Idle Hands

The feeling of the world whirring around him had not been so joyous in a very long time. A smile brightened John's face as he appeared back in the meadow outside of his home complex. This was the first time in a long while he'd made the jump with no crisis hanging over his head, no overwhelming sense of urgency.

Well... not for John, anyway. The kittens had other ideas.

Sophia stepped out of the way in a stumbling manner as Magnus made a flying leap for John, her usual grace blunted by her inebriation. The other kittens weren't far behind - Moira and Midoriya hit him together, and the other three shortly behind them. John could have held them up easily, but let their weight carry him over. The seven of them fell in a heap on the ground as John let out a dramatic cry of defeat.

"Papa! We missed you!" Mika half-shouted, nuzzling herself into the crook of his neck.

"Need more scratches," Miya emphasized, furiously pressing her cheek into the crease of John’s arm, while none too subtly using one arm to nudge his hand up toward her ears.

“I know, I know… I’m gonna be coming home every night from now on, I swear,” John said, laughing at the twins as they burrowed their autumn-colored locks against his neck. “I have a whole month to do nothing but train and communicate with the others from the old world. I’ll make time for all of you, I promise.”

“No more of the old world, only cuddles with your kittens!” Miriam demanded, her bright-blue hair shimmering as she shook her head furiously against John’s chest. The oldest of John’s Neko children, even if it was by a matter of minutes, had abandoned her usual composed manner in favor of utter adoration and desperation, slight wetness soaking her eyes as she nuzzled him furiously.

“You know I only ever leave for important reasons… but I promise I’ll not be gone so long again, at least in the near future,” John said, smiling as he cupped Miriam’s ears with both hands and scritched her behind the ears. “How about tomorrow we go over your reading lessons again?”

“Really, Papa?! What story are we gonna-”

“What about training? You said we’d be able to train more,” Magnus whined, pouting as he thrust his face past those of his brothers and sisters.

“We have an entire month of training ahead of us – don’t get all jealous because your brother and sisters want to do something else!” John said. Despite the slight chastising tone to his voice his hands were playful and provoking as he ruffled Magnus’ spiky lavender hair.

“I want to train too!”

“Me too, Papa!”

Moira and Midoriya’s words were a bit less confident than Magnus’ were, and their bodies a bit more focused on crowding closer to him for affection, but they sounded no less sincere.

“Okay, okay – we’ll let everyone pick an activity at least once, I swear,” John said, his voice filled with laughter as he did his best to embrace all six of them at once.

“Nyaaaahhhh… everyone back to their rooms, it’s time for Mama to have her time with Papa,” Mithra said. Despite how calm she seemed, her voice carried, and each of the Neko children listened more closely and more quickly to her words than they did even John’s own. When Magnus nearly voiced an objection, his eyes were alight with defiance. That defiance quickly shrank away a moment later as both his mother Mithra and his aunt Maera met his eyes with a taunting superiority, practically daring the young catboy to defy them. In just a few seconds, John was relieved of the pressure of enclosing kittens, all six of them reluctantly trotting away toward their home.

Of course, they hadn’t been out of sight for even a full second before John felt that pressure replaced by that of Mithra and Maera’s own bodies, pressing against him with a bit more restraint than the kittens’, but just as much eagerness.

“You really meant it, Myaster? You gonna be home again? Or at least take us with you when you leave!” Maera said, in a voice of exacerbated pouting, though with enough sincerity to her tone that John could tell she had deeply missed him.

“Absolutely. If I hadn’t needed to keep things quiet and move fast, I would’ve let all of you come with me anyway,” John said with a smile. “I’m sorry that I had to go it alone for so long. The more of you I brought with me, the riskier things were, and I didn’t want to put any of you in danger unnecessarily.”

“We can’t always stay behind Myaster. Doesn’t work. Always worried… wonder if you’re not gonna come back this time. ‘Specially when you’re gone so long,” Mithra said. She was always quieter than Maera but the way she spoke so softly, as if John were an illusion that could shatter, made John go silent. He wanted to console her and tell her he would always come back… but that wasn’t something he could do lightly. Not after what happened a year ago, and not after seeing what was left of the city of Paix. In the midst of his silence, John noted that some of the other women were now coming out of their home as well – Vallya, Orria, Shishun, and Lerianna were all strolling out with varying levels of casualness.

“Mithra, Maera, I wish I could take all of you with me wherever I go,” John murmured, tucking his head down and gently pressing Maera and Mithra’s faces to his own, as if cradling each other with their cheeks, “but the world is a dangerous place, and I…”

John thought back again to the insane levels and numbers of Adantia and Lord Brighton as they dueled in the courtyard, the way that even while displaying strength that shook John to his core, they were maintaining protection for onlookers and still holding themselves back – at least enough not to cause any permanent injuries.

