746/Amy and Sayaka go to WcDonald's

Amy and Sayaka go to WcDonald's
Date of Scene:	12 November 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	After visiting Hannah in the hospital and letting Sayaka know she's OK, Amy invites Sayaka to dinner at WcDonald's where she reveals her big secret that doesn't really bother anyone.
Cast of Characters:	Amanda Faust, Sayaka Miki

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Amanda Faust has posed:
         WcDonald's, serving hungry anime characters for over 30 years!        

    Amy's waiting for Sayaka outside the fast food place, laptop bag over her shoulder. She's wearing a red pullover sweatshirt and dark sweatpants for the chilly autumn weather, and smiles and waves as she recognizes the bluenette, before heading inside. As she places an order for a bacon quarter pounder and a medium fountain drink, she comments, "You know, there was a time when you could get double cheeseburgers for like a hundred yen..."

    Her plan was to eat outside, but if it's too cold, she'll try to find a corner booth away from other conversations.

    She takes a bite and chews it, and then another, and another. "Sorry, I was waiting in Hannah's room since lunch... got kinda hungry..." she washes it down with a long sip of Dr. Pepper and that's enough unpaid product placement as she sets down her partially-eaten burger.

    "So um." Amy looks *up*, slightly, at the bluenette who's three inches taller than her and a year behind her. Although that latter part is entirely arbitrary. "Y-yeah. I... Kinda felt like a fraud at first? Like I'd *snuck in*. For a little while I wondered if maybe a lot of magical girls were secretly adults, or..." She looks away and asides more quietly, "...secretly guys..." Then looks down at the table between them, "But now, it does seem like pretty much everyone is the age they appear. They might be from another planet, but they're not secretly 36."

    "And you... and the school invited me, and put me in the dorms, not like I could continue my old life, and I felt like... like I said, it's..." She looks up at Sayaka. "And then Hannah swept me off my feet and insisted on dating me! I hadn't even had this body 24 hours when we first met! And then, and then I told her everything and she *still* wouldn't leave me... I don't know what she sees in me... hears in me... that was really so great, but... that's why, when she saw herself as, blamed herself for all this and acted like she didn't deserve our help... like... you know?"

    Amy fumbles her words and finally stops and gives Sayaka a chance to speak.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
After the string of text messages with Amy, Sayaka is preparing to head outside. Apparently her senpai needs to talk about something important and they are meeting at WcDonalds for that. Though, since it's quite cold outside, the black shirt and buttoned blue skirt with white triangles at the rim isn't anywhere near enough for that. So she is putting on a light blue sweater with two different rhomboidal patterns, a dashed yellow one, and a blue filled one, with the addition of a beige coat and an azure scarf with fringes at the border.

Seeing her prepare to go outside, Ula comes up to her, wearing a small yellow cap and a thick lime green shawl as opposed to her usual thin one, saying. "Heading outside?" "Ok, let's go?" Sayaka says, answering the implicit question rather than the explicit one.

With that, the two of them are in front of Amy, listening to her talk about all she has wanting to say patiently waiting for her to reach the end. In the meantime, the bluenette has ordered a Kaiser Salad for her and some fries for Ula to share with her, accompanied by a Fonta for both of them to drink from (although Ula has her own miniature glass she brings with herself for outings like these.

"I am not sure I get it, but this is like, a do-over for you? You weren't satisfied as you were?" Sayaka tries to understand as she leaves her salad unattended for now. "I had the opposite assumption from you, that all magicals girls were what they appeared as, alien origins nonwithstanding. I have only met 1 guy to whom Kyubey offered to make the contract, and that was back at the start of July."

Ula chimes in. "Yeah, statistically speaking, it's not very common from what I heard around the magical community. Granted, it's kind of a 50/50 when they telegraph it like Amy did. People like her are kind of interesting. Or maybe worrying is more correct. Are you afraid of rejection?" She looks directly at the redhead as she says this.

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Is this a do-over for you?
    "Kinda..."

