Chapter 15: Save It For After Work

The downside to letting Mirka hold my core as she sleeps is that I'm functionally deaf and blind. Wearing shells isn't just a useful ability of mine, but a requirement for perceiving stimuli and interacting with the world.

This comes with the unfortunate reality that anyone knocking on the door has to wake up Mirka before she can get me to open it. She taps my core a few times in a rhythm, spelling D-O-O-R. A few days ago, she convinced me to learn Morse code with her so we could speak while I didn't have a shell: her through tapping my core, me through nudging her hand. It works a lot better when she's tapping me, but I can't deny it was a good idea, and a fairly quick skill to learn.

I drift away from the bed, release a plastic grocery bag of medication, and extend my shell as I take it to the door, and offer it to Abhay.

With my new busy lifestyle, Kapil's son has decided to come to my door every other morning to pick up the medications, instead of me having to drive there every time, which is a huge help. Obviously I slip him five or ten bucks when he does it, to which he always thanks me with a handshake.

After the daily pickup, I take in the apartment. It's only been a week since Mirka officially moved in, but I already can't remember what this place looked like before. The bedroom is now partially an art studio with canvases I'm asked not to look at, the living room is actually decorated, and the bathroom has more than an ancient bar of soap and one singular towel.

She made herself at home, and it makes me feel at home, too.

I return to bed with her, staying in my shell for now. I don't have anything else I need to make today, and as such, I don't mind the distractions that come inherent to my shell: breathing, touch signals, pulsing blood. I wonder if humans ever get distracted by that. I'd ask the one in bed next to me, but she's already back to sleeping.

I lay an arm over her, and in her sleep she smooshes her face against my chest, mumbling something entirely unintelligible beyond 'warm'. God, I like her.

Fortunately for us both, I don't get a phone call until a few hours later, while sitting at the kitchen table with Mirka. I set it on speaker, and answer.

"Yoyoyo, it's Lena! We're busy right now, so please leave a message after-"

Terrance doesn't even bother with a 'shut up' before launching into his request. "We heard good things from the last trio you did check-ins with. Three more, slightly more complicated. Reports by end of the day."

And with the click of the phone call ending, he's gone, and with it, our plans for the day.

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"This sucks a monumental amount of ass. I thought we only did missions like... once every couple weeks," I grumble as we walk down the stairs to her car.

"We're new, so we get bulk over difficulty," Mirka explains. "What's the info app say?"

I check the newly learned about app, and after entering in three different passwords, check the dossiers. "Looks like a troll, a dhampir magical beast supremacist, and a small lizard people colony. Can't wait to talk to the dhampir, I'm sure he'll make some great points. Mirka, would you be mad if I advocated for the extinction of humanity?"

"Depends on my mood. Ask me again when I'm stuck in traffic," she jokes. "Think I'd get to be your pet in the new world?"

"Absolutely," I confirm with a smirk. "I'd feed you only the finest foods, and you'd get a nice big cage with a hamster wheel and your choice of bedding."

Mirka grabs my hand. "The only bedding I want is the kind I'm doing with you after the mission."

"Booo, three out of ten." We share a kiss after getting in the car, and start the drive to our first target.

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The suburbs of Detroit aren't my favorite place in the world, but neither is Detroit. I have nothing against either, per se, but I can't really see myself choosing to live here again given a fresh start.

The house in front of us is small, with a deeply inset porch and a light green coat of paint. Notably, the lawn is much greener than the surrounding ones, consisting of untrimmed milkweed and wild strawberry, with several three or four foot high rocks as decoration. The yellow and black streaks of bees moving from one flower to the next add ethereal splashes of even more color to the greens, grays, reds, and whites.

"He certainly isn't being subtle," I laconically say.

"No one is." Mirka tilts her head to a forty-something woman on the porch next door holding her phone out, recording us.

I politely wave at the woman, who waves back. "Aww, that's nice," I say. "Greg must be on good terms with his neighbors."

