Danika's wings sparkled with deep rose lights as she blushed and stared at Aishin silently. His grin widened and he explained, "I have been working though, and I only get 8 hours here, and leave again at 4am."

"Oh," Danika replied after a moment, "should you be sleeping then?"

"I'll sleep soon," he promised. Then he asked again, "Is there a penalty if your familiar dies?"

Danika shrugged and replied, "The skill doesn't mention one, but the promise is for life?" 

"Oh," Aishin replied thoughtfully, "so you think that maybe it ends if one of us dies? But you keep everything except for your current location as though you'd never died if you revive?"

"I don't know," Danika admitted.

Aishin reached over and touched a finger to her forehead. "Ok. Don't worry, I'll be more careful after I become your familiar."

Danika gazed at him with a conflicted expression, but didn't move away from his touch. After a moment he lifted his hand and rummaged in his pouches for another little pouch, which he held out to her. "Here are Shrubbery's seeds." 

Danika took it and carefully poured them out and examined each one. According to her Plant Identification there were red currants, raspberries, and carrots among those that were edible. There were also several flower seeds, including the Jasmine that had scented Shrubbery's garden. 

"Thanks," Danika said happily, and flitted about her little garden space and planted things. 

Aishin commented after a bit, "It would be nice if there were grassy spots to sit? Or maybe stones to sit on?" 

Danika halted mid air with a snapdragon seed in one hand. She looked around her little space and agreed, "I guess so, I hadn't thought about it. Which would you prefer?"

He grinned at her and asked, "If you're going to leave it up to me, can it be a surprise as long as it's something we can sit on?" 

"Sure," she agreed without hesitation, and resumed her plantings. She snuck glances at him as she flew back and forth though. He sat quietly and gazed out at the illusory view of the mountains.

Danika was casting her growth spell on the last seed when Aishin complained, "Hey, I know I've teased you a lot tonight, but what's wrong?"

"What?" Danika asked blankly.

He rubbed his head and said, "You were right, it's not fair that your sparkles always show your emotions."

"Why? What are they doing?" she asked worriedly, and turned her head back to look at her wings. They seemed to contain the usual sorts of colors as far as she could tell, they weren't showering out a single overpowering shade like they had earlier when she was embarrassed.

"Dimming every time you look at me now," he said unhappily.

"Oh." Danika replied. "I was just thinking about something." 

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Obviously," Aishin said wryly. He sighed and asked her again, "What did I say that makes you think things that dim your sparkle?"

"Nothing!" she protested. He sent her a doubtful look. "I just, I was thinking about Kit. She married the traveling merchant, and I just, I don't know what to think. Sometimes she seems like she's still a little girl, although I haven't asked, but I wonder if it's good for her?"

"Ah," Aishin said neutrally, "so this is because I told you I played around with NPCs."

"No," Danika protested quickly, but then admitted, "maybe. You sounded like it made you unhappy."

He smiled at her and said gently, "You are making too big a deal out of it. Don't worry, she'll be ok, this game has pretty tame limits and built in age content filters. Kids can't do more than kiss."

She gazed at him with wide eyes and he reached out and poked her belly. "Hey!" she objected, and clapped her claws protectively over her stomach.

Aishin grinned at her and asked skeptically, "You're using VR and you've never looked into any of the love games? And you're calling someone else a little girl?"

Danika blushed and Aishin blinked at her and said, "Wow. You look like you just caught fire.” 

"Shut up," she snapped.

He smirked at her and crossed his arms. "You're so much fun to tease. I might not be a very nice person," he admitted, "because now I kind of want to ask if you want a kiss."

"Please stop!" she demanded. 

"Ok," he replied. He didn't say anything else, and didn't laugh at her.

He just waited quietly beside her until she calmed down. Then she complained with a sigh, "Aren't I the one who's not being nice, demanding you shut up just because I'm embarrassed? I'm sorry."

Aishin gurgled a soft chuckling laugh that she'd never heard from him before, and Danika turned to look at him. "It's ok to tell your friends to shut up when they're embarrassing you silly. You don't have to be that careful with me. Ok?"

"Ok," she agreed with another softer blush.

He winked at her and teased, "So you have tried? Then you shouldn't be so worried right?" 

Danika frowned. "I don't know," she replied seriously. "The traveling merchant is so much more… um… natural? He seems more real than even the best of the demo characters in those games."

Aishin didn't respond immediately, and then said, "Maybe this is one of those weird differences between guys and girls, or maybe it's just a personality thing, but I thought that being less real was one of their advantages? Like, your digital pet girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever will never get mad because you haven't done the washing lately? Isn't that the part that's supposed to make them so addicting?" 

"You can't really fall in love with one though," Danika pointed out reasonably.

Aishin laughed and asked, "But you could fall in love with the merchant?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "that's why it worries me." 

He watched her sparkle dim again and reached out and tapped her nose lightly. "Stop that," he scolded. "There are people in the world who think they're in love with their pillow dolls. If it makes them happy, let them be happy like that."

"So as long as she's happy, it's ok?" Danika asked skeptically. 

"Why not?" Aishin asked in return.

"What if it makes her more unhappy in the long run?" Danika worried. 

"Then it's not real love, and she'll find out what love isn't," Aishin said seriously.

"Do you think real love makes everyone happy?" Danika asked curiously.

He flashed a quick smile that resembled the emotes he used from his phone and replied, "Of course not. But real love isn't something you ever really regret having had is it? If it hurts, it's only because you don't have it anymore and you're being greedy, right?"

Danika gazed at him with wide eyes. 

Aishin smiled at her expression and then said, "Sorry, my alarm says I've got to go if I'm going to sleep at all."

He logged out before she could reply, and after a minute, she smiled. "Yeah, I guess so," she agreed softly to the space he'd left behind.