I shook my head after a relatively cold shower in the morning. It had taken me a bit to accept the ongoing reality that my brother was dating someone who’d been to Eden. I really needed a better word for that. “Cass, is there already some sort of accepted term for it?”

[Common language for people who transit between Eden and this side include but are not limited to: Edenizens, Astralwalkers, Gateway Users, Players. Edians tend to use the terms: Adventurers, Risks, Collateral Damage, Pawns.]

Suffice to say, none of those really landed very well for me. Hm. Might take some workshopping. I played with different versions of them in my mind. Mirror… people. No, that was silly. Part-time Edians. Again, stupid. I should keep it to one word.

Eventually, I settled on something I felt decent about. Reflectors. I smiled at the thought. It could work, definitely better than Collateral Damage.

Well, if Sarah was a Reflector, I might need to have a chat with her about that. After all, I hadn’t been keeping this all secret just so some girl could waltz in and drag my brother off to his death in another world. Especially since I didn’t know which faction she belonged to. Hopefully she wasn’t part of any of the more ruthless conglomerates.

I shuddered at the thought. They were already ruining this side of the mirror, did those greedy sacks of crap also need to ruin the other one? I shook my head to clear it. This was why I took cold showers, to deal with it all.

I took a deep breath and forced the thoughts aside. They were weighing me down right now. Not necessary in the slightest. There was something which needed my focus much more urgently. I’d texted dad and we scheduled a meeting. I was just getting ready for it.

Mentally and physically, apparently. Of course, meeting with my dad was hard. It didn’t used to be, but now it was. I sighed a long sigh, then shook my head again. No reminiscing and being whiny for me today, I had to pick out a set of clothes.

After settling on a really cute crop top and a pair of jeans, I finished getting ready, then spent the last few minutes before I had to go out procrastinating on my phone.

I’d uninstalled every single news app possible. Didn’t need that in my life. Instead, I watched silly cooking channels making archaic recipes back from the nineteen-hundreds. Stuff people came up with that sounded miserable.

Some of it turned out as terrible as expected, other things apparently good. Fish cake was bad. Potato chip cookies, using chips instead of flour, were tasty. I snorted at that. Might have to give it a go if I found the time. A little voice in the back of my head told me I probably would never, but I mentally shoved it aside as I hopped out of bed.

The car ride to my dad’s saw slightly fuller streets. Meaning an occasional car or two, no more. It was past the morning rush to get to our corporate overlord, and so the streets were empty until everyone would come back in the evening.

Which made getting to my dad easy. We decided to meet out in public, mainly because I hoped it would force him to at least be presentable, but also because he probably hadn’t had a nice meal in ages, so I wanted him to eat something decent.

Maybe I could’ve cooked myself, but this was faster, and I liked getting outside sometimes, even if it meant having to wear that stupid, uncomfortable mask. If it weren’t for the fact that other people sometimes walked around, I could’ve just used Qi to filter the air. But that would go poorly if anyone saw, so I had to bear with it.

This time we decided to go for some east goran food. It was mainly based on rice with many different sauces, most of them using aged products. Much of the eastern side of the continent was very warm, making drying and aging much more popular than in colder regions.

I settled into the restaurant first. Honestly, I don’t know why I expected dad to be punctual. It brought a wry smile to my face. Before he came, I ordered sparkling water for both of us. Hopefully he’d like it. Better than letting him order beer.

After a good 15 minutes of waiting, I finally saw him stroll in. The building was largely empty except for us, with only two servers behind the counter, and one other table occupied by a young couple, probably still in their teens. They’d hardly looked over, fully enraptured with each other.

My dad walked through the door with a straight back, which was already a good sign, looking over the restaurant with tired eyes. His brown hair was combed to the sides and slightly frizzy, standing off his head. With the small bald spot forming on the back of his head, it would’ve made him look like an addled scientist, if it weren’t for his choice of clothing.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He wore a grey shirt with the name of some metal band from long ago on it, but it was clear he’d folded it. Over that, he was wearing a tanned leather jacket, matching the dark brown colour of his eyes. I had both his hair and eye colour, while Beth took after mom a lot more.

When he found me, I saw his face light up with a bit of a smile, and he slowly strolled over. He drew me into a short but tight hug, then smiled at me. “Fio! Hey there, Bear. Haven’t seen you in forever.”

I smiled back. “Hi dad. Sorry, I’ve just been really busy with work, just came back yesterday. Mom was blowing up my phone, you know how she gets,” I explained, grin turning crooked.

