After a dessert and almost an hour of more talking, Stella’s family said their goodbyes and headed home.

“It was nice to have a good long talk after a while,” Stella’s dad said.

Stella made a noncommittal noise. She didn’t care much for these formal lunch events. They were a good chance to spend more time with Justin, but she already did that without these luncheons. The food tasted great, but she didn’t like the atmosphere. It was always somewhat tense.

“I’ll go to my room. I need to plan tomorrow,” Stella said. Her parents would surely want to spend some time alone.

Stella dashed up the stairs, and after changing into more comfortable clothes, she settled on her bed with her laptop. She logged in on Argent Night, but GeminiWarrior wasn’t online. Disappointment twinged in Stella’s chest, and she shook her head to get rid of the feeling. Why would it matter if some guy was online? She needed to focus anyway. No time to dawdle on games. She wanted to come up with a good design and atmosphere for the lounge area. It couldn’t be too fancy or expensive because the students wouldn’t know how to appreciate it. She needed something relaxed and calm but stylish. She wouldn’t settle for any half-assed design choice, but she’d need to keep a close eye on the budget which would probably be the most difficult part. Stella loved shopping no matter what she was buying, but she needed to remember that the student council funds wouldn’t be able to handle her usual shopping habits.

Stella started to compile a list of things she would need to buy. Some paintings or photos on the walls, pillows, rugs, boxes and crates for storing stuff. The bigger furniture would be ordered and delivered, so she didn’t need to worry about those. Stella scrolled through blogs and online stores, but every few minutes switched to the tab Argent Night was on. Click, no GeminiWarrior, click, what a lovely pillow, click, no GeminiWarrior, click, a cute plushie, click… Time passed as Stella’s list grew longer and longer. She would have to cut it down by over a half.

She clicked on Argent Night again, and this time her wish came true. GeminiWarrior’s name appeared on her online friends list. An excited smile rose on Stella’s face. She clicked on his name and opened a chat box. Halfway through writing a message when she stopped. What was she doing? She couldn’t bombard the guy with messages the second he came online. It would be weird. What would she even talk about with him? Maybe he didn’t want to talk with her. This was crazy. It’d be better to leave him alone. 

[GeminiWarrior]: Hello :)

Stella couldn’t help but smile. Maybe it would’ve been okay to message Gemini first.

[Spica]: Hi :) How are you?

[GeminiWarrior]: Much better than a few minutes ago. I’ve been super bored all day

[GeminiWarrior]: Want to play with me? I found a new dungeon and I think I need a battlemage to protect me :D

[Spica]: Haha, sure. Although I don’t know how much help I can be.

[GeminiWarrior]: Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you are really good bait :P

[Spica]: Oh heck you.

[GeminiWarrior]: I was just joking. You didn’t get mad, did you? ;-;

[Spica]: Of course not. And to be fair, I probably can’t do much else if there’s more trolls.

[GeminiWarrior]: Lol. I doubt there’s trolls. Come to the cliffside in Nandia and we can get started

[Spica]: I’ll stock up a bit first.

[GeminiWarrior]: Oh thanks for reminding me. I need some stuff too

Stella hurried to the nearest town to fill her inventory. First, she headed to the apotechary to buy more potions. She did have healing spells, but they had a cooldown, and there was a high possibility she'd get her butt whooped in the dungeon, so she couldn’t trust only in her spells. Ten seconds would be a long time to wait when you got ganged up on by fifteen gremlins. After getting her potions, Stella headed to the old seer woman to check if she could upgrade any of her skills or spells. The visit proved to be worth it because she was able to add thunder damage to her ‘Flurry of Fists’ attack to turn it into ‘Clap of Thunder’. Now it made both physical and electric damage with a 20% chance of paralyzing the opponent. It would certainly come in handy if the dungeon was water themed like Stella suspected based on its location. Spica didn’t use weapons and couldn’t afford new armor, so she was done.

[Spica]: I’m done

[GeminiWarrior]: Okay. I’ll be ready in a minute. I need to go to the blacksmith to upgrade my sword. You can go already

[Spica]: Ok. I’ll wait for you at the cliffside.

Stella directed her character towards Nandia’s shoreline where the black sea relentlessly crashed against the dark rocks. She had never properly explored this part of the region since it had been too strong for her when she first visited the area. Spica had grown a few levels since, but Stella worried she’d still be weaker than the enemies. She’d be a terrible raiding partner if she kept dying all the time. 

[GeminiWarrior]: Okay I’m ready now. I’m coming

[Spica]: Ok

While waiting for GeminiWarrior, Stella collected some ingredients and items from the nearby area. She was happy that Gemini had asked her to play with him. Stella had seen his friend list when she had checked his profile. He had over 200 friends. He could’ve asked anyone to play, but he had chosen Stella. She smiled at the thought.

