Carl blinked awake, carefully moving the small fox-girl off of him without waking her, even though she had declared "I want to sleep in Mama Klaire's room to smell her scent." She had cuddled up to him the moment his eyes closed.
"Squidge, can you keep her company while I go make breakfast?"
'Course Dad, but you know she's gonna freak out when she see's you gone.'
"I know buddy and I know she's gonna play a trick on me as payback." Carl chuckled quietly before heading downstairs.
Carl was taking a hands-off approach with the others, he had lost most of the day before playing personal servant to Kyubi and Lillim for making them work whilst "off-duty". The only really productive thing he had done was create Sitter, who was resting in the menagerie as Lillim demanded.
His plan today was to take breakfast down to the other three and then prepare breakfast for everyone else, after that he was going to study his system in depth. He had scrapped the plans he had originally put together for Lunelia, since they were based on his neglectful understanding of what he could do, but that meant he had a lot of wasted time to make up for.
After he had served the other three, he went outside to feed Sitter, then started breakfast for everyone else... Then his shoelaces caught fire.
"Ow! What th-..." Realisation struck him with little thought. "...Kitsunoko, I was cooking everyone breakfast, I had something special planned for you, but..." The small fox girl suddenly appeared next to him.
"Well I thought you forgot my breakfast, that's the only reason I was mad." She huffed, in her particularly dangerous brand of attachment resistance.
"I could never forget my little girl..." He chuckled as she denied the attachment further. Though when he gave her an idea of what she was getting, the huffing quickly stopped.
"Fine... I'm going to watch you today though... I, um, need to know what you can do to trick you properly."
"Of course, I'll study in the lounge so Kyubi can be close as well." Carl's words made Kotsunoko beam with obvious joy despite herself.
Then after everyone had eaten he did as he had intended.
His skills had developed far more than he had even considered possible. Now providing a far more detailed description of what each space could do, not to mention the fact that he now had the option to customise, expand and upgrade certain things.
He also now had the option to use materials within the bounds of the land he was modifying in order to save DIV, which was good, because unlike when he had made HQ there were no free-options anymore.
"Why does everything have a price tag now?"
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : TRAINING MODE ENDED AT LEVEL TWENTY-FIVE ]
"Training mode? What training, I spent eight years trying to figure this damn thing out and you only responded when you wanted to." Kyubi and Kitsunoko were watching him talk to himself, the latter proudly asking if she had driven him mad.
"No sweetie they have a system, sometimes it talks to them."
"Oh you mean that thing with all the numbers?"
Kyubi then listened to Kitsunoko and jelped her understand her own system, Carl then apologised for forgetting to mention to her that his "pets" and companions had the system too.
[ TRAINING MODE INCLUDED THE ENHANCED LEVELLING MODIFIERS TO HELP INITIAL GROWTH. THE ISSUE WAS THAT YOU WERE IMPROVING AT AN EXCEPTIONAL RATE THROUGH YOUR STRUGGLE, AS A RESULT THE SYSTEM COULD NOT ROB YOU OF THAT CHANCE TO GROW, NOR THE MOTIVATION TO DO SO. ]
Carl screamed into his hands, knowing that he had suffered all those years of teasing for not levelling up and the litteral blood, sweat and tears it cost him, all because he was too stubborn to give in.
"I even broke up with Klaire..." Carl's fists tightened, his own stubbornness had blindly put Klaire through just as much, even making her a criminal by the law of Faylorn.
[ SYSTEM MONITORED THE SITUATION WITH METICULOUS CARE AND CALCULATION, AN ALERT WOULD HAVE BEEN SENT IF THE RELATIONSHIP WAS ABOUT TO BECOME IRREPARABLE. STRONG ALLIES AND REASONS TO FIGHT ARE AS VITAL AS PERSONAL GROWTH. ]
Carl's exploding temper sent a chill up the little fox's spine,along her fur bristle. "Carl, you're scaring the little one." Kyubi said as she fluffed Kitsunoko's tail.
"Sorry..." Carl explained what he had just read and apologised to the little cub.
Kitsunoko simply jumped up with her hands on her hips. "Ha! You can't scare me silly Papa! A male can't scare me, I'll even sit on your lap to prove it." She jumped over then got comfortable in her little fox form.
Carl and Kyubi simply looked at her shaking their heads. Then Carl decided to ignore the statement, he couldn't turn back time and as much as he hated to admit it, that separation had motivated him tremendously.
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : APOLOGIES FOR NOT INTERVENING, CALVULATIONS SHOW THAT PUSH WAS MOSTLY UNNECESSARY GIVEN FOLLOWING EVENTS. IT IS NOT THE PURPOSE OF THE SYSTEM TO CAUSE UNNECESSARY DISTRESS. ]
"Just show me the neo governor construction screen. I want to do some remodelling, Equinox needs a room, and we need some specialist facilities."
Carl asked Equinox what he would like his room to be like, but since the answer confused him, he just created the space and gave him the ability to modify it himself with a set budget.
He then added space for a play room for Kitsune a second gate room specialised to follow the list of procedures everyone had put together over the past day.
He also modified the first gate-room with security systems and usage log and finally added a proper workspace that included a work station for each member a holographic map which could be used to remotely observe and make adjustments to faction buildings remotely as well as observe security camera feeds.
"Finally starting to think like a leader. Have you considered a Chief of security?" Lillim said after returning from a ridiculously long soak in the bath
"I considered Klaire, but that might make Gillian's job harder. I need more time to think it through, no more rushing."
Lillim nodded, a supportive smile tugging at her lips. "Also young madam, no stealing your "Papa" from Klaire, we don't need the drama." Lillim then laughed as the little fox buried herself into Carl, forgetting the false protest as she teetered on the edge of falling asleep.
"Sorry Fluff, but you can come meet Sitter or you can stay with Kyubi." Carl asked the question but was already in the process of moving her when she transformed and clung to him.
"Papa, I'm really sorry, I don't want to play the "I don't like Dad" game anymore. Can I stay with you please?" Her words made Carl choke up and he was about to say it was fine...
"Sorry Sweetie, we need you to play it a bit longer okay? Carl, don't ask questions, it's important, but trust it won't be long and then you can be as close to her as you like."
Carl knew they wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important and he wasn't oblivious enough to not realise there was something strange about the relationship he had with creatures.
They were not only friendly towards him, but actively sought him out. Even the few beasts he had to fight to earn the approval of only did as their nature drove them to.
"Fine. Kitsunoko, can you be a good girl and keep playing tricks on Papa please. I really hate the fact I just said that for the the record."
"Mama, Dad is a weirdo." Carl just glared at Lillim and Kyubi with defeated acceptance.
After that Carl left to grab Sitter noticing that the twenty-four hour grounding for the other three was coming to an end and wanting to distract himself from claiming a slightly less antagonistic dynamic with the girl child who saw him as a father.
Lillim had followed him. "Carl, can I ask why you let her think of you as a father? Surely you aren't so keen to have children."
"Don't know what you mean. Of course I'm not, Klaire and I haven't even gotten to the stage we really feel like a mature couple... It's just..."
"Carl, I'm not judging, I need to know."
"I was a realm gate orphan, I don't know anything about the parents that brought me into this world and yet people with no relation, not even the same species have helped me every step of the way. So yeah, I make these creatures and when I do they're all orphans, all with personalities and they see me as their "Dad", whether normal or not, how can I tell them they aren't my children?"
"Carl, I'm sure you know this... There is a good chance some will die. I worry you are setting yourself up for a very painful existence, or worse still, giving yourself a reason to fall from grace."