The sound of mirthful voices reached Scott's ears as the duo strolled back into the dining room. Cia thrust her pom-poms forward then leapt into the area and performed a mid-air split while she thrusted her pom-poms downward.

"Cool!" exclaimed Brittani before she offered a happy clap of the hands for Cia, "It's good to see my gift didn't go to waste."

Cia laughed a bit and started to say something, "Thanks! I know Scott likes it when I—" but stopped when she noticed that he and Harley had returned.

"Likes it when I what, Cia?" asked Scott lightly.

"Ah," she said, her eyes wide. She thought quickly and then laughed nervously as she asked, "When I do my part to raise the morale of the faction?"

"Yeah. I do like that," he said with a grin.

All eyes were on Scott and Harley now that they had returned. The way that they left previously indicated a serious discussion, or possibly more, might occur.

"Everything, go OK?" asked Frank.

Scott looked to Harley and she nodded her head softly. He looked back over to Frank. "We're good."

He then looked around the room. "Sorry about leaving like that, but we had something to discuss in private that needed to be addressed before this get-together continued..."

"Still calling it a get-together?" asked Cia lightly.

Scott nodded to her. "Next time we really should get that Hog Cooker."

"Score!" cried Hana. All eyes turned toward her and she waved her hands around spastically. "No. Never mind me..."

He chuckled at her then looked back over to Brittani, then Eloa, and finally at the nameless Mermaid Queen. His realization that he still did not know her name reminded him briefly of a conversation that he previously had with Eloa. They had done the deed, but he did not even ask her name till near the end of the encounter.

"So. We're all in agreement about the future plans that we've made? Did anything change while we were outside?" asked Scott.

"No," said Frank. "We didn't change any agreements. Mostly we chatted back and forth about a few things that aren't important enough to stall the meeting now that you're back."

"I see." Scott walked over to the Mermaid Queen.

She looked up at him with hopeful curiosity in her eyes. A slight hint of a blush formed on her cheeks when he placed his hand to her shoulder. "Before we go any further, would you mind at least telling me your name."

Eloa snorted in amusement. Scott glanced over to her then grinned. His eyes then drifted back over to the mermaid. "Someone reminded me that girls actually prefer it when a guy knows their name before anything happens. Seems appropriate that I at least ask to know who you are."

The mermaid told him her name and he blinked. "Seriously? How do you even pronounce that?"

She made a series of clicks and a sound that was reminiscent of a whale song. Scott merely stared at her while he tried to process that information.

"Do you have a name that a human tongue can pronounce?" he asked her, amidst quiet snickers from the peanut gallery.

"Well, I once had a human friend, a little girl. She couldn't pronounce my name either and just called me the name of the place she first met me," said the mermaid. "Would that do?"

"Maybe. What's the name?" asked Scott.

"Lorelei," said the girl.

Scott gazed curiously at the mermaid then grinned. "Sounds like a cool name."

"Thank you... but you can call me anything that you like. Humans are bad with mermaid names," she said.

"Lorelei it is then," said Scott.

An awkward moment passed amongst the group as no one knew what else to say. Eventually, Scott spoke up. "I know this entire situation is awkward."

"What is awkward about it? You must mate with your new faction member," said Eloa. "Please begin when you are ready."

Scott blinked at her then quirked his eyebrow upward. Before he could say anything, though, Brittani's voice cut through the air. "I should probably go. We'll meet up again in a week or two, and try to get to know each other. Right?"

"Absolutely," said Scott. He offered her a grateful smile and she returned it in kind. Out of the three faction leaders interested in him currently, she was the most reluctant to force a physical relationship. Her choice of a potential boyfriend, or more importantly her future husband, was not predicated solely on what her faction wanted. She still held powerful ties to her home world. Unlike Eloa and Lorelei, she still needed to appease her family back home. Scott, for all his potential, was not yet at a point where he would be even remotely acceptable by her grandfather's standards.

