Mizumono

"Here looks like a good spot," Elsa said as she pulled the rover up to a cliffside overlook.

"It's a great spot," Anna nodded excitedly. "Come on, let's check it out!" she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Elsa powered down their little tourist rover, and after doing a quick check to make sure that the pressure seals on their EVA suits were functional, they opened the doors and hopped out.

As soon as they were exposed to the lower gravity of the Martian surface, their descent to the ground happened as if in slow motion. When they found their footing, they went over to the cliff's edge, looking out across the red expanse of the Hellas Basin.

Far below was Arcadia, the three biodomes of which were gleaming in the sunlight. Ships were seen darting over the surface, and some were heading out of the atmosphere and into the depths of outer space.

It was only midday, but the readings from their EVA suits reported an outside temperature of at least negative sixty degrees Celsius. Still, their suits kept them quite warm and toasty. The little tourist rover they had rented was tiny in comparison to the commercial models that roamed the surface of Mars, but it did the same job in keeping its occupants safe and sound from the extremes of the alien environment.

Anna hopped up and down through the air, twirling in circles in the low gravity. "This is so fun," she giggled and waved her arms around. "Try it, Elsa!"

Elsa jumped up into the air, initially losing her balance as her center of gravity was challenged, but she eventually evened out her body. "This is fun," she smiled. "Anna, look," she performed a graceful flip.

"Nice moves!"

"Thanks."

"But can you do this?" Anna bounced on her feet, then with a bit of a running start, she attempted to perform a cartwheel.

However, the force of her mass and acceleration in the lower gravity was more than she anticipated, so she ended up gliding head over heels into side of the rover. She thunked her head against the surface, but luckily, it was shielded by the ample padding inside of her helmet. Afterward, she drifted aimlessly through the air, falling slowly to the ground.

"Ow, that kinda hurt," Anna muttered.

Elsa laughed, shaking her head in amusement.

"Are you laughing at me?" Anna asked as her body slowly turned around, allowing her to face Elsa.

"No, of course not."

"Haha, very funny," Anna rolled her eyes and sighed as her body continued turning, facing away from Elsa. "Now can you come over here and help me? I'm starting to get- oh," she shut her eyes and gagged. "Starting to get a little dizzy."

"Right, of course," Elsa went over and helped Anna to her feet, making her right side up once more. "Better?"

Anna held up one finger as she concentrated on not throwing up inside of her helmet. When the nausea passed, she opened her eyes and gave a thumbs up.

"Okay," Elsa chuckled. "That's enough acrobatics."

They both walked over to the cliff's edge and sat down, admiring the view. For a few minutes, neither of them said anything, enraptured by the beauty of Mars as they were. Anna also knew better than to make a comment on any view now, since Elsa was liable to turn it into a compliment, which, for as much as she pretended to be annoyed by, she immensely enjoyed.

"What do you think?" Elsa asked, grinning at Anna, setting some obvious bait.

"Eh," Anna shrugged and looked away. "It's okay. Seen it a bunch of times by now."

"Just okay? Anna, look! It's beautiful, and you think it's just okay?"

"It's alright. I mean it's perfectly... whelming."

Elsa's grin vanished and her expression became unamused. "You're doing this on purpose."

Anna looked back at Elsa, smiling innocently. "Doing what on purpose?" she asked. "I don't know what you're talking about," she looked away again. "You asked me what I thought of the view and I told you."

"Anna."

"Elsa."

"Hmph," Elsa sighed and shuffled closer to Anna. "Have it your way. I think it's beautiful, like you."

"Just can't let it go, can you?" Anna chuckled.

"It's one of my quirks," Elsa smiled. "I'm quirky."

"More like dorky."

"Don't be mean, Anna. Today is our birthday."

Their whole outing to explore the Martian surface was just the first part of their joint birthday celebration. A few weeks after the new year, Anna and Elsa had now both turned twenty-six.

