With Kyubi on board, they returned after notifying Kon's family, who were all utterly amazed at how Kyubi was so calm and put-together.
Leanna was ready to greet them at the gate-room, however she just said "I'll let them know." It wasn't that she didn't think much of it, rather that words completely failed her and she wanted the un-contracted Omina-class threat off the SAT-Station ASAP.
Luckily Squidge was also waiting, so they wouldn't have to cross the deserts on foot. Kyubi was instantly smitten with him, his existence illustrating increased hope in Carl's ability to restore her kind.
When they arrived at the house however, Lillim banished them, including Lydia as she stated the need for "Omina-girl time'. No one understood and that didn't matter, no matter how laid back she got, when Lillim gave an order they followed without question.
Carl wasn't particularly bothered, he had to think of a way to explain what happened to Klaire anyway. He hadn't done anything wrong, but he also didn't want to keep it secret as that would only cause issues later.
His only wish was that Kon and Lydia was a little more helpful.
As they arrived back on SATS, he got a message from Gillian and Alysse:
"Hey! Gillian and I met up after our exams, we found someone you have to meet..."
"Sure. Park?"
"Dude, no! HQ kinda meet."
"Nuh uh... Gran hath banished us... Mine?"
"Nah... Ooo! restaurant level, nothing says new friends like pancakes and peanut butter!"
"Alysse, we need to talk about your diet..."
"Wow. 3/3 :( Leave me alone guys... Pancakes are waiting see you there. Tell Kon to mush!"
"Alysse. We will talk about respecting your elders later."
"..."
With Kon motivated by the prospect of lecturing Alysse, they were there in fifteen minutes. "Hey, I'm Carl. What's your name Miss.?" The moment Carl said it the other two facepalmed literally.
"Err, actually... I'm a boy. My name is Blanc Reaga." Carl felt another twang of guilt run through him, one so strong he almost missed the surname.
The boy was small, only about five feet tall, long pale blue hair hung down covering his face which was dominated by the red-eyes of an albino to match his complexion.
His frame was small and going by appearances alone, he could easily be mistaken for a pre-starter.
"Oh no. Sorry Blanc... Wait. Reaga? You're a realm gate orphan like me?"
"Don't worry too much, I get it a lot because of my long hair. Yeah, except I'm not human in case the hair didn't give it away... I'm half-Bluecap."
"Bluecap? Wow, that is a rare one, mine spirit if I'm not mistaken... Are you okay out here? I thought half-Bluecaps preferred it dark."
They spent some time getting to know each other and it turned out that Gillian and Alysse made a great call. Carl was eager to get him onboard, especially since Bluecaps had a tough life, since jobs that could be done exclusively in the dark were few and not really the type of thing someone of his stature could easily manage.
This also turned out to be the result of Gillian's "Leave it to me Boss" in regards to getting the gate room operational. As it happens, Blanc's aversion to the light motivated him to find hobbies suited for indoors and night-time, which included both inter-realm cartography, applied realm-gate physics and basically anything else that included space, computers and realm-gates.
"Mate, you're awesome, I need Klaire's forgiveness, Klaire's permission, Grandma's permission and probably Kyubi's now..."
"Did you say Kyubi? As in Omina-class threat, the last Celestial-fox, that Kyubi?"
Carl then caught them up on what happened back on earth, then waited for everyone to stop laughing at his plight, then they decided to hold off on food until Klaire was done after using the phrase. "Right we need to wait for food, need something to eat during the show."
"You know, you two teaming up is the worst. Also, Blanc... Do you really want to join? We are a bit of a madhouse and are going to be living with two Omina-class threats. Things will be dangerous and I can't garuntee you won't be forced to train with us."
"Yeah, I'm sure... I don't have any family, I was raised in a committee funded child centre and I only want to go back there if I'm burning it down."
"Grandma Lillim will love you, I promise if the opportunity arises, you can have the honours." Carl laughed, trying not to feel bad at how glad he felt to have had so many lucky breaks.
Klaire arrived before long, clearly confident despite the fact she no longer even had the right build. "I got top marks." She grinned, as Carl stood and used every manner he had to cushion what he saw as an inevitable blow.
"That's great!"
"What did you do? That's your guilty voice."
"Wait! Don't do this til we have food." Gillian and Alysse shouted in unison.
Naturally, their plea was ignored, though to everyone's surprise Klaire wasn't even mad. She seemed to understand Kyubi was just mad with grief and Carl spoke with his usual vagueness and was only guilty of poor communication.
"Now who's the boy and where is my other baby." The answer to the second question was answered immediately as Squidge changed material to something visible and puddled himself over her.
They then went through the same conversation they had just been through and Klaire reacted the same way as Carl, though to be fair that was expected.
They then messaged Lillim to see if they were allowed home yet and she simply said "Yes", leaving them entirely in-the-dark about why they were banished in the first place.
Upon their arrival it was clear what happened, they had a sparring match.
"Err, Grandma, did you two need to spar right away?"
"She exposed herself to my grandson, a married man and th-"
"She was bored of being good and needed to blow off steam, I needed to as well, it was fun... On the other note though... Klaire, I'm very sorry I exposed myself to your husband, for what it's worth Faylorna already scolded me for that."
