When she woke up, Danika's first thought wasn't of Aishin or the siblings, it was that she hadn't seen Shrubbery online at all the day before. She wondered if it meant that things were worse.
After she got up, she loaded the mobile version of the game on her phone and wrote a message. She erased it and wrote again. She erased that and stared at her screen for awhile. It was just like when Shrubbery had said that her mother was dying: everything she could think of to say sounded horrible, but saying nothing felt even worse.
Finally she sent: "I don't know what to say or ask, but I am here (figuratively)."
Shrubbery sent a reply a minute later: "LOL I know that you're not logged in, because I am. Thanks. Everything's the same for now. Just long days."
Danika huffed a sigh, and moved on to her email notifications. There was a job offer waiting from the company that she'd worked with on the leveling of the 20 old accounts. They wanted a three month contract leveling old accounts for resale.
She hesitated for several minutes before writing her reply, and scolded herself for wishful thinking the whole time, but she still wrote: "I'd like to accept, but I'd want you to waive the penalty for quitting before it's finished if I happen to get a support position I applied for with "Living Jade Empire".
She had completed her exercises, breakfasted, and cleaned up before they replied. The owner implied in his reply that he thought it very unlikely, but agreed to her condition as long as she agreed to give three days notice. Danika grinned and accepted the rewritten contract, and then logged in for her first shift.
The first account she received was a mess. It was locked into one of the worst quests in its game, and wouldn't be able to progress until it was completed. People had been known to quit the game and delete their accounts in frustration after they discovered how difficult it was to complete.
Danika actually sent a message asking if they were sure they wanted her to invest the time into it instead of starting a new account before she started in on it. The reply came back: "Yes, complete it. They're closing this game in 48 days, new accounts can no longer be created and the save games will only remain submittable with Living Jade Empire until it closes because everything is kept server side. We bought 63 accounts stuck in this quest for practically nothing, and when these are finished we have a batch of old Blockcraft accounts."
Danika gazed at her screen for a long minute before switching back to the account and starting in on it. She was getting paid a low base rate for her time, and her results would only boost that, but she was pretty sure that her efficiency rating was about to take a nosedive. She searched for the latest guides and puzzle solutions on the side while she carefully completed the hopping puzzle the account was currently in. A single misstep would force the character to start over at the bottom.
--
When Danika dragged herself over the edge of the VR-medi pod after her shift that night, she was tired. She'd maintained a better efficiency than she'd feared, but she kind of wondered if she'd made a mistake in accepting the three month contract if every day was going to be like this one.
She had barely oriented herself in front of the weavery when Aishin snatched ZipZing out of the air and held her on his palms in front of his face, the way he did sometimes, and told her flatly, "I'll catch as many spiders as you want, just don't ask me to talk tonight."
Danika gulped, and replied uncertainly, "Ok?"
Shrubbery said from behind her, "MatchlessMinion will be on soon, but Salty has to finish a report first."
Danika craned her head around to look at the dryad. "Ok," she replied. "Did you run into any trouble on your way here? Everyone but me ran into goblins yesterday."
Shrubbery shook her head and replied tiredly, "I didn't even try to come overland, I asked my tree to bring me, so it'll be out of energy for a few game days."
"Your tree carried you?!" Danika exclaimed questioningly.
Shrubbery gave a small laugh and replied, "No, it sent me to a local tree. It's a dryad thing that I'm too tired to try to explain."
"Ok," Danika replied.
Aishin's hands were warm and Danika leaned against his fingers with her eyes closed for a long moment before she realized what she was doing. She quickly activated her wings and rose into the air. Her wings sparkled pinkly, a color that deepened with her increasing embarrassment at their exposure of her embarrassment.
Aishin flashed a grin at her, but didn't comment, and they quietly began gathering spiders. Shrubbery and Aishin were even better at it than ZipZing.
