Limitations ~ Scaraether

6

The kids, Aether, and Paimon ate all the sweets that littered the table. Kuni and Albedo watched as they did but didn't say anything since they seemed so happy presently, though, Albedo did butt in with some health advice every once in a while.

"Don't eat too much. Your teeth will get cavities if you do.", "Be sure to brush your teeth well afterward.", "it's best if you don't eat any more sweets after this. They're not good for you anyway."

Kuni couldn't help but find the comments funny, especially when they would playfully roll their eyes at the advice or say, "Thanks for the input, Dad," in a sarcastic voice as they went back to eating the snacks.

"So, Teucer, when are you heading back since Tartaglia isn't here?" Aether asked the boy.

"Hm, probably after this. I don't want my parents to worry, and the last ship to Snezhnaya leaves in about an hour..." the small ginger spoke, drinking some water to counter the amount of sweetness in his mouth.

"That's a long way..." Albedo commented.

"Eh, not my first time! Aether and Paimon know that~" the small child giggled as he remembered the time he snuck into a ship to Liyue for his older brother.

"Hm, yes, I remember. You had me and Paimon panicking every time you snuck off to go find your brother."

"Hehe, sorry~" rubbing his head as he giggled, Aether just smiled at him unbothered. How simple things were— well, they still are, but he feels as if he has a lot more on his plate than in the past.

"Anyway, Albedo, Klee, what brings you two to Sumeru?"

"I was commissioned here, but they canceled last minute. Klee just happened to want to come along."

"Yeah!"

"Oh, well, I hope the trip has treated you both well." Kuni could only stare at the blonde, envious of the way he easily makes conversations despite being as socially awkward as he is.

"It has~ so, Kuni, when are you two getting married? Every time I hear about relationships it's always friends, dating, then marriage!" Klee has a big hopeful gleam in her eyes as her smile stretched from both sides of her face.

"Who knows? But Klee, remember that relationships don't have to end with marriage. Some people don't last long enough to get to that stage, and others find themselves completely content with the boyfriend/girlfriend status and nothing more." Aether answered, stopping himself from spitting out his coffee.

"Ohh, okay! Then what's the point of marriage if some are content with being just boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Well, it provides benefits such as deciding certain health procedures on behalf of your spouse— especially if they're unconscious and can't decide for themselves," the blonde smiled, "There are other benefits but not everyone likes getting to the stage because the divorce process can be hefty and in some cases, the person you're marrying can do a whole 180 personality-wise."

"Has that ever happened to you?"

"No, but an uncle of mine..." Aether thought about his 78th uncle and the hefty process it was to help him get out of the damn relationship with the woman.

"What happened?" Teucer asked. Any other person, Aether would've told everything he remembered about the situation, so they could provide their input on it, but since they are kids, he dismissed it with a smile on his face,

"Nothing serious, just a relationship that needed to be ended."

"This is the first I've heard you talk about a family member..." Paimon mumbled.

"Because if I did talk about my family members, it would take a trillion years just to describe them all to you."

"Haha very funny."

"..."

"You are joking, right?"

"Hm, anyway, we should cut this short. I have some business to attend to, but it was nice catching up with you guys! Teucer, stop sneaking onto boats/ships to find your brother. That's dangerous. Bye, guys~" Aether got up from his seat, grabbing Kuni by his sleeve, signaling him to say 'bye' to them as well.

"Ah, uh... Bye...?" The puppet mumbled.

"Eh, good enough," Aether muttered, but Kuni heard him and let out a small chuckle. Dragging him out of the café, Aether couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Soon, Paimon came out with lots of fancy to-go boxes filled with endless snacks.

"What? I'm not going to waste them! Well, technically I did because they're not in my stomach — yet. Oh, no!"

"Would it really take a trillion years just to talk about your family?"

"Yep, they're the characteristic type... and there's over a googolplex of them. The only reason it'll take a trillion is that I'll do the simple ones first before the more complex of my family members." Aether giggled, before remembering the hazardous family photo they tried to take on their home planet one day. Aether never knew what suffocating felt like until that day.
Kuni stared shocked at that information, wondering if he were to get into a real relationship with the blonde, how many 'meet my family' will there have to be before peace? Though, that didn't sound as bad since that meant everyone would know they belong to each other. Aether was his and he was Aether's.
Aether noticed his expression before giggling to himself.

"Is Paimon the only one confused about a googolplex?"

"A "googol" is the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes. So, 10¹⁰¹⁰⁰."

"Oh, oh... how many siblings do you have?"

"Just Lumine, but we do have countless cousins who I consider siblings."

"HUH?!" Paimon was flabbergasted by that information. How could that be?

"Just the way things turned out." Aether shrugged his shoulders, not seeing anything wrong with the situation.
But seriously? How can someone have that many ALIVE family members and only one sibling?!

"Anyway, Kuni, I've been meaning to inform you that Paimon and I intend to go to Inazuma for some time. I'm not asking you to join because of your history with the land, I just thought you should know." The word Inazuma made Kuni shudder with disgust as he remembered the rather immature archon that ruled the land. It always made him chuckle when he realized that a literal child archon was more adult-like than someone as serious as his creator. But still, he couldn't help but miss the gloomy lands, only for a bit. And he did find that he needed to pay whatever respects he owed to the people of Tatarasuna,

"I'll go. I have something I need to take care of there, anyway."

"Oh, really? That's a shocker..." Paimon mumbled, giving the to-go boxes to Aether since her arms were getting tired.

"Mhm."