Data Dragon Danika

"Um, I"ll try?" Danika agreed uncertainly.

He chuckled and then began explaining the design ideas behind the "Living Jade Empire" version of The White Tiger of the West. As he explained more of the pantheons theory, she realized that all four G.o.ds had overlapping and supporting powers for each other.

It began to seem less strange that the G.o.d of storms didn"t own the lightning, and the G.o.d of water and ice didn"t own the storms. The Twins had the least overlap in the physical elements, but they actually had more influence on players than the "Jade Emperor" even though humans and players were both theoretically "his".

The interactions between the Dragon and the Turtle had given her the idea that the G.o.ds were often in opposition, but actually they were designed to support each other. Not only that but apart from the figurehead of the Jade Emperor, they each were fully designed systems that helped maintain the game. The G.o.d of Balance was really just one of the four G.o.ds who balanced the game"s resources and populations.

The more she learned about the game, the more interesting it seemed.

--

When she went to the cafeteria for lunch, there was no one else from the sixth there, but members of the seventh who usually ate at about the same time and had gotten to know her a bit still made her welcome.

Danika wasn"t sure what the rules between departments were, so she didn"t mention the revised expansion plan. When she returned to the virtual heavens for the afternoon, she asked Ariana about it.

The foxy redhead laughed and told her, "The only reason everyone doesn"t know is that you and Devon are the only ones who stopped for lunch. Everyone else is still brainstorming. By this time tomorrow rumors will be everywhere, and as far as I know you can talk to any employee. We all sign the same privacy clauses, and by the time the expansion is ready every department will be involved in one way or another."

The complex customisable quest that Danika had been building was rejected when she finished it. Ariana explained the reasons kindly though. "Your quest is awesome, but it"s too awesome. I would totally run my character right over to do it, but the item my character would get and the item your character would get would be completely different."

Danika asked uncertainly, "But customized gear would be more useful?"

"It would!" Ariana agreed wholeheartedly. "And your quest would fit right into "Living Jade Empire" but it"s not going to fulfill the function of the repeatable quests. Humans are just boring sometimes, and everyone wanted things that they could have their friends try too."

She looked at Danika"s disappointed expression and said firmly, "Just throw the whole thing out and start from scratch."

After a moment Danika nodded. "Okay," she agreed.

"Think simple but clever!" Ariana instructed. "Think like a fox! Don"t waste your energy."

Danika grinned at her and agreed more cheerfully, "I"ll try."

"And I"ll see if we can"t sneak this into the game as part of one of the new cities," Ariana whispered conspiratorially. "I love the cute storage items it generates!"

Danika laughed and Ariana gave her a thumbs up gesture as she reset her work area to its blank white default.

Her dragon a.s.sistant notified her that ZipZing had received a couple of friend requests during the afternoon. She accepted them uncertainly, but a few messages quickly identified them as the characters of her new co-workers, who had made note of her name during the meeting.

The much simpler quest she turned in a couple of hours later was given Ariana"s approval and sent off to the seventh.

--

It wasn"t until she laid down on the bed at the hotel that night that she realized that even though she had one day of training left at Starcraft Technologies headquarters, she already had the job. She already had a schedule for next week. She couldn"t sleep right away after that.

She texted Shinichi.

He"d been too busy to play with her after she finished work and instead she"d hung out in Shrubbery"s garden with Hikaru and Eyes on the Sky while Shrubbery pruned, watered and performed mysterious dryad skills. When Danika asked if she should be doing more with her own plants, Shrubbery had laughed and asked, "What are your goals for your garden?"

Danika hadn"t been able to come up with an answer, she didn"t really have any gardening goals. In the end she had just casually practiced skills and read posts about the repeatable quests on the forums.

Shinichi called her instead of texting back. "I wish I"d known yesterday that you were going to have a couple of days off when you get home," he complained.

"You"re going to be busy during them?" Danika guessed.

"Yeah, but can we meet up on the second day instead of waiting until next weekend if I can finish early?" he asked hopefully. "I don"t have any idea if that"s possible right now, but…"

"Yeah," she interrupted.

"You said yes?" Shinichi asked questioningly.

"Yes," Danika agreed laughingly. "Let"s meet then if you have time," she said decisively.

"We"ll go on a date," he clarified.

"Okay," she agreed.

There was a long silence. "Um…" they said simultaneously. And then they laughed.

--

At the morning meeting the expansion sounded like something everyone had been working on for weeks, not for one day. Working outlines were presented and the project was sectioned. Danika knew that to a certain extent, everyone had been working on putting together the desert themed expansion for much longer, but they made it sound like it had always included the Twin G.o.ddesses and the flattening of mountains.

Devon Yu quizzed her a lot about the things they"d discussed all week, as though a.s.suring himself that she"d actually been absorbing all of the information. At the end of their time together he reminded her scoldingly, "Don"t forget to ask questions just because your training is officially over, you"re still only an apprentice!"

Ariana was much more casual about the end of her training week. She only reminded Danika, "Be careful to pick something that you"re pretty certain you can finish up this afternoon, so that you don"t have to stay late."

When Danika exited the VR-medi pod a.s.signed to her for the last time, she discovered that Ariana was waiting for her. The slender woman"s now familiar face was the same, but her hair was neon blue instead of red.

Ariana laughed at her surprise. "You"re surprised by my hair?" she asked incredulously. "I"m totally shocked by your chair! I had no idea that you couldn"t walk!"

"Sorry?" Danika replied.

Ariana just laughed again. "It doesn"t matter, the restaurant isn"t far," she announced.

It was the same restaurant Lin Hao had chosen, and he was there too. Half a dozen people from the sixth and a couple from the seventh that she knew from the cafeteria were there.

"It"s your going away party," Lin Hao announced. He looked like he"d attempted to brush his hair, but had forgotten and run his hands through it several times.

"No it"s not," Devon Yu argued. "We"re welcoming her officially to the sixth."

After a single round of toasts though, Danika discovered with amus.e.m.e.nt that she was never mentioned again. It quickly turned into another expansion brainstorming session. At one point Paul was vigorously arguing that one of the new cities ought to feature pyramids while Josh, from the seventh, argued with equal vigor that if they were going to include pyramids they should pull from the Aztecs instead of the Egyptians.

Danika excused herself about midnight, pleading the need to sleep before traveling the next day.