Shrubbery had some ability that let her make ordinary trees act like the grasping aspens, or the trap that Callie Kyo's guild had used on ZipZing. A leaf would suddenly wrap around an unsuspecting spider, cocooning it, and then fall from the branch. Shrubbery would either catch it, or scoop it up from the ground, and was able to deliver her spiders without ever having to touch them.
Aishin had some sort of life detect skill, and could spot spiders that were completely hidden within a certain radius. He was only hampered by the restriction against drawing weapons within Windbur, as he had to climb into the trees without using his throwing stars as steps. His figure was a lithe distraction as he performed the acrobatics necessary to move in and out of the trees.
Danika simply continued her aerial sneak and grab tactics.
When MatchlessMinion logged in, he greeted ZipZing cheerfully, "Hi! How goes the quest?" He apparently brought up his menus to check, because before Danika had made it to the quest screen he added, "Woah! Are we going to have to start looking for spiders in other towns?"
Danika blinked and looked at her own screen, in the last hour they'd already gathered almost 70 spiders. She shrugged and asked, "Wouldn't it be too difficult to transport them? If we run out of spiders to catch, shouldn't we just move on to other things for the night?"
MatchlessMinion frowned and then nodded. "I suppose so," he agreed.
The two of them rejoined the spider hunt with Aishin and Shrubbery. MatchlessMinion switched tactics, and used his thieving skills to sneak quietly into fairy houses to bring out spiders from their cozy corner webs. No one talked, and Danika felt like the silence was tainting the air and making it feel heavy.
Even MatchlessMinion quietly gathered spiders without comment, but after awhile Danika realized that he didn't seem as tired and subdued as she felt. She glanced at Aishin the next time she passed him and he winked at her. Her mood lightened a little.
Danika made the mistake of becoming too focused while sneaking up on her next target, and another spider got the drop on her and bit her. Her health started dropping, and she broke the silence worriedly, "I need to stop and find one of the healers, I seem to be poisoned."
MatchlessMinion was the only one near enough to hear her, and he clutched his latest spider and advised calmly, "Just tell Shrubbery, she can cure most poisons." He scampered in the direction of the weaver.
Danika turned and followed her party compass to Shrubbery who looked up at her and gasped. "You're poisoned? You got bitten?" Shrubbery asked worriedly.
"You can tell just by looking?" Danika questioned. "MatchlessMinion said you can cure poisons?"
Shrubbery nodded and placed her latest leaf wrapped victim on the ground and held out her hands. "I have to touch you," she said softly.
Danika zipped over and landed on Shrubbery's hands. They were cool and felt more like plant than flesh. Tiny vines twined around Shrubbery's wrists and over Danika's feet and then crawled across her body. The vines seemed to glow and pulse a little before they withdrew in the same fashion. Traces of purple threaded beneath Shrubbery's skin and Danika asked worriedly, "Did you just take the poison into yourself?"
Shrubbery nodded, but said reassuringly, "Yes, but it will dissipate within a few minutes. Are you regaining health now?"
Danika checked her menus and nodded. Shrubbery smiled and Danika flicked over to the party screen and saw that Shrubbery's health was reassuringly stable. The threads of color beneath her skin were beginning to fade as well.
MatchlessMinion said from the path behind Danika, "See, aren't dryads freaking cool?"
"Yeah," Danika agreed.
Shrubbery blushed and shrugged. "I level more slowly though."
MatchlessMinion said stoutly, "It's just a number, don't worry about it. Do you want me to carry that spider back for you so you can rest for a minute?" He pointed at the leaf wrapped spider at Shrubbery's feet.
"Only if you don't mind," Shrubbery replied a bit shyly.
MatchlessMinion bounced forward and scooped up the spider and scurried off with it. A few minutes later the girls resumed their spider hunting, but the next time Danika passed MatchlessMinion she whispered, "You seem so much more grown-up than I remember…"
MatchlessMinion's round ears went pink inside. "I'm not a little kid anymore you know."
"Yeah," Danika agreed admiringly.