(Claire “Liquid Catalysis” Ursain)

Bubbles

That was a lot harder than it should have been. Evelin is always so confident. Even when she’s angry or sad, she keeps moving forward. Now she looked defeated, like most of the life has drained out of her. Leaving her behind was therefore one of the hardest things I ever had to do.

I get into my car, taking a moment to think about my decision. I could still go back. Yeah, that is probably a good decision. I am about to get out of the car when Try speaks up.

The child has woken up, and Evelin has put her to bed; she is also now asleep herself.

I pause. “So you are saying I should not go up then?”

It might be a good idea to let her sleep some more.

I nod as I start the car to drive back home. I drive back in silence, not even finding the energy to put on some music. As I make it to my new dorm, I am hit with another wave of annoyance. I was supposed to unpack and decorate my dorm today, but with all the stuff going on, it had completely slipped my mind.

I sigh, opening a meal delivery app and start scrolling through it trying to find a semi-decent pizza place. As I narrow down my options, I sent my passcode to the door, unlocking it with a click. I open the door and walk in, noticing almost immediately that something isn’t right.

The boxes filled with my stuff are now empty in a pile at the side of the door, and there is the smell of garlic and basil permeating the room, making my mouth water. I quickly head to the kitchen, finding Magenta there, standing over several pots, stirring away while some music plays in the background.

“How did you get here?” I ask in surprise.

Magenta turns around, licking some of the sauce from her finger. “The front door, your security is, well, let's say that you should probably have Evelin look at it.”

“Is it really that bad? This is a good neighbourhood.” I say, walking up to my little burglar.

“For normal people, yes, but you aren’t normal. You’re a Samurai, so people will try to get in here at some point,” Magenta explains, wrapping her arms around me.

“I guess I can call her,” I say as I turn away slightly to look at what she has been cooking.

“Make sure to mention that you don’t want a bunch of spyware installed,” Magenta says in a disgusted tone.

I blink in surprise. “She did that? I always thought she was against that kind of stuff.”

Magenta nods. “Yeah, I was looking over my streaming equipment, and she was basically in everything. The worst part is I don’t even know when she found the time to do it,”

“That, well, I guess we have to talk about that, but I don’t know. I feel like I shouldn’t bother her.” I say as I lift the lid of the pot to look at the food.

“Why not? She is your girlfriend; she should be happy to help, right?” Magenta says as she pushes her forehead against mine.

“Yeah, but with her daughters and everything, I feel like she’s going to be busy for a while,” I say.

Magenta moves her head back slightly, quirking her eyebrow at me. “Evelin has a kid? Our Evelin? You know the crazy as a doornail, Maniac, Evelin?”

“I mean, you didn’t have to say it like that,” I say, defending my girlfriend. “But yeah, that Evelin.”

“How? Wait, no, I think I can figure that one out. When did she get a kid?” Magenta asks, looking deeply into my eyes, confusion clear.

“Well, she only got them today, but they were born, like, a few years before, but she only found them recently.” I try my best to explain, losing a few of my brain cells along the way because of my girlfriend's intense stare.

Magenta shakes her head. “We should really invest some resources in finding out if she has any more hidden family out there. Because this is the second time this has happened. Where did she even find them?”

“If what Cierra told me was correct: in a human testing facility that was trying to make super soldiers of some kind,” I explain, feeling my face scrunch up in anger as I do so.

“That is fucked,” Magenta wipes her face. “Are they okay? Do we need to do anything?”

“Evelin is there, and I think the children are sleeping, so they should be fine for now. You saw the wanted posters, right? Those are the people that got away, so we can try looking for them,” I say, patting her cheek.

Magenta nods and opens up something on her AUG’s her eyes flicking around wildly before settling back down on me.

“What was that?” I ask in confusion.

“Just told teacher to kill those fuckers, knowing Maniac she probably forgot to ask that ancient relic for help.” Magenta says with a smile.

I stifle a giggle. Calling Luna old sounds both unrealistic and dangerous, but Magenta grew up with her, so she probably knows her better. I turn back to the pot. “Anyway, what did you make for dinner?”

Magenta purses her lips. “Well, I tried to make hamburgers, but I didn’t compact the meat enough, so they fell apart, so now we are eating pasta.”

