"Yeah," he admitted after a moment. "I thought it would be fun to meet you since you live so close."

"Well, um, it's not that easy," she said uncomfortably.

"It's ok Danika," Shinichi replied firmly. "You can explain someday when you're ready." He laughed and added, "I'm just going to be really curious the whole time, but I can't help that."

Hearing him say her name jolted her. "Ah…" she began hesitantly.

"I mean it, it's ok. Aside from Shrubbery's request, do you want to start a guild or just join one? I thought you seemed like you just hadn't really found one that appealed yet?" he questioned.

Danika took a deep breath and then said, "You know, sometimes you're a little too accommodating?"

"What?" he asked with confusion.

"Since you're willing to wait for me to explain, I'm going to wait," she replied with amusement. "And yeah, although The Gardening Club sounds ok I can't say anything like it's perfect for me? I'm not sure about starting a guild. I've only been a guild leader a few times before, and once was when I joined a guild on my first day, and a week later the guild leader asked me, 'do you like this game?' I said yes and the next time I logged on I discovered that she'd transferred the leadership to me and quit."

"Oh. Was that the guild Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion were in with you?" Shinichi questioned.

"No," Danika explained, "I made that one because I was tired of all the yelling in the one I was in before that. I was just going to spend awhile living peacefully, but SaltySiamese randomly joined and asked to add a few people, and then another couple of random joins also brought in their friends, and suddenly we were a full size guild."

"What's wrong with that?" he asked with amusement.

"Nothing, but it's not like there was ever any theme or anything, not like your guild or Shrubbery's," she told him.

"Would you want to make one if I quit mine to found it with you? Would you mind waiting that long?" Shinichi questioned. Danika was silent for long enough that he added, "I'm not trying to say that you should make one?"

"No, I mean, I don't feel like you're trying to push me into making one. I was just thinking that even though MatchlessMinion was the one trying to push me into starting one, Shrubbery is somehow the one that I feel like is really pressuring me…" she tried to explain. "I feel like she asked me if I'm willing to carve her mom's name into stone, and when I put it that way, I feel like I ought to say 'of course I will'."

"That doesn't mean that you have to do anything," he pointed out. "It's ok to refuse."

"If your mom's name was left on a guild where you could see it for years, do you think it would make you happy? I can't decide if it would make me happy or if it would just make me miss her more," Danika complained.

"Is it bad that the question makes me think I should pester my dad into making a character, and that the guild should be named Endless Song?" Shinichi asked.

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Danika laughed and asked, "Do you want to make one if I wait to join and found it with you?"

"Yeah, but I want to keep my fairy dragon alive with her perfect zero reincarnations record to be the first guild leader," he replied laughingly.

"Why does my reincarnation level matter?" she questioned.

"I've heard that the Karma costs for setup are multiplied by the guild leader's reincarnations," Shinichi explained. "That might only be a rumour though?"

Danika objected, "In that case wouldn't every guild be started by a novice with zero reincarnations?"

"Probably," he agreed, "so it's probably just a rumour. But the current accumulated level, reincarnations, race, and path of the founding members are permanently recorded."

"Oh," she replied.

"I need to go, but please stop feeling guilty ok? You're fine just as you are, doing as much as you already do," Shinichi said stubbornly.

"Ok," Danika agreed with a huff of laughter.

"And I'm going to leave my guild, so wait a month for me?" he questioned.

"Ok," she agreed laughingly. "But I'm not promising to be your guild leader!"

"No promise needed," he agreed, and ended the call.

Danika laughed aloud at the ambiguity of his agreement. She suspected that she was going to wind up having MatchlessMinion addressing her as Captain in all seriousness again soon. Thinking of that she logged into the mobile version of the game and sent him a cryptic message, "Then for the thief, the gardener, and the assassin, we'll found in future memory."

--

Her cheerful mood carried her through the rest of her work day, and that evening her luck was very good. She learned both shapeshifting from Kit Tay and Analyze Target from Aishin.

The good thing was that Analyze Target cost less energy when she used it from her own skills. The bad thing was that Kit had been right, and the druid Shapeshifting skill did her no good without the ability to weave its belt.

"Try it with my belt," Kit suggested. The three of them were waiting for MatchlessMinion and Shrubbery who had messaged that they would be able to play for the last hour that Kit was allowed.

Danika zipped over and took Kit's belt from where she held it out in her hands, and let it pull her to the ground. She landed neatly, but Kit said, "Oh, sorry."

"It's fine," Danika assured her.

She struggled with trying to wind the long belt around herself until Aishin asked laughingly, "Want me to tie you up ZipZing?"

Danika gave him a dirty look and refused to answer, but a moment later he reached down and gently helped her wind the rest of the belt up around herself anyway. "Thanks," she mumbled.

Danika's new pet circled her curiously as she tried activating her new Shapeshifting skill, but the same message popped up: "Shapeshifting relies on the forms you have woven into your belt beneath the moon."

She shook her head and announced with disappointment, "It gives the same message, apparently it's serious about the 'you have woven' part."

Aishin helped her unwind herself and handed the belt back to Kit. Danika held up her little clawed hands and asked him, "Will you trim off one of my claws for her? I think I could probably do it, but…" she hesitated.

"What?" Aishin asked.

Kit said quickly, "It's ok, you can wait until you learn the weaving, only that will be harder since the moon isn't up when I can play right now. I'll ask again if I can't have my phone back early."

Danika asked, "Is it a skill every druid has? If it is, I can find an NPC even if I can't find another player to teach it to me. And you don't have to wait to have my claw, but is one enough? How will you stick it onto your belt?"

Kit laughed at the string of questions, and Aishin said, "Oh." He pulled out one of his smaller knives and reached down and scooped her up.

Kit said, "Most druids will know it I think, because it's one of the first rank skills, and if I could show you the weaving you'd see how the claw would become part of the belt. Yes one is enough, if it fails I can always ask you for another."

Aishin set ZipZing on the tallest stone footprint seat and pinched her hand between two fingers and delicately cut off one of her claws. And then Hikaru attacked him. He held very still and asked, "Can you tell Hikaru that you're ok?"

Danika used her new Analyze Target skill to verify that the little firefly couldn't do him any damage, and saw that Aishin's health bar didn't even flicker. Using the skill made her feel like she'd unlocked the convenient analysis skills of an old JRPG character.

Kit giggled while Danika told the firefly, "Stop! I asked him to! Hikaru no!" She tried every command she could think of, until finally she said desperately, "Hikaru sit!"

The little firefly flew down to her and landed in front of her toes. Its glow looked angry somehow. Danika pulled out a piece of blue cake that she'd saved and put it down beside the little beetle. "Thank you for trying to defend me," she told it.

Aishin asked curiously, "I wonder if you could use your impartation skill to teach Hikaru an attack skill?"