Upon opening the door—partially, as he always kept the security chain in place—Alexander decided immediately that this was not going to be a good test for his new charisma stat. An attractive young woman stood in the open air hallway. She wore a spaghetti strap tank top and athletic shorts, however, that was all that was ordinary about her. Her long blonde hair almost seemed to have a slight glow to it.

  She smiled and greeted him, “Hello! I‘m so sorry to disturb you. My name is Emily and I am your new neighbor.”

  Alexander felt himself freeze for a second, but unlike most events with people he found attractive, he managed to get out a greeting.

  “Hello neighbor Emily, I am Alexander.” He took a deep breath, “How might I help you?”

  “Well, we were hoping to borrow a pair of scissors so we could open up some of our boxes… to hopefully find our scissors, so we can open up the rest of our boxes.” She smiled guiltily at her own self-deprecating humor.

  “Ha, I see the irony in your situation, that is amusing.” He said, and managed to smile. It was an odd feeling, but he pushed through.

  “So…” Emily looked at him through the door for a second, then pointedly at the chain. “Alexander, this may seem an odd question but… this is a safe apartment complex is it not?”

  Alexander nodded emphatically. “Oh yes, I would say it is very safe. I looked at all the crime statistics and there are only three sex offenders currently living in the complex and there were only four violent crimes last year. That is statistically very low.”

  “Oh, well, that is… good to hear.” She said, shifting her eyes left and right up the hallways. She was—naturally—not at all comforted by the information.

  “I agree. Let me just locate my scissors first and then I will bring them to you.”

  “Great… many thanks!” She said as she strolled backwards toward her apartment darting her eyes left and right.

  Now, Alexander knew precisely where his scissors were of course. He simply did not want Emily to feel bad for not having a proper organization system for her tools… This thought made him pause. It was odd that he would worry about someone feeling bad about their own shortcomings.

  He retrieved the scissors from his utility drawer with their protective hard plastic sleeve still intact. As he proceeded to unbolt his door he had a thought. That social interaction had been very adequate. Neighbors commonly asked for favors from each other and he had navigated the conversation to an agreeable outcome. Interesting, how convenient to have an ability that moved him towards his goal so effortlessly. He pulled out his phone.

  “Note to self. Immediately following charisma increase a noted awareness of impact on other individuals' feelings. Promising initial results. Add to the to-do list: Think through a proper way to measure social interactions to gauge the influence of the charisma statistic.”

  Putting the phone away he pushed his front door to discover a slew of boxes in the open air hallway. As he followed them a few yards down the hall he saw a door propped open with yet another moving box.

  At the doorway he called out, "Neighbor Emily, I have the scissors you requested.”

  Alexander heard a scratching noise to his right and saw a table laid out with some of the more fragile objects. In a small plastic terrarium he saw a lizard about the size of his hand. It looked uncomfortable in the small enclosure. Likely it was used to the large glass terrarium sitting in the corner. As he looked at it closer it seemed to be a Pogona, more commonly known as a Bearded Dragon. Alexander was not the biggest fan of lizards. They were his brothers preference growing up when he had just stuck to fish.

  “Hello?” Another young lady he had not yet met popped out and saw him loitering at the door.

  Not wanting to look suspicious he held up the scissors for her to see. “Emily requested a pair of scissors?”

  “Oh thanks!” She reached out her hand to shake as he handed her the scissors. “I’m Janelle! Nice to meet you.”

  “Alexander, a pleasure to meet you.”

  “So I gather you are our new neighbor?”

  “Yes, I have been here for several years now. If you have need for any common convenience items, such as a cup of sugar or a pair of scissors, I will happily fulfill the social obligation of providing them.”

  She laughed, and Alexander found himself smiling again for the second time that day. He did not even have to think about it this time. The corner of his lips just curled upwards on their own.

  “Well it is helpful to have a friendly neighbor. Emily is my older sister, she is twenty-six by the way, single and ready to mingle. She is the sweetest. She moved apartments closer to my college so that I could save money and still have a short commute.” She said this all in a blur.

  “College? That is very commendable of you. I am a big fan of higher education.”

  “Really? Well, I’m a freshman at Mekland U, go wildcats!”

  Alexander found Janelle to be very… bubbly. Feeling outmatched in this exchange of verbal pleasantries he decided to retreat.

  “Yes… wildcats. That is the mascot I have heard. Well, the scissors are now in your possession. Feel free to return them when you are done with them and let me know if you need any further help.” He stepped back into their door frame but before he turned Janelle made that face people make when they feel they might be asking too much.

  “Actually, you would be an absolute peach if you helped with just one or two larger items. You seem to be pretty strong so I’m sure it will be no problem for you.”