"So... what is a troll, anyway?" Mirka asks, as we approach the door.

"Hell if I know. The internet has like fifty definitions. Maybe trolls are like algae, and-"

Before I can finish my thought, the front door swings open, and a five and a half foot humanoid opens the door. He's squat, with arms that reach to the ground and then some, a thin hairy tail slithering through the air behind him. His thin, caracal-like ears twitch a bit as his large, toothy mouth opens to speak. "Come in, come in, researchers! A fine day for a visit."

I share a glance with Mirka, but enter anyway. I have never heard of a hunter being called a researcher before. Despite the name, very little of Magical Beast Research's activities outside their labs involve research. Mostly it's wildlife management, but using more magic than gunpowder.

Greg's house is much like his lawn: lots and lots of houseplants, wood paneled walls with stone furniture and floors, and a stone fountain located in the center of his living room. A handful of small animals watch us: a sparrow of some kind, a field mouse, even a rabbit that seems to be perfectly calm in our presence.

Greg smiles at what I can only assume are our amazed expressions. "Don't mind the critters, I have a permit as a wildlife rehabber, so it's legal."

I watch a blue and black butterfly land on a large potted flower. "Yeah, I wasn't planning on saying anything besides 'wow'. This is amazing."

Mirka cringes as a dragonfly lands on her shirt. I gently scoop it in my hand, letting it rest on my skin for a moment before taking off.

"Skål!" He offers us both a beer from a small cooler in the living room. "And thank you for being kind to the dragonfly. Had a mosquito problem a month back, invited a few of them in to have their fill, but that one doesn't seem to want to leave."

I take the beer, while Mirka doesn't. "That's cute. Meerkat's a little scared of bugs."

"I'm not!" she says defensively.

"You mentioned it in our first couple weeks in MCIS. Remember? When the cockroach climbed on your pants?"

She shivers. "Don't remind me..."

Greg offers a consoling smile. "I'd offer to do this outside, but the bees are more plentiful there than the bugs are in here."

"It's fine. I'm okay."

"Now, what is it I can do for you fine people?" Greg asks, sitting down on a stone bench. His arms rest comfortably on the ground below.

Mirka checks the app as quickly as she can manage. "Okay, three questions. First, do you have any cravings for human flesh?"

The troll's deep and drum-like guffawing seems to answer that for her.

"Second... have you been having any issues with your neighbors lately?"

"Ted from down the street refuses to return my favorite cast iron skillet. Does that count?"

Mirka sighs as she reads the third one. "Did you clean your house of pests since the last visit?"

"I did not, as you can see. I don't intend to either. This is my home, which I have built with my own hands and have worked hard to arrange, so I shall treat it as I please. In this case, as a sanctuary for what most people would call pests." He scoops up a jackrabbit from under the bench, gently petting it.

"Right. Lena?"

"Yo."

"It's saying that if the house isn't clear, we're supposed to clean it for him."

"Can I see?"

Mirko offers me her phone, showing a much more detailed summary than mine. I don't bother reading it, and simply mark it as 'complete'. "All done, good work team, see you again in a month."

She snatches her phone back, and looks at the closed task. "Wow. Lazy Lena at it again."

"What? He's right, and I'm a rule breaker. An outlaw. A scheming ne'er-do-well."

She leans down to pet a very relaxed squirrel resting by the fountain, and gently strokes its fur with one finger. "Yeah, yeah. Well, it was nice meeting you, Greg."

"Is that all? Truly?" he asks in amazement.

Mirka performs a half-assed shrug. "Yeah. I don't see any problem here."

Greg gets up from the bench, offering a handshake. "Thanks so much, Meerkat and Lena. Last time, it was a several hour affair."

Mirka accepts it, his hand swallowing her's, but remaining gentle. "See you again soon."

With the niceties out of the way, I take careful steps to the door, watching out for anything scurrying underfoot. Mirka follows behind me as we leave, just in time to see the woman from next door inspecting our car.

