JANE

By the time they turned in their last quest, the sun had fully set. The streets glowed with soft, yellow light. It was much, much darker than a modern city, the shadows deeper. But something absolutely marvelous? The sky above.

Jane had her head all the way back and stared upwards. She was moved nearly to tears. It was breathtaking. Stars, mostly white but with a speckling of blue and pink and red, filled the entire, clear sky. More stars than she’d ever seen before. And a galaxy or nebula of brighter light and twinkling bursts stretched across the darkness, just over the horizon. “It’s so beautiful,” she softly breathed. It felt magical, like something out of a childhood dream made real.

Quill looked a touch sad. “Imagine. For two million years, every human ever born looked up at a sky like this every single night of their lives. Imagine how humbling that must have been.”

She nodded. “And how arrogant we’ve become thanks to modern lights.” She sighed. “This is so much prettier than watching satellites streak across sky made orange from city lights. Which are the only ‘stars’ we see anymore.”

They ambled along, in no rush, enjoying the starry sky, tired from a long day that had been both physically and mentally taxing.

Quill nudged Jane’s arm with his elbow as they walked down a street. “See that?” He nodded towards an unlit alley.

An unsavoury figure slouched against the wall in the darkness, eyes watching them go by. It was a man, dressed in dark clothes that looked dirty and ragged. He was unshaven, his eyes haunting. A small knife twinkled in the light as he spun it in his fingers.

A shiver ran through her. “Think they introduced thief NPCs into the game?” Jane asked. “Or worse?” She did not want it to be worse. Weren’t cities supposed to be safe zones? Cities never had dangerous NPCs in MMOs.

“Might be. We’ll need to be careful with our stuff.” He didn’t look as nervous as she suddenly felt, but he continued to look back at the figure, wary.

“The, um…” Jane struggled for words. She looked away. “The NPCs aren’t the only ones we should worry about.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

She hesitated. But they were a team now and she needed to be clear. “Remember what the kings said at the beginning? No mods here, so no oversight. And basically no rules. Which makes sense, I suppose, because how are you going to program NPC guards to monitor unpredicatable human behaviour? But like they said, players can pretty much do what they want to each other. Even in the city.”

Quill was quiet at that, perhaps unsure how to respond. Finally, he glanced at her. “Something happen earlier?”

She shrugged, still not meeting his eyes. “I dealt with it.”

“Right. Then let’s see about a room at an inn,” he said decisively. “We might be vulnerable on the street, but I’ll bet inns have protections against that sort of thing, even against players.”

They found a cheap-looking inn on a quiet street. The innkeeper greeted them from behind a wooden desk just inside the front door. “Welcome! Are you looking for a room?”

“We are,” Quill answered.

“That will be 25 copper.”

He and Jane both paled.

Quill looked questioningly at her.

She simply shook her head. There was nowhere near that in the sack.

“Thanks anyway,” Quill told the innkeeper and then opened the door for her.

She stood in the street and looked around. The price hadn’t been a surprise, but it was still a disappointment. “What now?”

Movement in the shadows of a nearby doorway drew their attention. Something skulked there. And was it just her imagination, or was it also watching them?

Jane swallowed. Her fear was instinctive. The night, the shadows, the unknown. During the day, she’d been fine. But now, the environment felt unsafe. Maybe it was just her imagination. Then again, what unpleasant surprises had the developers left in store for them?

Quill lightly put the ends of his fingers on her elbow and steered her the other way. “Let’s look around.”

They ended up walking around for an hour on sore feet but couldn’t find any cheaper inns. Nor were there any abandoned houses in this part of town or even any unlocked doors. And none of the other players seemed to have had any better luck. People slept on benches, in doorways, on the grass in the park, just about everywhere.

Quill spotted a particularly large tree on an island in one of the canals and pointed. “I’ve got an idea,” he told her.

Scrounging around, they found some barrels and crates outside one building, along with a coil of rope. Quill grabbed the rope, then kicked one of the boards out of a nearby fence.

“What the heck are you doing?” Jane asked.

“You’ll see.” He led her over to the canal. “Better get undressed. You won’t want your clothes to be wet all night.”

She eyed the water, not crazy about getting in. The air was still luke warm, but if she got all wet, there’d be no sun to dry her off and she’d be chilly. “We’re going swimming?”

“Just to get to that island there.”

She arched a brow at him. “You’re just want to see me naked again, don’t you?”

“I will look away while you cross, if you like.”

“And peek.”

“Whatever.”

“I’m kidding.” At this point, they’d spent an entire day together while mostly nude. It had been a very unique experience, something akin to being at the beach, but more daring. Because all the other players had been just as undressed, there’d been a kind of refreshing honesty about the whole thing. Like no one could be fake about what they really were. No makeup, no size-enhancing bras and heels, no expensive suits with padded shoulders. People had felt more…natural. And real. And…yes, honest. It really came down to that.

There was more, too. In the real world, she’d been judged so much by people sitting safely behind their keyboards, free from any criticism in return. They could attack with all the horrible comments they wanted at her but nobody would judge their own bodies. However, in an environment where everyone was just out there, unable to hide, it was different. Maybe better. Who’s going to look down on you for a slight muffin top when everyone can see they’ve got a beer belly hanging so low you can’t tell their gender anymore?

And she really hadn’t minded being in Quill’s company throughout the experience. His eyes had wandered her way more than once, but he’d never leered or tried to touch her or do anything that would make her uncomfortable. And she had to admit, she’d checked him out more than once as well. He did have a cute butt. And wearing nothing but that folded over apron was adorable. She’d had to stop herself from laughing more than once at the sight of it.

She hesitated only a moment, then took off the flag she’d used as a sarong. Holding the fabric above her head, she slipped down into the water and slowly made her way towards the island. She glanced back once.

