Anti-antithesis

Who has time to cook these days? From your fifteen-hour shifts and screaming kids, it's so much easier to use Convendash! Your one stop shop for all things hot and ready!

-Ad for food delivery service before the company went bankrupt due to lawsuits over territorial disputes before devolving into open conflict.

The rest of the time until dinner was spent simply talking. I learned about their schooling, their first celebrity crushes, even where their nicknames came from. Apparently, it was a camping trip where Opal snuck one of her father's spirits out with them. It was that same trip where they made their promise, as well as their first drunk experience with each other.

Drunk Yerlette was the one who named them. Apparently, Alice was Camp because her normal attire reminded her of a campfire, not to mention her fiery personality, Opal was Smokey because of her dark hair and eyes and her deep voice, and Cari was Mellow because she had the biggest boobs at the time and Yerlette was constantly squeezing them, even when not drunk. Alice named Yerlette Thief because she stole everyone's underwear while they were still wearing them and hid them till dawn.

Their parents were aware of their relationship and while there were some reservations, there were no outright rejections or denials. Just a heavy grounding after getting hammered in the desert. Heracles, or David, argued that they got punished enough due to their hangovers, but all of their mothers simply glared holes into him to shut him up.

In exchange, I shared some of my more tame jobs, mostly infiltration ones where few deaths occurred. I knew that Cari knew that I had a lot of blood on my hands, considering the massacre outside and my breakdown the other day, but I didn't want the others to know how thick those stains were right now. I did get a laugh from Alice when I explained a time when Buddy knocked a guy out while he was on the toilet. Poor bastard was just a corpo drone in the wrong place, but he heard nothing, so we were allowed to be lenient.

Soon, the smells of spices and meats filled the room, causing Opal to stand while holding both Alice and Yerlette from a flat position. Carrying them, one under each arm while they yelped and laughed, she stomped off towards the kitchen. Cari chuckled as she kissed the top of my head again. She had done that a lot over the last couple hours, and each time I felt a small shiver run down me, reminding me that I deserved the love she held for me, something that I still didn't know how I had managed to obtain.

“Would you like to be carried as well, love, or do you think you can walk?” She asked jokingly.

“As much as I might enjoy that, I am hosting two Samurai for dinner, so it would behoove me to walk on my own.” Extracting myself from the heavenly coils, I did give her a quick kiss. “Maybe next time.”

As we walked out, I saw my siblings, my commanders, and the rest of the poly puddle sitting around a massive table with two new faces. I recognized High Noon, or Damian, from the other day, and I also barely recognized Rocker Boy. Eddie Monroe, he was king of the neo-metal indie scene two years back when he initialized out in Globe. He ended up in New Phoenix after a bandmate recommended that they could do so much better than the big labels, but soon amassed a huge following on the tour around Arizona.

I was, however, shocked at how normal he looked considering his posters. His normal attire was blacks and spikes, every inch of skin filled with ink and metal, but the guy sitting at the table looked like Larry from accounting, sweater vest over a pressed dress shirt, glasses and combed hair. Nary a hint of tattoos or piercings to be seen. His laugh was the thing that made me accept he was Rocker Boy, as it was the unique, slightly weary cadence that reminded me of a hyena.

Taking a seat with everyone, I waved to our guests. “Good evening, guys. Sorry I wasn't there to greet you at the door, I was just deep in conversation, you know.”

Damien smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I get it. When Alice gets to chatting, it's very hard to get her to stop. We saw Opal here literally carry her out, one of the best ways to get her to stop.”

“Dad! I'm not that bad.” Alice pouted, eliciting chuckles from the table. “And besides, he was the one sharing at the time, not me.” She pointed her nose in the air as she reached over and grabbed a dinner roll and took a bite.

“Oh-ho?” Eddie said. “Anything that could be repeated to two old foggies, or are we too old to understand?”

Damian slapped Eddie's shoulder playfully. “One time, man! Your kid makes one joke, and it's all you ever say to me. Just let it die, already.”

Opal chuckled as she swallowed her stew. “Nah, nothing like that. He was telling us about the fucked up child slavery company he and his escaped from. Damn shame The Family couldn't get to the heads of that beast.”

Eddie looked very concerned as Damien simply nodded. “Ah, yeah. Damn shame, that. If the Mars thing wasn't happening, we all know David would have crossed the ocean himself.”

“He would have used it as an excuse to visit Vienna, and you know it.” Jill said.

“Wait, hold the phone.” Eddie said loudly. “The fuck do you mean child slavery company? When the fuck was this a thing we could joke about?”

Damian nodded. “And this is why you should read the newsletter Jason sends out weekly. July twenty third issue, front page.”

Eddie's augs flashed as everyone continued to eat. Roger was talking to Outsider about her hunt, details I have gone over already and was thoroughly impressed, yet also curious about a noticeable gap in time at the club she removed from the report. Cody was talking shop with Bahamut, of which I tuned out, and Opal was challenging Leman to a spar after dinner.

“Burning Saints of horse piss, what the fuck kind of dog fuckers would do this.” Eddie said, leaning back in his chair. Baba Yaga slapped his hand with a spoon, causing him to jump in shock.

