When Hyacinth comes home to her new apartment for the first time after a long day at university, it's to the sight of moving bots just finishing dropping off the last of her stuff and moving furniture into place. The full-immersion VR pod her parents gave her is safely hooked up in the pod room, her bed is in her bedroom, she has chairs and a desk and some bookshelves. Clothes are mostly still in boxes, waiting to be hung up in the closet. Holovid and a cozy chair occupy the living room. She doesn't have any food in the small kitchen yet.
... it going on to become an actual kami in the game world at level 100, though, is...
"I, um..."
She ducks her head.
"I was just... thinking that the kitsune kit was... more than a little like... raising an actual child... and I'm sorry for having that thought because I know it's way way way too early but I can't help thinking it... "
Sable rapidly flits through a whirlwind of expressions, before settling on a blush.
"Um," Sable replies. "Um. Um um um. I. Feel complicated about that idea, but I feel like... if it was here, and if it was with you, I actually wouldn't mind that."
"Yeah, I don't... I... In real life I decided against that, when I started on HRT. It's way, way, way too big a responsibility for... someone like me who doesn't even have her own life sorted out, who doesn't even like the world much. But... there's a lot here that's different. We... could have the good parts with less of the hard parts. I didn't — I had the thought, before the kitsune kit made me really — ask the question, but. I wasn't planning on this. It just..."
She looks away.
"Sort of happened."
She steadies her breathing and very gently hugs Sable.
"You don't have to agree for my sake. I — I mean. It's — even here it's a responsibility. It's... not something to do by accident."
Hyacinth nestles in.
"... but if it's you, and here, then... Maybe."
A soft, vulnerable expression crosses Sable's face, and she squeezes Hyacinth tenderly, holding her close. "Yeah. All of that. All of that is why."
"Yeah," says Hyacinth softly. "It's like that."
She holds Sable gently, and is held in turn.
"... I... okay. If you're sure."
She very gently kisses Sable.
"Let's sleep on it, okay? See if it still feels like a good idea in the morning."
She nods. "Smart. What size house-tent do you think we should do? A bigger one would provide options if we ever acquire party members we want to keep, especially for bigger and longer quests or dungeons."
"Knowing us, definitely a bigger one. We can split the cost fifty fifty."
"We've got savings from some commissions we did once upon a time, and a few other gigs, on top of UBI, so we can cover even the biggest one on our own, even. I don't mind splitting it, and I'm definitely going to mark it as joint-owned either way. I think I want to ask about customization options, too, see if we can add an overlarge firepit for your meditations. Among... other possible reasons."
She blushes a bit at the end.
"We don't have much over and above our UBI, but given that we're not planning to return to reality we can reallocate a good chunk of our food budget to ingame purchases. That'll cover our half of the tent, anyway."
Hibiscus smiles sadly. "We have a little bit of savings set aside from a summer job as well, so we're not going to break the bank if we spend a little. It's just that... we wanted to keep that, towards... whatever happens in the future."
Sable nods. "I think we'll be okay, then. I'll send the customization request for it, and you can transfer me your share after it's purchased. Any other customization y'all think we should ask about?"
"I mean. It seems foolish to get our own portable house in an 18+ MMO where it is understood that people are having sex and not even ask for a playroom in the setup."
"Hah. Good point." She adds that to the request she's typing up. "Any aesthetic requests for the house in general? Or d'you just want to let the automatic systems figure out our tastes, since they're good at that?"
"I've always liked the victorian manor aesthetic. Both as a matter of aesthetics and as a matter of kinks. I'm sure others will have had the same idea as me, but that's where the personal touches come in."
"Victorian is lovely. I'll add a note about that. With that hint, we should get something pretty great."
She notes that down.
And then has a thought, and blushes.
"Um. I. Am having thoughts about requests regarding the kitchen. But I don't know if that's the best way to handle that."