A woman's work is never done

Back at the Victor's house, Eve grew more and more worried as the time passed without a sign of Xia or Ellin nearby. Even if she spent most of the morning coding at her leisure, she wasn't asleep and still had needs. When the growling of her stomach distracted Eve from her work again, she got up from the bed to look around for them. The lack of food wasn't a problem, but the surroundings of the house were. 'Could've they got into trouble out there?..'

In the living room, Victor was sweeping the already sparkling clean floors. His intimidating stature and the serious way he swung his broom clashed with his casual attire and the nature of what he was doing; yet it was impossible to call the sight comical. If anything, it was calming and brought a certain sense of safety.

When Eve came out, Victor threw her a glance before continuing to work. She didn't pay any mind to his lack of greetings and instead went straight to the business, just like they both preferred. Her eyes followed Victor's hands as she spoke. "Mister Kraust, have you seen Ellin or Xia?"

The movement of Victor's broom paused. "They went into the forest and didn't return yet. Don't worry about them, Doctor Ziffer. I ordered my bear to watch after them."

"Is it your pet?" Eve grew curious. She remembered the level six animal. Indeed, even if they get into trouble, with the bear's help, Xia and Ellin would definitely be able to at least escape. 'I feel awkward to ask him about his superpower, but there's certainly a connection between Kraust and animals. Could he be able to communicate with them somehow?'

"It follows my orders, like everything else in this forest." Victor looked up, piercing Eve with an enigmatic look in his hazel eyes. It was almost as if there was something else he wanted to add, but didn't.

"I see where your surety comes from, Mister Kraust." Eve huffed and picked at her fingernails. 'This harebrained couple… I guess I will have to cook for myself. Even without the internet to help me, it can't be too hard as long as I use common sense… I hope.'

Before Eve made a step towards the kitchen, Victor stopped sweeping. "It's almost lunchtime. Wait for me to prepare something, Doctor Ziffer."

She watched, wordless, how Victor put the broom in a tiny storeroom. Eve wondered if her hunger was written on her face, or if it was a coincidence. Either way, she wouldn't protest. Instead, she followed Victor into the kitchen and sat on a stool in a corner. This man made her curiosity itch, and since she was well-rested again, Eve had nothing stopping her from trying to scratch it.

Victor knew how to operate the kitchen. The long experience showed in the smoothness of his movements, the planning and the lack of pauses between his actions—it was the same thing with Ellin whenever he cooked. As he moved around, Eve noticed Victor also kept muttering to himself in a quiet voice. It was quieter than the sound of his knife hitting the chopping board; only when he stopped cutting and threw everything to boil, Eve could strain her hearing enough to hear the words.

"Keep giving out your aroma… Make the broth richer," Victor said under his nose as he stirred the contents of a pot.

Eve blinked. 'Is he talking to the soup? I guess that what happens when you live on your own for too long.' She relaxed and leaned back. She won't judge, especially if a person was, at this moment, cooking for her. Instead, she spaced out as she watched Victor cook; her thoughts returned to her nanites, while her eyes rested on his well-shaped figure. 'It's true what they say. You can forever watch fire burning, water flowing, and others working…'

By the time the soup was ready, Ellin and Xia still didn't return. Without them, the meal went in complete silence; but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. Eve kept stealing glances at Victor from time to time (she admitted to herself that his face was aesthetically pleasing and great to rest her eyes on), but her thoughts were on her programs. Victor also looked calmer in only her company than in presence of others; even his presence felt less threatening. 'Or maybe I just got used to it,' Eve thought.

She was bringing another spoonful of soup to her mouth when she felt familiar presences approaching the house. Eve paused and looked at Victor, observing his expressions. Soon enough, the entrance door opened, letting Xia and Ellin in.

"Wow, this smells really amazing. Mister Kraust, did you cook it?" Ellin's sparkling eyes instantly zeroed to the bowls of soup.

He nodded to him; the wrinkle between his eyebrows became more prominent, and his voice was harsher than when she spoke to Eve earlier. "There's more in the kitchen. Pour yourselves bowls and sit here to eat."

Victor's worsened mood was like a dark cloud over the table, but not only Eve's skin grew thicker. Xia and Ellin, contrary to their host, kept smiling at each other; or to be more precise, Xia kept smiling at Ellin and throw him glances Eve could only describe as 'coquettish', while Ellin looked like he became a butt of some inner joke and could only laugh at himself together with her.

It made Eve feel like a third wheel. She hurried to finish her soup, but before she could get up, Ellin's voice called for her attention.

"Please, Eve, wait. Before you go, I, uh… I want to make a confession. To you and Mister Kraust," he said. His eyes shifted to Victor. The man raised his brows, urging Ellin to continue. The blonde coughed into his fist and turned back to Eve with an awkward expression. "I'm a woman! My name isn't Ellin, it's Celina!"

Eve froze. At Ellin's—Celina's—side, she saw Xia nodding twice. "It's true!"

The cogs in Eve's mind shifted and clicked. She looked at Celina incredulously; then another thought hit her head, and that expression changed into one of confusion. "Wait. Do you mean you are biologically a woman, or identifying as one?"

"Biologically! Of course I meant biologically!" Celina slapped her hand on her thigh and looked at Eve pitifully. "Is this really the only thing you want to ask?"

She shrugged. This outburst just finished to settle the view of the world in Eve's mind. Her logic told her from the start that the gender of her companion meant little to their relationship and to her goals, but seeing Celina acting like Ellin—or Ellin acting like Ellin—helped Eve's emotional side to settle too. "What else? I'd ask what you and Xia did in the forest for so long, but I can guess that on my own."

Both Celina and Xia reddened in that instant; a sense of satisfaction rose in Eve's heart and she smiled. Things like teasing others usually weren't her thing, but this time they were asking for it. Then she glanced at Victor, who didn't speak a word all that time. He didn't look surprised at all just now. 'Either he is very observant, or has a fantastic poker face. Probably both.'

"In retrospect, the flaws in your disguise were obvious… Celina," Eve said she looked the woman in disguise over. "I only didn't notice because I couldn't be bothered to pay attention. Alright, if that's it, I'm going to rest. Don't wake me up unless it's dinner."

She stood up and walked into the bedroom, leaving the lovebirds to suffer Victor's quirks. 'Hm, now that Ellin is actually a woman, he… she is even more of a poor daughter-in-law,' Eve thought to herself. The irony made corners of her lips curl. 'In a lesbian marriage. The only thing missing is Kraust adopting Xia.'

Eve laid down and closed her eyes. The unrelated thoughts left her head when she immersed herself in DreamscapeEdit. There was always something to work on, something to improve, something to add. After the pain inhibitors, Eve tweaked regenerative functions of the nanites—it didn't make them better, but added a real-time health statistics to DreamscapeEdit. Eve didn't like the fact that she needed to close her eyes and concentrate every time she wanted to look at the state of her health, but she worried that if she added too much information to the core-brain connection it end up frying her brain. The feeling of powerful presences alone was stressing enough.

Eve put the concerns of brain-core interactions away for now. She had a more tantalising goal to concentrate on. Earlier, her core on its own added a mechanic that allowed her to connect with other devices via touch; now Eve wondered if she could improve on it to connect wirelessly… and then use it to copy data from Victor's core. She knew that there was some sort of wireless connection in her core's code—she could hear zombies' logs, after all.

That reminded her she still didn't get why zombies didn't attack each other…