She says, "You're not doing anything to Greg, I hope. He's a pillar of the community."

"We're not," I reply, "but if you fucked with my partner's car I might reconsider."

"All you MBR goons do is harass innocent people. You're lucky you came out when you did..." she walks with unearned confidence back to her house, flipping us off as she goes inside.

Mirka looks to me for support, to which I pat her on the shoulder. "Mimi, that is literally what we're doing."

With a groan, she takes us to the next stop. A magical beast supremacist.

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"If magical beasts were really better than humans, why would they live somewhere so shitty?"

Mirka covers her mouth to keep from laughing at my joke as we take the elevator up. It makes a loud noise when ascending, which Mirka seems worried by, so I'm diffusing the tension.

"Also, he's a dhampir. Half human," Mirka adds. "I think this guy needs therapy. I smell mommy issues."

"Nah, gotta be daddy issues. If his dad was an honest to god vampire, imagine how many centuries he's had to become the most insufferable creature alive. Endless decades of the worst machismo and brain worms."

She shakes her head. "It has to be the mom. Bet you what we watch for movie night?"

"You're on." With entirely earned confidence, I knock loudly on the door. There's a doorbell, I notice too late. "Mirka, new idea, you're the magical beast. Trust me."

She takes a moment, before giving me a thumbs up. Let's see how this guy's beliefs handle the reality of the situation: I, despite being a magical beast, am an idiot. The reveal will be beautiful.

The door opens to a clean-cut man with the iconic high and tight fashy haircut. He looks at both of us, and grimaces. "Been a month already? Fine. What do you want?"

"I'm Lena, this is my partner Meerkat," Mirka says. "Could you let us in please?"

He glances at me, eyes narrowed, before letting us enter. His apartment is horrid: untouched books covered in layers of dust while a heavily touched laptop sits atop a sticky-looking table. Worse yet, the living room is filled with obscure icons and symbols I can only assume mean something exclusively to internet losers.

"Nice place," I say, looking around.

"Shut up. The people are talking now. Lena, tell me, why are you working for the enemy?"

She thinks for a moment. "Well, mostly for the money. My sixty-second podcast episode just got its fourth like though, so I'm about to make it my full time job."

The dhampir doesn't look amused. For a non-human supremacist, he sure looks and acts human. I walk over and casually pick up a figurine, still in box. "So, Brian, tell us about your father."

He storms over and rips the box from my hands, pushing me onto the ground. "Fuck off, human," he growls.

I shrug, and almost make the mistake of laying down on the floor. There's carpet beetles. Ick.

Mirka clears her throat. "It is our first question, if you don't mind."

"Everyone wants to know about my dad. You may know him as 'The Skewer'."

"Tell me more, I haven't heard of him."

He broadly smiles, revealing the trademark pointed teeth of a vampire, or in this case, a dhampir. "The Skewer was a notorious vampire who had slain over one hundred humans, before he was deceived and betrayed by a common human whore. It's a morality tale, one that I have been devoting my eternal life to solving."

"God damn it," is all I can say. He looks pissed at me for some reason.

Brian picks up a model of an aircraft carrier. "As I was saying, the moral I have taken from this story is to not have sex with livestock. See, the Skewer would still be alive had he simply eaten or enthralled her, instead of falling victim to his base urges of lust and love. We of magic origin are destined to right the ship that humanity has tried so hard to sink." He demonstrates by tilting the model ship down, and lowering it into the imaginary depths below his chest.

"Oh, that makes sense. Still, humans have their uses, right?"

"Of course. Food."

"That, and the fact you can walk in sunlight and eat regular food because of human heritage."

He sighs, setting the model back down. "Everyone always says that, but do you know how difficult it is for me? To be cursed with strength, instead of cultivating it through machination, as my father did? No, it is far from a blessing. It's a weakness."

