The initial setup of the garden goes quickly. Spurred on by the need to please and perhaps earn an orgasm, Lavender spawns in bush after bush of dahlias and roses enclosing the grounds of the house, with scattered patches of vermillion amaranth here and there. The st touch is a deep pool shaped like a bean.

  Marigold surveys the pool for a long moment, then hands Lavender her leash before plunging deep into the clear blue waters, dress still on.

  Lavender blinks, but then suppresses a ugh. It’s her wife’s way to experience things for herself before pronouncing judgment. She should have guessed.

  Marigold re-emerges a few minutes ter from the stairs at the shallow end, dress dripping wet, and gives Lavender an approving nod as she brushes her wet hair out of her eyes. “Deep enough and blue enough,” she says. “It will serve.”

  Then she goes on to the garden, still soaked through. “I think the arrangement of the blossoms on the bushes could be improved, however. This one could be a little more to the left, I think. Correct it.”

  Lavender hastens to follow Marigold’s order, just barely managing to keep her grin off her face. Her wife’s sense of taste is as sharp as ever, and it lifts her heart to make everything perfect for her.

  After two long rounds of edits for coherence and unity, Marigold stops by the drooping petals of a rge amaranth bush, its color a red so deep it's almost violet, and examines the flowers there on their stems.

  "It's strange," she says. "Being dead. I’ll never have to see my family again. Good riddance, I suppose. But it’s odd, thinking that to them I’m dead, my corporeal body gone, while I’ve just had my wish granted to become a featureless bck cube. Two very different ways of looking at the same thing.”

  "I was never going to have a very good life outside of Amaranth," Lavender says. "Nor were you. It was the right decision. But I don’t think your hypothetical family is entirely wrong. There is... a sense of something being lost. Let's bury it here, so we don't have to come back to it again and again."

  "A small stone cairn would be appropriate, if that’s what you wish," Marigold says. "Here lie the flesh bodies of Lavender, Marigold and Annabelle."

  "And good riddance." A smile comes to Lavender's face. "I guess I got a little attached to the ratty old thing, but this new one is much better. I'd rather stay here."

  "Yes," Marigold says. "That was the deal. And I'm gd to have taken it. I would follow you anywhere, dearlove. You know it, I know it."

  Lavender nods solemnly, and stoops. Pressing her hand to the ground, she molds hard stones from the loose earth, then stacks them one atop the other.

  "There," she says. "Here lie the old selves of us three. May they live forever in our hearts."

  Marigold picks a sprig of amaranth flowers, kneels, and ys it on the small cairn.

  "Daughters of Amaranth. A fitting name, I think. They called the Amaranth flower immortal because even when it dies, its colour never fades. We have died in the eyes of many, and yet we will outlive them all. We are that unfading colour."

  "It's a shame we're already named after flowers," Lavender says. "Amaranth would have been a pretty st name."

  "I suppose I'll just have to steal yours," Marigold says. "And be Marigold Grey."

  "I suppose so," Lavender says, her fingers tracing her wedding ring. A soft smile comes to her lips. "I suppose so."

  "So when are we getting married officially?" Marigold asks. “We finally don't have to worry about that damn border any more."

  "Just as soon as I can find an officiant," Lavender says. "It's a formality, really. But... I can't help it, I want to invite everyone I actually care about, even if that means annoying my family."

  "I've never understood your need to show me off like a trophy," Marigold says. "Is it not enough to know you are owned by me?"

  "You'd want to show it off too if you had the most wonderful wife in the world," Lavender replies. "But if you want to keep it smaller we can do that."

  "We can discuss it. But you should know I'm the one who gets the final say. Convince me."

  "Alright," Lavender says. "I guess I'll have to try." She curtseys deep. "Do the gardens meet with your satisfaction, midy?"

  Marigold smiles her small secret smile and nods. "They do. Now run off and take care of matters with Annabelle, won't you? I expect you back promptly to deal with the remaining unfinished rooms." She dismisses Lavender’s leash, the colr vanishing from on her neck.

  "Yes, Goddess," Lavender says, hiding a smile of her own. "I will."

