It's been four days since the universe decided to drop Ezraphel's sister on his doorstep and the more he thought about that moment the more the timing of her appearance felt deliberate. She came on his birthday, literally as he and Ezraphel were talking about the possibility of her finding a way back to Eos and just in time for her to receive dinner and cake.
To Stanley it was just more proof that his life has become a live action sitcom being enjoyed by a pantheon of ROBs or something.
Moving on, after the tension filled awkwardness that was the tail end of his birthday celebration, Stanley was given some much needed reprieve when Ezraphel decided to show her sister around the city. Even better was that Natalie and Ana decided to go with her for support, leaving him alone in his home for the first time in months. Stanley used that time to reflect and figure out his plans for the future.
A major epiphany he had during this time was that he could no longer tackle things at his preferred pace which was slow and passive for the most part. That wasn't going to work anymore now that the universe saw fit to remind him that procrastination and 'living in the moment' wasn't going to fly. He needed to think of the future and start making moves to secure it, for himself, for Ezraphel and for their future family.
That said, with Thera's appearance he expected to be dealing with the same drama and headaches that Ezraphel brought only to be proven wrong time and again. It started after their first private conversation where he found out that Thera was unlike Ezraphel in a lot of ways. Where his girlfriend was loud, emotional, bombastic, spontaneous and preferred keeping things simple while deferring to him for anything complicated, Thera showed herself to be calm, collected, pragmatic, sophisticated and intelligent.
It made him regret the way he went about confronting her, especially since she was not the corrupt everything on sight and think about the consequences later, type of Lilim. No, she might actually be something worse and that fact was exemplified on the second day of her time on Earth when she went out with other girls and basically hijacked the trip to have them visit various 'cash for gold' exchange places across the city.
Why?
Because unlike Ezraphel, Thera didn't come through the portal with only the clothes on her back, she had an entire pocket dimension filled with her personal effects including gold and jewels which she used to get herself a small fortune of cash which she then used to secure herself some much needed tech at Best Buy.
Within the span of a day she managed to not only familiarize herself with life on Earth but found a means of quickly accumulating wealth and used said wealth to acquire a setup which she would then use to conduct research and gather information to her heart's content. She did this while also completely sidestepping any need for dependence on him or Ezraphel. Her staying with them was basically a formality until she gained her bearings and Stanley wasn't even sure she would stick around once she got a handle on things.
That was insane!
She got more done in a day to establish herself on Earth than Ezraphel did in months. And it didn't stop there because after returning back to the house she had already familiarized herself with the various technologies to a better degree than Ezraphel.
How?
She roped some random Best Buy staff member into following her around and explaining everything to her. She only needed help setting up the PC and only because she was staying in Makailand, specifically in the replica royal castle, and they needed to figure out a way to run the Wi-Fi and LAN through another dimension without losing strength.
She spent the majority of her third day in her office with the only times he's seen her being in the morning during breakfast and in the evening for dinner. Both times it was Ezraphel who had to drag her to the table much to her annoyance. Needless to say, Thera wasn't beating the Stanley comparison allegations but thankfully unlike him when she did attend these 'mandatory' gatherings she was not shy about talking about what she was doing and seemed eager to get their thoughts and comments on many things.
These over the table discussions went a long way to easing his apprehension as he noted the woman seemed more relaxed, which was good because it made the idea of approaching her for another conversation much easier. This time he wasn't going to treat her as hostile because not only was she not an enemy but he actually needed her help. Through his own observations combined with Ezraphel's happily given stories about her as well as her actions thus far, Stanley deduced that Thera wasn't just a 'manager' as he initially assumed but a fixer.
You know those kinds of slick, highly qualified and hyper competent people in movies with sociopathic tendencies that are brought in to solve complex problems too difficult for others? Not to say she was exactly like that but she was definitely the type of person who had experience applying their own knowledge and skills into leveraging, mediating, arranging available resources while navigating complex systems in order to get things done.
Now normally this would have put the fear of ROB in him but considering what he was trying to accomplish she was exactly the kind of person he needed at this moment. Which was why on the fourth day of Thera's stay on Earth he decided enough time had passed for him to ask for another private chat.
Ezraphel tagged along because she arguably had just as much of a stake in this as him, plus emotional support and her presence worked as a safety measure in case Thera turned out to be just unreasonable enough to try and mind whammy him. Apparently she was very good at subtly manipulating people in roundabout ways without them ever realizing it.
Yet another reason why his first private talk with the woman turned out to be a stupid ass decision.
Anyways, they appeared at a set of double doors and before they could knock the wooden doors opened of their own accord. Stanley gave a raised brow at Ezraphel who shrugged and they both went in. The room was spacious, there was tasteful decor, paintings hung around the walls, a bookshelf in the corner, two sofas surrounding a low table in the center.
Sitting directly at the front was Thera with her PC setup, along with her tablet, phone, some papers and a fountain pen. Behind her was a large window with curtains open giving a rather fantastic view of the Makailand skyline. Standing to the side was a maid Golem.
Looking away from the screen "ah, sister and Stanley, have a seat" she gestured to the seats by the low table "I will be with you shortly. Stella, if you will."
