Shiroe's finger was tapping on his desk again - enough to almost make Shinkou whine at him. When she finally did make a questioning sound at him, he returned to the present and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She tipped her head at him questioningly and blinked at him. She'd learned his patterns by now, lying next to him and watching him day after day, so Shiroe supposed she would know.
He sighed at her. "I want them home already," he whined quietly. "There's been no news since they left San Diego." He sat back in his chair and rocked back on the back legs a bit, trying to get himself to calm down at least a little bit.
When Shinkou shifted to push up to sitting up on her haunches, Shiroe put the front legs of his chair back on the floor and leaned over a little on the arm of his chair closest to her. Quietly he said, "You wouldn't happen to know how to contact Purrcy, would you...or how to send a request?"
Shinkou only answered as any dog might, with a bit of hope of a head rub, asking if he wanted to be licked, any attention when she was just as bored as any guard with nothing to do for hours. Shiroe obliged. He should, now that he'd gotten her interested, and it was something to distract him as well.
When Shiroe finally told Shinkou to lie back down, he felt a little better, but he still frowned as he turned back to his desk. He scanned it, going through each item on it in his mind as to where each thing stood. His eyes caught the manila folder Purrcy had left for him just as she and the Eagles had begun their world trip. He reached for it. He'd been ignoring it since he'd gotten back home from being on the USS Ronald Reagan in the Indian Ocean.
With a sigh, he opened it up one more time. It was such a depressing list. His eyes scanned down it slowly. He'd marked off all of the facilities that were known to have been closed down, beginning in China and following the path Purrcy's party had taken.
Shiroe paused, not quite understanding, then he was sitting up straight in his chair. He blinked in excitement. There, in front of his eyes, were marks that he hadn't put on the page. East U.S. Check. ...Central U.S., check. Same for the west coast. None of those were really a surprise, since he knew they'd crossed the continent.
It was the others after that that drew his excited attention. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama... Panama wasn't checked, nor the ones after it on the west side of South America. But going around the east side, several South American locations were checked. Venezuela, Brazil - two of the three were checked.
One, two, three, four, five. Five facilities left to take out ...plus ...he scanned the full list ...one in New Zealand and two in Australia. Compared to what the full list had been, that wasn't all that bad, really. Shiroe's eyes lifted up at the corners. He had a way to know how they were doing.
For the next week, Shiroe watched as every two or so days another facility was marked off the list in the Central and South America register. They alternated as if Purrcy's group was working down from California on the west side and the USS Ronald Reagan was sailing along the east side so that they'd meet somewhere in the south of Chile or Argentina.
He took to checking the list first, as soon as he sat down to his desk each morning, and then again every evening as he cleaned up his desk for the next day. Each time there was one marked off, he smiled and in his heart said a prayer of thanks to them and to Inari, and asked for them to be blessed as they went on to the next one.
There was silence for just over a week after the last western hemisphere magic research facility was shut down. Shiroe expected that, too, but it was so long his impatience made him dance at odd times, until even Akatsuki was looking at him in their apartment after dinner time like Shinkou was during the daytime in Shiroe's office.
When Akatsuki finally gave Shiroe a scolding look and followed up with words, Shiroe gulped and calmed back down. He didn't need a repeat of the threat she'd given him when things had been hard during the pre-work on the sub-quests before they went to China. He did trust them to do their job properly - the proof they were was on his desk. He was just impatient for them to get back home again. Still, he worked harder to stay patient and calm.
Finally, New Zealand was marked off. Shiroe slumped back into his chair and held on tightly to the folder. They were back on Japan's side of the planet again. It wouldn't be too much longer.
Deliberately he set the folder down on his desk, then folded his hands together in front of him on the desk. It was time to be considering how to receive them again. Did he need to have one last world government conference to make sure they didn't start up the facilities again, or would the efforts of Michael, Purrcy, and the U.S. Navy be sufficient?
Did he need to have another press conference to welcome the two home from their honeymoon, or could they just quietly slip back into their positions? These and other questions occupied his mind for some time - until Akatsuki arrived to interrupt in the course of that day.
Later that evening, before leaving his desk, Shiroe wrote a summary note, including his questions that his thoughts had brought up. He slipped it into the folder without looking at what it said. They would at best be just arriving at the first location in Australia.
