Astra extracted herself from her wife and her... sibling. Granted, Astra grew up, raised as a single daughter without any siblings, but even she knew that this was one conversation between siblings that not even she could intrude. It was almost like a premonition for something unpredictable, and Astra was powerless except to witness.

"I will grab something to drink...for the both of you." Astra traced her path towards a vending machine.

Under normal circumstances, Aria would have had her unblinking gaze on Astra, but now, it remained fixated on the catgirl before her.

"Bold. Very bold. Audacious choice of outfit you got there," said Aria, managing a tight laugh. "Talls socks and heels, really makes you look so elegant."

"I lost a bet."

"Ah right. Your, what was it called? Bootcamp right?" Astra tapped her forehead in mockery as awakening some long slumbering part of her brain. "Yes, bootcamp, that is what mom called it."

"That's right. It was in the camp. It is all a bet. Nothing really serious."

"Because..." Aria dragged the word, purposefully.

"Eh...because.. a man... must live by his words."

"Right, as running in a barely modest miniskirt, and cat ears makes you the manly man," said Aria. Her eyebrows knitted, furrowed and wiggled suggestively.

"Aurora-chan, we are waiting. Come fast," called a girl in a skimpy female ninja outfit.

"Aurora-Chan, huh." Aria chortled, a snort. "I take it that this is not the first time you lost a bet. So how often do you lose your bets again?"

"You are not the brightest tool in the shed either, Aria." In a fleeting moment, the silhouette of her old petulant brother, argumentative and frustrating, appear. "You hired me tone of my alts to assassinate my other alts online."

"Aurora-chaan, come. Kochi, kochi." The girl in ninja outfit called out again.

"Oye. You paper-cut ninja, kindly fuck off," snapped Aria. In a grand, exaggerated gesture, she took her mobile and dialled, loudspeaker on for the one before her to hear. "Hey mom."

A heavy shudder passed through the catgirl.

"Hey mom. Can you put Aidan on the call? I can't seem to reach him."

The catgirl knelt on the ground before Aria, imploringly.

"We can do a conference mom"

"I don't know Aria," replied her mom. "This conference call thing, how do you do that?"

"Oh just hold my call, call him and then when he answers merge both our calls."

"Its still too complicated for me, Aria," answered mom.

Please, the catgirl wordlessly begged.

Pressing mute on her mobile, Aria said, "You know, don't just kneel there, I also take kowtow as payment of your gratitude."

Aidan kowtowed like his life depended on it, it might as well be the truth.

Unmuting the mobile, Aria continued. "You know what mom, forget it. I will get hold of my sibling later."

"Aria, is everything alright? I am concerned. You never willingly reach out to Aidan."

"Hold on there, what made you think that way? We are like super close." Aria's tone was cute, but the meaning was not. Her eyes lingered towards an imaginary speck on her doc marten.

The catgirl wiped Aria's shoes with the long sleeve of her blouse.

"Super close?" Aria could hear her mother's perplexed tone through the mobile speaker. "I am worried. The only time you two ever got close was to strangle each other."

"Moooom, that will change, very soon." Aria tapped the ground before kneeling Aidan. Each tap reverberated with demand and domination. "In fact, Aidan likes me so much that he would kiss the grounds where I stood."

Aria found the catgirl kissing her boots, leaving tiny strawberry colours form of lips painted on them.

"Good girl." The words accidentally slipped out. Aria was amazed, even astonished. She was certain, Aidan was drenched in waves of crimson blushes, something she thought her sibling was incapable of.

"Aria? Who are you with? What are you doing?" snapped her mother. Her barrage of invasive questions continued. Sort of late for the realisation, but she should have muted.

"No mom....Nothing... I am at... a cat cafe. A very pretty kitten perched herself in front of me." Looking at the expression creeping on her sibling's face, Aria smirked and decided to tease even more. "She is so adorable, with big eyes, and cute expressions. She demands all my attention. Almost makes me want to bring her home like a little sister."

The catgirl knelt in front of Aria glowed a bright and deep red blush, rivalling that of the red Japanese lantern hung on the stalls behind.

"So, why did you want to talk with Aidan?" Her mom persisted with her interrogation.

"Oh, I met a pretty girl called Aurora." Quickly catching, her tongue, Aria corrected. "I think she and Aidan would get along pretty well."

