There was still a lot of daytime left so after changing into the same gray uniform worn by most of the NPCs at the Dragon Clan, I ventured out into the streets to see if I could collect more people for my team. In particular, I hoped to run into Sigrid and Mary-Jane, so the first place I went was the last place I’d seen them, the cafe along Sword Street. Chow Li’s assessment of my luck seemed correct, because there they were, sitting at a sidewalk table outside the same cafe. They’d spent some of their gold on clothes, just simple blouses and loose pants, but they looked less anachronistic than yesterday.

I have to admit, even though I’d wanted to run into them, even though I’d come there with the specific hope of running into them, now that I’d found them I kind of wished I hadn’t because it meant I had to actually go through with it and talk to them. I had to walk up to two people — two women, and attractive ones at that — and spark up a conversation.

Could I even do that?

I had to. Because whatever other reasons there may have been for me to want to talk to them, the truth is I knew that I had to be on Mary-Jane’s team. She was, after all, the protagonist. Being around her had the best chance of winning, whatever that meant. Did I mention gamers are greedy, selfish people?

I tried thinking about various ways to open a conversation.

Hi there, are you guys busy?

Stupid.

Hey, what’s up?

So stupid.

Yo babe.

As if.

Excuse me, I was wondering if it would be okay to talk to you real quick?

Actually, that wasn’t not bad. I decided to go with that.

Steeling my resolve, I crossed over to the table where they sat facing each other. They both looked up at me. I noticed a peculiar intensity in Sigrid’s expression that softened after only a moment, and I had the feeling I’d just passed her Danger Sense test.

“Um, excuse me. I, well I was wondering if...”

“Oh hello,” Mary-Jane said. “If it isn’t my friend with the meat.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I remember you,” Sigrid said. “You helped find that little boy’s sister at the convention, right?”

“That was him,” Mary-Jane said.

“You vanished before we got a chance to thank you properly,” Sigrid said.

I felt my face get warm. “Oh! It wasn’t anything special, really. I was just glad to help.”

There was an awkward lull as I stood there, then Mary-Jane broke the silence. “Is there something you wanted?” she said.

“Actually yes. I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute. That is if you’re not busy or anything.”

Mary-Jane cast a look at Sigrid, who nodded. Then Mary-Jane flashed a coy smile and patted the seat next to her. “Do we seem that busy to you?”

“Thank you,” I said, and sat down.

“When I first saw you just now I didn’t think you were a Player,” Sigrid said.

“Huh?”

“That thing on your arm. There’s a lot of whatchamacallem, un-Player people wearing similar things.”

Un-Player people. That was a cute newb mistake to make, but not worth correcting unless I wanted to come across as a know-it-all from the get-go.

“Right. Of course.” I touched my green armband. “Yeah, I, uh, I kind of joined a clan here last night.”

“Really? I don't know what they means but it sounds cool. Do tell.”

I told them the story of being too late to rent a room at an inn — they told me they shared a room above this cafe — and about how I’d met some NPCs who belonged to a martial arts clan and ended up back in the dojo where I’d received some kung fu training and been accepted as a clan member. I left out the part where I nearly got killed as well as about how I learned kung fu just by watching.

“No freaking way!” Mary-Jane said. “That’s so cool!”

“I’m so jealous,” Sigrid said, “I wanna learn kung fu!”

“That can be arranged,” I said.

The ice officially broken, we made our proper introductions. Mary-Jane insisted on being called just Jane.

“May-Jane, eh? Were your parents Spider-Man fans?” I said.

“Nah,” she said. “Stoners.”

That out of the way, I asked them what they’d been doing since yesterday.

“Nothing as exciting as what you’ve been up to,” Jane said. They said they didn’t really know what they ought to be doing so they’ve been looking around in shops and trying not to get into trouble.

“Looks like that was a mistake,” Sigrid said. “You jumped headfirst into trouble and look where that got you.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It almost got me killed.”

Twice, but they didn’t need to know that.

“How?”

I then told them all about my adventure in the forest with the Jackalope.

Jane howled and wiped tears of laughter from her face. “You almost got killed by a bunny rabbit?”

“You heard the part about the cursed poison in its bite, right?”

“Yeah, but still,” she gasped, “a bunny!”

“Too bad you didn’t have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch,” Sigrid said.

“And the number of thy counting shall be three,” I recited, and I knew at that moment I had just made friends.

We chatted a bit more, ordered a round of tea for everyone, then Sigrid eventually asked, “Why did you want to talk to us in the first place? I’m sure it wasn’t to relive great moments in Monty Python history.”

“No,” I said. “Actually—”

I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence because Sigrid interrupted me.

“Hang on,” she said. She had that intense look again. “Sorry, I...crap. Too late.”