Samir had kept busy, more so than usual, and yet--for some reason--it didn't feel like it.

He was keeping up with his work at the junkyard, still repairing cars and selling parts. He'd spent more time in his forge, trying new things. He'd found his inspiration and was sticking to it. But then, there was the Negaverse, too.

A new thing in his life, and one that he was managing to handle. In some ways, it felt like a second job, but in others it felt like something else entirely. Maybe he'd just tricked himself into thinking it was a hobby, but it was a fascinating world he'd been introduced to.

New powers, a strength he'd never had--and a mystery to solve. Sort of, at least.

He knew what the Negaverse was doing (or, at least, what they had told him they were doing) and what he was expected to do. While he had no intention of challenging authority or questioning what they were doing, he wanted to know, for himself, why they were doing it.

He had talked to Senshi, to Knights. Not much, but it was only a start; he'd only been doing this for a few months and he didn't imagine he'd made any sort of breakthrough. He was fighting with them--never with the intent to kill, just to learn.

He didn't understand their magic--or any magic--and when he'd first heard of it, he hadn't quite believed it or known what to expect. Even now he was trying to figure out a scientific reason for it. What made them different. For him, it was Metallia. Maybe just super charging him, in a strange way. But Senshi and Knights didn't have that. They had--what, places that made them powerful? That, he couldn't wrap his head around.

He didn't know if he could trust the Senshi, but he was collecting information. When he wasn't doing that, he was poking around the library in the Negaverse--just trying to understand.

Samir--Lopezite--could respect everyone's dedication to Metallia, but he went into nothing with blind faith. In fact--even the idea that they were 'saving the world' seemed foreign to him. It didn't feel real. Nothing they seemed to be doing was fixing everything; perhaps they were just holding off some greater evil?

...But Senshi, Knights. They didn't seem like they were evil. They didn't seem like they knew what they were doing, but he blamed that on the fact that he'd never met a strong one. Nothing equivalent to the power level the Generals exuded--and certainly nothing on par with the General Sovereigns.

It was perplexing, but not in such a way that he felt overwhelmed or confused. It was like collecting the pieces of a puzzle before you started putting it together. It was fun. It gave him something to do, gave him some drive.

A push outside of the norm.

Not that Samir was ever bored, but he'd known since he was a child that he had a love of life and adventure. He'd known since then that he wouldn't ever have the same adventures as the movies, as the books. Fantasy wasn't real.

Except, it was, and he was elated to be a part of it.

But the Negaverse wasn't the only fantasy in his life.

It felt silly to think about her--about the two of them, actually, and it left a strange feeling of joy and anxiety bubbling in his stomach.

The problem with having two lives was that they met different people. He felt strongly for two women.

On one hand, there was Aubrey. Caring, meticulous, strong-willed, independent, great chef, Aubrey. He had met with her several times; he had met her sisters, surprised at her ability to care for them on her own. He'd eaten over at her house, fixed her car, and had a few meetings that he could only refer to as dates--whether they had been intentional or accidental meet ups. She was a mystery, a girl with a tragic past and a will to live and take care of those close to her. He was moved by her perseverance, and she was fun. Lighthearted. He wanted to take care of her, wanted to make her life easier. Wanted to do what he could to earn her favor--and the approval of her siblings.

It was strange, to have to feel like he needed children to validate him, but even he was fond of them. His dogs were especially fond of them.

If it were just Aubrey, he would have asked her out seriously--but he had someone else to think about.

Fortuna was dangerous. She was feisty, fiery and abrasive. Confident and captivating. She forced herself into his mind, and he couldn't push the thought away. She was exciting. He could spar with her, and she was full of as many mysteries as Aubrey, just in a different way.

She was a member of the Dark Mirror Court--an unofficial ally of convenience with the Negaverse and not someone he should have been putting his trust in, according to the Negaverse. She was dangerous--they frequently fought, though never seemed to be out for blood. It was just exciting; they both had a need for that rush.

She was a drug and he was nearly addicted to it. Aubrey could send butterflies through his stomach, but Fortuna sent a spark.

Samir was more cautious, so naturally Aubrey was the safe choice. She was someone who knew him. But then, she didn't know the other side of him. She didn't know Lopezite, or anything about the war. He didn't want her to know; she had enough going on in her life that he didn't want to give her extra stress. He didn't want her to have to worry about him--or losing him.