“Language, young man. We are at the dinner table and I will not allow such filth to ruin Buddy and mine's work.” she said sternly.

Buddy nodded in agreement. “Such talk can be had later, but here we eat and discuss lighter topics.”

Rogal took that opportunity to say something. “Speaking of lighter topics, are we not going to discuss why Morrigan looks like she hasn't slept in days when I know for a fact that she did yesterday?”

We all glanced at Morrigan and, yeah, she didn't look great. She simply waved us away. “Experimental drug's side effects. It was supposed to push my artificial brain's processing to the extreme, which it did. Problem is that I experienced three weeks of being awake in one hour and cannot fall asleep until it fully leaves my system in two more hours.”

Damian looked concerned. “What do you mean artificial brain?” he asked.

“Right!” Roger said with a huge grin. “These guys look so lifelike, but they're all AIs over nanobot and robotic frames. Honestly, one of the best things Victor did was get these guys. I love my siblings, don't get me wrong, but having mature people to talk to on a daily basis is just the best.”

Opal looked annoyed. “So does that mean you can't take off that armor and spar normally?”

Leman grunted and his form shifted and shrunk, soon leaving an oversized man in a white tank top and jeans at the table. A very large, hairy man, but one not in huge power armor. Opal just nodded and tore into a piece of ham.

The rest of the evening was pleasant, with plenty of banter and conversation. I eventually got Cody to look into his hotel for a bit, which caused him to blush like a tomato, and when Alice asked what was going on, he simply clammed up hard. It didn't help that she decided to hover within five inches of him the entire time. Jill eventually rescued him, but still explained the hotel thing to the table, leading to a very interesting, flustered reaction from Damian.

After dinner, I led Damian and Eddie to the room where the bio-shifter was. Damian chuckled. “Yeah, I was wondering why the name was familiar. This is the same shifter Tsubuki bought Cari last year. I had to help with the catalogs since I already bought them for the other girls.”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah, right pain in the ass, these tubes are. The base, Class I Model was single use but allowed for upgrades later to be multi-use." He sighed, then turned to me. “Early birthday gift for Cari?” He asked.

“Yes, but also for myself.” I answered.

Damian clapped my shoulder, smiling. “Right, Alice did mention Cari forced you to marry her or something. Fell in love with the Slytherian form that much you wanted it for yourself?”

I took a breath to try and control the blush creeping up my neck, but that just caused him to chuckle. “Damn, kid. I was joking. Good for you, though. Now, let's get this done. Jason has authorized his half of the points for the shifter proper, so he doesn't need to be here for it, but catalog sharing does need to be closer. So, I authorize you to use my catalogs to make this purchase.”

Eddie nodded. “I do as well.”

“Synaptic, if you would.”

Purchasing and installing the upgrade directly now.

Unlocked Human Genome Library

Unlocked Slytherian Genome Library

Purchased Cadian Genetic Editing and Form Shaping Chamber mk 8

Points reduced by 5200

The Bio-shifter was, originally, a ten-foot-long metal tube with a console at its foot, and a thick, four-foot-tall base. It worked by isolating the brain of the subject inside before liquifying the rest of the body, utilizing various techniques and technologies to rebuild the body from that state. The upgrade lifted the base by a foot and expanded the tube by fifty percent in diameter, as well as adding two more tubes. The chambers were also lifted to a standing position from its base with new hydraulics.

From a speaker in the room, Synaptic spoke to all three of us. Since I know your preferences, I will begin the process of designing the base form that you can go over later. I must warn you that this process is not fast and will take five days to complete. Make sure you have a clear schedule before you begin the process.

“Alright, kid. Congratulations will be in order in a few days, I imagine.” Eddie said. “Now, let's head back. I really want to see the MAF Pandora before tomorrow's conference. I can lord it over Carter later tonight. Mind if I take a few selfies with her?”

“Sure, go ahead.” I said as I led them to the garage. There were now four elongated golf carts, with the mannequins acting as drivers, in order to ferry the group to the the Pandora for another tour.

******************************

Eddie took dozens of selfies and Alice demanded a room. Morrigan grunted but was able to add more rooms to the Officers deck as guest rooms. Twenty of them, in fact.

Opal had to carry her off the ship, much to the lizard girl's annoyance, but only after getting her ass kicked by Leman in the simulation deck.

********************************

Climbing into bed with Cari after the bed was shrunk to a more reasonable, slightly larger king, was a nice reward for socializing today. She had her legs out instead of a tail and was wearing a long shirt that extended down past her mid thighs. “Are you going to tell me where you went earlier?” She asked.

I chuckled, placing an arm under her side as she pulled me close. “Not tonight. Tomorrow, once Pandora is in the air and after the first hive encounter.”

She clicked her tongue. “Rude. But I will forgive you for now. But, in exchange, you will be massaging my tail tomorrow night.”

Placing a kiss on her shoulder, I chuckled as she moaned slightly. “Not much of a threat, but I will comply.”

“Just be glad I'm not making you do it now. We have a busy day tomorrow, and you need to be in top shape for the conference at nine.” She said, adjusting her legs to wrap around mine.

Feeling the sleepy start to take a hold, I said one more jab. “A snexy snake no matter the form, huh?”

The last thing I remembered was hearing her chuckle reverberate through me.

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