The next morning, Marie's family left after breakfast and, in private, her mother told Marie she found an excellent mate to be with.
Meanwhile, Edric ended up working again, but each of the girls agreed to keep him company at a time. And to make sure he eats when needed. "I think the sensitivity is a little higher for regular inklings. It could be because they aren't used to it…Pearl sure didn't show that," he notes to himself.
Callie shakes her head, amused, and keeps petting Cameow in her arms. "He's so cute like this, huh, Cameow?" she asks down to her.
Cameow purrs as Edric kept working. "By the way, what are Marie and Caveira up to, and when are Marina and Pearl coming back?"
Callie smiles. "Those two are coming back in a few hours. Pearl wants to use the track again. And as for our other two mates, they are shopping in the city. And grabbing you another bracelet," she listed off and looked to the illusion bracelet sitting on the table beside her.
"It's so handy to have translators for you girls now. Have I said that yet?" Edric asks, looking over to her.
Callie giggles. "Yeah. And thanks. Makes things way easier if yours don't work. But, we have to find a better way to make this stuff for you."
"Well, it is made from human technology," Edric says.
"So, what do you think if we roleplayed as elves in bed?" Callie asks, smirking.
Edric blinks while his screwdriver squeaks against the metal. "Elves? Where did you hear that from?"
"Been digging into the fantasy stories. We already have the ears for it," Callie says, smirking.
Edric clears his throat and blushes. "Well, it won't be complete without the outfit they always wear. Those short dresses and…I need to shut up more," he groans and hangs his head. Callie is giggling in the background.
"So you don't mind?" Callie asks, smirking.
Edric sighs and hangs his head further. "No…"
"Love you," Callie says, walking over and hugs him.
Edric slowly smiles and wraps an arm around her. "You're going to get dirty, you know?" he points out, referring to his dusty shirt.
"We can wash together," Callie said, smirking.
Edric chuckles. "Okay. I think this thing can wait," he says before picking her up in his arms. "Off to wash up," he calls out, happily walking away.
"Off you go, Cameow," Callie says, putting her kitten down.
"Meow," Cameow meows and pads off to climb the machine and rest on top of it.
"Also, Edric. Marina, Pearl, and their dance coordinator will be coming to stay a few nights. Maybe a week. We will be doing a show with them at the unveiling after we show off the game," Callie informs.
Edric hums. "Can I watch you practice?" he asks cheekily.
"Maybe when we mostly have it down. The coordinators don't like distractions. Besides, you will be working on fine-tuning the machines, right?" Callie asks.
"True enough," Edric says before kissing her.
Callie giggled, kissing him back and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You will get a front-row seat when the show happens, okay?" she whispers the last bit into his ear.
"I will be on stage with Caveira when you come out after playing a match race with Pearl and Marina," Edric says, smirking.
Callie giggles and kisses his cheek. "Cutie. I will kick their tentacles."
"By then, you all will be able to customize the colors, parts, and special weapons," Edric adds, getting to the shower and having to duck under the doorway to get in.
Callie hums. "How are you going to get money after selling the main game? Feels like a one-time buy."
"There will be more games that come out. Inklings and Octarians will love to get in on this. Also, won't just be games, but simulations like going to a warm beach when in the middle of winter," Edric informs.
Callie smirks. "Do…we get test samples?"
"Yes, plus since I made it and have a patent, we get a cut of the money made with them," Edric says.
Callie tapped his forehead when the shower started. "Good. We need something to make sure."
"Right ow!" Edric says, hitting his head on the top of the shower.
Callie looks up, concerned at him. "Maybe we should remodel."
"No, I will deal," Edric says, rubbing his head and leans down to get washed.
Callie still looks concerned. "Edric…"
"It's fine," Edric says before the cold water hit him, making him yelp.
"We're remodeling."
"That is the cold water," Edric says, shivering.
Callie crosses her arms while adjusting the water. "Remodeling. Final. It's too much for you to keep bending around."
"It's my fault. I should have become an inkling. That way, we could be eye to eye," Edric teases.
Callie rolls her eyes. "And we can't control the bracelet. But we work with it, and I don't mind. We all don't. We see your human side as a little bit more handsome than as an inkling."
