Chapter 58: Decorating a Home

Hugh darted out onto his home's front deck and quickly flipped to the page for his Vault. There, right at the top of the page, he discovered the heading for the Equipment Inventory was actually a drop-down menu where he could switch Vault types. He changed it from 'Equipment Vault' to 'Housing Vault,' but hesitated with his finger over the button to summon the Vault.

"How do I keep people from stealing my shit?" he asked. "This isn't like other games where everything is nailed down."

Dex laughed. "That's easy—you nail it down. Your Housing menu has an inventory, too. Once you place an item where you want it, you can lock it to make it an immovable object. Naturally, you can't do that with everything, but you don't have to worry someone will come steal your Jacuzzi."

"I have a Jacuzzi," Hugh said in wonder. He hit the button to summon his Vault. Like before, the heavy Vault door rose from the ground with a series of heavy clanks and thuds, as if some invisible force was cranking it into place for him. However, rather than appearing a few feet in front of him like the Equipment Vault had, this one aligned itself with the outside edge of his property so it wouldn't be in the way as he moved items out of it.

It was a good thing, since this one was also five times larger in size. By the time it finished rising out of the sand, it was a veritable wall blocking out their view of the ocean. Hugh didn't need to ask why. Housing items were, by nature, much more accessible and easier to collect than Legendary gear or mounts. GameNet wasn't nearly as particular about which items were permitted inclusion in their cross-gaming systems, either.

The Kraken arms holding the door shut were angled downward to allow even a short player to reach them. It took only a few moments of prying to pull them away in the correct sequence, then shove the doors open. Hugh started drooling as he stared at the building inside. He'd used a limited edition mountain lodge skin in this particular Vault, allowing him to decorate a dozen rooms with all the goods he'd collected.

He ran forward to gape at the Prism Fountain positioned prominently in the center of the lodge's Great Room. Tiny water fairies played in the basin and danced around the edge, while a peacock bathed in an upper tier under the pale light of an ever-present rainbow.

"I definitely want to use this," Hugh said. "How do we get it out of here?"

"Pick it up," Dex directed. Hugh raised an eyebrow at him, but cautiously tried it. The fountain easily lifted off the ground as if it'd been made of aero-plastic instead of marble. He carried it out of the Vault without a problem and give it pride of place in the center of his new deck.

Once he knew how easy it was to retrieve items, he went nuts stripping the Vault of his favorite pieces. The Bowl of Heaven's Fire made a nice firepit out in the sand and Nana's Novelty Burnberry Grill was a must-have. He disassembled the existing white love seat in the living room and replaced it with a luxurious settee couch from Barbarian Tor. The tanned Marburry leather was as soft as butter and he practically sank into the cushioning.

He grabbed the framed prints of Tyrus Regalia at Reveille to hang in his bedroom and snatched up the pile of Imixi Rugs to put everywhere he had open floor-space for them. He couldn't possibly leave behind the full set of standing crystal lanterns he'd earned by killing every secret boss in the Miner's Mojo Raid, either.

Rather than drag out any stuffed creatures or mounted heads, he chose trophies that wouldn't freak out his future neighbors—mostly metal signs, faction flags, and a handful of bullet-ridden banners he mounted on the exterior walls of his new home. While doing so took away some of the loft's curb appeal, he flushed with pride to see the results of his hard work on display.

He left any holiday décor he found in the Vault for when those particular times of year came around.

"You have any stools for the kitchen bar?" Dex called from somewhere in the Vault.

"Check upstairs in the room with all the leftover junk items," Hugh called back. "I'm sure there's something usable in there." He winced at the immediate sound of crashing coming from the Vault's upper tier of rooms. "Sorry," he shouted. "I should have warned you it's not organized. You okay?"

"I'm fine! I don't think anything broke."

Hugh left him to it, focusing on choosing a few containers to use for extra storage. It wasn't as easy as it seemed, since he had everything from metal ammo cases to pirate treasure chests. In the end, he claimed them all, scattering them around the house, on the upstairs deck, and around the exterior of the house. He stuffed the leftovers in the bedroom closets, figuring they'd make good shoe bins.