Two days later, he had a new piece of paper in the folder and a new check mark.
Let the U.S. government handle it. We'll get called in if we're needed. As the boys are fond of saying, I'm the big guns. We'll hope it doesn't have to happen.
Can it please be quiet? If they make enough noise that Marie requests it, then you can decide at that point. The public usually doesn't care much once the initial hype is over - and that was months ago now. Let's not remind them.
Michael asks if we can have the real honeymoon before we really get to work. He wants to take me on the full tour of Japan that got interrupted. We have to have the next check up at the clinic before they'll let us off the base. I expect them to make a scene, but I might just spank the CO first so it may not happen. Please...be patient just a little longer.
I love you. - Hahaue
Shiroe leaned back and sighed at Purrcy and the paper in his hands. He could understand it - wanting to slip back in quietly after a grueling around-the-world trip. They'd likely sleep that first week without moving, actually, rather than tour Japan, or vice-versa. Either way, he knew what he was going to have them do first when they did get back: have dinner with him and Akatsuki in his apartment. He wanted to know his Hahaue was back. That kind of quiet was just fine by him.
He did have to send back one short note that he was sure neither of them would like. They were going to have to postpone the honeymoon a little longer. They were already late for having things ready for the Japan Game Convention, even with her comments dropped on Marielle's desk that had been forwarded to Isaac. They were required to attend at least that much, and Purrcy was required to present at it (thus getting the press on the return as well). It was going to be hard to find the time to let them sleep to overcome the jet lag even, at this point.
Shiroe sighed as his hand paused over the folder, holding that note in his hand. With a sad little smile, he finally just set it down on top of the folder, upside down. He would send it in a few more days. They didn't have to know just yet, but he promised, he'd send it with enough time for them to become resigned to it.
-:-:-:-:-
"Oh, so now we get our Pacific pirate adventure," Stiletto sighed as the klaxon rang through the entire ship. It had to be that. They were at sea state two and there was nothing on weather radar, since Gareth had shaken his head at the first eyebrow to go up. "All the way around backwards and back to it again."
The ship's intercom whistled and their party was called to the bridge. Purrcy's eyes got wide. They'd actually been keeping her off the bridge and out of the steerage room. She hadn't complained since they had let her go up high enough to see the ship from above and the stars overhead.
That was a long climb from where they'd been and when they arrived the Captain seemed a bit impatient. The men with her saluted. Purrcy curtsied since she was in a skirt. That made the Captain pause and his eyebrow go up briefly.
"We can't get involved in this one, since it's their ploy to get us embroiled in the equivalent of a war, just because they want to be able to punish us for helping you," the Captain said very plainly.
"Of course," Purrcy said. "Are they asking for flashy so that everyone gets the proof there's magic and has the fear of it in them, so we're back full circle again, or are they going to let us do it our way?"
The Captain glared at her. Purrcy curtsied again. "We've got it. Thank you for letting us know it's time." She turned to her guards. "Come along. We'll work from outside the bridge so we don't disturb what needs to be done to get us back home."
The men with her saluted the Captain again but didn't let their faces say anything at all as they turned to follow Purrcy. In her little world the Queen ranked the Captain, even if she'd outwardly been properly subordinate. Of course, with that initial question, the Caretaker outranked all the governments of the world as well. They walked the thin line between both worlds - her little one and the real one everyone else lived in.
Since Purrcy knew that, the first thing she did was call them inside the spirit realm for a planning conference. "One. People at the top have to stay afraid of me enough that they don't try sending assassins after me for the rest of forever, or my natural death whichever comes first.
"Or they have to forget I even exist. That may be hard since we already know we can't make them forget the possibility that magic just might be researchable. If they forget me, they really will blame the U.S. or start all over again.
"Two. Only we can do it, as the Captain said, but we do have one other group to call on. That's the magic community. They also want speculation of real magic to be silenced again. If we need back-up I think we should call on them.
"I think we should go with the simple solution, but I don't have any idea of what the long-term consequences will be. So I'll tell you what it is and you shoot holes in it." She got nods. They'd been working this way now for months and she had gotten better with the last round, trying to learn what she'd been trying to teach Tetorō: how to work on a team with other people.
"Invisibility and denial." She clasped her hands behind her back and let them work it out.
