After everyone had eaten, Lydia offered to babysit while everyone else enjoyed a bath including Tiamat and Bahamut, who were mostly just intrigued by how long the other two spent in the water.
The moment they were submerged they were sold and it was a couple of hours before either moved.
When they eventually left Carl and everyone else collapsed, worn out from acting like they weren't completely out of their depth.
When the dragon gods left, Carl had told them he would send the twins in a week so Equinox could confer with Gillian and get their actual goals and guidelines drawn up.
The truth was simply that Carl refused to send his creations off the moment they were created, particularly Omedra who was more emotionally attached. He wanted to introduce her to Klaire before she left on her assignment away from home and have a chance to bond with everybody.
Carl even felt that Aldra, who was admittedly not very emotional, needed to know he always had a home and what kind of places that consisted of.
To that end, the next day Carl left early to take the dragons and Kitsunoko on a tour of their territory, though Kitsunoko actually ended up leading the tour from her sister's shoulders.
Whilst they were off doing that, Gillian and the others were back at the new "Diplomatic affairs HQ" on Mirage, negotiating and finalising membership.
"Must say, I never thought I'd be negotiating with you about such an important matter Gillian." The man who spoke was an older gentleman, Daniel's father. His expression both amused and tense, he smiled tightly as repeatedly attempted to crack his knuckles as a nervous habit.
A man of incredible cunning, one who was in fact the de facto leader of the equality movement at the same time Leanna, Lydia and Danielle attended the SAT-Station as students.
"Apologies, Mr. Kalga. I respect you greatly, but I would prefer you looked at me like the chief of diplomacy for this meeting." Gillian retained his confidence, but he shrunk himself inward with the weight he presently had on his shoulders.
He wasn't speaking diplomatically either, he genuine respected the man. At seventy years old, he was still relatively young for a Kilili hybrid. Incredibly rare, theirs is the only bloodline of kilili descent, but all children are born as kilili hybrids no matter the partners lineage.
They appeared mostly human but, they had a feathery pattern that covered their dark skin, with naturally gifted intelligence, they are among the most passive of demonic half-breeds. Which gave their involvement in the movement significant weight.
"Well then apologies, Mr. Remus... I appreciate the honesty and your position. I will save you some concern and tell you now that I do not intend to hold anything discussed today against you personally."
"I appreciate that... Honestly, I hated myself a bit when I looked at the situation objectively in the capacity of my position. We are small, but in no rush to grow, as you've seen Carl would happily be friends with the devil himself."
"Well we all know that applies for the devil of dragon-kin at least." Daniel's father chuckled.
"Samael to, unfortunately he saw the state he's in and knows that will come to violence... Which is the problem. We know that we have conflict in our future, that means resources are as important as manpower, more so even given Carl's ability to create his own creatures."
"Resources we would be a drain on. I understand Gillian, it is responsible to budget for what you know is coming and you need to make sure every hand taking food can be useful." Gillian saw Daniel clench his fists and heard him click his tongue. "Daniel! Use your head, you know he's right."
"That is the situation, I know Daniel and exactly how to make the most of his skills in a way he will be happy and I know your leadership background... I don't know much about anyone else and anyone left behind when Carl goes after the committee will suffer, I can't be responsible for that."
"Luckily, ever since Daniel first mentioned the standing invite, I figured this would come up and began gathering profiles on everyone. We are limited to no more than thirty living Kilili and only allowed to earn enough to feed five a day, luckily that means most of those thirty end up in professions that take them beyond committee oversight."
Gillian's face lightened a bit. "If that's the case, how many are in committee oversight?"
"Sorry Gillian. Do not forget that not all of our family are Kilili. Sorry if I gave you false hope on the matter. All in there are about fifty I would consider to be within their reach at risk if Carl does end up at odds with them."
"Fifty? I mean that is more yes, but not much, we shouldn't have any problem with that spread across all our worlds."
"How man-"
"Probably best you take it slow, you might swallow your own tongue. Well let's have a look at these profiles, I'll go get Kon and Lydia, they will be able to assess vocational prospects better. Luckily food and water aren't going to be an issue, for that many, but we will not be able to sign everyone up as faction members so whilst they work, I'll head out and consider what we would need to do in terms of actual membership."
Whilst Gillian had been talking to Daniel's family, Blanc was interviewing Sophie with Alysse acting as a reference and with a question list Gillian had put together.
"I'm gonna apologise in advance, our diplomat just got a department's workload so I'm just here to ask questions in his place so he can review the answers...
First of all, I will tell you now that lying in response to these questions would be considered a contractual violation for Alysse, so please don't expect her to cover for you because it would be very obvious if she stretched the truth."
"What would happen?" Sophie asked, both a bit surprised and genuinely curious.