"Found your Jacuzzi," Dex yelled. "You want it on the upstairs deck?"

"That works. Did you happen to see the Cyron Mark Three mailbox? I can't find it."

"It's up here. You want the matching arch for the driveway?"

"Yeah! See if you can find the Save Sphere from Ragnarok Winds while you're at it. If it's functional, we'll put it next to the front door. I'm looking for Moto-maid and Moto-sentry, too. They can handle regular cleanup and security when I'm not home."

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a series of similar conversations as Hugh remembered more and more of the items he'd stashed away and forgotten about—which was a lot. He usually came across a dozen Vault-approved housing items in every game he played, yet he'd rarely used them. In-game housing had never been something attractive to him until now, because he preferred to spend his in-game money on gear rather than paying any housing upkeep costs.

"You should scan some of this for your NPCs," Dex suggested as Hugh's energy started to flag. They sat together on the edge of the deck, looking out at the mess of random crap strewn all over the sand in front of the Vault. Hugh chuckled at the fact every available square foot had something sitting on it.

"I hate to say it, but we probably need to put some of this stuff back or I'm going to end up known as the hick neighbor."

Dex laughed with him and nodded. "You're probably right. We should leave room for a few Thrive Legendaries, don't you think?"

"Maybe a few," he replied teasingly. "How does this sound...? We keep it if it's functional or serves a purpose. Anything cosmetic goes back into the Vault, no matter how amazing it looks. The only exceptions are the Prism Fountain, the Bowl of Heaven's Fire, and the Wonderland tea service cart. Oh, and Cerberus' Grave Marker—no gamer can call themselves a gamer if they don't put that out. His death still makes me shed a tear."

"Those all serve a purpose," Dex retorted with a snort. "But I understand. I'll see what I can do about arranging everything you dragged out. You should go take a nap. Not only will it keep you from stopping me every time I try to put something back in the Vault, but I have a feeling it's going to be a long night after you use Apparate Apparition. You'll need your strength."

"I'm not going to argue, but take a few pictures first. This will make a great update to my Net feed." Hugh patted Dex on the shoulder in thanks for taking responsibility for the mess and retreated into the house.

He grinned, seeing Dex had made his bed for him using the 'Sunset in Shahalla' bedding skin which, in Thrive, equivocated to a midnight purple silk comforter embroidered with the Harmonian royal seal in black, matching pillows, and a black-on-purple flannel sheet set.

Curiosity got the better of him. He tiptoed out of his room and over to Dex's room to see what the Navigator had chosen for himself and found the Jolly Rodger bedding skin from Naval Combat 2449. Hugh only recognized it because the skull and crossbones had cyborg parts, marking the pirate flag as belonging to the Augment Armada. He also had 'Window to Zion' hanging on the wall, which cycled through a half dozen landscape paintings each time he opened and closed the faux window. At the moment, it was set to an idyllic scene of Eden's Gates as could be viewed from Lilith's Overlook.

Chuckling over the choices, Hugh returned to his room and stripped down for bed. Over the course of the previous few days, he'd used his daily spawns to stock up on more mundane clothes and necessities, but he'd never been the type to wear pajamas. Instead, he had his sleep kilt. He'd never had the guts to wear it out of the house in the real world, but the damn thing was the most comfortable thing he'd ever worn. It'd often kept him from opening the door naked when things like grocery deliveries arrived early and he was still half-asleep.

Dex had surprised him by not laughing when he shyly asked for the item. He'd merely commented it was practical, although he intended to sleep nude unless Hugh objected. Hugh still didn't know if that had been another subtle flirt or not.

As soon as he took off his belted pants with its comfort bonus, he was hit by the tropical island's heat. With the sun going down, it wasn't so bad. It made his skin prickle as his thermal senses adjusted to the temperature change and he realized the comfort bonus could actually be a double-edged sword because he wasn't receiving all the input his senses could provide about his environment. It also made him realize he didn't know where the thermostat was located. Did his house even have an air conditioner?

Hugh pulled off the rest of his clothes, put on his kilt, and went in search of it.