  He did stay in a healthy shape through proper nutrition and light exercise, but to say strong was certainly a stretch. In fact according to the numerical values of his stats he was the definition of average. He knew this for what it was, flattery. A thinly veiled attempt to get free labor. Unfortunately for Janelle it would not work on him.

  A moment later he somehow found himself walking to the front of the building toward their moving truck… this was why the charisma stat was so important apparently. Janelle’s must be well above average. As they approached the bright yellow truck with boxes pulled out everywhere, he saw Emily uncovering a large cream colored dresser. He realized then that this small favor he had been conned into might be difficult.

  ^

  New quest!

  Like a good neighbor:

  Your new neighbors need assistance with a heavy wooden dresser.

  Objective: Move the dresser into the apartment

  Quest rewards:

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  -150 xp

  -3 silver

  Alexander didn’t particularly enjoy injuring his back for the sake of strangers, no matter how much charisma their sisters might have. There are some strict rules about moving heavy boxes at Congo. A single twisted ankle or sprained back would be a mountain of paperwork when it passed through enough hands. Want to save a tree? Then don’t get hurt while on the clock for a major corporation.

  Lagging behind he looked up a spell he had seen earlier that made him think that it would be helpful for Congo employees whom frequently needed to move heavy boxes. Alexander had noted earlier that there might be several other convenient uses for the spell, so he by no means felt it would be a wasted choice.

  Emily looked up to see him approaching, “Oh, hello again Alexander. I see Janelle has most likely fluttered her eyes at you to recruit your help.” She smiled knowingly at her sister.

  Janelle grabbed an imaginary dress and curtsied. “Just doing my part to help us move.”

  “We will have to make a game plan for this one I’m afraid.” She pulled out a tiny moving dolly. This caused Alexander to groan inwardly—inappropriate tools can easily lead to unnecessary injuries.

  He took a breath and nodded, “I see what you mean. These types of situations are not rare at the distribution center. We would normally just call the forklift over.”

  “Well no forklifts here. Sounds like moving things is in your line of work. What do you recommend?”

  He really did not know why he was trying so hard today. He was loath to think he was trying to impress a female by puffing up his chest and moving heavy things, while grunting like a gorilla. Maybe it was because he was excited to see how his social skills had improved and wanted to experiment. He decided the latter must be his motivation… so Alexander worked up a little scheme.

  “Allow me to apply some leverage in the right places and I can stand it up on the dolly. Then it will not be so much a matter of strength, but of balance.” He then moved the dolly to the end of the massive floor dresser. “Please stand back, I do not want this thing hurting anyone if it falls over.”

  The two young women looked at him skeptically. “This took three people to get into the truck.”

  “Fortunately, I have a trick for two that will serve us well here.”

  “If you’re sure you can manage.” Emily relented.

  He shuffled around Emily and took the dolly. He took his time moving it under his end where they wouldn’t see the manifested spell book fall into his hand. He selected ‘yes’ when the prompt appeared in order to learn the spell. He then made a show of grabbing the top end and throwing his weight back.

  Under his breath he whispered, “Floating disc.” While concentrating on the two legs at the far end of the dresser.

  A shimmery disc appeared under the legs that, according to description, would be invisible to others. Pretending to pull down with his full weight and strength, he mentally moved the invisible disc upward carrying all of the weight for him. He got it situated on the dolly before moving the disc to lift on the lip of the dresser that was now standing above him, taking the majority of the weight off. Then controlling the dresser—mainly using the disc —he wheeled the dresser down the ramp. Alexander paused at the base and looked over at the woman, whose eyebrows were raised at him.

  Janelle started clapping. “Wow! You are much stronger than you look. What kind of guns are you hiding under that shirt?”

  “As I said, with proper leverage it was fairly simple.”

  “Proper leverage.” Emily said with her eyebrows raised.

  What impressed them even more was when Alexander managed to get the dresser up a flight of stairs. He only stumbled once when Emily ran her fingers through her hair like a car model.

  ^

  Quest complete!

  Like a good neighbor:

  Your new neighbors need assistance with a heavy wooden dresser.

  Objective: Move the dresser into the apartment

  Quest rewards:

  -150 xp

  -3 silver

  Alexander couldn’t help but get caught up into the logistics of moving one's belongings into a new organization system for the home. He found himself recommending different storage solutions that he had found worked in his own apartment. Fortunately for him, Emily and Janelle found him remarkably helpful and very much welcomed his assistance. Through it all Alexander managed to laugh at many of the right moments and avoided being socially awkward save for the eccentricities of those that love an organizing system.