"Don't worry, I'm not mad... Wish people would stop talking about it, but I understand why it happened. Also thank you, I'm sure my ancestor will be much happier with the relationship if he was able to resist a woman as beautiful as you."
"No kidding, she is fine..."
"Alysse, please don't ogle the near omnipotent, oh and Grandma, Blanc would like to join and I think he would be a great addition."
"No. She's too young, too vulnerable."
They then had a true repeat of the Carl's conversation.
"Carl, with this one I will allow a preliminary contract, let's see if he is still so happy to join when he understands the situation." And that was what happened, Lillim wrote up the contract it was signed and then he was given his full initiation.
"I'm in..." His adamant and instant decision stunned Lillim completely.
"Why so certain?"
"Carl said I can burn down the orphanage if the need arises and if you guys succeed at the very least it won't not be needed..." Lillim stared at him like he was the child she never knew she had.
"Just to be clear, the orphanage has to be empty, I don't want a single casualty..." Carl added as concern began to grow, along with suspicions that the orphanages may still be operating under the pre-equality standards of care.
"Carl, the other two you wanted... I know you wanted to bring them in after Klaire's Howling, but since we have eight already, we may as well hit ten and see what happens with that mission of yours."
Lillim's declaration was certainly food for thought and they discussed it thoroughly, it would mean that they were kept idle for a long time, but at the same time Carl had pet slots enough to keep Alysse and Blanc protected now.
"Fine, I'll send them a message, but for now we should get Kyubi and Blanc contracted and annoy our administrator with the formal acknowledgement of Kyubi." Carl said as they all groaned knowing it was going to be a long night of contract writing since the general template had proved redundant for all members given their "unique" circumstances.
After five long hours all contracts were written and signed.
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : KYUBI HAS JOINED HOUSEHOLD 7/10 ]
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : BLANC HAS JOINED HOUSEHOLD 8/10 ]
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : YOU HAVE UNLOCKED SKILL PATRIARCH ]
[ ANALYSE ACTIVATED : SKILL "PATRIARCH" UNLOCKS HOUSEHOLD STORAGE IN NEO ADMINISTRA CONSTRUCTION MODE, PATRIARCH CAN SET ITEM AVAILABILITY AND VISIBILITY FOR INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS. CURRENCY AND ITEMS CAN BE ADDED AND REMOVED BY ANYONE WITH COMPATIBLE STORAGE DEVICE. ]
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : YOU HAVE UNLOCKED NEW ITEMS IN NEO ADMINISTRA ]
"That's strange, I just unlocked household stuff, I figured something like this would happen when I completed the mission."
"Early unlock for quick progress maybe?" Lillim hypothesised, falling into her deadly serious mode as she did when it was in regards to their development. "Maybe the quicker you complete it the better the rewards will be... Blanc, how long will it take you to program the gate room and get it linked to the system on a one-way basis?"
"Not long, but why one-way? I can make it one-way for everyone but us, I just need mana wavelengths."
"How about soul wavelengths? it's rare, but some can mimic and alter their own mana wavelengths, but only a god can do so with their soul wavelength." Kyubi suggested, not giving Lillim a chance to answer the first question.
"Are we preparing for a war and I just missed that bit?" Blanc asked.
"Make no mistake, we are at war, against the current state of realms. I'd rather not have anyone with duplicitous intentions arriving in our basement. Just tell them it is a security measure to stop anyone stumbling here whilst Kyubi and I are in a bad mood.
As for Kyubi's suggestion, I agree, but only Celestial species like yours can see the wavelengths of souls..." Lillim answered finally after being sure they were done.
"True but mana wavelengths and that of the soul are similar, I can help him program the differences if he explains the wavelength formatting."
With that Blanc was kidnapped by the two Omina-class, with Lillim shouting back as they disappeared into the depths. "Carl, why are you loitering? Go and get the other two here."
"Does she realise what time it is?"
"Maybe if I say Lillim is demanding their presence?"
"They'll, what? Have a heart-attack?"
Everyone sighed, now that Lillim had ordered it, there really wasn't much choice and none of them had exams the next day so sleep wasn't an excuse. Carl pulled out his slate, then began typing.
"Noah, Blaine... I need you two prepped at the IDC of your choice ASAP!"
"We're in, need any beasties? I got paid in unrestricted access to stock for my last order!"
"I have been keeping close to him in case of this as well! I want in!"
"Figured... Can you bring a vampiric-blood hawk, a shdow-shifter and a Kreckle?"
"Do you want a unicorn with that? I mean, I have one, but dude they're all so rare."
"I'll take the unicorn to, with a light stalker and an asklepian snake."
"..."
"I don't know why but I just got excited, anything else?"
"A gorgon, a true reflection and a grim hound."
"Are you seriously making 3? Took you 8 years to get the second slot..."
"Not done... Bring all your stuff, if you're in, you're all in..."
"You just made my day kid... Same place as before. three hours."
Everyone sighed again, sleep was definitely not in the cards, but then they found a small amount of comfort in their own excitement.