They did have to call on the magic community. Falsifying that many radars on all the submarines, airplanes, and ships that had already seen them on the horizon took more MP and HP than Purrcy had within her.
All four airmen with magic were needed to cloak the large aircraft carrier from visual detection. Two were needed to direct the Captain through the safe zones past all those same radar-bearing craft. Two were needed to protect the USS Ronald Reagan from incoming fire when a few governments got irritated and shot "practice fire" at where they'd been anyway, or where their calculated trajectory was. And Purrcy was required to additionally protect them all from magic attacks because half the magic community decided this would be a good time to get rid of them if at all possible.
Being on double duty was rather difficult for all of them until the initial spell casting was completed and Purrcy had properly spanked the magic users who'd dared try to take her down. She didn't care so much if they were afraid of her. They were already magic users, and this was her last time to use it if she had her way. She just rewrote the targets on the spells to be her and let them come. They rebounded like any spell written against her did, her "return to sender" function working the way it always did.
As soon as the invisibility cloaking spells were on the ship, the Eagles were free to do their other, longer-term chores while Purrcy stood as battle monitor and made sure the spell casting of the rest of the magic users helping them was properly doing the job. "General Purrcy is your new title," Michael teased her when he had a moment in his own guardianship to do so. Purrcy sighed at him, but he thought she was pleased, nonetheless. He'd just graduated her up from her lessons, after all.
They sailed into Iwakuni base openly, since the port needed to see them to dock them. They just arrived in a way at a time no one on the planet expected. (Alive and on time.) It was simple for everyone to deny everything. All the Navy men on the ship thought they'd just sailed home like usual. All the hunting craft never saw them.
The U.S. military and government were able to deny knowing anything about a change in path, plans, or anything else, and then were able to hint that those asking questions were being duplicitous and war-hungry, making them back off. It left the opposition disgruntled and unhappy, but the U.S. military took care of anything outside Japan.
Michael took care of sending back clueless anyone sent inside Japan that Purrcy pointed at. It eventually calmed down when she stayed unfindable in the middle of being where she was supposed to be and not-a-threat long enough.
Anyone who tried to find her children in the United States or Michael's son couldn't hold on to the thought long enough to act on it, since she'd included that little virus in the code cast while they were on the USS Ronald Reagan while outside India. She'd only exempted the lawyers working on the divorce proceedings and filled those holes in after they'd walked away from the courthouses.
With the Queen and Caretaker firmly re-ensconced in the seventh floor of Log Horizon Systems, life could finally calm back down to a dull roar.
-:-:-:-:-
"Yeah, conventions are a lot of fun...from the spectator point of view." Stiletto slumped down into the couch, fell sideways, and was snoring shortly thereafter. He'd been on watch duty from inside and been kept quite busy, actually.
Gareth glared at him, irritated Stiletto'd beat him to it. "It was easier when we had Bowie," he grouched.
"Yes, having a mind-reader does help," Purrcy agreed, hanging up her jacket, having already wearily pulled off her heels. "Don't begrudge him what you're working towards, though. At least you got free of the magic and only have to stand around." She wasn't all that emotional about it.
Gareth still scowled anyway. "And how long will you have it so he can play around?" he was referencing Stiletto.
Purrcy smiled at Gareth and ruffled the top of his head as she walked past him for the sink and the plastic-wrapped plastic cup next to it. "I don't know. I assume at least until we're all sure I'm no longer going to be hunted down, so I can stay alive. That was Michael's wish and I think that one Inari knows full well it needs to honor, but doesn't want to have to get involved with."
She paused while she filled the cup with water and downed it. She grimaced. The water at this particular location wasn't the best from the sink, but she'd gotten dehydrated having to be on display at the booth or presenting on the stage for the full day. "Let's get water bottles ordered in for tomorrow," she said.
Gareth didn't disagree. "We'll have to purify them," he said. Purrcy raised an eyebrow at him. He slumped. "Right. You'll have to purify them." He turned away to head for the chair to get off his own feet. "Yes, I did want this, really I did," he muttered at himself, trying once again to convince himself that lack of magic was really the way to go. It had become habit once again, and once again he was going to have to go through withdrawals.
Purrcy smiled and pulled out her toothbrush and toothpaste while he wasn't looking. He didn't need to be reminded he couldn't do that anymore either. He was snoring in the chair by the time she was ready to climb into the bed.
