i was also a bit tempted by that option because it's fun to have cr start kind of rough and then see if it smooths out HAHA... fern will start to understand if he explains, at least, but she might still be wary of him in general.

would you want the thread to start with her interacting with real!mark, or would you like to do a little run-in with fern and markequin first, and then we can skip to when she encounters real!mark?