Chapter 438: 80: Connective ChitChat

Mei took pity on Danika and went back to discussing the two games. "I think it's like (even though it's not really my thing) if you met a frog in 'Living Jade Empire' and it told you that you need to save a princess, it would be normal? But if some random low level tech tells me I need to save a trade company's princess in the demo, I feel like something isn't right?"

"You get quests from frogs in this game you like so much?" Hati asked Danika doubtfully.

"Sure, that can happen," Danika agreed. "It's a fantasy setting, so practically anything is possible? We recently had the luckiest flying pig in the world join our guild." She turned and asked Mei, "So it feels like the distribution channels for the quests are off and they are too extravagant?"

"Maybe? Like I said, I'm not really sure, it just doesn't… do something right. Anyway, a lucky pig? Seriously?" Mei asked with a shake of her head. "Who would play as that?"

Danika grinned and replied, "You'd be surprised. But it's actually an NPC, a flying pig so unlucky that it's lucky. Like it'll trip for no reason, and bash its little head against a rotten stump, which then splits open to reveal a stash of hidden gold. As far as we know it's the only flying pig to have survived until it was old enough to fly."

"Your game is so weird," Mei complained.

"Telling them about Thimblepot?" Ryuske asked as he came down the stairs.

"Yeah," Danika agreed.

She glanced at her aunt and didn't know how to react to the appreciative look she was giving Ryuske as he came down the stairs. She turned her gaze toward Mei instead, only to find an evaluating expression on her cousin's face. She turned back toward the stairs in case she'd missed something, but decided that Ryuske looked about the same as he did every day.

He smiled at them all as he casually grabbed a plate and sat between Mei and Danika, while Mei and Danika introduced their aunt. He was facing Hati across the table, and Danika almost flinched as Hati asked him, "So you actually play this game too?"

Ryuske smiled and replied lightly, "It took me awhile to actually try it for myself, but it's surprisingly fun. I rather like seeing old legends carried forward like this. Of course, you need to know a bit about history and legends from around the world to recognize and appreciate them."

Danika and Mei exchanged a confused glance as Hati actually asked more about the game with apparently real interest. But after a few minutes they joined in and did their best to present VR gaming in a good light.

After a while the conversation turned back to the premiere that Mei and Hati had only briefly commented on when they arrived. They were both shocked when Danika admitted how much having the dress and chair upholstery made had cost.

"I was really glad when it turned out that Underneath's production company was covering the cost of the dress," Danika admitted. "I feel like finances are a little tight lately."

"Are you still paying for your apartment?" Mei asked with a trace of guilt.

Danika shook her head. "Not anymore, when the lease came up again I let it go. I'm pretty well settled in here now."

Ryuske reminded her gently, "You don't have to pay back the remodeling if it's a burden you know."

Hati said a little critically, "You should be holding her to any agreement that she made. Life is very difficult for children who learned that they can just let things slide when things get difficult."

Danika opened her mouth to object, but Ryuske beat her to it. He said rather sharply, "Danika is already a very responsible young woman." Hati looked a little shocked by his quick response, and Ryuske gentled his tone and added, "I suspect that she is more like you than you realize."

Mei agreed, "She really is sometimes." Danika gave her cousin a really doubtful look, and Mei added sweetly, "Independent, snappish when irritated, and almost never takes anything back?"

Ryuske grinned at Mei and then told Hati, "And even if you insist on treating her as a child, you can still fall back on the reasoning my father would have used; where as long as she's living under my roof, it's up to me whether I provide or deny her financial support."

Hati replied sharply, "Your father was an ass!"

Danika and Mei gazed at their aunt with astonishment, but Ryuske just laughed and agreed, "He really was!"

Hati blinked at him, and Danika asked cautiously, "You didn't get along with him?"

"No," Ryuske replied wryly. "Especially not after I told him that I was in love with a boy."

An uncomfortable silence settled at the table for a moment. Danika wondered if it had anything to do with the reason that he and Hikaru had such an obviously loving but not quite lover-like relationship. Mei was the only one who seemed unsurprised.

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Ryuske looked amused as he added after a moment, "I decided a few years later that I'm actually bi-sexual, or perhaps asexual." He raised an eyebrow at Danika and asked, "Shinichi didn't tell you that?"

"No," Danika replied uncertainly. "I really don't know how I feel about it either, other than surprised?"

Ryuske laughed and told her with amusement, "That's almost word for word how Shinichi reacted."

"There is nothing wrong with that," Hati said firmly. Ryuske just smiled at her, and she blushed.

The conversation returned to the topic of the premiere for awhile, and then wandered. After a while Ryuske excused himself from their conversation, and left to work on his current "project".

After he was gone Danika showed them around the rest of the residence, and Hati commented, "He must be difficult to live with."

Danika gazed at her with surprise and objected, "No he's not! I mean, it took me a while to get used to living here, but I think if Shinichi and I moved out now, I'd worry about things like whether or not he was eating properly. I actually thought about it while I was trying to decide if I'd break up with Shinichi if he told me he was cheating someday. If I did, I'd be losing them both, and I think that would be very sad."

Mei exclaimed indignantly, "He'd better not cheat on you! What happened that's making you worry about it?"

"Nothing happened," Danika insisted.

"Oh, it was that press release wasn't it? I really don't think you need to worry because of that," Mei replied quickly with her own answer.

"If a man cheats on you…" Hati began authoritatively, but then she stopped, shook her head, and pursed her lips for a moment. "No. It's up to you what you do, it's your relationship."

"Wow," Mei said with amazement. "I never thought I'd ever hear you say something like that!"

Hati actually rolled her eyes at her nieces and then added, "But don't waste time trying to predict disaster scenarios like what will I do if he cheats, if an earthquake destroys our house, or if the world goes to war again. You can't control whether or not any of those things will ever happen."

Mei liked the changes they'd made to their room, and after looking around it, commented, "I guess your boyfriend's compulsive neatness is actually convenient for you."

"You could try to emulate his habits," Hati muttered. "You shouldn't have to clear off a chair when someone drops by."

Mei just grinned, and Danika announced suddenly, "We are going to get married later."

Hati gave her a short nod and said calmly, "Mei told me."

"So have you decided when later is yet?" Mei asked.

"Kind of? But not with an actual date set." Danika explained what she and Shinichi had decided they were probably going to be aiming for, all of the expectations his career would place on the event, and the way his money was tied up until he was older. She had kind of expected Hati and Mei to be rather critical, so she was surprised when they both declared the prospective plan to be very practical in an approving fashion.

Mei instructed her, "Don't forget to ask us for help with things as you firm your plans up! Big weddings are a pain, but you don't have to do everything yourselves."

"And there's nothing wrong with taking your time and changing your mind later if you want to," Hati pointed out. Danika started to frown until their aunt added, "Sudden elopements happen all the time, and people actually enjoy scandals."

"Right?" Mei agreed cheerfully.

As they were leaving, Hati added, "And when I said that I thought he must be difficult to live with, I just meant that the man seems difficult to read, and a little too clever with his tongue."

"I really can't tell if that means you like him or not!" Danika called back laughingly as the door closed behind them, but she thought that she saw her aunt grin.

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