2727/Orientation for Orientations

Orientation for Orientations
Date of Scene:	07 August 2025
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	Amy, Ami, and Taro have a little (first) meeting of the maybe RHA Gay-Straight Alliance.
Cast of Characters:	Amanda Faust, Taro Yamada, Ami Mizuno

---

Amanda Faust has posed:
    So, after a conversation in the future, Ami remarked on curiousity that she and others might want to know more about certain terms Amy mentioned... and some time ago, during one of Amy and Taro's get-togethers, Amy wondering if there was like, a gay-straight alliance at RHA or something made Taro suggest maybe they should have some kind of mahou club?

    So Amy remembered that when Ami asked, and worked out a good time, and now she's waiting in the shed!

    At the moment there's one or more tables and some chairs in the typical study setup, which Amy didn't actually disrupt, and a whiteboard.

    Before others arrive, Amy's considering what outfit to go with; she settles on a reference no one will get, a white dress shirt with a black ribbon under the collar and dark slacks and shoes; a wine-red shawl adds a splash of color and femininity to the outfit and she's stuck at least four pride pins to it.

    That decided, she's restlessly pacing by the table as she hopes this goes well.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro is the first to arrive, wearing his beloved Thursday The Twelth (Jason Is Shopping To Prepare) t-shirt and slacks, and bringing a thermos of coffee and sugar packets to share among those visiting.

"Do you need a drink? I have caffine," he says, raising the sticker-encrusted thermos (all j-horror baddies) at Amy -

He's not sure how much he really counts as the LeGBaTs, given that he has dated exactly zero people and most of his liking men is purely theoretical, but he is here to help!!

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Making her way into the shed still in the Acadamy's uniform, Ami shifted the hard-shelled backpack from her shoulder with a breath of freedom. Since they'd returned from a future, the number of thick and hefty volumes she carried had increased to accomodate the varied needs of a sharp increase in tutorees. A small bluejay, plush, round, and with its legs askew dances about the latch for the movement, and the burden finds its way to her feet for the moment.

"Hello." Ami smiled pleasantly with a nod toward the redhead--"Amy-chan."--and another for the boy. "You must be Taro-san."

She was sure she'd seen him somewhere, though the name was drawn from logical inference. Who else would be here with Amy waiting?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    (more of a cream shirt, really. Also, for whatever quirky reason, she's got a lanyard around her neck but it's her current student ID that's clipped to it.)

    Taro's greeted with a warm smile and a "Taroooo!" and Amy running over to hug him, although she stops partway to read the shirt and laughs. "I like the shirt, I guess I should see that movie one of these days, huh?" and then runs the rest of the way up to hug him.

    After stepping back, she looks at the thermos, "Wouldn't hurt to have it available." And then Ami-with-an-I is here!

    "Hi!" Amy smiles and waves, and waits a few seconds for people to get situated, sit/stand/whatever. And then she starts pacing behind the table. "So um. I uh. I confess this sounded like a good plan but also I don't really have a specific itinerary? I thought uh... I previously thought I was the one needing to learn this stuff from my fellow students, more than the other way around, but..."

    She turns to them and shrugs with an awkward smile. "Given that no one at this school blinks an eye at all the girls dating eachother, we're clearly well past the 'gender and orientation can vary independently' basics but I'm not really sure where, exactly, to start with, well, the rest? Sooooo I kinda figured I go with whatever you're wondering, whatever's on your mind, and let the discussion go from there?" She looks between them uncertainly.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You gotta!! It's one of the classics - well, ok, most of the movies in the series are great examples of American slasher horror, and the bad ones are still historic in the decline of slashers as horror moved on - I've got sugar and creamer too! So!"

When Ami comes in, Taro nods his head politely. "I am. You're - Ami-san, yes? One of Usagi-san's friends. I was part of the catering staff at her wedding," he explains "Nice to meet you properly."

And then - uh, about learning things... "I guess I'd start with, what do we want our club to DO?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I am." As it became apparent that they were in the midst of an introduction, Ami's nod became a more pronounced, though short-lived bow.

Her gaze wandered from Taro to Amy, and the blue-haired senshi let her head roll from side to side. She was quiet a moment, thinking her way through something, before ultimately coming up short and managing a faint shrug.

