Lingering Glance (Patreon)

*choice: You smirk at Alessa. "Quite different from before," you say, gesturing to your surroundings.

It doesn't seem as if you gaze upon the same place. Where before the Market was made of color; sights, sounds, and scents as diverse as the people who roamed it, now its stillness seems almost unnatural.

Where the sun had bored down, relentless, now the rains wash over the same cobblestones. You stood with Alessa on this very spot, but the world had been so different then. "Sharp contrast, isn't it?" You smirk at her, hand waving at your surroundings. "To what it was before."

Alessa's brows lower. "'Tis."

Hadrian hasn't taken his eyes off the tailor shop. "That's the safehouse?" he asks. Alessa nods, and he grabs his cross. "It seems... eerie."

*choice

• Your smirk widens. "At least it's fitting."
• You shrug. "Could be worse."
• *You also grab your cross. "Yes," you agree. "Yes, it does."
• *You grab Juturna's coin. "Yes," you agree. "Yes, it does."
• You grunt.
• "Doesn't matter what it seems," you say, itching to go. "It matters what it is."