> I have only met 1 guy to whom Kyubey offered to make the contract"
    A scene Amy's watched several times rises in her mind, unbidden:

                                      ====                                      
    ``I always loved magical girls. I never once imagined I would actually get to be one, though.``

    "I've never even thought about being one! I can't do this!"

    "And I can't let you refuse-pon. Men becoming magical girls is already rare as it is-pon!"
                                      ====                                      

    ```"There was another?!"``` Amy blurts out, surprised, wide-eyed.

    And then she glances around and returns to normal volume. "I mean, my *assumption* was everyone's as they look, yeah, but early on I wondered if I should question that, when I barely knew anyone's civilian identities yet, y'know?" She takes a breath. And looks away.

    "I... a little less now. Coco and Usagi helped me realize that uh, I'm probably trans given how okay I am with all this and that it's *okay* if I am. Your generation *gets* it, and doesn't see me as indelibly a guy, and learning that made me feel more okay about all of this. I grew up in the 90's and early oughts, and so there was all this... Yeah. I saw myself as having snuck in..." there's a bit of a grimace on her face at remembered feelings as she speaks, "and that while it was perhaps excusable to anyone reasonable who knew the whole situation, that I became a magical girl to save people and getting put back in high school and in the girls' dorm was an unavoidable part of the package, no one *reasonable* and fully informed would assume I was a pervert or something, in my experience, most people are *not* reasonable."

    She blinks at a thought. "Man, I really hope there isn't *actually* any poor cis guy who actually gets magical girled into this situation and is having to put up with all this, he must really hate it. Maybe your generation would be accepting if he just said he was a guy, though."

    Amy sighs. "So I figured dating Hannah was wrong on a lot of levels. Even though she's the only person who ever had any interest in me, and *snfff* she makes me feel so..." She buries her face in her palms, elbows on the table. "Fudge, I didn't mean to get all emotional, but... in all those years, no one's ever made me feel like this. I wanna be around her more. Is this love? I don't even know! I'm thirty-six and I don't even know! But she's also a nice person, who could see value in me and selfless enough to fight as a magical girl against youmas and Witches..."

    Eventually she remembers the actual question. "She wouldn't reject me. But I was afraid society would. Or they'd... like a relationship with me would make society reject her, too? Or see her as taken advantage of? Gods, I'm sorry for getting you all, for burdening you with an adult...woman's concerns, you shouldn't have to deal with this, you're supposed to be... being teenagers, and all that..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Yes, there was another..." Sayaka confirms. "Somewhat in his 40s, white hair, a really spent look, someone whom you would think is about to fall over at the slightest breeze..." she starts describing. "And despite that, he was able to dodge strikes from a machine that went crazy with no issue."

"My wish was to heal that same Kyousuke I wrote you about earlier, so I couldn't have used it to alter my appearance. And besides, there aren't many magical girls who get offered a wish, I think, no?" She starts going through her salad, looking at Amy for confirmation.

"Well no, that is another rarity too, I think", Ula chimes in, looking up from her drink. "That is right, no?" In the end she too seeks confirmation from Amy on this.

"I don't know Hannah-senpai much, but I know she is strong of will and heart from the little time I spent with her, so if anybody starts having doubt, just have them meet her, and she will solve any doubt herself."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    40s and white hair? Hey... "I'm not in my forties!" But she keeps describing... "...I don't remember that. Was there really another guy?"

    She continues listening. "I don't know how many there are, but it seems like the vast majority of young girls, let alone humanity in general, are not approached by Kyubey.

    ...

    "Yeah, but what about when the person doubting herself is Hannah?

    ...

    ...

    "Oh shit that's right, magic stuff that happened before, I wouldn't remember! Hang on." Amy pulls out her phone and swipes past pages and pages of selfies... which abruptly stop. Then it's pictures of scenery. Or official documents she needed a record of. Or a random cat seen on the streets. Eventually, years ago, there's a picture of Mallory, dressed like a teacher, smiling -- although there's something missing in that smile, somehow, it's not a smile the way Amy smiles now -- and surrounded by young students, also smiling. "Was it this guy? A machine that went crazy? Did I try to fight a youma as a civilian? No wonder Kyubey picked me..."