"I see. That makes sense."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Of course it does, to another magical creature. The human over there will never understand such things. It's all instant gratification for their kind. Not like us, we who understand the joys of... taking things slowly." He brushes a hair from Mirka's face, making me instinctively want to snap his neck and drink his blood now.

I give a thumbs up, which he ignores before turning back to Mirka. "Lena, was it? Tell me, would you like to kill a human?"

"Ehh. Depends."

"I for one, do not. No more than I want to step on a cockroach. It is simply a matter of necessity. I like you, Lena, and I can show you the way things really are... I think we're going to be good friends. Yes, very good friends." He leans in as he speaks, while Mirka shrinks away from him while trying to hide her disgust.

Yup, I'm done with him creeping on my girlfriend. I get up, and stand close to him. This time, when he pushes me, I don't let him move me. "You're ridiculous, you know."

"You think yourself strong, human? You'll find yourself bloodless soon enough."

In response, I slap him as hard as I can. Immediately, he reels back into a wall, and tears start to well up in his eyes. "Wh-why would you-"

"Because you threatened me, and I'm not scared. Dipshit. Come on, Lena, let's go." I don't mention I actually slapped him because he made Mirka uncomfortable. A shame we didn't get to do a big reveal, but hiding it is much funnier in the moment.

Mirka's grin almost gives the game away, but Brian is too busy wiping his eyes of the tears from my slap. She can't help but start giggling on the stairs, before actually laughing in the car. "My God, Lena. You just made him reconsider his entire life."

"Let's hope. He needs to get laid, I think, then he'll calm down. Just like dear old dad."

She shakes me by the shoulder playfully. "You know he made that up. No, his dad was very well-adjusted, mostly ate pig blood and occasionally human donations that didn't pass the screening process for transfusion. His mom was a manipulative narcissist, though."

"Wait, you knew that this whole time? And you still bet on it?"

"Of course I did." She lightly runs her hand down my arm. "There's more than one way to show how in control I am, and how good of a girl you are..."

Damn her, already trying to turn her scamming me into a romantic gesture. What's worse is that it's working. "Save it for after work. God."

"It's so much fun watching you blush like that. But you're right, sorry, I'm just... ugh. It's been a week since that night, and all I can think about is you in our bed..."

"Mirka! Jesus! We're working!"

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The drive to the lizard people colony is another twenty minutes, which I spend in polite discussion with Mirka about killing people. We eventually reach the conclusion that I can only kill people who are both A: an active threat to others, and B: not open to discussion. That seems reasonable enough for me to agree to, and covers all the people I was thinking of anyway.

It's still an abstract concept to me, deciding who and who not to kill. I wouldn't kill someone just because they tried to kill me, for example, or even if they actually killed my shell. At least, not anymore. I would absolutely kill someone for trying to injure anyone I cared about, though, given the circumstances didn't provide a better solution. Fortunately for me, being teamed with Mirka means I can defer to her. Usually.

The lizard people colony we're visiting isn't in the middle of nowhere, surprisingly. To my endless amazement, they live inside a singular ten story apartment complex near the city outskirts. Mirka and I are tasked with visiting one lizard person in particular named Skree Bob Skree. I'm not quite sure why he has a "Bob" in there, but lizard person linguistics is about as boring of a topic as I can imagine.

There's fairly spacious parking, which is a pleasant surprise. My thoughts still linger on Mirka's concern over my penchant for decisive action. If it makes her happy, though... I wonder if I can buy non-lethal ammunition.

Mirka and I enter the lobby together. I'm fairly confident we're in the wrong place, given the three humans here along with notable lack of lizard people. Two security guards chatting about football, along with a secretary who is currently asleep at her desk.

"Double-check the address, sidekick," I say, while doing the same myself. Nope, this is the place, and Mirka confirms it before she walks to the counter and gently taps the secretary awake. She looks up, groggily blinking. "Whuh?" she says, alcohol on her breath.

