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(...try and take over the world? Wait, that's not right...) [feat. Mena, Dacj, Phoebe]

It had been just about seven months ago that somehow (serendipitously, the kuppy would say now) it had been decided that Eli and Kamiko should move in together. Seven months of construction on a old apartment building closer to downtown, ostensibly for "renovation"...well, he supposed the interior had certainly been improved. It wasn't a huge building--about three stories tall, and a few below (his mother insisted underground lairs were necessary for Kamiko's career advancement). What had been nine one-bedroom apartments and nine studio apartments had been gutted out, and rebuilt with entirely new configurations. The bottom floor was primarily for visitors--a huge kitchen, living room with fireplace, formal dining room, "entertainment" room, bathroom, and guest bedroom with attached bathroom occupied the floor. The second floor remained bedrooms, one for Eli and Kamiko and a couple extras besides. Eli'd given his mother a questioning glance and she'd just laughed and said "Room to grow into, Eli." The second floor also held a small study-slash-library for Eli's collection of magical tomes, and a corner room lined in mirrors along the walls, with gymnastic mats on the floors that Mena said was for Kamiko to practice martial arts. The third floor...well, she'd said that was "a surprise" and Eli was torn between being very, very afraid and deeply curious what else was up there.

The first basement floor was mostly Kamiko's lair--supercomputer hooked up to all the city security cameras (and more besides, Mena assured), with a bit of storage on the end. There was also a bit of underground parking, which Eli figured would come in handy if Kamiko ever got a hankering for...whatever her equivalent of the Batmobile would be. The others were mostly placeholders, he'd been told. He suspected there were also secret passages built into the building but no doubt they'd be expected to discover them on their own--that was the fun of having a secret passage, after all.

And today, after seventh months (six of them spent on the couch at his sister and future-brother-in-law's apartment), it was finally move in day. Mena had brought over his things from the Cottage and set to unpacking with savage efficiency, and she'd already stocked the building the day before with necessities--kitchen equipment, toiletries, the works. After the long wait, the ease of the move was vaguely alarming. Eli wasn't used to things working out so well, and it was positively unnerving.

Or maybe the unnerving part was Dacj and Phoebe "helping" with the move. "Really, you don't have to do this," he said, trying to wrestle a box from Phoebe without getting too close to tentacle range.

"Oh, come on, it's a huge place, you need the help," Dacj said, rolling her eyes. "Kamiko, did you have anything else?"

Dacj only grinned in reply before frolicking off to retrieve Kamiko's collection of sharp pointy objects--clearly she'd been practicing her frolic. She ended up only carrying in a few of the remainder, as she didn't fancy the idea of dropping any of them on her delicate limbs, and they were much heavier than they looked.

"Nightmares," was all Eli muttered, before he caught Kamiko's question. "I dunno--Mom?"

Mena stepped out from the dining room, tapping a little box on the wall significantly with her index digit. "I paid good money for this P.A. system, Eli," she said with a sniff.

"I didn't know where you were!" he protested. "Did we get all the spellbooks in?"

Mena pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Hmm...I'll doublecheck your study and if not, I can get them. Or Kamiko could."

"I think it's just the clothes then, and they're already in, so don't worry about it," he said loudly, for Kamiko's benefit, as he nonchalantly used magic to levitate the aforementioned boxes up the stairs to the room he'd claimed as his own.

"You're welcome," Mena said with a smile. "And I'm sure you will put everything to excellent use--now, if I could just get Seth and Noe to let me build one for them..." She trailed off, seemingly lost in nefarious plotting.

"I'm always ready for parties," Dacj said. "Give me the rest of the week and we should be in business by Friday evening. Now, was that 'small party' or 'Hytech invitation'?" The kraken looked mischievous, but she did need the clarification. If it was a more intimate family gathering...well, it was difficult to be "intimate" with a family consisting of a fourth of Hytech's general population. But if it was more open-ended, she'd ask along the Highlands and everyone, maybe that new girl Esper. Dacj wondered what the Shiba Inu would make of her.

"Are you sure you didn't want to be an event planner?" Eli asked, coming back downstairs and looking skeptical.

"Versatility is not a crime, brother dearest~," the kraken replied, saccharine as she twined her arms behind her and batted her eyes at him.

"Right, right, keep it small," Dacj said, waving a hand almost dismissively. At the mention of Noe, she waited for Kamiko to move onto the next room before sighing...at which Mena shot the kraken a stern Look and Eli did a facepalm. "I'll play nice!" Dacj said, crossing her arms. Really, everyone's knickers in a twist...