"Yeah, and I think I already set a pretty high bar when I planned this whole thing," Anna gave Elsa a smug smirk. "You got your work cut out for you if you wanna beat me" she gestured to the view.

"Don't worry about that," Elsa returned a cocksure grin. "I've been working really hard on my gift and I think I could easily top you."

"Top me, huh? I wouldn't mind if you topped me later tonight, especially if you're planning on wearing that saucy little blue thing."

"Oh, I didn't mean that sexually."

"Well, that's how I'm taking it. Heh, taking it, get it? Like, taking-"

"Yes, Anna," Elsa nodded.

Anna giggled immaturely. "Like I'll be taking it-"

"I get it."

Anna snorted and continued laughing at her crude joke. "I'm cracking myself up. No one- nobody-" she wheezed and laughed at herself even harder. "Nobody thinks I'm funny."

Elsa sighed, trying to look mildly annoyed, though she was actually blushing.

"But speaking of," Anna glanced over her shoulder at the parked rover. "We do have the rover for another hour," she looked at Elsa with a mischievous glint in her eye. "What do you say you and I explore each other? In low gravity."

Elsa looked at the rover, then back to Anna, then back to the rover, and back to Anna. As she considered the logistics of making that work, she bit her lip in anticipation and nodded.

Eagerly, the both stood up from the cliff's edge and scrambled back to the rover. After getting inside, they tried getting handsy with each other, but their EVA suits prevented any real contact. On top of that, another tourist rover pulled up alongside theirs. Evidently, the overlook spot was a popular destination for couples.

"Hmm," Anna frowned, looking out the windows for a place where they could find more privacy. "Damn it."

"I remember seeing a cave on the way up here," Elsa started the rover and shifted the gears.

"A cave?" Anna perked up. "That could work."

Elsa reversed the rover out of the overlook and drove back down the road they used to come up. After a few minutes, they found the cave in question and pulled off the road, heading inside. The interior of the cave was dark and quiet, and now that they were alone again, they got straight to work.

However, their excitement to fool around quickly died off by the time they managed to wiggle out of their EVA suits within the cramped space of the rover. Beneath their EVA suits, they wore another insulating bodysuit which they had to shed, and by the time they were finally naked, both Anna and Elsa were panting heavily from exertion.

"There," Anna shuffled into the rear space which offered the most room to work, which wasn't much. "Piece of cake. That wasn't so bad."

Elsa squirmed her way in next to her, banging her head against the ceiling of the rover. "This isn't particularly romantic," she said, struggling to turn onto her back. "Do you still want to try?"

"Hell yeah. When's the next time you and I are gonna be able to fuck in low gravity?"

"Point taken. Now come here."

"I'm actually kind of stuck where I am. Can you come here?"

"Okay, just move your leg so I can- ow!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry! Did that hurt?"

"I'm fine. Stay still, and I'll get on top."

"Heh, okay, won't find me complaining about- ouch. Here, I'll move my- oop!"

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Your foot is just on my-"

"Ow, that was my head again."

For the next little while, Anna and Elsa were determined to make things work inside of that cramped space. However, to do so, they had to contort their bodies around each other until they were a confused pile of limbs jammed inside of a tight space with little room to move around in. All the while, the lower gravity messed with the equilibrium inside their bodies, making them feel rather queasy as a result. Halfway through a rather awkward and mediocre session, they had to call it quits. They took even longer just to disentangle themselves from each other.

"Huh," Anna panted as she looked up at the ceiling. "That was..."

"Interesting," Elsa muttered from behind Anna's back, the most comfortable place for her to be.

"Kind of a big let-down," Anna chuckled, running her hand up one of Elsa's thighs. "Low gravity rover sex is kinda overrated."

"Something you want to try again?" Elsa asked, playing with Anna's hair.

"No, no. Definitely not. I feel kind of- uh oh," Anna felt nauseous again and clamped her hand over her mouth.

Elsa froze as her expression became alarmed. "Are you going to-"

"I'm good," Anna said, her voice strained as she shut her eyes and focused on not making a mess.

