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"All I really have is free time." She jested. However, what she did with that free time was busy herself with more work so at least she felt like she accomplished something in a day. When you live where you work, it took away the separation between work and life. But on the plus side, it meant that she basically set her own schedule; kind of like people who work remotely for their jobs.

"When you're used to being self-sufficient like I was before all this happened. " She gestured to herself, this fake face that was once her own but now seemed foreign when she looked into the mirror. "I went from living on my own, being an adult paying my own bills, to being unable to provide for myself let alone get out of the house without help. It's a hard thing to learn to ask for help; I don't want to be a burden or nuisance." She also didn't want to feel like she owed anyone once she was able to finally do these things on her own again. Being indebted to someone was a horrible feeling and a weight she didn't want lingering in the back of her mind.

"I'm trying, I am. It's just a different way of thinking that I'm not used to yet." Marissa reached for the door and held it open for Samir. "But, if you want, we can make plans to work more on your sculpture again."

When the door closed behind them, the restaurant hostess greeted them with a smile and asked them how many. "Two please," she replied in kind and the woman picked up two menu's and a pair of silverware sets then walked them to an open booth.

"That would be nice, but I don't even know how to ask for something like that." The Negaverse didn't exactly function as a normal workplace. They didn't have any established yearly review date where they go over completed quota's and achievements and set goals for the following year.

Of course, she wanted it, but she honestly wasn't sure she had done enough to earn it yet. Her ability to patrol was contingent on if there was anyone around or available to take her to Destiny City and bring her back again once done.

Marissa had thought, to finally be promoted to Captian, she would have to fully finish this project she was working on for Queen Laurelite. Something of equal compensation for being given an office space in the Castle, as a Lieutenant no less, and supplies needed to craft and test the prototypes. It seemed only right that she be able to produce a final product before anyone looked her way.

Samir, however, seemed to think otherwise and she trusted his judgment. Aside from not telling her about purification, he had never led her astray; then again she had never found the courage to approach him about the topic after Wolframite had told her it was something he himself had once done. It marked him a traitor and he had lost much for his decision to turn his back on the Negaverse but it was a risk he was willing to take at the time.

The last thing she wanted to do was give Samir reason to worry by bringing it up out of the blue, not that he didn't already worry enough as is. Let nobody believe that he wasn't a perceptive man. "Maybe after you've had time to recover." Winter slept through almost an entire day after his promotion, she could only imagine how long Samir would pass out once he was back at home in his own bed and finally able to relax. "I'm not in any rush."

"Anyway, enough about me. Tonight is your night, we should talk about something not work-related."

If you're curious how the research is going, you know you're always welcome to stop by my office, or lab, whatever you want to call it." She had an open-door policy, but that was more so because she never had a reason to lock it. Since she started the project nobody had really come by to check up on her or her progress since she gave timely updates even if there wasn't much movement forward.

"But if you want to make plans to visit the forge, just let me know when you're free." He had more to balance in his life than she did. Samir had his responsibilities as a civilian as well as a newly promoted General; between the two of them his time was more limited. "I'd like to visit it again," rain made it a bit miserable to stand outside, cold dampness that made the air feel heavy and dreary. However, she was fine if it was snowing. It would be kind of like living a moment in a Santa's workshop snowglobe except Samir was no jolly o' man and she was no elf.

"Honestly, I think there is only one person that could prove to be any real distraction." Even then, Wolframite had a strong sense of duty and would likely just check-in and leave her to her research if it seemed like she was busy. However, he has had to call her and make sure she was coming home a few times when she got too engrossed in what she was doing to realize that she'd missed both lunch and dinner.

"I think Thursday should be fine," Marissa reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. With a swipe across the screen, she unlocked it and opened the app for her alarms. "Are you ok with meeting me at my place?" She asked while setting a reminder for 4:30PM in case she needed time to get ready or find someone to taxi her to someplace near his house.

"I can't disagree with you on that," Marissa laughed. "The only thing I can think of that I'm really low on is flour. Been kind of dabbling with baking but lately, depending on how I cook the meat, I end up making a gravy to go with it." One of the few things she knew well was how to make a flour slurry and add it to the seared parts stuck to the pan and season well. "I'm not really a fan of buying the premade packets." Her nose scrunched at the mention of the gelatinous brown gravy that was often tasteless and there for texture.

"I honestly cannot wait for the farmers market to open up again. Fresh produce, neat crafts, and live music." It was such a fun place to visit. "You should come with me. Might find some inspiration from some of the other metal craftsmen there. There was one older gentleman who makes these funny sculptures out of silverware."

Marissa reached over and picked a tortilla chip from the basket then scooped a bit a salsa onto it.

Before her rebirth as a half-youma, she wasn't ever really overly fond of spicy food, but recently she was learning to like it. Chipotle Tabasco sauce was about her limit and even that had to be used sparingly.

"I can definitely relate to that," she admitted almost somberly. "It's hard enough when the seasons change and you work dark-to-dark only to come home and feel like your day has been spent. Your mind knows that you still have the same hours left in the day but your body just feels sluggish and unmotivated."

"I remember it taking me a while to pick up my crafts again, it's why I invested in a daylight lamp for my dorm room." Surprisingly it helped a lot, unfortunately, the view out her window was not something worth admiring. "Maybe while we're out shopping we can swing by the hardware store and pick up some for your workstation."

"Contrary to popular belief there really isn't that much spare power down there. From what I understand there's really only enough to support the main buildings which is why we had to install a backup generator." There have been a few times where the lights just suddenly went off and it was in those moments it was time to just call it a night.

"Trust me, it would be epic if there was some sort of futuristic fantasy biospheric dome that simulated the transition between night and day, it would be pretty cool if it could mimic the weather too." The idea of it kind of made her a bit excited to think about. It'd be like some of those post-apocalyptic space station books she read back in her early years of college.

"I feel like, to grow a plant, we'd need to figure out how to create a hybrid one that doesn't need a light though." Honestly, she wasn't really sure of any plant that could survive without some sort of sunlight. "Otherwise, if we take one that's already living it would either die from soil shock since the ground there is different, or wither away." Their roots were often sensitive and didn't like to be moved from a pot into the ground unless done carefully.