Unfortunately, I can't stay awake.

You try to say something, but it comes out mumbles. After dumping such a huge load, you aren't exactly able to keep playing with Alicen.

"Wait," you hear her say. "Are you seriously falling a sleep?"

...

...

When you wake up, you’re alone in the bed, and there’s a conversation from outside the room. You look at the clock and realize that you’ve given yourself one hour to get ready and to get caught up with the others. So you shower before you join the others, who are idly snacking as they wait for you.

“How’d you sleep?” Amari asks, her eyes fixed on yours when she asks this, so you notice that irritated look she’s giving you.

“Like a puppy,” you reply, fixing the collar of your tunic as Amari glares at you from the edge of her coffee cup.

“I guess we can all be pleased that we decided to make this a late trip instead of an early one,” Amari says. “If you ever oversleep, we’re leaving you in bed. You got that, Warren?”

“I get it,” you sigh. You don’t know why you have to keep proving yourself to these people, regardless of whether this is your first time meeting them or not. You hope that everyone else likes you enough to keep you around, but you aren’t sure you want to stay around any longer than you to know that Amari, the praised ring-leader of this gun-running circus, is a stick-in-the-rear uptight.

You filter out of the hotel room. As usual, Amari takes Flora and talks to her. It annoys you, but Flora seems to enjoy this interaction, only ever giving you a few glances and weak smiles as her relationship with Amari grows in front of you.

As Amari predicted, the streets are busy with the population even with travel slowing down. Amari does an excellent job slithering around the shadows and dodging the local law enforcement patrols, but the longer you do this, the less likely it seems you can keep this up. Sooner or later, someone is going to notice some non-locals walking around and dipping out of sight like this.

The thought of saying this enters your mind, but you decide not to. You meet up with a few regular-looking people that Amari talks to. Whenever she stops to chat, you try your best to speak with Flora.

When Amari leads you down another dark alley, you lean against the wall and sigh. Flora does the same thing, but she’s fixated on the figures Amari is talking to. You follow her gaze and watch too. “Does this concern you at all?” you ask.

“Yes,” Flora says. “We shouldn’t be walking around when things are as tense as they are. The Billings people will no doubt notice that three outsiders are walking around when there are so many restrictions for entry.”

“Why don’t you tell her that. I’m sure she’d prefer it from you than me.” You whisper to Flora, making her look at you.

She smiles before she talks, which makes your stomach feel less tight. “I don’t want to offend her.”

“So we’re just going to pussy foot around until she’s done with her little quest here?” You say.

“I’d rather get caught by the law enforcement than to make Amari angry,” Flora shrugs. “What are we doing? Amari is smart. We’re not going to get caught.”