Work In Progress

Dawn crept over the Bygone, trickling through the window and casting a dim glow on pale walls as the faint sound of birdsong echoed like chimes. But while Third Chances was silent and Audra was still asleep in the bedroom, Zephyr had already been up for half an hour after spending his first night of many on the living room couch.

That suited him just fine though; he could use the change in routine, plus he could get some chores done in the quiet hours of the morning—like the most important one, making something to eat and not letting his thoughts get the better of him. So with a solid tug of his trusty fridge's door, its contents were laid bare: some eggs, leftover rice, and a handful of vegetables.

That should do.

The induction heater did its magic as his knife weaved together the necessary prep work for the upcoming dish. A pile of green and white onions, carrots, peas, minced garlic, and a bit of ginger. The wok flared to life as he doused it in oil, then tossed in the white parts of the onions and garlic, followed by the eggs once things started to really sizzle.

The rest of process came to him by instinct. Dump in rice, follow by peas and carrots. Stir quickly with a dash of soy sauce, ginger, white pepper, and sesame oil. Then keep the ingredients constantly dancing to ensure nothing burned on the high heat.

The first time he'd tried to cook this, it'd been a complete disaster. He'd rushed things without proper prep, and the results were as expected: food resembling limp charcoal more than food. Yet now, nearly thirty years later, it was one of his favorite things to make.

He wished he had gotten into cooking sooner rather than later. His parents had tried to convince him to do so when he was young, but he'd been too stubborn to do it at the time. It wasn't that he didn't want to learn; he simply felt like there would always be time. After all, why do it now when you could focus on more important things?

A hint of bitterness invaded his face. How many things had he missed chasing after those 'important things'? Hobbies, friendships, people, more time with them? He was sure Ash would've loved to cook with him had he actually done the right thing. Maybe he could've even taught Callie instead of wasting his time being such a piece of—

Something in the mixture popped loudly, snapping him back to reality.

Zephyr sighed and killed the heat. Retrospection was a dangerous game. It helped him not repeat his old mistakes, but it could easily slide him back into that familiar state of melancholy and endless regret if he wasn't careful, especially if he started letting his memories draw parallels where he didn't deserve.

He quickly added the rest of the green onions. Then, with one final toss to mix everything together, he set it aside on the warmer.

There. It was done.

He glanced at the clock. 6:45 AM. There was still another forty-five minutes or so until the sun rose. That was plenty of time to finish cleaning and get ready for the day.

Or…

His eyes silently drifted toward the workshop's direction. Perhaps he could use this time to work on a project. He'd had something in mind ever since seeing Audra struggle yesterday in the scrapyard, and while he didn't want to overstep anything, it would be fine if he just did it to keep his hands busy.

***

When Audra finally woke, the sun was shining through the bedroom window, and a quick glance at the clock next told her it was already 9 in the morning.

She sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as her body protested waking. A few bad memories from last night still clung to her mind, but she'd still slept well enough—better than she had in a long time at least.

However, before she could formulate any specific thought, a savory smell caught her nose and invoked a loud growl from her stomach.

Had Zephyr cooked breakfast?

After brushing her hair and getting dressed, Audra quietly opened the door and peeked out to investigate. The hallway was empty, but the scent of food was definitely stronger. There also seemed to be some noise coming from the workshop: the faint clanking of metal, the whir of tools, and a low hum of electricity.

Interesting.

The two options tore her apart: investigate whatever Zephyr was doing in the workshop or follow the scent of food and search for breakfast.

"…" It took a few moments of painful deliberation, but ultimately, hunger won out, bringing her into the kitchen where a pan of fried rice sat on the back burner like a steaming pedestal.

"Holy crap."

Without thinking, Audra scooped a spoonful and shoveled it directly into her mouth where the taste of everything hit her like a truck.

The aroma of green onions and soy sauce embraced her in an intimate hug, their tastes frolicking on in her mouth and begging her to go for another bite. So she did exactly that, immediately digging in for another mouthful from the stove.

She couldn't believe that Zephyr could actually cook something this good. The ramen last night had lowered her expectations. But no, apparently, he was the sleeper build of chefs.

After a few more bites though, Audra's restraint caught up to her.

"Ugh, what am I doing?"

