It's night time, so it would probably be suspicious if we went snooping around.
I say we just get something to eat in our room (we can't eat but we don't want to make others suspicious) and go to bed. Have Piecewise wake us up if anybody comes or if we oversleep.
Or maybe just stay in bed pretending to sleep. We don't have to actually sleep, right? Do we feel better after doing so?
Would camping in the woods be suspicious? Could we pretend to be on a hunting trip? This will give us more freedom of movement and let us do things during the night. We could even hunt to feed our skeleghosts.
+1
+1
You head downstairs and inquire at the desk about some food. It takes about 45 minute but a plate of grilled fish and vegetables, along with a cup of some very weak looking alcohol is presented to you, along with instructions to just leave the plate outside your room when you're done. You head back upstairs and set the uneaten food down on top of the bird corpses. You idly think that you'll need to find some way to get rid of it. You aren't hungry, but you're not sure if you could eat food. Would it just rot away inside you? This body doesn't seem to function like a normal corpse or a normal living body; injuries heal quickly,you don't rot, and you bleed but your heart doesn't beat and you don't need to breathe except for speaking. Simply put, you have no idea what eating that stuff would do.
You lay down in bed and stare at the ceiling. You don't have to sleep either. You don't get tired, at least not from remaining awake, but it is a useful way to kill time. You suppose you could just lay here, staring at the ceiling for eight hours. Not that it sounds like much fun. The smell of the food has completely pervaded the room at this point and your scavenged memories are telling you that it smells good.
You close your eyes think. Camping...would that be strange? This hunting trip thing seems to have gone over fine; no one seemed taken aback by the idea of someone hunting in the woods. But no...you can feel those memories rejecting the idea. Why go camp out in the woods when town is so close by? No reason for it. Can't shoot birds in the dark after all. Anyone sensible would shoot in the day and stay in town at night. At best you'd probably be considered an eccentric weirdo or antisocial, at worst....who knows. It would stand out, especially with the cover you've already got going as a researcher. You'd need a better reason; something that can explain why you need to be out there at night. Something these backwater fishermen could understand and accept. Astronomy? It would explain wanting to be away from the town and its lights but...a thick canopy of trees makes that a bit unreasonable. Botanist chasing some moon flower that only bloomed at night? No, the locals would be suspicious because they never heard of it. Same with a naturalist and a nocturnal animal.
You scratch your head -it doesn't itch, its just a gesture left over from one of the devoured men- and sigh. Maybe a cover isn't the best idea. Maybe it would be better to do this all in total secrecy; sneak out at night and return before morning. After all, "he was here all night" is a better cover than "He's some professor we've never met from a college we've never heard of out chasing some creature we don't think exists. Honest."
Piecewise rattles, awakening you from your thoughts. Its gotten quite late; near midnight maybe. Piecewise is still at the window but he's looking down at you. One finger is placed up against the glass, pointing out. You sit up and peek out through the bottom corner of the window, towards where he's pointing. The street is almost totally dark, just one or two lights here and there, and utterly deserted. However, there is someone out on the street. They're carrying a flashlight, sweeping it in front of them as they walk. Its a soldier, in full combat gear and uniform, and he's clearly patrolling down the street.
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Topic: The Left-Hand Path (Read 119059 times)