Leave Olin Alone

Leaving Olin alone for the night you go back into your room, drop the dress and lie in the bed, trying to make sense of what happened today. At times this doesn't feel like a game. Olin doesn't behave like an NPC is supposed to, saying his dialog and giving you a selection of options. Also your body feels too real, different than your actual body but just as real. And there is no way to make you feel all the things you went through with the sensory manipulation VR sets are capable of.
But then at other times it's very clearly a game, giving you popups and letting you accept or refuse quests, even giving you updates on your progress with people's relationships to help you grind effectively. It doesn't fit together. Also you should have been woken up by the 8 hour safety by now. You've been here for over 24 hours, maybe only 12 due to time compression, but definitely more than 8. That time you picked your character was so long ago. You're feeling a little tired, but not the exhaustion you should be feeling from a lack of sleep and nutrition of your real body.

Deciding that you're not quite sleepy enough you sit back up on the bed and try to meditate. Maybe it will give you some insight. Concentrating on what matters and ignoring what doesn't seems exactly what you need right now. You close your eyes and see the day pass before you again. Throwing beer in Cenric's face. You probably should apologize for that next time you see him. Olin having his manliness locked away. You'll have to find a way around that too, you promised. Then there is Edwin wanting you as his whore. While not exactly thrilled about that it's something you need to check out. Then you clearly hear the clanking of guards outside and remember that they are hostile towards you. Your thoughts linger on them and you get the feeling you haven't seen the last of them. You try to move on in your thoughts to how this world works, but the clanking becomes so loud it drowns out everything else and you open your eyes with a start, breaking your meditation.

Now that your sense are back to normal there barely is any noise from outside, but your heart beats faster hearing it and you realize you're afraid. Those guards could come back any time and ruin the life you've started to build here. You go to the window and look outside, seeing just an alley but guards patrolling every minute or so and always in the same direction. It feels a little strange to be leaning out of the window naked and your mind briefly wanders to the sight you must be giving from outside and especially from the inside, but push the thought away. You have to keep your mind clear if you want to make progress.

Unable to see much else you decide to check out the rest of the tavern. Olin is definitely asleep and Maira most likely too. You carefully open the door and slip outside, not bothering with clothes partially because it's unnecessary and partially to maybe level up your Exhibitionism. You should not be caught by guards outside and if Maira or Olin catch you you can just say you were looking for the bathroom. In the corridor you see the window you climbed through last night, Olin's, Maira's and your door, the bathroom and the stairs. None of these are of particular interest right now. You go down the stairs and look around again, ending up in the downstairs corridor with the kitchen, storeroom, back door and service area. You go towards the back door and listen. There is no window in it to look outside, so you have to rely on your ears to tell you when the guards passed so you can peek outside.

Once a patrol passed you know you have around half a minute to look outside without being seen, however, as you try the door you find it locked. Looking down you find a bolt locking the door shut from the inside. You carefully pull at the bolt and then need to use more **** before it snaps back and the door unlocks. Waiting for another patrol to pass your heart races as you open the door and look outside, seeing the guards leave and no new guards coming yet. There isn't much to see here, just the next house. You notice that the patrols don't carry any light. You wonder why that is, considering they seem to not see well in the dark. You briefly consider running out, streaking through the night and getting chased again, but there is no point and a real risk. When you hear the next patrol come you close the door and lock the bolt back in place. It's good to know at least as it may save you time should you ever need to escape through here.

Leaving the door alone you go to the only room you haven't been in, the storeroom. It is not locked. Inside you find sacks of potatoes, dried meat hanging on strings and barrels with wine or beer, you're not quite sure. There are buckets, a broom, candles and various tools. In the end you can't find anything of use or value. The best thing here seems to be using a hammer as a weapon, but an intent grip confirms that your ethereal dagger is still with you and trivial to conceal and carry. Now that you have the dagger out you swing it around, slicing and stabbing the air. It seems pretty straightforward, pointy end towards the enemy. Then you have an idea and throw the dagger. There is no sound of impact or of it clattering to the ground. You grip again and can feel the dagger back in your hand. While this is a little disappointing it wasn't a complete waste of time. At least you won't try to throw it in the midst of battle.

Having found nothing useful you enter the service area. You could take some beer or wine from behind the counter, but you don't really feel like getting drunk and having to explain yourself in the morning. You go to the front door and then look out through one of the windows positioned towards a different bigger street. You remember how you came in here last night, scared and freezing. It doesn't feel as cold anymore, but that might just be because you had dinner and didn't recently die. You watch the guards patrolling for a while as they tirelessly make their rounds. Every minute or so a pair of guards pass the tavern and you wish you had a watch or phone to time their movements. They seem a little too regular, even the clanking sounds the same on every round. You again wonder if this is because of limitations of the game or something else is going on. Maybe you're just imagining things. Without help from some device it's difficult to tell how much time passes between patrols exactly and if the sounds are exactly the same as a minute ago.

Bored you make your way back. You look into Olin's room, but he seems fast asleep, splayed on the bed and only half covered by the blanket. You take a moment to cover him properly and then return to your bed. You don't quite dare to peek into Maira's room. It seems late now, probably past midnight, and slowly you're getting much more tired. Lying down in our bed you suppress naughty thoughts trying to creep into your mind again and close your eyes, hoping you get to sleep and wake up rested instead of breaking down in exhaustion from real world body issues.