"You saying you like one part better than the rest?" Edric asks, booping her nose.
Callie chuckles and rubs her nose. "Like it equal, but we see the two sides differently. Can't help it."
"Heh, you like that you can pick up and hold me as an inkling, don't you?" Edric asks, starting to clean off.
Callie hums and taps her chin. Her eyes were trailing and watching over him. "Yeah. But I like it when you do the same to me."
"Especially as a squid," Edric says, petting her tentacles.
Callie clicks her teeth happily and smiles up to him. "Yeah. As a squid. And I can sleep in your hair."
"And as a squid, I can snuggle with you," Edric says, smiling back.
Edric sighs, wiping his brow as he finished working for now as his girls were working with Pearl, Marina, and their coordinator right now. "Okay. Calibration could be correct…might need a better tester than me. I wonder if I can get them to take a break to test?" Edric questions getting up when the doorbell rang. "Who could that be?" Edric questions heading for the door. When he opened it, he saw a familiar inkling. "Tsunami. You come to take up the offer?" Edric asks.
Tsunami smiles and looks at him, smiling. "Yeah. Got a room, at least for me?"
"Yeah. Oh, just so you know, we have some guests staying over," Edric explains as he helps her bring in her bags as Cameow and Ean run around playing.
Tsunami looks around while Edric leads her to her room. "Who are they?"
"Off the Hook and their performance coordinator. They and Caveira are getting the four ready for the collective performance," Edric informs.
Tsunami looks at him with some pity. "So you are alone right now?"
"Oh, no. Just further in the house. I was about to see if they were ready to take a break from that to test something," Edric says.
Tsunami smiles up at him. "Then I can help…if you want it?"
"Oh…ok. You are about to play one of the secret sleeper gifts of the year," Edric says, motioning her to follow.
Tsunami giggles. "Then, I feel fortunate for it."
"Alright, in you go," Edric says, opening up one of the pods for her to get in.
Tsunami hums and steps in. "What do we do here?"
"You have been in pods before. This one more game one," Edric says, starting it up.
"Oh, alright. I am ready," Tsunami says before she went quiet and a screen activated, showing her being virtualized inside the game.
"I really should have Callie and Marie help me make the tutorial," Edric comments to himself, realizing he was going to have to talk her through this.
Later that day, Edric had finished making dinner and turned to Tsunami. "Hey, you mind setting the table while I go get them?" Edric asks. Tsunami nods before walking away to do so. Edric hums one of the squid sister's songs as he heads further inside the house till he came to the door of the room they were training in. Edric knocks before calling, "I am coming in."
"Don't worry. We're decent," Callie calls teasingly as he opens the door.
"Hey. Dinner is ready," Edric informs the six as he walks in.
Marie stretches and smiles. "Great. We're hungry. What are we having?"
"Shrimp pasta with garlic bread," Edric informs.
"Yum…" Pearl drools, and Edric picks her up over his shoulder.
"Meet you at the dinner table," Edric says.
Both Callie and Marie giggle while Marina looks on in amusement. "That's one of the few times I see her handled that way," Marina giggles quietly.
"Edric is used to doing stuff like that," Caveira explains.
Callie giggles still. "And fun when it comes to it. It would be boring otherwise. Oh, and don't worry. He's a great cook."
The five proceed to the dining room where, to their surprise, Tsunami was there as well. "When did you get here?" Marie questions.
Edric leans in the kitchen archway. "Oh, I needed to test something out and didn't want to bother you. Luckily, Tsunami arrived and filled that in."
"Yeah, hey Callie and Marie. I am accepting your offer to move in," Tsunami informs.
Both girls look at each other before smiling. "Make sure you do your chores," Callie orders pointing at her.
"We should put up a chore list," Edric says, giving Pearl a helping.
Pearl licks her lips before diving straight in. "I can make one in that case," Marie offers as they all sit down. Each one of them receiving a helping. And even Ean and Cameow getting a little dish of their own.
"Garlic bread, anyone?" Edric offers to show the bowl.
"Oh," Marina clicks and takes a piece of bread out before biting into it. "This is immensely better than even what Pearl can offer. Where did you learn how to cook?"