"Uhh... we're here looking for a Skree Bob Skree."

She rubs her eyes, twisting the lines that mark their corners. "The hell kinda name is Skree Bob Skree?"

Mirka opens her mouth to speak, but doesn't have a good answer to it. The doors open behind us, and someone with a push cart stacked with boxes of romaine lettuce and dog food. He seems surprised to see us, almost frozen in place. Mirka smiles politely, asking him "Hey, do you know a Skree Bob Skree?"

He remains still with the cart in front of him, like he isn't prepared for this kind of question.

Mirka pulls out her MBR license, and offers it to the secretary who is already nodding off again. She jerks herself to attention and glances at it. "Oh, you're MBR. Skree's either in apartment 7-C, or the sub-level. Go to the elevator, punch the floor buttons in the order of one-three-one-three-one to go to the sub-level. Also, you're pronouncing the name wrong," she says laconically.

"How is it pronounced, then?" Mirka asks, starting to look sleepy herself.

"Skree Skree," the secretary says, quickly tilting her head up in between each Skree.

Yet another instance where I'm glad I don't have a laughing reflex. That explains the name. It's literally a head bob. Like a lizard does.

Mirka, miraculously, manages to not say a word about it. "Thanks. What's the sub-level?"

"They don't tell you guys shit, huh? God, I have a headache..."

I start fabricating some headache pills as Mirka asks for clarification. The secretary grumbles a bit, but answers eventually. "The salt mines. Ninety percent of the lizard people here are salt miners. They can deal with the conditions easily enough, and are strong enough for the work. It helps that OSHA doesn't really care about them."

"Jesus..." Mirka laments. "That's not great..."

"Nope, but ya know. And if you're curious, a few of us humans get free rent if we work here. Lizard people aren't annoying neighbors. Mostly quiet folks. Sweet deal, honestly, especially since I don't have a boss." She digs around under her desk for a half-full water bottle, taking off the lid and sniffing. With a little hesitation, she starts drinking it. I offer her the pills, which she takes without even asking me what they are.

"Meerkat, wanna hear my strategy?" I offer, to which she immediately picks up on the hint.

"I'll take the mines, you check the apartment," she confirms. I love her.

She moves to the elevator, while I take the stairs after the security guards inspect my license. It's an easy enough jog up the steps, and eventually I'm on the seventh floor. I leave the stairwell, walking into a hallway, in which a lizard person sees me and immediately charges at me.

Michigan has exactly one native lizard species: the five-lined skink. I don't know why that specific factoid enters my mind, as the clearly iguana-descended lizard person tackles me to the ground.

"Who are you?" they ask. I don't know what I expected them to wear, but jeans and a denim jacket were not my first guess. I have a million questions, but am stuck answering a boring one.

"Lena, MBR. Are you Skree Skree?" I ask, making sure to add in the head bob.

They immediately jump off of me, taking a seemingly awkward stance. I can't tell if its because of the lizard person's anatomy, but it looks uncomfortable. "A hunter? Here? Why?"

"Just doing a check-in, Jesus. It's not that serious."

"MBR is always serious. They are-"

"Spare me the explanation, I'm a shapeshifter. I'm telling you it isn't a big deal. Now, are you going to tackle me again?"

They seem to be torn. "Are you going to apprehend me? For the assault?"

"Nah. You didn't know. Maybe try talking first next time?"

"I have attempted that once before when an average human had gotten lost. He screamed in fright and brandished a firearm."

"That's..." I trail off, considering the response. "...actually fair. I'd probably be doing the same. Still, easy on the tackle, humans are fragile."

They bob their head in response a few times. "I shall show you to your target's apartment."

"Thanks for that."

The lizard person guides me the roughly forty steps straight down the hallway to the apartment, followed by swiping a keycard on the door and entering. I follow behind them, wondering if all the lizard people share one lock.

"I am Skree, adoptive mother. My task is to raise young and care for eggs."

