Quoted By:
>THE RELUCTANT BOUNTY HUNTER CONTINUES...
It's no surprise that you slept like a log. You don't even have an alarm clock, but you can tell from the sunlight that it's well past breakfast time. The bedsheets and comforter of your new room seem, at least, recently-washed. This sorry cot can't compete with your bed back home for comfort, but they say the best cure for insomnia is exhaustion.
You now have the opportunity to inspect your new room under the pale mid-morning light. It's a pleasantly cool day so far. The memories of yesterday slowly come to the front of mind like pieces of last night's dream. You're in Chaotzakka now; in Saturn Apartments, to be more specific, a bounty hunter lodging in a building of bounty hunters. And you were dragged by one such bounty hunter into mortal combat with a wizard and a man who looked like he could flick you away like a snot-ball. But the man who tricked you is, also, arguably the closest thing you have to a friend thus far.
You remember that Garrett offered to introduce you to the various Guilds operating out of here, but it hardly seemed like a formal invitation, and more like an excuse to continue hanging out. Vainly you entertain the possibility that Garrett is vying to pluck you for his Guild amongst high demand from various competitors. But really, it was obvious just from last night's skirmish that he's way out of your league in terms of combat aptitude. You wonder if he's an outlier here, or just the average. If so...
Your new apartment is hardly an embarrassment of riches; it didn't even come furnished with some kind of mini-fridge. All you have is a stove and a rusty water heater. Whoever was lodging here before you was kind enough to leave behind a half-depleted flask of instant coffee. You unscrew the cap and cautiously smell its contents. It smells... like it's not gonna kill you. And you could really use some coffee.
In your exhaustion last night you fell asleep naked after throwing off your clothes from the bath house. Between the opposing poles "prude" and "exhibitionist," you would say that you've always skewed closer to prude. And yet, last night more people saw you naked than over the last few years. In Iscthymia you would never dream of lounging about your room in the buff even if you were alone in the house, but here it seems more natural. Maybe this is the "comfort of strangers." The ancient heater groans and you begin to hear the popping and roiling of soon-to-be-boiled water--
"Hi. Sorry to interrupt, but--"
