The Outlands

Tess paused the game as she heard Maven’s door open. “It sounds like Maven’s back. Do you think we should…”

Tess trailed off, leaving space for Ellie to talk, but Maven entered the room first, a sort of giddy but nervous expression on her face. “Do you two have a moment? I…” Maven trailed off, then shook her head before looking back at Tess and Ellie, expression solidifying into one of determination. “I have a matter of great importance I need to talk to you about.”

“We always have time for you, Maven.” Ellie said. “What’s up?”

Maven swallowed. “I must admit I lied to the two of you last night.” She said. “A comment from Alice before we left had shaken me up greatly, and, as you have noticed, I have been rather perturbed as of late. I just finished meeting with my ancestor, Kali, and we sorted things out completely, so I now feel it appropriate to talk with you about it.”

Maven paused, took a deep breath, then continued. “I have come to realize that I have fallen in love with the two of you.” She said bluntly. “I was under the impression that it could not have been love, as I was not attracted to women, but Alice brought up the possibility, and as much as I tried, I could not completely deny it.

“To that end, Life helped me set up this meeting with Kali, as she is an expert on the matter. And not only did talking with her help me realize that it was a simple mismatch of sexual and romantic orientations, she helped fix the mismatch for me, and updated my sexual orientation to match my romantic one.

“I understand this is a lot to drop on you, and I did not want to do this before your wedding, but she was correct when she told me that if I did not do it now, I likely never would do it. So, as inappropriate as the timing may be, I wanted to let the two of you know, so that the air is clear between us. You do not need to answer me now, and I will understand if you deny me, but I just needed to let you know.”

She turned to leave, but Tess stood up, and Maven stopped. “Yes?”

Tess took a deep breath. “I think we should try it, as long as Ellie agrees.”

Both Maven and Ellie stared at her with dumbfounded expressions. “Tess?!” Ellie asked. “I mean, I’m not against it, I would love to try it too, but I’m surprised to hear you say that.”

Tess shrugged. “To tell you the truth…I’m not sure how much it changes at this point. We spend all day together anyway, and we all like each other well enough, so this just means we get intimate with each other too. So…there you have it, Maven, you’re our girlfriend now.”

Maven continued to stare at her. “Just like that?” She asked.

“Just like that.” Tess confirmed.

“What about the wedding?”

“The wedding can wait.” Ellie said. “I’ll continue researching venues and planning, but if, in a few months, we’re all happy with the situation, then we’ll all get married together.”

“I…oh.” Maven said in a small voice, eyes watering. “I did not think…”

Tess moved around the couch, and gave her new girlfriend a big hug. “I’m glad you told us.” She said. “We were all really worried about you, and…well, I have a feeling this is going to turn out for the better.”

“I was thinking the same.” Ellie said, walking over and joining the hug. “Welcome aboard, Maven.”

Tess let go of the hug, then sat on the back of the couch. “So, let’s talk boundaries.” She said. “Mostly for Maven’s sake; for the record, I’m comfortable with anything except sex; that’ll need to wait until we’re a little more intimate, and have probably kissed a few times, but that’s it. I just don’t want to rush Maven into anything she’s not ready for.”

“Yeah, that sounds like about what I think.” Ellie said. “What about you, Maven?”

Maven blushed fiercely. “I will likely not be ready for sex for some time yet, but kissing and cuddling sounds…nice.”

“How about now?” Ellie asked. “I mean…may I kiss you?”

“If you say yes, I want to too.” Tess added.

“Um, yes, if you w–”

Ellie pulled Maven into a kiss, and Tess smiled as she watched Maven get into it. It was cute the way her wings and tail sort of melted as she relaxed into the kiss, and when the two separated, Maven had an uncharacteristically dopey grin on her face.

Seizing the opportunity, Tess got off the couch and pulled Maven into a kiss of her own. Maven eagerly reciprocated, and they went for about as long as Maven and Ellie had kissed before ending it.

“W-wow.” Maven said. “I could get addicted to that.”

“Tess.” Ellie stage-whispered. “I don’t mean to alarm you, but our girlfriend is really cute right now.”

“Great minds think alike.” Tess stage-whispered back before grabbing Ellie. “But don’t think you’re getting away without a kiss from me, either.”

When Maven came out of her happy stupor, she was greeted with the sight of Tess and Ellie kissing, something which sparked feelings in her like she had never felt before when looking at women. She knew it was silly to think this way, but she couldn’t help but be baffled at how she didn’t see the charms of women before, their pleasing shape, their softness...she was really glad she had asked Kali for help. She might have gone her whole life without this door being opened to her, and that felt like a great disservice.

Again, she knew that was a silly way to think; it was a biological matter more than it was any sort of mental thing, but she supposed that was simply an effect of having a sudden change in orientation. And, with both her orientations now matching, it was like a switch had been flipped, and the effect was far greater than Maven had expected.

In a way, it felt like a dream. That morning she had woken up full of anxiety, stressed and unsure about what the day would hold, faintly hoping that she could put this whole “interested romantically in Tess and Ellie” thing behind her, and…here she was, dating them. And the best part was that her parents couldn’t do anything about it, even if they had wanted to. She had been freed from the shackles of Paumen, and it hadn’t really…sunk in until now.

“Maven, are you okay?” Tess asked, walking over and giving Maven a worried smile.

 “Just thinking, why?” Maven asked

“You’re crying.” Ellie said. “Did you not know?”

