Chapter 134: 51: Double Belted Stone

Danika returned to Intri K. Cogborn's shop and tapped on the glass again. He looked like he was working industriously, so she waited and tapped again. Finally she sent her light cantrip to him again. He immediately hopped off his stool and trotted around the counter to open the door.

"Sorry about that," the young dwarf apologized again.

"It's fine," Danika replied quickly.

He showed her three different, and astonishingly detailed, sketches of harness bags that the stone could be carried in.

Danika pointed to the one that looked most secure, with the stone held against her back between her wings and asked, "Would it be difficult to put on each time? I might need to do it in a hurry."

"I think if you just wrap it around your neck and then sit up," Intri mimed the actions and continued, "and bring your wings forward, then let it drop down until you can fasten the upper belt beneath your arms and the lower belt over your hips it shouldn't be too bad? It might take some practice. But in an emergency you could always just grab it like a satchel."

"That sounds good," she agreed and began piling her collection of fruits and vegetables on the counter. When she finished, she asked, "Will this be enough?"

"Great!" the young dwarf replied enthusiastically. "Just give me an hour and I'll have your stone pack ready."

"Just an hour?" Danika replied with surprise.

"I could spend longer on it if you want it decorated," he offered.

"No no, an hour is good!" Danika replied quickly.

--

While she waited Danika browsed the forums, updated her own story, and replied to posts.

"The First Dwarven Smith" had updated recently and spoke a bit about the temporary truce. Danika left a comment on it that said, "I hope that that guild can prove to the dwarves that there are material benefits to having residents of different races. Perhaps through agricultural efforts or other means of improving daily life?"

A familiar siamese cat messenger approached her as she finished up the comment. SaltySiamese's message went on at length about how awesome VR was, and how she was going to have to rethink her career plan so that she could afford to buy and maintain a quality system in the future.

Danika guessed that she was using the new VR-medi pod at Shrubbery's place, and wrote back: "It really is awesome and I'm glad you're getting to try it out. But would you tell Shrubbery that while the VR-medi pod can store multiple profiles, the sterilization fluid it uses between different user sessions is kind of expensive? Normally it only runs a weekly maintenance cycle with one user."

Salty's cat returned after a few minutes with: "Oh, that sucks! We'll look that up next! Thanks! By the way, when you're playing like this isn't being a four legged animal really weird!? I can feel my hands and feet and everything just like in the real world!"

Danika snickered and replied: "My hands feel like hands. My tail took some getting used to. My wings are mostly automatic. I have no idea what it must be like for people like your friend Ranma who don't have hands."

It wasn't until MatchlessMinion was getting a turn trying out the new VR system that she remembered to ask if they'd heard anything about the Week of Hearts.

MatchlessMinion replied: "No?" But a few minutes later he sent: "The NPCs here all know about it. But ugh, Valentine's Day, who cares?"

Danika smiled and wrote back: "I don't know, Shrubbery and your sister might care?"

When Shrubbery took a turn she sent: "Thanks, we looked it up, and yeah, we won't be switching often then. But it's super cool. Aishin is so nice! I still can't believe he's really him, but all the delivery stuff had his name on it!"

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Danika blinked at that, and wondered if that meant he hadn't made it as a private purchase. After a moment she decided to ask, even if it was really none of her business. She began her message: "You don't have to tell me, but I'm curious…"

Shrubbery had already switched places with Eyes on the Sky before Aishin replied with a long message: "I'll tell you about it when we go out for dinner? ;) " Which probably meant, "when we talk about all the complicated things." Danika couldn't decide if she was excited about it or dreading it, but his message continued, "Which won't be this week. D:", so she still had time. "And I probably can't even play at all for the next couple of days. Seriously, the reservation actually warned us that there's no service there!? What century are they living in?"

Danika giggled and replied: "This one! Because they know that everyone's going to complain about the lack."

Aishin replied quickly: "You're laughing at me."

She sent back: "Sorry."

His next message said: "Don't be. I don't mind making you laugh. I don't suppose you want to wake up at 4am and play for an hour in the morning before we leave?"

Danika didn't even hesitate, she just set up an alarm, and sent back: "Sure."

--

The double belted stone carrier that Intri K. Cogborn created for her was as intricate as the sketch he'd created. It didn't fasten with mechanical clasps or hooks. It used enchanted clasps that didn't open with any amount of stretching that she tried, but would pop open or fasten again with just a touch.

The young dwarf warned her, "These straps aren't combat gear, they can be cut with normal tools and anyone can open the clasps, they're not keyed to you."

"Thanks!" Danika told him. "I'm really glad we came here."

Intri looked at Hikaru and said politely, "You and your pet firefly are always welcome to return."

Danika blinked, and then realized that he'd never seen Kit. She wondered if Kit would be a human when she logged back in. She sent one last message before logging out for the night early, since she'd be waking up very early to meet Aishin.

The cub gave her one of his slanted glares as he carried the message away, and Danika spitefully switched her messenger back to the default bird for the next time.

When her alarm went off, Danika stared blearily at her kitten and dragon sticker in confusion, and then remembered. She hurriedly logged in to find the snow leopard cub waiting smugly with Aishin's message. "Will you come to where I am? I picked up an easy quest."

Danika pulled up her menus and swiped over to Aishin's skills and selected his Target Teleport. He'd had her set a Target Mark on himself when they'd been together. The mark had cost Karma and only lasted for about a week at a time, but it was used by several other skills. Not that she needed to know his precise location or intended to attack him with a projectile weapon.

She hesitated for a moment, she hadn't marked Kit so she wouldn't be able to return simply, but she decided that she'd try to make her way back from wherever she wound up during the day while she was working, and went ahead and used the skill. Aishin snatched her out of the air before she oriented herself.

"Potion," he reminded her.

She pulled out a health potion and gulped down a portion before asking, "Are we in danger? What kind of quest is it?" She looked around and added, "And where are we?"

Aishin was only half dressed in what looked to be a towel and his storage rings. Steam rose around them from the pool he knelt in. A large stone rose out of water beside him with his sword belt and the belt that held his pouches hanging over it. Other than that they were in some sort of enclosed space Danika couldn't make out much more about their surroundings.

She looked him up and down and said dryly, "The scenery is awesome, but is this really a quest or are you just playing with me?"

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