"Ma...What the hell is this?"
"Welllll.... You could call them helpers and sightseers?" Nyx smiled innocently in the hopes that she could disarm her son.
Malachi folded his arms and leaned back into the couch next to Aubrey.
It didn't work.
"Helpers? Sightseers??" Aubrey questioned.
"W-Well their father is a friend of mine, and they wanted to stretch their legs from their lands a bit, so he entrusted them to my care.
A-And since they were here I asked if they would not mind working only as stationary security for the base and they accepted!"
Behind Nyx, the trio of Tathamet siblings nodded in confirmation.
"Who is their father? I didn't know you had friends." Aubrey asked.
Nyx felt like she had somehow just been made fun of. story by m|v_l,e,m,p,y,r
"Y-You'll meet him later if the fates are kind. He can't really move around as freely as these three."
"?" Aubrey and Malachi tilted their heads in unison.
"A-Anyway, just know that they are only here to help..." Nyx said as she stared at Malachi. "...Are you upset with me for meddling?"
Mal recalled he and Aubrey's earlier conversation in painful detail, and the answer to her question came easily to him.
"No... I'm grateful to you for trying to help, Ma. Thank you... but are you absolutely sure that these three can be trusted?"
The eyes of the brothers narrowed, meanwhile the sister continued to glance about the room in wonder.
'This is a cool place... I should decorate my own inner world a little better.' She thought.
Meanwhile, Nyx easily waived away his concerns.
"Yes, they are a trustworthy sort who understand the meaning of integrity. Dragons so rarely have the appetite for treachery."
"..."
"..."
"""""...Dragons?!"""""
Malachi glanced over his shoulder where Aisha, Serana, and Melanie were all peeping around the corner like small rodents.
Evidently, they were as shocked by the news as anyone.
Though Nyx sighed in disappointment. "Honestly, you didn't know? Two of them have horns on their heads."
"I thought they were demons.."
"Sex demons..."
However, upon inspection she found that Thea's smile was just as blindingly radiant as before.
No, in fact it was even brighter.
Nyx even waived her hand in front of Thea's face to snap her out of her giddy state, but it was to no avail.
"Boys?"
""Hm?""
"Is your sister the kind of woman who enjoys women who play hard to get?"
""Uh-huh.""
"Interesting... Does your father also share this dispo-"
""No.""
"Damnit... On an unrelated note, care to tell me about this baby situation back home?"
Belloc's face lit up and he started to pull out his phone, but stopped at the last second. "Wait a minute... are you going to try to take advantage of him?"
"Probabl- I mean, no."
Belloc slipped his phone back onto his pocket and ignored Nyx as if she weren't even there.
"Well, since the introductions are out of the way..." Apophis walked over to Serana who was still wearing his jacket and boldly took her hand.
"Would you mind giving me a tour? I'm interested in seeing all that this place has to offer."
Serana's eyes became glossy all over again and the words in her brain became all jumbled and messy.
"I-I-I-I think do that I can..!"
Apophis laughed melodically as he gently led the somewhat ditzy girl towards the elevator.
Melanie followed behind them, expecting to head to bed for the night when suddenly Belloc slipped into the elevator with them and took her completely by surprise.
Finally beginning to catch on, Mal turned back towards his mother with an exhausted look on his face.
"So when you said that they came here to sightsee you meant..."
"Uh-huh."
"...Is every dragon like that?"
"Only the best ones!"
Malachi sighed as he stood up to handle tonight's lingering business.
For now, he would get the rescued into the medical ward and the prisoners into the makeshift jail downstairs.
Though these weren't enviable tasks, he was almost certain they would be the last moments of quiet he received for the foreseeable future.