They walked in silence for a moment, crossing the plaza away from Realm Defenders and Portal Travels. Sean carried both candles, while Emma typed on her phone. They entered a modest alley and passed the temple to the side. Seeing it in the daylight made Sean remember the revelations from last evening. He figured Emma wouldn't care about class changes, adventurer services , or various skill details.
But there was another thing, so he started, "I learned yesterday why people aren't wearing Earth-clothes. It's–"
"I'm not wearing cosplay," Emma cut in.
"But– Come on, aren't you curious why everybody is wearing it?"
"Because it's stupid," she replied.
Sean scoffed – of course she wouldn't know with this attitude. He tried, "Sure, but… Aren't you at all curious–"
She looked at him as they walked and mocked him, "Why? Would you like a sexy Healer chick ?"
"What? No– Wait, what?" he asked.
She began, "Like that Australian jerk–"
"Actually, he was–" Sean interjected.
"Tut-tut-tut, let me finish!" Emma insisted. "And he totally was, by the way. But it's also true – look around at all the… sexy outfits …"
"What? It's not…" he started to complain but trailed off. He looked around and… it was true, sort of. Not exactly, but there were many female players who seemed to have parted or pulled up their caster robes in all the right places. They were showcasing their cleavage, legs, shoulders, or free-flowing hair… Sometimes a combination of those and more – not enough to be considered inappropriate, but it was clearly noticeable. He simply hadn't been paying conscious attention before.
"So I'm not wearing sexy Healer cosplay ," Emma concluded and went back to her phone.
Sean frowned – she had a point. He commented, "But there's plenty of non-sexy robes, mostly on guys though…" He paused, and it seemed that most women were wearing rather skimpy outfits, relatively speaking. He argued, "Maybe there are different–"
"They all look like you'd freeze your tits off," she broke in.
"But it's not cold ," he protested.
Emma glanced at him and said, "Like you'd know – in your overpowered arctic armor…"
He sighed, though she had a point – it was thick. But it felt like Emma was as resistant to the game mechanics as… Of course. He finally realized why Omega had seated them next to each other: Sean had been stubborn about nutrition and his resistance efforts – Emma clearly still held firm opinions about the game. But how could he get through to her? He considered whether he should bother – if she started paying attention, the Healer might notice his exploits… or start asking difficult questions . Then again, she was bound to find out about in-game clothes sooner or later anyway…
They turned into a much wider avenue that seemingly led to the Docks – or the quest candles assumed so. The traffic here was different: there had mostly been pedestrians around the plaza, presumably players. The narrow alley they had taken to reach the west gate had no room for cargo wagons, and the gate area was focused on gear and quests.
This was more like a boulevard, with small trees planted here and there, merchant booths on both sides – some selling from wagons. Three or four carts could comfortably fit side-by-side in the middle, and there would still be room for foot traffic. It was loud and chaotic: pedestrians moving in every direction, horse-drawn carriages and various cargo deliveries heading both ways, some people riding horseback – Sean couldn't tell if they were players or NPCs, aside from a few players with their tags on.
As they walked, he got used to the noise, and it wasn't so much loud as distracting: people arguing at the stalls… haggling, seemingly. Constant background foot traffic and thumping of hooves against the pavement. Or cart wheels clacking against uneven stones. Horses snorting and neighing as they were guided around obstacles. Merchants shouting to advertise their goods: mostly foodstuffs, it seemed. Smells of fresh meats, fruits, breads, pastries, spices, and all kinds of ready meals were everywhere.
Complete with the stench of animal feces – both from horses and livestock being traded. It did not look hygienic, next to booths with raw meat. Some people used brooms and sticks to shove the refuse into the gutters or into evenly spaced sewer grates… he figured this must've been where the sewage came from yesterday, among other places. There were stores in the buildings behind the stalls too, on both sides of the road, but Sean would not buy food anywhere near this mess.
He hoped the buffet dinner was sourced from more reputable vendors…
Once he stopped looking around the diegetic medieval fair, he glanced at Emma – on her phone, uncaring. He decided to explain: "Look, I'm not saying– The clothes are more than just cosplay, okay? Remember the mental fog from casting spells that you described yesterday? Well…" He recapped the conversation with Aiden about clothing issues and the Reddit commenter's summary to support it. He concluded, "They differed on the specifics of whether it's mana cap or regen debuff, but both effects would apply to Earth-clothes – and it makes sense."
"How does it make– How are jeans medium armor?" Emma protested.
"Well, they aren't cloth either… or not exactly ," he argued. They didn't speak for a moment, and Emma wasn't even typing or scrolling. Sean took it as an invitation to continue, so he asked, "Look, why don't we just see some– Maybe there are some cuts that aren't 'sexy-anything,' okay?"
"I don't have any fake gold," she pointed out.
"Makes sense – gold coins are worth a lot," Sean explained. "But I have some silver – maybe it'll be enough, though umm…" He trailed off. He shouldn't have offered that: he had planned to get some better weapons for these coins.