"Yes, Lady Thera." The maid bowed lightly before leaving the room.
Meanwhile as Stanley took a seat Ezraphel practically skipped around the desk to view the screen "what are you looking at?"
"Just reading up on the United States Government. Did you know that there are several previously classified documents of clandestine operations floating around the internet?"
The question was directed at Stanley who shrugged "yeah, they release those from time to time, usually when enough time's passed that the public interest is low enough that they don't cause a problem or everyone involved is already dead so there's plausible deniability."
"Hmm" Thera hummed at that.
"Is that what you've been doing all this time, reading up on the government?"
"Among other things" she used the mouse to click on some things "I want to have a thorough understanding of this country's history, politics and culture."
"Yeah, good luck with that" he scoffed but after a moment added "be careful about misinformation."
"I am aware. For as advanced as this world is compared to Eos, the means used to obfuscate the truth are shockingly similar. The advancements just allow them more methods at their disposal."
The door opened again and the maid returned pushing a trolley with a tea set and snacks. As the maid went about setting things up Thera left her desk and made her way over and took a seat on the sofa across from him while Ezraphel took a seat beside him.
Stella finished and Thera nodded in gratitude with Ezraphel following suit and Stanley trailing behind absently. The maid bowed once again and silently left the room.
Once the door closed Thera looked to her guests "now to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?" She asked and picked up the teacup and coaster.
"Wanted to pick up where we left off with our conversation a few days ago" Stanley answered.
"I see" she took a sip "where would you like to start?"
Stanley has had days to think about how he wanted this conversation to go and what exactly he needed from her.
"First, just to confirm, you're like some kind of fixer right?"
It was only then that he realized that the nomenclature might not be known on Eos and was prepared to explain further when Thera's next words stopped him.
"That would not be an incorrect term for what some of my duties entail."
"Right, so here's my thing. I want to be able to live in a world where humans and mamono coexist. I think we all agree that's the end goal here right?"
"Agreed" Thera said.
"Then we all agree that it's in everybody's best interest to work together towards that goal, right?"
Thera placed her tea cup and coaster down "I was under the impression that we would be working together in the first place. At least that is what Ezraphel told me."
She said this with an almost confused expression as she looked from him to Ezraphel. Stanley also looked to Ezraphel as if to say "what the fuck?"
For her part Ezraphel had been sipping tea in silence the entire time "Stanley is worried that your plans involve a full scale incursion or infiltration and coercion tactics."
Thera raised a brow while her eyes shifted back to Stanley "I see."
As for the man himself, he was still staring at his girlfriend but she continued to speak without acknowledging him "I told him multiple times that it would not be the case but he refuses to listen to reason." Finally she glanced at him with a measured gaze and said "or perhaps there is a part of you that cannot trust my words wholly."
Stanley scowled but did not deny her words. Thera looked between the couple, there were words at the tip of her tongue but she refrained from voicing them. Whatever tribulations the couple were going through should be of little concern to her beyond how it was affecting her sibling but by the expression on Ezraphel's face as well as what she could sense of her emotions, her younger sibling had things handled.
So instead she went and addressed the young man's fears directly "an incursion is the last thing I would recommend for integration with this world. I won't bore you with the minutiae of why it is ill advised but know that any kind of incursion is not only unnecessary but would result in an escalation in hostilities that would see casualties which is something we all want to avoid."
Stanley sat there for a moment as he let her words sink in. He would give it to Thera, she was saying all the right words to placate him. Once upon a time it would have been good enough. Not that he believed her completely but it would have been enough for him to convince himself not to get involved further in something that would be inconvenient for his lifestyle.
Unfortunately he had already decided to involve himself more in these things so he pushed forward with the questions laced with skepticism.
"Alright, then what about if others, like say your other siblings or the extremist faction, find out about Earth and decide to try and carve out a piece of the world for themselves?"
At that Ezraphel became more attentive and even Thera's expression sharpened "they would not dare."
"Why not?" He challenged.
"Because mother would not allow it."
"That doesn't inspire as much confidence as you think it does."
"I am curious to know the reason behind your lack of confidence."
"Let's just say from what I've heard of her she doesn't strike me as the type to hold one of hers accountable if they start claiming territory in her name or based on her ideals."
"Then there is a fundamental misunderstanding with your knowledge. You seem to be under the misconception that what the actions of my siblings or the extremist faction does to advance the mamono cause are things unilaterally supported by mother. That is false, the truth is that mother tolerates them because we areat war." Thera emphasized and despite not raising her voice the couple flinched nonetheless "our enemy would see us all cleansed from the world and they possess both the will and the power to do so if left unchecked."
Stanley and even Ezraphel were left speechless at the vehemence Thera spoke with. There was real affront and frustration in her voice as her expression tightened.
"That is not even mentioning how most of her attention is spent on other important matters." She shook her head lightly while calming herself "the point is that for all that mother was all but forced into the background due to extenuating circumstances she is still the absolute ruler of all mamono and it is within her capability to exercise her dominance over all mamono whether they think themselves above her aegis or not. So even if you don't believe me, believe this, Earth presents too good an opportunity even beyond its human populace for her to suffer a breakdown in diplomatic relations due to careless whimsy, political machinations or selfish greed of a few mamono regardless of affiliation."
