After nearly two hundred miles they'd pulled into a nearly deserted rest stop. It was probably the most disgusting place Luna had ever encountered and that was saying something. On her and Gene's first mission, they'd encountered a sentient tar made of recycled soap that devoured people and anything else in its wake. Between the rest stop bathroom and the living tar, she'd fight the sentient goo all over again. Still, there was one sliver of beauty hidden in this hell hole.

While Luna waited for Hitomi outside the general store, the Wolf-Girl leaned back against the side of their SUV. Across from where'd they parked at the edge of the lot, two girls met each other underneath a broken lamp post. The First Girl was shorter, a doe-hybrid. The Second Girl ran her hands underneath the other's blouse, gradually lifting up the fabric. Luna could see smooth patches of white speckled, russet hair along her exposed midsection. They were locked into an embrace illuminated only by the headlights of their respected trucks parked facing each one another.

A part of Luna felt somewhat self conscious, intruding on an intimate moment between two people coming together. Then again, if they didn't want others to watch, maybe stay in their trucks? Luna rolled her eyes. Hypocrite, she chided herself. As if she'd be able to take her hands off Gene if she ever saw him again. When, she corrected. When she saw Gene again, she'd mount him just as the First Girl was positioning herself on top of the Second Girl across the lot.

Against her better judgment, Luna continued to watch the two lovers. Something beside the raw energy being exchanged between the two girls caught her eye. The Second Girl wasn't a hybrid. Not a trace of a tail nor fur. It was an unusual sight to see. It's not like full blooded humans were completely extinct, but out in the midwest, it was exceedingly rare. The one percent of the population that consisted of non-hybrids were usually populated in major cities on either coast. Watching the two girls enthralled in one another made a bit more sense now. At least, it made sense as why two women would intentionally rendezvous at such an awful place at this hour.

Prejudice against humans was, for lack of better term, a silent understanding. It wasn't one that Luna herself practiced, obviously. The deeper one traveled into the midwest however, the closer that ever present and quiet disdain towards full blooded humans came to the surface. If you weren't paying attention you could choose to ignore an off look, a backhanded compliment, even a subtle disgusted gesture toward non-hybrids. For unaltered humans however, that unspoken resentment sprouted up like cacti, rooted deep into the culture since before the Global Biogenics War her adopted-grandfather had served in. Even if that war had been started by a world completely populated by humans, it was safe to say that population had become a resented minority in the present.

Luna continued to watch. Love between the two women folded into one another as their bodies wrestled atop the hood of their truck against the backdrop of an objectively filthy locale. How far had they driven to meet each other? How often? How much longer would they keep risking their love before silent disdain against them became open hostility?

As if the Doe-Hybrid could hear Luna's thoughts, the Girl abruptly pushed herself away from her partner. They both stared back at Luna, out of breath, nervous, frightened. She suppressed a sudden spurt of laughter. one of the girl's was literally a deer in the headlights. Instead, Luna offered a polite smile and a wave before turning to face the other direction.

Hitomi came jogging across the parking lot shortly after Luna had given the two girls some privacy. The Giraffe Girl had a plastic shopping bag full of snacks, toiletries, and two large bottles of water.

"I'm not eating anything that came from that place," Luna spoke in droll disgust.

Hitomi tossed Luna the keys, "Sorry to keep you waiting." Pulling open the passenger door to their Ford Bronco, she gave a low whistle, "Check out the love-birds."

"Hitomi!" Luna hushed. "Maybe don't stick your nose in other people's business?"

"I wouldn't mind sticking more than my nose in there. Besides, you do know what I do for a living by now, right?" Hitomi asked rhetorically, closing the door behind her.

Luna slid herself into the Driver's seat, "Is sleeping around and getting hammered a profession now?"

"Bitch," Hitmoi said, gently punching her friend in the side of the arm, "If it were, I'd be CEO. But, alas, I'm a lowly reporter. It's my job to be in everyone's business."

Luna started the engine, but chose not to turn the headlights on until she'd steered their truck away from the two Parking-lot Lovers. It was the least she could do to make up for being a voyeur during their intimate moment. Even as they pulled onto the highway, Luna couldn't help but think of Gene; what she'd do to that boy's body if they managed to get another dark, quiet space to themselves again. Or, a brightly lit space in the middle of a crowded mall.

Wherever.

Whenever.

Trying to calm herself and focus on the road, Luna quickly grabbed for one of the water bottles, popped the lid, and took a sip. It was cold, surprisingly, and didn't taste like recycled bathwater. After she swallowed, Luna forced herself to focus on the task at hand; "Remind me again, how likely it is that we'll be able to land this interview?"

Hitomi yawned and stretched, "I guess that depends on who I manage to sleep around with near the rally, right?"

Luna slapped Hitmoi across the chest on the left tit, "Okay, I'm sorry."

Hitomi laughed sleepily while she stretched, "You're fine." Leaning the seat back, the giraffe girl sighed, "Realistically though? It's not impossible. I've my press credentials to get my foot in the door. If we mingle with the right folks, it's entirely possible I'll get close enough to interview one of President Kelly's cabinet members, sure."

Luna thought Hitomi sounded less than her usual confident self. Then again, it could be that the both of them were exhausted from driving at three in the morning. Before Luna could ask a follow up question, Hitomi had already passed out on the seat. The girl was curled up underneath her own jacket snoring softly. It would be Luna alone with the road and her thoughts for the next few hours. A dangerous combination.

On the positive side, Luna was usually awake at night anyway either vomiting or feeling like a parade float slowly inflating. Having to focus on staying on the road helped ease some of the general symptoms of carrying a child. Was that why people always babbled on about, "The joys of childbirth?" Did Luna miss the memo regarding the mass delusion the women in her life had chosen to accept? Or, did the ends really justify the means? A part of Luna wanted to believe that she'd forget the days and nights spent face first in a toilet because something smelled slightly different. Bloating had led to a whole wardrobe purge. Child-bearing came at the cost of Luna temporarily losing her Hydromancy. Even if her natural power was converted into a shield that tilted the odds of giving birth slightly in her favor, the whole thing was... A process, to put it gently. 

It sucked, to put it bluntly.

It was a bloody, queasy, bloated process, but Luna had to believe it would all be worth it. In a few more months, she and Gene would be responsible for adding something good into this world, or any other world they happen to travel to.

As headlights passed Luna from the opposite lane of the highway, her mind drifted back to the parking lot. Those two girls; touching, searching, desperately stealing kisses from one another, it was equal parts beautiful and hard to watch. They had traveled who knows how far just to see one another. Even in someplace so objectively gross, neither visibly cared. Luna scoffed. In all likelihood the world could have been on fire. They would have kept hold of each other till the sky fell down. At the end of the day, it was only a drive, a place, a quiet prejudice that separated two lovers. For those two girls, those barriers may have well not have even existed at all. Luna chose to believe that nothing could have come between those two lovers.

If only such a principal were true for a husband and wife separated by galaxies, dimensions, and cultures alien to them both.

If only.