The following morning, Juniper woke up early, eager to start his new life. As he showered, he checked his messages on the communicator.
─ New Message
Ciro: Good Morning, have you eaten do you want to come over for breakfast???
Juniper: Breakfast sounds great, how about a little later?
Ciro: How about cooking together you can show me your skills?
Juniper: Sounds good, but I'll make something easy!
Ciro: I don't mind, just promise me you won't burn anything!!
Juniper: I promise, I've never burned anything before..
Ciro: Good, see you soon.
Juniper finished his shower and got dressed, he was glad they had prepared some basic clothing of plain white shirts and jeans with simple tie up shoes, the military outfit stands out a bit much in general public.
When he arrived at Ciro's apartment, the door opened and Ciro came out wearing a pair of navy blue trousers and a red checkered shirt.
"Hi Juniper, how did you sleep?"
"Fine, and you?"
"Great, you will get to see my family soon they are helping the kids up.''
Ciro led him into the kitchen and showed him where everything was. They worked side-by-side, Juniper showed Ciro how to make french toast with bacon and eggs. He wanted to make a vegetable side dish but learned from Ciro that vegetables are hard to come by.
Juniper was surprised to learn this, and even more so that the level of cooking was uncommon because people only ate some carbohydrates or protein. The level of experimentation was low. Instead people rely heavily on nutrient packets.
"So you're telling me you eat a lot of burgers and fries?" Juniper picked up his brows
Ciro laughed "We do, we have some vegetables, however it is expensive to buy. And besides, there are plenty of nutrient packets around to make up for it."
"Are there other types of food?"
"Yes, but not as many. You can find some fruits, veggies, and some fish sometimes but its very scarce. Its nice to have variety but it takes a lot of resources to grow them and transport them across the country so they are only available for the wealthy.''
Juniper was astonished, he had assumed the world was like Earth with the way people lived, but apparently it wasn't. He hoped it wouldn't be too different to adapt to, but at the same time he had a slight hope that maybe his ability with plants would be able to help.
They finished cooking and sat down for breakfast. The two talked, sharing their past experiences and getting to know each other better. Ciro told him about growing up in the slums, and Juniper shared some of his own stories.
''I did wonder.. So thats why you are using an auto translator. If you want i can lend you some e-books on basic interstellar language? My youngest son is moving up a grade so he wont need them anymore'' Ciro pondered
"That would be very helpful, thank you." Juniper replied
There was the sound of movement coming from the room from the left, there three of Ciro's Husbands and two children entered the kitchen. The children were all boys, one was about 6 years old and the other was about 13.
The eldest boy looked exactly like Ciro, even identical. His hair was light brown, and he wore a dark blue button up shirt with white pants.
The younger child was a smaller build than his brother, and had features that probably resembled his father instead of Ciro.
"Juni, these three are my husbands and these are my children, Aiden is the eldest child and Alton is my youngest' Ciro greeted him warmly.
"It's nice to meet you all, I'm Juniper."
Ciro's Husbands also introduced themselves to Juniper. They were friendly and polite.
Clay was the third husband. He seemed to be the youngest among them but it was hard to tell, he had a large build like the other two but was more tanned and had light bronze hair. What surprised Juniper most is that the first and second husband were twin brothers. They were almost identical in their features with lighter blonde hair and hazel eyes.
"We have been living here for a few years now. I moved to this city after I married Ciro. Its very big and we needed a bigger place with all of us.'' Clay said.
"How long have you been here then?" Juniper asked.
"About 5 years now, we moved when Ciro got pregnant with Alton." Clay came to sit at the table along with the other two husbands and two children
Juniper found it interesting that Ciro could get pregnant. He hadn't quite come to terms with his female identity and the fact his medical record had him as a genetic female but he wasn't fully against it either, looking at the warm family Ciro had he was envious of. He moved around a lot with his brother's work and he never really got to make friends growing up let alone the idea of having a family.
He was comfortable in his own skin but he wondered if the option of having a family would ever become available to him.
Ciro looked over at Juniper "Is something wrong?"
Juniper came back to his senses "No nothing is wrong, I just thought that maybe my ability with plants might be of use here. I don't want to impose or anything though. I don't want to take up too much of your time."
''You mentioned you had a plant ability although i don't know much about it but it could be of use for growing vegetables… Hey! You could become a vegetable seller, you could be rich or.. Or you could do live streaming cooking? Hey! Even better using your own home grown vegetables! I'm sure people will watch it!'' Ciro sounded excited
Juniper looked confused "Live stream cooking.. people watch that?''
"Well when we moved around I had a hard time finding a job, with this you could do it anywhere!''
Ciro explained the live streaming platform had from what Juniper understood a 5D experience where senses of taste, smell and touch could all be felt. There are some live streamers who do cooking and are very popular for those who can't buy food products.
''So that means they are going to pay me for my services?" Juniper questioned.
"That's what makes this system amazing, is that the viewers donate to the channel and the person hosting it in the live chat room.I mean you could easily raise enough to support yourself.'' Ciro explained further.
Juniper pondered over it. He looked at his wrist screen and saw that he had barely enough money to cover costs for the next month.