"Because if you are, I'd rather not be-"

Anna gagged, but managed to keep it together. "I said I'm good," she said. "Wait, no. Actually, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm totally fine."

"You're sure?" Elsa appeared hesitant.

"Yep," Anna took a deep breath. "Let's get back inside these monkey suits."

Elsa nodded as she reached for her clothing. "Well, Anna, I hope I was worth it."

Anna started fixing her hair. "It was a little cool," she said. "You had fun, right?"

"Maybe for the first five minutes, but then the appeal quickly wore off."

"At least I can scratch that off the bucket list. We can always do this again when we get back home."

"I'd like that."

"And can you, uh... can you wear that little blue thing again?"

Elsa smirked. "Of course."

… … …

Later that evening, after returning home, Elsa went straight into the kitchen to check on the gift she had been preparing. The gift in question was an attempt to make a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen, following the recipe that Takahashi had provided. Except such an endeavor was quite labor intensive and arduous, and could take up to two days to prepare everything from scratch, including the noodles, the broth, and the other toppings.

For an amateur cook like Elsa, who had never actually cooked much of anything in her life, it was quite a difficult undertaking. Still, ramen was Anna's favorite food, and since Elsa loved Anna, there was no task too large for her to handle.

At least so she thought.

While Anna was changing out of her day clothing in the bedroom, Elsa was by the stove in the kitchen, lifting the lid to inspect the gently simmering contents within.

"How's it look?" Anna asked. "Can't wait to see how your stuff holds up to Tak's."

"It's... definitely cooking," Elsa replied. "But it should be ready to serve now. I hope."

"You don't sound too confident."

"I'm cautiously optimistic. This is my first attempt to cook anything like this and I... no, it should be fine. It's fine."

"You know, normally, you go with the easier stuff when you start cooking for the first time. Things like toast, or... I don't know. Cereal. Or literally any of the prepackaged meal kits at the grocery store. I offered to help, and you said no."

"Anybody can make toast or pour milk into a bowl. I wanted to do something special. What's the saying? Sometimes you need to run before you can walk."

Anna pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, then went out of the bedroom. "Well, I'm sure it'll be tasty," she said. "When is the grub gonna up? I'm hungry."

"Soon," Elsa turned around and made a shooing gesture. "Don't come out here, it's not ready yet."

"I thought you said-"

"I still need to set the table. Now go back inside!"

"Really?" Anna tried to peek around Elsa. "It looks-"

"I said go back inside!" Elsa turned Anna around by the shoulders and nudged her back into the bedroom. "I need everything to be perfect!"

Anna snorted and laughed, then did as she was told. Elsa closed the door to the bedroom, and for the next few minutes, she tended to matters in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Anna patiently waited and passed the time by lazing around in bed.

Soon enough, Elsa called out to Anna. "Okay, it's ready!" she said. "You can come out now."

Anna got out of bed, then exited the bedroom to find a cozy, domestic scene. Elsa had dimmed the lights to a more intimate atmosphere, and soon as Anna made her appearance, she snapped her fingers and activated the redtooth speaker system. Smooth jazz started playing, setting a slow and gentle tune. Finally, on top of that, Elsa pointed at the windows, activating the holo-display that hovered over them, and snapped her fingers. Simulated rain started pelting the windows, further adding to the moody ambiance that Elsa had meticulously curated.

It was as close an approximation to the dynamic weather on Earth as she could create, since in Arcadia, there were no real weather patterns to speak of underneath the biodomes.

The kitchen table was set for two. For a centerpiece, Elsa had laid down a glass jar with some yellow chrysanthemum flowers nestled inside. She had clearly gone to great lengths to make their first shared birthday together as special and unique an experience as possible.

"Elsa, wow," Anna's eyes widened with awe as she looked around the romantic setting their apartment had been transformed into. "You weren't playing around. This is... this is something else."

