Audrey cracks up.

Aurica does too.

Ishaza is last to join in, but even her reserve is not unbreakable.

"What about you, Aurica?"

"Pancakes for me. Especially light and fluffy ones with a dollop of whipped cream on top."

"And for me it's waffles, obviously." She gestures to her current meal.

"The thing I like about sausages is that they go with everything. Kind of like how D/S play can touch everything while remaining itself."

"There's some foods it's kind of weird to have D/S play with though, right? Er, I mean - like it's weird to have a bowl of sausages - cereal -"

Aurica cracks up again.

"Now dear, be nice and let her get her thought out."

"Some breakfast foods like cereal are kind of weird to have sausages with. You might anyway if you really like sausages, but it'd definitely be a 'you thing.' And then there are some meals like a sausage and egger where the sausage is an integral part of the dish. Does the metaphor hold with D/S play?"

"Well, I mean, even if I metaphorically really like sausages I'm not going to have sausages every day for a month straight. Variety is important too. It helps D/S play that what it really is is sausage and eggs, that complete dish, and you can have sausage with almost anything as a side and eggs are in practically everything and can easily be unrecognizable, like making a cake with them. So what you get is sausage and eggs, sausage and egger, pancakes and sausages, bacon and eggs, chocolate cake, and all of that has D/S elements but the degree to which they're recognizable varies. And then sometimes you just eat cereal, which in this metaphor is nondynamic play."

"What's lunch in this metaphor?"

"All the romantic things that aren't necessarily sex but could be."

"And supper?"

"All the pleasurable things that could be sexual or romantic but aren't necessarily."

"And the rest of the day?"

"All the things you do for other reasons other than enjoyment."

She pauses. "It's Sunaira's philosophy that almost everybody could use more metaphorical food."

"Particularly breakfast?"

"I think Sunaira would say we're experiencing a critical breakfast shortage, yes."

"Why does she put breakfast first?"

"Because of the critical breakfast shortage, weren't you listening?"

"I guess I deserved that."

"Um... Ishaza, I apologize if this is rude, but - do you enjoy being an escort?"

"Yes. I get to set my own hours, bill my employer for social time, and have a lot of sex all on my terms. Why would I have a problem with it?"