When Carl and Klaire were ready to have Kyubi over, they cooked a light dinner to finish before bed and sat down together.

"So should we come up with a schedule for the dedicated days? I think that Klaire and I should have ours tomorrow and every monday, you two on wednesday and Carl and Me on fridays with group day on sundays."

"Why that schedule?" Klaire asked with amused curiosity.

"...I'm too nervous to have my first date in centuries without a week of preparation and Carl's going to go to the variants tomorrow and I want to keep you company... Did you tell her about the sleeping arrangements?"

Carl shook his head and Kyubi explained. "Well, Carl agreed with me that, waking up to and sleeping with our partners is good for bonding, so he promised to sleep with me on our days. I mean sleep and not sleep of course."

"So you want to sleep with him tonight? I'm okay with that..." Klaire trailed off at the end, though only because she was surprised how true it was.

"No, I think we should start the schedule tomorrow, but I want to sleep with you tonight. We both made you wait, so you deserve both of our attention."

Klaire blushed and nodded shyly. "You sure you don't mind Carl?"

"Actually, no..." Carl trailed off the same way and for the same reason as Klaire. "...I'll be busy tonight making and briefing the chimera that Gil specified. Then I need to get some sleep and my head straight for tomorrow."

They all finished their meals in silence after that, it wasn't tense or awkward, just comforting being in a room with each other and without the buried feelings. In fact, they all felt a little annoyed they had been stressing out over it all and burying things so deeply in a misguided attempt to maintain the status quo.

"What time are you going tomorrow?" Klaire finally asked as they cleaned the dishes together.

"Well, I need to feed and get the kids ready and Aegis has to finish their duties before coming with me. Oh speaking of which, I'll look after Ki-ko tonight. I want to teach her a recipe to treat you guys as much as that boar meat treated me."

"Yay! Can I Mums?"

"Carl, you do know what you're asking right?"

"What do you mean?"

"They are going to be watching those blasted kid-vids all night." Kyubi grumbled followed by a hushed curse toward.

Carl chuckled. "Kids what happens if you stay up all night?"

"Well, the plan kind of depends on me tomorrow. so, we all die?" Tiamutael said bluntly.

"You need to spend less time watching Blanc speak." Carl grumbled.

"Sorry Dad, can't. Gillian had his fiancé over and got Blanc and Sophie into a double date and no one knew but him..."

They all had a pained expression on their face.

"Don't worry Carl, we'll make sure he's still in one piece. Don't forget to pick up your weapon from Alysse and also... I think you should kiss us both good night." Klaire said. "Not trying to be weird, but I'd like to know if seeing it happen is going to bother us sooner rather than later."

"Fair enough..." Carl gave Klaire and Kyubi a kiss good night. "...Well?"

Klaire just went bright red and kissed Kyubi. "Did that bother you?"

"Not as much as I thought, but it was a bit surreal seeing it..." Carl scratched his head. "...It didn't hurt, or anything, so I guess that's good. I hope you two have a good night."

Kyubi opened a portal and led Klaire through by her hand.

"Well kids, want to go watch kid-vids in bed?" The kids didn't answer, just raced upstairs.

By the time he got up there, less than a minute later, they were already engrossed in the same show Tiamutael had mimicked with the poses he made the others appear in.

Carl struggled not to cringe at how much Tiamutael reminded him of himself when he first discovered kid-vids after moving in with Leanna. Instead he decided to tell them to lay back and try to fall asleep watching.

When they were laid back and starting to wind down properly, Carl began work on the creature he had already named "Saboteur" in his head.

It took a lot longer to remember what specifics Gillian actually requested, than it took to create the creature and that was bizarrely what made Carl realise how unusual his talent is. "Yeah okay, remembering a conversation should not be more difficult than creating a new species... Can't believe I didn't realise it sooner."

"Yeah, Mum says you're oblivious a lot." Ki-ko said with a yawn.

"Which one?" Carl asked, without looking and already pretty sure on the answer.

"Both." She mumbled as she began to sink deeper into the bed as she rolled and hugged her brother.

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE SENT FROM CARL: YO, ALYSSE... YOU UP? WAS THINKING I SHOULD GET THAT WEAPON IN CASE I FORGET IN THE MORNING. ]

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM ALYSSE: CARL!? SHOULDN'T YOU BE UP TO YOUR TONSILS IN TWO HOTTIES? ]

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE SENT FROM CARL: NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN. EW. I'M NOT REALLY ONE TO KINK SHAME, BUT THAT WAS GROSS. ]

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM ALYSSE: YEAH, SORRY, A LITTLE SLEEP DEPRIVED. I'LL BRING THE WEAPON OVER AND TALK YOU THROUGH IT QUICK, THEN I'LL GET SOME SLEEP PROMISE. ]

Her arrival was announced by a massive splash in the sea, just ten metres from the house. Carl ran outside to find she she had fallen asleep at the controls and driven straight into the water.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Screw it, you're sleeping here tonight. Arti, you're on guard duty from now, make sure she doesn't move from the bed I put her in without my permission."

'Yes Creator, sorry I let her drive.'

"Not your fault buddy, not your job to babysit your mum... Jump on, I'll Carry her there for you."

Carl picked her up then she woke up enough to turn toward the vehicle. "Return to storage mode and clip to Carl's belt."

Carl was confused until it compressed to the same hilt shape as the original weapon she made him. "What the hell did you do this time. crazy gnome girl..."

"The new nanites were incredibly adaptable, as a result I was able to program them with the vehicle function, but since it wasn't charged I powered it with my MP and accidentally used too much."

"Well, sleep it off."

Carl dropped her in bed and left some water divinity and MP infused water for her, then returned outside to quickly test the weapon. It now functioned exactly the same as before with the addition of vehicle functions and energy discharge on the weapons, which seemed to be styled after the new breeds of The Carrion.

"They say genius and madness go hand in hand I guess... Maybe I should assign her an assistant or something..."

Carl returned indoors and found the children both asleep when he got to the bedroom.

"Saboteur, Can you do me a favour and turn off the display when we're all asleep?"

'Yes, Creator.'

'I'm sorry your mission starts tomorrow. If you ever find yourself in trouble, let us know and we will try to retrieve you immediately.'

'I'm glad to have a purpose and my multiplication and other abilities will make me next to impossible to discover and kill. I can even hide and repopulate inside of a host body if the situation gets dangerous.'

'This isn't like any mission we have undertaken so far, I love all my creations, but this is the first time I've said this outright. If you have to kill somebody to survive, then do.'

'Understood, I would rather avoid killing if possible though, a body count would make them increase their security and make them more cautious.'

'I'd rather avoid it too, thank you.'

The next day, Carl woke up to Kitsunoko demanding they get started on breakfast and gave in to the demands before the migraine set in.

Tiamutael was also already awake and watching kid-vids.

'Saboteur, what time did he start watching?'

'Only when Kitsunoko woke up and shouted "breakfast!" before continuing to shake you for five minutes until you woke up, stopping to go to the bathroom, then another five minutes of shaking.'

'How heavily was I sleeping?' The question was rhetorical, but that didn't stop Saboteur from listing vital readings that it believed answered the question.

After that, the morning seemed to speed by as everyone showed up unexpectedly eager to wish him well, though Leanna seemed a bit overcome when she saw how angry they all were about what happened to her.

"Right, well, I'm off. Omedra, Equinox, Aldra, Tiamutael, get yourselves ready. Levi and Squidge, I think you two need to stop hiding how angry you two are. I appreciate you trying to be good examples to Ki-ko and Tiamutael but you've both been repressing your feelings too much. Time to vent."

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