"Why does it seem like your group can't go half an hour without discussing sex?" Erkath asked with a sigh.
"Why are you jealous? Is your husband not putting out? I can help you with that, you know?" Aphrodite asked with a playful smirk.
"Who said anything about being jealous, and yes, he is putting out… so I don't need your help, thank you," Erkath replied, though all the girls noticed that partway through her sentence, she paused before continuing.
"And you're not allowed to help her, remember?" Lorelie stated as she shot Aphrodite a look.
"I know, I know," Aphrodite said while holding her hands up in surrender before adding, "I was only playing, I can still tease people as long as I don't touch them, right?"
"That's a bit cruel, but it's not against the rules," Lorelie replied.
"Good. Besides, it wouldn't be against the rules if Erkath joined the harem," Aphrodite added with a suggestive wink.
"For that, she would have to leave her husband, someone she had been happily married to for many years," Lorelie replied as she sat down while pulling Stacey down with her, who was longingly looking back towards the master bedroom.
As Lorelie spoke, none of the other women noticed that Rowena and Erkath shared a brief look before Erkath coughed lightly and changed the subject by asking, "You said something about someone called Eri?"
"Right, she's my chaperone while we are here on Felinia Seven. She is an Xer-verse influencer."
"Ohhhh her, the one who appeared on The MMM Show," Erkath replied in realisation.
"Yup. She takes her own photos that she posts on Xer-verse as part of her influencer career; maybe she could fill the role of photographer."
"She's not really a professional if all she does is post photos on Xer-verse," Erkath replied doubtfully.
"We can at least take her along to Alpha Entertainment and give her a shot before we decide if she's good enough or not," Aphrodite suggested.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt, it's just a few quick photos before the main shoot to test how good she is," Rowena stated after thinking for a moment.
"Well, I will leave this up to you, Rowena, since you're the professional model and know what to look for. I need to get back to work, but make sure to drop me a message after you hear Adam's response to my proposal," Erkath said before bidding them all farewell and ending the call.
"Proposal?" Stacey asked.
"The release of the new line of clothing supplied by Adam is ahead of schedule, and if we have to wait for them to transport us the clothes for the photo shoot, Erkath will either need to release the clothes without advertising, which is not a good idea, or not take advantage of them being ahead of schedule to release early.
She hopes that Adam can fabricate the necessary clothing on his ship, like what they did with our slacks that time or Tephe's pyjamas," Rowena explained.
"Why the rush to release them so soon? I mean, the clothes are not going anywhere?" Stacey asked.
"Because of the interview she gave to Sinead Quintana, "Rowena began to explain, "After Sinead released her story, clothing and fashion enthusiasts and reporters started bombarding Erkath Fashion with more information regarding the new clothing line.
Erkath wants to release while everyone's interest is still at its peak; the longer we delay, the more people will lose interest."
"A good plan," Adam said as he left the master bedroom with damp hair and a new set of clothes.
"I need to talk to you about something Erkath called about," Rowena stated as the women all turned to look at him while following his movement as he headed towards Tephe's room.
"Give me a moment to check on Tephe," Adam replied before entering the room to find that she was still asleep and that Maya was still lying at the foot of her bed.
Maya opened one eye as she heard the door open, and, seeing that it was Adam, lifted her head slightly.
"Hello Maya, did Tephe sleep the entire night?" Adam asked as he walked over to get a closer look at Tephe, who was now in her dragon pattern pyjamas.
Maya nodded her head in answer to Adam's question.
"How about you? Get much sleep?"
Maya thought for a moment before nodding her head.
"Good. If you get lonely and want some company or feel hungry, come find us, ok?" Adam said.
Maya didn't nod or shake her head at that and just stared at Adam, who smiled at her in return before leaving the room.
"So what did Erkath call about?" Adam asked as he moved towards the sofas before being pulled down to sit between Lorelie and Stacey.
"It's like this," Rowena replied before explaining the situation.
"That shouldn't be a problem," Adam replied before thinking, {Right Spector?}
[[Affirmative. I just need to know which designs to begin production.]]
"Have Erkath send over the designs she wants for the photo shoot, and Spector will begin producing them. I will then go pick them up later," Adam stated, to which Rowena nodded before sending Erkath a message on her uniband.
"Now, what do we do about Maya?" Adam asked.
"The young Levithen? Is there a problem?" Lorelie asked.
"Not really. I'm just not sure if having a Levithen follow us around is ok," Adam replied.
"I don't see the harm. While it's true that Levithen tend to stay clear of humans because many still hunt them. It's also true that she has gained an attachment to Tephe," Aphrodite stated.
"But why doesn't she return to her own kind?" Adam asked.
"She might not know how," Rowena replied after sending the message.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm no expert on travelling through subspace without a ship, but Maya is only a young Levithen, and it's possible she hasn't fully learnt how to jump on her own yet. After all, Levithens travel in groups, so it had probably never jumped on its own before the Scorpo forced it to."
"Are you saying it's lost?" Lorelie asked.
"I'm not saying anything, since I can't talk to it; however, it's just a theory I have," Rowena replied with a shrug.
"I'm almost afraid to ask this now, but since it considers Tephe as a friend and Adam as well, to a lesser extent, does that mean it's going to follow her around from now on?" Stacey asked hesitantly.
"Well, the young of any species do tend to follow those they trust around. Remember how you always insisted on following me around when you were little?" Rowena asked as she remembered the fond memory.
"Not really the time for a stroll down memory lane, grandmother, I'm more concerned about the Levithen that's going to start following my boyfriend everywhere," Stacey replied while rolling her eyes.
"Worried she will interfere with your intimate moments?" Rowena asked with her signature smirk, making Aphrodite chuckle.
"Not if she keeps sleeping with Tephe like she is now. I'm more concerned about how we will have a miniature Levithen flying next to us as we walk down the street or go anywhere," Stacey replied.
"That would certainly make all the Newscasts. I bet no one has ever seen a Levithen that small, I mean they're born bigger," Aphrodite said with mirth.
"For now, I think we should just let her be. She's not doing any harm, and she's cute," Lorelie stated.
"Will she still be cute if she decides to revert to her normal size while we are all inside a space station?" Stacey asked with a smirk.
"I guess it's decided then," Adam stated just as Lorelie received a message on her uniband, which she quickly read before speaking.
"It seems that Princess Tessa wants to come pay us a visit to finalise the Royal Entertainment deal."
"Why is she coming here? I thought Adam would head over to hers again instead?" Stacey asked.
"It says that she wanted to make the trip here since she knows Tephe is unconscious and is worried about us leaving her alone," Lorelie replied.
"While that's kind of her, I doubt that's the only reason she's willing to make the trip here," Rowena stated.
"And so it begins," Adam said with a sigh.
"Is there a problem?" Rowena asked.
"She, like both you and Lorelie, is in for a disappointment," Adam said before he got up and headed for the kitchen.
"What do you mean?" Rowena asked as she and Lorelie shared a puzzled look.
"Your races won't be getting anything related to the beam-canceler or planetary annihilation beam tech, at least not for now."
"You have decided not to share it then?" Aphrodite asked.
"Not exactly," Adam replied with a sigh before saying, "I will explain when they arrive, since I'm no doubt going to have to have this conversation god knows how many times, I would rather just tell you all at the same time.
Anyone for breakfast?" Adam asked before disappearing into the kitchen while the girls shared confused looks.