Oh no, Pigeon's even more nervous than Sable is! She starts to shift, gets distracted and giggles at Aya's unceremonious flop, and then turns all the way toward Pigeon, scooting back to avoid crowding her.

"S'okay, Pigeon. I'm really nervous too," she says quietly. "Y'wanna know a kinda-sorta secret?"

Pigeon nods.

She blushes, swallows hard, and takes a deep breath. "I spent my first hour after checking in crying my eyes out. Absolutely bawling."

"Oh gosh." Pigeon blushes. "... do you mind if I ask...?"

She shakes her head. "Don't mind. I'm embarrassed about it, but..." Another deep breath.

"I couldn't handle letting go of my work, couldn't stop worrying about what might go wrong if I wasn't there, and I was really feeling guilty for taking a vacation at all. Got myself halfway out of it, then got kinda lovingly-scolded about it in a letter that made clear why enjoying myself here was actually really important."

"I wish it was as simple as crying it out for me..."

(Meanwhile, Kumi is saying hello to a pink-haired girl wearing a blue visor and an oversized shirt and introducing her to Anna.)

She shakes her head again. "It wasn't, for me. Not really. I probably would've worked myself up again eventually — still might, if I'm not careful — because I still didn't quite believe I deserved this. It was the letter that really made the difference."

"I see..." 

She sighs. "I don't think I need a letter. Maybe I need a hug. I don't know." 

"Well, you've come to the right place for that."

"The Bowers is a place where all are welcome to experiment and push the bounds of what's possible!" The pink-haired girl grins and stretches, shimmying her shoulders. "You two seem kind of occupied, the show's starting. I'm Lianne, by the way."

"Hi Lianne, I'm Sable. And yeah, Pigeon and I were just talking about it being okay to be nervous and hurt and need comfort. We're starting?"

She turns to pay proper attention to Kumi.

Kumi nods. "Yeah, we're starting. Ground rules for pet therapy - this is for light petting, no heavy petting. Now, naturally some of you may become aroused anyway, that's totally natural when you're being touched and caressed by someone you find attractive, and that's okay. But if I see anyone deliberately going for erogenous areas they'll be asked to leave the group. Aside from the usual groin and chest areas, it should be noted for this group that the bases of tails and wings are commonly erogenous and should be avoided during this event. You may use your hands or a provided brush, we have a wide selection. Always ask someone if it's okay to touch them before proceeding; this is the Rosethorn Hotel, consent is paramount. The house safeword is safeword."

She raises a broad flat purple brush. "There are two main ways this event can be organized; either we can pair off and pairs can brush each other, or we can all take turns being in the center being brushed by everybody. The session runs for an hour normally, so you'll get either thirty minutes of being petted by a partner or ten minutes of being petted by everybody at once in the time slot. We can also do it more informally and let people just do what they prefer, so long as people don't mind getting uneven shares of the petting. If we've run for an hour and everyone wants to continue, I can extend the event for another hour, but that requires a unanimous vote. I think that's everything. Everyone got that?"

"We vote to decide which way to go, right? I'd like the informal petting session, no need for too much structure. I'm mostly here to pet others anyway."

"I'd prefer the group petting sessions."

"Um. Partners would be nice."

"Mn."

"Mmm, I'm the opposite of Lianne; if we don't have structure I'll forget to get petted and I probably really need that. So either partners or group, please."

"I think partners would be best, then. Lianne, you can pair with Aya if you just want to pet and not get petted in return."

"Sounds like a plan!"

"Sable, Anna, Pigeon, you can make a trio or the odd one out can get petted by me, your choice."

"I'm fine with whatever."

"Um, I would prefer to be petted by just Sable."

"Sable, is that alright with you?"

She smiles and nods. "Works for me!"