A long time, I had been looking for a good present. It had taken far longer than I expected; I thought I could just walk through town, and see something to buy her. I thought the same last year, but it didn't work then either; she seems to have everything.
It wasn't until I was on my way home that I thought of it. Wandering past a nearby missile silo, I remembered the everything2 node on suitcase-sized nuclear demolitions devices. I wandered in, doing a quick SAS five-second knockout on the first guard I saw. I picked up his M4A1 rifle, then I punched, kicked and shot my way into the nuclear weapons storage room, and grabbed myself a suitcase. Fortunately, I knew how to blow up a building with a sack of flour and two rounds of ammunition, which I was lucky enough to have with me at the time. This I did, then I left the area quickly.
Anyway, I got it home and opened it. It was basically a flashy briefcase, with lots of electronics inside, when you open it. I painted over all the buttons, and used a permanent silver marker pen to draw 'warhammer' runes on the buttons, and popped in some dry ice for effect. I did up the clasp, wrapped it, and put a little bow on top, and put it under the tree.
Then came Christmas Day. She came down the stairs behind me, and we dived into the pile of presents. Wrapping paper flew everywhere, until she came to it. She tore the paper back, and pulled out the case, then opened it.
'Wow' she said. 'This is just pure cool! It's cryptic, mystical, lovely.'
'I had no choice!' I replied. 'I saw it, and I thought of you. I love you.'
'I love you too.'
Those four words make it all worthwhile.
It doesn't make much sense, but that's because it's a rescued nodeshell.