"I cooked for myself a long time, plus cookbooks and recipes online," Edric says.
"Edric also grows some of his ingredients," Caveira informs.
Edric chuckles. "Helps with finding it easier, fresher, and don't have to pay a dime…or rather spend on the water."
"I am starting to see the absolute unpolished gem you found in the stagehands," Pearl says to the squid sisters.
Edric slowly blinks to the two. "I'm still considered one?" he even wonders and also thinks about how the other inklings view his history now.
"She is talking about back when we first met you. Now you are a gem anyone can see. By the way, can I get this recipe? My mate and squishies would love this," the coordinator requests.
Edric smiles towards him. "Sure. I will go write it up," he says, walking away to do so. "Enjoy your meal."
"Going to cook this when you get home?" Pearl asks, smirking.
The coordinator grins, eagerly eating away. "Are you kidding? This is one of the best I have ever eaten."
"By the way, I will need you to start practicing with the game tomorrow and spend some time customizing them," Edric says, coming back with drinks.
Pearl looks excited now. "Let's do it after dinner," she happily declares with excitement on her face.
"Also, I will need to make a tutorial video. Would you mind helping with it?" Edric asks.
"You kidding? Though, I want you to credit me," Pearl answers just as fast.
"All of you are going to be in it. So credit is easy to do. Mostly going to do something similar to those tutorials Callie and Marie did for the turf wars where Callie always got splatted," Edric explains.
"Why was I always the target?" Callie complains and mumbles to the side.
"Because you lost a bet," Caveira informs.
"This time, the bots will be the target. We will mostly be making basic moves tonight if you don't mind," Edric says.
Marie smirks. "Don't want to give away your tricks that easily?"
"Oh, no. That is advanced stuff. We are only doing basics for tutorials and let them figure out those things themselves," Edric informs.
"I can safely say, they won't," Pearl adds, raising a hand. "We kinda stick to what we know unless we pick up a few things. Like you with those flashy moves in the turf wars," she says, pointing to him.
"That is why I am going to show you some advanced stuff to show off in the reveal," Edric says, smirking.
"We get training for that?!" Marina exclaims with her face up close near him. "Please tell me you got a version for octolings."
"Funny you should mention that," Edric says.
"Oh, what do you got?" Pearl asks, interested, missing the octoling part.
"I will let you find out in practice. By the way, looking forward to your performance," Edric compliments.
Callie smiles and looks proud. "We will aim to please. Especially you."
"Enough about work. Time to eat and enjoy," Caveira says before enjoying herself with the food.
"Been a long day, you three?" Edric asks, taking off his clothes.
Callie groans and stretches. "Yeah. Lots of dancing and coordination."
"Want me to massage you?" Edric asks.
Callie cracks open an eye to him. "Yeah. That would be nice," she sighs and sits on the bed.
"Where is it worst at?" Edric asks, sitting behind her.
Callie smiles back at him. "My shoulders and hips mostly."
"Alright," Edric says, starting to massage her shoulders first.
Callie clicks her teeth happily while Marie gives her a look, and Callie sticks her tongue out at her. "So, how was your day working?" Caveira asks, taking her clothes off as well.
"A lot of calibrating and tuning. I think I got the control sensitivity down now. Lay down, sweetheart," Edric instructs Callie.
Callie moans and lays down on the bed while Edric crawls over her back and keeps running his hands along her back. "That's nice."
"Enjoy. Marie is next, then all four of us are going to try again," Edric says as he continued to let that sink in.
Callie moans happily. "Yeah. They might enjoy this and…oh. Oh…" Callie realizes and looks at him. "Hungry…huh?"
"I could smell the pheromones at the table," Edric informs.
Callie blushes a deep blue. "That obvious…we need to learn that," she voices out loud before moaning as he hits a sore spot.
"Rest now. Marie, get ready. You are up next. I can imagine your shoulders are a bit sorer," Edric says.
Marie gives a little roll of her shoulders where he can't see but compiles and lays down next to Callie. "Don't be gentle."
Edric smirks before smacking her ass. "That rough enough?" Edric teases.
Marie gives him a blushing blue look. "I mean my shoulders."