She didn't really have to explain, considering the half-dozen babies scurrying around. Same tegu babies that I rescued, in fact. I'm glad that they've found an actual home instead of a research lab, or worse. Seeing how well this worked out increases my faith in MBR by a hair.

"Happy to see they found a home after I rescued them. Anywho, everything check-"

"You are their savior?" Skree asks, head sideways and eyeing me closely.

"Well, I did keep them from getting shot by my at the time partner. I guess I am, in a really lame way."

Skree doesn't seem to react, but plucks one of the children off the ground, offering it to me. "He is yours."

There's probably a cultural context I'm missing here. "What do you mean?"

"Take a child, if you wish to expand your own brood. You are entitled to at least one."

"Oh. Uh. No, no thank you. Not really looking to have kids right now."

Skree returns the child to the floor. "Very well. You may return at any time to select a child, should you change your mind."

"Yeah... thanks." I go to text Mirka, before figuring that she probably doesn't get cell service hundreds of feet underground. Instead, I walk down the steps to the lobby, and wait by the elevator. I start readying prescriptions as I anxiously wait. Five minutes. Then ten.

Then twenty. I tell myself if it gets to half an hour, I'll go down and check.

The thirty minute mark arrives. I'll give it ten more minutes, no big deal...

I step into the elevator as it crosses forty minutes. Fuck. I hit the button sequence of 1-3-1-3-1 before I can regret my decision, as I start considering escape plans. Most involve nitroglycerin. I'll be okay. Probably. I hope.

The ride down is agonizingly slow, but eventually, it reaches the bottom. I step out of the elevator to a complete shitshow of an operation.

Lizard people are everywhere in the cramped cavern. Massive salt elevators lead at an angle to who knows where, with lizardfolk manually pushing carts full of salt along rails. I don't know how they do that without sweating, but they seem to be fine. Mirka is nowhere to be seen.

The sooner I get out of here, the less likely I am to lose my mind from being deep underground with the only escape being rusting elevators.

I grab the first lizard person I see, who immediately turns their attention to me. "Second human today. Are you seeking the first?"

"Yeah, actually. Could you show me where?"

"No." They walk away, leaving me somewhere between confused and irritated. I try again with another lizard person, and get a similar answer.

The third person I ask has an actual answer, thankfully. Mirka decided to delve into the mine, and hasn't come back yet. Strange, and none of them seem willing to help me.

I begin my anxious journey into the earth, each step harder than the last. This is quite possibly the worst experience of my life. Unlike a typical salt mine, this structure is one long, winding tunnel that's barely ten feet across. At least I can't get lost...

The electrical lights have failed a certain distance into the mine, forcing me to start making a small flashlight as I continue walking, using the wall to orient myself. Before I can finish creating it, I start walking through salt, which has piled up to my ankles like a layer of thick snow. I trudge through it, until the flashlight is finally ready, which I immediately turn on.

I almost wish I didn't.

There was a cave-in. Simple as that. Loose rock blocks the way forward. My shell is strong, but not 'move boulders' strong... One way through, besides simply using explosives and risking further rockfalls.

I retract my shell, and press against where the stone seems firmest.

It isn't too difficult for me to make my own path forward, simply decomposing the rock in my way, but it is incredibly calustrophobic. The hole I'm creating, by necessity, is only as large as I am. It's literally the tightest possible squeeze I can manage. It's a two inch in diameter tunnel, which I'm getting through at a rate of about a foot per minute.

I hate this. I hate it so much. Since I'm not absorbing a complete object, I have to be incredibly careful not to accidentally start pulling what I don't need inward. My core by necessity condenses what it consumes, magically reducing objects into a tiny point, but for something as large as this boulder I simply can't condense it enough to fit. Instea, it would try to condense it beyond the limit, and I would feel much the same as when I try to pull things from my void too quickly: massively unpleasant. What's worse is that since it couldn't be absorbed, it would return to its full size, which could very possibly mean crushing me. I don't know if my core can be damaged, but I imagine the pressure of thousands of tons of the earth's crust would do it.