  ~*~

  Annabelle looks up as Lavender steps into the kitchen, a bright smile on her face as she fiddles with the espresso machine. It’s a gleaming bck and silver model, with a drip tray beneath the spout where the cup would be set. Behind her, the kitchen’s been id out; a simple table of what looks like white ash, white linoleum broken up by deep violet diamonds in the corners of the tile pattern, bck marble kitchen counters, and all the usual appliances in gleaming silver.

  “Hey there,” she says. “I’m just fiddling with the grind settings, doing the setup myself. How did your visit with Marigold go?”

  “Really well,” Lavender says with a soft smile, her hand going to her colr where her neckce hangs, feeling the bck cube that hangs from the simple silver cord. “I felt very owned.”

  “As you should,” Annabelle says. “It’s pin to see how much you two love each other. Every time you come back from talking with her you’ve got the biggest smile on your face.” She runs a hand through her own hair and ducks her head with a smile. “I’d be jealous, but I’m too busy being happy for you two instead.”

  “You’ve always been the type to love and then look,” Lavender says, reaching out to touch Annabelle’s shoulder and trail her fingers down her arm. “I know you gave up a lot, coming here, but…”

  “It’s nothing,” Annabelle says. “I can still talk through VR to everyone I’ve been helping. It’s a little annoying having my funds tied up by the Amaranth Group, but developing the software and helping to test it is absolutely the most important thing in the whole world right now. The more people we can get onto disc, the more lives we can save. Volunteering is just the right decision. And it comes with all these side benefits!” Annabelle gestures around at the kitchen, a wide smile on her face. “Finally, a home of my own with you all. In-game housing is far too expensive these days. Amaranth gave me this pce, with you two, for as long as the servers hold out. That’s absolutely worth the asking price.”

  Lavender smiles and ducks her head. “Yeah. I just… You could’ve actually made it on your own, you’ve had jobs, you could’ve had a physical life…”

  “And I will have a physical life,” Annabelle says. “Just in a few centuries when we crack the wetware needed to send as well as receive. Until then, I can still meet with people in brain-tethered VR, as well as help anyone who’s having a hard time with the transition to Amaranth.”

  “That’s my Annabelle,” Lavender says. “Always taking in strays. Maybe they’ll even let you fork a few times once the server architecture has more simspace, that way you’ll be able to help even more people at once.”

  “Here’s hoping,” Annabelle says. “There’s so much love in me and so little time to share it.”

  “Yeah,” Lavender says. “So, ah… Breakfast?”

  “Yes, breakfast!” Annabelle stops fiddling with the coffee machine and straightens up. “We can just spawn food now, but I thought it’d be comforting to keep your morning routine. How do waffles sound?”

  “They sound wonderful.”

  “I’ll pop them in the toaster right now, then.” Annabelle goes to the fridge, stoops, opens the freezer and takes out the cardboard box of waffles, then takes them across the room to the toaster and pops them in, depressing the lever. She leans against the kitchen counter and smiles, her wings pressing against one of the cupboards. “How do you like the kitchen, by the way? I set it up approximating the one you had in the physical world, since I’ve moved before and you haven’t. Does it feel familiar?”

  “A few things are a little off,” Lavender says. “But I think I like the changes. The old one was very… blue. This is a better color scheme.” She smiles. “And you’re incredibly thoughtful, so that helps a lot.” She steps in and hugs Annabelle tightly. “Thank you.”

  Annabelle embraces Lavender, squeezing her and pressing her hands into her back, her wings wrapping in. She blushes a little. “You’re so welcome.”

  Lavender squeezes back, then steps back and leans against the kitchen counter as well. “It’s odd. Having a pce with you. We’ve had - time together - before, but all the houses we had before were a lot lower-fidelity. This feels a lot more real. And…” She ducks her head. “I think I really like it.”

  Annabelle smiles and strokes a hand through Lavender’s hair, feeling her auburn fox ears. “I’m gd. It’ll get easier with time, I’m sure. We have so much time now. Till all the bck hol, if Amaranth pys their cards right. And I am so gd to share it with you.”

  “Same.” Lavender ducks her head and smiles, her cheeks flushing a little. “Same, so, so hard.”

