I stopped by the library on my way home and picked up a stack of books on subsistence farming and a few on global warming for good measure, feeling a lot better about myself, even if I was still a little intimidated at the scale of the problems we had to solve.

When I was a block away from my apartment, I met Jackal. He was wearing one of James’ black t-shirts that stretched a little too tightly across his muscular torso. I had to train my eyes on his face to avoid staring.

“Hey, Jackal. What are you doing… uh… out?” I asked, more than a little concerned.

“I’m allowed to leave, aren’t I?” Jackal asked neutrally.

“Well, I suppose so,” I said, chewing my lip. “As long as the landlady doesn’t see everyone coming and going. I don’t want her kicking us out for breaking the terms of our lease. I mean, your whole world might end if we had to unplug the computer that’s running it. I don’t want to even think about the consequences if that happens.”

Jackal blinked, and I realized I was rambling.

“What are you doing, anyway?” I asked again.

“Let me take those for you,” he said, lifting the heavy library bags out of my hands. “I went to get a job.”

“Sorry, what?”

“We discussed it after you left,” Jackal said, walking in step with me. “You are not happy in your job. You need money to pay for accommodation. You need time to work on our world. We decided we would all try to get jobs. Except Nightfall, he is learning the machine language from James.”

“You can’t just go out and get a job though,” I said. “It’s harder than you’d think. You need references, a job history, a resume.”

“But I got one already,” Jackal said, cocking his head at me curiously. “I start tonight.”

“Sorry, what?” I shook my head. “You got a job this morning? Like… how? What’s the job?”

“Guarding,” he said. “I guard the door at a club, check people’s identification cards, and if they’re old enough, I let them in.”

I blinked. “You’re a… bouncer? For a nightclub?”

“Yeah, that’s what it is,” Jackal grinned. “And they asked if I knew any other big guys, so Bruiser and Brick will come with me as well. I think Bastion is still looking for work, though. He was mad he wasn’t wanted.”

“I just… wow. Okay,” I said, stunned.

“Are you happy?” Jackal asked. “You can quit your job now and leave the grind-questing to us. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t… well, I mean yeah, I’ve wanted to quit my job for almost as long as I’ve had it, but I didn’t expect you to pick up the slack,” I explained. “I’m really grateful though, but… maybe we should give it a few days and see how you go? I don’t want to end up trading in a job I hate just for you to get stuck in a job you hate.”

Jackal gave me a warm smile, and I felt my face heat up. Those kinds of expressions should be forbidden on a guy as attractive as Jackal.

“No one has ever cared whether I enjoyed a quest before,” Jackal said. “But I like being able to look after you, so I’m sure I will like my quest, no matter what it is.”

I blushed even more. I must look like a beetroot by now. He had such a directness about him that part of me loved, but the other part was mortified. I almost felt dishonest for not returning the favour and telling him his pecs looked glorious enough to lick and that I wanted to peel his shirt off him like a banana – but how could I ever let those words come out my mouth? Nope, absolutely mortifying.

“I like your hair as well,” Jackal said, flicking one of my bangs. “You look like you again.”

“Gah!” I pulled away, covering my red face with my hands. He was going to give me a nosebleed if he kept this up.

“What? What did I do?” Jackal asked, withdrawing his hand suddenly, as though burned.

“Nothing,” I said, feeling immediately repentant. “You’re just… Jackal, you’re so sweet.”

“Is… that a problem?” he asked in confusion. I didn’t blame him; I knew I was being confusing. I was confused.

I blamed Bastion and Nightfall’s comments from breakfast.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“It’s not a problem at all,” I said soothingly. “I’m sorry. I’m being weird. Just… let’s go home. I’ve got some thinking to do, and I’ll do it a lot better after a cup of tea.”

Jackal nodded and continued home alongside me, matching my steps. Mrs. Greaves was blessedly absent as we made our way up the stairs and in through the front door.

Bastion, Bruiser and Bonaparte were nowhere to be seen, but Brick was sitting on the couch reading a recipe book. He closed it and stood to greet us.

“Hello gorgeous,” Brick beamed at me. “I love the hair.”

There was so much of his orcishly smug smirk around his features it made me smile.

“I missed you,” I said, stepping into his embrace.

“Did Jackal tell you the news?” he asked. “We got jobs.”

“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head, “I still find it so hard to believe. It took me weeks to find my job.”

“Maybe we’re just lucky,” Brick said, kissing my cheek. “Or maybe it’s meant to be.”

“What are you reading?”

“The cookbooks in this world are a little different from what I was doing in the Citadel. Baking in our world is more like… smashing ingredients together and causing reactions. This is more complicated. There are more than just units of items, more fractions. Half-cups, tablespoons, dashes of this and splashes of that. It’s interesting.”

