Pecking Order

After spending some time discussing the finer details of Eva's Quest, everyone called it off for the day since the location for a potential entrance to Plateau Zero hadn't been found by the elemental wolves yet.

They temporarily returned to Rakna's territory to pass the night where they trained for Resonance for a few hours. Pronos panted as all of his heads laid on the ground of the garden, and with his size, some of them were even using trees to hang from.

"Hm, this is harder than I expected," Rakna commented as he stared at his hands. The Hydra let out a brief apologetic hiss but the therian shook his head in response. "It's not your fault… it might be mine entirely. It has nothing to do with mental states or anything; we're perfectly in sync. But my body's Alkahestic nature is in the way. I have to find a way to make it work…"

He unconsciously tried to run a few isolated simulations with Eye of Symphony, but since it mainly was a piece of technology, understanding Resonance through calculations wasn't possible without enough information. At best, it could come up with different physical constitutions to test with.

"Should I try Founding Intuition?" He mused offhandedly before sighing. "Well, let's leave that for another day. I'm not even sure I will be able to bring you with me to Plateau Zero anyway," he uttered and Pronos nodded before shrinking to his more compact size.

Rakna then thought of something. "Hey, Ceres, do you think it's possible to call upon my Imperial Guard down in Plateau Zero? Teleport them to me?"

[I doubt it,] she answered firmly. [Your Imperial Guard skill is mostly a System feature. When the mainframe is cut off, it will likely be impossible to make use of it.]

"And what about my Wings of Spatial Collapse?" The therian followed up. "That's a Nirvana Skill, right? That would mean I can still use it without the System's support. What if I sneak in, then use it to leave and bring over other people?"

[It would probably be feasible,] she acquiesced. [However, there is one major issue. Whether the skill works or not is irrelevant; the fact is that such spatial interference will easily be noticed and tracked down back to you. Whether it is to leave or get back, Kratos will intercept you. The scale of Plateau Zero is much smaller, after all. Surveillance is much more unforgiving.]

"Fair enough," Rakna nodded. "Not to mention it has a long cooldown. It would be risky and very inefficient since I can barely bring one person with me… I suppose we really don't have any other choice," he said and glanced at his territory's Pavilion right in time to see Kaelith come out of it.

"I knew it…" He muttered in amusement and in the blink of an eye, she was already standing next to him with a wide grin, her tails and ears wagging excitingly.

"Knew what?" She asked impishly.

"Let me guess; if you're here at this hour, you want to spend the night here?"

"Nope," she replied with somehow an even more delighted expression and the therian gave her a confused look. "I'm moving in," she uttered and he blanked.

"…well, never mind. I didn't know," he mumbled and she laughed happily.

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"So, where's your room?" The vixen instantly asked after they entered the house and Rakna let out a sigh before pointing at the stairs.

"Go up. The door at the very far back is the room I use as my office. My bedroom is the door to the right. Make yourself at--" He couldn't even finish his sentence that she had already bolted off. "…"

"Wow, way to go. You didn't even hesitate to allow her to take your room," Allan said as he peeked from over the back of the living room's couch with a grin. "That's quite different from how the girls had to force you to sleep with them last time."

"Hoho? Is that the lady of the house then?" Akronis exclaimed, hanging from the ceiling just like any regular bat. "I should give my regards."

"Keep it," Rakna snorted. "Also, the amount of energy required to make Kaelith change her mind out of all people is something even I can't hope to possess. What's the point in trying?"

"True," the blond concurred. "Still though, you can't lie to me, Rak. So? Which base?" He followed up and the therian scowled at him.

"Do I ask you where you're at with Marie?"

"…point taken," Allan acquiesced and gave up. On cue, they heard a startled yelp from upstairs and they automatically turned their heads to see Kaelith walking down whilst hauling two people from their collars.

One of them was Astraea who clearly had no idea how she should react. The other was Hans who had seemingly renounced the idea of resisting in the first place. He was serenely reading his book even as the vixen lifted him like a cat to show to Rakna.

"Wolfy, who are these?" She asked in apparent curiosity.

"…I already told you about Astraea," Rakna deadpanned and her mouth rounded into an 'O' shape.

"Oh, right. So, it's this girl. She's pretty," she nodded meekly and let go of the goddess who blinked in a daze. "What about the kid?"

"Hans De Vale…" Rakna didn't even know what else to say. "New guy. Also, he's older than you."

"De Vale?" Kaelith recognized the name and looked at the boy. "You're that famous author?"

Hans glanced back at her. "Correct. Now, would you kindly let me go?"

"Sure," she shrugged and let him land on the floor. He sighed and closed his book, throwing one of his trademark frowns at her. "What? Is there something you want to say?"

"A simpleton," he muttered as if to confirm something to himself.

