The Outlands

“So, this is the basement.” Alice said, flicking on the lights as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “As you can see, the entertainment room is just to the right, and the hall to the left leads to all the storage rooms. Before we get to the entertainment room, though, there is one more thing I have to show you.”

Alice led the girls down the hall towards the storage rooms, then stopped at a panel near one of the doors. “This is the core control unit.” She said, tapping at the panel. “From here, you can turn off and on any devices that use cores, view your current consumption and storage, and feed new cores to actually power everything.”

Alice pulled a handle to the side, revealing a small chute. “Just chuck the cores in here and it’ll take care of the rest. If the storage is full, then it’ll spit the core right back out, so don’t worry about overloading it. And if for some reason you need to, you can withdraw cores from storage with the panel, but I imagine that’s not going to be much of a concern for you.”

“We may be in possession of cores that are not currently known to the public, will that cause issues with the system?” Maven asked.

Alice paused. “You know, I didn’t even think about that, but I guess it’s not too surprising that you three would have something like that. Uh, yeah, don’t put any of those in there, the system scans the core you put in and checks it against an internal database to determine how much power it’ll give and where it would be most efficiently used, so if you throw in something new it’s going to freak out.

“I mean, I’m not totally sure about the specifics of how they designed this thing, hopefully freaking out will just equate to spitting the core back out, but you probably shouldn’t risk it. And you shouldn’t need to update the database often, just like…after each expedition or when a new dungeon is found or something like that. It syncs with the guild for the list of cores, so it should only take a couple days for them to fill out the list of new cores.”

Alice paused once again, giving Tess a thoughtful look. “Were any of those unknown cores in the stuff you sent me?” She asked. “Because I shouldn’t be using those, if so.”

Tess shook her head. “No, I made sure to sort those out first.” She replied. “We can’t have those going public yet.”

“Good.” Alice said, a hint of relief in her voice. “I’m glad I don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, let me show you to the entertainment room.” She turned and walked back down the hall, and the girls followed. The entertainment room was…an extraordinarily large, completely empty room, the only notable feature being a panel on the wall near the entrance.

“It may not look like much now, but appearances can be deceiving.” Alice said, walking over to the panel. She tapped at it for a few moments, and then the room began to shift. The carpeted floor melted away, turning into tile, and a deep pit formed in the middle of the room, the sides and bottom made of the same tile. After a moment, the pit filled with water, and soon there was a completely filled swimming pool sitting there, looking for all the world like it had been there the entire time.

“This room can change into many different leisure facilities.” Alice explained. “Basically, as long as it can fit into this space, this room can make it. You can even mix and match, too.” Alice tapped at the panel again, and after a moment the pool shrunk down to about a quarter of its former size, a clear glass dividing wall and door popping up between it and the rest of the room.

The tile faded away from the part of the room that wasn’t connected to the pool, and was replaced with what appeared to be a miniature movie theater, complete with a small concession’s stand to the side. The lighting dimmed for a moment, but then Alice tapped on the panel and it returned to normal.

“Pretty neat, huh?” Alice said proudly. “And yes, the stand over there does make food, it just takes a lot of core juice to do so. It’s why they generally bring normal food for expeditions, it’s just a lot more economical. But, once again, I doubt you will have any trouble with that.”

Alice showed them a few more things the room could turn into, let them play around with it for a bit, then took them back upstairs. “So, what’d you think?” She asked.

“It’s…a lot fancier than I thought it was going to be.” Tess admitted. “I was expecting…I don’t know, like the kind of house an average family would have, not a mansion or whatever you call this.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “Tess, you were never getting away from this without a house that’s nicer than normal. Even if you hadn’t been sitting on a ton of cash, my parents don’t even own any properties that are at ‘average family’ level.”

Alice paused briefly. “Well, not in the City, anyway.” She amended. “Point is, a normal house wasn’t in the cards. And no one is even going to bat an eye at you three having a nice house, it’d almost be weirder if you didn’t have one. Everyone knows the Guildmaster adores you, and he’s filthy rich, this wouldn’t even be a huge purchase for him.”

“I must admit that having a house like this would make me more comfortable.” Maven said quietly. “I can handle less, obviously, but having some more of the comforts I’m used to would be nice.”

“Let’s go with this place, then.” Tess said. “Well, as long as Ellie’s fine with it, anyway.”

“I’m definitely not complaining.” Ellie said. “Let’s do it.”

“Perfect!” Alice said, smiling brightly. “Let’s go take care of all the paperwork, and then we can get you all settled in!”

---

A few days later, Alice found herself walking back into Tess’s house, Ker and Jin in tow. Tess and her fiancées had decided to hold a small housewarming party, and the three members of The Rumors weren’t about to miss it.

To Alice’s surprise, when they walked through the door, they weren’t greeted by Tess or her fiancées. Instead, a short woman with bright blond hair and bright yellow, almost white, eyes gave them a huge smile. “Alice, Ker, Jin, it’s so good to finally meet you in person!” She said, smiling warmly at them. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter for all this time!”