"I'm not sure, either. Mostly because I don't think I've given it too much thought, there always seems to be much more--uh--demanding my attention." She grimaced lightly. "It's all very new to me."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at Taro's comment about movies. "It's like how Zeta Gundam isn't especially a great watch, but it sure is a classic example of the mood of the series and the works it inspired."

What do we want our club to DO?
    Amy's face shows that she did not have a clear idea. "Uhhh... well... I mean..." She starts pacing and throws up her hands. "I don't know! I figured, like, there must be something, there's probably all kindsa stuff, like, whatever they do in a gay-straight-alliance or the like normally just, y'know, since we're all magic we're not having to make up weird lies about the surrounding details in our lives."

    She stops and turns back towards them. "Honestly, I wasn't entirely certain this is a club per-se, maybe it's just this get-together to explain any stuff you didn't know and then, like, an open invitation to..."

    She holds her hand out towards Taro. "Meeting for dinner and movies with Taro is like, the only time I've at all regularly talked about this stuff, although sure, I've had a couple other conversations, like the one in the future. I..."

    She paces. "It doesn't exactly come up much during mahou-ing, but like, we have lives too and stuff's just sorta... like everybody knows how it goes if you're cis and straight, but..." She stops and looks to Ami. "It's nice to be able to like, know you have someone to talk to about it? That being, like demi or ace or whatever and finding that out is part of this phase of our lives too and while everyone's running around having their romantic feelings and going on about how everyone at school is hot, I feel kind of isolated and alone."

    She looks away nervously, scratching her head. "Does that uh... make sense? Or is it mostly something neither of you ever really thinks about?"

    She looks at Ami and blinks. "Wait, new? Haven't you uh... been dating, or whatever, Usagi-chan for awhile...?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I get it," Taro says, setting his thermos of coffee down and then tapping on the lid. "It's hard enough doing the magic thing without also dealing with the," gestures, "other stuff. Though I was more preoccupied with being homeless than boy stuff for a long time, so I've only really started thinking about this recently..." He'd been preoccupied. So...

"I guess - do we want this mahou only? Gay stuff only? If there's an overlap, that could be a seurity issue with Obsidian, but it could also be really helpful? Shit, do we have to think about if Obsidian cares enough about that stuff to snoop identity wise?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I don't really know how to explain it, but I just don't really think about it." Ami shrugged. "Loving Usagi-chan and talking about the hows and whys feel entirely unrelated to me."

She let her head roll from one side to the other with a thoughtful little hmm. "She's beautiful, of course, but I think even that's more who she is than it is what she looks like. I don't think I've ever looked at someone and thought anything about them being hot, either."

The senshi shrugged again.

"Keeping my identity away from Obsidian any more than has already slipped is pretty important." Ami stated firmly. "Not really for my sake, because between Masa-nii, Mamoru-kun, Usagi-chan, and everyone else I'm probably okay. But, my identity leads to my mother's identity and she's not exactly distant."

Well. Most of the time. "That said, I don't think they're going to be figuring out our magical selves by our--uh--relationship choices."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at 'dealing with stuff', but when Taro gets to who can be part of the may-not-even-be-a-club-really she's visibly distressed. "I... I didn't wanna go straight to gatekeeping..." She pulls a chair out from the table and sits down, slumping forward slightly.

    "I mean, like, you have a point if it's a more formal club but if it's just us talking, just an invitation to talk, then like, I don't think it matters so much? Bringing someone else into a conversation is just kinda ad-hoc... ya can ask whoever else, what's okay to talk about around so-and-so anyway..."

    Ami mentioning that no one ever looked hot gets a curious look...

    ...but as the subject turns back to Obsidian, Amy sets her elbows on the table and leans forward, hands holding the side of her head. "Oh, this has all gone... I don't know what I thought I was doing. I thought Mizuno-san had questions I could answer, and I liked the talks with Taro, and I... didn't think. I'm sorry."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro wilts. "Shit, sorry... I guess I should - pick magic or gay for the club? So we aren't having to enforce people being in or out. Am I over thinking it all?" he's going to get an F in being gay, which is normal to fear and not desirable to obtain

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"My point was--I don't think we have to worry. If nothing else, the Veil will protect us regardless." Ami smiled. "If I can be staring straight into my girlfriend's face and not realise it's her because she's got a new hair colour and gothic-style clothing, I'm pretty sure we're okay."

