As I just thought a few seconds ago, we spent the remainder of the day watching plays. The only time I'd ever watched plays before was those crappy school plays they made us watch back in elementary. Which, obviously don't really count. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were fine. The actors were fine. The ones that tried, acted like they actually wanted to be there, anyways. The sets and costumes obviously sucked, but when your budget is 13 bucks, a stick of bubblegum and prayer, that's kind of expected. Hard to fault them for that.  

Anyways, we watched probably, like, almost half a dozen plays that afternoon. The city had an oddly high concentration of theaters. It was kinda fun. Though, it was pretty freakin' expensive. By the end of it, I was down, like, 4 coin. I'm still not quite sure how much money that actually is, in practice, but it feels like a lot. Granted, it probably would've been cheaper if I didn't buy theater snacks after the 3rd or 4th one. Those were freakin' expensiver. But I couldn't help it. Buttered popcorn is great no matter what reality it's in. And it gets stuck in the teeth just as easily, too. Man, wish I packed a toothbrush before I got shot in the head. 

The plays were pretty good, regardless. Definitely worth the money. At last, that's what I've decided to tell myself. I'm sure a lot of people would eat my head over this, but I definitely still prefer movies. They're just... Easier, I guess. Still, the plays were plenty of fun. I especially liked it when they used magic and crap. Getting physically pushed back by the wind and feeling the heat from real (yet, somehow entirely non destructive) fire was an unexpected surprise, and it really added a lot. Man, that part where that guy went, like, all transparent and stuff, that was insane. Definitely the most exciting part of the night for me. 

All the plays were good (I think. I kinda fell asleep for a bit during a couple of them. It happens more than I'd like to admit), but two in particular stood out to me.

The first one focused on a mysterious man of unknown origin who moves into a small town seemingly out of nowhere. The townspeople were kind to him, showcasing stereotypical small town hospitality, but keep him at an arms length because of the strange nature of his arrival, also the general mistrust of outsiders.

The first act is mostly filled with heavy handed foreshadowing and building up the setting, introducing all the characters and setting up the basis for the relationships.

The second kicks off with a grand revelation about the main dudes past, something about being some big criminal dude that betrayed yadayadayada, now there's a bunch of guys after him, and he's hiding out under an assumed identity. The townspeople begin to deliberate on what to do about X, Y and Z, and a bunch of subplot crap gets swiftly and poorly tied up as the writers obviously realized they were almost out of time.

While all that's happening, the big bad gang of nasty dudes rolls into town, and act 3 kicks off. The town says to the dude something like "you're one of us, that means something something yadayada, we'll show them for picking a fight with our town.", which was followed by what basically amounted to little more than a back to back string of loosely connected fights with a series of one liners and general cheesey banter mercilessly scattered all throughout. At the end, main dudes fighting the biggest baddest dude, it looks like he's about to lose, but suddenly some dumb bullcrap comes from out of nowhere, he beats the guy, gets the girl, and the sun sets. 

It was kinda all over the place, there were a number of pacing issues, and the villains were almost too comically evil to be taken seriously, but, for whatever reason, the whole thing really stuck with me. No idea why. Maybe it was because the fights were cool? I especially liked how every character got their own chance to shine at the end. 'Twas very exciting. 

 The other play that stuck with me was this one that was like Romeo & Juliet.

That's it. It was just Shakespeare but with different names and also magic. That was it. I dunno, I don't have anything else to say about it. Just found it odd. Like, how'd that happen. 

Other than that, our night was pretty uneventful. Sis and I didn't really talk all that much during the plays. I liked that. I could never really enjoy watching movies with friends back in the day, because, like, it always felt like whenever I'm paying real close attention to the thing, someone would start talking, I wouldn't hear it, it'd be awkward for the both of us, and when I want to say something, they're paying too absorbed in the thing to care, and it's awkward for everyone. I could never find that balance. 

Anyways, we mostly just chatted about the play whenever we finished one, and decided where to go next. It was pleasant. 

After a while, it was getting late, I was getting tired, my wallet was feeling noticeably lighter, I figured it was time to call it a night.

"Well, I'm beat. Think we should head to bed?" I asked after we walked out of the last play.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You should probably do that." Sis said. 

"Oh, uh, I'll buy you a room, if you w-"

"Bro, I don't sleep, remember?"

"Oh. Right"

. . .

"So, should I, like, teleport you 'Up Wherever'?"  

She looked up at the moon and thought about it for a bit. "Nah," She said, after a moment. "Think I'll stay down here. I can probably get some good night fishin' in."

"K. Should I bring us to Basenholm, then?"

She nodded. We went behind a building somewhere and I dropped us a little ways up from Basenholm, just near the river. 

"If I'm not here when you wake up, just ask Pops where I am. He'll probably know." Sis said. "Oh, and good night, or something. You guys say that, right?"

"Uh, yeah." I said. "Good n-, er, uh, later, I guess." Should I still say 'Good night' even though she wont be sleeping?

Sis nodded, and took off her vest and grabbed the blanket thingie that's somehow stuffed inside there. I created a hole between here and my room, and stepped through. I'd have just walked back, but I figured there was a chance I might run into someone, and I didn't know how I'd explain how the person who's supposed to be my little sister suddenly disappeared to at night.  Might get weird. 

Anyways, I entered my room. I was surprised to see that all my garbage was gone. I kinda forgot that the innkeeper said that they'd clean the place for me. Cool stuff. Thanks, guy.

Before I lay down and properly went to bed, I stuffed all my not garbage into my pockets once more, so that I could make use of them at a moments notice. Hmm, now that I'm thinking about it, it's been a while since I cleaned. I decided to use one of those shower can thingies.

. . .

Nice, all clean. Good stuff.

I lay down on the bed, got under the covers, and just stared up at the ceiling for a while, and, for some time, I simply thought. 

. . .

A week, huh.

That's just... 6 more of this, right?

I couldn't help but sigh.

Not sure if I can last that long, to be honest.

I thought back to S's words from last night. 

'If there's an emergency,' His words seemed to echo in my ears. 'I'll be there.' 

An emergency, huh... 

What I wouldn't give for something like that. 

. . . 

I noticed that the popcorn from earlier was no longer stuck in my teeth. 

And I slept.