I stay methodical, trying to focus on the goal instead of my terror, but it isn't helping. Mirka might be underneath the rocks. Because I was scared. I'm probably the only one who shouldn't be, but I was anyway. And now she could be dead because of me. We're both entombed this deep underground. I don't know how long it would take to make my way to the surface from here.

I feel myself pushing through to the other side. Thankfully, there's open space here, and a lot of organic chemicals moving around. I quickly extend my shell, flashlight in hand, and turn it on in the direction of the biological material. Lizard. Lizard. Lizard who might be dead. Mirka. Mirka!

I want to hug her, more than anything, but stop myself. She doesn't look great. She was bleeding at one point, and is propped against the rock with closed eyes. None of the lizards here look great, now that I look at them. My own vision starts to turn a bit hazy, too. A gas leak?

Oxygen!

I retract my shell, leaving the flashlight on the ground, and start taking in carbon dioxide and removing the carbon, leaving only breathable air. Gases are much faster to make than solids...

When I start having trouble finding more CO2, I extend my shell again. Yep, I can breathe fine, and the lizard people and Mirka are both starting to animate a bit more.

"Mirka?" I gingerly ask, trying not to have a panic attack yet. It just needs to wait a little longer.

"I... Lena? How did you get here? There's no air, you have to..." She takes a few deep breaths. "Oh. Oh shit, Lena, you can make oxygen."

"Yeah, whatever, look, just tell me what I need to do to keep everyone here alive."

"The shift ends in... three hours from when I got here. How long have we been down here?"

"An hour. Ish."

"Shit. The walkie they had was broken in the collapse. You need to go back the way you came and get help, okay?"

"Okay. I'll be right back. Don't... I was going to say don't move."

She weakly smiles, holding her arm wherever she was bleeding from. She didn't mention it and she's alive, so she's okay for now. I return through the hole I made, and start sprinting through the tunnel. Running through the endless twisting hallway is starting to distort my vision. There's too much adrenaline in my shell. My mind is a cacophony of harsh noise and grating static. Pushing down my panic is like I'm trying to keep myself from vomiting. I can only do this for so long.

When I get to the end of the tunnel, I'm breathing heavy for reasons other than my running, tears streaming down my face, and I can't remember the last time I blinked. I grab the nearest person, shaking his scaly body aggressively. "THERE WAS A CAVE-IN YOU HAVE TO GO NOW."

The lizard person gently pushes me away, before gathering up a group that languidly move their drilling equipment down the tunnel.

Fuck. I can't just leave her there. What if something happens? What if the rescue takes too long? What if another cave in happens on top of them?

I have food and I can make water. I have to be there. I hitch a ride on the drilling equipment moving along to the rail, mostly because my legs refuse to move further. Seeing the elevator get smaller and smaller kills any hope of delaying the panic attack I had. All I can do is try to keep my dry heaving quiet.

I don't know when we reached the cave-in, or how long it took to rescue them. All I remember is I forced myself through the tiny hole I made again when the rescue team arrived, and started carefully monitoring the levels of oxygen, careful not to create a fire hazard but enough to keep it at a breathable level. Mirka held me the entire time, careful to leave gaps for me to recycle the carbon dioxide.

The next thing I knew, after the strange time distortion I felt where every second felt like hours, but it simultaneously felt like it was over right after it started, Mirka was tapping in Morse code on my core. "S-U-R-F-A-C-E." I extend my raven shell, and immediately take off into the sky, flying as high as I reasonably can, before lazily gliding in circles and taking in the ground below. Freedom. Sky. Safety.

I think I'm going to politely decline the next time we're asked to go underground. That's a reasonable request, right?

