Lisa sat against the wall of the bedroom above the office.

"The floors are so thin," she muttered to herself, grin not reaching her eyes. "Or maybe it's me. Probably." She had hearing enhancements on top of everything else. 'Surprise, surprise.'

Lisa sighed. Bath's family was taking this as well as could be expected. Quite frankly, Lisa had no idea how they were supposed to react. Their son just up and conquered the Earth...and revealed that he's the half-billion-year-old inhuman deity of a new religion.

'Not that those half-billion years really count for much,' Lisa mused to herself. Young Bath didn't have to act--much. He really was just an innocent, socially-awkward little twat. Lisa chuckled to herself. 'No--for Bath, family wasn't an act.'

Lisa admired that about him: how does an ancient alien predator join a human family? And not just join, as in exist within the household for pragmatic reasons, but join as a true son and eventual older brother? Bath would probably argue that his curiosity about humanity and human social structures was the primary reason. Lisa disagreed.

'He confided in me for one reason,' she remembered. 'Because he was lonely.'

Lisa banged her head lightly against the wall. "I wish my family would just get here already," she grumbled irritably to herself. Just thinking about them coming set her gut aflame and left her face white, as though all the color in her cheeks pooled to her stomach to form a sanguine blaze

"Don't worry," Bath said, appearing next to her. The conversation was still going on below, reminding Lisa that she was just talking to one Bath of many. Offhandedly, she wondered if Bath could somehow make a cloning boon...

"Hey," he chuckled, waving a hand in front of her face. Lisa's eyes locked onto his. Then, she exhaled and closed her eyes.

Opening them, she stood up and walked over to the window in the bedroom. Bath simply watched her as she walked, leaving her space. As she stood at the window, looking out towards the land beyond gates of Basalith, she appeared unnaturally still.

"Did anybody below say anything about when they'd be coming?" While Lisa had been able to hear the conversation between the McLanes, she hadn't been actively focusing on it. She could've easily missed something.

"No, but I can ask," Bath offered, hands behind his back as he leaned against the wall, bare foot planted on its beige, woody plane.

"No, it's fine," Lisa murmured. "When they come, they'll come. They might be waiting for my aunt and uncle."

"I can send a few hawk quasi-sapients to look for them."

Lisa snorted. "It's fine. Also, can we seriously call them something other than 'quasi-sapient?' It's the biggest mouthful on the entire planet."

Bath narrowed his eyes. "The name's descriptive, easy to remember. What would you call them?"

Lisa turned away from the window and graced Bath with a dazzling smile. "Nothing too complicated. Maybe, oh, animasapientalisabatha--"

"C'mon," Bath replied, lips crushing into a thin line. "Seriously."

"Just call them quasies," Lisa laughed. "And then make each species, in turn, its own name. For instance, the devilbats. Cool. But all the other animals species are just mundane things like 'wolves' or 'raptors.'"

Bath shrugged. "I didn't name any of them. The devilbats chose that name for themselves."

Lisa shrugged back. "Then tell your little quasies that they need to be more creative."

"Creative?" Bath's eyes shined with mirth. "I'll do my best."

"You're really happy to see them again," Lisa observed.

Bath looked at her straight in the eyes, expression serious. "Yes. More than I thought."

Lisa didn't bother asking for a reason why. "I'm glad. That they, y'know, seem to be accepting all this..."

"Brian seems to be having a bit of a harder time," Bath noted.

"Well sure," Lisa retorted. "The COTD showed up, like, two weeks ago, turned everything on its head, was labeled a terrorist organization, etc. etc. You just told the poor man that you're its leader. Give him a few weeks, and I'm sure he'll come around. Heck, just give him boons and some training."

Bath smiled at Lisa's blustering display. "Yep."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "All you have to say is 'yep?'"

Bath chuckled deviously. "I'll come back here when your parents are within my range." And then, without further conversation, he was gone.

After a few minutes, Bath took his family out of the Spire and around Basalith. Since then, Lisa had been intermittently in her room, looking out the window, and leaning against the balcony, peering out directly over Basalith. The only sound coming from the Spire was the hasty, angry-sounding clack of keyboard keys sounding from the office. Lisa hoped that the peacefulness of the Spire would calm her down, but even hours later, she was still tightly wound with anticipation.

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"It's showtime," a low, sexy, un-Bathlike voice whispered in her ear, causing Lisa to jump.

"Ugh," she grunted. She felt a tap on her shoulder and whipped around, nearly banging her side on the metallic balcony railing. "You."

Bath grinned devilishly. "Me." He joined her at the balcony, arms spread wide and creased at the elbows, hands joining together to form a pillow for his neck. "You know why I'm here."

Lisa took a shaky breath. "Yep."

Bath raised an eyebrow. "All you have to say is 'yep?'"

"Jerk," she muttered, then slapped his side. "I'm really fucking nervous, y'know?"

"I know." Now, his voice was serious. "They'll love you, Lisa. Just tell them the truth."

"But the truth is so ridiculous," she spluttered.

"That's what makes it true," Bath added reassuringly. "Just tell them...tell them about the Big WD. Tell them about us. About the planets, about being the first human to ever leave Earth and come back. If they aren't impressed, well." Bath readjusted his position, draping his arms over the balcony why leaning against its railing with his chest.

"Thanks."

"Ready for me to go get them?" Bath asked.

