Emily finally reached the house she had started in. The game had left her and Karyn with a lot to think about, and they both had agreed to stop doing quests for now and go back to the house. Emily felt relieved to know that most NPCs didn't have any consciousness, but the few that did worried her. The game had said they would be able to see Karyn, but did that mean they knew they were in a game? Would they be allies or enemies? Would they know about her wishes like the game did?
These questions had kept popping up in her head all the way to the house, keeping her so distracted she almost didn't notice when Karyn began moving again as the game slowed down to a more normal speed. "So... What did you figure out?" Karyn asked. It felt like not even 10 seconds since Emily had asked her to speed up the game so she could "try to figure it out", but she knew it was a lot longer for her friend.
Emily sighed. "Not much... The game didn't really give us anything to work with. I don't think we'll be able to know more until we meet with those "special characters" that have an advanced AI. I think I have even more questions now actually..."
"We'll just have to add them to the "to be answered later" list, then." Karyn joked.
"Are you sure it's not getting too long at this point?" Emily played along. "You'll never have enough space."
"You underestimate me if you think I don't have at least two notebooks for this alone!" She faked writing something and winked at Emily. "I'll add these just under "Did Jon get horny when I got bigger boobs?"."
"Hey!" Emily began protesting before realizing something. "Wait! You called me Emily! Damnit! I mean you called me by my real name!"
"Really? J..." Karyn tested. "Emily. Nope, The game still stop you from hearing me when I say it."
"But you really did! When you asked if I had gotten horny after you wished for big breasts."
Karyn frowned. "Did Jon get horny when I wished for bigger boobs?" She opened her eyes wide. "It really works! But... Game, Why does it works?"
You were referring to Jon in this sentence, not Emily.
"You mean they're two different people?"
Jon was the boy who wished this game into existence, and Emily is the main character of this game. It doesn't matter if one became the other, they are not considered the same as long as Emily is part of the game.
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised." Emily said after Karyn read what the game wrote to her. "It felt like that when I talked to the game in the alley too, like Jon was a different person... Wait! I can say it too! Emily... Fuck!"
"I think we can only say it when talking about before you entered the game." Karyn explained. "Try talking about you in the third person."
Emily frowned. "Jon is an 18-year-old boy..." Her face lit up. "And that boy is not me... Fuck! Of course it can't be that simple!" They continued to experiment a little, but they could only say "Jon" when it was explicitly not about Emily. Any attempt to link the two would be blocked by the game.
"Well, at least it's something." Emily eventually said with a sigh. She was a little disappointed, but just being able to say her name was enough to make her happier. It might be an illusion, but she felt a little more in control now.
Emily finally entered the house. It was still in the same state they had left it, with junk littered everywhere. She heard the now familiar sound of a new window opening for Karyn and knew a new tutorial had appeared. "It says it's time to begin searching for your brother." Karyn said.
"Oh, right! I forgot the story was like that." Emily said.
Karyn was silent a few seconds as she read the tutorial. "I'm not sure you'll like this." She finally said.
"Really? What else is new?" Emily asked sarcastically.
"It says we will need clues, and you'll have to clean the place up to find them..."
Emily was speechless for a moment as she looked around the room. There was so much stuff that she didn't even know where to begin. "You're kidding, right?" Emily eventually asked. "It'll take hours, if not days!"
"You have to use the skill cleaning" Karyn continued. "Maybe it'll clean up everything automatically?"
"Karyn. This game made me walk almost an hour just to get to the town, so I doubt it will be that easy..."
"Well... It also says there is something in the closet near the entrance to help you."
Indeed, there was a door to Emily's left that she hadn't noticed, and opening it, she found it mostly empty, except for one thing. "A broom?" Emily asked with disbelief. "What can I use a broom for? It's not dust! It's a pile of trash almost as high as me!"
"I don't know, J... Emily." Karyn defended herself. "I just tell you what the game says!"
Emily sighed as she took the broom in her inventory.
Broom (ATT: 2; LUK+1; increases Cleaning exp gained) A classic cleaning tool, but you could also use it to hit things.
"It's a weapon?" Emily asked before sighing. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised my first weapon would be a broom... Can you make me equip it?" She asked Karyn.
Unlike her clothes, the broom simply appeared in her hands without any involuntary movement from her body. "Wait? do I have to always carry it?" She asked, and it suddenly disappeared. "Huh?" It then just as suddenly reappeared when she was wondering when it had gone. "What?" She tried making it disappear and it did once again. A few experiments showed her she could make it appear and disappear at will. "Okay! This is pretty cool!" She finally said with a smile.
Karyn laughed as she watched Emily making the broom appear and disappear. "You're having fun?" She asked teasingly.
"Don't act like this isn't cool!" She said as the broom appeared in her hands once more. "I feel like a magician!" She made some grand gesture as she made her broom disappear again.
Karyn laughed again. "You're right, that looks pretty cool, but we have to clean if we want to advance in the story."
Emily frowned. "Why do you have to ruin my fun like that?"
"You could have done this for hours if I didn't stop you."
"I don't see the problem." Emily laughed.
Karyn sighed. "Well, I'm going to make you clean now so prepare yourself. I don't know what will happen."
It was Emily's turn to sigh. "Fine. Let's get this over with." Karyn nodded and seemed to click on something, then the screen on the ceiling disappeared, like it never was there.
"Karyn?" Emily shouted. "What happened?" There was no answer.