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I don't think I'm okay. Or if the panic attack even ended, honestly. It was worse than the one I had in the MBR building. Significantly worse. It left my shell feeling like pumice, porous and crunchy, rough and hard. Every mild surprise: a loud sound, a strange smell, my shell needing to cough, they all felt like someone dragging a rock against glass. Hearing a police siren turn on was more like throwing a rock through a window, though, nearly plunging me straight back in.

Mirka tries to hold me, but I refuse. I don't want to be touched at all right now. It's all I can do to stay as a raven, perched on the windowsill, staring out at the city lights beyond the apartment. It's been hours, probably.

Mirka gently hums as she approaches me, to keep from startling me. "I'm going to pick you up," she says. It's more of a statement than a request, and I don't protest as she lifts my raven shell up. She takes me over to the couch, and sits down with me on her lap.

"Lena, you have three choices for movie night. First is a nature documentary, second is a romantic comedy, third is we skip the movie, go on the roof, and watch the sky together."

I reply with a mimicked "documentary," to which she flips to a streaming service where it's already queued up.

She doesn't talk about the day, not to thank me, not to lecture me, not to see if I'm okay. Just comments on the documentary, gently scratching the feathers on my head. Just the tranquility of the smooth British narrator talking about frogs. I feel so much better in barely fifteen minutes. I switch shells, back to Lena, and rest my head on her shoulder. "Thank you, Mimi," is all I manage to choke out.

She kisses the top of my head. "We'll talk about everything tomorrow. For tonight, let's just watch the frogs."

We spend the night doing just that: watching the frog documentary, then a fish documentary, then another frog one. She falls asleep midway through a long segment on poison dart frogs eating ants, snoring gently on my shoulder. I'm kind of amazed she stayed awake for so long after such a stressful and hectic day. I let the documentary play until it ends, and leave the TV on until it shuts itself off after half an hour or so.

Another night with my girlfriend, spent formulating drugs and soaking in the gentle rise and fall of her breath. It's not sleep, but it's the most relaxed I can get.

We're safe, and we're together. That's all I could want.

----------------------------------------

Mirka shifts herself a little on my shoulder, before fully getting up around nine. She bends her neck a little, wincing. "Ugh. Slept weird.... wait, was I on your shoulder all night?"

"Yes. You were."

"That explains the neck pain..."

I teasingly narrow my eyes with a smile. "Wow, I'm soooo sorry I'm uncomfortable."

Her laugh is a little hollow, and trails off too soon. "Lena, you saved our lives yesterday. Not just mine, but three other people."

"Yeah, it completely overshadowed the fact the guy we were meant to see tried to give me one of the babies I rescued. Like, as a gift. Weird culture, right?"

She crosses her arms, glancing off to the kitchen. "You did it after going through the literal underworld. It was hell for you."

"Yeah, well, ya know. Oh, speaking of hell, could you imagine if I actually said yes to taking the baby lizard? She actually told me I could come by whenever and just pick up any baby I wanted."

Mirka turns her head back to me, undeterred by my attempts to change the subject. "I don't even know what to say. I... can't think of a way to express everything I'm feeing right now."

"How about a second public date? I could use some new clothes. Oh, and let me pay."

She looks a little saddened by the suggestion. "Lena... thank you. I... I don't even know... I don't think I could have done the same for you, in your situation."

"Skill issue."

"Please, Lena, take me seriously for a minute. I don't- I can't understand how you managed to do all of that. It doesn't make sense. I know I'm your girlfriend, but to risk so much and go through all of that... why?"

With a long sigh, I walk over and wrap an arm around her. I sweep her leg to dip her back, and kiss her with a yearning I hadn't known I could experience. After a moment, I pull away, leaving her tilted back. She looks up at me, eyes glistening, lips twitching slightly.

"Mimi, I think it's pretty obvious, and you're making it very hard for me to not seem like the kind of weirdo who says 'I love you' after the first date. So, you know, maybe hold off on that line of questioning for a while, hmm?" I pull her to her feet, and let go.

Poor thing. I think I fried her brain.