I sat across from an old woman that ostensibly looked like she could have been my mother, or grandmother, but in terms of years, she could have been a very, very…’very’...distant descendant of mine. 

Though I generally didn’t care about that sort of thing, at the moment, the discrepancy bugged me enough that I found myself casting a brief physiology alteration on myself. Wrinkling my skin, whitening my hair. Aging myself on a skin-deep level, the age relationship would be set to rights.

“Is…Is that how you normally look?” said Ricky Fitzgerald. The woman known publicly as Sunset.

“The gray in my hair is about the same as the gray in yours, I’d think…” I said. Taking a sip of the light chardonnay that the event planners of the Gathering of Mask were serving.

Ricky sighed and with a gesture and a few mumbled words that were half complaints and half incantations she canceled the spell she’d cast over herself.

Her chestnut-brown eyes regained their brightness. The simple bun of wavy hair, regained darkness and sheen. Her tan skin growing more hearty, and smooth, though many of the small and not-so-small scars she’d gained from her years of fighting for the cause of justice still remained.

I frowned. Sighing as I reversed the changes I’d done to my own body and thus we both stood there looking like we were in our late teens to early twenties. I hadn’t really intended to have her change her appearance on my account. I could understand why she’d felt the need to make herself look older. It was often an issue for cultivators back in the Shattered World, and even us immortals originally felt a discrepancy between how we felt and how we looked, and how the world saw us. Hell, I’m pretty sure even mortals feel that sometimes, though in their case its in the opposite direction.

“Sorry…” I said. Sheepish.

“Nah…It’s…It’s fine. I mostly do the whole Granny Sunset thing, to avoid drawing unnecessary attention and to keep my contemporaries from getting too high on the horses just because I still look like a brat despite being older than quite a few of them…” said Ricky.

“Nhn…I can understand that. Thankfully, the concept of appearance equalling age isn’t really something I have to deal with too often…” I said. Nodding sympathetically.

“Oh…and why is that? Where exactly are you from, stranger?” said Ricky. Her gaze sharpened. Her tone shifted to one close to the one I’d seen her use to interrogate countless criminals and assailants.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“Nice try…But on the other hand, it’s not like it's a secret…Especially for people who’ve climbed as high as you’ve climbed…I think you already have a pretty good guess, if you saw which section of the audience that I just came from,” I said.

Ricky looked thoughtful as she parsed my words. Nodding lightly to herself as if I was just confirming her thoughts and guesses.

“So you ‘are’ an immortal then….Are you a god?”

“Oh, ho, ho, NO…Absolutely not. Do I look like I’m addicted to borrowing trouble, to you? No…,” I laughed.

“A devil then? Or maybe one of the fae?” said Ricky. Looking puzzled.

“Good guesses…but no,” I said.

“Then what are you?” said Ricky.

“I’m just your run-of-the-mill transcendental-mortal. An existence similar to what ‘you’ seem to be gradually evolving into…However, in my case, my path started weirdly enough, and has grown weird enough, that I might be an eidolon now…” I said.

“An eidolon?” said Ricky.

“You know…Immortals that aren’t gods, devils, spirits, angels, ascendant-machines, great-undead, elder-fae, or true-dragons…” I said.

“Ah…I see,” said Ricky. Using the blandly polite tone of a child that has just been given unplanned for, unwanted, edutainment from a relative.

“More relevantly, I am also a Senior Administrator to this Universe…” I said. Feeling a touch embarrassed. If you looked at the situation from a distance, I was basically your typical government official trying to show off to a celebrity that they liked.

“Administrator? Administrator of what?” said Ricky. Brow furrowing.

“I just said it…I am a Senior Administrator to this Universe,” I said.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” said Ricky. Shaking her head a little.

“When you heroes have problems you kick it over to the bureaucrats and officers of the Hero-league and the Sigfrid Government, right? I imagine the same group also passes down guidelines and rules that you heroes have to follow,” I said.