“...I’ll strive to build a world where all of you can roam freely. Where your journeys out aren’t limited to just the Order Manor and places we go to fight together. A world that all of us can explore freely. Until then, I’ll make the most of every moment we have together here.”

Maera and Mithra said nothing, but he felt a faint nodding from Mithra as they cuddled even closer. Then the others were practically upon them, stopping just a few feet away as they glanced over the Nekos smothering John with affection.

"So, how did it go?" Vallya asked, toying with her tails idly.

"Better than I expected," John said honestly. Everyone still stared at him, awaiting the bad news that often followed those words. "Moira is staying in Springfield, Adantia is going to fight alongside us, and we have a whole month to prepare for the fight. Aside from the fact that there’s still a huge undead army pushing its way into America... things are actually looking up for a change."

"So are you actually going to be hanging around more?" Lerianna asked, arms crossed. "You've barely been around at all for the last month."

"I missed you too, Lerianna," John said, enjoying her blush, "and yes, I meant what I said to the kittens. I'll still be going out occasionally, but... yeah, I'm home again."

"So what's the plan, Master?” Vallya asked, her eyes traveling over John with a playful gleam.

"Training? Forging? Mastering new skills?"

"All of the above... but that can wait for tomorrow. Today, I just want to rest. I think we've all earned a day to relax. Plus, we need to catch everyone up on what's going on-I haven't gotten to tell Farrah or Yvara anything about this place yet. Speaking of which... where are they? Did Yvara settle in alright? How is Farrah handling everything?”

“Farrah is doing well. She won’t stop asking questions… and she’s even asked a few I’ve never bothered to think about!” Orria said, her blonde locks shimmering in the light as she giggled. “It has been very enlightening having someone else so enamored with learning as much as she can about this world.”

“Yvara is off in the mountains, Master,” Vallya said, swishing her tails around disinterestedly, though there was a coy tone to her voice. “She introduced herself and familiarized herself with the world for around a day, then she got… weird.”

“Weird? Weird as in how?” John asked, grimacing. He’d barely interacted with Yvara prior to sending her here, and all he really knew about her was her unusual reference to him as a “Lord”. He hadn’t even gotten a real feel for her personality beyond… well, worship. Given Sophia’s attitude and the way the Nekos and Shishun acted, he wasn’t exactly foreign to that, though.

“Weird as in she kept asking us what we did to please you,” Lerianna said, her voice haughty but a slight blush coloring her cheeks. “When it wasn’t sexual, she focused in on our home. When we explained that you built most of it and we just added ideas, she seemed kind of upset? Said she had to do something.”

“We showed her the chest of materials you’ve broken down. Yvara asked how much she was allowed to take – none of us have really been using it much, so we told her she could take as much as she wanted… She then proceeded to haul the entire thing up to the mountains in the southeast. When we asked her what she was planning, Yvara just said she had to build somewhere ‘proper’ to ‘properly honor the Lord’.”

“That sounds… interesting. Not malicious, but certainly interesting. How long ago was that?”

“The day after she got here. She spent most of the first day asking questions, then she left early the next morning.”

“In that case, I think I’ll go pay her a visit. See how she’s doing and what exactly she’s working so furiously on,” John noted.

“Shall I fl- fly you, Father?” Sophia asked, though John could tell just by the way that she was standing that wasn’t a good idea. He knew from the cliffs of Paix that a terminal velocity fall wasn’t really a direct threat anymore… but he didn’t much admire the thought of crashing into the mountains all the same.

“Lerianna, would you mind taking Sophia to her bed? She needs some rest.”

“F-Father, I’m not tired at-”

“And ignore her protests, no matter how well-intentioned. Sophia, this is an order from your Father,” John said, quirking an eyebrow at her. To his surprise a crack formed in her usual obedience, if only one of disappointment, but she still nodded almost immediately and stumbled her way over to Lerianna.

“May we accompany you, Master? It would be nice to spend some time with you after so long,” Shishun said, a soft smile touching her face. “I am sorry I was not able to be of more use to you during this period of trials and tribulations you have faced.”

“Your Lightning Jump was an absolute lifesaver, but we were all out of our league on that one, Shishun. You will have plenty of opportunities in the field in the near future. But yes, you’re more than welcome to accompany me.” John cast his gaze toward the sun, which was already a good way down the horizon. “I meant what I said about today being a rest day… but there’s no reason we can’t enjoy a nice hike together.”

The trek to the mountains was a lengthy one, but John was in no great hurry. He took a brisk but casual pace, stopping twice to harvest some of the fruits from the bushes Orria had tended so diligently and sharing them with the others. Orria seemed quite pleased to see the others enjoying them, gushing about her tending methods, asking if they could detect any differences in flavor or texture based on the soil composition in different areas. She was certainly dedicated to her self-imposed duty of studying and enriching the environment, John couldn’t deny that – she had managed to cultivate an immense number of the fruit-bearing bushes, not surprising given her overwhelming mana reserves.

