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There's a rainbow arching over New York City, bigger and bolder than Mikey's ever seen. Bigger and bolder than anything that's possible in the New York she knows.
"The dome techs create one every once in a while, at random," Renet explains as they make their way down the street. They're all loaded down with bags from shopping and probably taking a bit too much sidewalk from all the dirty looks they're getting, but that doesn't stop them from keeping their hands tightly clasped.
"It's garish," Shini says thoughtfully. "I like it."
"You're wearing all black on a sunny day," Mikey reminds her.
"So? I can appreciate a bit of color in the right place." She sticks out her tongue for emphasis, a line of flame flickering across the tip.
"That reminds me, can you try not to set anything on fire?" Renet says as they wait for the holographic light to change. "I really don't want to have to piss off Simultaneous again so soon; I'd get grounded for ages."
"Fine," Shini says, rolling her eyes. "Only for you, my dear."
"Not for me?" Mikey asks, with an overdramatic squeak.
"No. You stole my mushrooms."
"That was an accident, and trust me, I paid a whole lot more for that than anything you could do when everybody came down from the fever dream--"
They make their way deeper into the city, talking and laughing, charting a steady course for the park Renet's visited before. Their eyes are bright and their hearts are warm and if they hold each other's hands a bit too tightly, who can tell?
It takes a bit of wandering about and mild arguing before they finally settle on a good picnic spot. Then there's the hustle of trying to set the damn thing up using some of the fancy crap they bought today, but eventually they manage to arrange themselves on the blanket, the day's other purchases tacked around them. They make room for food by folding into a tidy sprawl of limbs, still holding each other's hands in between grabbing for their lunch.
The food is like nothing Mikey's ever had before, which means she thinks it's amazing. It's all bright and colored like the rainbow still arching overhead; some items are as juicy as the water sparkling in a nearby pond, while others are as crisp as the dew adorning the grass around her.
Still, she eats more carefully than she ever has at home, spreading a napkin over her new skirt. It shines gold in the afternoon light, reflecting flashes of the rainbow overhead when Mikey moves. It's impractical, eye-catching, dangerous in more ways than one. Maybe that's why she loves it so much.
She's worn dresses in front of her brothers at home, as she slowly grows more comfortable expressing her true self in front of them, but never something so fancy, and never where anyone can see. It's strange, feeling as beautiful and bold as her girlfriends are. She likes it.
A bee buzzes through a nearby clump of round purple flowers, catching her attention. Mikey honestly doesn't know if these are plants you would find in a human park or not. She's never been in a park in the daytime, much less when the sun is out like this. If she ever visited, it was only at night, when all the foliage was the same dark mass.
But at least, she reminds herself, this isn't her first picnic.
"I set it up with the guys while we were at the farmhouse," she says. "It was kind of stupid, really. I dumped an old blanket about ten feet from the house and held lunch hostage until everyone came out with me. Raph almost poked me in the eye with a stick and the chickens ate half our food."
"Ruthless," Shini says, grabbing one of the sugary treats and popping it into Renet's mouth. "I like that."
"Raph or the chickens?"
"The chickens, of course," Shini pops another treat into Mikey's mouth, her fingers warm against his face. "If Raph had taken one of your pretty eyes, I would have had to take one of his in vengeance."
Mikey smacks his lips and giggles, with Renet joining in. Neither of them is entirely sure whether Shini is joking, but right now it doesn't seem to matter that much. It's like she would actually hurt Raph, not when it meant hurting Mikey as well.
They sit and eat, watching the people go by. It's astonishing how many different kinds of appearance, how many different kinds of person. Bodies augmented by metal and wires, bodies humming with colorful light, bodies that seem to balance on the line between mutant and animal just like Mikey does.
And different kinds of families, too. Mikey sees three or more people to a child, sees combinations of men and women and people who defy both labels. She sees a kind of ease with appearance, in all its forms, that simply isn't possible in the world she left behind.
She knows she could go up and talk to these people if she wanted without being screamed at, something she's dreamed of her whole life, but she can't. Mikey doesn't want to risk finding the cracks in the reality, the dark spots, cowardly as that might be. She just wants to have one day where she doesn't need to be brave, because that gets so exhausting sometimes.
They watch a group pass, two of them swinging a larger child while another walks behind, talking to a slightly older one. All of them adults bear the same bright orange band on their wrists, a sign of connection as there ever was one.
"What's the probability here?" Shini asks quietly.
Renet shrugs. "Not sure. 55, 60 percent? I'll have to ask Simultaneous."
The thing about time is that past a certain point, it's in far too much flux for even the Time Masters to know how it will all end up. Renet has some basic knowledge of the future, but not of the actual shape it will take. Places like these are only potentials, ephemeral glimpses into what may or may not be.
And, well...they know all about ephemeral, don't they? For all that Renet has power over time and space, for all that Shinigami's body (and Mikey's too, maybe) refuses to age--the time they have with each other is limited.
Renet's responsibilities will pull her away from them sooner or later. Mikey and Shini will go back to their own place in the timestream, and sooner or later Shini will have to go home to a family that needs her, if not in the same way that Mikey's needs him. And Mikey won't be able to walk down the streets in broad daylight, with a dress, holding the hands of the women she loves.
So, they hold on to each other tight in the moments when they can, and scheme for the moments when they can't. They make plans for the future, their future, when Renet has mastered her powers and, more importantly, is out from under Simultaneous' thumb. They find the bright, beautiful moments in the time stream where they can cling on to each other and savor every second.
"You know I love you, right?" Mikey says quietly, staring down at her hands.
"We know," Renet says, leaning over to plant a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Obviously," Shini huffs, pulling first Mikey and then Renet into some not-soft-at- all kisses. And, well, Mikey has to return the favor, and so does Renet, until they're at risk of upsetting the last of the food as they gleefully slobber over each other.
Finally, Shini pulls away, tugging Renet and Mikey apart with a grunt. "Not in front of the peasants."
"We're going to need to find a hotel room and get to work," Mikey says. "I've got two hands, after all." She holds up said hands and wriggles her fingers lasciviously. They all giggle like idiots as they start packing up, making plans to look up a nice place to stay in the city. They've still got a while yet before they need to go home, after all.
The rainbow continues to shine overhead, perhaps a bit less bright than before. But that's okay; it'll all come back. It always comes back.