Ginger, the capybara, was one of the characters that glowed faintly yellow as he relaxed by the fire pit. Two bunnies and a pika in the area also gave off the same light. Shelby tapped her chin, "Should I update them, AIDAN?"

  AIDAN floated out from beside Shelby and drifted through the air, "Only if you wish to continue the path you have unlocked. There are other outcomes that you could pursue by not accepting the world update."

  "Ah, like if I had killed Naile..." Shelby frowned. How would that have turned out?

  She shook her head and immediately regretted it. She had gotten so used to the feeling of two long ears sprouting from her head that the lack of the floppy feeling sent an electric buzz down her spine. She scanned the area around her for a place to sit, but when nothing registered in the first half second she was forced to flop over onto the ground. She pinched her eyes shut and drew her knees up to her chest. This never gets any easier.

  "Your synchronization levels are dropping at a promising rate," AIDAN informed her. Yippee...

  She groaned and rocked back and forth. A cold, wet feeling on her ear made her gasp. Coda nudged her face a few times before curling up on top of her and resting his chin on her shoulder. She whispered, "There he is... my best boy..."

  The feeling of his soft, fluffy fur did a lot to distract her as she fought through the character swapping sickness. After five minutes she could sit up and pet him properly. Caramel was sitting cross legged nearby, smiling happily as she watched them. Mallow was curled up like a bread roll in the rabbit's lap.

  As Shelby lay in the soft grass, she thought back to the player menu she had unlocked, and asked, "Did you learn anything from our upgrade, AIDAN?"

  "I acquired a great amount of information, but I believe that we will be best served by contacting a player once we return to the game world. Curiously, there appeared to be no other players in Copperglade nor Kin Bleak," AIDAN said.

  "That does seem kinda weird. Were there any nearby at all?"

  "There were several dozen in the region to the north of Kin Bleak."

  "Huh, well I guess we'll try calling one of them, and if no one responds then we'll go to that place. How long until we can go back?"

  "I would advise against playing as your characters Caramel or Ginger, as you remain tightly synchronized to their experiences. You should anticipate at least a half hour of withdrawal, at minimum."

  "I was thinking about making a new character anyways."

  Shelby gently guided Coda off of her side and stood, stretching in the pleasant sunlight of the meadow. She called up her character creation menu and selected the Daizi option. She currently had three rabbits, one pika, and one capybara. AIDAN chimed in, "My model suggests that you would benefit the most from making a non-Daizi character, preferably one with substantially larger body proportions. I suggest choosing from the Toil or Eos race to produce maximal alterations to your embodied perception. However, your new character class is restricted to a Daizi origin and I anticipate that your curiosity has been stimulated."

  Shelby wrinkled her nose, "Yes, I really really want to see what Nisa's class is like."

  "In that case, I would suggest that you play as a Daizi variant that you have not experienced before, and choosing the smallest sized variant would maximize your synchronization loss."

  Shelby scrolled through the variant options as representative forms appeared in front of her. There were three different variants that looked like mice, the 'Myini', 'Folin', and 'Kanna'. They were, in Shelby's understanding from glazing over their descriptions, the equivalents of field mice, forest mice, and city mice, respectively. The city mice looked a lot like Plin, and they seemed to be the shortest of the three on average, so Shelby selected 'Kanna'.

  Kanna mice only had three basic class options to choose from, Brushcoursers, Fantasians, and Seedsages. The fourth option, a Mezzechever, stepped into existence a moment after the others.

  That's a dramatic description for a cook, Shelby thought as she selected the class.

  The short, dark furred mouse that stood before Shelby wore a practical apron and metal plated gloves that covered every inch of its hands. Shelby spent a few minutes adjusting how her character looked. She was temped to make the mouse a near twin to Plin, but she didn't think her friend would appreciate the sudden appearance of a doppelganger after a traumatic night. Just a sister, then. She chose to give the mouse a pair of fluffy braids tied with red ribbons, and stark white markings around her eyes. Since she was going to be working in a kitchen, she also added a red bandana that swept back over her hair. It was embellished with a white strawberry pattern.

  And for a name... The new class made Shelby think about her favorite place to eat on campus, a small coffee house and bakery. Their patissier was incredibly talented, and Shelby could never figure out why they worked at such a quiet hole-in-the-wall. She was always envious of what they could make. Maybe Shelby could become that good at baking with this character. She loved to bake simple things at home, like study treats.

  Shelby winced as she thought about the fire that Tara had mentioned. The real fantasy is being able to bake as much as I want without burning down my home... In any case, her favorite menu item to get at the cafe, other than a large chai latte, was...

  AIDAN confirmed Shelby's choice, "Starting a new character, Mille Feuille, as a Daizi Mezzechever."

  Huh, only two this time, and neither of them are what Nisa used to attack Naile. Shelby mulled over her choices. She was drawn to the baking style simply to be able to make pastries, but the healing and poison abilities of the cooking school did seem slightly more useful. Ah well, I'll probably be cooking more than fighting. I want to make fun pastries!

