We put our bags of food down inside of my cabin, after which I quickly cleared the table of anything that was on top of it. We’d need plenty of room for all this food, and even with a completely empty table, I’d probably have to put some plates on the countertops as well.

Luna and I started unpacking everything we’d chosen to take along with us.

“Wow, we’ll definitely need to make sure we don’t eat ourselves into indigestion.” I chuckled as I put the last plate on the counter.

“I’ll try to do my best, but everything looks so tasty.”

“True.” I handed an empty plate with some cutlery to my girlfriend and then started putting some random things on my own plate. “Let’s dig in before it gets cold.” Space microwaves are handy and all, but it does save us the hassle of having to heat it back up. It only would take five to ten seconds to get things piping hot again, but that’s five to ten seconds that would be better spent on actually eating. Efficiency is important.

We started eating our various dishes and during that the room had become so quiet I decided to put on the radio in the meantime. My parents would always say that a quiet room during dinner is a good sign, as people would be too occupied with enjoying the food instead of speaking. And from the look on Luna’s face and the tastes I was experiencing, that sure seemed to be true. It was only when both Luna and I went for our third plate that we finally started speaking again.

“Lauren… this is so good.” Luna popped a spring roll into her mouth without even putting it on her plate.

“I know right.” I decided to do the same thing with a big grin on my face. “Most of these things might just be finger food. But bloody hells, it’s darn great.”

“Mhmm.” Luna nodded and ate another spring roll, this time with a bit of sweet chili sauce.

“Hey, I was wondering.” I said as I sat back down on my seat again with a full plate of stuff. “What was the food like back on your home planet?”

“Incomparable.” Luna said as quickly as she could, eating half of a takoyaki ball.

“How so? In a good or a bad way?”

“Bad, very much worse.” She replied and looked at the food sprawled out in front of her. “The food back on my planet… Do you remember me saying that our society was incredibly utilitarian?”

“Yeah, I do.” I nodded and took a bite from a deboned chicken wing which was marinated in some great barbecue hot sauce.

“It was the same for the food.” She replied. “If I would say it was terribly bland, then I’d probably be making an understatement.”

“That bad?”

“Yes.” Luna nodded in return and ate the other side of the takoyaki ball with an audible ‘nom’ sound. “Taste was deemed as unnecessary and definitely way behind nutritional value. So when I came to Earth and tasted your foods for the first time… it did take some getting used to.”

“I can imagine that.” I replied. “And there isn’t a single food item you miss from back home?”

“Hmm…” Luna thought for a second, while grabbing a samosa and biting down on it. “There was this one fruit that was a weird mix between bitter, sour and sweet. Not a lot of people liked it but it was very nutritional so the government allowed it. I somewhat liked that one, I suppose, and I’ve not yet found a flavor in Earthly foods that compares to it.”

“Maybe we will find it one day on our travels.” I replied. “Then you won’t have to miss anything.”

“Haha. It’s not like I would be sad if we didn’t find it. There are plenty of tasty alternatives.”

We stuffed ourselves full until we could take not a single bite more. We still had quite a lot of food left but that’s what we had already anticipated. We started storing the rest of the food in our fridge and brought a plate or two to the fridge in Luna’s cabin as well. After which, we decided to just chill a bit on the bed. I put some of our pillows against the wall so we could use that as a cozy backrest.

Luna had picked a fantasy book to read, while I just sat next to her and listened to some calming tunes from the radio.

“Liking the book?” I asked after half an hour.

“Mhmm.” She nodded.

“What’s it about? Or want me to shut up.” I smiled.

“No, it’s fine.” Luna put the book down with the pages on her thigh so she only had to flip the book around to continue reading. “It’s about this transgender girl who gets turned into a cat girl. I really like the dynamics she has with her sister and the rest of her new family.”

“Oh, sounds interesting. What’s it called?” I could read the title, but I’d rather have Luna tell me instead.

“‘Turned Fate’ by an author called ‘FrozenHanna’. I’m sure that’s just her writing name, though.”

“Well, probably.” I chuckled. “Do you like reading LGBTQ+ books?”

“I do.” She nodded. “I find some of the things people deal with in the books very recognizable.”

“Hiding your identity and things like that?”

She nodded again. “Amongst others. Did you know that Luna also isn’t my real name?”

“I figured.” I smiled.

“And you don’t want to know my… old name?”

“I don’t see why. I didn’t ask to begin with because I didn’t want to pry. And if you wanted to tell me, you’d probably tell it to me yourself without needing me to push you for an answer.”

“It’s not that I mind… it’s just that it seems so irrelevant now.” Luna replied. “And Luna sounds a lot nicer to me, too.”

“Luna is a great name.” I agreed. “Lauren sounds so boring compared to it.”

Luna immediately shook her head. “I don’t agree with that at all. Lauren is a great name too and it fits you so well!”

“Haha, thanks. My mom would really have loved to hear that. It’s mainly because of her that I have this name. My dad wanted to name me Casey. But my mom won in the end.”

“Did you have nice parents? You don’t talk about them a lot.”

“Because it generally makes me sad.” I replied.

“Ah…”

“But it’s okay.” I smiled. “With you I feel comfortable enough to talk about them.”

Luna smiled softly. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“My parents were very good people. They really were. My mom was this friendly lady who was friends with everyone around her. Always happy to lend a listening ear to anyone who needed it. As for my dad, he was a strict person, but never unjust. To others, he would sometimes look very intimidating because of how tall and muscular he was. But whenever I got bullied at school, he’d always be the first to console me.” I chuckled. “…after which he’d always storm off to the principal to demand action to be taken. They were so scared of him that after a while the principal started asking me if everything was alright every time he saw me. He always stood behind his family and friends. A strong foundation for anyone to fall back. But yeah. They were great and very loving parents. But when I talk about them, I often get sad because they aren’t around anymore…”

Luna put her hand on my thigh and gave it a soft squeeze.

I smiled in return. “Would you like to come and visit them when we are back on Earth? I take it we won’t be leaving any time soon after we land…”

“I’d love to.” Luna gave me a sincere nod. “Does your mom like flowers, maybe we can take some along for her?”

“Dear Goddess, no.” I laughed. “She was way more into soft fabrics and things like that. Flowers weren’t really her thing. My dad on the other hand… He just loved flower arranging.”

“Oh, that’s interesting.”

“Mhmm.” I nodded. “Also a rather expensive hobby back home. The climate doesn’t suit growing flowers that well.”

“Right, you were from the Antarctic region.” Luna scratched her chin. “I always wondered what that place looked like. I’ve only been to the Eurasian continent.”

“Well, you’ll get a chance to see for yourself when you come to visit then.”

“I’m already looking forward to it.” Luna leaned in and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

After that, Luna continued reading her book for a little while more while I decided to go and get my pre-bed shower. When I came back, it was Luna’s time to do the same. As Luna left her book on the bed, I read through the first couple of pages, being careful not to move Luna’s bookmark.

“Huh… this game actually sounds pretty cool…”