Ami set a hand to Amy's shoulder as she slid her backpack across before settling into the chair next to her.

"You know better than to be so easily beaten, Amy-chan. Try not to look quite so discouraged." She shrugged. "The chances are, I do have questions. I just don't know what they are, yet. It's a little like anything new to learn, right? You need to figure a little bit out before you even know what to ask."

A pause as she considered. "The hard part is figuring out where to start... Maybe you could describe what demi and ace mean to you? And we can go from there."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "It's not even a club!" Snaps Amy as she throws up her hands.

    Overthinking? A bit exasperated, she adds, "You're putting the cart before the horse. I figured we sit and talk about whatever, discuss whatever, first, and then like... worry about that stuff later, or it's only getting in the way."

    Ami-with-an-i tries to comfort her, and Amy starts thinking over her words but then another thought creeps into her head and slips out of her mouth. "You need a requirement? If we had Oji-san club before, given that neither of us was ever actually an ojisan, then I guess that holds: Anyone else who wasn't an ojisan can also join."

    Beat.

    "I'm not really serious," she quietly adds, "Like, if someone does have past memories or got youthened and they were truthfully a-- I'm not actually turning someone away over that that would be stupid."

    Beat.

    She glances at Ami and Taro. "Mio told me she needs a connection before she can like like someone and that she's demi. I..."

    "...I always assumed that was how it was for everyone. I thought all those songs about falling in love were just like... a metaphor, or an idea? And that falling in love at first sight in stories was just a, a narrative device because it's not practical to show the months of little interactions it'd take to build up."

    "My online research so far indicates that ace -- the spectrum demi is under -- just means that you don't feel that attraction in some or all of the situations others do."

    She was getting quiet, but then she throws up her hands again, accidentally loudening. "And yet! Not half a day since I heard this was a thing, Hannah swept me off my feet and I knew, despite all the reasons I believed it was a bad idea at the time, I wanted to see her again, so..."

    Amy shrugs and sighs.

    "I dunno. It doesn't all entirely fit."

    She fidgets with the pins on her shawl.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nodded slowly as she listened and then picked up the pace as it settled into a kind of affirmation. A pause, narrowed eyes, and a twist of her head. "I think. Hm."

The blue-haired senshi settled into place for a moment to think harder at it. Because, Amy was right. It didn't quite fit. It mostly did, but there was something missing.

"Oh, this is tricky, isn't it?" She wrinkled her nose. "Trying to find the right words, I mean, and some of it feels silly since..."

A faint flush and a clearing of her throat. "Since I read romantic literature. Occasionally. Sometimes. But, I guess, I'm not sure what the difference between--say--loving Mina-chan and loving Usagi-chan even is, most of the time. Except, sometimes Usagi-chan will do or say something that makes me feel like my heart is going to stop."

She would have left it at that if she didn't immediately think the better of it. "In a good way, of course."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks over at the throat-clearing, and raises an eyebrow. And then sits up straighter. "Wait, you love Aino-san too? Or, that's the example of someone you like, but don't like like, for comparison?"

    Still, she thoughtfully considers what the bluenette said already.

    "I... well... I think I get that, a little, or can imagine it. Hannah made my heart soar." Amy smiles at the recounting, "And not just 'cuz she actually threw me in the air once at the dance,"

    "It was like, I felt special in a way I never had before... and it wasn't just because of the looks of this body I didn't earn, since she's, y'know, blind."

    And then Amy furrows her brow. "Wait, but... I don't feel that sort of way with Usagi, although there have certainly been times she was there for me, or accepting me, in ways I wouldn't have expected... but also I have a lot of thoughts about her."

    She blushes, "N-not like that! Just... I did kind of wonder if I could be part of... like you are, if I could be even closer to my good friend..."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
It was a good thing that she was the Pretty Guardian of Love and Intelligence at this point, because both of those facets were getting a work out today. Ami leaned forward a little on the table, elbows set at its edge so that she could rest her chin on the backs of her fingers. There, she was silent for a little while and it would become very evident that she was putting a lot of thought into this.