"Aria." The sharply cut dismissal, in her mom's tone, made Aria perk up. The bright colouration on Aidan slowly withered. "Ours is a traditional family with deeply upheld values. You will consider those before bringing anyone."

"What does it even mean?" Aria hissed. The poignancy of her indignation clearly felt on the other side.

"Aria, just between us." Her mother's tone lowered to conspiratorial levels. "While cleaning Aidan's room, I found one of those neck collars that whores with loose morals wear. Some slut's name, Aura, was engraved on it. Those are things that cum dumpsters willing to degrade themselves as animals wear. No woman from a good upbringing would ever do it. I don't want that cockslut anywhere near our family."

Gone was the vibrant blush from the catgirl's face, slowly turning a pallid dour. Her cedar-sighted gaze, a shade lighter than Aria's own eye colour, now held arrested behind a barrier of clear well-liquid, ready to spill in tears. Her lips trembled with the every word from her mother. They slammed, leaving deep, searing and unhealable wounds in her soul.

Aria could no longer remain a silent spectator. It was all her fault. "Mom! How could you spew such venom against someone you don't know well! She is not that way. She isn't an animal, and she deserves every right to dignity, just like us." Aria defended. Blunt. Honest, and most of all, infuriating.

"Aria, we are a reputable family. There are enough hussies, who would willing wear a collar to leash our Aidan. Tempt him, get fucked in the back of a pick-up truck, and baby trap him with a disgusting bump."

That's oddly specific. But Aria had other things in mind to ponder. She realised she wasn't the only one broken in her family. Broken by her family.

"Understood, Love you mom. Laters." Aria quickly cut the call.

Suddenly, the patterns slowly slid in place. Why Aurora-chan reached out to her...Why Aidan reached out to her, in a convoluted way. The deep blush at the praise, and the pain that followed at her mother's comments. They all made sense.

"You are not just doing this for fun. You are trans." Aria stared at the truth before her eyes. "Lets start fresh. Hi, I am Aria. My pronouns are she and her."

"Hi, I am Adria."

"Adria?"

"Aurora-chan is just an online handle, but my preferred name is Adria, short for Adrianna."

"Bitch, not Adrianna. I will punch you so hard in the breast that even your silicone boobs will hurt." Aria could not deny the brilliant smile on Adria's face. Perhaps, she is the only girl Aria knew, who felt exhilarated at being called a Bitch. Not because of the negative connotation, but the gendered nature of the insult brought the dazzling smile. "That names rhymes."

"I know right. Rhymes pretty well with the biggest dumbass I know."

Aria playfully jabbed her sister on the arm. "Hey! Don't you dare call me that!" But despite her words, she couldn't help but smile at the thought. She could barely believe, how much her sibling sought a closeness to her. Even her selected name, reflected almost close to her own.

"Adria, I owe you an apology," said Aria, a genuine and unguarded admission. "When we were young, I often found my wardrobe ruffled, and I thought you were being creepy with my stuff. I am so sorry, please forgive me."

"Is that why you refused to interact with me when we were young?"

"Sort of. The idea of you sneakily going through my clothes and items seemed very pervy to me at that age."

"Well, if it is any consolation, Aria, your wardrobe actually looks like a two size smaller version of dad's."

"That's a lie. I have an impeccable fashion sense." Aria feigned seriousness, but the mirthful smile still tugged her lips. "I just find skirts, and dresses to be impractical. Like I have to remember to swipe while sitting, careful with my legs always closed, and every small breeze is a terror waiting to expose something uncomfortable. That ultra miniskirt you are wearing will flip anytime, showing your boxers. Too dangerous."

"Actually, I am not wearing boxers. Just a nice pair of cute panties." Adria giggled.

"Eh? But how?"

"Even if the skirt flips, they would only see a camel-toe. A great tuck job." Adria giggled at her sister's obliviousness. "You see, I push those..."

"No, No. Please, spare me the details." Aria definitely did not need that particular information. Not just because of her own sexuality, but also because of the one it belonged to. However, willing Adria might seem, even extremely eager to share details of her personal life with her sister, there are things that Aria would rather not hear.

Adria gave her sister a puppy dog look. "Aria, can I hold your hand while we walk around?"