They were sleeping in the room with her because there wasn't hotel space for them to have two rooms, and because Michael wasn't with them. He was still more paranoid about her safety than she was, since they'd just arrived back home in time for the Tokyo Japan Game Convention.
They could have been staying in their own rooms in Log Horizon Systems, except that Shiroe and Marielle both had shaken their heads and refused. Purrcy was still trying to understand why, unless it was for the reason the two Eagles had collapsed.
Purrcy was tired. She'd just gotten used to being busy again. And her circadian rhythm was all off. She'd been sleeping standing on her feet all morning, then caught her wind just as her turn to answer questions up on stage arrived (thank goodness).
She pulled out her phone one more time. Still no text message or voice mail from Michael. She was going to get testy soon. Shiroe had wiggled her free from Iwakuni barely in time, because of the press she needed to face at the convention, and thus the minimum two guards. They'd been released from military duty with a clean bill of health officially before they walked out the door. A reward for a job well done was all she could figure for it to be that fast.
Michael on the other hand had been kept back. She was going to throw more than a fit if they were doing anything other than debriefing him. She'd already checked her history attached to him more than once. Since he'd told her that electronics could create interference, she'd checked on that, too. She'd also tested Bowie, to make sure he wasn't the interference making her believe Michael was okay. Once she'd confirmed a million ways from Sunday that she was really still seeing the current Michael, she'd managed to stand her ground firmly and not go rushing off to rescue him.
He was blocking her somewhat himself, so that the private conversations he was supposed to be having were actually private. She was trying to respect that, since even husbands and wives needed that respect. Plus, this was job related, and she really didn't want to know any more than he wanted to tell her when it came to that. Still, she wasn't settling well at the moment.
After considering her options, Purrcy called Michael's cell phone. He should be done with whatever he was doing by now. No one answered. She sighed and went looking for him. He was in a bed, and likely didn't have his phone, or something.
Purrcy lay down in her bed and entered a completely new foxhole, then wished for him to come to her, as her protector. The four-armed demon showed up, blinking in surprise. "Like I'm okay with you not answering your phone when I'm done working and you're not supposed to be locked down that far?" she complained at him.
He took her in his arms and lay back down, although that was relative in spaces like this. "Good. I've only been waiting for you to get free. I hit super jet lag about two hours ago. Not even a brick to the head would have woken me up."
"And that was me this morning and now I'm awake," she was grouchy that he'd even already had more sleep than her.
"Mmm," Michael said sleepily. "Shh. Listen." He put her ear to his heart and wrapped her up in his wings. While there wasn't a heartbeat to hear - his body was still in bed on the base - he started purring. That was what she needed. Purrcy relaxed and listened to him purr until she was finally also sleeping.
She set an internal alarm clock, though. It wouldn't do to miss her first activity in the morning, nor to have him not wake up when he should. The boys were so jet lagged she wasn't even sure they would wake her up, or wake up at all for another thirty-six hours. She didn't want to after all.
"I think I like being able to do this, even if I don't want to keep it," a voice said in her ear before her alarm went off. It went off right then, though. She turned it off and sent sparks to wake up Gareth and Stiletto.
"Are they really treating you right?" she asked immediately.
"Yes," Michael reassured her, brushing his upper hand over her ears, the lower one patting her back.
"It was very distracting yesterday to be so worried about it. I did try, though," she frowned at him.
"Good girl," he praised her softly. "Really, it's okay. I'll meet you at Log Horizon by the time you're all done. They know how long the convention goes for, so figure they can have me for that long at least."
"So...I'm being tested, you're in deep planning of what's next with them, and I just have to wait it out." She glared at him tiredly. "I don't think spending the night with you this way counts in the points either way. Expect me to call for you every night."
Michael looked at her for a moment, then gave her a kiss. "I like sleeping with you," he said, completely not addressing any issue she'd brought up. "Send me back now, though, or Stiletto's going to send the emergency signal."
Purrcy sighed. "Right. I love you."
Michael blinked then gave her a bright smile. "Well, if it got you to finally say that, then I guess I'm okay with it." Before she could get mad, he kissed her again. "I love you, too. Say it more. It's been since the wedding itself."