"Well, Gillian recommended a fifty percent drop in stats and Lillim wanted capital punishment, so they met in the middle and if any of us lie in official capacity it will make us feel like we repeatedly stub our toe for a day. Carl will also be notified and if anyone does it three times Lillim gets her wish. Which means Carl will drop anyone who does it twice to avoid that."
"Ow! That's just evil... I have no intention of lying though, so Alysse's pinky toe is safe."
"Good. The first question is easy. What can you offer?"
"I am great at electrical engineering stuff, not just practiced but I also have several merits in efficiency improvement, product refinement and I was the top student in electrical interference blocking."
"Well we definitely need that. Alysse knows some stuff for engineering purposes and I do for tech purposes, but a specialist would be handy. The second question is "Do you have any personal needs i.e. medical, racial or otherwise?"
"Yes, as a human I need an earth adjacent atmosphere, my strength stat is also pretty dismal so I can't work well in high gravity and need physical assistance with heavy labour. Also... I was sick as a child, I can't be in sunlight too much, I get rashes at first and seizures if I try to ignore it." Sophie replied energetically at first, then slightly more deflated with the last bit.
"I'm starting to feel like you two are at a speed dating meeting." Alysse laughed.
"Alysse... Can I have a word outside quickly... I need your advice." Alysse was about to make a joke, but she had come to know Blanc well enough to know it was serious, so she just nodded.
When they were outside Blanc continued. "Alysse, I think she might be a half-vampire, it sounds like sun-sickness they suffer from and half-vampires well removed appear as humans on the system."
"What? No, she can't be, her family are human supremacists..."
"Which is why I need advice... Is there a chance her family abused her growing up? For showing those symptoms?"
"Blanc! You can't make assumptions like that!"
"We have to. If we don't know and send her to the wrong world, she dies."
Alysse was glowing with anger and frustration, she wanted to say she knew her friend but at the same time the stakes were too high to say without real certainty. "I guess we have to ask, but I swear if you're wrong..."
"If I'm wrong, I will get down on me knees and apologise to both of you. I'd rather risk my pride than her life, especially because how I know for myself how supremacists treat half-breed kids myself."
They entered the room again, this time sitting side by side, Alysse was the one to ask though. "Sophie, we have to ask. Have you ever been tested for impure lineage?"
"What? Why?" She became twitchy immediately and the two of them tensed.
"Sophie, I'm a bluecap hybrid, I used to study in the dark rooms with the other light-sensitive hybrids. The symptoms you just mentioned match a half-vampire condition called sun-sickness. We have world with the kind of suns that could kill someone with that immediately and that is a very painful way to go." Blanc spoke flatly, not wanting to drag it out.
"I'm a human, my fami-"
"You're family haven't spoken to you in years, supremacists would keep trying to persuade you how unclean half-breeds are. Sophie, we really embrace all species here, we won't reject you and we feel like shit for doing this, but..."
Sophie began to tear up, the glistening in her eyes their answer. "Guess I should have expected it to come out sooner or later. Yes, I'm a a half-breed, far enough that I'm human and I still get sun-sick."
"Dummy! Why didn't you tell me?" Alysse said as she went over and hugged her.
"My family called me filthy, they told me even other hybrids hated half-vampires which is why we're so rare and I never saw anyone mention it so I figured if there were others they were hiding to."
"Alysse is right, you're a dummy, you never saw them because they had special classes that to meet their needs. You're a rare species because vampires willing to mix their blood with a human's rather than replace it, were like one in a million and it's all but impossible for you to have kids." Alysse walked over and punched him in the arm until it hung dead at his side and he tried to rub some feeling into it.
"Sorry, he doesn't have any tact. When we're done, whether you join or not, we'll get Lydia to talk to you about it."
"Yeah and I'll contact the half-vampires I know, they're a great bunch. By the way, if your teeth ever itch, apparently chewing slime is the best."
Their meeting was delayed for a while, Sophie needed some time to vent her nearly two decades of repressed emotions.
"One thing, don't tell Lillim what they did, she will end up flaying them alive if she takes a liking to you."
"I really don't care after everything you two told me." She spoke robotically, with the passive disconnection that any long-term victim of abuse knows all too well. Ultimately, it didn't matter, she had reached a point where she couldn't afford to let herself believe anything would really change that much no matter what happened.
"If you need to talk, you can come find me to, when through similar stuff growing up in the committee orphanage. When I misbehaved they made me go into spirit flame form and then they splashed water on me."
Alysse froze, it was the first time he had ever given an example of what he went through in the orphanage. "Please don't tell Carl that, the dragons just told us we aren't ready for war yet."