“Yeah? And?” said Ricky. Her blank expression made me think my favorite heroine for this universe might be a little more muscle-headed than I’d thought.

“Well, the organization I help run is the group, the prior gods, devils, spirits, and other sundry immortals kick things to…We similarly are also the group that passes down rules and guidelines to the immortal powers of this universe…”

“Oh…Wow…Shit…That’s uh…That’s kind of a bigger deal than I thought. I sort of figured you were just wandering immortal or whatever…I mean you always seemed to have a whole lot more free time than I’d have expected for one of the guys that are in charge of running the entire universe,” said Ricky. Stirring her drink agitatedly and eating the olive at the end of the stick.

“Hey! First off, our group tries to be a bit hand’s off and allow the natives to basically self-govern so long as it’s within a certain preset of expected conduct…Secondly, what do you mean I had a lot of free time? Or more like, how did you know?” I said. Eyebrows raised. Barely able to restrain the mild shock I felt from entering my face.

“That’s uh…That’s sort of why I came over to talk to you…I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life…I also sort of feel like I could feel your gaze, my whole life…so, uh…what’s up with that?” said Ricky.

I blinked and then I laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed. I had expected her to be able to notice me watching. As I read the young woman’s data I quickly realized what had gone wrong.

“Nhn…My bad…I didn’t think that’d be an issue,” I said. Blushing lightly.

“You didn’t think ‘what’ would be an issue?” said Ricky. Looking concerned and uncertain. She pulled away from me slightly. Her body language grew sharp and jittery as if she wasn’t sure whether a fight was about to go down or not, and was considering maybe attacking first to get the upper-handed.

“You know when you own something, you might write your name and address on it to make sure it gets back to you?” I said.

“Yeah?” said Ricky.

“Well, immortals have something similar…We call self-possession…The things that are ours will always be ours unless you are strong enough to undo our self-possession…Or we give those things away free of all attachments and burdens,” I said.

“Oh…I see,” said Ricky. Understanding entering her gaze. Her body language looking a lot less guarded, though she still looked very uncertain.

“Almost three hundred years ago, a certain teenage girl found a strange alien cube on the outskirts of her town…”

“That…thing… was yours…”

“The cube fused with the girl. Changing her. Granting her new powers, and magnifying the ones she was born with…I couldn’t take it back. The fusion was permanent and even if I could create a new identical body for the girl’s spirit and soul to inhabit, there’d be a risk of causing some permanent damage…Besides that in terms of disposition and fate, the girl didn’t seem like she’d misuse the powers…So I just let things be,”

“So, that cube really was you?” said Ricky. Her eyes grew bright. Her wide-eyed gaze turned heated.

“I resolved some secret dangers left in the cube, but left a hint of my mark so I could keep an eye on the situation…Unexpectedly, you could feel that mark…Especially when I’d turned my attention to you…My apologies, I hope I didn’t freak you out too much,” I said.

“I see….Well, uh, you did occasionally freak me out a little….but all the same…Thank you…” said Ricky. Her voice grew a little rough.

“Hm?” I said. Startled by the earnestness in the woman’s voice.

“Seriously…Thank you…All my life, up until then…and beyond…I’d only ever wanted to be one thing…I’m pretty sure you made my dreams come true, so…regardless of your actual intentions…And regardless of whether it was an accident, or whether you’re playing some of the forever-chess, you immortals like to play, so much…From the bottom of my heart, thank you…” said Ricky. A smile on her face.

“Oh…Well,...er, that’s quite alright,” I said. Not sure what else to say.

“So…Uh, *ahem*...what’s with you watching me all this time?” said Ricky.

“I’m a bored immortal in a universe of superheroes…and you just sort of stuck out, due to the fact I also had to keep an eye on you to make sure nothing was going to go wrong because of the cube…” I said.

“Ah…That makes sense, I guess,” I said Ricky. Finishing her drink and signally for one of the Gathering of the Masks’ wait-staff to come bring her another.