Monroe

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Six. Girls' day.

"Nora!" Bailli hissed in shock. "We can't go in there! That's worse than the swimsuits!"

Nora shook her head sadly. "It's what all the girls wear," she said, "I'm wearing it now, and you wouldn't believe how comfortable they really are."

They were standing outside of a Victoria's Secret in Houston. While Bailli had made a few trips over to Earth, they'd been vacations with Bob, and the only shopping she'd done was a shop at the resort in Hawaii where she'd picked up the bikini.

Nora, feeling like she was an old hand at shopping on Earth, having completed one disastrous trip and a few smaller ones on the sly afterward, had decided that if they were going to be stuck on Earth for a week, she might as well show her friend what Earth had to offer. Specifically, comfortable bras.

"Trust me," Nora pleaded, "they're amazing." She looked straight at Bailli's chest, which wasn't difficult given the differences in their heights. "Look, one of yours is worth both of mine," she grumbled, "so I know that taking your wrap off at the end of the day has to be a relief. You won't believe how comfortable they are, probably even more for you than for me."

Nora could see Bailli's reluctance wavering. "They aren't all as scandalous as the ones in the window," she wheedled, "just come try one on, if you don't like it, we'll move on."

"Fine," Bailli gave in. "I'll try one on, although I don't know how much support they could possibly offer with so little fabric."

Bailli left the store with two dozen packages tucked away securely in her satchel. Though she was loathe to admit it, Nora had been right, and she was wearing one of her purchases out of the store.

The clerk and Bailli had noted with gratitude that the store was staffed entirely by women, had been equal parts curious and courteous. The local ruler of this 'state' had announced the arrival beforehand, making sure everyone knew that the people of Thayland were coming to visit. The clerk, Emily, had been excited to meet them, and in between being measured and fitted, she'd asked dozens of questions about Thayland.

Paying for her purchases had been odd. There wasn't a set ratio of Mana Crystals to U.S. Dollars, and Bailli hadn't wanted Nora to pay for her clothing, so she'd negotiated with Emily, coming to the decision that each article of clothing was worth ten mana crystals, to which she'd added another ten on top. Emily had paid for the purchases with her own plastic card and taken the crystals in trade.

"You probably overpaid," Nora told her as they continued further into the massive building, passing other storefronts.

"Maybe," Bailli shrugged, "but I'm happy with the cost, and she was nice, and now she has enough crystals to hit level five if she wants to."

"Stars and stones," Bailli whispered as she came to a sudden halt.

"I know, right?" Nora said reverently.

"So many books," Bailli murmured as she started to walk into the store, her eyes wide as she took in the thousands upon thousands of books.

"This is one of the 'anchor' stores," Nora said gleefully, "which means it has a second story!"

"And a cafe," Bailli noted. "Kathaleen's in Harbordeep has one as well. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I wanted to, but it was lovely."

"Welcome to Barnes and Noble!" A middle-aged man greeted them. "You're some of the people from Thayland, right?"

"We are," Bailli agreed.

"I'm John, and I'd like to thank you," he smiled, his eyes watery. "My daughter has leukemia or had rather. Last week we got our little miracle bottle, and yesterday she was playing in the park." His voice cracked as he finished.

"I'll convey your thanks to Harv," Bailli replied, smiling at the clearly devoted father. "He's always happy to hear about someone he was able to help."

"Wow, you know him?" John looked surprised, then pulled out his wallet, and rooted around in it for a moment before pulling out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it to Bailli. "Please give this to him, if you could. Rebecca wanted to thank him, so I told her to make him a card." He smiled ruefully. "I didn't ever think I'd have the chance to get it to him."

Bailli looked down at the paper while Nora peered around her shoulder. It was a carefully drawn picture of a man, a woman, and a child, standing in front of a house. She could tell what the images were because they were carefully labeled. Above it was the legend 'Thank U Harv!' with a heart on either side.

"I'll make sure he gets it," Bailli promised.