"i think, at the end of everything, a relationship is just choices." She said calmly. "And, you know, friendships aren't not relationships. Usagi-chan is my girlfriend because she and I chose for that to be the case. I don't think that choice changed our feelings for one another in any fundamental way, but it does identify that there are certain other choices we might also make--particularly with regard to expressions of affection."

Ami smiled at Amy. It was also fairly evident that neither Amy's comments about her own body or how she felt about Usagi left much impact upon the blue-haired senshi. Not from a place of indifference, but rather from one of priorities.

"I don't think it matters what body you come in. You're Amy-chan and, while I can't speak for anybody else, I can say that who you are is more important. You're a friend and I care about you--I'm sure plenty of others feel similarly." Ami smiled. "And, of course I love Mina-chan. She's one of my closest friends. Makoto-chan and Masa-nii and Mamoru-kun--these are all very important people to me. But, the choices with them have been different than the ones with Usagi-chan. If that makes sense?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens... and then looks away awkwardly at the bit about the body... and then back at Ami. "Oh! You meant you love her as a friend... of course. I'm sorry, that was stupid of me."

    She nods. "She didn't behave towards you in certain ways Usagi-chan has, so different choices resulted. Err, so you didn't make the same choice with her you did with Usagi. Nor she with you."

    Amy considers this. Resting an elbow on the table, fist lifted for her to rest her cheek against.

    "It's like... all different. With Hannah might've been puppy love, or infatuation, but also, no one's treated me like she did since."

    She lifts her head again. "Taro I feel comfortable close to, and I like being close to him and he seems to like the physical closeness too, but I don't want to..." She touches the ends of her left thumb and index finger together in a circle and extends her right index finger and then realizes instead of completing the gesture she can say, "kiss him, you know?" Nice save! She drops her hands back to the table.

    "Nor he me. Usagi... I don't know? I'd certainly be happy to have that closeness, and..." She closes her eyes for a moment and thinks, then opens them again.

    "She gets stuff, like the whole secret past life magic means we can never tell normies about, that means we have this whole context that a teenager on 2025 Earth can't tell normies about that's also part of who we are now, or at least, how we contextualize things... Although, we don't really talk about that as much as I do with Taro."

    "But more that, there's this whole... you said your heart stops, and it's never quite been that extreme but she just keeps being a cool nice person and like... even when she was, Sailor Eclipse the second time she said she made sure to make me a cute toy. Like, even hopped up on dark energy she still like, I was special enough she cared about and tried to help in a twisted way."

    "...Less so when she was mind-controlled by Wicked Lady, although in retrospect that may be why she put up with me when I started on Catra's side on the whole hair thing."

    Amy throws up her hands again. "So I just dunno! Like, all of these relationships are a bit different and I don't know what it means and Mamoru read my mind and thought it was a crush or a squish and now here we are."

    ...And then she blinks. "You care, too...?" Amy looks away. "I guess everyone does. But it still feels... it's weird to have people that care care, and don't expect me to be normal... It's good weird. It's making me feel something, too."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Does it really matter what you call those relationships, though?" Ami asked, perhaps a little bit carefully, but there was a mixture of curiosity and concern woven in there, too. "If you're not feeling things the way that you think you should be--based on your observation of people around you, of course--maybe you shouldn't try to force yourself to?"

Ami turned sapphirine gaze upon the puella.

"Just be yourself." She smiled gently now. "If there's one thing that Usagi-chan has taught me, it is that the important part is to just love people honestly. Not just honest with them, but also with yourself. And, honestly, I don't think the things we say about relationships matter nearly as much as the things we do about them."

The gentle smile broke brighter.

"Nobody loves as honestly as Usagi-chan and she does it through her caring. She listens, she uplifts, and she makes people feel like they belong. Because they do." Ami's eyebrows lifted a litte. "I know that you care very deeply, too, about quite a few people."

Amanda Faust has posed:
Does it really matter?
    Shrug.

Don't force yourself.
    Nod.

Be yourself.
    Awkward smile.

...as the things we do about them.
    Non-awkward smile!

