I slithered back into bed shortly after five, as careful as if I was avoiding a ballerina, not wanting to wake her. I had hoped that today was one of the days she didn’t slot to the corp, but well, how was I to keep track when I was gone so much. Wouldn’t be fair to ask her to call in sick, since she just got this wage slave position back. Who was I to vent, it’s where we met and slotted in at the beginning.

When the comm alarm went off, I was back in position, with my arm around her, and her body curled into mine. It didn’t take much to convince her that she had plenty of time to get ready, even with the storm raging outside.

Afterwards, she caught me by surprise, when she stated as she headed to the shower,“That’s why I set the comm alert for thirty minutes early.”

I laughed and headed into the kitchen. I couldn’t cook much, but soy bacon and soykaf ain’t exactly corp research division level stuff, and I cut up some of the real bananas and strawberries I had bought on the way into town. Sure, they cost way more, and go bad in a scream, but what’s the point of nuyen?

I dodged around the question of what we could do this weekend, hedging only that I had a meeting with a potential client tonight, even if it really was just meeting the team and Payne at the Vault. I wanted to tell her, but I couldn’t, just couldn’t bring myself to risk the smile on beautiful face.

I sighed after she finally shut the door as I stood there. This fragged. I had hoped to be spending the day with her, but well, drek.

I had slowly been working on some minor astral defenses. If I was going to be gone all the time, Patricia was going to be protected. We hadn’t discussed magic much since the, huh, issue, but we had set aside room in the spare bedroom for meditation.

I sank into a sustainable pose, becuase I might be here for a while. Someone told me it was a lotus position, but that sounded fragging like a bunch of drek.

I opened my eyes, and the apartment looked much as it usually did, although with a strange staticky light from outside. I willed myself to the window, and before the thought was over, I was there. It took a bit but I finally realized that all of the sheen appeared to be an echo of the storm raging outside in the mundane world. It was strange with its black and white rain and sheens of water, because I had never seen a storm reflected before. Usually things like weather were too fleeting to make a mark.

I found Patricia’s aura easily enough as she headed threw the rain to the public transit. I didn’t realize it was storming so bad or we could have gotten her a car, her stubborness ignored. I stepped outside to the balcony so I had direct view all the way down there, and strained and raised a semi hardened shield of air around her until she got to the transit stop. Once there, as the air warmed and dried her, she looked up at the window. I waved, before realizing that I was in astral form. Stupid. But at least she was safe and dry for now. I’m going to buy her a car and have Maveryk teach her to drive.

I turned back to my meat self, at least for a few minutes. The statue sat on the end table. Patricia had picked it out a couple weeks ago, the same time we got that damn rattling antique fan. She had said it called to her, and I am not sure why, but it definitely called to me now. The astral residue was pretty much gone, but I am pretty sure it had served as an astral anchor before, and so I had been practicing with it. I was pretty sure it could sustain a minor barrier for the apartment all by itself.

So, I resumed my pose, and began to channel. I could hear the hoofbeats echoing through the ground, thud, thud, thud, gathering speed into a gallop. I opened my eyes, and if anyone had been there, they would have seen green fire chasing around the prairie flashing across the reflection of the mirrior ahead. I reached out to the statue, channeling, a solid stream of green for protection, flashes of blue for air and reflection, a touch of orange for painful warning. My other hand shot a spark of flame, turning the long black hair entertwined with my long blonde one to ash, and the smoke entered the weave of magical energy settling into the bronze statue. I’m not really sure how long it took, I had never done something quite like it before, but at the end, the barrier snapped into place, intersecting astrally with the grey walls of the appartment, shoving itself into the door, and surrounding the window balcony. All angles of the apartment merged with the energy, flashing bright before settling into a muted green echo amongst the grey. Assuming I had learned my lessons right, only I or Patricia could enter here without permission. Well, someone stronger could break it, but I would know. Instantly.

When I looked at trid comm, it was almost noon. I had spent over three hours performing the ritual, no longer I was tired. I needed to contact Talon, but that would have to wait. I needed a nap first.