Chapter 59: Settling In

In the short time Hugh had been in his room, Dex had made major inroads on the front lawn and deck. Most of the clutter had disappeared and Hugh couldn't have said what was missing. He did notice the Prism Fountain had been moved to the side of the house, any potted plants he owned now lined the front fence-line, the Bowl of Heaven's Fire had been moved onto the tavern table, and he'd filled one of the treasure chests on the porch with a selection of beach towels and flat cushions they could use to sit on the sand.

As he watched, Dex used a ladder he'd found to carry up a selection of goods to the rooftop deck—items which wouldn't fit up the stairs. First he took up the round, barrel-sided Jacuzzi, then a two-man gaming table. When he started up the ladder with an entire Makahiki Tiki bar, Hugh felt the need to step in.

"Need help?" he asked, walking over to hold the ladder steady.

"You're supposed to be napping," he admonished. "Thank you for leaving your Book out on the Vault Inventory page, though. There's a lot of useful stuff hiding in your junk room. Did you know you have twenty three beach towels and nineteen varieties of drinkware?"

"Most games put out beach theme items during summer events," Hugh said as Dex disappeared over the rooftop safety railing with his burden. "I don't know about the drinkware. I'm guessing you mean goblets and crystal decanters? That kind of thing? There's at least one in every game. I usually sell them for in-game cash. They aren't even worth putting up on the Auction House—or they weren't until now. If I kept any, they were probably hard to get or they're complete junk and I didn't notice I'd transferred them to my Vault."

"Well, since you're here, throw up the chairs and stools I picked out," Dex called, leaning over the railing with his arms held out to catch. Hugh did as he was bid, grabbing the lightweight pieces of furniture and gently tossing them up to Dex one at a time.

"Won't these blow away?" Hugh asked in concern. "I can't nail them down, can I?"

"Locking an item gives it weight and makes it immovable in the sense it can't be stored in your inventory, physically carried off the property, or scanned by visitors," Dex said. "You can still interact with them, so no worries."

"Then I don't need to worry about one of my neighbor's friends turning out to be a thief?"

"I didn't say that. There are things that can't be locked, such as the clothes and Tech you wear. And if you take anything out on the beach and leave it, it's fair game for whomever finds it."

"I guess we're making the roof into party central?" Hugh asked, seeing the pile of items still waiting for Dex to carry up. He'd gathered a bundle of fairy lights, a steampunk airship wing he thought Dex intended to use as a wind break, and a pair of red Chinese lanterns. He also had a hovering serving tray, a potted spectral-blue bonsai, and a gramophone programmed to randomly play game soundtracks according to the mood intensity he set.

"Relaxation central," he corrected. "The view up here is nice. We should see if you have any telescopes for star gazing. Or would you rather put up a pergola?"

"If I have one, the pergola should go on the lower deck over the table," Hugh replied as Dex climbed down for another load. "I don't want anything blocking the view up there."

"That's what I thought, which is why I'm rigging up the sail as an awning. You'll be able to open and close it overhead like a fan when I'm done, so you can have shade during the day and a clear view at night."

"You think of everything," Hugh praised as Dex set foot back on solid ground.

Dex brushed his hands off and sighed, seeing straight through Hugh's attempt at distraction. "What's really going on, Hugh? Did you even try to sleep?"

"No," he answered sullenly. "I was going to, but I knew it'd be pointless. I'm too nervous. It's one thing to say death is expected in gaming, but we both know the ghost is probably going to kill me once or twice before I figure out what it wants. I don't know how I'm going to react to that. What if it scares me off the idea of exploring entirely?"

"It won't necessarily kill you. If you're right and it's set up to be a training tool, it might be appeased with beating the snot out of you. The only way to know for certain is to summon it, though. As for the rest of it, I suppose you need to ask yourself if becoming an explorer is something you're passionate about. Are you willing to die to become one? If the answer is no, then perhaps its best to know now and switch to the building route before you have to face a truly dire situation."

"I don't think anyone can know for sure what they're capable of until they're put to the test, which I know is the whole point of this, but I'm scared of finding out how much of a coward I really am. In the real world, I don't think I ever went out of my comfort zone willingly. Anytime I ran into an uncomfortable situation, I avoided repeating it like the plague."

"That's average human nature. The only thing it means is you're not a daredevil who finds pleasure in the thrill of danger. I think you need to remember exploring isn't about the danger you might encounter or risking yourself unnecessarily. Is it? It's about being the first to experience the unknown and discovering things no one else has. Summoning the ghost of your sword is potentially dangerous. I won't lie about that. However, how you face it and whether you face it at all is your choice. If you're scared, you can always retreat."

"I made a promise to it, so I'm definitely going to summon it. That part isn't in question. I just wish I had a better idea of what I'm summoning and some idea of how I'm going to react to it. That's the part I can't stop thinking about. Oh, and the fact it's going to try and kill me."

"Take a walk to clear your head," Dex suggested. "Remind yourself this is a game. It's realistic, so death will hurt, but it's temporary. You'll respawn healthy and whole."

Hugh took the advice and walked down the concrete drive way to get out of the fenced yard. The concrete was hot under his bare feet, almost to the point of raising blisters, and he quickly danced off it when he realized. In comparison, the sand felt nice and warm and soothing from being under the sun all day.

He walked along the shoreline, alternating between warm sand and wet sand as he occasionally sidestepped to allow the tide to roll over his feet to cool them. Just like Dex intended, Hugh found himself barely thinking at all while he leisurely strolled down the beach. He didn't know if the cause was the peaceful atmosphere or the amount of thoughts swirling around his brain merged into a formless ball of static, but it gave him the reprieve he needed to remind himself overthinking a situation wasn't one of his normal characteristics.

In the real world, he took things as they came and found satisfaction in making the best of whatever hand he'd been dealt. Maybe he needed to get back to that. He'd been spending a lot of time lately making grandiose plans and working hard to change things for himself. But this wasn't the real world. It was a game and he hadn't been acting very much like a gamer. Okay, he had, but he'd been playing like a casual gamer enjoying the social aspects of the game instead of a hardcore Raider prepping for a dungeon crawl.

With that in mind, he broke out into a lumbering imitation of a run. He tried to remember everything Frankie had been trying to teach him—toes pointed forward, chin up and shoulders back, big steps instead of little ones.

"You're not in the city anymore," he recalled Frankie saying. "Stretch those legs out. Don't think of it like you're trying to move fast because you'll forget your pacing and end up expending a whole lot of energy to get nowhere. What you're trying to do is reach your destination with fewer steps. The speed will come naturally."

It hadn't come at all for Hugh. He tried his best to do everything Frankie had tried to teach him, but he still felt like his run was barely better than a jog. The sand really didn't help, either. Every time he dug his foot in to take another lunging step forward, it felt like he was being sucked down and he was having to spend twice the energy to make the same progress he'd have seen on a harder surface.

"That's the point, idiot," he whispered to himself as he reached the end of the beach and turned around.

"Yoohoo!" a voice called out. The sudden sound startled Hugh into stepping wrong. His feet slid out from under him and he dropped to his knees, barely managing to catch himself before he could faceplant.

When he looked around for the source of the voice, he found a pair of elfish twinks standing on the ridge of hard earth between the beach and the road. One wore the Robes of Infamy while the other was dressed in a pink v-neck and jeans. Both grimaced apologetically over causing Hugh's fall and approached as if he might react like a wounded bear.

Hugh blushed over being caught running shirtless in his kilt, but the damage was already done. They'd seen him. Maybe he could convince them his kilt was a new design of running shorts? No, no one was that stupid.