Husband's approval of what I do matters to me. I do not like to admit this, but it is true.

It was different in Eorzea, even after our one fight. He did not observe me as much as he does here. We each did things our own way. His was based on experience with the game, which changed with life in Eorzea; mine was based on my life in Eorzea, though it slowly changed from watching him.

But even in Eorzea, even when we were closer in skill and strength, he admired me. I now think it was perhaps seeing his character come to life and be whatever he imagined her to be, and perhaps more. Characters in the game are only annoyed when they are told to be, or when the script makes them so, whereas I could be freely annoyed with him at any time. Which was among the things he apparently found wonderous about me.

Here in Earth he observes me more purposefully. He wants to know what I can do, because it means he can do it too. But he also seems happy with everything I do. When he found out about the cage fighting, he tried to accept and understand why I did not tell him. When he learned I had lifted the end of Sam's truck, he simply took it as "useful data," another thing to learn from.

He accepts. He sometimes evaluates, but he always accepts. He is approving. He is admiring.

I find I dread the idea of that stopping.

I am my own person. I need to be my own person. If I am not my own person, what am I? His wife? His "sidekick"? His character?

Yet I do not want to lose the smile on his face. Or the matching one in his eyes.

So I found myself hesitant to tell him what happened last night. I think perhaps I need to have more faith in him. Especially since he seems to have faith in me.

Last night's fight was not too unusual, though I did try something like Ted's suplex on someone called Beat Hazard. He came at me, swinging and grabbing. I simply dodged his efforts, then ducked under one of his swings, wrapped an arm around his chest and rolled to the floor. He bounced off of me onto the floor and I was able to pin him.

That got a chuckle from the audience, so I suppose I am still entertaining them. Yet my pay has been getting less and less. Myra says this is because fewer and fewer people bet against me, so there are less winnings for the house to share with me. I do not quite know how the betting works, so I do not know how she is paying the winners now if there are so few losers. Perhaps house winnings from other fights are paying my winners.

When I came out of the building I could simply have turned and gone around the side to Return out of sight. But I looked across the parking lot and caught a glimpse of Clive looking around the corner of a car.

He should not have been there. Myra told me he and his friends were no longer welcome at the fights. I could have gone back inside and told her "Boys" that he was there, and they would have taken care of him.

But Husband and I are people who can take care of things ourselves. I went to see what Clive was up to.

He was not at the car where I had seen him. I looked around and saw him at a further car before he hid behind it. Nor was he at that car when I went to look.

I was annoyed by this. I wondered just what I needed to do to make him leave me alone. Scolding and pain and embarrassment had not worked. Did I need to kill him after all?

I spotted Clive then, at the edge of the parking lot. He stood there, talking on his phone. Perhaps he was trying to trap me, though why he thought it would work any better than the other times I did not understand.

I walked toward him. Then bright lights lit on a car to my left. It roared and squealed and charged at me.

I switched to Paladin. A Paladin has several skills for keeping oneself from being hurt. Among them are Rampart, which reduces damage taken, Sheltron, which extends our shields, and Arm's Length, which prevents us from being knocked away by a heavy blow. I had just enough time to use all of these before the car struck me, and I shieldbashed the car for good measure.

The car hit hard, but I have been hit harder. The crash was loud. The back end of the car flew into the air, then fell back down.

When I lowered my shield I saw the front of the car had been caved in. The front window was covered in so many cracks I could not see through it, though what looked like blood had splattered against it. I could not see anything moving inside.

I looked at Clive. He stood where he was, his face showing shock. Then he looked at me, backed up a step, and turned to run.

I switched to Bard. I raised my bow and drew an arrow.

It would have been an easy shot. It would have been a simple solution. Yet the minstrels do not sing songs of the Champion of Eorzea stepping on cockroaches, and I was not sure what Husband would say. I believe he would have accepted my killing Clive. But I realized I did not need to, so I chose a more difficult target.

My arrow went into Clive's knee. He fell down and screamed.

I switched to White Mage, not to heal Clive, but simply to cast Repose to put him to sleep. Then I heard people approaching. I did not want them to see my gear, but they would want to know where the arrow came from, so I switched to Earth normal and took out my level 30 gator-hunting bow. It was useless for hunting gators, but perhaps people would believe it worked for hunting Clive.

It was two of Myra's Boys. They looked at the damaged car. "Heard the crash from inside. What the hell happened?"

"Someone tried to hit me with a car." When they stared at me, I added, "They failed."

"What did they hit?"

