...is it a myth?

I thought it was a clever character twist when I gave Curie a stack of 20 Fusion Cores with a Gatling Laser, calling it "For Glory" and pretending it's a heavily altered Minigun, to honor a certain someone to whom she owes a lot.

So far, so headcanon.

However, I looked into Curie's inventory after a couple of minutes of fighting, and she has torn that neat stack of cores apart, leaving 10 (!) differently charged ones all over her inventory. Some around 90, some around 70, none of them more than half decharged. Do companions really use a new Fusion Core every time they draw? I mean, I don't use Power Armor except as a heavy duty hazard suit, but I had still incredibly understimated this issue. It was stated on the wiki page that companions never fully empty a core, but this must be really annoying for frequent Power Armor users.

I will still let her have it, because I enjoy the "delicate scientist with the ridiculously powerful weapon"-vibe; but if she were my daughter, I'd turn off the lights & warm water on her floor this instant to make a point.