  Shelby selected the Rosette Style. It was only now that she realized she hadn't watched the usual introductory video. She had still started in Pico's garden courtyard, but there was no one around. She checked her quest log.

  Her mini-map showed a bright orange circle on top of the inn. Ah, straight to Nisa then. Shelby took a step towards the recently renovated steps out of the area and nearly leapt out of her skin. She whipped around and stared at her slender tail. Caramel and Ginger both had tails, but they were stubby things that she barely noticed. Her new tail swished around behind her as if it had a mind of its own and was reacting to her surprise.

  It wasn't bad, but it did feel incredibly strange. She jogged across the courtyard and felt her tail shifting to help her find her balance. She tried to move it around, but she had limited success. She could move it a little, but it was hard to think about what to do. She could swish it, hold it in one direction or another, and very slightly curve it, but that was all.

  AIDAN spoke, "Your experimentation is providing valuable data. I will direct you towards characters with unusual features in the future."

  Shelby laughed, "What could be more unusual than this?"

  AIDAN answered earnestly, "Some members of the Antha races can direct portions of their bodies to flower."

  "That... sounds horrifying. Thank you for the clarification."

  "You are welcome," AIDAN replied.

  After taking another moment to get used to her new body, Shelby walked to the inn. As she walked by, she saw that the homes damaged in the Hodekin attack were now charred and hollow. She hung her head in shame, but the villagers around the scene ignored her entirely. She thought about apologizing to a family who was hauling lightly damaged furniture out of their home, but she reminded herself that she was not Caramel at the moment.

  When she arrived at the dining courtyard, she was greeted by a gallery of familiar faces. Nisa, Thimble, and Plin were seated in a circle around the charcuterie board that Shelby had been eating from minutes ago. Plin held two huge handfuls of cauliflower and peas, while Thimble chewed thoughtfully on a cucumber wedge. Pico was standing near the far end of the plaza where Naile and her two dozen Hodekin clanmates were gathering broken furniture to stack on a rickety cart.

  At least they're making themselves useful, but I can't leave them unattended for long, Shelby thought. She walked up to Nisa, and all three of the mice that were eating looked up at her with confused expressions. With a nervous laugh, Shelby held her hands out to Nisa, "Uh, hi. I'm here to learn how to be a chef...?"

  Nisa stood up and dusted herself off, "Wow, I am looking for some help in my kitchen, but I didn't think someone would show up 5 minutes after I asked."

  Shelby rubbed the back of her neck, It's so weird talking to them as someone else. Nisa continued, "In fact, as you can see, things aren't in very good shape right now. I probably won't be serving any food until this is all fixed up again."

  "Ah... should I help pick up?" Shelby asked. Her new voice was kind of gravelly and it sounded strange to her ears. Are gruff voices a city mouse thing?

  "Hmm," Nisa tilted her head from side to side, "This isn't really your problem, is it? Augh, I really do want an assistant... what a mess."

  Nisa turned and shouted towards Pico, whose ears swiveled backwards, "Pico! Do you need any help?"

  Pico turned and walked over to Shelby and Nisa. She was much taller than Shelby when she was playing as Caramel, and as Mille she was a towering presence. Pico placed a hand on her hip and looked down at Shelby, "Another visitor? You picked an unfortunate time to come to our humble town."

  "I... can see that," Shelby said uncertainly. This is so awkward, should I just play along or...

  "You're a Gourmet like Nisa?" Pico asked with an assessing look.

  "Yes, I came here to learn more," Shelby invented a motivation on the spot.

  "Huh..." Pico seemed perturbed by that, "Do you wandering types have a newsletter or something?"

  Shelby stared into Pico's eyes for a second that stretched on forever, then said, "S-sure?"

  "Fascinating. Well, I don't think I need any help picking up. I have a whole pack of dogs on loan for that, but I did have a few thoughts for something else that might speed our recovery. Are you interested?"

  Shelby nodded, "Sure, if that's okay with N-" she forced herself to cough. Would it be totally bonkers if I knew all their names? Augh... ,"N-new... new boss. My new boss, I mean."

  Nisa snickered, "My name is Nisa, this is mayor Pico, oh, and those two are Plin and Thimble."

  Plin gave an absent wave as she picked through vegetables, and Thimble raised one skeptical eyebrow at Shelby. She raised her hand in return, "I'm Mille."

  Pico turned towards Plin and frowned, "Speaking of a certain Plin, shouldn't you be checking on the guild plaza?"

  Plin's eyes went wide and she quickly stuffed several handfuls of vegetables into a cloak pocket before standing and hurrying away. Nisa frowned after the mouse scurrying by as she spoke indirectly to Shelby, "No, I don't mind. Consider it training. We're here to help the people who eat the food we make. No customers means nothing to cook!"

  Pico smiled, "Wonderful, here is what I was thinking..."

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