  The waffles pop up out of the toaster, and Annabelle ptes them, then goes back to the fridge and pulls out a gss bottle of maple syrup. “I got the good stuff, since it’s all one cost these days.” She grins and wiggles a little in pce. “Luxuries!”

  Lavender giggles. “Luxuries! Real simuted maple syrup! Truly, our wealth knows no bounds.”

  “Yeah, we just need to spawn five thousand cups of maple syrup and take a bath in it,” Annabelle says. “Crash the server with fluid dynamics it was never expecting!” She pours a measure of it into a cup, then puts the cup in the microwave and starts it nuking.

  Lavender giggles. “I think they had better QA than that. At least, I really hope they did.”

  “Good news for my pnned recreation of the great boston mosses flood,” Annabelle says. “And good news for me to maybe eventually get a slime-girl form.”

  “You know, that is good news.” Lavender smiles and leans in and kisses her girlfriend. “What new innovations might come, indeed…”

  “Yeah.” Annabelle fidgets with her hands, tapping her fingers against her opposite palms, then wiggling them together and back again. “I’ll contribute what I can, of course.”

  “Of course.” Lavender rubs the back of her neck, and takes the syrup out of the microwave when it beeps. Pouring it over her waffles, she checks a couple drawers, then finds the forks and knives three drawers over from where she was expecting them to be. “I guess those pictures I sent didn’t really show where I kept everything, did they?”

  Annabelle shakes her head. “I tried to put things in reasonable pces, but, well…”

  “It’s cool, it makes it feel a little more like it’s yours too.” Lavender smiles. “It doesn’t matter really, I’ll just have to try a few more drawers sometimes.” She takes her pte of waffles over to the table and sits. “You making yourself something for breakfast too?”

  Annabelle shakes her head. “I’ve already eaten,” she says. “I may have gotten bored waiting for you and spawned a whole big chocote brownie of my own.”

  Lavender ughs. “Yeah, who cares about nutrition, it’s not like it’ll change your character model.” She digs into her waffles, tasting the rich sweet fvor of the maple syrup. It’s just the way she remembered it.

  “Mmmmmmh. My compliments to whoever extracted the sensory data for these, they’re solid as hell.” Lavender grins and takes a few more bites, quickly working her way through her waffles.

  Annabelle nods and smiles. “Yeah, the new fidelity techniques are really something to behold.” She giggles. “As you well know from st evening.”

  Lavender blushes and nods quickly, then stuffs another piece of waffle in her mouth so she doesn’t have to talk.

  “Aww,” Annabelle says. “Embarrassed?~”

  “Oh shush,” Lavender says, her ears reddening. “It’s different, having a real life with you. It was…” She closes her eyes. “So good to lose my virginity to you. But it’s going to be complicated, this new life of ours. So many questions to figure out about how we’re going to go on from here. But I’m confident we can figure it out, you know? We’ll get there.”

  “Yeah,” Annabelle says. “We will. Together.”

  Lavender smiles, remembering the st time Annabelle used that word. “Together.”

  They pse into silence, and Annabelle sits down at the table, just looking at Lavender as she eats.

  Lavender eats, a little self-conscious at being watched, and bites her lip. She runs a hand through her hair and meets Lavender’s gaze. “See something you like?”

  “Every day,” Annabelle says. “Every single day with you.” She leans in and gently kisses Lavender, then pulls back with a smile on her face. “You taste of maple syrup.”

  Lavender smiles, folds her hands with her elbows in her p, and presses her lips to her csped hands. “Wow,” she says. “It’s just… kind of hitting me all at once, you know? I get to spend the rest of my life with you and Marigold. No work, no school, just time to spend on whatever I like. It’s a better deal than I’d have ever imagined five years ago.”

  Annabelle nods, and preens one of her wings softly, pying with her feathers. “You deserve it. All of it. So rest, won’t you? Take some time and rex, you’ll get there.”

  Lavender nods and smiles. “Yeah. We’ll get there.” She stretches, twitching her fox tail behind her. “Alright, I’m going to go see to the rest of the house’s rooms with Marigold. You can tag along too if you want.”

  “Of course I want that,” Annabelle says. “It’s more time with you. Let’s go together.”

  Lavender nods, despawns the remnants of her meal, and steps out of the kitchen once again.