Chapter 383: 26: Small Concessions

Climbing into the VR-medi pod at home, in the afternoon, made her feel like yawning. Spending the night away had at least had the advantage of making her feel like even the current layout was comfortable and welcoming in comparison. She was a little surprised at how used to it she'd gotten in only a few weeks. She was definitely home, and not just back at the other strange place.

She lazily watered her garden in 'Living Jade Empire', the way she'd just watered her houseplants, and chatted with Hikaru and her apple tree before venturing out. Her stone space was like her second home within her home. With somewhat portable VR systems, and more places that rented VR access time popping up across the world, it made her wonder if people who had to travel a lot would create VR homes. Actually, Danika decided, for as long as she'd been playing video games she'd always had virtual 'home' territories within them.

She exited her garden and scooped up her enchanted pebble, settling it into its harness as Hikaru circled her happily. She hadn't left SaltySiamese's village, just in case the group who'd been attacking had something else up their sleeves, and from the tall glass tower she could see the way the crystal clear waves bounced and splashed against the shore.

Matching glass towers along the shoreline to the east and west gleamed brightly in the distance. A dolphin or a porpoise leapt out of the water, out where the edge darkened as the South Western Sea deepened. It made her think of Sea Song Tione, but the first cetacean was followed by half a dozen more. They seemed to be splashing joyously in a game of tag, frolicking back and forth.

The southern sun was warm against her finely scaled skin, and the ocean breeze fluttered her sparkling wings, carrying a hint of salt to the back of her tongue. She stretched for a moment, and then launched herself into the air. She knew that VR was a luxury, but she appreciated it more after a break from it.

The momentary peace was broken by two siblings logging on in the middle of an argument. SaltySiamese appeared first, in the same place that Danika had seen her last. Her movements suggested that she was using the mobile version.

"You'd have to rent a space!" MatchlessMinion insisted as soon as he appeared. The way he bounced on one foot made Danika think that he was on his full motion console as usual.

"I'm still your sister!" SaltySiamese protested. "You don't have to charge me for everything!"

"It's our whole guild," MatchlessMinion argued.

"What are we charging her for?" Danika asked curiously. They both turned toward her and audibly took a deep breath. Danika flinched, and assumed that she'd just made herself the target for both of them.

SaltySiamese complained, "He says our guild would have to rent a space to place one of the new temporary portals at the concert hall in Tianxia!"

At the same time, MatchlessMinion complained, "She wants to treat Endless Song's property as though it's mine, or in other words, like it's hers!"

Danika hesitated for just a moment, and then asked, "Would we let other guilds put portals into the entertainment venue?"

MatchlessMinion waved his little arms and exclaimed, "We already plan to let anyone who pays for a private viewing booth have their own furniture or whatever in there, but she'd need a booth!"

"I don't know that I like the idea of private portals into the inside, even if it's not inside the nullification area… but I suppose that we don't have any way to prevent teleportation skills anyway?" Danika replied uncertainly.

MatchlessMinion held up one finger add then hesitated and dropped his hand. "I see what you mean, since a portal could let any number of characters in, compared to a skill."

That hadn't been quite what Danika was suggesting, but it was also a valid point. Even SaltySiamese admitted, "I can see why you wouldn't want to let just anyone place a portal there, but it's not like we want to use it to sneak into concerts!"

Danika grabbed the opportunity to ask, "Why do you want a portal into Tianxia anyway? And wouldn't putting it on your own property be safer for you too?"

SaltySiamese admitted sheepishly, "We've maxxed out the number of guild properties EmeraldHearts can afford, and it doesn't have to be to Tianxia, it could be any of the racial capitals that also have all eight of the standard city portals. But your concert hall thing is already a place with public access! It's not like I'm asking you to put it in your guild hall!"

After a moment Danika asked MatchlessMinion, "What if we rented a ring of temporary portal pads around the portal of return, and refused to let people place them in the booths?"

"That's beside the point!" he complained. "The problem is that she doesn't want to pay us for keeping it there!"

Danika glanced between them and then admitted, "It does seem like a small favor that wouldn't cost us much?"

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"Right!" SaltySiamese agreed instantly.

"You!" he complained, holding both arms out toward ZipZing and then making an exasperated throwing motion.

Danika pointed out, "As long as we still owe them assistance with battles, it'll probably help us too." He made a face at her, and she continued, "But if she doesn't want to pay for a spot, you shouldn't waste a private viewing booth on her…"

"Hey!" SaltySiamese protested.

Danika continued "…since those will have a good chance of being full next month. You could stuff it into an empty shop nook? The ones that don't have space enchantments yet should work fine for portals right?"

"Yeah," MatchlessMinion agreed reluctantly.

"Wherever is fine," SaltySiamese agreed quickly.

Danika asked, "Should we wait for Shrubbery and work on the King's quest?"

SaltySiamese looked around and her head gave the quick negative shake of an emote as she replied, "No, I should stay here and start organizing the repairs. Justin kind of annoyed some of the older members when he let me take charge of constructing our first settlement, so I need to do a good job with it."

"Alright, if you don't need our help, there's a guild mission available for us?" Danika suggested instead.

"I don't think there's anything that you can do," SaltySiamese replied quickly, before her brother could complain.

MatchlessMinion looked at the mission and announced munificently, "It looks like it won't take us far from our current location, so we can come back if you need anything."

SaltySiamese's character didn't turn back toward her brother's small chinchillamin form, but she gave him a grudging, "Thanks."

--

After they were out of the range of even elven hearing, MatchlessMinion told ZipZing, "I warned him about letting my sister get involved in city building, but he just laughed. Now look at it!"

Danika replied with amusement, "It is pretty cat centric isn't it? But you might not be able to blame that entirely on SaltySiamese, Justin likes cats a lot too, right?"

"He likes them, but he doesn't wear cat clothes, collect figurines, and post their images everywhere like my silly sister," he told her seriously.

Danika felt like she had no room to comment, with her collection of draconic things, so she focused on the other point of interest that MatchlessMinion had revealed, and asked teasingly, "You actually like him quite a bit don't you?"

"He's not bad," MatchlessMinion agreed, as he vanished into the scrubby vegetation around the inlet.

Danika grinned at the nearly invisible wavering of movement in the air where the chinchillamin had stood, and activated her own invisibility spell. Ambushing the pirates who thought they'd gotten away from the mermaids was kind of fun.

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