I burst out laughing and give her a kiss. “Well, at least you tried. "

“Yeah, we should eat before it burns,” Magenta says with a radiant smile.

I nod, letting go of her. Magenta quickly opens a drawer and one of the cabinets and getting out some plates and cutlery.

“So you organised all my stuff?” I ask a bit stupefied.

“Uh, yeah, do you mind? Teacher always told me to clean up.” Magenta says, turning red. “I wasn’t trying to do anything weird, I promise.”

“It’s fine. No, actually, it is a pleasant surprise. I really didn’t feel like doing it, so thank you.” I say as I grab the plate and move to the small table.

Magenta smiles, “I’m happy to see that you like it.”

“Though there is one problem,” I say, a grin already forming on my face. “I don’t know how you’ve sorted it. So I guess you have to stay with me for a while to help me find stuff.”

“Is this your way of asking if I want to move in with you?” Magenta asks.

Crap, I had not thought of that. Wait, I can win this, I am sure; I give her an innocent smile. “I wasn’t, but that is an even better idea.”

Magenta looks around at the room. “It's a bit cramped. Not sure if I can fit my gear in here.”

“Well, I mean, you have the studio, right, and we can, like, stay somewhere else on the weekends?” I say, pushing the point, trying to give Magenta big puppy eyes.

Magenta sighs, hanging her head in defeat. “I’m so fucked, aren’t I?”

“If you say yes, I can make sure of that tonight.” I purr at her.

Magenta’s head snaps up, turning red. “I did not, I, fuck… sure I’ll move in with you.”

I raise my arms into the sky in triumph. “Thanks, love. I'll make it worth your while.”

Magenta shakes her head. “You're becoming more like Maniac by the day.”

I cock my head to the side. “Is that a bad thing?”

“I, mean we need at least some people that can still, you know, think rationally.”

I shrug. “I guess, but can’t we just hire people for that?”

We finish the rest of dinner in the same manner, talking about things we should still get for our living space while trying not to burst into happy giggles about the idea of finally living together. I mean, I guess I have been living with Cierra and Evelin, but I never really moved in, unlike this situation.

After we finish our meal and do the washing up, we move to the couch, where we do some light making out as I let my hands wander. Eventually, I pull away and look Magenta in her beautiful rainbow eyes.

“Do you think I should do more?” I ask her.

Magenta gives me a weird look. "Do more in what regard?”

“With the kids, should I not be there helping them right now?”

Magenta hums softly to herself. “Maybe, but the children are heavily traumatised, right? So maybe having as few people as possible around them might make them more comfortable when they are settling in.”

I nod slowly, not feeling entirely convinced by her words. “I just, you know, I keep thinking about it, how small she looked, how scared.”

Magenta pulls me in closer, hugging me tightly. “If I learned anything, it’s that Maniac will always bounce back, sometimes with an additional person inside her skull, but she will be fine. The main question is. What do you want to do?”

I groan, making myself more comfortable as I inhale her scent. “I don’t know. What can I even do?”

“A lot,” Magenta says, ruffling my hair. “You could help them directly with the kids or take some tasks off their plates.”

I nod slowly. "And I won’t be a bother? I know nothing about child raising.”

“I am sure Maniac has no clue what she is doing either and is just making it up as she goes. Cierra, I am less sure about. You know she’s, like, crazy but in a completely different kind of way than Maniac. So she might have already read an entire catalogue of parenting books.”

I giggle slightly. Cierra was definitely the kind of person to over-prepare like that. “I might want to follow her example and read some parenting books, maybe force Evelin to read one too.”

“That would be fun to watch. Now that I think about it, I did see a book like that while I was unpacking.” Magenta says as she gets up and walks to the bookcase.

I frown. “I don’t own a book like that.”

“Maybe your parents or siblings snuck it in; it did look brand new,” Magenta says, leaning over to look at the bottom part of the shelf and giving me a nice view of her ass.

“Ah, here are the guides.” She says, running her finger across the spines of the books. “Guide to being a corporate slave, not useful just kill them all, guide to underground politics, would have been handy recently, guide to world domination, uhm why, Guide to the Dragon Eye moons, this one doesn’t look finished yet, ah there we are guide to childcare.”

She takes out the small book and hands it to me. I smile, giving her a small kiss as I take the book out of the plastic and read the first words.

“Emotions are hard.”