The Novelleo Gods were probably sleeping when the alarm rang.
They shouldn't have been woken, perhaps, but no one gave a shit about them. They weren't the high and mighty gods that moved mountains or rode oceans like it was a summer camp lake. They were just there. So nothing to give shit about them.
But today didn't seem normal.
For the first time in how many years, someone had called upon the Novelleo gods.
The result…probably wasn't desirable.
There were sounds of people screaming, sheets rustling, showers running, and probably what a normal human did when they realised they were late for work and this was going to fuck up their job.
After an hour or so, a court had finally assembled in the tiny room, a poor excuse of a court. Non binary deities sat all around it in a circle, an odd mix of clothing among them, each representing a genre or tag in Novelleo. One of them preferred not to wear any, just to show what genre they were.
Transmigration, who sat at the head of the room, spoke first.
"Good morning," they addressed the room, their eyes lingering on Smut for a little longer before they focused on the table in front of them, "Smut you could have worn something."
Smut stretched their arms, their naked body more on display for everyone else, who averted their eyes, "Well, it gets the job done."
"Fair enough, let's proceed. Reincarnation?"
Reincarnation looked into their notepad before looking at Transmigration, "Sire, there seems to have been wishful activity."
Fantasy's head poked out from a pile of feathers and weapons, "Wishful activity?"
System coughed, noting Smut's movements again [they were now laying down on the dais they'd been previously sitting on] and continued, "yes, it seems like two Novelleo people have wished for something."
"Authors?" CEO looked up from their file. Among everyone else, they were the one most properly dressed in a three piece suit.
"One author, the other one's a reader."
"An author and a reader?" Royal romance sat up, perhaps the only one immune to smut's charms, "that's quite new innit?"
"Bold words considering we've never had a wishful activity." Smut countered.
Royal romance glared at their best friend before turning to System, "Who are our wishful thinkers?"
System looked into their notebook again, "Kiera Mitsue, a.k.a Mitsue Keisha the author of 'A King's Clockwork Heart' ooh a fanfic writer, been a while since I saw one of those in here. There aren't a lot of fanfic authors in WN anymore. Maybe people should write more fanfiction, at least we'll have one more courtier to look at. Like seriously, I am so tired of seeing everyone's old and wrinkly faces."
Transmigration sighed, a vein popping on their forehead. System always talked more than they should have.
"Can you please tell us who the other person is? Oh dearest courtier System?"
"Oh yeah, sorry, uhm, the other person is Kim Katsu Rin a.k.a Ratsu, a reader. Ooh a level seven reader, with 3 power stones, 3 energy stones, ooh and 15 fast passes. And 300 coins. Huh, looks like our man spends a hell lot of time on this app. Oh, that too FL stories."
Smut leaned forward, trying to look into System's notebook, who immediately pulled it away.
"Please put on some clothes before you try to approach me, Smut."
Smut ran a hand over their body, "Now where's the fun in that?"
Transmigration coughed, "Please, shut the fuck up so we can actually do something about this situation."
Smut pouted, but returned to their dais and latched themself Royal Romance's arm."What is the wish?" the two of them asked.
"Nothing much," System replied, "Just something like 'take us away from this world', a bunch of depressed folks apparently."
The Novelleo Gods sighed. It wasn't often that someone wished something from them but when they did, it was always the depressed people looking for an escape from this world. Normally the stories would be enough for them to get an outlet from the human world, but this time, this seemed a bit different.
Maybe the gods could actually get off their asses and do something nice and hardworking for once.
"Why not provide them what they want?" Reincarnation spoke up for the first time. It was hard to notice them, considering they were a baby wearing adult clothes.
"Why should we though? It's not like this is the first time this has happened?" Smut countered once again, "They're just a bunch of kids who'll get over it."
"You're a kid who sits naked even if they don't have to, so don't say anything about getting over it." Reincarnation replied, their eyes glowing a brilliant red. Everyone visibly cowered in fear. Reincarnation barely talked, but even when they did, it was calm and placid. An angry Reincarnation was something you didn't want to face.
Transmigration cleared their throat, "So what do you think we should do?"
"Simple, maybe make them live in a story. Living in a story would actually take them away from the real world for a while, and once they die or something they could return to the real world from when they first disappeared." Reincarnation explained, "It's not like they'll want to live in the fictional world forever."
"Like…Jumanji?" Royal romance asked.
"Yep, like Jumanji. Except the deadly game part. No one wants to die inside a fictional world."
"True."
"So it's settled then?" Transmigration did a quick round of checking to see if any other god had any objections. When no one had anything to say, they continued, "We call these two people into the Equinox and make them live inside a story. It doesn't sound like a permanent solution to me but it's better than nothing I guess. So, when do we call these two into the Equinox?"
"Why not now? We could call them at the same time."
"Sure, but before that, we have a lot of things to discuss."