    "I've always been good at honesty!" Amy chimes in brightly as Usagi is described. "Well, mostly."

    At the compliment she looks away, still smiling slightly. "I, well, of course. Although I'm bad at followup. I never found a way to help Okana-san. And I forget things sometimes."

    She looks back to Ami (with her i's) and says, "I just don't want... I mean, this is a special time in life you mostly only get once. And... and magic's mucking it up sometimes but also making it wonderful." And with intense earnestness she adds, "I want all of you to have the experiences I couldn't, or can't, a-and enjoy your lives and be happy!"

    She looks away again. "I'm still getting used to the idea that maybe, thanks to my friends, I can have a life after this, too."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"You weren't bad at the follow up when we had to go into the past. Or at the wedding. Or on the ship." Ami reminded her. "You fight as tenaciously as anyone for the sake of your friends."

She watched Amy closely for a short while, letting that sentiment precolate. The senshi was still smiling, though. It was almost effortless on her face, light and earnest. Far and away progressed from the introverted, sometimes overly serious girl she'd been not even all that long ago.

"And that means you're no small part of the reason that I'm able to be happy, right now." She tilted her head a little again. "Are you happy?"

Perhaps even more importantly, Ami pressed on that particular point. "Because, you're allowed to be happy, too. It doesn't matter what came before."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy can't help smiling as her repeated competence is called out.

    And she-with-a-y is part of why Ami-with-an-i can be happy now. "I am? ...Oh huh..." she can't stop smiling.

Are you happy?
    Amanda thinks this over seriously for a long moment. "I mean... I think so? Kinda? I mean, I'm way happier since the wish than I ever was before, but... Humans are strange and greedy creatures."

    "A few years of this life is more than I was ever going to get without magic... and yet I started to get sad that I might not get more, after. First because I expected to die in combat, then because of either the Fade or because... well I didn't think I could make it, outside of the school."

    "And I see so many people, in love with eachother, and I remember the very brief time I had with Hannah and I want, I want that too. But no one's..." She looks away. "I'm not going to... There's no one else like that. I don't think I'll... I guess maybe you have to be very lucky to get that. I don't know." She shakes her head, then looks to Ami again.

    "So I should be ecstatic, all the time. Heck, like you said, I have friends now that would be there for me, would help me out if, if I struggle after I graduate..." She spreads her arms toward the ceiling. "This is all unimaginably amazing!"

    She looks away. "And yet I keep finding... things to feel bad about, too. And I worry how you all will do after graduation. The future didn't have any magic bullets I could bring back to fix society. And I feel bad for the people like me who didn't get a wish, why didn't they? How is that fair? Heck, even Kino-san wished for what I got handed. I... everyone should..."

    She runs out of words for the moment.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"And yet, Makoto-chan and Masa-nii have found one another and they're building their happiness together, too." Ami observed, now with a grin. "If you've seen the way he sparkles whenever he sees her, then you know that one's definitely real. You don't need to tell him I said that, though--I don't think he realises that he does."

The blue-haired senshi giggled quietly to herself. She had extra context there, too, where Masato had introduced her to a specific byobu at the national museum. So distinctly Makoto in theme, it was almost impossible for Ami to have missed.

She hummed a little happily to herself and shook her head.

"I think, sometimes, the things that make us the happiest weren't things we were expecting. But, you might not ever find them if you're too focused on a specific idea of what might bring happiness." Again, Ami set a hand to Amy's shoulder. "Nothing can take away the friends that you've made. The Fade might change some ideas around them, but even the Fade fails to erase to the magic of friendship."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Ami does smile, genuinely, at Ami talking about those two. "I'm glad they're happy."

    At the mention of the Fade, though, her face falls. She looks like she's trying to think of what to say, and then ruby eyes stare seriously into sapphirine.

    "Are you really still who you are now, all of who you are now, if you forget that whole life 14,000 years ago, and everything that's happened?"

    "And you have some life, here, from before all this magic stuff started, to go back to. Mizuno Ami, regular Japanese middle-schooler, has parents, and childhood friends, and formative experiences, a childhood, a past, and existed in the world and if the rest of you fades, well, if you're happy being her you can be her again, and losing a few years will suck but you'll live."