"Heh, he got you," Callie said as he keeps working on her and then her hips, sneaking a bit on her ass while he was at it.
Marie groans before frowning at her. "At least we can have fun. Been a while."
"I love you both…we aren't going to try and keep our guests or Tsunami awake, are we?" Edric asks, making Marie moan out and getting a lousy place released.
Caveira smiles while sitting on the bed. "We will try knowing you," she clicks her teeth at.
"Let's not go that far," Edric suddenly stops and looks thoughtful like some notion just hit him, and now he was devoting everything to it.
"Wha…why did he stop?" Marie had to stop and turn her head to look at him.
"He is thinking hard about something. Edric, what is it?" Caveira asks.
"It truly just dawned on me how lucky I am to be here with you beautiful and loveable women. I realized how many times I should have died in that bunker, but I didn't. Now, I can't help but wonder why? Why did all the things that should have happened to me didn't?" Edric says, not sounding sad but curious as he goes over it in his head.
"Is it that important right now?" Caveira spoke up. Her hands were reaching out and grabbing him to push him to the bed.
"Kinda…I don't think I ever told you how long I was in that pod," Edric says, thinking about it.
"Oh, I think this isn't sadness, but Edric telling us more about his past," Callie says, crawling onto him.
Edric nods while Marie follows and stops beside him. "Yeah…and I never thought about it after hearing the number from Hai. But you girls should know. It's only right," he shrugs and wonders how he is the lucky one.
"We are all yours," Marie informs.
"Twelve thousand years. Nearly twelve thousand and one. That is how long I was there. I remember none of that, and personally, I am grateful for that," Edric says.
Callie is the first one to lean in and kiss him, shutting him up for a few seconds. "Good. Because once this family grows, you can depend on us and not have to keep looking back."
"You know, mate, doesn't do it for me. From now on, I am calling you my wives. It means so much more to me," Edric says, holding onto them all.
Marie gives a soft smile. "Does that mean we need a wedding?"
"Not if we don't want to," Edric says before kissing Callie deeply.
Marie chuckles. "Might be fun. We can enjoy it and maybe invite others."
"It's going to cost quite a bit of money. Also, will want Lucky there," Edric says as Callie looks drunk after he ended the kiss.
Callie giggles drunkenly and lays her head down onto his chest. "So much flavor."
"Alright, let's get some rest you three," Edric says, turning into a squid and falling onto the pillow.
"Cheat!" Marie teases before holding him against her chest.
"No rule is saying we all can't snuggle as squids. Callie's stuffed animals don't mind," Edric says, smirking inwardly as he is pointing out Callie's collection.
"You stay away from mister fluffies," Callie warns, putting her fists up.
"But, I am your mate," Edric reminds.
Marie giggles and snuggles him. "She's playing around, and you know it."
"I know. I am playing too. That is why I changed the stuffed animals around the room," Edric says joking.
"You what?" Callie screeches before running around and looking at the stuffed animals.
"Mister wiggles is slightly to the left," Edric teases.
"Curse you, Edric."
"And this is why…Cameow has stolen miss perch," Edric says, seeing the kitten with the stuffed animal and pawing at it.
Caveira smiles while getting under the sheets. "At least the only fights we have is this."
"Let her play with it. She isn't hurting it," Edric says, smirking at Callie.
Callie pouts cutely before huffing. "Cameow, you better put her back when you are done with her," she orders up to the kitty.
"Meow," Cameow says with big eyes looking at Callie.
Callie pouts more before groaning and hanging her head. "It can't be this bad with Judge."
"I am waiting for snuggle squid," Edric calls from the pillow, making the other two smirk at Callie.
Callie sighs before jumping back into bed and lays down. "Pets are annoying sometimes."
"Snuggle squid," Edric says, wanting Callie to turn into a squid for him, making her sigh again.
Callie quickly plops into a squid and slides her way towards him with her tentacles without looking. "You win this round."
"This is one way to save room in bed," Edric says, hugging her as a squid.
"And now, let's get some sleep," Marie says, kissing Edric and Callie's foreheads.
"Night hubby," Caveira says teasingly.
"Night you three," Edric says, feeling Callie wrap her tentacles around him as Caveira and Marie cover them up.