The woman raises an eyebrow, “How about we Introduce ourselves first?”

  Gem nods, “Ah, gotcha, same thing? Anyway, you can call me Gem! I’m the They/Them causing May/Hem!”

  The woman bridles, “I didn’t get here by accident! It was just that there were too many people and I ah, yeah, here I am.”

  Gem, “And your name is?”

  The woman fake coughs, “Ah, right, you can call me June and uh, She/Her? I’ve never really introduced myself that way, but it only seems fair.”

  Gem shrugs, “Meh, I get it out of the way so I can sort out the pricks from the mistaken. Does a wonderful job! Anyway, I was running for a similar reason, though not quite. I went random and it gave me an alignment locked species. You’re looking at a ChaosKin!”

  June sighs, “Yeah, I can tell. Not many beings with color changing fur. Most times it is chromatophores in scale or skin changing color.”

  Gem makes a sideways peace sign in front of their eyes and flashes a jaunty smile, “Well it isn’t an illusion, I only know wind magic right now.”

  June squints at them, “What are you doing?”

  Gem shrugs, “Having fun?”

  June, “Ooh-kay...

  “So, uh, want to work together to get out of this?”

  Gem tilts their head to the side, “I thought that was a given? I was more expecting you to offer to be my friend and then stammer out an excuse about meaning you wanted to add me to your friends list.”

  June stammers and turns red.

  Gem nods as June tries to get her tongue untwisted. “I’ll take that as a yes and Yes, I will be your friend!

  “Hey system, invite June to be my friend!”

  *Ding*, and a screen pops up in front of June.

  {

  Gem Paroxysm has invited you to be their friend. Do you accept? [Yes/No]

  }

  “I um. I was uh. I wasn’t expecting. The offer was to uh. For this situation? Though if you want? Yes, yes, I would like to, uh, be friends with you?” June barely manages to stammer that out. In fact, the system doesn’t recognize her as having accepted the friend request.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Gem smiles extra wide, “Wonderful! Now that we’re friends you should accept that request so we can keep in touch better! I’m so glad I can finally start a game with someone!”

  June manages to press the correct option at this point.

  *Ding*, and it is Gem’s turn to get a blue screen.

  {

  June has accepted your friend request.

  }

  Gem frowns, “Wait a second!”

  June looks worried, but Gem bulls through, “You can have a single name? I thought you would need the classic first name, last name combo. I so would have just gone with Gem if I had known that!”

  June can’t help but giggle, “I guess that hasn’t spread to the Internet yet. The SAI that designed this game, so I’ve heard, took one look at the mess that is names and made it a single entry. Want a first and last name? A middle name? Surname first or just a given name? You want it, you get it.”

  Gem shakes their head, “Once that gets out we’re going to start seeing some stupidly long names.”

  June shrugs, “And once they tire of it, they’ll just go by a nickname or get their name changed. Names aren’t unique or anything, after all. Oh, and don’t tell anyone I told you, but it seems the SAI team in charge of the SciFi game are going to implement this as well.”

  Gem sighs, “I wish it was that easy to change a name irl. Nothing against my government name, but really, at this point we’re identified by our id number and not name.”

  June, “So, are you going to change your name to just ‘Gem’, since it is an option?”

  Gem laughs, “Not even five minutes ago I would have done so in a heartbeat! Except, well, now that it is an option? Well, I kind of like my name, so I’m going to stick with it!”

  June smiles, “I’m glad I could help you settle into your name.” Then a frown crosses her face, “Though we should probably focus on the more imminent problem? I don’t know how long the trees will last.”

  Gem’s eyes go wide and their tree shakes from an impact. As it has been doing since they first climbed it. “I had completely filtered that out!”

  June nods, “I’d noticed. Now, do you have a plan? Because I’m not exactly swimming in them myself.”

  Gem’s smile gets uncomfortably wide, “We just need to have a little fun! Though I guess it wouldn’t hurt if you shared what you can do.”

  June doesn’t particularly like their answer, but shares that she wanted to focus on buffs, getting the free spell “Cat’s Paw”. A fun spell that boosts your dexterity and damage. “That’s actually how I got up here. I don’t have some absurd Body stat to do it on my own.”

  Gem nodded, “My Body stat is pretty sweet! Now, how is that buff working?”

  June shrugs, “It’s one of the free spells, don’t expect much. While the numbers are purposefully obfuscated, at low level Cat’s Paw gives a straight additive boost. So the less agile you are and the lower your level, the better it works. Though I’m assuming we’re still both first level or thereabouts, so even if you had max rank in body, the spell is going to provide a significant boost.”

  Gem, “Cool, but I guess I should have been specific. Never been a buffer myself, so I didn’t look it up. How does the attack boost work with my spell?”

  June, “It doesn’t. While the system applies ‘attack boost’ pretty liberally, the name guides the limitation. You have to be in physical contact with what you’re attacking with. No spells, no flails, and no thrown daggers.”

  Gem snaps their fingers, “Snap, crackle, and pop! That’s unfortunate, I guess no fighting the boar. Time for plan B!”

  Heyo! If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider reviewing the story! It would really help it gain traction. Also, as an incentive, if we hit 500 follows I’ll release a bonus chapter!

  Oh, and if you want to ? There is at least a chapter’s worth over on right now! You can also head over to my to hang out and ask questions. While I do try to respond to comments, I don’t always catch everything.