"I had to search the net for ideas," Elsa fidgeted with her hands nervously. "I've never done... well, you already know about that. I hope it isn't overwhelming."

Anna smiled and went up to Elsa, giving her a big, warm, appreciative hug. "It's not, it's everything I've ever wanted," she choked up a little. "I mean the lighting, the music, the- the... the flowers! You got me flowers?"

"I did," Elsa said. "Chrysanthemums. Real chrysanthemums that I brough from a florist. I read that on special occasions, it is often customary to give your loved ones flowers."

"You got me flowers," Anna repeated, wiping her eyes and sniffling. "Elsa, you nut. You really do know how to treat a girl, you know that?"

"Are you crying?" Elsa asked, tensing up with worry.

"No, I'm not! Shut up! I'm just really happy right now and... and... you got me all emotional over some goddamn flowers!"

"Oh, Anna. You deserve to be happy."

"Yeah, duh. I just never thought- I mean I always used to think that I couldn't ever have anything like this."

After her life and everything she lived through, Anna was understandably skeptical whenever something good was happening to her. She knew it was still silly to think that way, but then again, old habits tended to die hard. In more ways than one, she was still acclimating to a normal life in Arcadia, with normal problems that normal people went through. Not the life or death struggles she was used to dealing with on Earth.

"I understand," Elsa rubbed Anna's back softly. "You have me now, and I have you, and we have each other."

"It's not fair," Anna mumbled, nuzzling her face into Elsa's shoulder.

Elsa frowned. "What's not fair?"

"We haven't even gotten to the stupid food yet and you already beat my birthday present. Damn it."

"Hmm," Elsa chuckled as a smug smirk crossed her face. "I still haven't even put on the little blue thing either."

"Ugh," Anna groaned, breaking the hug. "Yeah, sure, whatever. You win, I guess," she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Time enough for that later," Elsa went to the dining table and pulled out the chair for Anna. "First, we eat. Sit down. I'll serve the food."

Anna sat down, while Elsa went over to the stove and ladled out a healthy serving of the ramen into two bowls. After fixing them up with all the other toppings, she returned to the dining table and set them down.

"Here you go," Elsa remained standing, fidgeting with her hands again. "Made it just the way you like, at least I think I did."

"Aw, Elsa, thank you," Anna smiled gratefully and then regarded the food.

Since it was Elsa's first real attempt at cooking anything, especially for a type of food that involved a heavily technical process from start to finish, to say she missed the mark was an understatement.

The noodles, which Elsa had tried to make from hand without the proper equipment, were lumpy and misshapen. The toppings like the pork belly and boiled egg were either undercooked or overcooked. Most alarming of all was the color of the broth, which was frighteningly green and swimming with floating bits of gunk which normally would have been removed during the skimming process.

Anna's eyes darted between the bowl of ramen in front of her and Elsa who was standing off to the side. Elsa was holding her breath in anticipation and her face was a mixture of worry and apprehension as she waited for a verdict.

It was easy enough to tell that Elsa had tried her very best and put a lot of time and effort into this endeavor. A significant task that she took on for someone she loved deeply. Anna didn't have the heart to let all that hard work be for nothing, so she raised her spoon and took a sip of the broth.

Immediately, her taste buds were offended because the broth had been liberally over seasoned. The other flavors were off as well, and Anna knew there was no way she could finish what was in front of her. Still, she soldiered on and picked up her chopsticks, slurping up some noodles to try them as well. Again, the taste was almost heinous and an affront to Japanese cuisine.

"So?" Elsa chewed her lip in consternation. "How is it?"

"It's... good," Anna strained to swallow down the food and smiled valiantly. "Really."

Elsa's expression dropped and became gloomily sullen. "You don't have to lie," she sighed and her eyes were downcast. "I messed it up, didn't I?"

"No! No, no, no!" Anna eagerly lapped up another spoonful of broth, grimaced, suppressed the urge to cough, and then reigned in her expression to avoid hurting Elsa's feelings. "It's tasty, it really is."