Maven reached a hand up to her face and was surprised to find that her cheeks were wet. She wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but the emotion of the situation must have gotten to her. “S-sorry for showing you something unsightly.” She said, wiping her eyes. “I had not realized…”

She trailed off as Tess caught her in a hug. “It’s fine.” Tess said soothingly. “It’s not unsightly, and even if it was, being in a relationship means helping your partners through ‘unsightly’ times.”

“It does?” Maven asked. “I had thought…well, I have little experience with conventional courtship. My parents’ relationship was not one of passion, and I had always assumed that mine would be the same. I thought I would end up with…well, with someone like my father. I had resigned myself to that fate and never thought much of it, but…”

Tess rubbed Maven’s back, and Maven was surprised by how much the little gesture made her feel at ease. “Then we’ll just have to teach you about normal relationships.” She said. “And we won’t be anything like your father.”

“Yeah.” Ellie said. “Your father is a bad example. I don’t know much of what he was like in private, but from what I’ve heard I think you can pretty safely assume most of what he did is not the way you should go about things.”

Tess let go of her hug, only for Ellie to take her place. There was a long silence as the three enjoyed the moment, then Maven hesitantly disengaged from the hug. “Um…I suppose we should talk logistics.” She said. “Would it be alright if we refrained from telling others about this until we finished in this town? I just…I just want to make sure this works out before making it public, so as to avoid awkward conversations in the event we decide to call the relationship off.”

“We’ll take things at your pace.” Tess said. “It’s not like we’re strapped for time or anything.”

“But your wedding…” Maven said.

“Can wait, like I said.” Ellie replied. “I didn’t have a concrete date yet, so no one is going to notice or care if I push back the date a little more than I had initially planned. And, to be honest, this kind of gives me a better excuse to ease up on prep while we’re out. If I’m moving the date out, then I don’t need to do as much right this second. So, in a weird way, it’s kind of convenient for me.”

“But, if you want to hold it for the three of us, would people not notice in the planning?” Maven asked.

“Nah.” Ellie replied. “There’s a ton of stuff I can do that doesn’t require me to specify the number of people getting married. Like…choice of venue, who’s catering, that sort of thing. Seriously, don’t sweat the wedding. Though, I guess I should ask…do you have anything in particular you’ve wanted for your wedding? Because if you do, I’m more than happy to accommodate. I don’t know how they do weddings in Paumen, but I’m sure we can integrate elements into our ceremony.”

Maven blinked. “I had not ever considered it.” She admitted. “I assumed my wedding would not be a happy occasion, and the planning would be done by my parents, so I did not think much about it. And…please, let us ignore Paumen’s weddings for this; I do not have particularly fond memories of them, and I would much rather have a wedding how they do it where you are from.”

“If you say so.” Ellie said. “But if you do happen to think of anything you want, please let me know; when we do end up getting married it wouldn’t do for you to feel left out.”

“You say that like you’re confident this’ll work.” Tess said, smirking slightly.

“You’re not?” Ellie replied, raising an eyebrow. “You’re the one who said this wouldn’t change much, and you’re right. We basically set ourselves up to live our lives together anyway, and we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t mesh well together.”

“I’m just teasing.” Tess said. “I feel the same.”

Maven blushed furiously. “R-really?” She said. “I was worried that…I don’t know, I would be intruding.”

“If anything, you’re intruding less now.” Tess chuckled. “I mean, not to say that you were intruding, it more felt like we were intruding on you. I was always sort of worried about being that sort of obnoxious couple that you get tired of.”

“Oh, she got tired of it, alright.” Ellie said, giving Maven a smirk. “She got tired of not being in it.”

“I…suppose I did.” Maven admitted. “But…um…I am glad I did. I just…if you had told me yesterday that right now I would be…would be involved, and would be so happy to be involved…I…um…” Maven floundered, words failing her.  “S-sorry. I am quite flustered at the moment.”

“Maven.” Tess said seriously.

“Y-yes?”

“You are really cute right now.”

Maven’s blush deepened. “T-thank you. I…um…well…can I kiss you again?”

Tess flashed her a grin. “You know, I was wondering the same thing. C’mere, we have a lifetime of affection to make up for.”

“A-a lifetime?! Why–” Maven was cut off by Tess pulling her into a kiss. As their lips touched, Maven melted into the kiss, barely able to register as Ellie began to speak.

“From what we understand, you didn’t have much physical intimacy with your family. And, honestly, the way you’re acting now kinda underlines that point. You needed this for a long time, and now it’s our job to provide.”

Maven, unable to respond while kissing and unwilling to break the kiss off, just made a sort of happy sigh. It wasn’t how she had expected the day to end, but if she had known then what she knew now, she wouldn’t have wanted it to end any other way. Once again, her wildest dreams were being realized, and she hoped she’d never wake up.

Fighterman481

Yeah, so this wasn't exactly the plan, but...here we are. I mentioned the whole Appointed/God dynamic thing in last chapter's AN (I think? Might have been the one before), and I decided to just make it official too, sort of break the restraint of the typical dynamic so it better reflects how things are being written.

And, of course, the other relationship. I realized that, like Tess says, there isn't that drastic of a difference between Maven being in/out of the relationship aside from physical intimacy. Like, they're already assuming they're going to spend most of their life together, and it's not like they don't care for each other, so...why not?

It's funny, really. Maven was supposed to be a one-off character way back in like...chapter twenty when she was introduced. Supposed to flesh out the world a little, show that people with money approached leveling and dungeons differently than most, and fast forward eighty-odd chapters and here she is, one of the central characters of the story.

That's all I really have to say, though. Next time we're going to see the morning after and probably speed through the rest of their time at this town, so...look forward to it, I guess.

And, as always, thanks for reading!