"You could play more efficiently and be more destructive in this game, even with that character, if you wanted to," MatchlessMinion told ZipZing suddenly. "I'll always remember how you PK'ed that guy that was PK'ing newbies with starter characters."

"Right? She was pretty cool back then," Shrubbery agreed with enthusiasm.

"Destructive?" Shinichi questioned laughingly.

"In that game my character was more like Justin's, with mostly high powered area affect magic attacks," Danika explained. "But the PK wasn't that cool, I just cheated," she added ruefully.

"Cheated," MatchlessMinion repeated doubtfully.

"Did you really cheat? You never got banned and I'm sure he reported you," Shrubbery chimed in.

"I feel a little shocked to hear you say that you cheated on a game," Kit admitted.

Only ShinZing was still gazing at her with an oddly confident smile, the other three all had doubtful expressions. Danika wondered if it was because Shinichi didn't care if she'd cheated. Some of the things he'd done in 'Living Jade Empire' were borderline cheats, like buying Karma transfers.

His evaluation of their familiar bonding as a cheat wasn't far off either, since it had never been intended to allow a character to regain everything they'd lost by starting a new life. It wasn't really a cheat though, since any player could choose a path that would give them the familiar bonding spell, even if witches were the only ones who gained it as a base skill. He could also have made any assassin with a similar skill set his familiar and gained the same relearning boost, except for the added bonus of her assimilation skill, and even that was something everyone who reached Genius level gained automatically.

"I put all the points of those starter characters into speed and momentary invincibility, or stuns and freezes," Danika explained. "The speed ones I used to lure him into boss battles, but since the boss wasn't attacking him directly, the kill credit went to the characters. The immobility ones I used to trap him on the edges of deadly terrains, but since we were already in combat, those kills also got credited to the characters. Sometimes I even had to use my main to add a little extra area effect damage by targeting something nearby. None of it would have worked if he hadn't been so dumb, or had actually built up his character's defenses. I didn't actually ever manage to kill him directly with such little characters, that would have been impossible."

ShinZing chuckled and clipped the wings off of the next scarab.

"Oh," Kit commented with a grin. "Somehow I can picture your mage going, 'oops, sorry about that, I was just raining destruction upon this monster and didn't see you there!' But if you got reported, wouldn't they catch you luring him into your traps like that?"

Danika rolled her eyes and agreed, "If I'd spoken to him like that, or used my main account every time, yeah."

"She's right," MatchlessMinion said with disgust. "It only worked because he was dumb. The bosses and deadly terrains never moved in that game. Somehow knowing that, kind of ruins the whole thing."

"Sorry?" Danika apologized uncertainly.

Shrubbery laughed and walked over to casually rub the chinchillamin's head. "Our captain still won," she told him.

MatchlessMinion looked up at the tall dryad in surprise, and then looked away without commenting at first. After a moment he smiled and agreed cheerfully, "Yeah!"

The small gesture made Danika's heart squeeze sympathetically, and she thought suddenly that MatchlessMinion might be one of the strongest people she knew. She didn't think she'd be able to smile so brightly for someone who'd rejected her confession. She might have zipped over to hug his plushy little figure herself, but the scarab beside her had already finished off one healing berry and was heading straight towards another one.

--

When Quicksilver logged on, Danika and MatchlessMinion took a quick break and met the little nadia at the portals in Tianxia, the city of sand. Since moving the stone space didn't affect anyone inside of it, Danika simply placed the pebble in its harness and took them all with her.

She introduced Quicksilver to MatchlessMinion and Logical Heart at the construction site. The sandy depression had changed a lot. MatchlessMinion had talked his sister into getting her guildmates to use the glass fabrication techniques they'd used to construct their towers on the coast for Endless Song, and a sparkling glass construction encased the area that had been only an outline of the stage and viewing space before.

Endless Song hadn't had to pay any coin for the construction, but Danika wasn't certain if the cost wasn't actually higher than that would have been. They had agreed to come to the aid of the older guild in battle three times in the future. If the promise had only been given to SaltySiamese, Danika wouldn't have worried at all.

