Relationship Status - Original Story

1.

*Boop*Boop*Boop*

I waved my hand in the general direction of my phone. There was no reason for my alarm to be on. Today was my day off and I wasn't on call. It took a couple of swipes, but I found my phone. I held it to my face. My vision was blurry from still being half asleep. Even then, I could see the screen was clear.

*Boop*Boop*Boop*

The sound didn't come from my phone. I was mostly awake now. My roommate had the bad habit of never turning their alarm off. They slept through it constantly. Our schedules matched up pretty well, so it wasn't a major inconvenience.

*Boop*Boop*Boop*

It didn't sound like his alarm.

*Boop*Boop*Boop*Beep*

I sat up only to be met by a floating blue window. It eased back a little to give more room. The screen was semi-opaque. It faded out when I tried to look through, then solidified when I focused. I worked in IT and will totally admit that I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to technology. This made no sense. I knew that there were display screens that could be as thin as paper and durable enough to take a hit from a sledgehammer. The thing floating in front of me made that tech look like a flip-phone.

-WELCOME-

I scooted back. The word appeared on the panel without a sound. At least the beeping had stopped.

-PLEASE RAISE YOUR NON-DOMINANT HAND-

It was possible this was a dream within a dream. Or, I had some sort of brain aneurism and was currently a drooling mess on the floor. The third option was that this was real.

I raised my left hand. The window shrunk into a cube. I flinched as it zipped into my palm. It passed through my skin. A chill ran up my arm as I watched the cube of light come to a stop at my wrist. I shivered as a layer of frost formed on my skin. I wanted to scream, or move, something, but I couldn’t. All I could do was watch as the cube shattered and spread under my skin. It chilled my skin as it raced up my arm. I felt it touch my neck before the blue light flashed. It filled the room and blinded me.

The cold chill on my wrist had faded into something familiar. When my vision returned, I saw a wristwatch where the frost had been a moment before. I sprang from my bed and sprinted to the bathroom. The mirror showed my reflection looked fine.

Maybe that was a dream within a dream.

*BOOP*BEEP*

My gaze snapped down to the strap on my wrist. Instead of a watch face there was a blue square. It blinked. Slowly, I reached my right hand over and tapped the square. The screen appeared in front of me again. Now it was roughly the size of a standard tablet.

-INTEGRATION COMPLETE-
-TUTORIAL START-

Something felt off. Not just whatever this was, but the world in general. I looked back up to the mirror only for my head to move much slower than usual. It felt like I had to push through mud.

-TIME DILATION ACTIVATED-
-ASSESSMENT COMPLETE-
-WELCOME - BARTHOLOMEW MASON EVERETT-

That was weird. Only my grandma called me Bartholomew. The name came from my great uncle, her brother, and she didn't see the reason to avoid using it. I had started going by Mason when I was still a kid. It was a move I did not regret between the Bart Simpsons jokes and being called Fart.

LEVEL - 1
TITLE - LOCKED
DAILY POINTS - 5
EXPERIENCE - 0
EXPERIENCE TO NEXT LEVEL - 10
-SKILLS -
*EXCHANGE*
*INCREASE/DECREASE*
*RANDOMIZE*
*SCAN*

"Uh." The word came out pitched low and vibrated my throat.

Time dilation, right. The world, including me, was moving in slow motion. My brain seemed to be fine.

- EXPERIENCE AND LEVEL -

YOUR LEVEL WILL INCREASE ONCE YOU REACH THE BENCHMARK. THE AMOUNT WILL BECOME HIGHER WITH EACH CONSECUTIVE LEVEL.
EXPERIENCE IS GAINED THROUGH USE OF SKILLS AND SUCCESSFUL ENCOUNTERS
INCREASING YOUR LEVEL WILL UNLOCK OPTIONS TO UPGRADE OR ACQUIRE SKILLS
EACH LEVEL WILL INCREASE THE DAILY POINT LIMIT

- POINTS -

SKILLS REQUIRE POINTS TO USE
DAILY POINTS ARE PAID AT AMOUNT ASIGNED TO CURRENT LEVEL
DAILY POINTS RESET AT MIDNIGHT (LOCAL TIME)
BONUS POINTS ARE AWARDED WHEN YOUR LEVEL IS INCREASED
BONUS POINTS EXPIRE AFTER 30 DAYS
CERTAIN ACHEIVEMENTS WILL ALSO AWARD BONUS POINTS OR SKILLS

- SKILLS -

SKILLS ALLOW THE USER TO ALTER THE RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER SENTIENT BEING

-EXCHANGE -
COST 1 POINT - ALLOWS USER TO EXCHANGE THE STATUS FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER
*CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE PER PERSON PER 24 HOURS*

-INCREASE/DECREASE -
COST 1 POINT - ALLOWS USER TO ALTER THE STATUS OF A PERSON ONE STEP
*DECREASING A STATUS DOES NOT REWARD POINTS*
*LIMITED BY AVAILABLE POINTS*

-RANDOMIZE -
COST 1 POINT - ALLOWS USER TO RANDOMIZE THE STATUS OF ONE PERSON
*LIMITED BY AVAILABLE POINTS*
*DOES NOT ALTER CONNECTION*
*COST INCREASES WITH CONSECUTIVE PER PERSON WITHIN 24 HOUR PERIOD*

- SCAN -
COST 0 POINTS - ALLOWS USER TO SEARCH FOR EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS
*DEFAULT SETTING - LOCAL*
*OPTIONS - ACTIVE, ALL, GENDER, HISTORY, LOCAL, STATUS*
*CAN BE USED 10x PER 24 HOUR PERIOD*

-PLEASE SET SYSTEM INTERFACE - MENTAL/VERBAL/PHYSICAL-

Mental.

