“O-Oh?” Mia was taken aback by this sudden outburst. “What is it?"

“What made you join the IF?” He took a bite of cereal. “For me, I wanted to see outer space for myself, but for someone like you who grew up out here, I wonder what would make you join.”

Money. The cold hard facts are in the cold hard cash. Her family was nearly broke, but no one needed to know that, especially not a nosy coworker.

“Did you have any dreams?” he added on. “Any places you wanted to see?”

Mia never had time to dream, but the second question was a little easier for her.

“Earth.” she answered, honestly. “I wanted to see Earth.”

“Ohhh, that’s right, you’ve never been before!”

“How did you…?” She didn’t remember telling him that information. The only people who should know are her roommates, Roxie and Jun.

“Roxie told me last week.” Leon continued, oblivious to Mia’s momentary alarm. “I can’t even imagine what that must be like. If only we could swap places!”

“Yeah… That would be nice.” agreed the freckled ranger. The thought of cloudy skies, non-recycled air, and being at the whim of the elements brought a smile to her face.

The door to the back hall opened.

“Hello and good morning to all ye who be gathered here this sunless dawn!” Roxie’s presence took up the doorway as much as it could.

“Good morning, Roxie.” Mia greeted her curly-haired friend. It had been a year since they first met on the moon base, though it didn’t seem like that long. Sometimes, Mia felt like forever wouldn’t be long enough to spend time with someone like her, but maybe she was getting too far ahead of herself. She felt the need to hide her face behind her book.

“Hi Roxie!” Leon waved before going back to his cereal.

“Hiii~” Roxie waved both of her hands in a cutesy circular fashion. She then pointed at Leon. “Good, you’re eating breakfast! You’ll need to increase your stamina for the coming day.”

He laughed, raising a spoon. “Don’t worry, I’m leveling up my stats.”

Ah, they were both ‘gamers.’ Mia didn’t play many videogames herself, but she saw enough gamers online to recognize how they talked. Like any other brand of nerd, some ran the risk of being completely obnoxious. Roxie wasn’t, but only time would tell if Leon could be trusted.

“Excellent!” Roxie chimed. “You haven’t forgotten our plans, right?”

Leon stopped eating. “What plans…? Ah, right! We were supposed to exercise today!”

“Ding-dong~! Correct!” she sang. “Mia, do you wanna train with us?”

“Uh, no, thank you.” As much as she loved spending time with Roxie, Mia had to decline. Maybe if it were just her alone, Mia might take her up on the offer, but Leon complicated matters.

Her energetic friend bounded toward one of the food boxes and swiped up a few packets of eggs to rehydrate and sausage to heat up in the microwave.

“Have you fueled up yet?” Roxie asked the reading ranger. “Make sure you do before we go out in space today!”

Mia dreaded the thought. Yesterday’s jet armor training session ended in such a disaster, she couldn’t think about today’s session without nerves and shame gripping her being. Still, more training would happen today whether she wanted it or not, so she might as well get ready. She reluctantly closed her book and got some oatmeal.

“I should ask about extra training.” Leon thought aloud, as if getting lost in space yesterday wasn’t enough for him. “Are you up for it, Mia?”

“Yeah…” Saying no to his excitement felt rude, no matter how much she wanted to. Besides, they’d never get better if they didn’t practice.

“Yaaay!” He cheered.

“Yaaay!” Roxie joined him.

The three ate breakfast together, though Leon finished first. Since Roxie was there, his dogged curiosity could be split between the both of them. In other words, less questions for Mia.

“Hey, do you guys ever think about why we’re here?” The bucktoothed ranger clasped his hands together.

“On the Celestion-5?” Mia asked. That was an easy answer. They were going to Neptune.

“No, no, I meant in the universe. Is there a reason we exist?”

“Oooh, an existential question!” Roxie chimed. “I love it! I feel like there’s no singular reason for all of humanity. Each person has their own reason for existence. It’s like a customized surprise for each and every one of us.”

Leon gasped. “That’s really close to what I think, too! Though I do want to believe there’s a reason all life we know of ended up on Earth. I don’t know what it is yet, but I hope someday we’re able to reach out to something else…” He gazed off into the distance with dreams in his eyes. Still, they found their way back to Mia. “What about you?? What do you think?”

“Yeah, what do you think, Mia?”

“Uhh?” The freckled ranger never really thought about this kind of thing. In her opinion, 6:30 in the morning was far too early for existential thinking. “I… don’t know. I kind of think we’re just here for no particular reason.” Self-consciousness crept up on her. Was her answer boring? Not dreamy enough?

“There’s a magic in that, too!” It was as if Roxie could read her thoughts. “Think about it. We’re just a bunch of creatures who randomly popped up one day, haunting the Earth! Isn’t that neat?”

“Yeah!” Leon agreed. “Usually, when I ask that question, people say it’s out-there or too much to think about, but I really like hearing other people’s answers. People have so many different ones. I think Mia’s is the most common, though.”

So it was boring, even to him. Thankfully, Roxie spiced it up in a way only she could do. Mia appreciated that.

“What I want to know,” the curly redhead began, “Is if there are multiple universes?”

Leon’s eyebrows shot up. “Like parallel universes?”

“Yes!” Roxie nodded vigorously. “Infinite universes with infinite possibilities!”

From there, the conversation focused on the idea of alternate realities. Mia struggled to keep up, but Leon and Roxie were so enthralled by each other’s ideas, that her confusion went unnoticed. She finished up her oatmeal and continued reading, occasionally stopping to answer a question the other two directed at her. Eventually, everyone finished their meal.

“We’re headed off to our training!” Roxie announced.

“Feel free to join us if you change your mind!” Leon offered. Wishful thinking.

They left the room, but their similarities stuck with Mia. They were both the kind of people who tried to make friends with anyone they could, the kind of person wariness prevented Mia from being.

Was such caution justified? She remembered being almost as skeptical of Roxie, thinking that the latter could never be a compatible friend with someone like her. Roxie was too sociable, too charming. She had to have only reached out to the freckled ranger out of a sense of misguided pity, or so Mia thought. In actuality, they had a lot of the same interests, and if Mia hadn’t happened to notice one day, she could’ve pushed her best friend away.

As she returned to her now-empty room--Jun must’ve woken up--she wondered if Leon could be the same, someone who genuinely wanted to befriend her. Still, like her book, there weren’t many chances to get her to open up, not right now.