"That's a kind thing to say." Don looked at him directly. "But you know what I was. You know what the class system in this game did to that. I'm a thief now. Human racial restriction pushed me into physical classes and I picked thief because it was the closest fit. I'm not what I was at peak. I'm not going to walk into Skyrise at half my former capacity and call it coming home."
Victor's jaw tightened. "I have good thief players. You'd catch up inside a month,"
"It's not about catching up."
"Then what is it about?"
Don was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice had the quality of something that had been held carefully for a long time. "I don't want to be a laughing stock. Whatever I was before, that version of things is done. I'm not rebuilding it under someone else's roof." He paused. "Brother Star and the others would understand. Let me have my dignity."
Victor looked at him for a long moment, jaw working slightly, and then sent a friend request.
Don declined it.
