Danika was still puzzled by Shinichi's amusement with her comment the night before, that his willingness to take action was probably both his best virtue and his worst flaw. She had admitted that it was probably what she loved best about him, but at the same time, she'd acknowledged that it was quite likely to be a source of future conflict. If he'd told her that he might end up disliking what he loved about her in the future, she thought she'd have been worried instead of amused.

After the morning meeting of the sixth, where the temporary transfer of Danika, Takahashi, and Paul was announced, Danika found only small assignments on her list. It told her that the system was aware that she'd be gone, and she wondered vaguely if it would miss her. Or if the Jade Emperor, who seemed to be the personified version, would notice her absence.

That got her to thinking about how none of the NPCs ever reacted much to players logging on and off. They were obviously aware of when someone was unavailable. Like the mentors in the vale, some of them would remind you to rest if you'd been logged in for too long, but for the most part they didn't seem to care. Even if you had a marriage or familiar to maintain, a few minutes a day was sufficient.

Shinichi's message that afternoon, bemoaning the fact that he wouldn't see her again all weekend, only highlighted the difference between people and NPCs. He might seem a little clingy, but Danika knew that he wasn't just saying it, like some people would. He was always happy when they could spend time together.

Her thoughts were still gnawing at the concept after she finished her shift, and logged on to play after a light supper with Ryuske. Kit was logged in and chatting with Shrubbery when ZipZing exited the guild hall. Danika zipped over to her and asked abruptly, "Kit, do you feel like the merchant, or the Jade Emperor, misses you when you're gone?"

Kit blinked in surprise, and then looked thoughtful, while Shrubbery asked, "Why? Are you going somewhere?"

"No, or kind of yes," Danika answered confusingly. "I'll be working on a different server for a while, but I'll still play here when I'm not working. I was just asking because I was thinking about how different NPCs and people are in that way."

Kit offered, "He always tells me he's glad to see me. He has always told me that, when we've been married, both as the Traveling Merchant before and as the Emperor now. But I think you might be right, I don't think he actually misses me when I'm not here?"

Danika frowned, but Shrubbery asked, "Isn't it the same as how he didn't really seem sad that his child was deleted? I mean, we've talked about how sometimes the NPC emotional reactions are disturbingly off before?"

"Do you think it's because the chemistry that creates our emotions is missing, so when there's a situation that isn't in the library they just don't react?" Danika muttered.

"I like it," Kit announced. Both girls gazed at her with surprised expressions, and Kit smiled and said, "My husband might not be real, but he's consistent." She glanced at Shrubbery before adding, "I can really understand how your mom could declare that she wouldn't trade her comfortable relationship with your dad for her idol, even when he was suddenly in reach."

Danika knew that Kit meant Ryullusion, when she spoke of Eyes on the Sky's idol. She wondered if that meant that Kit had considered him in that way too. The two of them did seem pretty close at times, and to Danika the elven bard seemed so much more attractive than the Jade Emperor, and less predictable.

Shrubbery grinned at her, and asked, "What are you going to do if his personality gets updated then? Since that seems like a likely result of Danika's sudden questions."

Danika glanced around the garden in a paranoid manner, and quickly checked to see if Ryuske was already online before protesting, "No, that's not it, I'm not trying to change Kit's husband! But, Kit, haven't you ever considered reaching for Ryullusion?"

Kit went pink, and suddenly transformed into a squirrel about the same size as ZipZing. "Squeak?" she said innocently.

Danika gazed at her with indignation and complained, "Squirrels don't say 'squeak'!" She transformed into her own house cat shape and swiped playfully at the squirrel with a soft paw.

The squirrel dashed up Shrubbery's tree and shouted back laughingly, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Shrubbery giggled and told Kit, "You know she's only asking because she's considered it herself."

"Hey!" Danika protested. "I have not!"

"Meow meow meow?" Kit asked from the branch overhead.

"I know you can understand me!" Danika protested. Her purrfection skill wasn't like her enchanted apple induced transformation, and she could still speak in the common tongue. Both Kit and Shrubbery could have understood her even if she was speaking cat, since the former druid had gained the language through her transformation skills and the dryad had the gift of understanding animals from her tree.

"Even I have considered it, so I know you have," Shrubbery replied with a startlingly wicked grin.

"He's old!" Danika protested with shock. Kit was in her thirties, and while she wasn't really that much older than Danika, at almost 27 now, Danika had adjusted to thinking of her as an older woman. Shrubbery was still in her teens though, and hearing that she found Ryuske attractive was enough to turn Danika's teasing mood cold.

"His character is really gorgeous though," Shrubbery replied promptly. "I've looked up old videos, and he was good looking as a kid, but not as hot as he is as an elf. Or maybe I just share my mother's taste in men?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't trade for him. But if he didn't seem to see me as a kid, I really might have considered him instead," Kit admitted.

"What about Silvam then?" Shrubbery asked teasingly. "Would you trade for the original?"

"No way!" Kit protested. "Ryullusion is way better!"

"He is pretty cool sometimes," Danika agreed. She glanced at Shrubbery's laughing face and protested, "But Ai, I mean ShinZing is still the best!"

"Sure he is," Shrubbery agreed mockingly.

"Some fan you are?" Danika mocked in return.

Shrubbery laughed and explained quickly, "I'm still his fan! But now that we're friends, it's harder to see him as the hot guy from the publicity posts!"

"Who?" Ryullusion asked curiously.

"No one!" Danika shouted guiltily without even turning around to confirm his identity.

"You!" Shrubbery exclaimed with almost a shriek.

"We're not talking about you!" Kit protested laughingly and fell off the branch.

Danika's evasion skill triggered, and she automatically dodged the squirrel, who shifted into her hawk form on the way down. Her talons were probably more dangerous, but her wings slowed her fall. She didn't immediately fly away the way that Danika wanted to either.

"Looks like you girls are having fun," Ryullusion commented with amusement. "Should I leave you to it and find a solo mission?"

Danika released her cat transformation and resumed her usual cute fairy dragon shape as she quickly replied, "We need to farm more wings if everyone has time?"

"Don't we need ShinZing to make the berries more effective?" Shrubbery asked.

"I think Ryullusion can boost healing effects," Danika muttered with her wings still sparkling pinkly. "One of us will have to clip their wings though."

"I can't do that while playing a song to bolster effects," Ryullusion said apologetically.

Shrubbery looked taken aback, but the way she straightened her shoulders made Danika immediately volunteer, "I'll do that part, it was my idea anyway, and I have the same accurate swing skill that ShinZing was using."

Kit shifted back into her usual dark haired human form and announced happily, "When we're busy with time consuming missions like this, it's another time that just being married to an NPC is actually really relaxing! He's a really undemanding spouse. Everything in the game doesn't have to be totally realistic."

"Even though I avoided playing until I learned about how realistic the instruments could be, I agree," Ryullusion agreed cheerfully. He flexed his ageless elven fingers that never ached, "It's not bad to spend a few hours away from reality in a place with so many interesting things, and such lovely girls."

"I'm a dragon," Danika protested.

Kit and Shrubbery laughed, while Ryullusion just grinned.