Stanley took a moment to consider her words.
Could he believe that?
If he were to take the sparse information provided by the MGE wiki along with Ezraphel's stories then he would like to believe that Lilith was that reasonable and wouldn't immediately try to push a takeover of Earth in some way but the truth was that MGE was pure male wish fulfilment propaganda and Ezraphel was biased as hell. Thera seemed like a more trustworthy source of information but he barely knew her and thus couldn't take anything she says with one hundred percent certainty.
So the answer was no, he just couldn't bring himself to believe her words. And he didn't bother trying to conceal the doubts in his emotions which elicited reactions of exasperation, helplessness and mild irritation from the two Lilims.
"Well clearly there is nothing I can say that will convince you of our intentions so I have a suggestion."
"What?"
"Talk to mother and father yourself."
Stanley recoiled "uh, what?"
Thera rolled her eyes "I am sure you heard what I said."
"You want me to talk to your parents?"
"You act as if that was not a consideration to even entertain."
That's because it wasn't, at least not to him.
"Why would they even care about my opinion?"
The thought came and was voiced earning two separate sighs at once.
"What?" His gaze shifted between the two sisters.
Ezraphel had an expression of exasperation while Thera looked incredulous.
"Stanley," Thera began slowly. "Did you perhaps forget that you are now a member of the Royal Makai family?"
"...huh?"
"I will take that as a no," Thera muttered before continuing "consider this Stanley, family is very important to us, yes even extended family. They would have already listened to you just for being Ezraphel's husband but the fact that you are a native of this world means that your word actually holds significant weight."
Stanley blinked slowly with a blank face "what?"
"You can influence the way in which we make contact and operate in this world."
"..." Stanley didn't say anything,
His lack of reaction started to draw some concern from the older Lilim who glanced at her sibling "is he alright?"
"Yes, he's just processing" Ezraphel answered with fondness as she slowly maneuvered him to lay his head down on her lap.
The moment his head hit her thighs the tension visibly drained from his body as his eyes closed and a small sigh left his lips. For a long moment there was silence with both Lilims holding each other's gaze. Thera arched a brow while Ezraphel gave a half shrug with an almost helpless expression even as she kept her smile.
Eventually Stanley broke the silence with a long drawn out groan.
"Fuck me~"
"Language Stanley."
He ignored her words to ask a question "Ez, am I stupid?"
"You're just under a lot of stress" she answered while stroking his head.
"I forgot your parents are my in-laws."
"In your defense you've yet to make our marriage official through Earth customs so you still subconsciously think of me as your girlfriend."
"...that makes sense." He then groaned and sat up while looking at Thera before asking "so I can just talk to them and they'll listen?"
Thera nodded "yes, mother and father will be more than willing to listen to whatever concerns or grievances you may have and should they find merit in them they will be willing to accommodate accordingly."
"...nepotism for the win, yay~" he cheered listlessly while his eyes closed.
In Stanley's defense he's never been anyone important and that's not just him being a self depreciating pessimist, it was an objective fact. You could say that he held importance online to a lot of people as AwesomeEpicGamer but Stanley Berkowitz only held importance to a few people in his life. The idea that he could just up and simply talk to the mamono Overlord with any kind of authority and be taken seriously simply did not register.
"So that's what it all comes down to? A conversation with the in-laws?"
"It is what it is," Thera answered with some surprising sympathy.
He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her while head still rested on Ezraphel's lap "so when can I have this meeting with them?"
"Technically you can do so whenever you wish. I have already shared the means of opening a portal to Eos with Ezraphel so you can leave at your own discretion."
"Is that your recommendation though?"
"No," she answered easily. "I recommend waiting for me." She then gestured in the direction of her desk "The knowledge I am accumulating is not just for my benefit, I am compiling information that I will eventually present to mother and father. It will determine what actions they will take going forward so it is in your best interest to be there to present a good first impression of Earth" she paused "though I would not recommend using the same approach you did with me."
"Ugh…" he turned away to press his hands into his face and give another long suffering groan.
Thera didn't need to be an empath to sense the regret in his tone. He did not offer any kind of response so she opted to continue.
"If that is all then I would like to get back to the task at hand. As you can imagine I have my work cut out for me."
Finally Stanley sat up, skillfully avoiding Ezraphel's chest as he did so "yeah I think we're about done here." Suddenly he paused "unless I'm forgetting something else since that seems to be a theme here."
He turned to Ezraphel who briefly tapped her chin with a ponderous expression.
Eventually she snapped her fingers "oh! We didn't tell her about the Monster Girl Encyclopedia."
That caused Stanley's eyes to widen before his expression turned uncomfortable "ah…"
"What does that book have to do with anything?"
The couple shared a look and Ezraphel silently jerked her head in Thera's direction as if to say "you handle it."
In response Stanley released a breath "well at least you're already sitting down for this one."
Thera said nothing, though her gaze conveyed a simple command "get on with it."
"Okay, so it's like this…"