"…wolfy, can I burn this guy?" Kaelith immediately asked.

"Preferably, no. Don't worry, I don't think he meant to insult you… probably."

The blue-haired author huffed and started walking back up the stairs. "You are a simpleton. If you feel offended by such a term, that provides it that much more authenticity. You are not a complex being… take it as praise."

The vixen silently watched him leave with a raised eyebrow. "…I see you got yourself a happy ball of sunshine to join your group," she commented sarcastically and Rakna snickered.

"He may seem like that… but at least, you can be sure he knows what he's talking about," he replied with a shrug. "The fact he hasn't said anything spiteful about you is probably the highest order of praise he can give you."

"Hm," Kaelith hummed and tilted her head at him as if she had found something interesting. She walked up to him and quietly started playing with his lupine ears. Astraea spectated from the side with a hand over her mouth like an excited gossiper.

"…stop playing with my ears," Rakna deadpanned and she chuckled.

"Did something happen?" She promptly questioned. "Again?" She added drolly.

His expression twitched. "How did messing with my ears help you reach that observation?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to do that."

"…" Rakna really wanted to retort on that but it somehow felt completely meaningless, so he gave up on it. At the same time, Flavia stepped into the living room and spotted the vixen.

"Oh? Kaelith, good evening. You came to visit?"

"Actually, I'm moving in," she replied smilingly.

"Moving in?" Flavia repeated in surprise before giggling. "I see… well, either way, you can join us for dinner, right?"

Kaelith blinked. "Uh, that was a much tamer reaction than I anticipated," she muttered. "You don't have anything to say about it?"

"Not particularly, no. Why?" The Chaos Witch fired back with a composed smile; almost too much in her opinion.

"…you did something, didn't you?" The vixen immediately shot a suspicious glare at Rakna.

He rolled his eyes and walked off to take a seat at the table. "I'll just tell you what happened as we eat," he uttered as Flavia served the table with her telekinesis.

No less than ten minutes later, Kaelith suggested burning Hans again.

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Rakna opened his eyes inside the familiar dreamscape he got accustomed to see in the past weeks. He breathed in the scent of the Céraiste flowers and made an exasperated expression as he sensed the two people standing next to him.

"Wow, so this is what you've been creating with Onera, huh?" Higure exclaimed as she took in the surroundings. "It feels surprisingly relaxing. This world is infinite darkness… and you designed a little haven in the middle of it. It's like a warm little refuge."

"I can understand why you're here. You can use Onera too, after all. But… how did you do it?" The therian threw a side-glance at Kaelith who was prodding one of the silvery-branched flowers.

"I have my ways, wolfy," she replied cheekily.

"Wait… my real body--"

"Oh, it's definitely being kept warm," Higure declared with a thumb up and Rakna had to shake his head for a few seconds before computing what she meant.

"Just like this," Kaelith said mischievously as she grabbed his arm and pressed her breasts against him. His expression twitched but aside from that, he kept a calm façade. She glared at him, "Tch, I swear I'll put a blush on that face of yours one day."

"You can try."

"Is that so…?" The vixen smirked as she thought of something. "What about Lust?" She said and he stiffened. "Why don't you just obediently let me help you unlock it, huh? You will have to get that Sin eventually, right?"

Rakna sweated nervously and he didn't even have the chance to say anything before the horny cat beside him made it known why he even nicknamed her that way.

"Who says you have to be the one to do it?" Higure challenged boldly and Kaelith narrowed her eyes at her menacingly. "I've been aiming for that chance for a while now, you know?"

"Sure," the vixen uttered and crossed her arms. "I'm not against wolfy fooling around—"

Rakna mumbled, "What the heck do you mean 'fooling around'…?"

"—but I will be the first. Know your place and follow the pecking order," Kaelith continued as if she could not hear him.

"Ooh? So, that's how you're gonna be, huh?" The lioness glowered.

"'Pecking order'…" The therian muttered again. "What am I? A full-course meal?"

The two girls ignored him, or to be exact it didn't seem like they had enough headspace to listen as they were far too busy glaring at each other. He sighed and quietly walked off toward the large tree erected at the center of the field of Céraiste.

He sat down against it and looked to his right where Ceresta was sitting, barefooted and with her legs to the side. Her dollish beauty was as flawless as always.

"Hey, Ceres, seems like we got guests tonight," Rakna remarked jokingly as she watched the two girls bickering in the distance; her captivating golden eyes transfixed on them. There was a slight sense of peace in her gaze.

"It is of no bother to me," she spoke up wistfully and faced him. "The more the merrier, right?" She asked with a small smile that could banish this dream land's darkness all on its own.

Rakna's expression relaxed and he nodded. "Yes… you're undeniably right."