It was around the cusp of 8:00 at night.
Sei was the only one alone in the penthouse provided by Arias.
Well, she was the only human.
Serosh and Ajani had been left behind to keep the charming beauty company while the rest of them stepped out.
She absentmindedly stared out the window as she watched the twinkling lights of the city beneath her.
It was so strange to see places in the world like this that were sohow thriving.
An alien apocalypse had literally unfolded right before their very eyes and an incalculable number of people had lost their lives.
Arica was currently in the midst of a literal civil war, so she couldn't imagine how the other countries were dealing with the aftermath.
And for a brief mont, her mind drifted towards her parents.
Were they still alive..?
Should she still care..?
They had discarded her aside the mont that she got pregnant with Serana.
And stopped showing her affection long before that.
So why should she spare them another thought when she was finally happy after so many years of trauma?
'That's right, nothing they do concerns anymore… If they are no longer within this world, I must simply wish that they rest in peace and move on.' She thought firmly.
"Are you alright, miss?"
Sei didn't notice, but at so point a large black lion had appeared at her side and sat down attentively.
"Yes, I'm fine, Serosh. Just thinking a bit about the past I suppose." She muttered.
Serosh seed not to know how to respond to that, so he simply blurted out sothing that he felt would make her happy.
"…The master is returning now. I can sense that he misses you a great deal."
As he expected, that news did put a smile on Sei's face.
"Serosh, can you keep a secret?"
The lion suddenly looked nervous despite his massive fra.
"…Ma'am, please do not tell anything that would make the master start skipping my als."
Sei giggled. "He wouldn't do that."
'Yes the hell he would…'
Sei ran her fingers through the mane of the black lion and stared into the moon far off in the distance.
"I must confess, Serosh… This family has truly saved . I don't know if I ever would have beco the woman I am now without them. Nor if I would have survived this kind of world on my own. I don't know how to put into words what I feel for them. What I feel for him."
Serosh seed to take his ti processing her words before giving her a very gentle nudge with his snout.
"…I believe that might be sothing that the master might like to hear."
"You're probably right." Sei smiled. "But I don't have to tell him everything just yet. We aren't officially married afterall."
At that mont, the elevator door dinged and Sei felt her heart skip a beat.
Even before the doors fully opened, she was halfway across the room to et them.
She dove into Malachi's arms like a homing rocket and sniffing him fervently.
"Wow… you know, if you were feeling this lonely then you should have just co with us for recon." He smiled.
"Yes, well I.."
Sei suddenly noticed Bianca holding two boxes of collectible figurines.
And not the cheap ones you could find at Wallyworld, but the ones that ca with a display stand and costed hundreds of dollars a pop.
"…Recon, huh?" She grumbled.
Bianca held her goods possessively. "I-I have needs, damn it! ¡No juzgues!"
"I'm not judging you, sweetheart… Whatever makes you happy." (She was judging a little bit.)
Sei finally let the rest of her family inside and she could see that they had all imrsed themselves in civilization one way or another.
"I… What exactly did you all do while you were out? And what's wrong with her?"
Sei's main concern was Nadine, who was nestled within Joanne's arm in a princess carry.
"…She got a bit too carried away trying human food for the first ti." Jo shrugged.
*Unintelligible groaning*
"Okay… And the rest of you?" Sei asked.
Bianca once again showed off her figurines, but also the stack of comic books she had acquired.
Luna held up a few bottles of wine and a tea set- in addition to so different strains of actual tea.
"Anything else?"
"Serana may or may not have gotten her nipples pierced…" Bianca was going to do it too, but chickened out at the last mont.
Sei opened and closed her mouth several tis before ultimately deciding to just let it be.
"…Did she cr-"
"Yes, nonstop." Everyone nodded at once.
"Oh, but that reminds …" Luna held out her hand.
The group mimicked her gesture and reveled new tattoos on their wedding fingers.
Mal had each of the girls' initials inscribed, while they only had his and a small heart next to it.
Sei soon noticed that one of her family had yet to show off their own tattoo.