Quill looked torn between watching her out of the corner of his eye and looking away while she crossed the short distance.

It was only a few meters and then Jane’s feet hit bottom and she climbed onto solid ground again.

Taking off his apron, he then entered the water, too, carrying the clothing and the rope and board.

Movement in the shadows of the nearby buildings caught her attention. Then another slight movement came from a different direction. Had they been followed? Were there multiple people creeping around out there, stalking them? She tensed up a bit. She sincerely hoped it was just her paranoia.

Quill arrived and climbed up to join her under the tree.

Jane stood nude, holding her sarong in front of her, arm over her breasts. “I’d put it back on but it would just get wet.” And wearing cold stuff all night would suck worse than being naked in front of him. She did not want to spend all night shivering.

Quill averted his eyes and tossed her the apron. “Use this to dry off.” He held the board in front of his groin.

She caught the item. “Thanks.” No point in arguing. It was a nice gesture.

While she dried off and dressed in the flag sarong again, Quill apparently tried not to be incredibly embarrassed as he tied the board to the end of the rope and then stood under the lowest branch, very nude. But his blush was obvious. With a whirl, he flicked the board high into the air, visibly all-too-aware of the way certain things were flapping in the breeze as he moved.

Jane bit her lips together to keep from laughing and making his embarrassment any worse.

The weight of the board carried the rope over the branch and back down to the ground. Quill looped the rope and tightened it so that the rope securely hung from the thick branch above.

“So, we’re going to sleep up in a tree?” she asked, skeptical.

He nodded. “Should be hard for anyone to reach us up there, right?”

She tried to look up into the branches but it was very dark up there. “Is there even going to be room? Maybe we should just sleep here on the ground.” Then again… She glanced over her shoulder at the shadows between buildings. Coming to the island felt like a good idea. She doubted the NPC thieves, or whoever they were, would cross the water. Probably. And even if they did, without their own rope or ladder, how would they get up into the trees? Ok, maybe sleeping up in the tree was a safer bet.

Quill also studied the branches above. “Up to you. Want me to climb up and check it out, just in case?”

She fought a smile. “Yes. Yes, you should do that.”

Quill fought his own smile. “Are you amused because you’re thinking about me trying to climb that rope naked, or because I have a strength of 1?”

The amusement vanished from her features. She rushed to reassure him. “Quill, I’m not making fun—“

He held a hand up, unperturbed. “It’s fine, I told you. My attributes are what they are. I’ll live with it. I was upset before, and maybe I will be again, but I’m trying to be ok with it. I promise. So it’s fine if you joke about it. You poke fun of how dumb I am and I’ll tease you about how the NPCs hate you.”

She snorted. “Ok.” She looked up the tree. “My strength is higher, so maybe I should go first.” It’s not as if she’d be able to pull him up or anything, though.

He bowed his head.

Jane stepped up to the rope and grabbed it with both hands. She was not experienced with this sort of thing, but she managed to haul herself up to the branch, panting hard by the time she did. She did have low stamina, after all.

“How is it?” he called up.

She craned her neck and peered around in the the dark interior of the tree top. “Not bad. There are a couple of close branches here. You could probably lay across them and not fall.”

A sharp snap sounded from the nearby streets, causing both to whip their attention in that direction. They stared, searching the shadows, but saw nothing.

Quill grabbed the rope. For him, the climb was much harder. In fact, it evidently took all the willpower he had to force his meagre strength stat into getting him up to the branch.

Jane didn’t comment on his struggle lest it actually hurt his feelings, despite his claim of being ok with his low stats. She simply waited until he arrived, panting at the top of the rope. She pointed above them. “See? If we climb up into those branches?”

Quill looked up and squinted. It was very dark up here with the weak, oil-lamp streetlights far away and the leaves blocking what little light there was. He pulled up the rope, and the board attached to the other end. He untied the board and handed it to her. “Put this across the branches. It’ll give you something flat to lay on. Might help.”

“What about you?”

“There’s not really room up there for two. I’ll stay here on this branch. And I’ll be quicker to wake up if anyone comes along.”

“You could fall when you’re asleep!”

“I’ll tie myself to the branches above. No worries. I won’t fall far.”

She frowned. “This is kind of crazy. Maybe we should just sleep on the ground like everyone else. Or find a roof maybe or something.”

“If you want to. I’d rather not lose everything we worked so hard for today though. And this is probably safer.”

She grumbled and thought it over. At this point, she really was creeped out by whoever might be lurking out there, watching them. “Ok, fine. But make sure you tie the rope tight. Don’t fall in the middle of the night.”

“I’ll just get ressurected, no worries.”

“Probably hurt like hell though,” she pointed out.

“I guess you’re not just the brawns of the operation, you’re the brains, too.”

“Oh, bite me.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

Quill snorted in amusement.

She climbed up to the next set of branches and laid the board across them, then gingerly stretched herself across it. She fit snugly into the pocket of wood. She’d be ok here. It wasn’t a bed, but it would do for one night. She watched her new partner below.

Quill looped the rope over the branch above his head a few times, then tied the end around his waist. At first, he tried to sit with his back against the tree with his legs along the branch, but the angle was wrong. He shifted around a bit, trying to find a comfortable spot. Finally, he lay face down along the thick branch, arms crossed under his head for a pillow, his knees straddling the branch and his ankles crossed over the branch behind him. It didn’t look terribly comfortable.

She thought about inviting him up here with her, but knew that the two of them would be pressed very close together. Maybe not a good idea. “Quill?” she called from above.

His eyes were already closed. “Yeah?”

“Goodnight.”

He smiled. “Goodnight, Jane.”