Context is everything.

The trio of Shin, Gero and Momo had, to this point, met the Player currently known as Balanthora twice. And while it seemed likely that, outward appearances aside, the dwarf was fairly close to the same person then as now, the kobold trio was changed in nearly every aspect. Before, they were simply small pups cowering in a bush, desperately hoping to avoid notice from a pair of impossible Gods playing their cruel games. Now? Now they were masters of their own civilization and their own destinies, equal in dignity to any in Magica, and Shin couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the glum girl being forced to abandon her own celebration.

Just a pang, though. Shin empathized, no question. But only to the extent that would make it even easier to make use of the dwarf.

“Hey.” Balanthora slowly turned to glance over her shoulder, peering morosely up at the Schemer. “They shouldn’t be so mean to you.”

“Oh, um, heh.” The girl waved off the kobold’s sympathy, feebly attempting a cavalier grin. “It’s all in good fun. They’re just hazing me before inviting me to join Gladius.”

Bittercup hummed in recognition, pushing aside her empty wine glass. “Gladius? That’s some big guild, right?”

“Um, yes? It’s the big guild?!” Balanthora rummaged around in her bag and produced a pitch black scarf, stretching it out to display the words ‘GLADIIS MAGICA FUTATRIX’ etched across it in gold leaf. “See? They’re awesome.”

“That’s nice,” Momo offered, somehow managing to not sound condescending. “Did they give that to you?”

“Oh.” The scarf dipped as Balanthora’s arms sagged. “Um, no. I bought it from their store. It was very expensive.”

Shin flattened his ears reproachfully. “Why would you want to spend more time around people who treat you so poorly? I have no idea why that shield woman is so hostile to you.”

“Really?” Mimasu raised his eyebrows at that. “She made it quite clear, didn’t she?” The scribe flipped back a page in his notes, nodding at what he saw. “Yes, she said you were ‘catfishing us’ and ‘just had a pigtails fetish’.”

Balanthora clenched her fists, reflexively responding before she could consider her words. “I don’t have a fetish, I just–!” She almost immediately seemed to regret her outburst, slumping in on herself and switching to a much quieter tone as she slipped into what sounded like a practiced response. “I mean, I know it’s not real, I just think, you know, if I’m gonna be playing this game for hours and hours, I should get to look at something cute, right? That's not weird.”

“Look at?” Mimasu twitched his ears in confusion. “You mean, if you happen to pass by a mirror or something?”

“Um, yes.” The dwarf was sticking to her story. “You know Kingdoms of Magica. It’s stuffed with mirrors.”

She seemed relieved when Shin responded to her flimsy line with an amiable nod. “Sure, that makes sense,” the kobold agreed, a bit of tension visibly slipping from Balanthora’s shoulders. “I guess some people just don’t understand though, right? Your friend from the free trial probably doesn’t either.”

“Ha!” the dwarf laughed, a loud snort rumbling through her chuckle. “Sean? Jesus, if he saw me like this I’d never live it down; it’s definitely for the best that we…” Balanthora trailed off, her chunky eyebrows furrowing. “Uh. How do you know about Se–” She swallowed her last word, flushing as she tried again. “How do you know about Mazter Azzblazter?”

Shin adopted the most innocent expression he could manage. “You mean, how did we know about the time you came within a hair’s breadth of being party to him trying to kill a Quest Giver?” The Schemer waited for Balanthora to feebly nod before continuing on. “Well, I guess there’s no reason not to tell you. We know because we were there, and we saw it happen.”

“What? No, no you weren’t.” The Player vehemently shook her head. “There’s nothing in that zone besides that old guy, some crappy old fortress and a bunch of little dog…” Balanthora’s eyes went wide as she put two and two together. “...Little dog people. Are you guys mongrels?!”

Momo folded her hands into her sleeves, striking her most imperious pose. “Kobolds, thank you very much. But we were mongrels then, yes. And we were there.”