Scott walked over to her and at first offered her his hand. As she quietly reached out for it, he thought better of the situation then opened his arms wide. "I think we're a little past the point of a handshake."

Brittani blinked then offered him a shy smile before she stepped into the hug. Scott rocked her back and forth lightly then whispered something into her ear that made her giggle. They parted from each other and shared another smile.

"See you soon, Scott. Remember not to actually finalize your marriage, yet, if you intend to prove your interest in m— my family," said Brittani. She offered him a meaningful expression and he nodded to her as a means to express his understanding of her words. Lorelei could be his moon bride, a fiancé, but if he went further and made the marriage truly official by doing the deed with her again during daylight hours it would wreck their future chances. Such a thing might also destroy their current alliance altogether. Of course, night-time hours did not count.

"You seem so cool with this," said Cia. "It would drive me nuts..."

Scott glanced at her. Seriously, whose side was the girl on? Didn't she realize that she was basically a walking meat-pie to Brittani's people?

"Real talk?" asked Brittani.

Scott nodded to her. "I'd appreciate it."

"No. I'm not happy with it. Not one bit. I mean, I saw you first and everything..." groused Brittani. She offered a petulant pout then sighed loudly. "Still, it is better than being wife number twelve in some other idiot's wife collection. There's still a shot, it seems, that I can be your head wife. Even if that's not the case, I don't have even that minor possibility back home."

"Wait, number twelve?" asked Scott. "Aren't you like the daughter of the king where you're from?"

"Yes. The acceptable lords in the area are all hundreds of years old and collect wives to obtain new land. If they aren't able to join a situation like the one your world has entered, they send their sons. Those sons all have several wives, easily over a dozen for the youngest and least notable heirs," said Brittani.

"That's crazy..." said Cia.

Brittani shrugged. "We're undead. Our natural birth rate is practically non-existent due to not being alive on a technical level. Magic overcomes that issue, just as it explains our existence. Only royalty in the system we live under can be certain to produce a child at all, however."

She took a breath then continued, "Male royals take many wives to allow for a greater chance of having children whom are able to obtain their royal birthright. Otherwise, we could only expand our numbers by conversion."

The undead pop princess took a moment to collect her thoughts then said, "Truthfully? We would easily fall to our enemies if we did not follow those traditions. Converts can only easily grow stronger if we share our professional experience with them as their leaders. They can't share their skills or status with their offspring if they have no offspring in the first place, and a new convert starts off incredibly weak, after all."

Scott nodded slowly to her. "I see. So, that's why you were interested in me?"

Brittani closed her eyes then slowly nodded her head. "You do seem like a nice guy, but the thing that drew me to you in the beginning was nothing more than the fact that I could have a chance to meet someone who didn't already have at least a dozen wives and several children. Also, you don't seem like an arrogant jerk like the people my grandfather tries to set me up to marry."

She opened her eyes and offered him a smile. "I don't like the system at all, to be honest. It's just the way that my people can continue to exist. I personally can only have so many children at any given time and there is a chance they will not inherent the royal legacy. They could be strong fighters, but they would only be able to have children of their own through converting others."

"I see..." said Scott, "By men having multiple wives, the odds of producing a kid who can actually have children normally will increase. If it were reversed, a woman with many male suitors, the number of potential kids would dwindle."

"That sucks..." said Cia, "Why even live like that when you could just go somewhere else and..."

Brittani smiled at her, as Cia's words trailed off. "Hey. Looks like someone figured it out."

"You came here just to set up shop and get away from your family?" asked Cia.

"No. There is no way to get away from my family. My family is the royal family of Skull Orchard. My grandfather is a king who rules over kings spread across many worlds, by the way you measure such things 'emperor' is a more fitting title." Brittani crossed her arms over her chest. "For that matter, he is revered as a dark god on many worlds despite not actually being a deity."

