I think I've officially spent way too long trying to figure out what to wear, which I guess should earn me some certificate of feminine authenticity. Except not, because it'd be wrong to figure that adhering to stereotypes is required to be a girl. Anyway, the educational lesson I've taken away is that in the Old West, a woman's choice of outfits were either dressing like a saucy saloon girl, or like one of the wives from a Mormon compound. Eventually, I found a prairie dress that didn't threaten to choke me, and offset the whole frills business with a cowboy hat and boots, because it's the old west and I'm going to wear a damned cowboy hat.

I think I've also established that I'm kind of nervous, managing to calm myself with the realization that I'm not just nervous because technically I haven't really done this before, but also partly because I'm straight-up looking forward to it.

I may not know where I stand on gender preferences, but Valkyrie is pretty swell. And, I have to note, as I see what she's managed to dig up in the way of clothing, way cooler than me.

"Hi," I say, sort of shyly, and then square my head and thrust my little posy of wildflowers out with a straight arm, regaining some assurance. "I don't actually know who's meant to do what in this situation, but I figured since you asked me, the least I could do was bring the flowers."