It took Alice a moment to comprehend what exactly that meant. She had met Maven’s parents, Ellie’s were dead, and Tess’s mother…was Fortune. And that could only mean that the woman wearing rather informal clothes and smiling hugely at them was the Goddess of Fortune herself. Alice had only seen her in statues and paintings, and the woman she saw here dressed so differently and carried herself so differently that Alice hadn’t even made the connection.

“U-um…” Alice stammered. “I-it’s nice to meet you too, Your Worship.”

“None of that.” Fortune said, grabbing Alice’s hand and pulling her inside. “It’s just Fortune, remember?”

“Um, yes, Fortune.” Jin said, walking through the doorway with Ker close behind.

“To what do we owe the pleasure, Fortune?” Ker asked. “I thought we wouldn’t meet until the wedding.”

“Oh, that.” Fortune said, letting go of Alice’s hand. “Well, since this was such a private thing, I figured it’d be a good opportunity to come say hi, and it would be a little rude to miss my daughter’s housewarming party. I’ve got a perception filter on, so no one that I don’t want knowing I’m here will realize it’s me.”

Fortune shrugged, as if her presence here wasn’t a big deal. “But, really, I’m here because I can be. And since I can be here, why would I purposefully choose to miss this? Anyway, we’ve set up in the ballroom, why don’t you come up, we’ve got some real nice food courtesy of Hearth’s Appointed.”

“Um, if it’s not too much to ask, are there any other important guests we’re allowed to know about?” Alice asked. “I’m not sure I can take another surprise like this.”

“Nah, it’s not too much to ask, and please, just treat me like a friend’s mom for this party, we’re here to celebrate, not be awkward.” Fortune replied. “Death’s planning to stay basically the entire time, and Life and Dungeons will probably pop in for a bit at some point. All of The Titans are here, of course, and a few other Appointed, plus some high-profile people they know via Evan. Oh, and Maven’s mother and grandmother, but I imagine you expected them. That’s…honestly most of the guests, but there are a few people from Mael that plan on coming too.”

Ker chuckled. “It kind of sounds like the only people they know here are important.” He said. “Perhaps we should have had them socialize with regular freelancers a bit more.”

“I’m sure they’ll end up doing that over the course of their career, and even if they don’t, we’ll make sure they get some experiences with normal people; keeping in touch with the public is too important to our jobs to let them go without.”

Fortune led the group up the stairs and to the large multipurpose room that they were apparently hosting the party in. The room was still relatively bare, as the girls had chosen to wait until they had trophies of their own to display here instead of filling the space with other stuff, but there were some basic folding tables and chairs set up, and there was a solid dozen or so people already there, so it didn’t feel totally empty, either.

As they entered, Tess waved them over, no doubt having seen them coming with her tremorsense. Alice hurried over, catching Tess in a quick side-hug. “How’re you settling in?” She asked.

“It’s taking a bit of getting used to, but having stayed in the penthouse suites a lot has helped.” Tess admitted. “It still feels surreal that this is…ours.”

“Eh, might as well live in a nice place.” A short, black-haired human woman in a bright red shirt and skirt said, placing a hand of cards down on the table she and Tess were sitting at. “Oh, and I’m Death, by the way. Nice to meet you guys in person!”

“Nice to meet you as well.” Alice said, giving her, her best smile. “We’re not interrupting, right?”

“Nah, we’re just vibing while we greet people.” Death replied. “Fortune’s been here too, but she wanted to go meet you guys herself instead of having Tess do it. There are a couple more groups we’re waiting for, so you guys go on ahead, go have some food and we’ll catch up later. Also, Fortune, just FYI, you and Tess have two turns before I kill you into the sun, so…yeah, good luck with that.”

“Sorry.” Tess said. “I tried, but there was only so much I could do.”

“Yeah, I was sorta expecting it’d go like this.” Fortune said, taking a seat at the table next to Tess.

“Um…” Alice said, unsure if she should even ask what was going on.

Tess, seeing Alice’s expression, placed her own hand of cards down. “We’re playing Planar Duels.” She explained. “Fortune and I are teaming up on Death, because Death’s like…some sort of world champion or something.”

“No, I took third last time, but I’m still a pro and Tess is still learning.” Death corrected. “This just felt fairer than a straight free for all.”

“But when would you have…”

“The tournament is held online, and I use a pseudonym and transform myself so as to keep it on the down-low.” Death explained.

“And no, she doesn’t cheat.” Tess added. “She’s just legitimately really good at the game.”

“There’s no fun in cheating.” Death replied. “And even if I did cheat, I couldn’t get third at an event like that without really knowing the game, the other players are too good for just cheating to net you a win without a lot of knowledge.”

“Is it…common for the gods to do stuff like that?” Jin asked.