She snorted softly then looked over to Scott and then back to Cia. "I can never escape that, but I can have a territory that is truly mine. If I can pick my own husband, and require certain concessions that will be easy to grant to me... then it's my best possible situation. I do my part for the family legacy, but I am not just a collected wife used as a stepping-stone for ambitious lesser kings."

"Those other kings would be gunning for your husband, though..." said Cia. She turned wide-eyed and looked at Scott.

Brittani nodded. "They can't send more aid to their heirs who are on Earth unless those heirs are crowned as a ruler, but we're a powerful empire. We started with a lot of premium perks. Money was especially easy for us to bring over compared to most other groups."

The ghoul princess of pop nodded to Scott. "This is why you and your faction will need to be considerably stronger than you are now before anything beyond friendship can happen between us. I admit. I do not know you well enough to say that I love you."

She closed her eyes once more then shook her head and acquired an expression that made it seem as though she forced herself to speak her next words, "Someone like me... I was raised in a way that let me have every luxury but one, the luxury to date or marry for love. It isn't about that at all."

"It's about survival," said Scott with a thoughtful expression. "You don't want to be someone's trophy wife while they take your family's legacy. You want to be free to live your life, and to actually have a bit of agency in who you choose to marry. Is that it?"

She offered him a warm smile. "Yes. Truthfully, if I did not have to worry about my family legacy I would make a lot of different choices."

"You mean to say, we would have all been ghouls and you'd be Queen Brittani?" asked Scott in a quiet tone.

"Someone's going to be the leader of this region. We all want the best for our people. You. Me. Eloa. The fish-thot that caused our current political mess," she said with a shrug, "Any faction leader could become the ruler here. Siding with a human faction grants greater legitimacy since you are the native population. I can't be the ruler here and avoid becoming a trophy wife to some jerk back home."

She took a soft breath then nodded to Scott, a slight smile on her lips. "What I can do is root for a local boy to win the right to rule and thusly gain the right to rule at his side. I find that far more appealing than the thought of becoming a bed warmer for a pretentious little lordling whose only claim to fame is the fact that he was birthed from yet another bed warming brood mare."

"I thought politics in America were weird," said Harold. The older man chuckled softly to himself.

Harold's insertion into the conversation caused a round a laughter, but the mirthful moment passed quickly. A short conversation occurred then as people discussed politics and how marriage was still used for that purpose even before the apocalypse.

"Yeah, seems like we're doing good with Scott as our leader. He's like the perfect political bait," said Harold with a grin.

Scott grunted at the man, but could not deny it. He was in a position to garner a lot of aid and interest for their faction. "Yeah. Friends, alliances, treaties..."

"Money," agreed Lorelei happily. "I'm sure you're looking forward to that, too."

As though she had teleported, Cia suddenly appeared at Lorelei's side. "Money?" she asked cheerfully, her hands clasped in front of her, and a slight gleam in her eyes.

Lorelei gasped and took a full-step back. Her eyes were both wide and slightly frightened. How had she gotten so close, so quickly?

"Yeah... Money?" asked Scott slowly. There had been no mention of it before. Now that he thought about it, though, she was a former faction leader. Shouldn't she possess resources that would belong to their combined faction now?

She turned swiftly to Scott then rapidly nodded her head. "Yes! Yes!" she cried cheerfully. "We did spend a good bit of it, but we are a small faction. There's plenty left."

"How much is—" began Scott but he stopped mid-sentence. They were in mixed company. As much as he wanted to continue to trust their new allies he could not do so fully. They continued to have their own ambitions and made it clear that he was a likable person, but solely a means to an end for either of them.

He did not wish to alert them to the fact that he did not wish to share this new information with them, so he quickly thought up something to say. Scott laughed softly to himself when he realized he had the perfect response, one that was also relevant to the conversation and amusing to him on a personal level.

Scott looked to Brittani then grinned. "Guess you weren't wrong the other day..."

"What do you mean?" she asked him curiously.

"Politically speaking, it seems I actually am manwhore," said Scott with a laugh.