"Thank you," John smiled and gestured towards the stacks. "What can I help you find today? You're here for a week, so I'm sure you'll need a few books to keep you entertained."

"Romance!" Nora said gleefully. Bailli looked at her young guide and shrugged. She liked the occasional romance novel.

"Romance it is," John gesturing towards the escalator in the back of the store. "The second floor is over half romance, so if you'll follow me, I'll get you started."

"No, I'm afraid I won't be doing that," Amber said firmly.

"Ms. Crestwell, we're placing you under arrest, and while we'd appreciate your cooperation, this isn't something you have the option of refusing," Officer Michaelson replied. "Please turn around and place your hands on the hood of the vehicle. Failure to comply will constitute resisting arrest, and we will have to use force," he warned.

"I appreciate that you're just doing your jobs, but I've spent a year and some change on Thayland. I'm level twenty-one, and to be perfectly honest, you couldn't hurt me if you tried." Amber glanced meaningfully at their holstered pistols. "That includes your guns, by the way. Some crazy marines tested it, and at level twenty, small arms fire just leaves a bruise. So, I'm not going anywhere with you. I've retained legal counsel, and I'll be happy to provide you with their contact information."

The larger of the two officers moved in and grabbed her arm, attempting to push her forward so he could twist it around to her back.

Amber just stood there. She was wearing her armor, and as a result, her strength was fifty-two. That made her more than twice as strong as the most powerful olympian powerlifter. She locked her arms and settled her stance while the officer, whose face was becoming increasingly red with the effort, attempted to move her.

"Stop resisting!" he heaved.

After a few more seconds, he let go and stepped back, panting, which allowed his partner to shoot her with his taser.

Amber looked down at the tiny darts, and shook her head, then, with a sweep of her hand, knocked them away.

"I told you, you can't do anything to me," she sighed. "The only reason I'm back on Earth is because of the Tide, I'll be gone in less than a week. I'm not some sort of violent criminal, I was just a stupid grad student who made a terrible mistake. I never expected or intended for anyone to be hurt or anything to break. My legal counsel is negotiating the cost of the damages I caused, and I fully expect that matter to be resolved in the next few weeks. I'd really rather not cause any trouble, but I'm not letting you arrest me."

Amber shook her head as Michaelson called for backup on his radio.

Anni frowned as she looked around the Church. Before she'd joined the Endless, she'd spent a lot of time in various Churches. She'd never been in one quite like this, though. The favored imagery seemed to be a man nailed to a wooden cross, which was a bit disturbing for a Church that labeled itself as 'good.'

"May I help you?" An older man wearing black robes with a white-collar smiled gently.

"Yes," she replied, "I only see a single deity here, is this Church monotheistic?"

"Yes," he replied slowly. "We do venerate a number of saints, however, there is only one god, represented by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." He paused to take a pair of spectacles out of his robes and then squinted as he inspected her. "Are you from the other world?" He asked.

"I am," Anni stated.

"How wonderful," he exclaimed happily. "I'm Father Robert, allow me to welcome you to Sacred Heart. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have."

"What's a 'Saint?'"

"Jog on, cobber," Jessica replied.

"I don't know what that means, but I could listen to your accent all day," the young man who had boldly walked up to her and asked if she'd like to get a drink said.

"It means piss off, mate, I've got things to do," Jessica shook her head and hurried past the man, ducking through the door and back out onto the street.

The problem with dumping everyone in a stadium was that the stadiums were often on or near college campuses. Which meant college boys, many of whom couldn't handle a thirty-point beauty score.

Well, she amended, some of them couldn't. Quite a few just did a double-take or blinked a few times before shaking it off. Normally she'd accept the attention as simple appreciation for her natural beauty and move on, but she'd made the mistake of stopping at a bar for a pint and to cool off. It was bloody hot in Houston in the summer.

As she hurried down the street, a voice, this one welcome, called out from ahead of her.

"Jessi!" Amanda called, waving.

"Hey, love," Jessica replied as she strode up to her willowy friend.

