[/i] is figuring out how to write about it. “I went to Sirius Drinks and I ended up sandwiched between a wolf girl and one of my android girlfriend’s personalities, learning a lot about how to relax and how good it feels to get praised?” Wrong venue for the content. She doesn’t do the advice column, after all; too much pressure, too much of an impact on other people. Besides, that might bring folks just to gawk.

“My experience at Sirius Drinks: fries, FAEWYL-D and wolves.” Closer, though— she didn’t actually end up getting the fries, did she? Maybe she should go back later, order all those dishes, nibble on each one in turn. But should she wear something, or was that just tacky to wear ears on a headband? Thoughts, thoughts.

(Besides, she’s going to remember having her mouth stuffed much more than dainty nibbles on fried chicken specials, thinking about Sirius.)

“I think my fake girlfriend is actually into me. Thoughts?” Not about Sirius Drinks. Not relevant. Not scary. Don’t think about it. Black just likes being in charge. If she’d been allowed, she could have walked in and pulled Amie out just to have the experience— but she’d wanted Vesna, instead. Dumb Vesna Valentine with the perfected hands. Vesna making dumb faces and mortifying noises.

(Is Black going to share that? Were the others streaming the experience? Do all the others know what she looks like with sweat-drenched hair sticking to her skin and bulging cheeks? The thought’s uncomfortable. She’s never been cool with being recorded; can you imagine what that would have done to her career?)

“Sirius Drinks: where a wolf can be a wolf.” There. That’s the heart of it. People can be more themselves when they choose the symbolism to apply to their lives; it’s meaningful that the wolf she met at Sirius (wolves, okay, but Amie’s the one she got to play with) picked a [i]wolf[/i] instead of a hyena, or a flamingo, or a mouse. It’s intended as a place where you drop the mask and show off the version of yourself that you have decided upon. And that ties back to FAEWYL-D, too. There. That’s the hook.

(and what does that make her? melting when someone took charge of her? which doesn’t make any sense. she needs her freedom. her motorcycle. her ability to decide when and where she spends her time. to flit in and out of lives as she pleases; to spend as little or as much time in Gensoukyo as she likes. the version of her mewling as Black cupped her jaw and told her to relax as Amie pushed inside— that’s. that’s enchantment, she says to herself, staring up at the ceiling of her living room above the shop. black magic, hah. not herself. when can they do it again?)