"No. I'm sure the word I used was 'Man-slut'," she replied without much thought.

Upon realizing what she had said, Brittani blinked once. She then also snickered once before she abruptly burst into a fit of giggles that she tried to hide behind her hand. Scott's bizarre admission resonated with the other people in the room and soon they were laughing along with them, even though they were not privy to the previous conversation. The very idea of Brittani and Scott having a conversation where she accuses him of being a man-slut was a thing impossible not to engender laughter.

Hana lightly nudged her sister Rachel in the side then whispered, "Ever get the idea that we miss out on a lot by staying home all the time?"

"For sure," whispered Rachel with a nod of the head.

Brittani reached out and placed her cool hand to Scott's face. "Since we are mentioning previous conversations. Thank you for the kind words you spoke to me a moment ago in private. I'm glad that you think so."

He nodded to her then said, "I look forward to our next meeting."

She looked down slightly then back up into his eyes. "That's good to know."

Sensing a certain tension growing in the air, the mermaid spoke up, "Um... So... About our marriage? There's sort of a time limit..."

Brittani frowned at her then muttered something that Scott barely heard, but he might have sworn to be, "Fish-Thot."

He patted Brittani on the shoulder then looked to Lorelei. "I'm not avoiding you or anything, but we need to wrap up this meeting before anything else can happen."

"That's my cue to leave," said Brittani. She leaned forward and lightly kissed Scott on the cheek. "We'll talk soon, alright?"

"Absolutely," agreed Scott.

Brittani glanced at the one whom she had dubbed, Fish-Thot, then snorted. She then turned to Eloa and offered a warm smile. "See you soon as well."

Lorelei mumbled softly to herself and played with her hands. Eloa ignored her and looked to Brittani. "Of course. Take care."

The undead pop princess waved cutely to everyone then Scott led her out to the gate. While they were outside she stopped short of leaving the barrier and turned to Scott.

"Now that we're alone for a moment, I was wondering..." she said to him, her eyes softly looking into his eyes.

"Hmm?" he asked curiously.

"I, well, I ...." Brittani shook her head briefly then stepped closer to him. "I'm not used to being at a loss for words. I was raised better than that..."

"Hey. It's alright. You can ask me anything," he said. His words hung on the air briefly before he offered her a cheeky grin, "Doesn't mean I'll answer, though."

She smiled softly at him then gently nodded her head. Brittani took a breath then asked, "Do you resent me?"

"I don't think so... Is there a reason why I should?" he asked her in a curious tone.

Her hands rose up to lightly clasp his cheeks. Unspent emotion glimmered in her eyes as she leaned forward slightly. "I know you see me as a monster, some creature that eats your kind... Yet, I keep trying to force myself into your life."

Scott answered her in the most honest and direct manner that he knew. He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips.

Her eyes widened considerably and her nostrils flared. For one brief, homicidal, moment she was forced to fight down the urge to fling him across the yard due to his brazen and aggressive action. That moment passed and her eyes began to close. Her cheeks became slightly pink and she moaned sweetly against him.

She continued to kiss the air for a split-second when he drew back from her. Her eyelids fluttered open as her mind began to process things properly once more. Whether he was truly a good kisser or not, she could not say. She had no experience in kissing boys. However, there was a definite effect!

"That's my answer," said Scott softly. "Does it mean I resent you? Does it mean that I don't? I refuse to tell you the answer."

Brittani drew one hand and lightly touched her lips. Confusion in her eyes, she could only speak a single word in that moment. "Scott..."

He offered her a warm smile that reached his eyes. "You left me constantly confused about our situation. Does she want to kiss me? Kill me? Am I a walking happy meal, or a serious love interest?"

"Scott! I—" she began, her hand falling from her lips. That hand was replaced by his finger as Scott silenced her with another gentle smile.

"You will suffer, as I suffered," he said lightly.

Brittani huffed out a laugh then looked away from him briefly. "I've killed people for less."

