"So did you manage to take a scan?" Rowena asked quietly as she took the opportunity to lean in close to Adam.
"Yeah, Spector is already producing the temporal displacement stabilisation device, and it should be installed by the time we return to the ship. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to return to our own time," Adam replied in a similarly quiet tone.
"Do we have to return immediately?" Rowena suddenly asked, surprising Adam.
[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): What's she scheming now?]
[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): I think I know.]
[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): What's she thinking? She needs to get back in time for the release of our new Earth Fashion range.]
[RealOtaku (Earth): If the time travel works as in the movies and TV shows, they could return at any time, including right after they left.]
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Hold on. If they return right after they left, then this stream will never have happened, and so we won't remember any of it, right?]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): How does that work? I mean, we have already seen and heard everything. How can we just forget?]
[RealOtaku (Earth): It's not that you will just forget; it's that it has yet to happen.]
[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): That makes no sense.]
[Thewhitesoverign (Felinia 7): It's what happened when Adam and I returned from the siege of Fenix Nest.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): What do you mean?]
[Thewhitesoverign (Felinia 7): Most but not all of you, since some of you were still not viewers of Adam's stream at the time, actually watched his stream and saw him fight against the HerpoliskFleet in orbit of Fenix Nest.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Seriously? I got to watch a huge space battle, and yet I can't remember it? THAT SUCKS! 😡 I FUCKING HATE TIME TRAVEL. 😡]
[SciFifanboy (Earth): That's so not Sci-Fi.]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): So we witnessed the Siege of Fenix Nest battle firsthand and yet we can't remember it? None of us?]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): I can, but I suppose I don't count since I was there firsthand and didn't watch it from the future.]
[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): This is super confusing. 😵💫]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Confusing describes basically anything to do with time travel.]
"You don't want to return as quickly as possible?" Adam asked curiously.
"Well, it's not every day that you get to travel to Solarian Prime, and it's been a long time since I last visited this planet, as during this time, I was in the Sandanar Galaxy.
Anyway, if I correctly understand what you told us after you and Tephe returned from the Siege of Fenix Nest, we can return to the present at any point in time after we left, right?" Rowena asked.
"Well, the way we returned from universal year nine seven two differs from how we returned this time, so I'm uncertain," Adam replied thoughtfully before asking, "Spector?"
[[Rowena is correct. If the experimental drive functions properly, then I should be able to jump us back to anytime after we left.]]
"See," Rowena said proudly.
"Okay, but do you want to jump back to right after we left? That would mean that Stacey would forget everything she has seen on the stream, everything about how it was you who saved her life after the attack," Adam stated.
[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): …]
"Hmmm, I see your point," Rowena replied in understanding before adding, "Okay, so not right after we left."
"After you left what?" Shalendra asked as she returned to them after finishing her call.
"We will not return to the hotel for some alone time right after we leave you; we plan to get some food first," Rowena replied with a wink.
[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Damn bitch. Any excuse to try to piss me off.]
[OfficialLorelie (Felinia 7): This girl. 😮💨]
[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): Then stop falling for her obvious attempts to piss you off.]
"Seriously? Is it not possible for you two not to flirt for even ten minutes?" Shalendra asked while rolling her eyes before adding, "How do your other lovers even put up with it?"
"Not when we are this much in love," Rowena replied before shocking everyone by kissing Adam on the cheek with a quick peck before she added with a smirk, "Plus his other lovers crave him as much as I do in the bedroom."
[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): …]
[OfficialLorelie (Felinia 7): …]
"Riiiight," Shalendra replied.
"Cough, shall we get going?" Adam asked after coughing slightly in order to change the subject.
"Hehe, aww, why are you being so shy all of a sudden, darling? You were so manly earlier when you were protecting little Liluth," Rowena teased after giggling slightly.
"Why are you teasing me so much today?" Adam replied as the group began to retrace their steps back out of the Historic Research Department buildings.
"Because you're my husband, and teasing is my way of showing affection," Rowena replied happily as she once again hooked her arm through Adam's.
"Why do you keep calling him your husband? If you're one of the long-lived races, wouldn't he be your mate?" Shalendra asked curiously.
"That would normally be the case if I weren't such a doting lover as to follow my lover's customs, and in Adam's case, that's getting married," Rowena explained.
"But you've had mates in the past?" Shalendra asked.
"I have," Rowena replied before turning to Shalendra and asking with a smirk, "Why have you suddenly become so interested in my love history? You were complaining about our flirting earlier."
"Technically, she was complaining about your flirting," Adam remarked, causing Rowena to pout and suddenly pinch him, making him cry out in pain, "Ahhh."
"What was that for?" Adam asked Rowena as he rubbed the place where she pinched him.
"Hmph, you know exactly what that was for," Rowena pouted as she turned her head away.
[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): She's pouting again. 😂]
[CEOHopkins (Earth): Diva Rowena definitely has romantic feelings for him.]
[Puntanghunter69Ver2 (International Space Station): I wonder if they were actually having sex when the stream switched to only show us an external view of the ship?]
[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): …]
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Streamer was getting hot and steamy with her, no wonder he was asleep when the stream switched back. I bet she tired him out. Kekeke.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Then why did they still have the same clothes on? And don't say that they got dressed again because the clothes were not messed up as if they had been thrown on the floor.]
[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): She has a point. I'm not sure any man in the universe would waste time neatly folding their clothes when they had the chance to fuck Diva Rowena.]
[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): Also, the streamer doesn't strike me as someone who would cheat on his existing lovers. If he ever does get with Diva Rowena, it will only be after talking to Diva Lorelie and Stacey about it.]
[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): And me.]
[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): You're not part of his harem, remember, plus from the looks of it, Rowena is more likely to become a member than you right now.]
[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): …]
"First lovers' quarrel?" Shalendra asked Adam with a smirk.
"Not exactly," Adam replied before he looked at Rowena and, after sighing, said, "I'm sorry."
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Bro, why are you apologising? You did nothing wrong?]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): I was wondering the same thing.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): He's probably doing it to maintain the cover that they are a couple.]
[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): I'm inclined to agree, and knowing Rowena, she will probably try to capitalise on this in some way.]
Rowena didn't turn her head but instead looked at him out of the side of her eye without responding, causing Adam to sigh again before asking.
"What can I do to make it up to you, honey?"
[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): And he fell for it. 😮💨]
[Superhearofangirl (Earth): It's like she has him wrapped around her little finger. I wish I could get her to mentor me.]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): With age comes experience. 😏]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Says the oldest virgin in the universe. 😏]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): …]
Rowena continued to look at him out of the corner of her eye with a pout before saying, "I want a ring."
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Oh hell no.]
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Is she serious?]
[CEOHopkins (Earth): Does she understand the significance of that?]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): Does a ring hold special significance in Earth culture?]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): Several religions on Earth use rings in marriage between two partners because they represent eternal love, commitment and unity, with its circular shape representing infinity, no beginning or end, and a perpetual bond between partners, acting as a public declaration of a private vow and shared journey, signifying loyalty, fidelity, and the enduring promise made during the ceremony.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): That was one seriously detailed explanation.]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): I just did a quick search on Bungle. 🤣]
"A what?" Adam asked in surprise.
"A ring," Rowena repeated.
"Why a ring?" Shalendra asked curiously.
"Because for an Earthling like Adam, the sharing of rings between lovers holds special meaning; it is what they give each other during the marriage ceremony," Rowena explained.
"How did you even learn that?" Adam asked in surprise.
"I saw it in one of the movies we all watched while we were travelling in subspace using the jump gate," Rowena replied.