"Duh, why do you think I haven't? Anyway, maybe we should continue so we can get to more important matters."
"Agreed..."
Blanc went through the rest of the questions, noting everything that was said before excusing himself to pass it over to Gillian and send Lydia Sophie's way.
When Noah told him Lydia was with Gillian's group, he didn't hesitate to interrupt.
"Problem?"
"No, big problem. Lydia, can you come with me please?..." Blanc handed over the answers to Gillian, then left with her and only when they were outside, Blanc explained.
Lydia's eyes flared with anger that made Blanc shift uncomfortably, a bit sensitive after digging into his own past. "I should have castrated them all when I had the damn chance" She grumbled. "We need to tell Carl."
"Are you sure? Alysse and I were thinking the opposite."
"Usually I'd agree, but with Klaire, Lillim and Kyubi gone we need to tell him while Equinox is still here. He might be better but he's still unstable and if he finds out whilst Equinox isn't present, he may go off the deep end quickly."
"I mean, please don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure?"
"You don't need to worry, I'm not trying to restart the movement. I trust Carl to see it resolved and find a better path forward."
"Why can't we just wait then? Equinox is here for a week and the others should be back by then."
"Fair question Blanc, but it's because of Squidge, Kitsunoko and the others... If they overhear, they may feel compelled to tell him." The pieces clicked together and Blanc nodded.
By the time Carl had returned, Gillian had finished with Daniel's family and Lydia, Blanc and Alysse had finished with Sophie.
"Hey guys, how'd everything go? I got the notifications."
"Err, yeah dude it went pretty well with Daniel's family... Can you hold onto that?"
Carl sighed. "What happened?"
The others explained everything and by the end Carl was gritting his teeth so hard he nearly shattered them.
"Carl, you need to remember what the Lord Bahamut and Lady Tiamat told you." Equinox said.
"Indeed, let me go and administer justice on your behalf. I'-"
"Aldra! Stop. Now." Omedra shouted and elbowed him. "Dad, we aren't ready. Aldra and I don't even fully know what we can do yet."
"Relax everyone. I'm angry, obviously. I have to be smart though, whatever those humans pulling humanity's strings can do, it stopped all-out war with the gods. I won't put you all in that danger without confidence and a damn good plan."
"We need enough power to make them hesitate, more amenable to concessions." Gillian stated. "We don't want to start a civil war amongst humans, we need to appear as an alternate option rather than hostile force."
"Concessions? We need them to change completely."
"No we don't, we want them to, but don't need them to. What we need is to see hybrids better protected until we are ready to take what we want."
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KLAIRE : LILLIM AND KYUBI APPEARED AND FAYLORNA KICKED LEVI AND I OUT SO THEY COULD CHAT, CAN'T BELIEVE IT WAS ONLY A MONTH AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN. I LOVE YOU CARL, I SHOULD HAVE SAID IT MORE BEFORE I LEFT. ]
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM CARL : I LOVE YOU TOO KLAIRE, THIS MONTH HAS BEEN HELL. LOTS TO TALK ABOUT, CAN I COME SEE YOU? ]
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KLAIRE : I WON'T SAY NO, BUT I THINK FAYLORNA, LILLIM AND KYUBI WOULD PREFER YOU DIDN'T. I GOT ORDERED NOT TO COME SEE YOU OR SAY TOO MUCH... SORRY BY THE WAY, LEVI HAS BECOME A BANSHEE TOO. NO MORE STANDING PERMISSION WITH MY BABIES! ]
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM CARL : WHAT ABOUT THE NEW ONE? ]
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KLAIRE : I SUGGEST YOU SHUT-UP, YOU DON'T TELL A PERSON THEY HAVE A NEW BABY THEY CAN'T MEET IMMEDIATELY OVER A MESSAGE. ]
"Sorry, Klaire just messaged it seems that Lillim and Kyubi only arrived there a while ago."
"The word "seems" is right, Danielle said time passes randomly there. They likely arrived as soon as Faylorna invited them, Klaire only just made it out of her realm. I'm happy to hear they're safe."
"Not sure about that, Levi's a banshee now apparently and Klaire was told "not to say too much" so just have to wait until I'm summoned. In the meantime, let's make her squirm with some household notifications..." Carl chuckled but everyone could tell he just wanted something to stop him running off.
Carl apologised to Sophie, asking if she would be offended if they shelved the "human problem" for a while. The phrasing made Sophie glad to do so, she hadn't ever heard Carl talk like that and didn't understand the way everyone had panicked at telling him, but his choice of words made his anger clear for her to see.
"Carl, are you really human, or are you like me?" Sophie asked, unaware she had just opened a topic of discussion that Lillim and Kyubi had desperately tried to keep close and they sensed it being mentioned immediately.