"It's a good thing for me that you don't know what you want from me, huh?" he asked her, his tone still light. "Figure it out by the next time we meet, eh?"

She bit her lower lip then laughed in a nervous way that made her seem like a shy young girl. She caught herself a moment later, however. Resolve, and a hint of mischief, returning to her eyes she asked, "Did your girlfriend really leave you for another woman?"

"I lack ambition," said Scott in a casual manner.

Brittani's eyes widened considerably and laughter burst out. It was not the soft feminine giggle she typically showed, but a full-on gut busting laugh born out of the depths of her amusement. "Y-you lack ambition? You?"

Tears of utter amusement crawled down her cheeks as she reached out to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "The guy who stole a kiss from the granddaughter of the Dread Overlord of Skull Orchard and then dared her to suffer the mystery? A man who even now is setting up the possibility of multiple political marriages as part of his path to kingship, a kingship that is founded on his own merit and not by his relatives' social positions? You lack ambition?"

He shrugged lightly while continuing to offer her his cheeky grin. "I'm a late bloomer."

Scott leaned forward and whispered in a conspiratorial manner. "I notice you mentioned that kiss first on that list. Suffering a bit from that mystery, are we?"

"Oh. I'd better go," she said, her absolute amusement alive within her eyes. Feeling a bit saucy, she stepped forward and kissed him sweetly on the lips. It was not the overly familiar kiss that he had given her before, but a tender reminder of future possibilities.

She straightened his collar a bit then lightly smoothed down his hair in imitation of a doting girlfriend. "You go be all the manwhore that you can be, and I'll try to keep my grandfather from discovering the fact that you violated my perfect royal lips so egregiously with your inferior mortal lips."

"Wasn't I supposed to be a man-slut?" he asked her curiously.

"No. Let us not do that one," she said lightly. "Whores get paid at least. I'd hate to think that I am allied with someone who just gave it away to anyone who wanted it."

"Fine," he replied in an equally light tone. "Capitalism for the win."

"Hmm..." she said, her lips lightly screwed to the side. "Good boy."

"As far as the other thing, I would appreciate that effort on your part, probably," said Scott. "Though, I find it odd that you can kiss me but I can't kiss you."

She laughed again, it was not sweetly endearing. Her laugh gave rise to a maniacal expression of disbelief and amusement. "Yes. You certainly should appreciate my efforts to keep grandfather in the dark."

The manner of her laughter unsettled him terribly, but he let it go. He scored serious inroads in this parting of ways. He did not want to lose ground with Brittani.

"See you soon, Scott," she said in a sweet tone. Brittani bit her lower lip gently and looked at him in a strangely cute manner. She twisted back and forth at the hips and seemed expectant.

Scott, seeing how she was acting leaned forward once more. Her eyes widened slightly but then began to close even as her lips parted in slight anticipation. Just before his lips were about to touch hers he leaned sideways and whispered, "Good night Brittani. It was nice having you..."

Her eyes fluttered open and she acquired a scandalized expression. The brazenness! He stole a kiss from her, and then denied her a second one! She huffed loudly at him then let her jaw draw open while also offering him something of a disbelieving grin. "Oh... You just wait till we meet up, boy."

He laughed at her then nodded his head. "It's a date. See you soon."

"Mhmm," she said lightly while she nodded her head quickly. Her expression one that held a strange mixture of confusion, good humor, and scandal she wagged a finger in the air. "You have no idea of the danger that you've unleashed!"

"Sounds fun," he agreed cheekily.

"Good night, Scott!" she cried in disbelieving amusement. Brittani turned from him took a few steps then looked back over her shoulder at him. "Get ready for the show," she said before she granted him an overly cute and saucy wink.

She disappeared from view before he could respond. He looked to the place she once stood then snorted in amusement. "You just had to get the last word in, huh?"

He laughed softly to himself then turned back to the manor house. That was one guest down. Now it was time to attend to the rest. "Gonna be a long night, eh?"