New Beginnings

Thud. As soon as Char had finished her sentence, Lore fell. It was if they had waited so as not to be rude. Char looked down at the pile of fabric and person at their feet and sighed. Rolling up her sleeves she stripped Lore’s bunk and threw the sheets straight into the washing machine; she hesitated, questioning whether or not she should, but inevitably she stripped Lore too. Now stripped to their skivvies, Char slumped Lore’s unconscious body into her bed. Although she acknowledged the age gap between her Lore and the one before her, she couldn’t quite shake how young they looked. She was used to them being heavier too. Compared to her Lore, the one before her was a shadow, a pale and sickly shadow. She was about to tuck them in before heading back to her search when she noticed a lump on Lore’s left breast. She lifted her blanket and ran her hand up Lore’s vest; before she could feel the protrusion, Lore was awake.
“What do you think you’re doing…?” They shouted in a whisper before trailing off. They didn’t usually like being touched but with Char it was different.
“I … I have no good excuse.” She mumbled. “I was checking you out.”
Lore hesitantly removed their vest revealing their pale torso. Their body had some muscle tone but you’d be forgiven for not seeing it. Just to the right of Lore’s left breast, a scar sat balanced roughly above their heart. Both Lore and Char stared as if the scar was the most interesting thing in their current existence.
“That’s new.” Lore stared at Char then back at their scar.
“That shouldn’t be there.” Char responded. “You didn’t get that scar till after we started dating. That scar shouldn’t exist for at least another three years.” Char placed her hand on Lore’s. “The day we met, you were running after your exile trial. You said you were twenty five but time loops don’t count. We started dating rather early on into our friendship and I had seen most of your upper body by the time you were twenty three.” Lore stared attentively at Char, gesturing for her to continue the story. “We liked each other. I had seen the others but you only gave me a straight answer about that one.” She poked the scar. “You told me that one was to remind you of the thing that mattered the most to you.” She smiled, sadness in her eyes.
“This one is from when I failed to keep my anger in check.” Lore stroked an indented scar along their right collar bone. They moved towards their shoulder. “This one was to remind me to always remain in control of my own actions.” This scar was similar to the one on their chest but was about half a centimetre longer. The three and a half centimetre strip of raised flesh sat proudly atop their right shoulder and was accompanied by two similar but smaller scars that formed an arch from their shoulder to the top of their arm. Lore then moved to their left and ran their fingers along a pair of numerals. “I failed my vehicle control test that many times I felt that it had to be commemorated. Plus it’s my lucky number.” They leant their shoulder forward revealing its reverse. “My old ID brand. And this,” they returned to a more comfortable position “This represented my confusion.” There were numerous small and extremely faded white lines covering their upper arm, most of them struck out by a large red line. “And this represents clarity. Got that the day I realised who I was. Shame I don’t remember much else.” Lore chuckled to themselves. Char still held their other hand. “Last few are vanity scars. I thought it would be cool and it was.” The scars they were referring to were clustered around their body with three on their left elbow, two at the base of their ribcage on the left and seven on their right hand. “I don’t know what I told you before, but I made all of these.” As soon as the words left their mouth, Lore tried to return them. They had no idea how they remembered the scars meanings or why they told an almost complete stranger but it felt right. She felt right. “I’m sorry.” Lore looked as though they were about to cry. They couldn’t but they had learnt through mirroring that people who were feeling vulnerable often sat like that. Char moved onto the bed and placed her arm around them.
“Thank you.” She shed a tear. “I had my suspicions but I never knew for certain.” She sniffled. “My Lore can’t cry either. So you can’t fool me.” They both found that funnier than Char expected. Lore handed Char their vest to dry her eyes. Lore got up, wrapping the blanket around them to protect their modesty, a redundant gesture pointed out by Char but it made them feel better.

Lore walked towards the computer, Char showed them what she had been working on.
“It’s a tracker. There are only a handful of us left so it’s easy to find us if you know how to look. Silus however was a different story.”
“By us you mean Quatarrians right?”
“Cube tell you that?” She nodded.
“I saw the regenerator pistol you threatened your Lore with.” Char smiled. “I didn’t think you saw that. But yes. It’s gotten ridiculously easy to track Quatarrians. Silus has been the exception, well bar me.” She scoffed.
“So, where are we going?” Lore pointed to the star chart on the monitor.
“The Drekuur expanse. Its one of the only ex-Quatarrian sectors not claimed by the UEP. Incredible the difference one person can make isn’t it.” Her smile faded as she realised who she was talking to. “We’ll leave when your clothes are dried. We’re only a few hours outside of the expanse.”
“A few hours. Those radiation levels are perfectly acceptable for Breaching. Why take a ship?” Lore rattled their Breacher for emphasis.
“You Breach in, the locals tear you a few new ones to add to the collection. They don’t take kindly to that sort of tech.”
“Ship it is then.” Lore resigned.
“I know you get sick easily. You’ll get over it.” Char puffed. “I’ve seen it before.” They had their next steps. Silus.