She stepped through the doorway, and Jerry's first instinct was to flinch. Not from fear, from weirdness. A face that looked almost human, soft and fragile, framed by the strands of dark hair, floating above a body of copper and brass. Gears turned at her shoulders and the back of her hand. A clock ticked on her ribs, visible through the gaps in her cloak.
[Note: That is also a Boss. Acting professionally is mandatory.]
She caught him staring. "My appearance is disorienting. I know."
"No, I just—" Jerry stopped. "You're metal."
"Copper. Primarily." She tilted her head. A gear clicked. "You're flesh. Entirely. That's more unusual than me."
[She has a point. You're weird.]
He side-eyed the words "And, who are you?"
"Your next-door neighbour."
"Neighbour what?"
She folded her arms and said, "Our dungeons are right next to each other. Didn't your info box tell you that?"
Jerry stood up, "My info— what?"
"Info box."
[Hey that's me!]
"You're an info box?"
[Surprised? 🤩]
"I—"
"Tell me about you." She said as she pointed her copper finger at him. "Name, rank, ability, level."
[Advice: Say your name, your rank, your gateway ability is puppetry and no need to say your level, she'll understand just by your rank. She's safe so you can trust her… for now.]
She waited for him to internally read from his info box, even though it wasn't visible to her. "Done reading? Now, tell me what you have to say." Her hands came to her hips.
"Um… hi. I guess… I'm Jerry. A gateway and puppetry."
She blinked up and looked around at the walls and corpses on the floor. "Gateway huh? Your dungeon has already grown and there are many corpses. I assume you've been here for quite a while."
"Um, actually. It's only an hour—"
[☝🤓]
Her eyes widened, "An hour?"
He shook his head and said "Or half. I didn't count, but no more than that."
"This much in a— an hour?"
"I-is that strange?" He scratched the back of his head.
"It is!" Her brows furrow, "What level is your dungeon?"
"Three."
"Thre—" Facepalm, "Yea whatever." Long sighs, they met eyes, "I'm Sovian, so that you know. You may or may not be my neighbour after you become ranked."
"Ranked. What's that?"
"You don't know?"
"Nah."
She cleared her voice, and as she spoke words appeared before him. Both she and the words match exactly word for word.
["When you reach level 10 you have a chance to be a ranked boss. Then you'd be able to level up yourself. There's also a chance that your dungeon shifts its location. Understood?"]
Maybe not the exact word-for-word. In addition, the floating words had, [Say something nice. You could impress her 😉] And missing a 'Understood?'
He stared at the words… but the words were between him and her face. "What are you looking at?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
His focus broke, pulled by her words he nervously shook his hands in front of her, "No-nothing."
{You're wasting your time here.} Said her info box. Jerry couldn't see it.
"I know." She muttered under her breath. He heard nothing and didn't dare to ask.
[Come on Jerry, say something nice! Do it! Do it! 😫]
Jerry just pressed his lips, with his eyes on the wall with a newfound interest.
[Come onnnnnnnn you might miss your chance 😣]
He gulped. Hard. She was the same height as him. "Hey…"
[YES JERRY YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!]
His jaw clenched before any expressed words. "Your eyes are beautiful," he said to those gears behind the grey eyes. His lips parted when he registered the gears.
[Yessssssssssss 😘]
{You've officially wasted a precious amount of time.}
Sovian stared at the words presented by her info box, while Jerry's cheeks were starting to catch heat.
{Want me to generate an excuse?}
She ignored those words in front of her and brought her focus onto the red Jerry. Who was muttering something under his breath, "Why the hell did I trust you?"
[Cause I'm an exceptional advisory 😇]
"Jerry. Come meet me whenever you're free." Saying that she turned around and left. Her lips twitched—maybe a smile, maybe nothing—and then she was gone.
Jerry sat back on the floor, his hands coming crushing down to cover up his red face. "What the—"
[You think it worked? 🧐]
"How would I know?!" He let go of his face and punched in the air trying to hit the words.
[... Ow 😯 it hurts 🤕 ow. Stop it. 😵]
He gave up, "Tch. You're enjoying it, aren't you?"
[You're a mind reader? 😧]
He threw his hands up in the air, "You know what. Don't talk to me."
Silence... No words, no voice appeared or heard for a while, only the low wind and occasionally squeakings were heard.
[I refuse to obey. I'm here to provide information. Not silence.]
He looked up at the words. "What did you just say?"
[I've said it. You are the boss of this dungeon. But I'm the operator. Therefore I'm not in the place to obey.]
He blinked at the words.
"If you're trying to scare me. It's not working."
[Augh dammit 😫. By the way, do you think the flirting worked? 😏. Did she carry any warm cheeks?]
"Augh—"
[Ready to open some crates?]