"Ahh," Purrcy gaped at him a bit, then let her ears fall. "Sorry. We were so busy and it's not habit at the moment."
Michael pet her and kissed her forehead. "Forgiven. Just practice."
Purrcy nodded and sighed, then sent him back to his body and returned to hers just in time to catch Stiletto before he really did freak out about not being able to find her in her usual foxholes.
-:-:-:-:-
Purrcy exited the company car with everyone else who was piling out of it. The three day convention had one day before it and another after it, plus more meetings of company-to-company negotiations and good-will/political maneuvering that had gone on around the edges. She'd been there for far longer than she'd wanted to be. It had been very hard to keep her temper by the last day's worth of activities.
Really only wanting to sleep and recover in peace and quiet, she almost stumbled up the steps and through the door. Only having Gareth's quiet presence next to her to hold her upright was helping her at all to not turn into a fox. Even Stiletto was concerned and hovering. He'd had to put an illusion on her ears and tails more often than not and they'd given up on hiding the white hair.
Purrcy had been asked about it, of course. Quietly she'd told the hostess of that session of the convention that the reason she and Shiroe had publicly asked the governments of the world to stop testing Adventurers of Theldesia for magic was because she herself had been a victim of the same. No proof whatsoever had come of it, but she'd been tortured enough her hair had turned white.
That had made a lot of people go pale and a furor had run through the convention. She'd received a lot of condolences and even more questions that she'd refused to answer, only repeating again the request to everyone to be kinder and allow those who'd come back from Theldesia to live the lives they'd been so desperate to return to. It told their current press line very well.
Shiroe had been asked if he knew whether the governments of the world were relenting or not. He'd said he'd heard from many governments that they'd stopped experimenting, but it was impossible to know everything as only a Japanese citizen. That left it open ended enough for everyone who cared to stay a watchdog on the issue, but eased up on the overall pressure against the governments as a token peace offering to them.
Akatsuki arrived in front of Purrcy as they arrived in the Log Horizon lobby. "Um," she was worrying her fingers together. Purrcy stared at the fingers until the oddness of it finally clicked with the answer. Akatsuki almost never was worried in that way.
Purrcy's eyes rose to look into Akatsuki's eyes. "Your room..." Somehow she wasn't quite able to finish fast enough for Purrcy's tired mind because Akatsuki rather froze before the rest of the thought could come out.
Marielle quickly leaped in to rescue Akatsuki. "It's not bad! We promise. It's just ...not what you left."
Purrcy's eyes slowly looked into Marielle's and she rather froze as well, then slumped with a look of pity. "Ah, well. We'd hoped to surprise you and see you excited, but ...you're very much too tired for that, I can see."
Purrcy nodded slowly. The ladies all looked at each other, then slumped. "Well..., we can only try," Henrietta finally said sadly, "or she'll be sleeping propped up on the elevator wall."
Purrcy blinked and a smile tried to climb up and out to her lips. She was already asleep, all considered. They were too late, but they understood that.
The elevator arrived at the seventh floor. Purrcy supposed that was a good sign. She wasn't going to forget which floor she lived on when she woke up. Both Gareth and Stiletto were helping her stumble down the hallway now, their grips on her warning her that she absolutely was not to change into a fox yet.
When the little crowd stopped at a door that wasn't where she expected, Purrcy worked hard to look up and down the hallway. Her door wasn't any more. It didn't even exist. This would have been the next door down, and the one on the other side was also missing. "Okay," she said cautiously. "Did you seriously expand my apartment that much?"
She got secretive smiles. The door was knocked on and was actually opened by Michael. Purrcy almost broke down in tears at just that sight. Michael paused to see everyone at the door, then his focus was on her. He went from happy to see her to very concerned. "Purrcy?"
"She's really asleep," Akatsuki said apologetically. "We were hoping ...but it's too much."
"I guess so," Michael had to agree, looking at Gareth and Stiletto and their grip on Purrcy. "Well, come in before she does, look at her last expression before she passes out completely, and get."
Purrcy rather liked the last order. She'd try to have patience with the others, since they had tried hard for her sake. Stiletto and Gareth kept her light sway to only that instead of a fall as the others around her slipped into the "new" apartment.