    If she confirms, Amy adds, "I was 36. Not in my forties. Did I really look that bad...?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"That actually looks like you", Sayaka confirms bewildered. Would you have guessed the coincidence? All this time, she was friends with the person who helped her until the arrival of Sailor Mars. "The similarity is striking, so I doubt it's a coincidence, but I guess there is an easy way we can lay any doubt to rest, Amy." Sayaka looks at her seriously.

"I am not going to tell it to anybody else or bringing it up beyond this single occasion if this is correct, but Kyubey called that guy Mallory." She stares at Amy's face, waiting the results. "If it's truly you, then thanks for helping me that day, Amy-senpai. I probably wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Sayaka, you weren't being reckless again, weren't you?" Ula asks suspicious.

"What? No! I just tried to get music for Kyousuke and then the machine went crazy asking me to compile a survey again and again forever", Sayaka replies annoyed by her doubts. "And I am not reckless when I fight", she adds with a more guilty tone.

"I only met you while I was trying to dodge some saws, nevermind the many months that passed, so I could have easily gotten it wrong", the bluenette says. "I don't think you were particularly ugly." She adds, an half-hearted consolation since she doesn't actually remember the old her all that well.

"If Hannah is doubting herself, then we carry on pointing out all the good she did until she has no choice but to accept she is not a bringer of misfortune. Let's send her messages until she is fed up with us even", Sayaka suggests with a bit of a grin.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "No, it doesn't look like me." Amy retorts, deadpan, "It looks like some guy who looked spent and about to fall over at the slightest breeze." But she knows what Sayaka meant.

    She jumps slightly at the name Mallory. The way someone who's been called a name for over three decades can't help but start to respond to it. She blinks as she looks at Sayaka, then scratches the back of her own head. "Uhh, you're welcome. I don't remember, but it's what I hope I woulda done."

> What? No! I just tried to get music for Kyousuke and then the machine went crazy asking me to compile a survey again and again forever
    Amy groans. "Uggggh. Not only a youma, but a *badly-programmed* youma. Are the forces of evil hiring bad programmers too? Given the way every modern website and app works, I guess I shouldn't be surprised Evil can't do it right either..."

> I don't think you were particularly ugly.
    "You say that, but all I see in that picture is... eugh. That's a check in the 'probably trans' box, I guess."

> Let's SPAM HANNAH WITH LOVE!
    Amy *laughs*. It's a joyful cackle that can be heard across the street. She smiles at Sayaka, "We shouldn't *overdo* it, but yeah, maybe she could do with waking up to a bunch of positivity on her phone. And one or two messages a day after that?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Oh, yes, I mean, of course it doesn't look like you you. Maybe you used to wear the same face?" She tries to correct herself. Wearing a face, now that's a thought. "Ugh, no, I just said something disgusting. Let's pretend I said nothing, please."

Amy's speech about programming gets a laugh out of Sayaka. "You actually said the same thing back then, you know? It was actually impressive when you said that while we were dealing with that machine."

"That sounds like a plan!" Sayaka confirms enthusiastically. "Now we have gone over everything, how about we enjoy the food together? And maybe starting to plan a outing to get you something actually warm to wear, because, you don't look warm at all", she grins.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Good to know I'm consistantly me, I guess!" Amy smiles, albeit slightly uncertainly as it's *weird* talking about something she doesn't remember, even if fiction prepared her for this, too.

    Amy nods. "Yeah... been awhile since I had American food... and... that'd be nice!" She smiles more certainly. "I uh... need to shop for clothes more but I feel kinda weird walking into a... women's clothing section alone... And my old coats are huge now. This shirt was on me when I unhenshined or I'd be wearing my old coat now."