The tech room has a big desk with an old-school rotary phone on it along with a desktop gaming PC and a variety of accessories. There's also a couch with a TV and a variety of gaming consoles in front of it. Tiffany is propped up in front of a microphone plugged into the PC, into which she's speaking commands to play some kind of visual novel game featuring a dark, brooding anime boy.

"Hi Mom, there's been an emergency, I had to leave, I don't know when I'll be back but hopefully I will be able to get someone to come pick up my stuff soon, I'm an adult, I don't have to tell you what's wrong, but I'm safe and you should not be calling the cops or trying to search my computer, goodbye."

Mara scribbles down the wording of her message on a notepad, in case it's needed later.

"Perfect! That will let me fend her off if she tries anything immediately, and give us time to come up with a more complete story later."

"God, I hope I never have to talk to her again. Please send someone over to get the stuff ASAP, she might ignore me and try to get into my PC anyway."

Mara mutters some words under her breath, and a pen moves of its own accord to write a note in precise, official-looking handwriting authorizing an agent to pick up Katie's stuff.

"Could you sign this?" she asks Katie, presenting her the note. "It's total bullshit pseudo-legalese but hopefully, combined with my friend's educated professional demeanor, will be enough to get them to give up the stuff."

"Yeah." She quickly signs it. "Hey, do you mind if I get my tears on you? I kinda want to cuddle and cry for a bit until the sushi gets here."

"Go sit on the couch while I call my friend, then I'll join you and you can cry as much as you want."

"The couch here, or the one we were on before?"

"The one we were on before."

"Okay." She walks back to that couch and collapses on it. God she hates her family. She really hopes she never has to speak to them again. She's a little scared of Mara too but she's so pretty and she can't be any worse than them, right? Right?

Mara soon emerges and pulls Katie into a hug.

"Mmmmm..... woman somft.... woman warm... woman comfy..." How the fuck is it possible for her to be scary and comforting at the same time, it doesn't make sense.

Mara emits a muffled moan.

"Fuck, uh, should I not be getting you all riled up until we've had our sushi?"

"It's fine. My response to having a cute girl being vulnerable in my arms is my own thing, and I'm used to it."

"Good to hear. Thanks for the food, by the way."

"It's my pleasure!"

"So like... when you did the soulgaze, what did you think about what you saw in there?" Katie really wants to get a good grade in soul, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

"Like I said, fascinating. I think, in a way, you're what I might have become if I didn't have money. I want to see what you become when you are provided for and taken care of. And as for the, um, more visceral motivations I saw," she blushes a little, "I can't say it's anything I've ever done before, or even really thought of. But I think I might like to see if I can turn these bee stings," she runs her hands over Katie's tits, such as they are, "into a pair of melons."

Katie breathes heavily. "God, I'm so with you, on both of those things. I kinda have this whole complex about weight and femininity and shit. Basically like, I hate society's expectations for women, I'm really not very traditionally feminine in most ways, normie women feel like aliens to me, but I can't say I don't want to be a woman, because men are gross and ugly and women are pretty. Except that like, I'm not even pretty, I basically already look like a man, or at least an adolescent boy, I have practically no curves. Honestly like, I would kind of feel sympathetic to TERF stuff, I would rather just live in a world where I'm a woman because I have a pussy and not have to think about it any more than that rather than having to identify as something, but I hate them because they're political lesbians who are lame about sex. But anyways like, liking soft curves and hating heterosexual relationship dynamics are basically the only ways in which I feel connected to womanhood or whatever, and it's like, since I'm rail-thin and was single a couple hours ago, I might as well be a trans man, and that just feels kind of weird. Glad you're helping me sort this shit out."

"I love femininity! Or at least, I love feminine aesthetics, on myself at least. I can imagine I wouldn't if I didn't have magic and money, though, and I would be down to have a tomboy gf if you end up curvy because I made you so. Can't relate on the TERF thing, though, you don't in fact have to hand it to them."

"I don't know, like, TERFs are obviously psychotically cruel to them, but like, if we are indeed categorizing them as women, the fact that the vast majority of women who are similar to me in personality are, from my perspective, very ugly makes me feel bad. Honestly makes me kind of less inclined to dress femininely, in a weird dumb petty way. That, laziness, and not wanting society to have the satisfaction of me being normal are the main reasons I wear sweatpants 24/7."

"Sweatpants are a good choice if you're not femininitymaxxing! Comfy, which makes you more pleasant to cuddle as well."

She lets a hand slide down to cop a feel of Katie's butt.

Katie squeaks excitedly. "I must say though, you present a pretty appealing vision of femininity. Seeing a woman who has killer curves and likes pink and dresses and carries a purse and stuff who isn't another brainless Twilight-reading housewife makes me feel more inclined to start experimenting with that sort of presentation."

Mara scoffs. "Twilight. Swear to God, Meyer's gotta be working with the real vamps, the way she's practically feeding young girls to them. Undone decades of propaganda progress."