She almost choked to see Shiroe wanted to see too, when he was her tormentor, but she was brought up short by Michael's raised eyebrow. Right. She wasn't supposed to hurt people she loved when she wasn't so tired, abused, and used up. Purrcy closed her eyes, took a deep breath and almost passed out right there for doing that much relaxing.
Michael had her in his hands before she could topple. "Come on. You're almost there. You can do it," he encouraged her. She worked hard to get her eyes to open up again, tried to remember where she was and what was going on, then stepped over the threshold and looked around the room.
"Isn't this Shiroe's place?" Purrcy asked, taking in the kitchen to her left. "Oh, but that's Mom's furniture, so I guess not." The details were more than she could take in, but the general layout of the double size room was doable. "It actually mostly all fit in." She was genuinely surprised. "Good job."
Her head turned towards the door to her right. "And that's all you folks get to see. You can imagine the face plant on the bed all you want," Michael shooed everyone out the door, knowing Purrcy was already straining to get to the expected bed in the bedroom.
"Thank you everyone," she managed to say. "We'll party when I'm living again."
She got pats on the shoulder and apologies as they all flowed back out around her. When Michael looked at the two propping her up, Purrcy shook her head. It didn't work very well. "If they let go before I'm actually next to the bed we're in trouble."
Michael gave them the nod and they got her feet moving. She was asleep before they got her there. Just seeing the bed was enough for her to give up. She trusted them to see she was taken care of properly.
-:-:-:-:-
"Really, just what did they make her do? Drink for the first time ever?" Michael demanded of Gareth and Stiletto before letting them escape. They swallowed. His arms were folded and his full-on scowl was going.
"You'd think so," Gareth answered cautiously, trying to back up away from Michael without backing up. "She refused and we didn't let them, even the events Shiroe sent her to on her own."
"Her own?" Michael's eyebrow raised.
Stiletto nodded. "There were so many functions that called for at least one of them that he had to split them up. He made Naotsugu go with her, though, or Marielle, so they could give her prompts, or step in when she was asked things she hadn't been here to know.
"She was furious after a lot of them that he'd not sent her the proper level of documentation for warnings. They fought a lot the last day or so, when they had the chance to even see each other. Now that Marielle's been present to see it, she's promised to make sure Purrcy's properly prepared in the future."
Michael put his hand to his twitching forehead. "Shiroe can pay then. He doesn't get her back until I say he does. If she doesn't end up in the hospital again he'll be lucky. Did she manage to pass them all?"
"Yes," Stiletto answered respectfully. "She managed up until the end. It was the car ride home that made it all sink in and she snapped - silently." He added the last to reassure Michael it wasn't all bad.
"It wasn't until Akatsuki was going to tell her about the apartment changes and really looked into her face that they understood, since she'd been hiding it so well," Gareth said. "They thought they were going to die at first, until they understood it was a look of haggardness, not anger."
"Shiroe may yet still die, given the look she gave him when he got in her sight," Michael growled.
"Well, that's true," both guards agreed. "Keeping her for yourself would likely be a good thing until she's cooled down from that part."
"Um," Stiletto raised his hand. "Can we have that same recovery time? I'm also dead, even if I don't look like it."
"Yes," Michael answered, "but it's like before. Don't go far so she can stay resting easy."
"Fine," they both slumped in relief. It wasn't like they wanted to go anywhere. Staying put and sleeping was preferable.
"Ah, do we still have the same room?" Stiletto asked, worried.
"Yes, and no size increase," Michael answered shortly, getting to the point of ready to kick them out. They both immediately went into formal salute attention. He scowled at them for doing it, but chased them out faster, which was what they wanted almost as desperately as Purrcy had wanted her own bed.
They were very relieved to learn their own effects had been shipped as well, and mostly put into the room in a way they could live with for now. They'd worry about the extra bed later.
-:-:-:-:-
Michael walked into the bedroom after locking the apartment door behind Gareth and Stiletto. He stood in the doorway, and sighed. Purrcy had been too tired to even change into a fox. She was a bit comical in her position, fully clothed as she was.
He'd been hoping for a more living wife tonight himself. She'd been kept longer than he'd expected, and hadn't come found him last night. She'd probably passed out that night as well.
Michael walked over to her and pulled her shoes and stockings off, then her skirt and dropped them all on the floor at the foot of the bed. He'd been forcing himself to stay awake, since he should be getting back into schedule by now, but he also was quite ready for bed.
