"Guarded, worried people will decide I'm too weird and too trans and say something to hurt me, worried people will misgender me, worried all my hurts mean I'm burdening everyone around me, scared the basic income will suddenly run out and I'll have to go do a job that makes me miserable because my old world didn't have basic income at all, scared to even talk about all this because sharing this kind of vulnerability gets you hurt on my old world."

Yeah, there's no hope for her composure at this point. Her breathing starts to get ragged, a tear rolls down her cheek, and she hugs herself tightly. She's still gonna try, but stuff's slipping out.

"Well, it sounds like some practice with vulnerability is in order! Would you give me a hug? It'll probably make you feel a lot less scared like that."

She takes a shaky breath and nods, stepping closer to the instructor, spreading her arms wide, and hugging her tightly.

Sable gets the hug back, as the instructor very carefully squeezes Sable while applying pressure evenly, gently moving her arms across her back. "Yes, this is what living in thomassia should feel like, always."

She takes a few more shaky breaths, nodding. "Thank you," she murmurs.

"It may take a lot of hugs before it fully sinks in, I think."

"A huge amount, I'm sure! There's lots of hugging at a slumber party, usually, if you think that'd help? I have a feeling that you're really tightly-wound, and finding some way to relax that would probably do you a lot of good."

A rueful chuckle escapes her. "Slumber parties: another thing I couldn't have had in my old world. Adults were expected to set aside 'childish things' like slumber parties, and trans girls had a hard time finding people to go to one with them anyway."

"Well, slumber parties were never much of a kid's thing here, only a rich people's thing. I think you'd like them as a kind of exposure therapy."

She blushes, but manages a smile and nods. "How do people organize slumber parties on this planet? Especially when you don't know many people yet?"

"Well, if you look it up online, you can find lots of people putting together their slumber parties, and they tend to be invite basically anyone that wants in. You could just ask them? I guess that it'd be uncomfortable to do one of them with someone new, but I think that'd just make it more therapeutic."

"Yeah, you have a point. And people wouldn't mind someone joining their slumber party who might devolve into a teary mess at the drop of a hat?"

"That'd just be cute! And I think they'd like you even more, for how brave you were being."

Yeah, that gets more blushing. "...Okay. I'll sign up for one."

There's lots of them, usually taking place inside of a skyscraper penthouse. Some of them even offer to let you rent out the main rooms of other apartments, to act as very roomy changing rooms, with you having all your clothes placed there in advance.

Well, she'll sign up for one for tonight. She doesn't need the extra roomy changing room, though. She's used to bathrooms being half the size of what they have on thomassia, so changing in a rented main room would be absurdly spacious. She will do just fine with a bathroom to change in.

The soonest slumber party is 9 days away, at the moment. They're a bit less spur-of-the-moment, so they're a bit rarer. "Come by cab, three-band system strictly enforced, wear your most intimidating, indulgently luxurious lingerie", the ad says when Sable looks for anything about a dress code.

She looks up to the instructor. "What's a three-band system?"

"It's actually kind of symbolic of the slumber party. You get a silicone band or wrist tattoo, that shows how comfortable you are with physical touch. They can be blue, orange or red, showing how comfortable you are with physical touch. Blue means 'only with explicit verbal consent', orange means 'trust my body language', and red means 'my safeword is safeword'. Slumber parties are really about leaning into vulnerability, and the three bands means that everyone gets to stay within their comfort zone while still being able to be vulnerable in just their underwear."

"Oh."

"That's. Very good and helpful. Also scary, but that's the point."

She signs up for that one. She'll ask for a red band when she gets there.

The yoga teacher keeps touching Sable for a few seconds more. Then she lets go and looks at her. "I want you to know that thomassia is a place of people that really, truly care about everyone. And they've managed to build a society that makes it so their care for everyone really goes to helping them, and keeping them safe and happy."

She smiles weakly and nods. "It will take me some time to get used to that, but I'm really noticing that everywhere I look."

She smiles at Sable. "Getting used to a world being much happier, safer, and more caring shouldn't take too long, should it? I think you'll be able to have a nice life here." She steps back and waits for a moment before continuing. "Goodbye for today! I hope my class was good enough that you'd want to take it again."

"It really was. Thank you very much. I'll definitely be back."

And then Sable gets into the subway and heads home. How much time does she have before dance class? She's not sure if she's up for it just now, she'll need a minute.

She doesn't have much, just another 30 minutes when considering the time it takes to get to the class.