  After helping the sisters finish moving their boxes he was offered some peach tea in their kitchen. The sisters were apparently from Texas, and if there was anything Alexander could picture a Texan woman doing, serving him sweet tea would make the top of the list.

  “Sorry it’s not cold. We don’t have any ice made yet.”

  Emily handed a cup to Alexander and leaned back on the counter, watching her sister take pictures in front of a pile of empty boxes. He took a sip, and decided it would in fact be better cold, so he used prestidigitation to chill it off a bit when Emily had her back turned pouring another drink.

  ^

  You have modified a common item.

  Click to see stats.

  He waved his hand in the air to swat the screen.

  Emily sat up as he did, "Do you smell that?"

  Alexander sniffed the air, "No, just the all too familiar scent of cardboard."

  "I thought I smelled something good. Maybe a box of candles got opened that I didn't catch."

  As he leaned against a wall next to Emily he looked around. Every counter was full of boxes with black ink on them that said dishes, kitchen, and love you BFF with hearts all over it.

  As she poured herself another glass Emily told him, "I would have offered you a beer but I don’t want Janelle too comfortable around alcohol yet just before she heads to college."

  “Well you shouldn't need to worry about that.” Alexander replied, “It will be at least two to three years before she can legally drink.”

  Emily laughed at this. Whether Alexander had inadvertently said something funny or she was laughing at him, he couldn’t tell. He took a sip of the peach tea to cover the confusion evident on his face. It was indeed refreshing. Maybe he would pick some up this weekend on his shopping trip. Then he could serve it if Alexander had guests over. An odd thought he realized as he normally detested the idea of having guests.

  “Ah, a question.” Alexander said having a thought. “Do you and your sister have satisfactory employment?”

  She smiled and replied. “We do indeed have satisfactory employment professor. My sister will be working part time in her college bookstore, whereas I am a speech language pathologist.”

  “Oh? That is an admirable field. What made you take that profession?”

  “I had problems with my speech development when I was young and had a pathologist who I just loved. As I grew up it made me want to help kids who have developmental issues. My sister in turn…” she said as Janelle walked up to them, “…is interested in physical therapy because of how clumsy she is. Always getting hurt.”

  “Don’t listen to her.” Janelle huffed “She just doesn’t know the pains of us mere mortals. She played and excelled at every sport she could get her hands on and never so much as sprained an ankle. I had unfortunately unrealistic expectations of human anatomy as a result and frequently paid the price for it.”

  Emily looked a little smug as she took another sip of her tea.

  “I swear one of us was adopted. I mean look at how gorgeous she is on top of her ungodly talents.”

  “She is indeed exceptionally lovely.” Alexander said matter-of-factly.

  This caused Janelle to smirk and Emily to blush.

  “Lets get you a proper look. Just check out these assets.” Janelle said as she moved to turn her sister around.

  “Stop it!” Emily shouted as they wrestled for a second. A flustered Emily got her little sister in a choke hold in seconds as Janelle laughed at her. “For that you have to unload all the dishes.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll do it after I call my boyfriend.” She jeered scampering away.

  “I’m so sorry about her…” Emily, still blushing turned and asked, “Do you have any siblings?”

  “One sibling. An older brother, but we don’t see each other often.” He refrained from saying it was by his choice.

  “I think having a younger sibling is likely more fun than having older ones.”

  “You may be right, but unfortunately I missed the opportunity.”

  “What do you mean?” Emily asked.

  “I had a younger sister that passed away very young.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

  “I was barely old enough to remember her so it’s not a painful subject. It’s nothing that has impacted me other than the what if of it.”

  As a teenager he had often thought about what it would have been like to have a younger sibling rather than an older sibling that he felt constantly measured against. Janelle seemed to handle it well though. He took another sip as they watched Janelle lay on top of some boxes and take more selfies.

  “What about you and your older brother?”

  “I doubt it is something others would want to hear about.” He was going to stop but decided it wouldn’t hurt to share it with his new neighbor. “He convinced me to make a decision that was not in line with what I thought I wanted out of life, at least at the time. I am still not certain if it was the right choice or not ten years later.”

  Alexander finished his tea and set it down. He was feeling taxed from this much socializing so he decided to attempt to retreat again while he was ahead. He felt a social misstep was due at any moment and didn’t want to make a mistake with his new neighbor. “Thank you for the tea. I hope you enjoy settling into the apartment with your sister. Feel free to knock should you need a cup of sugar.”

  “Thank you for your help Alexander.” She said smiling.

  He waved and let himself out. As he left he couldn’t help but feel he had earned a satisfactory score on his social outing.