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What an awfully boring and dreary day it had been. The day had started with some perturbing news. Layne's darling friend and housemate had decided to leave. Ogglen had desired to move on to find another home rather than stay here alone minding the shop while Layne moved. This meant that Layne had to find herself someone new to take care of the shop before the paperwork was resolved and she moved officially. It also meant that she was entirely alone in her store. She couldn't blame her friend for wanting to find another home where she wouldn't be alone. She herself wasn't really feeling the lone environment herself either. It was strange how she had become accustomed to intimate noise in recent time. Whether it was Ogglen fluttering about, or meeting new people on another continent, or even interacting with her family who she thought had hated her; Layne had grown accustomed to being around others. Now at night, the black furred feline sat alone at a dining room table with her blue eyes on a tall glass full of dark wine. Normally, she didn't drink alcohol, but she had the bottle lying around and she remembered a good friend saying a glass of the stuff could soothe the nerves and bitter loneliness should she ever feel the need. Well, it was time to find out what alcohol did to her because she was certainly feeling lonely.

A few sips had done nothing to her, but downing the glass had been her first mistake. She felt a swirl of warmth touch her body and her eyes grew heavy, but she certainly didn't feel any better; maybe another glass. With another blast of warmth, she felt her mood suddenly dip. She had expected relaxation, but instead, she just felt terrible. Layne had a lot of things on her plate and she figured that drinking her problems away would actually be something to do. Instead, she found herself ruminating on everything with the worst of feelings.

Moving to a new continent where she knew so few people, her family begging her to come back after apologizing, and now she was all alone and needed to find someone to take care of her shop. What a time to be alive. With her ears folded back, she leaned back with glass in paw while looking up at the ceiling. It was so strange that she seemed so damned uncertain about her life. She had been out and about so confidently, so very confidently. She had taken risks and done what she needed to do to secure herself a happy life, and yet now of all times she found herself doubting, but why? Why should she fear the unknown when she had been uncertain of where her future would go or end? Why should she fear the embrace of being alone if she had been without a soul by her side for most of her life? Perhaps she was simply growing weak. Another sip of the wine, another mistake.

Layne grumbled and planted her chin on the table with glass still in paw. Perhaps she should have stopped after the first glass didn't make her feel any better. Now she barely felt like herself. Nicolas would be so upset if he saw her in this sort of state, perhaps he'd even make fun of her. Nicolas. What an odd thought to have right now. He had been so excited when her parents had apologized to her, so very excited to see her making up with her family. He probably just wanted her back home to use her, but he had never done so before, why would he do that now? It didn't make any sense. Layne sighed and planted her cheek on the cold desk. Cold. If only she had someone to lie against, Nicolas would be perfect for that. Nicolas always had open arms for her, but even then he needed to marry to have children eventually. What a drag, why couldn't she have been born a proper girl?

Layne froze there and shut her eyes tight. That. That thought did not belong anywhere near her mind. She took a breath and tried to forget that she had just thought of that, but it didn't go away. Not since she had been a young child did she have that thought. Not since her family had expected her to be their darling little prince. Why now of all times? Why did she think of herself as less of a woman now?

Layne felt something wet staining her cheeks as she tried to will those thoughts away. What a horrible thing to think of. Layne was a beautiful feminine feline, but she still had the parts of a male. Even if she were to go undergo procedures for that, she'd still have the part of a male, wouldn't she? She still wouldn't be able to bear children and no one would see her as a real female. Would they? Layne huffed and sat herself up. She sniffled and wiped at her cheeks with the sleeves of the long shirt she wore. She looked to the glass with an accusatory glare and tossed it off of the table along with the bottle and crossed her arms. Not a real girl? What a stupid thought. Of course she was. She was Layne Luness. A beautiful female feline with plenty of moxie and plenty of things to offer. She had a nice rear and a good figure. So what if she had a penis? What did that matter at all? She was still a girl through and through, but...but maybe she would feel better if she didn't have it. Now that was a different thought.

She had never thought of taking the dive into transitioning fully, but...but it was tempting. A simple spell, a powerful potion, a medical procedure; all of these things could see her fully female, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to take that risk. She was frightened. What if something went wrong? What if she wasn't happy with the way her body was? She had built up so much confidence with this body that she just wasn't sure of what to do. Perhaps...Perhaps she should simply sleep on it. Yes. Sleep seemed like a good...That was when her head hit the table. If anything, the potion making feline was not good at holding her drink.

The next morning Layne woke up with a pounding headache that refused to relent. Her cheek was steeped in a small pool of her own drool and her ears were drawn back as she groaned to the morning. She blinked the ache from her eyes and head while looking down towards the broken bottle and glass. With a sigh, she rolled her eyes and hopped off of the chair with a wince to begin cleaning. It would do well to clear her head and make a mental note to never drink again.

While she cleaned the glass from the floor and tried her hardest to take the stain out of the floorboards, she thought of what had happened last night. It was a lapse of weakness. Feeling alone could be allowed, but losing confidence in herself like that was enough to make her stomach turn from simply smelling wine again. The whole reason she was moving was to not feel tied down to one place due to memories of the past. She didn't need something tying her down, especially not herself. Still, the thought of taking that final leap into full transition was interesting enough. Would it make a difference in the long run? Maybe she would feel more natural that way, or maybe she wouldn't feel any different at all. She needed to commit some actual thought to it sometime. Perhaps she'd ask Olea or Nicolas what they thought about it, or maybe she'd seek some professional advice. Either way, she never wanted to think about it in such a negative light again, so no more drinking, at least while unhappy.

Once she was finished with cleaning, Layne rubbed at her head and headed out into the store portion of her cottage. She'd need to close her shop for the day with this headache. Opening the door brought on a wave of pain to her head, but as she hissed and grumbled a fluttering bird made of green energy landed on her head. Tilted her head she stretched her paw out to receive the hopping messenger who turned into a piece of parchment in her paw. Looking closely, she read out the message to herself, "Hello neighbor. Me and my brother would like to visit soon, perhaps get to know the competition, though, we hear you are moving. Either way, let us know if that would be fine."

Layne blinked and looked out of her door. Let them know? Let who know? What type of inane letter would just tell her to let the sender know when she didn't know who the sender was? She didn't have any neighbors, did she? Peaking out further from her door she saw a house down the hill and near the edge of the forest just before the path leading to the village. Blinking, she scratched at the back of her head. Well, it seemed that she did have neighbors and competition? Did that mean they opened some sort of magic store themselves here? How could she not have seen that!? Feeling rather silly she brought a paw up and began forming her reply. She'd tell them to come on over tomorrow and she'd receive them happily and without this damnable hangover that she had wrought upon herself. If they were truly competition then maybe one of them would be interested in taking care of her shop along with everything in it. Hopefully she'd make good friends tomorrow, but for now, she'd go to sleep someplace other than a wooden table. With a sigh, she sent the fluttering messenger bird made of her magic off to the house and set the closed sign out on her front door before shutting it and retreating deep within the cottage to sleep off the hangover. No more alcohol, and hopefully she wouldn't have such negative thoughts again.