"Please don't be embarrassing," Eli said, pleading, before ducking into the kitchen after Kamiko--who had company. "Hello, Krypto," he said with a wave. It'd been a long while since he'd last spoken to the Lyte (and he recalled it had been a rather awkward sort of conversation, come to think of it...) And then he looked to Kamiko with a question. "Should we order in food for everyone? Mom said she'll be staying pretty late to do some final wiring for something or another but Dacj and Phoebe are probably headed home soon."

Eli was vaguely miffed at the little Lyte's mistrust (just because they lived vaguely in the same glorified apartment building didn't mean he was planning to take advantage of Kamiko!) but he supposed he'd get Krypto's trust in due time. And Mena's bribery (fulfillment of specifications for the room, whatever) couldn't hurt...

"Looking forward to it!" he called after Kamiko with a grin, before deciding pizza was the prudent choice. It was almost something of a date tradition, given the aftermath of their very first, though it'd been Mena getting the pizza then...

"Rapture indeed," Dacj told Krypto, her eyes wide and her voice solemn. "Though quite honestly I figured out the joys of love a good long while ago, it's more trying to straighten out the drama of loving more people than society thinks I ought to that proves the tricky bit," she added in a more upbeat tone, though it seemed at odds with the sentiment of her statement.

"I don't get it either," the kraken said honestly, with a shrug. She watched Krypto use magic with avid curiosity, and took the ice heart in both hands, turning it over and running her fingers along the little horns. "Why thank you, Krypto," Dacj murmured, surprised at the gesture. She grinned at his last comment, adding, "Yes, sometimes Eli's books are good for something~"

"I heard that!" came the testy yell, and Dacj giggled.

By the time Kamiko was finished, everyone'd gravitated to the living room, though Mena was working with the PA system box on the wall near the door. "Oh, I wouldn't put a self-destruct switch anywhere without proper labeling~" she demurred. "There is one down in your lair, actually, but it's less a self-destruct switch and more an inter-dimensional transport to get all your stuff out of prying hands." She tapped the box absently as she continued on. "And just the usual sort of thing. Lots of surveillance, that's keyed into your big computer downstairs."

Dacj tsked at the irresponsibility of leaving spellbooks out where anyone could peruse through them--Eli had some dangerous stuff in those! Maybe it was just the more normal ones he was careless with... "I think Kamiko's right, about learning and being prepared," she said seriously, though she had to chuckle at Krypto's whisper. "I'm sure he's only just planning to defeat the Praetorate with a comedy of romantic errors," Dacj said dryly. She'd told him to kick it up a notch, but she didn't think he'd rely on magic for relationship help...

"Keeping an eye on Eli, definitely," Mena agreed. She was neglecting to mention she could also access every security camera in this building from her own lab, so she very much understood Kamiko's sentiment. She looked positively scheming as she leaned in to whisper to the younger Hyte, "You know, you should be able to keep an eye on the entire building from down there..." She seemed content to let Kamiko draw her own conclusions from that.

"Oh, I'm all right," Dacj told Krypto with a smile. "Did you like your room? Phoebe was quite jealous of it when we were poking around earlier~"

"Mom should definitely renovate the pool next! We could have water slides, Dacj," the jellyfish hybrid girl said, wide eyed and quivering.

"Indeed," Mena said, ruffling Kamiko's hair with a chuckle. They were alike in some ways, utterly different in others. Still, Mena had to approve of Kamiko's practical fashion sense if nothing else--any Hyte with goggles was a Hyte after her own heart. And maybe a year from now Eli and Kamiko would have gotten to the level where Kamiko would catch her full meaning...then again, maybe not. While Kamiko was more tactful than, say, Sorcha, the Shiba Inu was still pretty straightforward (and unsubtle in her own way...)

"I suppose if it's all cold, my tentacles might not mind it as much," Dacj said thoughtfully. Though born in winter, she'd stayed very close to home except for rare nice days, so she had yet to really experience one. The idea of being a one-kraken snowball fight was very appealing...

"I would like that very much," Phoebe said politely, and she brightened at the idea of a pool here. "That's why Dacj and I are really dexterous, because we do lots of swimming and strengthen our tentacles so we can chuck things around with them!"

"Chuck? I do not chuck," Dacj said, sounding affronted. "I lob with great accuracy!"

Eli walked in with the pizzas to Dacj demonstrating the full throwing length of her clubs, and he groaned. "Nightmares, remember? Also, you are now required to stay fifteen feet back at all times."