"Eh sure." Aria was uncertain what her sister had in mind, but she complied. She expected Adria to hold a respectable distance, just both their hands connected at the palms, instead, her sister latched on to her, both her hands tightly gripping Aria's biceps as she skipped happily.

As Adria dragged her sister through the convention center, stalls filled with merchandise, art, dojins, figurines, maid cafes, and anime pop idols posing for photographs with fans, various game booths, and occasional popular anime voice actors interacting with the crowd. On occasions, Adria would stop to point at things, mostly stuff toys and sweet, and somewhat impractical dresses with neat little bows and frills, citing how cute they looked.

Stunned, but Aria still answered with feigned interested. She did not know how her sibling hid such a saccharide coated side.

"Aria, I dreamt of this moment for long," said Adria. "Just strolling leisurely with my sister, and shopping."

Not that, Aria held her through from spilling.

"We could go try shoes, and handbags," continued Adria.

Fuck that, I am out, Aria clenched her jaws tight.

"We could get our hair and nails done, maybe pedicured and a relaxing spa time," said Adria.

Definitely, not going down that path, Aria rolled her eyes.

"We could visit an art gallery, talk about art or even gossip about things. Life would have been so much better and perfect."

As Adria continued, it slowly dawned on Aria, had her sister been cis, she would have made the perfect daughter her mother would have wanted. Her sister had so much in common with their mother. Now that Aria, looked, a bit more carefully, Adria did gain a lot of their mother's features, to the light honey brown colour of her eyes, to the small curve that the edge of her lips made when she smiled genuinely, or the ways her eyebrows rose when she excitedly pointed at something, or the flutter of her eyelids when she blinked.

"So, little sis." Aria wrapped her arm around Adria, giving an encouraging squeeze. "Have you given any thought? When are you going to come out?"

"Never." The tone that answered, was precise, short and filled with pain.

"Adria, you don't have to fear anyone. I will protect you."

" 'I will protect you', she says." Gone were the traces of her sister who she had grown to love in the narrow span of time that she got to know her, replaced by the mocking form of Aidan, cold, conniving and misery-inducing.

Aria flinched, as Aidan continued with the mockery laced vicious laughter. With two fingers, he tapped Aria's temples, making a painful point.

"Aria, you cannot even defend your own sexuality. How the fuck are you going to defend my gender identity?"

"Those are two different issues. I do not feel like defending my sexuality because who I choose to share my bed with is no one else's concern. It is a private matter."

"Seeking refugee with libertarian views is not going to hide the truth, Aria. But, you are right. Both our issues are not the same. You can sleep with any woman, and in a society or in a family gathering, no one needs to be informed. You can maintain status quo, I, on the contrary, can't." The voice softened, the embers of mockery withered faster than Aria expected. "When I come out, when I walk down the streets, everyone would wonder what's between my legs. Every creep, bigot and morally prejudiced, would openly ask my genital configuration."

"Look Adria. I am not unaware of trans issues." said Aria, wiping her sister's cheek with the back of her hand in calm, soothing circles. "I never told you this before, but when I started my course in the university, at the beginning of the first semester, we were twenty-eight, four girls and the rest boys. When we graduated, we were seventeen. We were seven girls and ten boys. I am not blind to the plight."

"For fuck's sake, Aria. Get your muff-diving head out of the tech-bubble and look around, for once." The vulnerability spilled from Adria's every word. "I have seen cops harass transwomen legally during routine checks. I witnessed Uncle Jake pulling a transgirl, asking her if it was hiding a concealed weapon in her pants, if she would consent to a search or should he call a female officer? All done legally."

"That sick of that prick," spat Aria.

"Worse. We hired a transman in dad's company, and I had to witness someone of guys get handsy on him, tried to grope his chest through his binders."

"Did you inform dad? Tell me, Dad did terminate those creeps."

"No. Dad was there, and he even laughed and encouraged, the behaviour. Claimed if he identifies as a man, then he should not be uncomfortable about being groped in the chest, because, men are not sensitive there. Real men should not be bothered by those touches."

"What the fuck..." Aria could barely contain the acerbic sensation surging through her throat. The knowledge that her father failed, stung Aria's heart.

"The truth of the fact is, I struggled hard to survive school. You see, kids can be brutal, especially when an older sibling is queer. When rumours of you being a lesbian spread around the playground, I was barely eleven and everyone picked on me. They called me the butch-bro. It is only by asserting a masculine identity that I managed to survive."