And she would; she was that type of person. It was endearing, but the thought of him making her worry just left him feeling unsettled. He wanted to make her life easier, not give her something else to keep her up late at night.

He didn't want to have to explain the Negaverse to her, if he ever got serious with her. Maybe he could bring her into it--but that was a whole can of worms he didn't think he wanted to get into. She deserved to live a good life; she was fighting one war in her personal life already, she didn't need another one.

He didn't want her to have a target on her head. Her sisters probably couldn't live without her, and if they could, he didn't want to think about what would happen if they had to go back to their parents. Aubrey was fighting to make sure they were in good hands, and he trusted her accounts of her father--at least, what little she had said of it.

He didn't like the man, and he didn't need more words or stories to know that. He could tell by how she avoided the subject that it wasn't an easy one. She had been comfortable enough with him to talk about her brother's passing--but if she wasn't willing to expand on her relationship with her parents, he could only expect the worst.

There was probably a good reason she was raising them.

Samir liked Aubrey; he liked her passion, liked her work ethic. He liked her.

Lopezite liked Fortuna, though.

Fortuna, who kept him on his toes, who gave him the rush of adventure he'd always craved. Fortuna, who drifted into his dreams in a way different from how Aubrey did.

In his head, he could rationalize that he was Lopezite--they weren't two different entities. They were one.

But he acted differently when he was Lopezite. He was more brazen when he was powered up, and got into trouble he might not have when he wasn't protected by his glamour. Lopezite were the darker corners of himself that he had tucked away to be a rational citizen.

Not that Lopezite was bad, but Samir had a role to play in the world and he wasn't going to compromise his standing. Lopezite was outside of the carefully constructed plan he'd set up. Lopezite was like a cheat code in a video game--the mantle gave him the ability to take on the world in a different way.

Fortuna liked Lopezite--at least, he thought. Hoped. But when he thought of her, he thought of a girl walking on a high wire, juggling knives. She needed that excitement--and Samir wasn't that exciting. Working on cars would probably just seem like a good, stable job. She'd probably think that processing scrap metal was boring--no more than just playing with junk. The forge work, maybe she'd be interested in, but only because he imagined her wielding blades and he could make them. That, they might have had in common. Samir could do swordplay, but that was just about the most exciting thing about him. He thought that his dogs were exciting, but she hadn't given him any indication that she would be interested in something like that.

Tonight, Samir was sitting in the flat he had on the site of the junkyard. He had the television on and was lounging in the chair, all three dogs laying on him. He was petting Leon's head, absentmindedly watching the television. The sounds of the city were distant so he needed a little extra noise--especially to replace the loudness of machines grinding and metals crushing that he'd been listening to all day.

His home wasn't anything fancy; it was over the office he used from work. He could have moved if he wanted to, but this was cost efficient and was all he could really ask for. It was out of the way and gave him easy access to anything he could have needed. Besides--from here, he could hop in his car and be anywhere he needed to be in less than ten minutes.

Any apartment with that convenience would have cost a pretty penny; he was lucky to have what he did.

He was a heavy enough sleeper that the noise didn't even bother him in the morning. What did bother him were the dogs--who were a little crushing at the moment.

Exasperated, Samir sighed and flopped his head on the armrest. Leon grumbled in his sleep and tried to scoot closer, stretching and shoving a paw into his face.

It was enough to pull Samir's thoughts from women--at least, for the moment. As soon as he swapped his dog's giant paw out of his face, he found himself reaching for his phone. It was habit; it hadn't gone off, but for some reason he was paranoid that he'd missed some important text message. He hadn't, of course; he had the phone on a fairly loud setting and it had been on the table next to him for the past half hour, silent.

The problem with constantly thinking about girls that he liked was that he constantly felt the need to talk to them; Fortuna was on a limited schedule, so that meant Aubrey was usually the target of his attention. While he was generally confident in himself, there were certainly times that he was worried he was annoying her. He didn't want to push her away, but he just couldn't help wanting to check up on her, make sure she was doing okay.

Just talk. They could have talked about anything--the weather, her day, local news. It didn't have to be about anything important; it just made him feel good to know that, for a moment, she was thinking about him, too.

The temptation of such was just too much; after maneuvering so he had a little more free room, he pulled out his phone and tried to figure out a quick text to initiate contact without sounding too desperate.

In the end, he settled on taking a picture of his dogs and wishing her a good night.

His excuse was that, if they found him dead, she'd know who smothered him to death.