Souvenirs

After handing Illococoo her gift, Michael turns to Maria and retrieves a large box filled with art supplies, from paints, brushes, paper, etc. He wasn't really sure what she was actually into, so he got these since she used to like them before her mind was healed.

The middle-aged lady's face lights up at this and she takes with after giving him a brief kiss on his cheek. "How do you know I like to paint?"

"Well, before you were healed you liked to draw, and were pretty good at it." he shrugs, "I'm looking forward to what you can do now."

She nods, "I already have a place in mind! I wonder if the Arch-Mage will allow me onto the top of his roof?" he mutters after sitting back in her place, making plans for her future art projects.

Finally, he gets to Tiffania. He grins mischievously at her, "Well, I have a couple things to give you but, a few of them are... Private items." he says, causing Maria's cheeks to redden while Illococoo and Megumin just continue to watch obliviously.

Now for his next gift, Michael had actually needed to consider it carefully. He'd originally just wanted to give her a bunch of documentaries with a T.V to watch them on, but the risk of their discovery was far too high for him to change it. Thus, he'd gotten her some 'Adventurers Guides', well, kinda. In reality, he'd just gotten a bunch of explorers' journals and accounts, photos of famous places on earth, along with photos of earth's most famous and iconic buildings, like the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, etc.

Thankfully, Tiffania was overjoyed with her gifts, looking at each of the photos with intensity he'd hardly seen from her before. The others were also interested, Maria seeming baffled by the size and beauty of the constructions since such things were basically impossible in Halkeginia, even with magic at their disposal... This was especially so when they saw the photos of the Burj Khalifa, which towered over everything else in its vicinity to an almost ridiculous extent.

Michael promised himself to show the girls the wonders of television once he'd created a place isolated from the influence of Daedric Princes and other annoying god-like beings.

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After the gift-giving and reunion, it was time to sort Saya and Saeko out, both would need to quickly learn Tamrielic before they'd be allowed to do anything independently, so he'd have Megumin and Illococoo tutor them in their spare time.

Luckily, due to the impending Civil War, there were more than enough free rooms to accommodate the duo, even if the Arch-Mage was slightly unhappy with having two regular people living in the College... Michael tided him over with some extra gold and some souvenirs from Earth though, a spinning tops and beyblades, some Potemon cards which were definitely not rip-offs of another famous franchise...

Not everything was hunky-dory however, Saeko's rather obvious affections towards Michael had quickly been noticed by Tiffania, causing their cordial relationship to turn into an antagonistic one. It wasn't blatant, but the traded barbs that reminded him of Tiffania and Nirya made hanging out with both of them at once awkward and difficult.

That aside, now that Michael was back in Tamriel, he'd started working with his Spirits again. Winter Wyvern, or Auroth as she likes to be called, in particular.

It seems that his original thoughts about her were wrong though, while she was incredibly knowledgable on many subjects, her special was actually... Traditional Literature... Which essentially meant she was the equivalent of the modern-day Otaku...

Sure, she had many books on magic, but it wasn't anywhere near what Michael was expecting. The only real consolation to the situation was her friendliness and willingness to teach him. Which was again lessened by the fact that, as a Wyvern, most of her magic couldn't be used by those of other races. Michael was only able to use some of her abilities because he'd inherited them from her via the Book of Legends.

Still, she was pretty fun to hang around. Like a disinterested older sister, or 'Cold' aunt...

Michael quickly got up to date on what'd happened while he was on vacation, with the most important thing being the excavation Tolfdir was trying to plan, one to unearth Saarthal... This couldn't be allowed of course, not until Michael had a place to properly store the Eye of Magnus.

He'd not allow the Thalmor to get wind of it, he wouldn't allow the Psijic Order to manipulate events, and he certainly wouldn't allow the Arch-Mage to die such a stupid death... Someone so powerful getting one-shot by an overcharged douche bag like Arcano, fuck that!

Thus, he'd interfere with the excavation... If he couldn't convince Tolfdir of the Arch-Mage to abandon the project, he'd kill every miner who took the job...

Fortunately, such a thing wouldn't be needed, as he was somehow able to convince Tolfdir to turn his attentions elsewhere... Specifically towards the Sky Temple ruins directly North of the College. They were basically empty, but Tolfdir was more interested in the history of things than the materials that could be gained...

The Arch-Mage was slightly suspicious of his attempts to push attention away from Saarthal, but he gave up in the end, thinking it was just one of his many quirks.

With that crisis temporarily averted, things started to settle down, for Michael and the group at least... It was finally time to get to work setting a firm foundation for their place in Tamriel, and begin preparations for the Civil War, Dragon Crises, Tyranny of the Sun, and Return of the First Dragonborn...