-SYSTEM INTERFACE - MENTAL-

That was easy.

-TIME DILATION DEACTIVATED-

I lurched back as the world around me returned to speed. My hands instinctively latched onto the sink to steady myself. This was one intense dream, if it was one. A blank panel appeared when I raised my wrist like I was telling the time. It disappeared when I lowered my arm. I tried it again. It reappeared. I lowered my arm halfway, then put it back up fast. The panel dimmed as it lowered then popped back to focus once it was back up.

My experiment was interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door.

"Dude." My roommate whined. "Mason, hurry up. My eyes are floating here."

"Did not need to know that." I opened the door and shimmied out as he rushed by.

The panel didn't appear when I walked. It seemed to only show up when I raised my arm in front of me. That was kind of odd considering it had floated freely when it had first arrived. It popped open in front of me off to my left at the thought.

"Neat." I muttered.

Now it was time for some research and experimenting. I tapped my laptop awake once I was in my room. The three news sites I opened didn't have anything about windows popping up for people all over the world. Either I was the only one, or there was a limited number. Further searches brought up a list of books and manga. The System was a common trope, but the stories were focused on adventuring and classic videogame mechanics. My window didn't seem to be focused on combat. There was a distinct lack of monsters in the news as well. Hordes of creatures showed up around the same time as the system in most of the stories. I bookmarked a couple of the manga that looked interesting for future reading. It would help pass the time when I was at work.

Now it was time to experiment.

-SCAN LOCAL-
Jacob Messenger - Roommate
Status: Neutral - Glad that you pay rent on time

Katherine Jones - Acquaintance
Status: Neutral - Thinks your name is Jason

Jennifer Teed - Neighbor
Status: Neutral - Glad you didn't tell the landlord she smokes

It was a little sad that I only knew one of my neighbors. I wasn't sure how far the 'local' setting actually went. Jen lived next door; our place shared a wall with hers. I didn't even know the name of the people in the apartment on other side. The only reason I knew Jen by name was because I got a couple of pieces of her mail and found her smoking on the balcony once.

I had five points to spend today. A quick glance at the clock told me it was just after five in the morning. Damn. I didn't even wake up this early on the days that I had to work. If the points were refreshed every day at midnight, then I would have almost a full day to use them.

Katherine had to be Kate. She was Jake's girlfriend for the moment. They would get together for a couple of weeks, breakup, and then get hooked up again to repeat the process. So far, the longest stretch has been a month. I was on a 'wave and nod' level of interaction with her.

Katherine Jones +1
Confirm Yes/No
Status: Friendly - Likes your smile

I squinted at the readout. Neutral to friendly made sense. She was probably asleep so it wasn't like I could tell exactly if there was any real change. If I was smart, I'd go back to sleep. I didn't plan on waking up for another few hours at least. Sleep did sound amazing. Still, I wanted to try one more thing.

-SCAN ACTIVE-

A much longer list appeared in front of me. It included all of my family, my coworkers, the employees at the coffee shop I liked, and my landlord. I scrolled through the list until I found my younger sister.

Sarah Everett - Sister
Status: Annoyed - Wishes you'd visit so your parents wouldn't bother her so much

I chuckled. She had graduated high school last year and decided to get a job rather than go to college. Our parents weren't happy about it. She tried to tell them about student loan debt and how experience was more important these days, but they didn't listen. They constantly pestered her to go to college. Mom also mentioned that it was the perfect place to meet a good man to marry.

Unfortunately, I wasn't immune to their pestering. I have been at my job for a little over three years now. To them that meant I should have my own place, a girlfriend, or preferably, a wife with a kid on the way. We lived in a small town, so everybody knew everybody, or at least knew someone who knew them. That meant any time I went on a date reached my parents within a couple of hours. I didn't know my neighbors because our work schedules didn't line up and neither of us went out of our way to greet the other. Jennifer was the same year as my sister, which put her around nineteen or twenty. Before we were neighbors, I knew her as the friend of that one girl I took drivers ed with. Kate and I had shared a few classes back in high school. Like me, she had escaped for a few years to go to college.

I didn't like my sister being annoyed with me.

Sarah Everett +1
Confirm Yes/No
Status: Melancholy - Wishes you would visit. Misses you.

"That's not fair." I scoffed.

Now I would have to go visit. That was not how I wanted to spend my days off. My plans had consisted of gaming and pizza delivery. That was a problem for future-me. Now-me had some more spelunking to do.

I continued to scroll through the list of people. Another name caught my eye.

Kelly Harris - Distant Friend
Status: Ambivalent - Sometimes thinks of that time you two kissed

"Hm." I read the line again.

Kelly Harris. That was a girl I hadn't thought of in a while. We were friends by proxy, she was friends with one of my friends. The two of us really only saw each other when everyone got together to hang out. She had been cute, tall, and one of the few openly geeky girls. We had stayed up late one time talking about various games when we realized everyone else had either left or gone to sleep. Sleep deprivation caught up to us and we broke into a fit of giggles. I remember thinking that her lips looked soft.

It was soft, gentle, and sweet. We stared at each other for a moment. I swear I was going to kiss her again if we weren't interrupted. The next two days were a whirlwind of activity as I packed up and left for college. We've seen each other in passing, but I've never had the chance to talk to her.

I hadn't tried Exchange or Randomize yet. She seemed like a safe choice to try.

Kelly Harris - Randomize
Confirm Yes/No

The status under her name rolled like a slot machine.

Kelly Harris - Friend With Benefits
Status: Desperate - Needs to see you fast

*DING*

That was a sound I actually recognized. It was the messenger on my phone. I picked it up and looked at the screen.

· Kelly Harris: Hey, are you awake?

I stared at the message. Holy shit, it works.

Author Note:
Were the game messages too much?