My dad nodded along, then glanced at his drink ruefully. He’d probably been hoping for something alcoholic, but I was really just hoping for a nice, easy day out. “Don’t worry about it at all, Bear. I’m just glad you still wanna see your old man at all,” he said.

“Come on, dad. Of course I do, don’t be silly.” I punched his shoulder lightly to help make my point, and the seat creaked as he recoiled in faux pain. “Anyway, how have things been for you? Work going okay?”

He swirled the liquid in his glass a little, staring at the bubbles thoughtfully. The hair ruined the philosophical expression a bit, making me think of a raccoon in a college class instead. “I’ve been doing better, Bear. Work has just been exhausting, it feels like hours are getting longer and pay no better. But I’m getting by!” he added, raising his hands. “No need for you to dip into your funds!”

I’d offered before, but he never wanted my help. The best I could do was convince him to let me pay when we ate out. “Wasn’t saying anything!” I assured him. “Just want you to know you have my full support. Don’t want you to overwork yourself.”

There was a slight chuckle at that. “Yeah, that. It’s tough to keep in mind sometimes, I appreciate it. No, but seriously, work has been fine, mostly. Some colleagues got moved up. Jim is now a supervisor, and he’s been doing great.”

“You’ve been saying he deserved a promotion for years! Glad he finally got it.”

He nodded along. “Sure have. And he’s been doing nothing short of great work. Changed a couple things that’d been bothering literally everyone. Things go much smoother now, with a lot less bureaucracy to go through, which means more time spent machining,” he said, smiling ever so slightly.

Usually, I don’t think he’d have been this happy about machining things, since the work of making parts was honestly a bit repetitive, but literally anything was better than paperwork.

“That’s good to hear. You’re not burying yourself too much in work to have a private life though, right?” I asked, pointedly. He looked aside with a bit of shame, and my eyes narrowed. Luckily, he wore his emotions on his sleeve. Literally, there was a small rainbow heart pin stuck to the jacket there.

“I’ve been… trying. Went climbing with a couple buddies some time back. Indoors, with the smog situation and all. It was fun, somewhat, but also frustrating, seeing myself unable to do things I did easily before.” He took a small sip of his drink and tried to stifle a grimace. “But I might do it again. Been watching some movies otherwise, sports, old shows from bands I liked. Nothing major worth talking about.”

“Any teams win anything?”

He gave me a dry chuckle. “No, none. No one wins anything these days, sadly. Events have also been slowing down since training spaces are reducing more and more. Air filtration technology is lagging behind the smog, and everyone knows it.”

“Has been for years,” I lamented, and he nodded along.

“Yup, but it’s becoming a serious issue sadly. So not much sports to celebrate. But I’ve also been helping my neighbour out with gardening some more. Miss Jenkins, you know her?” I nodded. “Yeah, she’s got a greenhouse. Been watering plants there for her. The growth lamps aren’t exactly sunlight, but it’s been helping lift my mood, having something proper to care for.”

The genuine smile on his face brought one to my lips as well. “That’s great to hear. We all need an outlet, some peace and quiet sometimes.”

“Sure do.” He remained quiet for a bit, when the waiter came up and took our orders. I just got some spicy kimchi, while my dad ordered a few kimbap. The food arrived super quick, with only some minor chatting in between.

We ate in companionship, talking about the weather, the food, all of it. I told him a little bit about my pitch of letting Beth stay at his place more often, and he practically turned into a lightbulb. The smile on his face was wide.

“Dang Fio, I really appreciate it. Means I gotta tidy up a bit though, and probably air everything out. Can’t let little Beth stay at mine unless she’d be comfortable,” he said, his face distorting a bit. He also muttered something about putting away all the bottles under his breath.

I didn’t comment, and tried to keep a frown away from my face, mostly successfully. He noticed anyway, sadly, his voice turning tired when he spoke again.

“Ah, sorry. I know you don’t like the topic, Bear. I’ve been doing better, I swear. Haven’t passed out or vomited in weeks, now.” The smile he gave was tired. A few weeks at best, then. “I’m trying. It gets hard, really hard, but you’ve heard it all already. You don’t need to again. But I promise you, Fio, with all my heart, that I’m trying my absolute best, okay?”

He put a hand on my shoulder at the end, and I let him, taking a deep breath. It was the second visit of mine in a row that he didn’t smell like alcohol. I was grateful for that.

Slowly, I put a hand on his arm. “I know, dad,” I said, trying to sound as empathetic as possible, and he nodded, then withdrew his arm.

“Well, anyway, anything you wanna tell me about, Bear?”

“Nothing much, dad. Nothing much interesting at all,” I said, leaning back in my seat.