The Player lurched forward, a new gleam in her eyes. “Then you also know what happened, right? You saw what happened to Sean?!” The prospect must have excited Balanthora, because she was seemingly no longer concerned about giving away personal details. “I know something killed him, but he wouldn’t say what. I figured it had to be another Player or something, but then why wouldn’t he just say that it was–”

“It was us,” Gero interjected. “We killed him.”

“Oh.” The dwarf gave the warrior’s towering form a thoughtful once over. “I guess that makes sense then. I still don’t get why he was so embarrassed though. Look at you; you look like you should be on KoM’s box art or something.”

As Gero puffed up over the compliment she didn’t entirely understand, Shin shook his head. “No, no. We didn’t fight him like we are now. To be specific, it was killing him that allowed us to become like we are now.”

Balanthora took a long moment to process that. “So...you’re saying you killed him when you were still mongrels.”

Shin nodded. “Correct.”

“He was a Level Ten Player and he died to three mongrels.”

“Still correct.”

The dwarf burst into laughter at that, her previous melancholy completely forgotten as she snorted uncontrollably. “Omigod, that is amazing! Big Mister Gamer, can’t handle starter zone mobs. 'Oh I'm Sean look at meee~, I could be a pro if being a tryhard wasn't lame'! Oooo I can’t wait to–” She cut herself off, a bit of the old gloom seeping back into her expression. “...well, maybe not. I mean, we don’t really talk anymore. Walks right by me at the restaurant, doesn’t say a word.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Which is fine, I mean, I sorta didn’t like who I was when he was around and he never really got me, but it was nice having someone to–”

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Balanthora blinked, shooting the kobolds and elf an embarrassed look. “Um, sorry. My life is sorta complicated right now. I’m…going through stuff. I was trying to distract myself with this questline, but that’s clearly gone to shit.”

Shin managed a small smile. “Hey, we get it. Life is tough.”

“Right?” The Player gave Shin a hopeful smile of her own. “So, um, you said you saw the whole thing, right?” When the kobold nodded, she hurried on. “So you know I tried to talk him out of attacking that Quest Giver! Right?”

“Hmm.” Momo considered that. “Well, I guess? Though you were pretty sharp with him. One might almost think that you egged him on.”

“What! No, no!” Balanthora waved her hands emphatically. “That’s usually the only way to make him listen! I really didn’t want anything to do with it!”

“Hey look, we believe you,” Shin assured the increasingly panicked girl. “But you have to know it looked bad, right? Someone else who didn’t have all the context could have seen that situation and made the worst possible assumptions.”

The dwarf groaned. “Ugh I know. I was so sure that a Mod or a Shed or something was gonna read the logs and I was gonna get flagged. The only reason I didn’t s’probably because the Quest Giver didn’t actually get killed. But fuck, those logs are still out there you know? A Mod could still read them, and then I’d be…”

Balanthora seemed to be in the habit of not realizing precisely what she was saying until she’d already said it.

She sheepishly tapped her fingers together, unable to bring herself to meet anyone’s eyes. “Um. You…won’t tell on me, right?”

Shin tilted his head. “‘Tell on you’?”

“Yeah, um, like to a Mod or whatever.” The Player swallowed. “And get me Red Flagged?”

“Well…” Shin met the eyes of his companions one by one, each making a show of their magnanimity. “No, we won’t report you. It seems like you’ve got enough on your plate right now.”

“Omigod thank you.” Balanthora let out her held breath in a shuddering gust, relief blooming across her face. “Let me repay you; I’ve, um, got gold?” She began to rummage around in her bag. “Do you guys use gold?”

Momo tutted, shaking her head. “There’s no need for that. Kindness can’t be bought or sold. You can only accept it, and then return it to the world.”

“Oh cool that’s deep as shit.” The Player hopped up from her chair, her pink pigtails wobbling as she grinned in newfound exuberance. “Well then hey, you’re going to Magica City, right? You should ride with me! I’m paying for all the berths, so there’s lots of space. And it’ll be a lot faster than using Anyport’s ferry!”