"Anna," Elsa looked up, reaching for her own spoon.

"Elsa," Anna cleared her throat and smiled innocently.

Without another word, Elsa tried a bit of ramen from her own bowl and then immediately regretted it. Her eyes went wide with shock and she started coughing from the bitter taste, covering her mouth as she did.

"Oh. Oh no," Elsa looked down at her food and then glanced over to the kitchen. "Oh dear. Anna, this is inedible."

At that point, Anna dropped the façade and grimaced. "Mmhmm," she winced from the taste still lingering in her mouth. "What did you put in this? And what did you do to this?"

"I don't know," Elsa stood up from the table and went back to the stove. "I followed Takahashi's recipe to the letter. I don't know how this could have happened."

"Did you?" Anna went along with her, standing next to Elsa as she inspected the contents of the pot.

Inside was much more of the same story. That same green broth which defied explanation, and worse still, a foul smell emanating from it.

"Well, I may have taken some liberties with the more technical aspects," Elsa put a cover onto the pot and sighed. "I didn't think it would be an issue. It said season to taste, and I wasn't sure if that meant mine or yours, so I perhaps overcompensated to be safe. Among other things. Perhaps many other things."

She rubbed her face in her hands and sighed again, clearly distraught at her failure to cook Anna's favorite food for their shared birthday. Her shoulders were slumped and all of her earlier cheer had turned to defeat and humiliation.

The end result of her efforts was an easy enough explanation. Elsa had the knowledge of cooking and the recipe to follow, but not the same level of practice and experience.

"I'm sorry," Elsa mumbled. "I know I did it wrong."

"Hey, come on," Anna gently pulled Elsa's hands away from her face. "This is wonderful, really, but you didn't have to go through all this just for me."

Elsa looked at Anna, her expression still completely crestfallen. "I just wanted to do something special for you," she said. "Helping me get my life back, rescuing me from New York, taking me home, that was you. You care about me and you've already given me so much. I love you and I wanted to show you how much I love you, and I ruined our birthday-"

"Woah, woah, hey," Anna pulled Elsa into a tight hug. "Nothing could ruin this. Listen to me. Are you listening?"

"I'm listening."

"Nothing you do could ever possibly ruin this."

"Really?"

"Yes, and like, that isn't an invitation to try, but what I mean is- whatever. Not important. The point is, it's okay. Everything is okay. We're all okay and I love you. Honestly, between me and you, it would take a lot to ruin what we have."

"Okay," Elsa shut her eyes and a tentative smile appeared.

"So, you screwed the pooch on this one," Anna chuckled. "You tried to make something and you fucked it up. It happens. That's fine."

"Okay, Anna."

"And you definitely should have taken my help when I offered, but hey, it's fine."

"I get it, Anna."

"And I'm gonna be rubbing this in your face forever now, for sure. You won't ever live this down. I'll make sure of it."

"You've made your point, Anna."

Anna pulled back and gave Elsa a quick kiss on the nose. Then, after a second, they both started laughing at the silliness of their situation.

"Thank you," Elsa smiled, finding her earlier cheer. "I think I know how to make it up to you," she grabbed Anna by the waist and started pushing her towards the bedroom.

"Uh oh," Anna groaned. "This doesn't involve more of your cooking, does it?"

"No, I have a much better idea," Elsa grinned and a naughty glint appeared in her eyes.

Catching on, Anna gasped. "Oh, you mean the little...?

"The little blue thing, yes."

"Oh, heh, okay."

Halfway to the bedroom, they got caught up in getting handsy with each other. Elsa grabbed Anna by the back of her thighs and easily lifted her up, much to Anna's delight.

However, back at the stove, the simmering broth inside the pot bubbled over and the lid came off, clattering on the floor. Seconds later, the toxic looking liquid spilled over the sides, getting all over everything in its immediate surroundings.