Emma glanced around and commented, "There aren't any cosplay shops anyway."
"But I just said it's not– Ugh…" he complained, but she merely shrugged.
Sean rolled his eyes and thought about it as they continued down the boulevard. If killing Gremlins was a lvl 2 quest, then the difficulty should be somewhere between oversized rats and their dire variant – or he presumed that, anyway. But his starter axes should be alright.
He asked, "Why do you hate the cosplay so much?"
"I don't…" Emma started, then sighed. "It probably doesn't work anyway. How is cloth 'armor' going to protect anyone?"
"But it's not about protection!" He raised his voice. "Have you listened to a word I said?"
"I have," she replied calmly, "but there's no way some silly cape helps with anything. That'd be stupid."
He was frustrated – it was like she was actively trying to sabotage herself in the game. He countered, "Maybe it's magic?" She frowned at him, so he added, "Like your healing or attack skills – how do they work, anyway? Or anything in–"
"Are you making a scene again?" Emma interrupted.
Sean groaned loudly – she was beyond saving. Or maybe… He tried one last time: "Wanna bet about the clothes? That it works – that they help with mana recovery and cap, or spell-casting in general?"
"Bet what?" she asked. "I don't have any gold, remember?"
It was a problem, but Sean improvised the stupidest idea he could come up with: "How about… if it doesn't work – then I'll wear the sexy cosplay!"
He glanced at Emma, and she was giving him a sideways glare… but this time with a smirk. Only then did he realize that she wasn't smiling much – or at all, in fact. He wasn't sure if she had ever shown any joy inside the game. He hoped it wasn't because of him…
She shrugged and remarked, "Deal. But still no gear shops here, so–"
Suddenly a horse lurched from the side and almost directly at them – from exactly where Emma wasn't looking. Sean swooped in and pulled her a step back then raised his hands in front of the animal. The horse jerked – its hooves clattered against the pavement, then it shied aside and threw its head even higher. Sean finally noticed it was pulling on some kind of leash-rope, and its handler tried to control the spooked beast – his knuckles were white from the tension.
"Whoa there!" Sean exclaimed. "You almost trampled us!"
"Sorry about that," the man said. He struggled to contain the animal, but brought it back to a cart by the leash… or reins, maybe? It was calming down, at least, but still looking around and blowing air through its nostrils. Sean wasn't sure if the guy was a player or a local…
"You don't need to be so protective, you know," Emma complained from behind him.
Sean stepped back and turned to her, then asked, "What? I was just– The thing came from behind you, or you weren't looking– Ugh, and you don't need to be so defensive all the time!" She merely glared at him, so he added, "Besides, if anything happened to me – you could just heal me, right?" He smiled at this great plan – one he wouldn't admit he had only thought of after the fact.
Emma's stare turned into more of a scorn, but she shook her head and commented, "Whatever, let's go…" She made a wide detour around the animal that almost ran her over.
"Wait, actually… one sec," Sean suggested and approached the stranger carefully. The traffic continued around them undisturbed as if nobody noticed – he wondered how often this sort of stumble happened around here, or if the NPCs were 'programmed' to ignore it. But the horse was still huffing and tossing its head, while the man fumbled to slide the strap of some bag over its ears. Sean started, "Excuse me, do you know of–"
"Don't know what came over her! She's always so calm and then the harness snapped…" the man interrupted. Sean glanced at Emma, but she was already on her phone and didn't seem to notice the remark – then he realized the 'her' presumably meant the horse… which finally submitted and started chewing on whatever was inside the sturdy pouch. The guy turned to Sean and said, "I'd also appreciate it if you didn't wave flames in front of my horse, eh?"
Sean looked at both quest candles in his hand and realized that maybe doing that wasn't the best idea… Somehow they were still aflame – probably magic. He took a step back to avoid startling the animal, and asked, "Yeah, sorry about– Anyway, do you know of any gear stores nearby? Like something where we could buy cloth robes for… well, for somebody?" He nodded to Emma, in her Earth-clothes.
The man glanced at Emma briefly, then offered, "Down the Pathway that way and the second alley to the left – it's one of the adventurer equipment market rows, can't miss it. Now if you'll excuse me…" He turned to unpack the wares from his cart: crates of fresh fruits or maybe vegetables – they looked odd, foreign.
Sean assumed that it was an NPC – from the casual infodumping style and the use of 'adventurer' over 'player,' not to mention the cliché 'street-vendor' vibes. But it didn't matter – he simply said thanks with a nod to the guy and left. Emma was typing by then, so Sean explained, "In case you missed it: the gear section is not far, so we might just as well–"
"The quest is the other way, though," she cut in and looked at him. Sean frowned, confused – so she pointed at the candles. They were flaming forward and to the right.
Sean argued, "Sure, but… Come on, it's only a small detour – and we can test it on the Gremlins!" He paused, silence. "So what do you say?"
Emma sighed, rolled her eyes, resumed typing on her phone, and concluded, "Fine, whatever."