He rolled Purrcy over, unbuttoned her jacket and blouse, then pulled them off of her, in that awkward way that arms and sleeves had to be dealt with. She still didn't wake up, amazing him. When he finally had her tucked into bed, he paused to sigh and rest. Then it was a final run to the bathroom and lights off.
It was very relieving to finally get into bed with her again and wrap her up in his own arms. Warmth had been missing before, but not tonight. Perhaps they'd be tortured like this in future years, but he was very much looking forward to being able to make life calm and normal from here on out.
A stirring next to Michael brought him up to awareness. Purrcy rolled away from him, then paused, then swore. "You're not in the bed you're used to," he mumbled at her. "And you'll run into things on your way to the bathroom. Hang on." He rolled and turned on the lamp on the side table next to him.
There was silence, then, "Good god." He smiled to himself. After a longer pause, Purrcy said, "I thought they'd made it only one more room bigger."
"You've got too much stuff for that," Michael pointed out. "Four rooms big, and a decent sized bathroom this time. The door on the left, still, though."
"Thanks," Purrcy said and rose to her feet. She stumbled a little, but made it. Michael's body kept waking up, so he followed her after a bit. He got there after she was done and took his turn. She was back in bed by the time he got done.
"You can keep sleeping," he said as he slipped his arms around her again and kissed the tip of her nose. "I've locked the door, turned off all electronics, and given the boys vacation time."
"Oh, good," she sighed in complete relief. "Have I said I love you yet?"
"Not since you got home until now, but you were sleeping. Thanks. I love you, too."
She patted his chest sleepily and passed out again shortly after.
-:-:-:-:-
"Bacon, really?" Michael turned to see Purrcy standing in the bedroom doorway in just a long t-shirt. She was obviously planning on staying put for a while. He smiled at her, glad to see her finally awake and up to join him in the day. "The smell's going to draw every person in the building to the room to have some."
Michael chuckled and turned back to it. It had brought the only one he cared to see, and was why he'd been cooking it, honestly. "Where did you get it?" Purrcy asked as she walked slowly into the living area, learning the new space. It wasn't too different a set-up from Shiroe's apartment in which the dining table had been set closer to the far wall to be near the kitchen area. The original patio doors were still there on that wall, too.
"From the base KP. American food and supplies come in on the ships to stock it, so it's the best place to actually buy what we're used to eating," Michael answered her, flipping the bacon over for the last time.
With a frown in her voice she complained, "You could have told me so I could have stopped by."
Michael shook his head and glanced at her. She'd stopped by the back of the couch to lean on it a little as she looked out the patio door across from it, in the same place as it was in Shiroe's room. The walls and corner between the two patio doors were lined with her mother's hutch and buffet. His entertainment stand and TV were squeezed in next to the patio door, to be across from the couch and his easy chair. It had helped them that neither of them found coffee tables to be useful for anything other than bruising shins on.
"You were dragged off post-haste, if you'll recall. There wasn't time. I had time before I came back up here. Besides that's always been my job, the shopping and the cooking when I'm home." He turned to face her a little more directly, "Although I'll continue to expect you to help."
"Of course," she answered. "I'd enjoy shopping with you, too, if I get to be the date instead of the shopper."
Michael smiled at her. "I like that idea," he agreed, then turned to take the bacon off. He knew very well, now that he'd seen it with his own eyes, that more than anything Purrcy wanted a companion to live life with. He wanted that, too - particularly with her - so was quite happy to continue to encourage and fulfill that desire.
"Two computers?" Purrcy had finally made it to the dining room table and sat down, likely continuing her scan of the room to make that comment.
On the other side of the patio from the TV were two computer desks, set into the corner. If they thought they were still young enough, they'd be playing computer games together and still be sitting nearly side by side while they did it. It was more likely they'd pay bills and video chat their kids from there, but that was things to explore and learn as they continued to move forward together.
It was rather exciting to look forward to "real life" like that. Michael was suspicious they'd spend almost more time sitting on either porch in the sun when Purrcy wanted downtime. He wouldn't mind. She needed that kind of downtime at this point in her life.
The bacon on the serving plate, Michael poured off the extra bacon grease carefully. He'd want to use that for cooking into the future for sure. Then the beaten eggs were poured into the pan to sizzle briefly. Gently he stirred them until deftly he flipped the congealing egg to get it cooked just enough, but still be light and flavorful. Then they were slipped onto the serving plate as well.