"If we do any dungeon runs, can we target some plant monsters?" Orrin asked, eyes distant and glimmering with possibilities. "I'd like to try some experiments with cross-breeding and hybrids."

"I'm sure we can target a variety of monsters. We have a whole month - I'll let everyone pick a type of dungeon at least once, how about that?"

"That would be wonderful. I'm sure Yvara will have a few ideas too. She seemed quite excited for whatever she's building."

"Oh, she will. The woman is dedicated if nothing else, and in more ways than one. She already used most of the materials she carried over, and she's barely got a foundation down,” Vallya said. “Or at least she had when I saw it two days ago.”

"Wait, you saw what she was building? Why didn't you just tell us what it was?” John asked, quirking an eyebrow. He didn’t mind the trip or the conversations with his creations, but he found it odd that the Kitsune hadn’t mentioned already having visited the construction site.

“Master, I’m a Star Guardian! My job is to protect your world and its inhabitants, not give away all their secrets,” Vallya teased, giggling as she hid her mouth behind one of her long, bushy tails. “Besides, I’d much rather get to see the look on your face when you see it for yourself. I think you’ll find it quite… appropriate.”

John wasn’t sure how he felt about the amusement in her tone, but it didn’t matter much at that point. They had already approached the foot of the mountains, and although he wasn’t entirely sure where exactly Yvara would be, there were only a few areas of the mountains that were properly suited for construction. Unless she had done some pretty crazy terraforming, John could count on his fingers the number of places he’d need to search.

Tracking their way up one of the paths that led through the low hills and eventually up into the steeper peaks, John cast his gaze around for any sign of changes or construction. For a long while they found almost nothing; it wasn’t until they were approaching the peak of the highest point in the mountain range, one of the last proper plateaus, that John finally saw something. A set of high peaks, not of mountains, but of roofs – a building with several spires rising up at its highest point. Four of them from the looks of it, each topped with a bell tower, and all of them so immaculate that they might well have been built that very day. The white material was somewhat dull, but had a quality to it John couldn’t place immediately, and the bells glistened with shimmering gold.

"That must be it, “John agreed, eyeing the top of the structure that just barely rose over the next plateau. He couldn't see much except the roof, but the building was white and smooth enough to stand out against the rocky mountainside like a full moon on a clear night.

"What do you think she's building up here?" Orria asked, equal parts curious and confused.
"Well, she wants to ‘honor the lord’ so this must be where she intends to do it. What that means, exactly, I'm... not quite... Wow!"

As they continued up the slope, more of the structure's roof became visible. Then more... and then yet more still! By the time the sides of the building came into view properly, the structure had become a colossal, towering thing, larger than a small manor. It was fifty feet tall at a glance, and nearly twice as wide. The building was a massive, ornate affair, with the high bell towers John had already seen joined on all sides by other, smaller towers. Some held bells, others were partially transparent with floor-to-ceiling glass windows stretching along their upper lengths. Still more were opaque but decorated with fine gold inlays, which was a trait much of the rest of the building shared.

The architecture was something vaguely familiar, yet intensely foreign – the design seemed to hold echoes of ancient Greek temples, but aside from the pillars out front and the color, John couldn’t put words to exactly why that concept resonated with him. The details showed the fine work, whether by magic or hand, that had gone into constructing the massive structure. The intricacies of the swirling gold that trailed the columns out front was like few non-Abyssal things John had seen before, and the glimmering obsidian that trimmed where roof met wall was a dark note against an otherwise ivory monument.

Now that they were closer, John realized the building was not painted or merely made out of particularly light stone; it seemed to be constructed out of marble, with no seams or obvious signs of where any individual quarry piece met another. The building seemed to meld together into a massive flowing stone, as if an entire mountain of marble had once stood there, and some particularly devoted sculptor had individually carved out the entirety of it from the deposit.

“That’s… certainly something. Definitely a lot of honor going on in there,” John said, a bit taken aback. The temple – for he could think of it as nothing else – was something close to as large as the entirety of his compound back near the forest, living quarters and all. It was far more opulent, to be sure. Even John’s Build ability would have taken days – if not weeks – to construct such an intricate structure; to know that it had been completed so quickly implied a great many things about Yvara that he had not expected.

“Oh my. I might have been under-selling it when I say all she had finished was a bare foundation, but this… this is quite impressive,” Vallya said. “She has done a massive amount of work since I was here.”

“No kidding…” John murmured, finally realizing that in his awe he had stopped completely. He started forward again slowly, almost uncertainly. This building was supposedly made to honor him.