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mv mariya-usha.player cortex-blackhats

When she got to the Blackhats’ dorm, Mariya Usha locked herself in her room and didn’t come out. Tomboy Lombax had tried knocking on her door a few times, but Mariya didn’t answer. So, Tomboy, after spending hours outside Mariya’s door, did the next best thing she could think to do. The thing about being on the Blackhats is that you pick up a few things about technology. And the thing about technology was that it could be broken if you knew how. Tomboy hacked the lock on Mariya’s door.

“Mariya,” Tomboy said, pushing the door open. “Hey, are you okay in here?”

Mariya sat in the corner of her room, hugging her knees, crying softly. Darkness hung in the room, unlike anything Tomboy had ever seen before. It clung to the walls and the floor, like ink in water, and Tomboy had to swim through it to see Mariya fully. She looked up, her eyes glowing red.

“GET OUT,” Mariya shouted, her eyes burning bright, flames flaring around her, out of her eyes and mouth. Tomboy stepped back, but she didn’t run. Mariya hugged her knees closer, the fire in her eyes burning down, back to gentle, soft sobs.

Tomboy sat down. “Hi,” she said softly. “I wanted to check on you. You’ve been in here a while and…” She had planned this out, but she hadn’t really thought she’d get this far. “I know this is hard.”

Mariya closed her eyes. “Go away.”

“Eventually,” Tomboy said, “we’ll have to play together. You’ll be my catcher. We should get to know each other.”

Mariya looked up at Tomboy. “You don’t understand.”

“I’d like to try to.” She motioned to the spot next to the demon. “Can I sit with you? We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”

The demon stared at her new teammate, and wiped her eyes. She nodded. Tomboy sat down, her back against the wall. In the swirling darkness of the room, she could make out Mariya’s bags, still sitting unpacked on her bed.

“Rammy asked me to check in on you,” Tomboy said. “And then Crasher a few minutes later.”

“Crasher?” Mariya stifled a sob.

“We’re friends. They want to make sure you’re okay. And Rammy said United is worried about you too.”

“Why are they worried?” Mariya asked.

“Because they care about you. But you know that.”

Mariya said nothing for a moment. “I miss them so much,” she said.

“I know. I would miss my team too.”

“Before I met United, I didn’t know that other people could care about one another. Everything was just pain, and sadness. And then I get brought here, and I didn’t know people could be nice to each other. I know that’s silly now.”

Tomboy nodded along. “Was it hard to get used to that? I bet it was hard to learn how to trust people.”

The demon looked up thoughtfully. “After the first week, it was hard not to trust them. Everyone was very kind. I can tell when someone is trying to hurt me.”

“But not them.”

“They would never,” Mariya whispered. “They’re all so kind.”

“The Hats are all like that too. I think it’s because we’re all kind of stuck in this weird situation, but from the moment I got here, everyone has done their best to be patient with each other.” Tomboy laughed. “We’re not always good at it, but we try. I’ve never had friends as good as MeiMei or Kel. And Ashlyn was… is like a sister to me. I love all of these people. Before this I never thought I could love this much.”

Mariya looked at her, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I love them all so much too!” She said. “I didn’t know how to say so and it’s too late.”

Tomboy smiled. “I don’t think it’s too late! You’re just in a different part of town. If you really wanted to, we could go over there right now, it’s not even a 10 minute ride from our light rail station to theirs.”

“But they’re not always going to be around…”

“No… But I bet they’ll always be happy to see you. And Rammy too. You know…” Tomboy paused to think about it. “I was surprised you just didn’t move in with Rammy.”

Mariya sat up straight. “Oh!” She blushed. “I didn’t know you could do that…”

“Maybe you could talk to her about it. But honestly? I hope you don’t run off too quickly.”

Mariya looked over her pitcher. “No?”

“I know it’s hard, and I know it’s a lot, and that you’re hurting right now, but I was hoping that when you see what we’re all like, that you’d want to be our friend. That you’d want to be part of the Hats with us. Because we want you here.”

The demon hugged herself. “That’s very nice…”

“Yeah, they’re a bunch of good eggs, those nerds.”

“I guess I need to think about a lot of things,” Mariya said softly.

“Yeah… The Ultimate League really does that, huh?”

Mariya considered this. Tomboy suddenly noticed the lingering darkness in the room had begun to clear up, and she could see a few more of the demon’s things: a pair of shoes by the door, a water bottle plastered with United stickers, a framed photo of Rammy and Mariya together, and another of United, one of the fancier magazine shoots with the team in stylish street clothes, posed in the back room of Sax Pinski’s. Mariya was hard to miss in the shot, even sitting between an uneasy looking Trashcat, and Crasher Katz, who lounged in their chair like the princess they were.

Mariya’s stomach growled.

“You must be really hungry.”

The demon looked embarrassed. “Oh, yeah. I haven’t eaten at all today.”

“We can go somewhere, wherever you want!” Tomboy stood and offered a hand to Mariya, and pulled her up.

“Oh! Can we get sushi?”

“I didn’t expect that but yes, absolutely.”

Mariya sat on her bed and put her shoes on. “My friend Oliver introduced it to me. It’s really good! And it’s pretty, the way they make it.”

“We can call Oliver if you want,” Tomboy said. “See if he wants to come out too.”

Mariya finished tying her shoes. “Uh… that’s nice. But you’re trying to help me adjust to being here. Maybe you have a point.” She stood. “He can come next time.”

Tomboy nodded. “Let me just go get my coat and-”

Mariya pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for making the effort, Tomboy,” she said. “I promise I will try, too.”

The cat smiled, leaning into the hug. “Any time! You’re a Hat now, you’re one of us. And you can call me Tommy.”

“Oh! That’s neat!” Mariya said, smiling. “Okay!”

That night, Mariya laid in her bed, her clothes put away in her closet, under the warm glow of a Cortext Model 5 Smart Lamp, and sent Rammy pictures of her meal. Rammy said she’d call after a shower, fresh from a game, and they’d talk all night about it. And maybe she’d ask about moving in together, maybe, but for the moment, she wasn’t in a hurry.

-g

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