Noobkitty had decided to share with her family, so she called a Sweet Victory meeting after the store was closed. Fizzypop’s constant advertising had worked, for better or worse, because after only a day, the store already needed restocking. It was going to be a long night for her, but worth it was worth the lack of sleep in exchange of having a small party party to eat multiworld goodies with friends before resigning herself to marathon cooking skill grinding.

  The whole party, excluding Skidmark, was here. He was having a family game night with his Moms, which sounded nice, though he’d shown a mix of excitement and dread about it.

  Noobkitty watched as .ex nibbled from a self-chilling metal orb that contained a raspberry agave sorbet. She was so cute, seeing her savor each bite of the foreign delicacy. When .ex noticed Noobkitty watching, she looked up.

  “So there’s a bunch of worlds?” .ex asked.

  Coming back to her senses, Noobkitty replied, “Oh yes, there are countless.”

  Fizzypop laughed lightly. “Noobkitty, don’t be silly. .ex, there are nearly a million worlds at any given time. Some old ones die, some new ones get made, but the universe you live in, the Crystal Net, can only hold so much. On average, there’s about a million worlds.”

  .ex’s ears perked up in shock. “That’s so many. And all of you originate from a single world?”

  SisterQuery nodded, examining a potato cake to make sure it wasn’t one of Skidmark’s special Musical Cakes. “There is one true world made by God. This and other worlds are made by man and machines.”

  “Not much of a gamer in the prime world, were you?” Fizzypop asked.

  SisterQuery shook her head.

  Deciding to get the group back on task, .ex asked, “So, Noobkitty, if I understand right, you previously could have left this world if it died. But now, because the person you were in the prime world died, you’re stuck here and will die too if the world dies?”

  “Arguably, she was never alive because this version of her was never touched by God and...” SisterQuery was cut off by the strong but gentle hand of Grimmblade on her shoulder. She stopped, reading the room better.

  .ex decided not to get sidetracked. “So, since you’re not going anywhere, Noobkitty… how about we, um… become a couple?”

  Noobkitty almost chocked on a piece of salted caramel cube, eyes wide in panic. “Wait, what? No. We can’t.”

  “Why not?” .ex’s ears drooped slightly, sadness creeping in at the rejection.

  “Oh, I’ve got to hear this,” Fizzypop said, sipping a vegan chocolate-strawberry milkshake. It was much better then the nutritional pack version.

  “It’s because I’m the one who kept you from being deleted. I saved you. If we became a couple, there’d be a power imbalance, you’d feel like you had to cater yourself to me as your savior, and I wouldn’t want that. I’d want you to be you.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  .ex laughed. “You’re so cute when you overthink. I might be different from what I was before the world tried to delete me, but that’s not because I owe you. I appreciate you saved me, but if anything, I owe Grizzlebeard at the bar more, he’s the one who showed you how to save me. Also, I can prove saving someone doesn’t change who they are.”

  She looked at SisterQuery. “Celest, I’m the one who saved you. Declare me your Lord and Savior!”

  SisterQuery almost spat out her potato cake, swallowing hard as she tried not to laugh. “Even in this digital existence, the Lord is my only Shepherd. You, bunny girl, are barely a spark of His divine will. At most, you were a conduit of His grace that saved me from deletion, but you are not my Lord and Savior. No offense.”

  .ex smiled her mischievous bunny smile. “See? So your worry is wrong, and we are dating.”

  “Wait, what? Don’t I get a say in this?” Noobkitty asked.

  “No. You can’t be trusted to make important decisions like this, you overthink, like your sugar-crystal orchids on a donut. We’re dating and, in fact…”

  .ex pulled up her interface, clicking around until she reached the shop’s room layout. With a few swipes, the blueprint changed, two rooms vanished, replaced by one larger room. “We share a bedroom now.”

  Noobkitty stared at her in shock as .ex walked up and kissed her. “I’m going to check out our new room while you process all this.” She swished her skirts and fluffy bunny tail in a confident, suggestive rhythm as she went upstairs.

  Fizzypop sipped their milkshake, a wide grin on their face. They glanced at a small display only they could see, chat was exploding, with people already asking if the two would have kittens or bunny babies.

  “What just happened?” Noobkitty finally asked, the shock wearing off.

  “You are now dating and sharing a bedroom with your store manager,” Grimmblade said dryly, though even he seemed to find the humor in it.

  “Noobkitty,” Fizzypop said in mock disgust, “as your HR person, I must say this is highly inappropriate.”

  “How old is .ex?” SisterQuery asked.

  “Well, she had a whole life, started her own traveling merchant store, had nieces and nephews, and…” Noobkitty trailed off.

  “She’s four,” Grimmblade said, enjoying some chewy fruit candies from the care packages. “This world was launched four years ago.”

  Fizzypop started laughing again. SisterQuery looked shocked at Noobkitty, who plonked her head on the table.

  “I’m going to hell,” she muttered.

  “I mean, you might not have a soul, so you might not go to hell. Your prime self wasn’t Christian though, so she’s probably in hell.”

  Grimmblade shook his head at SisterQuery, who realized she’d read the room badly again.

  “Lyla, her prime self, lived a noble life,” Fizzypop said seriously. “She kept to the eating restrictions as a vegan, which are stricter than Noahide laws. She didn’t steal, murder… I don’t know if she blasphemed… and she was pretty inactive sexually if our Noobkitty is similar to her. With today’s looser interpretations, there’s a good chance she was a righteous gentile and will find her place in Olam Haba.”

  “That’s so sweet of you to say, Fizzypop,” Noobkitty said, looking up from the table.

  “You, on the other hand, are dating a four-year-old. You’re going to hell,” Fizzypop teased.

  Chats across the net were alive, debating the ethics of dating self-aware NPCs, whether .ex’s downloaded life counted as “experience,” or if, since her memory was mostly gone, she was only a few weeks old. If they kept this up, the world might be saved without ever fighting a dragon.

  Noobkitty stood from the table with a sigh. “Well, before I go to hell, I might as well see what my girlfriend’s done with our bedroom.”

  “Go get her, Kitty!” Fizzypop yelled, as Noobkitty got up and playfully tried to mimic .ex’s hip swish on her way upstairs.

  Grimmblade looked down at SisterQuery, who seemed a little sheepish. “Homeschool?”

  SisterQuery shook her head. "Parochial School.”

  “Just a tip, don’t tell someone their soul might be in hell two days after their prime self dies.”

  “Yeah… I’m realizing I might have to learn social skills,” SisterQuery admitted.

  “Maybe Skidmark can give you some pointers when he logs back on,” Grimmblade said with a smile.

  “That boy definitely has some… what did he call it? Skilz?”

  ---

  Noobkitty’s night was very long and she got to cooking a bit later then she had wanted to but she had to admit, the bigger bed was nice.