“You’re paying for all the berths?” Bittercup did some quick math, apparently making her best guess as to the costs of Balanthora’s trip. Whatever sum she decided on, it was clearly obscene. “Why? Is it just some sort of wealth-flaunting power move?”

“Oh, um, no? I actually had to pay for all the empty spots when I commissioned this raid?” Balanthora self-consciously wound one of her pigtails around her hand. “The Gladius website suggested going in on it with friends, and I have lots of friends, but, um, everyone was super busy, so I just–”

Woof, better move this along before the poor girl offers up even more tragic details of her life. “Thank you very much; of course we accept.” The Schemer perked his ears up in sudden realization. “Oh, you know, we’ve been talking all this time and we never once bothered to introduce ourselves. I’m Shin,” –He began indicating his companions one by one–”And this is Gero, Momo, Mimasu and Bittercup.”

“Um, hello!” The Player waved, a bit awkward but clearly pleased. “I’m Archmage Balanthora Bellisi Ironflower.”

Bittercup cracked a grin. “That’s a lot. Are we supposed to call you all of that, every time?”

Gero made a noise of agreement before the Player could respond. “Absolutely not. She needs a nickname.”

“But what, is the question,” Momo mused. “‘Bal’’s no good. And I don’t think she’s a ‘Thora’.”

The dwarf finally managed to speak up, her face seeping with color. “Oh, um, you know, guys don’t really have too…with the ‘she’, I know I’m not...I mean, the whole pronouns situation; if it’s weird or awkward or whatever we can totally just–”

Shin raised his voice. “Would you prefer we didn’t?”

Balanthora swallowed. “Well, I’d…I mean, in the real world I’m–”

“This is the real world. To us, at least, and it should be that way for everyone who comes here. If this is who you say you are, then I don’t see any valid reason to argue against it.” Shin gave Balanthora a pointed look. “Is this who you are?”

The Player didn’t seem to be able to respond. Verbally, at least. It might have been a trick of the eye, but Shin thought he saw the dwarf make the smallest nod of her head that a mortal neck could manage. So he went in for the kill. “How about ‘Ann? It’s not perfect, but don’t you guys think she looks like an ‘Ann’?”

The murmurs of agreement from Shin’s companions nearly masked the dwarf’s sharp intake of breath, something fizzling behind her eyes. When she finally spoke, there was a distant quality to her voice. “My, um, real name is Anthony. ‘Balanthora’’s sort of got ‘Anthony’ in it, that’s where I…anyway. I always kinda thought that Ann would maybe be an easy switch if I, um…you know, if I was going to really go through with…”

Momo smiled beatifically, extending a hand towards the dwarf. “It’s perfect. Now why don’t you show us to your ship, Ann?”

The Player was beaming brightly enough to put the sun to shame as she shouldered her bag, happily waving for her new companions to follow her out to the docks. Shin allowed the others to pass him by, taking up the rear position as he pondered whether or not he should feel bad about this particular manipulation. Ann possessed one of the biggest and most obvious buttons he’d ever seen, and the Schemer had certainly not shrunk from pressing it. And sure, there was no question it had brightened the girl’s mood, but Shin knew in the coldest corner of his heart that his ultimate goal hadn’t been making a friend. It was collecting another tool.

Eh. Maybe it was morally lazy of him, but Shin decided to absolve himself of any guilt for this one. He hadn’t really known Balanthora for very long, but it was painfully obvious that she was a dyed in the wool Follower. There was a void somewhere inside the Player, and she was desperate to fill it with some stronger personality that might one day grace her with a pat on the head. And judging by her associations with Leathers and those Gladius jerks, she was clearly drawn inexorably towards assholes.

Well. Honey attracts flies just as well as an asshole can, and everyone ends up with significantly less shit to deal with. See? Both were manipulations, but the context is what matters. That was all the moral high ground Shin needed to milk this hapless Player of everything he could manage.