Aria leaned, pulling her sister in a tight hug. She gently stroked Adria's back in a consoling motion.

"It is only by donning a hypermasculine persona that I have lived till now. It is my armour and has served me well, and will, till I die."

In Aria's mind, hearing Adria's words, the curtain lifted. "That night...at the bar with Dad and Uncle, you purposefully picked the fight with Mr. Lorenzen. That wasn't an inebriated bout of bravado. You wanted to kill yourself."

"That...That notion is preposterous."

"I see clearly, now. You were suicidal." Aria cried, holding her sister. "You chose that path because the pain was too much for you to continue."

"It wasn't suicide. I wanted to go down in a fight... like a real man. Wanted to be remembered that way."

"Please. No. I can't accept it." Aria cried more, voluminous rivulets of tears fell down her cheeks. "This is a misguided notion of toxic masculinity."

"Better to die as an alpha male than live a degenerate tranny." Adria's pain soaked expression reminded Aria of the hateful exchange with her mother moment's ago. The wound left by their mother's callous words, still very raw, and deep.

Adria extracted herself from Aria's embrace, and wiped her sister's tears with the sleeves of her blouse. A gesture that made Aria feel wretched, even more. She was the eldest, but at the moment, Adria seemed to fill her shoes.

"Aria, the truth is, that night, when I saw you and Astra, together, the way she sat near you, all those attentions and the look, that lovelorn gaze, the eyes she had for you. It made me question my own existence."

Aria could barely find the strength to speak, her chest squeezed tight, tight enough that it would soon rip apart.

"You don't know how luck you are, Aria." Adria continued in a slightly softer voice. "I realised no one would love me that way. Not the real me. Not as Adria. I would forever be left with presenting a mask to please whoever places their demands on me. The realisation snapped me at that moment."

"But you don't have to."

"Look Aria. I try to keep my expectations realistic here. I come out, and I lose our family, my friends, an outcast to the whole town. I will have to leave all behind, eke out a living at the fringes of the society. But if I sacrifice my personal needs, I keep the family together, mom and dad happy, I keep grandma and uncle proud."

"Don't see, this is eating you from within."

"A small sacrifice, Aria. You have been at odds with the family, so perhaps you don't see it, but Mom received enough insults at you being a lesbian. It was an endless source of stress. She even said, I was her only source of pride. The other day, the Mayor called dad twice blessed for having a son like me. I would be burning it all to the ground. The loss outweighs the gains."

"So you just, bury all this." Aria's temper flared, more at her family than at Adria. "Because, it keep them happy, spewing redpill shit. Fuck, all this."

"A hard choice, but one that has to be done."

"Vlahari, please calm down." Aria found herself pulled into the warm hold of Astra. "Can we invite her to spend the night at our place. You could spend some bonding time with your sister. Discuss in a familiar environment, when flaring emotions have settled."

Aria wanted to protest, but the soothing voice of Astra and her accepting hold, made it impossible.

---

Hallie left a heavy sigh of relief, as she, furtively skirting the crowds, reached the exit of the convention hall. A narrow escape. She took the moment to compose herself. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw the tall and unmistakable form of Astra in the middle of the crowd. The vajran's elegant form wadding through. She immediately knew that Aria should be close by.

Ducking behind her counter, she scanned the crowd and eventually found the target of her fears. Despite her burning curiosity to know more about the weaboo girl that Aria was holding, almost too close to be a random stranger, Hallie had to extract herself. Only a few paces separated her from a congratulatory escape.

And then, Hallie ran into the second person she wanted to accidentally run into.

Phaedra stood blocking her path.

"Hi," Hallie squeaked.

"Hey Hallie. Why are sneaking away from your friend?"

"Oh that..." Hallie scratched her head, accompanied by a nervous chuckle. "We were playing hide-and-seek. It is... a very human ritual to strengthen bonds of friendship."

Phaedra's face retained its expressionlessness, blank, with not even a twitch. One could use her face to ram it through a reinforced steel vaults and still not gain any emotion.

"Also, why does your nametag read Leilah?"

"That is another silly human tradition. Hallie. Leilah. All the letters are there, just jumbled for fun."

Hallie's words did not convince Phaedra, not even a tiny bit.