"Kyubi, why would we take offence to what we know is true?" Carl asked, still hypnotised by the tails swaying back and forth in front of him.

"Can I please be a nervous new girlfriend for five minutes?" Kyubi chuckled, showing an immature side that seemed to make her actually appear younger.

Klaire kissed her on the cheek and told her to ignore him before helping her get food on the table.

"Out of curiosity where's Golgia on the list?"

"Not sure, I've never spoken to him and there's so many we just get used to dealing with them when they're in front of us, the hierarchy is pretty loose in truth. It's mainly to decide the initial respect you offer someone on a first meeting and a good way to gauge temperament."

"That seems a bit lackadaisical and what do you mean by temperament?"

"Well I'm sorry but I'm just not interested in a load of self-righteous blowhards, most of us have the same opinion and to be perfectly honest darling, you've hardly been any different until you got back five minutes ago." Kyubi ranted as she took the position of pretending to be offended.

"I'm sorry Kyubi, I'll brush you tails before bed if you want." His words made Kyubi's tails stop waving and start drawing a spiralling circle that alternated from cockwise to anti-clockwise.

"I would be amenable to that..."

"Kyubi... You can act as coy as you like, but that smile and those tails tell no lies." Klaire said.

"I think both of you should grab a brush for that." She said as she pulled Klaire in with her tails.

"Well it seems you're not in heat anymore at least. Now I just need to get clean."

"Just like you two helped me last night, we'll both help you. To answer your question Carl, aside from the variants who are all their own, they all have similar temperaments. God and Gaia for example are both control freaks in their own way and then Nergal and Ishtar were both fiercely protective and entirely whimsical."

"What about elevated spirits?"

"We are empowered to a god-like level by the grand blessing of a chief deity. In the case of celestial foxes, we were kitsune before being blessed at the request of Tsukuyomi by his father."

"What about your temperament?"

"Well I'd rather just tell you my whole story, I don't want anything being taken out of context."

"Whatever you want, not trying to pry."

Kyubi and Klaire finished prepping dinner for everyone and then Carl had Tiamutael assemble all the children for the scheduled family dinner.

"Hey Mums, Dad..." Omedra said as she appeared, earning turned heads from everyone.

"Just because I'm with your mother and father, don't feel compelled to consider me your mother unless you wish to."

"Mum, shut up, we all love you to pieces for raising our little sister so well."

Carl fell into silence, trying to dissect the brief conversation to figure out whether he should scold her or overlook the rudeness in the face of the warmth behind the sentiment. Only stopping when Klaire told him not to blow a blood vessel over and to just accept she picked up some bad habits from the other dragons.

Levi wrapped herself around Klaire. "Hi Mums, Dad."

Squidge appeared and puddled out over Carl. "Hi Mums, Dad."

Kitsunoko just ran over and pushed her way in between her two mums as normal and Tiamutael sat next to Carl.

Omedra spent a good amount of time complaining about work like any teenager does when they start a new job, then surprisingly asked if she could look after the little ones when they left on holiday.

"Why do you want to babysit so suddenly?" Carl asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Tiamutael's a dragon, he should learn about them... As for lil Ki-ko, I need her help pranking Tia, I just don't have the imagination."

"I'm not going to tell you not to, just remember she is largely more powerful than you for now."

"I will Dad, kinda hard not to when she beats me every time I attack her..."

"Yeah, pretending I didn't hear that bit. Anyway, so I get the order of things, but why are humans at the bottom, shouldn't we be on the same level as variants?"

"Put simply, order of creation, the hierarchy as I'm sure you're aware has nothing to do with power or ability... At least it didn't at first, then the hybrid progenitors insisted that their lineages belonged higher up."

"So what happens when a new species altogether is born? The Klaire is a dual existence, not a hybrid and I have more talent with creation than anyone from what I keep being told."

"Not sure really, personally I'd rather we just stay out of the discussion. Let them make their ladder, that's why I wanted to bring up the subject now. Some beings will try to drag us into it, but I want us to just say we aren't interested."

"I don't really care myself, but why do you think I would?"

"Insisting that humans are placed at a level befitting your talent, could improve their standing. Just as demonstrating the new species could for the faction, but it would invite prideful fools wishing to test your worth at being considered equal to them."

"Yeah I see your point, it's better to be at the bottom of the ladder and watch everyone else scramble for the top." Carl came to that particular decision almost immediately.

"Thank you, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I just want us to have as little to do with it all as possible until we've had time to settle, myself."

"You know what, that gives me an idea... I think we've been playing the game wrong."

Carl explained his sudden realisation, telling the others that the game Margo had created was not what it seemed.

They had been treating it like a linear game, where you just fight through levels and work your way to the villain.

"...What if it's actually an open world RPG and all the crap being thrown at us is punishment for not touching the side quests?"

"I think you're reading too much into it." Klaire tried her best to not sound too against the idea, but it was hard for to believe that everything happening was simply because they weren't playing the game Margo made as intended.

"You didn't see how angry he got when he realised that something had messed with it. He loves the game he made and it cost him everything, wouldn't you want to make sure every bit of it was appreciated?"

"Carl, I really doubt-" Klaire started, but then Kyubi put her hand on hers.

"Klaire, I think Carl might have a point. You won't appreciate this, I certainly don't myself, but Margo loved Ishtar deeply and his failure cost him her... Maybe, deep down, he has begun to see the game as a memorial to her that demands respect."

"We know almost all the villains in the story were granted tremendous power, but cast away the tools and rendered themselves trapped. Is it really so impossible to think that Margo is different?" Carl pushed his point as Klaire's face twisted into a mixed expression of disgust, pity, scepticism and reluctant acceptance.

"Fine, so how do we test that?"

"We explore the game, if I'm right, anyone that tries impeding us will face his punishment. It won't last forever, but maybe we can milk it just long enough to reflect and figure things out."

"Well then I have a suggestion, a stop on our journey... In fact I can think of several stops, but one in particular will be to that end."

"Where?" Klaire and Carl asked the the question with a measure of enthusiasm that they soon regretted when Kyubi answered.

"Margo's studio. Tsukuyomi took me there one time, whilst he was addressing a matter he refused to speak of, it has laid abandoned ever since Margo completed enacting his plan and many have been there without issue or consequence. That said we will take every precaution." Kyubi looked at the faces of Carl and Klaire, then grew a bit self-conscious. "Sorry, tha-"

"No, Kyubi really, we're just surprised a place like that exists. Why did he abandon it?" Klaire said as she turned her hand over to hold the one Kyubi placed on it.

"Well he left to start the game, then it went haywire and simply never returned to it. Many went there to try and find some answer to why it went wrong, how to put things right, or maybe even an emergency stop. Unfortunately the place was also the site many took out their frustrations."

"Honestly, that would be amazing, though we will have companions and it will be up to them if they wish to join us there."

"Speaking of those joining us... Carl is it smart to take them? What happens with the faction whilst we're gone? The others can pick up the slack, Aldra, Equinox, Aegis and the new guy I'm going to make can manage affairs."

"New guy?"

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