Waking up the next morning was so relaxing. We slept in, which should have been routine since we'd been doing it for a while, but there was something different about a day when you had training later and a day when you were just doing whatever you wanted. I rolled over, and was greeted with a grunt of annoyance and a hand shoving my face away sleepily. I sputtered a bit, and then started laughing, sitting up to look down at my girlfriend, who was never in a good mood when someone woke her up.

She opened one eye, glaring at me balefully. "S'bright. N' Cold. Lay down." She'd somehow managed to slip in here after I went to bed and burrow under me like I was a giant blanket. The sleepy, squinting annoyance of someone who wished they were still sleeping was adorable on her.

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure we need to go down for breakfast. I smell bacon. I bet your mom made us some food. We can't just stay up here forever. Also how did you even get in here without waking me up. My Perception is pretty high. Did you use stealth or something?" I didn't try to hide the humor in my voice that she wasn't comfortable staying in separate rooms for even a day. Or the happiness. It made me smile.

The other eye creaked open as she glared hared. "Ugh." She said, clearly forcing her vocal chords to warm up and actually function. "My bed is too big. And cold. It was annoying. I WAS perfectly warm here until you got up like a jerk. But fine. If bacon is more important to you than your beloved girlfriend I see how it is." She turned her head away, too lazy to get up and roll over to shun me. "You can just leave me here to freeze."

I grinned and hopped out of bed pulling on a shirt to go with the sweats I'd been sleeping in. "Oh, ok. Glad you understand. Can't expect a man not to prioritize his bacon. Well...if there's any left once I'm finished with it. I love me some bacon." I turned to leave with a snicker, planning to wait outside for her since I knew that we would definitely be out in a second.

I apparently underestimated her as I felt a slipper smack into the back of my head. I turned in shock to glare at her, but barely managed to catch sight of her as she pushed her ridiculously high Might to blitz past me and make it to the door before I could. "You asshole!" I yelped, turning to bolt after her. She wasn't going all out since she didn't want to shatter the floors or anything. Fantasy could warp the world a bit to allow us to use our power without some of the inconveniences, but hers wasn't as high as her Might.

Little things like that were part of the training we'd gotten over the last few weeks. Learning to harness our abilities better and use our stats to the fullest. At the beginning of the last month I wouldn't have been able to bolt down the hall after her at top speed without breaking anything. I'd have shattered the floor or run into a wall, but both of us were so much more than we had been.

She got to the kitchen a second before me, and I scooped her up by the waist and spun her around, dropping her outside the doorway as I bolted for the plate with the bacon on it. She gave an offended squawk and made to follow but we both stopped when we heard a loud throat clearing noise from one side. Frozen at being caught, I slowly turned to regard an amused looking Alexander, sitting next to an annoyed seeming Amelia. Our hostess smiled archly. "You two seem spirited."

Turning to Callie, I was shocked to see my usually unflappable girlfriend looking like she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. We were so used to our mornings together we'd gotten a bit lost on what would happen if I chased her down the stairs and into the kitchen. She cleared her throat, looking just like Alexander for a second. "Ah. Hello. Fancy seeing you all here. Lovely morning isn't it?"

It was probably the most blatant attempt to ignore reality I'd ever seen, and Callie could literally make fake copies of herself from pure darkness. Amelia smirked. "Yes, fancy seeing me in my own kitchen." She stared for a minute, before sighing and rolling her eyes, breaking eye contact before she looked back to her plate. "And yes Calliope, it is a lovely morning. Or what's left of it. It's almost noon." Her smirk became sly. "The two of you must have been comfortable."

Callie's expression became semi-panicked. She stalked over and grabbed a plate from the cabinet, slammed it down on the counter and started shoveling food onto it. Proclaiming loudly. "SO, what are everyone's plans for today!? Are you all coming with us to show the Cark siblings around town and meet up with Benny?" Her obvious change of subject wasn't commented on, though there were more than a few muffled snickers from around the table. Mostly Cark and Jessie.

Zeke shook his head. "Nah, I've seen the whole town. Amy said I could relax in the garden, and I'm getting some of my favorite lager delivered. It's a local microbrew you can't get in Rajak. Damn brewer won't export it. Says it's meant to bolster the local economy or some nonsense. A beer maker who won't sell beer. What is the world coming to I ask you?" He looked to the other two older members of the breakfast group. "Amy, Alex, are you two going to tag along with the kids? I imagine it'll be nice spending time with Callie at the very least."