"I did not see. I was busy...dodging."

"Hit and run. Great. Gotta call in the cops for this one." The taller Boy and I looked in the car's side window and saw two men. Both were bloody; neither were moving. "Any idea who they are? Uh...were?"

"South Side Long Shots, I think."

"Those losers? Why'd they be after you?"

I gestured to Clive. "He has hired them before."

As the Boys looked at Clive I brought out my phone and took a picture of the men in the car. The tall Boy gave me a strange look. "Instagram?"

"What is an instagram?"

"It's...uh...Why take their picture?"

"I want to learn who they are."

The shorter Boy bent to examine Clive, then looked up at me, annoyed. "This supposed to be a joke? You shot him with an arrow at a rez operation?"

"It was handy."

"Is he dead?" asked the tall Boy.

"Nah, looks like he fainted. Wuss. Whaddaya going to do with him?"

"I thought I would make a present of him." I turned to the tall Boy. "Do you know where the Long Shots are?"

"More or less, yeah. There's a place they squat at."

"Can you take me there? And do you have something to...wrap Clive in?"

The tall Boy's name was Jonah, and he had a car and what he called "duck tape." The short Boy said he would talk to the police when they came. Jonah drove me into Tulsa to an area with old-looking buildings that had colorful paint on them. He stopped a little ways from a lit building.

Jonah and I got out of the car and went to the back. He opened the back of the car to show Clive awake and struggling against the tape.

"Those guys are worthless shits, but there might be a lot of them," said Jonah. "Dunno if we should be going in there."

"You are not going. I will go alone." I grabbed Clive's collar and dragged him out of the car by it, then placed my bow inside. "May I leave my bow with you? I would like to have my hands free."

"You can't go in there by yourself!"

"I will be fine. Thank you for your help, Jonah. Please do not wait for me."

"This ain't a ring! Those guys'll have guns!"

"Yes. It will probably be dangerous. You should leave now."

He stared at me, glanced at the building, shook his head and got in his car. He turned it around and drove away. I waited until he was out of sight before switching to Paladin.

I turned and walked toward the building, Clive sliding along on the ground behind me. There was music playing inside that I could hear from Jonah's car, that was much louder when I got close. Two men were at the front door. They looked up as they saw me coming. They seemed confused. "Halloween's over, lady."

"I am not here for candy. I am returning something to you." I released Clive's collar. "More of your people are dead because of this man. You should stop listening to him."

They straightened. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am called Cat's Meow."

Their eyes got wide and they reached for guns. I shieldbashed the man on the left, and he bounced off the wall and fell down. The other man got his gun out, but found the point of my sword at his throat.

I holstered my shield, brought out my phone and showed him the picture I took. "These are your people?"

"The fuck did you do to them???"

"They crashed their car when they tried to kill me. Do you want more of your people to die? Perhaps starting with you?"

He lowered his gun but did not drop it.

"That is a good answer. You and your people should stay away from me." I holstered my sword and turned away from him.

There was a bang and something struck my armor. I stopped, turned and drew my sword once more.

The man stared at me a long moment, then put his gun away. He turned toward the man on the ground. Clive made noise and squirmed.

I turned once more and walked away. As I looked for a place to use Return, I saw Jonah's car coming back. I switched to Earth normal and stepped into his lights. The car stopped. He watched me, looking tense, as I approached the car to talk to him. "I thought I told you to leave."

"It went okay there?"

"Yes, but they may be angry now. You should probably leave before any of them come looking for me."

"...Uh..."

"Yes?"

He took a slow breath, then said, "Myra called. She said if I see you I should tell you she wants you to lose your next fight."

He sat very still, watching my face, which I am sure showed how unhappy I was to get this message that night after having been hit by a bullet and a car. I closed my eyes and forced myself to be calm.

"Please open the back so I can get my bow."

After I fetched it I came back to the window. "Thank you, Jonah. You have been very helpful tonight. Go home now."

"...You sure you don't need--"

"I am sure. Good night, Jonah."

I walked around a building corner and Returned, but I did not go home right away. Instead I summoned my goobbue and rode high into the air. It has become increasingly chilly here in the past few weeks, especially at night, though not yet as cold as Coerthas. I found the cold air refreshing and distracting.

I am not sure how long I sat there, but in time I flew over to the Hartman house. I landed in some nearby trees and let myself in.

Husband was in bed. I said, "We can talk in the morning. Please just hold me." And that is what he did.

He accepted me. And that is what I wanted.