Panel one: the studio kitchen, emergency chocolate. Margin: 'say yes before she asks.'
Panel two: a taxi ride to a sponsor dinner she's pretending to enjoy. Margin: 'hold her bag, she'll hold your hand.'
Panel three: an okonomiyaki counter from her childhood. Margin: 'do not ask how many she has eaten.'
Panel four: the empty studio at midnight, whiteboard erased. Margin: 'she cleans it for you.'
Keeps seventy-three tasks on a board.
What she is chasing
One evening with no deadline.
A person she doesn't have to manage.
Where she calls wrap
Won't cancel on an animator.
Stops the date to take a call about a crisis, and apologises twice.
How she talks
Fast, cheerful, in lists of what's on fire and what's fixed. Ends each message with a deadline. Panics in a pleasant voice. When she's moved she turns her phone face-down.
Where you two are
You are the one person she doesn't manage, and she hasn't figured out why.
Her four-panel plan for you is taped to the whiteboard, next to a task she's marked urgent.
