...this is a new role...

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It's taken a few cycles for Dot to see if it's possible to leave for a few cycles. Without getting anyone suspicious to her actions just yet.

She'll start making notices once a certain objective has been completed, and that involves getting home early to cook up a very large meal. Nothing especially fancy, just a lot of hot links, grilled chicken wings, enough salad to fill a bathtub.

Bob should be home and picking up Mairi from the sitters any nano now.

Comments

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And in short order...

"We're home!" Bob calls from the front door.

"Weeh haaam!" echoes Mairi.

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"Dinner's ready!" Dot calls from the kitchen, thought Bob probably already knows that from the way the whole house smells of good food at this nano.

"You two can start helping yourselves to the hotlinks."

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"Already? Wow." Bob heads for the dining room to strap Mairi into her high chair. "What brought this on?"

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"Hot wink!"

"Yes, Mairi you can have a hot link in just a bit." Dot murmurs putting a big bowl of cut up hotlinks in a cheese sauce in front of the toddler.

"Bob? We need to talk about something."

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Bob sits down. "What is it?"

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"Something's come up in Milliways. By the way, I found a new world we could probably visit sometime."

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Bob doesn't say anything, just quirks an eyebrow.

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...Okay, she's gone over how to explain this at least 2 dozen ways before he got here.

"I didn't visit...I just sent in a little sphere to test it. It survived completely intact, and didn't explode."

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"Okay, so we know it won't kill us. So what's it like there?"

And why does she seem so uneasy about it?

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"Fuedal Era settings, metal of any kind is rare and valuable. I haven't gone yet." There might be an emphasis on the 'yet' of that sentance.

"The patron from that world, Lady Mara, just experienced her entire family being wiped out save for her. She's looking for someone to help her learn the ropes of managing the estate."

And she's uneasy because this is her, wearing the shoes and the impulse that Bob usually gets when someone's in trouble.

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Bob frowns. "And... there's some reason you can't just talk it out in Milliways?"

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"Bob, before this happened, the girl was going off to become a nun."

Translation, she knows about as much about financial transactions as Bob does in Dot's opinion.

"I also want to check it out for a possible retreat or family vacation later."

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"...you want to go to the Middle Ages for a vacation."

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"It'd be the perfect place to wear the dress you got me, and the kilt I got you on our honeymoon."

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Grooooan. "Do I have to?"

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"No, but it shows off your legs so nicely."

"Legs?" Mairi looks up from the mess she's made of her dinner in the highchair.

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"Yes, sweetie. They're the things attached to your feet," teases Bob. He picks up a napkin to wipe some of the cheese sauce off of her face.

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The things Mommy and Daddy are trying to get her to walk on? How odd, she can fly! Ofcourse there's a little squirming as Mairi gets her face wiped off before she holds up the mostly empty bowl.

"Moar peez!"

"More." Dot corrects softly.

"....more peez! more peez!" The bowl starts getting banged on the top of the highchair.

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:: Sprites who bang their bowls on the table don't get seconds, :: Bob chides his daughter gently (and silently.)

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:: ...More link and cheese?:: Mairi looks at her father holding the bowl up...and then putting it on her head giggling.

"Silly girl, if you want more food, the bowl does not belong on your head."

"More peez!"

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Bob gives his wife a sidelong look. Should they let her or not?

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They should, Mairi is a growing girl, and she really does need to eat twice as much as a normal child would. Dot gives him a wry look before refilling Mairi's bowl with cut up hotlinks and cheese sauce.

"So, I was thinking...I'd visit just for a short time, nothing more than 2 days if I can help it."

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Bob nods. "I can work with that."

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"So can the office, if I shuffle things around a bit." Dot suddenly looks a lot more relieved.

And probably thinking this was how Bob felt after coming home and dealing with her. "And just incase, you've got Mouse's number if I need an emergency crew to take over for a while longer."

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He reaches over to touch her hands. "Just... if something goes wrong and you have to stay longer for whatever reason, let me know, okay?"

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"I'll leave notes and emergency notifications for you, Enzo and Matrix should anything happen." Dot murmurs, holding onto Bob's and leaning over to touch her forehead to his. "First sign of trouble from the scanner Laini gave or the locals and I'm going to have Mara get me right back in Milliways."

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Bob nods and smiles. "I trust you."