"Uh oh," Anna looked over to the commotion. "Did you forget to-"

"I forgot to turn off the stove," Elsa sighed, putting Anna down. "We better clean up before-"

The liquid roiled with more intensity and now began to bubble more heavily. It continued spilling out of the pot, splashing everywhere and moving almost as if it had a mind of its own. The mixture of oils and fat inside the broth also threatened to catch fire with how they were starting to smoke. An acrid, caustic scent soon filled the air.

"Shit!" Anna cried out in alarm.

"Towels, we need towels," Elsa hurried into the kitchen, opening the cupboards to try and clean up some of the mess.

The raging broth hissed and sputtered, now taking on a brighter, almost radioactive color now that it was free from its confinement.

"Towels?" Anna waved the smoke and the pungent scent away from her face. "We need to call the fucking exorcist!"

Much of the stove area was now covered in steaming, swirling broth that was still rapidly spreading. It defied logic, but more and more of the stinking stuff just kept coming out of the pot.

"How much stuff did you put in there?!" Anna asked, bringing up her omni-pad and getting ready to dial for help.

"I don't know!" Elsa exclaimed hysterically as she desperately tried to cordon off the spill with a ring of towels. "Nothing about this situation is making any sense!"

Anna went over to the windows and opened them up, letting the smoke out at the same time as her call went through to building services. "Hello? Hi, this is Rachael in suite 808," she said. "We're having a bit of a kitchen crisis over here and-"

Somehow, the pot tipped over, spilling the rest of its contents. A fire broke out. Elsa gasped in shock as she tried to contain everything.

"Could you send up someone from maintenance to help us out?" Anna asked. "Send the fire department too. And a priest. Fuck it, just send everyone!" she dropped the call and rushed to Elsa's aid.

When the maintenance worker arrived to assess the damage, they quickly sent for a fire crew and a hazardous waste collection team to deal with the mess. Anna and Elsa were equally baffled as everyone else on the matter of how and why an innocent pot of liquid caused such a stir, but when all was said and done, they packed everything up and left after the situation was dealt with.

What had started out as a nice evening at home had devolved into a nightmarish scenario. Luckily, it was all over now, and all that was left was to clean up the kitchen and get it back in order.

Elsa never got to put on the little blue thing, and Anna never got to see her wear it. Still, it was quite an eventful day for them and as far as birthday's go, their twenty-sixth birthday was certainly one to remember.

"I think that should do it," Anna finished wiping down the counter and saw that it was spotless.

Elsa looked up and examined the floor she had just finished wiping. "I think so too."

The hour was late and already past midnight. The cleanup took a considerable length of time, but they were finally finished. Throughout the entire ordeal, the music and rain simulation that Elsa had put on earlier were still playing, forgotten in the chaos that unfolded.

"That wasn't so bad, right?" Anna dusted her hands and went over to the sink to wash them. "How are you feeling?"

"Silly," Elsa frowned as she stood up. "I feel silly," she chuckled at herself.

"Yeah, you look silly," Anna giggled as well. "But you know what? Still the best birthday we ever had."

"Yeah," Elsa went up next to Anna's side and washed her hands.

When they finished and dried off their hands, they both turned around and regarded the state of their apartment. Everything was spick and span, clean and cozy once more. The simulated rain continued to pour down, beating against the windows, setting a calming atmosphere. At the same time, the jazz music carried on with a sweet, soothing, and soft melody.

A playful grin crossed Anna's face as she reached out towards Elsa. "Hey," she took her by the hand. "Come on."

"Come where?" Elsa asked. "Do you want to go to bed now?"

"No, no, no. Dance with me."

"Dance?"

"Mmhmm," Anna wrapped one arm around Elsa's waist and held her other hand up close to their bodies.

"Oh," Elsa smiled as she caught on. "This is nice."

"Happy birthday, Elsa."

"Happy birthday, Anna."

And just like that, the pair held each other close in a tender and loving embrace as they slow danced in their kitchen. A peaceful scene of domestic bliss and serenity to match the celestial dance of the stars wheeling above in the night sky.