Soon GeminiWarrior’s character appeared in the horizon. Stella’s character waved her hand.

[Spica]: There you are. I thought you got lost :D

[GeminiWarrior]: Well, this armor slows me down a bit more than the swimming suit you’re wearing.

[Spica]: I’m pretty sure we already established it’s basically as good as your iron shirt :p

[GeminiWarrior]: We’ll find out soon enough

[Spica]: Sounds ominous

[GeminiWarrior]: >:)

[Spica]: You’re going in first.

GeminiWarrior walked ahead and led them down a narrow and rocky path towards the raging sea below them. Just barely above the sea level a narrow crack in the rock marked the entrance to the dungeon.

[GeminiWarrior]: Finder can keep the minion loot drops. We split the boss rewards. I go first and you provide back up, okay?

[Spica]: Okay.

Stella took a deep breath when they walked in. Water rats skittered on the walls, and Stella shuddered. She could do this. She wouldn’t let her friend down

Almost two hours later they reached the end of the dungeon. The place was clearly designed to be raided with a bigger party, but with some maneuvering and strategic retreats, they had managed to take down the small enemies and not die in the process. The boss was a tougher challenge, but the large crab monster was delightfully weak to electric damage. They took some heavy hits, but eventually Stella’s ranged attacks and debuffs managed to wear the monster down enough for GeminiWarrior to deal the finishing blow. The large treasure chest revealed a coral sword and three thousand gold pieces. Because Stella’s character didn’t use swords, Gemini claimed the weapon. Stella pocketed the gold. 

[Spica]: That was fun :)

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah. You did great even though you doubted it

[Spica]: Thanks for taking me with you :)

[GeminiWarrior]: Well, I only accept the best, so I didn’t have much choice ;)

[Spica]: Wow, I’m gonna blush.

[GeminiWarrior]: You’re welcome

[GeminiWarrior]: Do you need to go or...

[Spica]: I don’t have anything. So I can be here disturbing you :) 

[GeminiWarrior]: It’s not disturbing if I like it

[GeminiWarrior]: I mean, it’s nice to have some company. My brother just listens to music all day or something

[Spica]: Nice to hear you don’t mind me.

[GeminiWarrior]: Not at all. You’re pretty much the only one I talk to here. I always have to check if you’re online

[GeminiWarrior]: Okay maybe that sounded a bit weird. Forget it

[Spica]: No, no. I do check here pretty often too to see if you’re online.

Stella smiled. It was nice to hear she wasn’t the only one who enjoyed their conversations. She hadn’t thought that Gemini could be as eager to talk to her as she was to talk with him, even though he was quick to start conversations. It was nice to have someone to talk with. She didn’t have any other proper friends than Justin. Somehow it was easy to talk with a stranger; she barely knew anything but his favourite movie and pet’s name. GeminiWarrior could’ve been anyone. The thought didn’t scare Stella, on the contrary, it was exciting. 

[Spica]: Do you want to play more or just hang out or…

[GeminiWarrior]: It’d be nice to hang out if you’re fine with it :)

[Spica]: Yeah, I am. It’d be nice to talk more.

[GeminiWarrior]: What do you want to talk about?

[Spica]: Uhh, I don’t really know 

[GeminiWarrior]: Haha, that’s alright. I don’t really know either

[GeminiWarrior]: I’m not very good at conversations ^^’

[Spica]: Umm, well, how’s your ferret doing?

Stella wanted to facepalm. That was probably the lamest question ever.

[GeminiWarrior]: He’s good. I gave him some banana today. 

[Spica]: I didn’t know ferrets eat bananas :o

[GeminiWarrior]: Well it’s not in their normal diet, but you can give a little as a treat.

[Spica]: Cool. What else does he eat?

They spent the rest of the evening talking about their pets. Cats and ferrets seemed to have a lot in common. Stella would’ve loved to meet a ferret. They sounded like funny animals.

Eventually GeminiWarrior was called to have dinner, and Stella had to go eat as well. During the dinner, Marisa told that her sister had called to announce her surprise visit. She would be coming the next day.

“I was going to go shopping,” Stella mumbled.

“Claire visits so rarely. It’d be nice if you were home. She would love to see you.”

“I know. Of course I’ll be home.”

Marisa kissed Stella on the top of the head. Spending time with adults wasn’t the  most exciting thing for a teenage girl, so she appreciated Stella being accommodating on short notice. So, as a thank you, Marisa took out a big tub of ice cream and retreated with it and her daughter to the movie theater room to watch some romantic movies. It was quality mother-daughter time Stella always enjoyed.