I smiled at him. Whoever thought an orc would make an avid chef?

“Is Emma home?” Nightfall poked his head out of the office. “Excellent. Did you see the research I emailed you? I have more data ready for revision.”

“I got books from the library to help too,” I said, gesturing at the bags Jackal had placed on the table.

Nightfall came out and started sifting through them with interest and made to ask another question, but Jackal cut him off.

“Emma wants tea before thinking,” he said sternly. “Your research can wait.”

Nightfall sighed. “Of course, I apologise. You have only come in the door. Have your refreshments and we will resume when you are ready.”

“I’ll make your tea,” Brick said, kissing my cheek before disappearing into the kitchen.

Jackal pulled at the chair out for me, and I took a seat.

“I was thinking we need to come up with a name for the other world,” I said. “I mean, it was based on fanfictions that were based on Fantasy Dungeons, but it’s at least two degrees removed from that now – and that is actually someone else’s intellectual property as well, so we can’t use their name. I can’t just keep talking about this world and that world, our world, my world, your world – it gets too confusing. This place is Earth. The other world needs a name too.”

“What about Isekai?” James asked. He’d come out of the office and was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking tired and grumpy. “It basically means ‘another world’ in Japanese. It’s pretty much a trope these days.”

“Like Isekai Village?” Nightfall frowned. “You can’t give a world the same name as the most backwater town that exists in it.”

“Well, you come up with a better idea then.”

“Emma, do you have any ideas?” Nightfall turned to me.

I frowned in thought.

“Emma said tea before thinking,” Jackal said, glowering at Nightfall.

“It’s okay, Jackal. I don’t mind this kind of conversation. It’s more spreadsheets and numbers I’ve have enough of for now.”

Brick appeared, delivering my tea and a sandwich, which I happily accepted.

“This is amazing, Brick,” I said around my mouthful. “I hadn’t even realized how hungry I was. Thank you!”

“Any time, darling.”

“Ugh, you all make me sick,” James gagged.

I ignored him and took a sip of my tea before thinking again about the world-naming quandary.

“Well, ‘utopia’ means a perfect and ideal world, ‘dystopia’ means an imperfect world… but this new world is kind of neither. It’s new, and it needs work, but I hope that work will make it better,” I looked at Nightfall hopefully. “What about… Newtopia?”

“Newtopia,” Nightfall repeated the word as though it had come from a sacred text. “It’s perfect. I knew your creativity would not fail us, my goddess.”

“A fitting name,” Brick agreed. “You’re brilliant, Emma.”

“Mm, I like it,” Jackal nodded in agreement.

“You’re all pathetic yes-men,” James spat sullenly and stormed back off to the office

“What crawled up his ass and died?” I asked.

Nightfall’s eye twitched at my crass joke, while Brick snorted with amusement. I guess it was kind of funny, to name a world in one minute and say that in the next.

“James seems to think he is owed some kind of loyalty or affection on our part, due to his role in our creation,” Nightfall said with a frown. “Yet, we have pointed out our long list of complaints, including the parts of our backgrounds that he wrote which have contributed significant suffering. I believe he has conflicted feelings about us, just as we do about him.”

“Doesn’t help calm him down we’re with you either,” Brick shrugged. “He tried to send us back with that Nexus thing, but it’s broken. He said it’ll take a fair bit of tinkering before it is functional again.”

“He tried to send you back?” I asked, shocked.

“He wasn’t upfront about it, but it was clear what he was trying to do,” Nightfall said bitterly. “He does not respect us, and we likewise do not respect him. We have explained to him again that we will not be separated from you, and while I believe he understands our stance I would not put it past him to attempt it again. I am doing my best to learn all I can about this technology to make sure he does not have the upper hand if he becomes our enemy.”

I nodded seriously, frowning at the thought that James had tried to return my boyfriends while I was at work. He had never exactly been a jealous or possessive boyfriend, but our situation was a little unorthodox and as such his reactions were unpredictable.

The thought of them going back terrified me though, especially when I didn’t know what could happen to them while we were editing things. I’d had the same concerns about them coming here in the first place, but now that they were here, healthy and whole even if a little changed in form, I didn’t want to put them into any further peril.

“I’m going to need to know what will happen to Newtopia if the computer gets unplugged too, Nightfall. We can’t risk breaking the equipment that it’s relying on.”

Nightfall nodded grimly. “I will ask the Genesis. It has been very good to converse with, and helpful if erroneous at times. Even if it does not give me an accurate answer, it often gives a good starting point for investigation.”

“We’re going to have to leave you to it, sweetheart,” Brick said. “Jackal and I need to get ready for our first shift.”

“Alright,” I said, finishing my sandwich and giving Brick a quick kiss goodbye. “Let’s sit down and go over your notes. I’ve got a bunch of ideas to cover as well.”