Lisa shuddered despite herself. "Yeah. Just...can you bring them to the office in the Spire? I'll wait for them there. Also, please put my face back to how it was before."

Lisa hadn't bothered changing back to her old face the entire past week, ever since she gave up pretenses of being an Alens student. She wondered to herself if this was going to be one of the last times she'd ever look like...well, Lisa.

Suddenly, a thudding sound and an angry, cat-like scream came from the office. A belligerent, "Bath!" sounded out, rapidly fading in volume, as though its source were growing rapidly farther away.

"All yours," Bath stated with a straight face, all aside from one cocked eyebrow.

Lisa couldn't help but burst into loud guffaws, tears of mirth in her eyes. "I really needed that."

"Good," Bath stated firmly. "Wait for them there." Then he was gone.

'Bye,' Lisa thought wistfully to herself. 'He never says goodbye...but then again, he almost never truly leaves.'

---

"I love traveling by falcon," Edgewood bellowed raucously as Edgier Than You touched down just outside of St. Petersburg. "Fuck jetlag. That took, what, an hour?"

Susan immediately sat down, queasy from the rapid descent. "That made me sick, which I thought was impossible after getting all my boons." The falcons picked up passengers, then ripped up into the atmosphere. They went so fast and so high that all of Edgier Than You would have easily died without their boons. When the falcons reentered the cloudline, they were already rocketing down like torpedos.

"I side with Sandal," Anne grinned. "That...fucking...rocked. That was so~ much better than Six Flags."

"Call me Edgewood, prick," Edgewood growled, though the gesture lacked his usual bite. Having chastised Anne for using his first name over the past day, he knew that he was fighting a losing battle. She simply lived to be annoying, or so it seemed.

"Let's just get started already," Kayt grumbled. She missed Nimesh and hoped that their carrier snakes would arrive soon. Part of her was also eager just to see the snakes, whom she heard had various adaptations that became visible in different environs.

"Where should we put the city-seed?" Susan wondered, eyes surveying the territory around them. "David?"

"We can just drop it here; it shouldn't matter," David said after a moment of thought. "Objections?"

"Great," Kayt said. She walked forward, then carved out a portion of grass to reveal soil. In a swift motion, she dropped the seed and replaced the grass. "And so, we wait."

The rest of their personnel would be arriving with the quasi--sapients by snake. Taking the falcons had been an optional--and discouraged--means of transportation, supposedly in the "alpha" stage of testing.

They all spent the next hour idling about while the city-seed took root, quickly forming the skeleton of a city that looked every bit a clone of Basalith.

"What're we gonna call this place?" Anne asked, swinging her club heavily against nearby trees like she was practicing a baseball swing. "'Cuz I think we should just call it Edgelord Island."

David turned his head slowly, then fixed a baleful gaze on Anne's energetic form. "This is why I entered investment banking." While he had several reasons for not being a doctor, a primary motivation was that he didn't want to deal with bedside manner.

"That's the worst name I've every heard," Edgewood snorted dismissively. "The U.S. had some pretty crappy project and mission names, but they were never that bad."

Anne sniffed. "Just imagine it. We're all the Edgelords. We can rip up all the land around the city, like a giant mote, and then we'll have our own island. It'll be completely defensible."

Sensing an impending feud, Kayt stepped in. "Why don't we just call it Deska City?"

"Deska?" Susan wondered, peering over her shoulder.

"It's a name made up of each of our preferred names," Kayt replied. After a moment, she added, "Also, coincidentally, the letters correlate with age."

"I still think we should have the word 'edge' in the city somewhere, for Edgier Than You," Anne said. "I was kidding with Edgelord Island, obviously, so not that."

'Obviously,' Edgewood thought bitterly to himself. "What's 'edge' in Russian?"

Anne was the first to whip out her phone. "Kray."

"Why not Kray City?" Edgewood proposed.

"Eh, not too bad, not as ratchet-sounding as Deska." Anne replied. 'Serves Wolf-girl right for putting my letter last...'

David shot her a questioning look, then shook his head. 'I thought I just couldn't deal with children. Guess that extends to teens...'

"Deska isn't ratchet," Kayt defended. "Do you even know how to use that word?"

"Any objections to Kray City?" Susan interjected, tiring quickly of the drama. She affixed each of them with a pointed look.

"Shouldn't we have the whole city's name in Russian? What's 'city' in Russian?" Kayt asked.

This time, David was the first to respond. "Gorod."

"Why not Kraygorod?" Kayt asked.

Edgewood just gave her a look. "Kraygorod...? None of us can even pronounce that. I still like Kray City."

"Sandy's got a point," Anne butted in. "Kraygorod sounds like--"

"All in favor of Kray City!" Susan repeated, glaring eyes leaving no room for further arguing.

Edgewood and Anne quickly raised their hands. 'Funny, considering they're like water and oil,' Susan mused to herself. David raised his hand. Susan gave Kayt a suggestive nod.

"Fine, Kray City," Kayt relented. 'Just switch the R for a T, and you have an anagram of my name,' she thought to herself. 'Seems like I still won out in the end.'

"Welcome to Kray City, everyone," Susan sighed, glad to return to peace and quiet. She trained her eyes on St. Petersburg. "Ah, damn."

"What?" everyone wondered.

"People," Susan spat. "I'm not dealing with them."

"I'll go," Kayt volunteered. Nobody objected, so Kayt dashed off into the direction Susan pointed. As she went, she had only one thought on her mind: 'I hope they speak English.'