"You didn't get one too, Annalise? I'm fairly certain this was your idea."
"Oh, yeah."
Anna turned around and lifted up her shirt just enough to expose her waist.
Just above her butt, she had a new tattoo of an empty heart comprised of everyone's nas.
"That's… actually very sweet." Sei chuckled. "Now I feel the tiniest bit bad for not going with you."
"Worry not, gorgeous!"
Anna suddenly pulled out her very own tattoo kit and ink; complete with a needle that would actually pierce blessed skin.
"I'll happily do the honors myself if you're up for it! And that goes for anyone else who wants so art on their body from !"
"Don't you typically need an apprenticeship to learn how to perform tattoos on people…?"
"Look, do you trust or not?" Anna pouted slightly.
Rolling her eyes, Sei sat down on the sofa. Serosh, big animal that he was, ca to sit his head on her lap like a newborn puppy.
"So, did you all do any actual reconnaissance today, or did you all just swipe Arias' card the whole ti?"
"We used that Carly lady's too." Bianca revealed. "We had to keep it even afterall."
"How generous." Sei giggled.
"We did learn sothing while we were out though." Mal sat down next to his fiancé and nestled his head in her neck.
"Oh? Was it how many orders of french fries Nadine can eat in a single sitting?"
"F-Four…" The vampire muttered pitifully.
Mal rolled his eyes. "Not quite… it's moreso the way this place functions."
Arias' new society wasn't a slavery ridden hellscape like so would have expected.
But there was blatant 'discrimination'.
Humans make 60% of blessed salaries even for the sa job.
They all of them without exception live in low inco housing project areas that are practically falling apart.
But what was truly interesting were the way that other blessed treated humans.
They weren't outwardly malicious or prone to fits of harassnt, but instead they seed to ignore the bottom class almost entirely.
It seed like they were barely putting them into their eyes; as if their struggles and hardships did not concern them.
Almost as if they thought they were above them… but sothing about this crass outlook was unsettling to Malachi to say the least.
He could feel that there was more here that he was missing, but he didn't know enough just yet…
Unsurprisingly, there is a small human resistance running about on the streets, but information about them is highly restricted.
Only a few people manage to get images of their graffiti before it's taken down or painted over.
He could only assu that the reason any humans decided to live in this regi at all, is because the cost of living of the opposing faction is supposedly higher than giraffe tits, and housing is not free like it is here.
They were second class citizens here, but at least they could eat and have sowhere to lie their heads at night.
And in uncertain tis such as these, that was a big enough reason to keep their heads down and endure.
Long after everyone had gotten ho, the girls were jumping in the shower while Malachi and Sei were in the kitchen cooking side by side.
With a wealth of ingredients at their disposal that they had previously taken for granted, the couple was preparing a light seafood soup for dinner that would soothe Nadine's upset stomach.
And still manage to fill Joanne and Anna's bottomless ones.
"Were you followed at all?" Sei finally asked.
"Of course we were, but since we didn't really have anything to hide, I just let them be." Mal shrugged.
He deftly chopped up a dley of shallots, carrots, and garlic with the sa ease as a certain bandana wearing culinary icon.
He lifted up his cutting board and scraped all of the ingredients inside; a dley of aromas filling the room.
"We had Nadine wipe the mories of anyone who we interviewed so they won't be able to get anything out of them if they-"
"You… are very handso to ." Sei suddenly interrupted.
Mal felt his cheeks warm and it wasn't because of the raging fire on the burner next to him.
Sei was in the process of burning the alcohol out of the white wine when she stared at her young fiancé for a bit too long and ended up getting srized by his features.
Malachi was used to complints in his appearance by now, but sincere, head on confessions of infatuation hit him like a bus and practically rendered him defenseless.
"I think… we can let all the simr for a bit."
Sei blushed deeply and almost turned down the stove.
However, out of the corner of her eye she noticed the elevator light blinking, and soon the doors slid open.
"Sorry I'm late! But look, I brought friends!"
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