"Dave's got a table waiting for us," Amanda said as she tugged her along the street. "It's so hot," she grumbled.

"Strewth," Jessica agreed. "Between the heat and these college yanks, I'm about ready to find Bob and hide in his inventory."

Amanda laughed and shook her head. "I hardly think you'd need an excuse to try that," she grinned.

"No, I wouldn't," Jessica agreed with a wicked grin, "although Bailli pointed out that he's a long way from domestication."

"Slow and steady will keep you in the race," Amanda advised, "although I'm not sure if it's one that can be won. He might be aromantic."

"Well, I know he's not asexual," Jessica replied, "as respectful as he is, I've seen him check me out a few times."

"Jessi, in that white bikini you've been wearing, Dave and I checked you out," Amanda laughed. "You've weaponized swimwear with that thing."

Jessica grinned. She'd had to go through racks of bikinis to find one that pulled off the effect that she wanted, and although she wasn't going to admit it to anyone, she'd needed to use a bit of tape to keep things in place, as a millimeter in any given direction and scandalous and sexy became indecent.

"It definitely got his attention," she said smugly.

"Yeah, he almost did a spit-take when you sauntered up in that," Amanda gestured, and they entered the restaurant, where they were greeted with a blast of cold air that pebbled her skin.

"Sweet, blessed air conditioning," Jessica moaned as she fluffed her shirt off her chest, ignoring the waiter who was staring so hard that he walked into a table, spilling his tray, which fortunately only contained dirty dishes.

"You're a menace," Amanda pulled her towards the back, where she could see Dave waiting with Jason.

"I've seen pictures, but it's something else entirely to see it in person," Bailli murmured.

"With so many people, they can focus on individual items, which lets them make some incredible things," Nora's agreement was muted somewhat by her being face down on the mattress next to Bailli.

"I'm buying one of these," Bailli declared. "Just as soon as I can muster the will to get up."

She'd been surprised to find a store devoted to selling beds. No other furniture, just beds. They had pillows and sheets as well, but it was secondary to the dozens of beds on display. She'd been curious and wandered in, where she found a salesman eager to show the pair of Thaylanders around, encouraging them to try laying on the different beds.

They'd ended up on a memory mattress that combined different types of foams and rubbers and plastics to somehow create what was, to Bailli, the perfect bed. She'd been lying there for a while now, and it was hard to motivate herself to stand up.

"I wonder how much these costs?" Nora's voice was clearer now, which meant she must have rolled over. Erick was terrible about tossing and turning at night, and the idea of a bed where she wouldn't be woken up by his restless sleep was enticing.

"Two thousand dollars for the queen size, which you're testing now," The salesman's voice was a bit away, showing he'd maintained a discreet distance from them. "The king is twenty-five hundred, and the California king is three thousand."

Bailli groaned as she sat up, immediately regretting her decision to leave her decadent napping place. The bed was already a bit larger than the one she shared with Erick back home, and she couldn't see needing anything even bigger.

"I don't suppose you take mana crystals?" Bailli asked hopefully.

"We don't have a policy on that, at least not yet," the salesman replied, "but I'll tell you what, my son has been following the whole Thayland thing pretty closely, and he's been dying to get his hands on enough of those crystals to 'level up,' and I'd rather he not have to battle to the death against monsters to do that. He said he was going to need two hundred and fifty of those things, so how about we do a straight trade? I'll trade you the mattress for two hundred and fifty of those mana crystals." He lowered his voice and smiled, "truthfully, I won't be paying full price, as I own half the store."

"Deal," Bailli said quickly, pulling out a pouch of mana crystals and counting out two hundred and fifty of them. 𝐟re𝚎𝘄𝚎𝐛𝚗o𝚟el.c𝐨𝚖

"Shall I have this delivered to the stadium?" the salesman asked as he began to write out a receipt.

"No need," Bailli replied, then pulled the mattress into her inventory.

The salesman blinked. "Well, that's neat," he said with a shake of his head. "We'll just call the sheets and pillows a bonus for taking the demo unit," he muttered.

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