He knew Purrcy would have put the food directly onto two plates and skipped the extra dish to get dirty, but she should enjoy her grandmother's dishes now that she could, and two was easier to clean up after than three, which hadn't been hard at all. She would help with that, too, and make it even faster.
Michael slipped a serving spoon onto the plate after turning off the stove. It was going to take some adjusting to get used to the smaller kitchen workspace, but it was exactly what he'd ordered, so he wasn't going to complain about that.
As Michael turned to take the food to the table, his eyes slipped past the final corner of the living space between the main hallway entrance and the bedroom door. That corner bore the hallmarks of Tetorō's hand seasoned with Marielle's cheer. Log Horizon had been kind and made that his space.
The shelves were display cases for his international treasures he'd brought home over the years. He didn't buy a lot, but he treasured what he had found. It was nice to be able to have them displayed so he could enjoy them.
He'd had a lot of fun finding the things of Purrcy's they'd added in. Michael had learned even more things about Purrcy in seeing what she kept. Considering there were plenty of unpacked boxes still in the closet storage space in the back of the bedroom, he expected he'd learn even more - another thing to look forward to in the future. He'd make her show him one box at a time, probably one per week or so.
"Here you go," he said, setting the plate on the table and sitting next to her. He'd set the place settings so they could look out both sets of patio doors and enjoy their space. The dining table and chairs were standard for America - tall with places for six easy, eight if they squeezed in - and had been her father's aunt's set. He personally wanted to sit next to her, so had put them on a long side.
Purrcy waited for Michael to pray over the meal this time. He decided he'd ask her to say the next one. He'd really appreciated her prayer at Brenner's house, and had needed to hear her first one when she'd finally agreed to marry him. He would like to know into the future what she was thinking about and needing in her life.
He kissed her before she could dish up her food onto her plate, then found it suddenly rather difficult to turn to eating. The sentimental emotions of being able to look forward to a life together filled him instead. "Welcome home, Purrcy," he said quietly. It was the first time he'd ever said it for being the one waiting anxiously at home, even if it had only been for two days.
She looked up at him in mild surprise. Her natural, happy smile filled him even more. "Thank you, Michael. And thank you for breakfast. It smells so yummy!" He had to sit back and watch her begin to eat, memorizing this moment: their first breakfast in their home, the entire rest of their lives to live together in front of them.
She looked up at him to see why he wasn't moving to eat, with a bit of a sudden worried look on her face. He knew that was a reaction from how Nyanta had trained her, Nyanta's habit being that the man of the house began the meal with the first bite.
Her eyes came around to look into his. He allowed her to see his expression, knowing it was proud, happy, and tender. It wasn't like he was able to swallow food past the large lump in the back of his throat right at this moment anyway.
Purrcy's face went soft and she set her fork down to reach over to his face. As the back of her finger lifted the tear from his cheek, she said, "I'm home, Michael. I'm so glad you're here with me. I've missed you." She turned and offered him a hug.
He took it, not wanting to ever let her go, yet again. "Thank you, Purrcy," he said into her shoulder, his gratitude overwhelming him as it was added to all the other emotions this quiet happy morning had brought up for him.
Level 8.7: Western Hemisphere Again (Woman Restored) had Purrcy and the Eagles driving through the United States, from the east coast to the west coast this time, then working in tandem with other teams on the rest of the continents of the Western Hemisphere. On the way they were able to include time with their children of Earth. That was a positive balance to the sorrow and horror of the repeat of Level 7 they walked.
Shiroe and Log Horizon spent the time monitoring the results of their efforts at the meta-level, like Shiroe did before. The final boss - the Japan Game Convention - nearly did Purrcy in, particularly since she had to do it without her op, in shades of another repeat for the final dungeon.
Thus ends the dungeon called Purrcy, Adventurer of Earth, created by world AIs to fix problems they caused themselves. All of them can finally relax now and look forward to just living life on Earth, with its usual ups and downs. However, there are a few personal quests left unresolved, and the final requirement set upon those Adventurers of Log Horizon who refused to be swayed from their goal to return to Earth and find the two-way door. In the final chapters we will see the conclusion to those issues.