Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Proxemetics
[Sage's pov]
I don't like to act on the opinions of people too soon. People will always judge others and have biases. However, when you first meet a person, these opinions are often wrong. It is a fact that people fill in the blanks of things they don't know of others, using nothing but their own imagination and whatever knowledge they have of that person, no matter how little. Therefore I try to ignore most opinions I have about people until I feel I have gotten to know them enough to judge.
Unfortunately, my opinions about Florence were wearing neon signs that screamed 'notice me' in bold.
He seemed perfect. He was energetic, kind, charismatic, smart, and had this slightly clumsy aura.
I once read somewhere about the study of proxemics, a branch of knowledge that deals with how people perceive and use space for nonverbal communication goals. One thing that it said there is how, like in animals, violating a certain amount of personal space with a stranger, or someone who is not intimate with you, can ring alarm bells and make them uncomfortable.
(a/n: disclaimer, don't trust me in this, I may be wrong)
Florence seemed to be an exception to this rule. At least to me, it seemed like it. He seemed to be the type of person with who you feel like you are best friends within a matter of minutes. The type that only after walking away from the conversation do you realize that you just spilled all your secrets to a complete stranger, and then when you think a little more, you realize how little you knew about them.
And that made me very uncomfortable. A quote that I once heard from a police officer during a school assembly replayed itself in my head.
"If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."
I knew I was being paranoid. When it came to people, I was always paranoid. Probably due to my social anxiety, I always feared the worst, and this certainly wasn't the only time I was paranoid and very uncomfortable due to a person being too perfect or too nice. However, like all times this happened, I subconsciously tensed up and became warier, my mask more impenetrable. I knew that not all people I talk to are psychopaths whose goals are only to use and manipulate me. I am pretty sure I never encountered one and probably never will. Unfortunately, my paranoia wasn't based on rational thought and therefore won't be solved by it. It would probably go away within due time, anyway.
"I see your point." He paused for a second before continuing, "Why not try it out?"
"Try it out?" I asked. While I had thought of testing out this theory, no safe ways that completely confirmed that my theory was true appeared to me. "How?"
"Next time you get a mission with similar stakes to your first one, just ignore it."
"Err… Sorry however I do not feel comfortable risking that much for a theory..." I said, not really knowing how to react to the absurd solution.
"That is understandable. I have my reasons to be completely sure that this is true, however, I know it would be unreasonable of me to push you into such a risky situation. Sorry for asking." He said before changing the subject. "Anyways, didn't you mention that meeting me was a mission? Was there any reward for it?"
"Oh, right! Thank you for reminding me."
'Open to the mission'
I wasn't sure whether I had to specify the mission or not, however, luckily, it seemed to understand the mission I was talking about.
'<l Mission:
There is another reincarnated person roaming around! Find and communicate with him.
*complete*
Reward: |claim|'
I pressed the 'claim' button and three windows popped up. I dismissed the '+2 stat points' and '+50 xp' windows. And then went to check the third one.
"...Huh?"
I looked at the third window in slight confusion before remembering about briefly reading it in the guide.
"Oh right"
I looked back at the window, considering what to do.
Would you like to upgrade the System?
*if you press no you can upgrade
it at a later time
|YES| |NO|
Pressing 'no' for now, I decided to upgrade it when I had some free time.
By the time we were done conversing, I was mentally drained and exhausted from a mixture of it being beyond Sage's bedtime, and from the amount of stressful socializing I had to do. I collapsed on my bed and decided to upgrade the system tomorrow.
'Socialising is hard... I miss being in the quarantine...'
My moment of wallowing in self-pity was broken with the system giving off a 'Ding!'
'Subject:
From: God
Hoolla! Long time no talk!
Sorry for not gracing you with my presence for so long~ I was out attending to things, so I kinda forgot about you
(ﾉ▰ ڡ ◕)
Anyways, what gives me the pleasure of seeing you so depressed! Is it a welcome gift?'
Ah yes, just what I needed! After a long, hard, tiring day, a sadistic god is just who I need to talk to! I ignored the message and allowed myself some well-deserved rest.
….. Or so I planned to do until ….
'Ding!'
'Ding!'
'Ding!'
'Ding!'
'Ding!'
…
'Ding!'
My desperately needed sleep was disrupted by a series of message notifications that didn't stop until I got up.
'THIS FUDGING 'GOD'!!' I then proceeded to think up a bunch of detailed violent situations that I would do to the god once I got my hands on him, deciding to voice these things in a reply sent to 'god'.
'Open message catalog'
'God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times '
I waited for a few seconds before hearing the familiar 'Ding!' once more.
'God | System Upgrade | Finally, you are up! I have spammed you ...
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times
God | Waaake Uuup *Message has been repeated several times'
I clicked the new message and began sorrowfully reading through it while simultaneously bemoaning my lack of sleep that SOMEONE wasn't letting me catch up on.
'Subject: System Upgrade
From: God
Finally, you are up! I have spammed you like 30 times by now! -`д´-
Anyways, why haven't you checked the system upgrade! Accept it!'
"....why do I have a really bad feeling about this.."
'Ding!'
'Subject: System Upgrade
From: God
If you don't open it, I will spam you until you do.
A C C E P T I T ⊙^⊙
'Should I write a will?' I question before deciding not to, as I don't really have anything I want to give anyone. 'I mean, he is probably going to force me to do it, even if I don't almost go insane and give into his spam...'
Would you like to upgrade the System?
*if you press no you can upgrade
it at a later time
|YES| |NO|
Sighing, I shakily bring my finger towards the yes, forcing myself to press it before I chicken out and am rewarded by a barrage of 'ding's.
'Ding!'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
glitteringstarlet
glitteringstarlet Hello! Sorry for the lack of update last week.
Finally the 'plot points' and plans I made are catching up and at least some fun stuff will happen soon-ish! The thing about these plot points was I kinda didn't know how to connect them together in a timely fashion.
Anyways, what do you think will happen with the upgrading of the system? A new troublesome mission? Or perhaps a feature?
Thank you very much for reading! As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! :D