I was pretty sure he just wanted the house to himself to get drunk. Though I had become less sure he could actually GET drunk from anything he could find here, as much as he liked to act sloppy and ridiculous when drinking. I was pretty sure his Vitality had to be high enough to make that nearly impossible. Amelia smiled at him. "I might just do that Ezekial, thank you. Alex, do you want to join me?" She gave him an oddly bashful smile, like she was talking about a date, and Alexander swallowed hard before replying with a smile that he would love to.

My uncle clicked his tongue, surprising me by saying. "In that case, it might be bad form to get the beer delivered. I can just go pick it up myself. I can stock up. I didn't bother last time I was in town because we left in a hurry and I didn't know they wouldn't ship." He smiled nostalgically. "Maybe I'll bring someone to Stella as a peace offering. She might be willing to actually speak to me since I've been gone for a while. Maybe she's finally figured out that she misses me."

Jessie shrugged. "I'll tag along. I want to visit with Maria. She broke up with her boyfriend and I think she's feeling down about it, but she doesn't feel comfortable sharing that with Shane or Benny because she knows they both hated him." I shrugged at that. It was true. Her smile became softer. "Plus we haven't had time to talk as much since we've all been busy." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Speaking of that. I don't suppose you're planning to offer her the same choice you're giving Amelia?"

That...hadn't really occurred to me. Maria was like a little sister to me, but she was still sixteen. Only two years younger than us, sure, but I'd seen what that kind of attention had to Callie so early. It was a ton of pressure. On the other hand the earlier she got her ability the more sought after she would be when she managed to get to higher ranks. G-rankers under twenty got poached for the Academy for a reason. Younger people who reached higher ranks experienced a much faster swell in reputation. Everyone loved hearing about prodigies, after all.

She'd ALSO see a massive bump in lifespan. Impact reduced aging to one physical year for however many chronological years you had of Impact. That meant if you had another eighty physical years to age, you would enjoy potentially hundreds of extra years of living. There were good and bad aspects of it, and in the end Jessie was right. Maria was the only one who could make that call for herself.

I nodded. "I'll make the offer. You aren't wrong, I probably should have considered that, it's just not something that popped into my head until you mentioned it." I gave her a grateful smile, before turning to Amelia. "Speaking of that. Is there a specific time you'd like to talk that over? I'm sure Callie mentioned it to you, and I'm happy to make the time whenever."

For the first time since I'd met her, Amelia looked...uncertain. I knew from talking to Callie that this was a tougher decision for her than it seemed. 'Do you want superpowers?' might seem like a no brainer at first glance, but Amelia had been married to an Ascendant for years, and had serious and justified issues with the culture. She wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, if only because her daughter was the one pushing for it and the lifespan it promised would let her stay with her child for much longer, but still it wasn't a simple question.

I'd known that when I asked it of course, but just because someone doesn't know the answer doesn't mean you don't still have to ask. She needed to think this through, and her indecision just made it clear she'd been putting it off. Still, I held up my hands placatingly. "No rush or anything. It's something you need to think about and I get that, but I wanted to at least put the thought in your head, just let me know when you're ready to at least discuss it."

Callie didn't look happy at that, but she was more upset at the situation than anything. She wasn't angry at me for giving her mom time, or her mom for taking it, she just didn't want to wait. It was understandable. Amelia noticed and reached out to take her daughters hand. "No." She said after some hesitation. "No I don't need time. I'll take you up on that. We can do it later tonight if you like." She offered Callie a strained smile.

My girlfriend bolted out of her seat and threw her arms around her mother, smiling brightly. "Oh, thank you mom! I promise you're going to love it. You don't need to rush or anything. We can push you up to G-rank before we leave and you can take your time from there. No need to go to Rajak or involve yourself in politics. I just...I want you around for as long as possible? We could have so many more years together this way!" She completely ignored Alexander, who didn't seem surprised anyway. I wasn't sure if that was stoicism or really good information gathering but either way he knew the truth now. With Zeke here he wasn't a threat, and I doubted he would screw up Amelia's chances of living longer.

After Callie released her mother and sat back down, she turned to address the table. "Well, seems like we all have our plans for the day lined up. Let's enjoy this delicious breakfast mom made and we can all head out. I'm sure Benny is excited to show Celine around town. There's definitely plenty to see." She flashed us all a wild grin. "I personally want to drop in on some old friends if we have time. It'll be so good to see them." From her smile, I was guessing friend was a strong word, and I wasn't sure they were going to feel the same about seeing her.