"Okay, I don't think we need to see the pet's stats." Leanna said suddenly.
"But why? I th-"
"Carl! Do not show anymore to me or Danielle or Lydia, not ever unless one of us joins your household." Leanna shouted, silencing his excited protest, before feeling guilty and holding him. "Carl, I'm so happy for you, but remember what happened to Lydia when she sent you my way? The three of us may seem free and thanks to her family backing we aren't in a cell or worse..."
"Leanna, you need to breathe. Carl, Leanna is right. Your skills are incredible and your stats are almost unheard of at level five. We don't regret what we did to earn half-breed equality, but we all accept we crossed lines that we shouldn't have, the price of that is we can only work in positions such as the IDCs and on the SATS, even I only handle family matters and can't receive an actual wage." Danielle continued.
"Seriously? All because you threatened a few bigots you can't even see what your children can do? Where's the equality in that?"
"Carl, you need to breathe too. Don't make the same mistakes they did, one day from what we have seen, you could control entire worlds free from central human authority. Work towards that, when you reach that goal we will join you gladly. I may do so even before that, I still haven't forgiven them for firing me for helping you." Lydia finished.
"Lydia, any time you want, just ask, you can join my household. That goes for all of you. I will make it a place you can be free and happy. With all the Gluttonous-Slimdra and All-Seeing Leviathan and whatever the hell else I make to keep the stu-"
"Carl, don't finish that sentence. You may be the first human to ever reach even a single plus, let alone the two you now have, but you are still human. We fought for our right to be proud of our species heritage, if you do ever choose to fight like we did, make sure it's for the right to be proud of who and what you are and not because you turned your back on the rest of your kind."
Leanna hugged him as her words brought tears of frustration to his eyes, he had waited so long, tried so hard, so many things. He had failed a thousand times and was crowned the king of endeavour by the system because he never gave up. Now he couldn't even enjoy the first success with his family, all because if they know and don't tell, they might be considered active again and everyone knew it wouldn't stay secret forever.
"You two, you two should go to bed, Squidge, you have my permission to cease bed-boarder duty, can't stop adults from being adults forever." Leanna said, taking them by surprise.
"Fine, if Leanna is ready, I can't let her be the mature one, then we're all in trouble, Squidge, you have my permission too. Just please don't do anything under the same roof as me and use protection. You can't enter the Howling pregnant." Danielle said, making the situation awkward.
"Carl, Klaire. We love you both, we know you need to be there for each other right now, but just because you have the freedom to do something, doesn't mean it should be done. Squidge, stand down baby." Lydia finished.
"Actually, I have two more things to do first... Levi, as we planned earlier." Suddenly Levi grew full-sized and at point blank range for maximum effectiveness as she was coiled around them, they were all paralysed. "Sorry everyone, but I can't do this with distractions." He continued, withdrawing something from his pocket.
"This is a promise ring, not an engagement ring, I do have my eyes on one though. If you want it, you best come back from the Howling. I swear I will propose the moment you get back to me. Second, Danielle, everyone, I love Klaire and want her to join my household now so she can benefit from it but I need to secure the land first which is why I'm going to Lugaria tomorrow, can you all please take that time to write up a contract for us. Just remember their are penalties for breaches and they can be stipulated in advance. Okay Levi, wish me luck and then release everyone."
'Good luck Dad.' That was the last thing he heard before he was blasted by a Howling successor and an ankle-biter at the same time, whilst being tackled by two individuals with stats in the 5-6 digits area. His HP was brought dangerously low in an instant.
He was hugged, kissed, punched kicked, praised, scolded, complimented and insulted, not combined, but by each individual. 'A way with women he said, if-fucking-only!' Carl thought as the light began to fade.
'Err Dad, hate to tell you this, but I used forced regeneration on you. So it's just your dignity that died.'
After that, the ladies started using their words, well mostly the word "idiot" but the modifiers they used were certainly colourful, in several languages too. This continued for fat longer than any of them knew.