The cat loving girl who'd been her gaming friend for years now was someone that wouldn't be at all reluctant to use others for her own benefit, but she would be very direct about it. Justin the Grey, who had kept his small but powerful guild going since the game had been in beta, seemed like a much more subtle player. Danika felt certain that he would use those promises in ways that she couldn't predict.

MatchlessMinion was impressed by Quicksilver's understanding of everything the entertainment venue needed to contain, and her knowledgeable suggestions. The little chinchillamin didn't let her overwhelm him though, and Quicksilver was openly awed by Danika's matter of fact introduction of Logical Heart as "the top enchanter in the game." The little gnome raised his eyebrows at her, but he also seemed impressed by Quicksilver's quick understanding of the limitations and effects of the enchantments he was working on building into the structure.

Quicksilver stayed to act as Logical Heart's assistant and familiarize herself better with the layout and design, but MatchlessMinion returned to ZipZing's garden with her.

The five of them finished collecting about half of the wings needed to fulfill their guild quest before they quit for the evening. Farming the wings this way was a little boring, like working in an assembly line, but easy and relatively quick. They wouldn't have any difficulty finishing before the allotted week was up

--

When Danika exited the VR-medi pod, Shinichi was already waiting beside it, but he wasn't alone. Naoki stood beside him.

"Late visit?" Danika said questioningly.

"I won't be long, I just came to get my girl," Naoki replied blithely.

Danika didn't understand, and glanced at Shinichi, who clarified, "Tora."

Danika asked Naoki curiously, "Is she still here?"

"Yeah," Naoki replied cheerfully. "Or at least, according to the hall security cameras."

Danika didn't question his use of the building's security system to stalk his cat, but his 'my girl' inspired her to ask, "Did you ever find out which one Tundo is? The boy or the girl?"

"Nope," Naoki replied with a shrug. "But it's not like it matters."

"Why not?" she questioned. She'd thought the two of them had been getting along really well.

"We're not dating," he replied firmly. But then he shrugged and added, "And even if we were, if that was enough to make a difference then we'd break up pretty quickly anyway, so it really doesn't matter."

"Really?" Danika asked doubtfully. "I think things might have felt rather awkward if Shinichi had really turned out to be a girl who was just playing his avatar."

Shinichi grinned at her and stepped forward to lift her into his arms for a quick kiss before setting her down again on her chair. She blushed, but grinned back at him.

Naoki gave her a sharp look and walked over to push Shinichi aside and glare down at her. Danika flinched as he demanded, "So you didn't fall in love with the person, and only desired his body?"

"Hey," Shinichi objected, and reached for Naoki's shoulder.

"I…" she wanted to protest that she'd been prepared for him to be someone else, but really by the time they'd met she'd been pretty certain of his identity, and she'd always loved the way he looked.

"You're so insecure," Naoki complained with a disappointed sigh, ignoring Shinichi's hand. "How can Shin depend on you when you're so uncertain?"

Ryuske spoke from the doorway, "Honesty is never a bad trait in someone you want to rely on." He held Tora in his arms.

Naoki reached up and pushed Shinichi's hand off, before he turned and walked over to scoop the little cat out of Ryuske's embrace. He turned back to Danika and Shinichi, and Shinichi frowned at him.

Danika protested quickly, "I do really love how Shinichi looks, but that's not what I love most! I love the way he's always willing to actually do something!"

Naoki raised an eyebrow, but Ryuske's warm smile embarrassed her more. Naoki stroked Tora with one hand, and the little cat purred loudly enough that they could all hear her, seeming completely immune to the tension Naoki had induced with his complaint.

"As long as you know," Naoki said almost complacently, and walked away.

Danika wanted to protest his sudden departure, but at the same time, she definitely wanted to drop the subject. She accidentally met Ryuske's eyes, and he grinned at her, and said, "Goodnight," before spinning on one heel and walking down the hall to his own room.

Shinichi poked her shoulder gently after a moment, and Danika reluctantly raised her gaze enough to meet his. The face that she loved to look at held a pair of amused eyes, and a teasing smile.

"Want to do something before we sleep then?" he asked laughingly.