All three sides of Golden Ratio Park were lined with major avenues, across which lay the first of over five hundred city blocks. Robin darted across without waiting for a signal, ignoring the blare of car horns from the afternoon traffic. She almost slammed into a taxi, only to catch herself on the hood and flip over it. Her new body’s strength and skill translated her old parkour instincts with precision. She landed on her feet and kept running. The driver’s curses chased her down the nearest alley.

While the streets and avenues of Golden City formed a grid, the winding alleys within the blocks were more like a maze. To enter them, even during the day, was to take a risk; you might get lost, you might pass through without incident, or you might run into a mob of crooks lying in wait for hapless Civilians.

Robin took the corners and branches at random, knowing that her chance of finding a mob would stay low so long as she remained close to the starting area. Once she reached the dreary intersection between three buildings, she slowed to a stop and hunched over to catch her breath. She cursed the choice that had given this character more Resilience than Stamina. She had to keep moving. If anyone was following her, they’d catch up in no time.

Stop it, she thought. You’re being paranoid. There’s no way they even noticed you.

And yet…

She leaned against the rough brick wall and slid down until she sat on the grimy, trash-strewn pavement. Her hands drifted to cup the breasts concealed by her hoodie. They were small, made smaller by a sports bra, and easily concealed beneath the thick fabric. Still. They were real. And they were hers. This whole body was hers, small and strong and…

…aaaaand she was feeling herself up on a public street.

Luckily, no one seemed to be around, but she still dropped the cleavage and forced her arms to grip each other instead. She huddled against the wall, cold gnawing her bones despite the afternoon warmth, and allowed herself just a moment to feel pathetic.

Then, she shook herself. Literally and figuratively. This was no time to wallow. The Sentinels were right: when night fell, the criminal mobs would come out in force, flooding their back-alleys and depleted warehouse districts and spreading beyond them to rob banks or steal cars or commit any number of other heinous acts. For players, it would be time to grind the mobs and level up; but who knew if that was even safe, now that it was real?

She had to find shelter. Someplace safe. Then, she could crash and let herself feel…everything.

No sooner had she come to this conclusion than she heard the crunch of a footstep against pavement. Her instincts leapt to high alert. Her hand searched the ground nearby for a weapon, finding only a discarded tin can.

From around the corner emerged not a two-bit NPC criminal, but a pretty black girl in a cheerleader outfit. She had her phone out and was alternating between glances at it and her surroundings.

Robin almost smacked herself. Of course Tisha could track her down. They were still a party. All Tisha had to do was open the Map, and a tracker icon would lead the way.

Their eyes met across the alley, which was trash-strewn and partially crowded with dumpsters. Robin hauled herself up, stuttering through the first words of a lie, only for Tisha to cut her off.

“Hold up. Let me guess what’s going on.”

Robin pursed her lips, holding back a wave of nausea alongside her words.

“Your main account is a Sentinel. Those guys are your friends. And for some reason, you don’t want them to know that you’re here as this character instead of your other one.” Tisha quirked her head to one side. “Did I get it right?”

Robin gulped. “Exactly.”

“Okay,” said Tisha.

And that was all.

“…you don’t have questions?”

“Of course I do. But you’ve known me for two, maybe three hours? You don’t owe me any answers.” Tisha shrugged and tucked her hands behind her back like she didn’t know what else to do with them. “When you want to talk, I’ll listen. Until then, we might as well move on.”

Relief socked Robin straight in the gut. A few tiny tears slipped out. She pretended to adjust her mask and wiped them away. To think that she’d land in this world right next to the sweetest person in it. She must have done something good, to deserve luck like that.

She didn’t say ‘thank you.’ But then, she didn’t need to.

“Still,” she said instead, and coughed to clear the tightness that tried to choke off her words. “You should go back. Just because I won’t take their offer doesn’t mean you can’t.”

Tisha hummed and took a deliberate step closer. “I’d rather stick with you.”

“Even if it means sleeping on the streets?”

“For sure. Although…” Tisha screwed up her face, pushing her lips into a confused pout. “I still don’t get that part. Do we need a guild to get a hotel room?”

A laugh finally burst from Robin like a punctured balloon. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

There were hotels in the game, of course, but most only granted player access to public spaces like the lobby or parking lot. Talking to the employees would only take players to a room as part of an investigation quest-line or a scripted event. They didn’t need anything else. But this was a whole new world.

She straightened up, tucking the uncertainty back inside her where it belonged. Knowing that someone was on her side made it easier to carry.

“C’mon. Let’s ask around. We won’t know anything until we try.”