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How does one learn to live with seven other people in their head? Learn to live with seeing the night stars two minutes after walking in from the sun; learn to live with feeling the heat of Nairobi and the way even the air seems to freeze in Iceland, all while feeling the wind that gave Chicago its epithet and the dank interior of a Seoul prison cell? How does one's mind cope with tasting thick German beer chasing the taste of authentic Mexican tacos or Indian curry spicier than is preferred, all at once?
Nomi breathes on her way out the door in the morning, and past the ever present scent of the ocean that living on the coast brought and the concrete scent every city has, she could smell mud and people and exhaust as Capheus drove home for the day. Sun closed her eyes to escape from the late night grey walls of solitary, and opened them in the Icelandic afternoon sun, Riley blowing smoke to be whisked away by the breeze. Will shivered in the brisk walk to his apartment before gratefully stepping into the fading heat of a Mexican evening and accepting the proffered beer Lito held out to him. Kala laughed to herself as she felt German raindrops kiss her skin half a world away; Wolfgang always seemed to think of her when it began to rain.
Wolfgang found himself spending some of the time he wasn't looking after Felix in whatever open space he could find, sparring with Sun. She appreciated the practice and the chance to stretch her metaphysical legs, and he was honest enough with himself to admit he knew more about brawling than anything close to what she did. New skills never hurt; not when they had 6 other people whom they now had to protect.
Lito blew Nomi a kiss through the mirror as the two of them went through basic makeup routines 2000 miles apart, and she smiled back. Dani hadn't lied; she was very good at deflecting rumors, or in this case, attracting them. Pulling the media spotlight to herself meant that any news about Lito Rodriguez dating a stunningly attractive man ended up quickly covered by headlines declaring "Daniela Velazquez Speaking Out Against Violence Against Women, Shares Story Of Abuse At The Hands of Ex Boyfriend, Joaquin Flores". Let it be known that she was a woman who knew how to multitask. Nomi could feel his happiness in the back of her mind; it mirrored her own. She put down the tube of lipstick and went to give Amanita a kiss.
Capheus sat silently behind Kala as she listened to the presenter. Technically, she didn't need to be at this specific meeting, but they were talking about the ramifications of the spread of knock off drugs again and knew it was a subject near and dear to Capheus's heart, and thus it was to her's as well. She glanced across the table at Rajan. The wedding was not yet called off, she thought to herself, and a marriage to the son of the company would give her a certain amount of influence on what issues took precedence. She felt Wolfgang's answering pang of lovesadnessacceptance behind her heart and remembered that "to herself" took a very different meaning these days.
Riley took off her headphones, and looked up. The metallic structure above her reflected the early evening light of a Chicago sunset around her, and she blinked as her eyes adjusted from the late night darkness of Iceland. She could see the city's skyline reflected on- "Technically, it's name is the Cloud Gate, but I know very, very few people who call it that."
She turned to smile at Will, who flashed her a small smile before turning back to contemplate the warped skyline mirrored in front of him.
"So what do they call it, then?"
"The Bean."
Studying the sculpture for a moment, she nodded. "Interesting."
"That's one word for it," he agreed, chuckling.
They lapsed into silence and Will reached out and interlaced their fingers. She shifted, leaning against him, and together they watched as the last of the sun's rays disappeared behind the city.