“It’s mostly just me and Fortune for now, but I’m guessing more will get into it eventually.” Death said. “We just keep more up to date on newer trends than most of the gods. Believe me, it’s important to keep ourselves occupied with hobbies, just to make sure our hobbies don’t become messing with mortals. Or…well, messing with mortals’ lives, I do enjoy a bit of harmless trolling in online games. Which, by the way, I’m always open to play with people. Hit Tess up and she can get us connected if you want to play.”

“Um, yeah.” Alice said. “Sorry, I’m still a little shocked by meeting you like this.”

“It’s all good.” Death said, giving her an encouraging smile. “Go get some food, it’ll give your brain a bit of time to mentally catch up, we can talk later.”

“We’ll do that, thanks.” Jin said.

The three members of The Rumors walked away, and as they did Alice couldn’t resist turning to her companions talking about what had just happened. “That was…different.” She said slowly. “They seemed so…so…”

“Normal?” Ker supplied. “Like they had been stripped of their mysticism?”

“Exactly.” Alice said. “I mean, I guess I knew they were like that to an extent, the girls mention them goofing off in their ‘group chat’ from time to time, but it’s just…weird to see them like that. Fortune more so than Death, since I grew up hearing about her, but still…”

“I know what you mean.” Jin said. “It’s something of a surreal experience.”

As they neared the dining tables, they were approached by Rachel, one of the world’s foremost tailors. “Hey guys!” She said brightly. “Glad to see you could make it! If there’s any food that isn’t here that you want, let me know, I’ve got a bunch of extra stuff in my bag!”

Alice’s eyes widened. Fortune had said the food was provided by Hearth’s Appointed, and since Rachel was acting as if she was the one who made the food, that could only mean that she was Hearth’s Appointed. Probably.

Rachel, seeing Alice’s expression, laughed. “Yes, I’m Hearth’s Appointed.” She said. “We don’t need to be too tight-lipped around you, since you’re under Oath to keep our identities secret. But, even if I wasn’t, I’d probably still be around here, I’ve been helping Tess with her wardrobe ever since everything happened and I feel like I at least would have some camaraderie with her because of that.”

Rachel paused for a moment. “I guess I haven’t helped much since she got that armor, but I made the base for that, so in a way she still wears only my clothes.”

“Oh, Tess told me Kane Io made the armor.” Alice said. “Though I guess the tailoring is quite a bit nicer than most artificer-made equipment…”

“Yes, I helped.” Kane said, walking up to them. “Artifice and I had to do the enchanting, you can’t fit that many enchantments with that level of precision and strength onto a piece of an equipment without some divine help. And yes, I’m Artifice’s Appointed, though I imagine you already suspected as much if you knew I worked on Tess’s armor. By the way, it’s nice to see you all again, how’s business, Alice?”

Alice felt like her brain was overheating from the amount of confidential information that was just casually being dumped on her. “Um, it’s fine, but…”

“Like I said, you’re under Oath, we don’t need to be too tight-lipped.” Rachel repeated. “We assumed you’d figure out at least some of us were Appointed anyway, even with Evan’s connections it’d be a little odd that the three of them would find themselves in close with us so quickly.”

“Exactly.” Kane agreed. “You find yourselves in a position that not many others are in; most of us were well-established with our abilities before we became Appointed, and I don’t think there have been any others that were in-training while they were made Appointed.”

“I did think that was a little strange.” Ker said. “Are we allowed to know why that is?”

Rachel shrugged. “It’s Fortune’s fault.” She said. “Her Blessing has a very limited number of people it can reasonably be applied to, and she felt close with Tess already. Then, since Tess was an Appointed and Ellie…well, you’ve seen her stats, she was the perfect choice for Life and Death. Likewise, Maven fit the bill for Dungeons, who had been looking for an Appointed for quite some time and needed one that was a little…different than normal. And since nothing about those three is normal, it fit.”

“To tell you the truth, they sometimes make me feel like I’m going crazy.” Alice admitted. “The way they talk about important things like they aren’t a big deal makes me feel like I’m the weird one. Or, at least, Tess and Ellie do, Maven understands common sense a bit more.”

“Hey, it’s just you guys and Jacob that we talk like that to!” Ellie protested, walking over to them with Maven in tow. “We’re mostly aware that this is less than normal, and besides, the gods wanted to be a bit more casual with you, so you can’t totally blame us.”

“I’m pretty sure they can.” Maven said. “You know you could phrase things a little different and still be ‘more casual’ with them.”

“But that’s such a pain.” Ellie replied. “And it would detract from us paying attention to their lessons or something.”

“Perhaps we should sit down before we talk more.” Rachel suggested. “These three were about to get food, so we shouldn’t keep them from it for too long.”

“That sounds great, thanks.” Jin said. “Where do we start?”

Rachel smiled happily. “So, we’ve got plates and utensils at either end, but starting nearest to us, we have some simple sandwich ingredients if you’re not feeling any of the pre-made dishes…”