When Carl explained why he did it that way, Klaire simply wished everyone a good night. "Don't worry either, if he's moving this quickly now I'll make him wait til we're married, just to give him a reason not to chicken out." That line put the adults, mostly Lydia at ease in regards to their sudden retreat into the bedroom.
"Squidge! Levi! You coming or not?"
'You mean you want us to be there?'
"Honestly!? Yeah, We kind of chickened out!?" Carl shouted making the adults laugh, the truth was they really didn't have plans to progress the relationship, but the four ladies would never believe that and be worrying all night.
That didn't stop Carl from kissing her though. "I swear if you don't come back whole I'll find a realm to lose half myself in too." He whispered as he hugged her tightly.
"Can I ask, why Lugaria? It isn't exactly a nice planet." Klaire finally said.
"Did you know that the treaty lines don't actually cover Lugaria? The gods claimed earth when they got sick of us, no one can actually own land their, every other world in reach was claimed during the incursion conflicts, but Lugaria wasn't it was a gate accident and never documented to avoid ownership conflicts.
The governance committee can't acknowledge it without breaking the treaty, which means we can claim land there with no worries. but the land I'm going to claim was actually given to me by that Lugarian who gave me the spike after we saved them from that lava stream. I'm going to talk to him and agree terms of cohabitation."
Klaire looked gob-smacked. "Lugarian's don't believe in owning land though. So why?"
"I told them that my volcano would always be happy to fight theirs when she is around." Carl chuckled before getting hit. "My Lugarian isn't great, but I'm pretty sure he said "You can keep it with the others, just don't destroy the land." Which is fine, since we don't intend to."
Klaire smiled, although a bit annoyed he never mentioned it, then pulled him to the bed and kissed him before getting embarrassed. "Nope, okay, that makes no sense, why does laying down change how intimate it feels?" She rambled.
After that they decided to only hold hands in bed to begin with, with Squidge on his dad's side and Levi on her mum's. They fell asleep, scared of everything that was coming, excited for the progress of their relationship and just a little bit crushed by the two imposing creatures that called them "Mummy" and "Dad".
The next day, Carl was the first one to wake up, he had a long day ahead and getting to Lugaria was very much the easy part. Navigating the volcanic wastes, barren deserts and and minimalist planes was the real challenge.
"You're leaving already?" Lydia asked as the bedroom door hissed open and she saw him from the kitchen island.
"Yes. I can do what I need to do and get back and sign that contract. Then I can let her do what she needs to do, while I do what I need to do."
"Carl, I meant what I said, I have been a prisoner of bigotry my entire life. Making sure that Klaire and the other half-breeds didn't is one of the few things I don't hate about my life. Don't make inspiring you to be reckless and put yourself in danger ruin that."
"Sorry Lydia, I can't say I'm not, but like you said yesterday I might be the first human to ever reach one plus, let alone two. That means I have to be the best of humans, one who doesn't discriminate and honours what people have done for me. If giving you a home where you don't have to worry does that, then that's what I'll do."
The usually overly joyful and irresponsible act that Lydia put on broke for only the second time since he had known her. "Carl, tread carefully. They took my right to live outside of committee observation, they took my right to work wherever I wanted and they even took my right to have a family of my own. Helping you was the best decision I ever made and they took the job I loved for it, if you pull anything rash with the power you will one-day have, they will not hesitate to erase you. Carl, by the strictest definition, you are an omina-class threat."
The words were heavy, he knew she was being painfully literal with that designation, but she also wasn't wrong. The threat classification system the committee coined was simple and filled with plenty of grey areas.
Solo-class - A threat that poses danger to a single individual in open conflict.
multi-class - A threat that posses danger to multiple people in open conflict.
Domina-class - A threat that posses danger to a settlement in open conflict.
Colina-class - A threat that posses a threat to an entire network of settlements in open conflict.
Imperio-class - A threat that posses a threat to several entire networks of settlements in open conflict.
Omina-class - A threat that could change a world as we know it by simply existing.