    Amy lifts the card around her neck and points to it. "She does not exist. Oh, "Amanda Faust" exists, the thing looking out at you from behind these eyes, talking to you now, but "Amanda Faust, American exchange student born 2008"? Isn't real beyond these few years."

    Amy closes her eyes briefly and shakes her head. "When I'm gone, I don't know what's left... but it isn't me. There isn't a life for her to pick up, when I'm gone."

    She lets out a breath, and sits up straight, and sighs, looking up at the ceiling. "Maybe it's for the best no one falls in love with me. Then they'd... be left with some amnesiac shell, if... if the Fade happens to all of us."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"You saw Sailor Mercury in the past, too." Ami reminded her. "I am her and I am also not her. Both of these things can be true, because the spirit of who she and I are remains the same."

Tha part was neither here nor there, however, as it seemed more a diversion from where the conversation really sat. Samsara--rinne tenshou--was a spiritual idea for another time entirely and one that would have been best explored with Rei. Though, Masato--spiritual, astrological Masato--was probably as good a choice.

"The person looking at me through those eyes is Amanda Faust." Ami asserted firmly. "Maybe she was known as someone else by other people, but that doesn't really matter all that much to me. She is here, she's done good things for a lot of people. She's helped to save the world a few times by this point."

Ami shrugged gently. "And we don't know what will happen to her once the Fade comes, but maybe she's building the life that she'll pick up when it's time. Even if it's a miracle, it's not the first we've seen and it's certainly not the most complicated."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy takes a breath, and lets it out, calmer. "Yeah. We don't know. We've done so many impossible things these past two years... maybe we'll beat the fade. Maybe I don't count as human anymore. Mermaids don't Fade, maybe neither do soul gems. And if I do, the girl that replaces me will need friends. But maybe we'll beat the Fade."

    "I just hope we don't all scatter to the winds after graduation and then mostly never talk again."

    She takes another breath, and smiles at Ami. "That's right. I helped save the world, multiple times. That's a pretty big achievement! I never got to do stuff that... I never got to do stuff like that before. Sorry I get a bit tetchy about the Fade."

    Breath.

    "This didn't go at all how I expected. I thought I was gonna be like. Explaining terms today. Seeing if people recognize the pins and know what they mean. Had a half-baked joke teed up after that to tell Roman, 'so you see why I feel it's such an honor to be counted as one of the girls at the sleepover.'"

    She stares across the mostly-empty room. "I guess that's a microcosm of life, though. 'This didn't go at all how I expected.' None of us expected to be magical girls three years ago."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Maybe she will just be you, to." Ami squeezed at Amy's shoulder again, gentle but affirming.

Then, again, she smiled warmly. It was a nice roundabout back to a point. A perfect callback, if incomplete. So, of course, Ami decided to complete it.

"Even if it's not what you initially expected, I'm happy that I got to spend some time with my friend."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy gives Ami a curious but uncertain look at the shoulder squeeze.

    At being told Ami is happy to spend time with her, though, she sits up straighter and smiles again. "Thanks! I'm glad people want to spend time with me... that's really nice."

    "Maybe later... well, I guess there's plenty of things to talk about. I've never read romance novels. Well... Hmm. Maybe you can tell me what they're like sometime? I was always... I was always a romantic before. But I didn't know any of this stuff then... might be why it felt like a lot of so-called romantic comedies fell short."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I could certainly give you some reccomendations." Ami flustered a little at the thought.

She was never not going to be a little embarrassed when she tacitly admitted to this particular interest. Every time, her face went a little redder and she found some unassuming part of the wall to stare at.

Still, she cleared her throat.

"Don't forget, though. I will hosting a study sleepover very soon." Ami smiled. "Partly because people need to study--"

Not Ami, though. She was well and truly on top of things.

"--but mostly because it'll be nice to just spend time with people when things aren't so dire."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy quirks an eyebrow at the way Ami gets embarassed about that. Should she ask...? Maybe another time. "Couldn't hurt, though I don't know if I'll get around to reading them. My Steam library has more games than I will ever play."

    And she smiles. "I look forward to it! I guess I've gotten to go to a lot of sleepovers these past two years, but... they're still nice!" And nods. "Yeah, it's nice to be with people when things aren't on fire."