Sure she might've been a biological mistake, but that didn't mean she was an animal. No, she had manners, and she would use them as intended, so with a huff, she grabbed two bowls from a nearby cabinet, one for her and another for Zephyr, and carefully served equal portions of the food into each.

There, that was better.

She rewarded herself by taking another bite. Then, with both bowls in her hands, she walked over to the workshop, trying to ignore the fact that she had already eaten a quarter of the stuff directly out of the wok.

"Zephyr? Guessing you probably know this already, but… breakfast's ready!"

She used her prosthetic leg to push open the heavy door to the workshop. Though, the moment she walked in, she went speechless at what was being worked on.

"I-I, uh…"

"Ah, good morning, Audra. Sleep well?" Zephyr asked after noticing her enter. "I know the bed isn't the comfiest."

She blinked at the marvel in front of her.

"Er. I slept just fine. Anyway, would mind explaining what the heck is that?"

The electric bike that she'd dragged into the pod truck yesterday was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in its place was something more akin to a motorcycle. The frame? Reshaped and reinforced. The motor? Bigger. Wheels? Slightly smaller but bulked up like a sumo wrestler. The seat? Expanded to flow alongside the frame, and an actual dashboard sat between the handlebars.

He patted the fiberglass. "This? I uh, hope you don't mind, but since you were planning on using your bike like a utility vehicle, I figured I'd help you out and give it the proper makings of one."

"H-how?"

"I drafted up a new design that incorporates some conceptual aspects of the Elysium from back in 2001 together with a bit of the 2040 Gainsborough."

He said it so casually, presenting the thing like it was some web video narrator as he motioned toward different parts of the motorbike.

"I also reworked the electric motor to give it more power since it'll be hauling a lot more weight, but I'm not done yet. I still want to add a cargo rack, a headlight, and maybe a bit of armor plating for protection."

"Armor plating? The heck. Are you planning on making this combat-ready or something?"

"Don't be silly. It's just something lightweight to protect the internal components of the bike from damage. A rock can kick up and hit something the wrong way at high speeds, y'know."

He ran his hand over the dash. "That reminds me, I still gotta put in a windshield, roll cage, and camera too."

Audra's jaw hung agape, unsure of whether to be impressed or horrified by the sudden transformation.

"Damn. Don't tell me you're going to add a GPS tracker, radio, mini-fridge, and a coffee maker too?"

"Well, a GPS tracker and radio are already built into the dash since I took it from an old minicar. As for the other two? I could fit an electric thermos to the bike to act like a mini fridge, but I'm not sure where to get the coffee maker from."

"…I was joking. You know that, right?"

"Well, yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean we can't make them a reality if we try hard enough."

Disbelief was all she could process. She'd never seen someone so dedicated to a random project, especially not one that they didn't even need to do. It was honestly a bit intimidating.

"Anyways, enough about that." Zephyr said. "Thanks for bringing me breakfast. Just give me a moment to wash my hands first."

Zephyr stepped out of the workshop, and Audra followed close behind.

"Er, Zephyr. Tell me… how long did it take for you to do this?"

"Mmm. I started working on it a few minutes after I finished making breakfast, and that was around 7 or so."

"An entire e-bike to motorcycle remodel, and it took you two hours?!"

"A little less, and technically this isn't done yet. For now it's just a work in progress."

Less than two hours, huh? Audra had some experience with engineering of course—mostly tinkering and maintaining her own bionics—so she had an idea of just how demanding something like this would be. Planning and drafting aside, singlehandedly changing out the physical components could take days if not weeks.

"…Are you sure you're human, Zephyr?"

"Haha, you're funny. I've just had a lot of practice after all these years." He washed the grime off his hands, not bothering to look back at her.

The hell it was just 'a lot of practice'. Her bike looked like it'd gone through mechanical metamorphosis.

"Impossibility of this aside for a moment… why are you even doing this, Zephyr?"

"Hmmm?"

"Like, why did you upgrade my bike? We don't even know each other and you're basically giving me a ride."

"Oh. I mean, it's a simple project and it's good practice. Keeps my skills sharp and makes use of a slow morning."

The way he said it made her feel like there was something else, but her head hurt the more she tried to reason, especially why the hell he would do out of his way to do all this for some girl he'd only just met.