"Alright," says Hannah. "See you."

Audrey watches as she walks away. It's a nice view. If only she was less of a coward... but no, she'll have to figure this out the hard way.

Hannah vanishes back into the Rosethorn Hotel, leaving Audrey alone with her thoughts.

Audrey sighs. 

She sits on the bench for a little while and watches the stars. Nobody approaches her. 

She considers the blackberry bushes. She could ask for a surprise right now. Maybe that would cut through her indecision. Maybe it would be - proper. But she can't psyche herself up to take that leap of faith. It's just too far, handing over carte blanche. 

She goes and picks a berry and turns it over in her hands. Nope, she can't do it. No chance. She drops it, and it rolls off into the grass. 

"Don't rush it," says a woman wearing a sensible sweater and rose earrings.

"Whoa and who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you? I'm Clematis. I'm one of the staff here. First time?"

Audrey looks down. "Yes."

"Let's sit on the bench, Audrey." 

"How do you know my name?"

"It's in your client file. Bench?"

"Alright I guess."

Clematis goes and sits down on the bench. 

"Audrey, you're very smart and perceptive, maybe even more than you should be. You react strongly to hints and you're quick to construe things as being hints. I won't lie to you, the Rose Bowers does nudge people. But you seem to take our hints as orders. They're not. They're suggestions at most. If you were getting orders, you would know. Alright? So just... try to relax a little. Enjoy what we have to offer. We're happy to keep trying until we find the people you click with, we're not supposed to always get it right first time."

"... I'll try. I can't help being nervous, and being nervous makes me hyperaware of things like this, but..."

"Yeah, your first time can be hard, there's no questioning that. But what if you didn't have to be alone?"

"And what do you mean by that, exactly?"

Clematis just smiles and points at another girl who's approaching. "Here she comes now." 

She gets up from the bench and leaves just as suddenly as she came - here one moment, gone the next.

"Um, excuse me, is this... Audrey Ingram?"

"Er, yes, who's asking?"

"Audrey Ingram. I'm, ah - you've heard of the phenomenon of "alts" -?" 

"You're an alternate universe version of me?"

"It, ah, would appear so. And, well. Your problems are my problems."

"Oh! Oh, I see. That's... Would you like to have a root beer together back at the Coze Club?"

"Sounds lovely."

"Alright then! I'll lead." 

She leads her other self back to the Coze Club and sits down where Hannah was before. There's no sign of the other girl. She orders two handcrafted root beers and a bottle opener. She passes one to her other self.