You know how they say if you find your niche in life, your purpose, you'll do anything to protect it?
What a lousy lesson.
Yes, you've heard the argument before plenty of times in your life. It's one thing for people to say they want to be an artist, an actor, or an accountant. Nobody bats an eye at those choices. But when you get to talking, about your fantasies and passions, everyone gave you a wide berth. Worse, some looked at you with accusation. You learned to laugh, shrug it off. Downplay your intention into a joke, because if you hadn't someone would have done something about it if they had realized you were serious. They would think you a criminal, a lunatic.
But you felt there was nothing to be ashamed of. Once you had been there, that first time, you realized that Gerbert Gerbil & the Cosmic Crew felt like home.
Like it was yours.
Or rather, it was like the childhood you had never had. So many children flocked there, the town came alive when that restaurant was built. All so often, past the fliers around town and the commercials in-between the hit cartoon, you heard about the customers that went there talk about going to Gerbert's. How the mascots moved about on stage, so lifelike. How they roamed the restaurant, delighting the hearts of many. You just had to check it out for yourself.
And when you were there, something clicked.
It was yours.
You *got* what Gerbert's was all about. From the menu, the layout, the clientele and the infrastructure, the whole restaurant fit you like a glove. You felt more alive there than you had anywhere else. Others saw a display to bedazzle that childlike need for whimsy. Others saw a run-down, over ambitious dorky pizza joint with a strange them. You, only you, felt like you could do anything there. And you have.
Done *anything* that is.
But that's putting the horse before the cart in some respects. Launching into your exploits before establishing how you grew into that role.
You were awkward at first, even with Gerbert's to empower you. It took some time before you refined your method. But eventually you found that means of interface. Your exact relationship with Gerbert's.