Manon was in a tough position now.
As soon as the door had shut, she realized she had to open it once more.
The system was clear that failure would be catastrophic- and she would basically get as many tries as needed to succeed. Wasn't that a tad unfair?
She was just so confused. Who was "the system"? A sentient entity? An excessively omnipotent AI? Or a person masquerading around as an all powerful force?
This game was also giving her a headache. Affection Points, love interests- that god awful annoying boy Remy…everything bothered her. Everything was weird.
But the weirdest thing was Colette. Her old friend.
Manon was the type to simply walk away. She didn't know how to say things lightly. She didn't know how to think before she spoke and spoke with strategy. She knew how to study, and she knew how to bite. That was all.
Moreover, the longer she had been here, the more she was strangely….. forgetting her real name.
"Ha….Hana." She whispered to herself, the name strange on her tongue. "Hana...."
It was as if her real life was a distant memory- forced to play as a background character now that she was Manon.
But the system got one thing correct.
She was very curious about who she was. Who Manon was.
Maybe the system had been responsible for her sudden memory issues, not remembering her friends or the faces of beloved family members- but it made her all the more interested in what she could gain in knowledge. It gave her that hunger an orphan may have about…who they were. She felt like she was truly becoming Manon- if not already.
It was such an unsettling feeling, but it was real and hers. She needed to address it.
Manon looked towards the door, her hands stiff at her sides as she was still seated on the bed.
She would have to go.
.....
…..
Colette smiled at Stella, calm and poised. She watched the girl bring the teacup to her small lips and sip.
"I'd listen if I were you."
Colette blinked slowly.
She was…used to this scene. But to say she was looking forward to it would be a false statement.
But nonetheless, Colette was committed to making sure the story did not change too severely.
[New Side Mission Option!]
[Stella isn't fond of Colette. Increase rapport by teaming up to sneak into the manager's room.]
Colette's eye twitched.
In this part of the game,. Stella would offer for Colette to help her sneak into the Manager's bedroom for magic items. The player had a choice between helping or not. The issue was that 9/10 times Stella would snitch on Colette unless you knew exactly what choices to make down to what to say to her- all starting from this point. The reward wasn't even that great for sneaking in with her and surviving without getting snitched on- it was just extra points with Stella and a randomly generated magic item you could buy later pretty easily.
[Reward: Unknown Scroll containing hidden records.]
A scroll? Colette's mind raced. She wasn't really sure what that meant. A parchment of records in a scroll? Would it be useful?
Truthfully, Colette had planned on denying Stella just to make things simple and easy, but it seemed as though she stood to gain more than she anticipated by cooperating this time. It wouldn't be hard, as she had played enough times to know how to get on Stella's good side as long as no other variables were at play, and thankfully Manon was not there.
"Did you hear me? I said that the manager has all sorts of crazy magic items and Remy won't help me go take a peek." Stella repeated, a bit annoyed. Colette brought her focus back to the girl, her eyes locking in on how she tapped her nails against the table. Colette chose her next words subconsciously- from all the times she had played.
"I see…but why are you telling me this?" Stella sighed, but it was more a sign she was happy she was being listened to.
"I need someone to watch my back. If you help, I'll let you keep one thing you find. You in?" She had the guts of a kid who had been on the streets, and it was why Colette never hated Stella's character no matter how annoying she was. She was just a rebellious poor kid who knew that the good things in life did not last and you had to take what you could when possible.
Colette felt rebellious all of a sudden too. Maybe it was her lack of better judgement due to her regressed age, or maybe it was the peace she suddenly felt and the mending of old wounds just beginning- but like a puppy with a broken leg who thought they were ready to run again, Colette agreed.
"I'm in."
…..
...
Manon poked her head out of the door, looking left and right down the hall.
No one.
It was eerily quiet, as if no one was here even if she knew that to be untrue. The lamps that lit the halls flickered like flames just for the ambiance, and she knew it was dark outside by now due to the way the navy blue walls looked black.
With a deep breath, Manon exited the room. Since it had come to this, at the very least, she would not be dying. But it was her goal to make this adventure short and sweet, so she did not have to explain to Colette why Sister Anya's Affection dropped to 0.
Manon walked, making her footsteps as quiet as possible as she approached the staircase. What would happen if affection reached 0? Colette had told her that she would likely die- but how? On the spot? Would it depend on context and the characters around? These were the questions she had that Colette basically did not explain as they were obvious to herself. It was a habit she knew her old friend had….
Alongside many other traits….
Manon had been so focused on her thoughts and footsteps, that she neglected to notice someone bounding up the stairs. Another sister. But this one was large and burly, her frame overwhelming and overtaking most of the width of the stars and hallway. Her habit was quite literally stretching against her body about to burst at the seams when she walked. Almost comically. Manon would have laughed aloud if not for the absolutely barbarically scary face the woman had. She looked like she was looking for something and Manon did not want to be that something.
She turned right around, struggling to take off her fancy new shoes. Her feet made a soft thump and she stumbled over a small lump in the runner carpet that trailed through the hallway. There was pregnant silence, before she heard the beast stop her descent up the stairs with a grunt and huff.
"Shittttt" Manon tucked her shoes close to her belly and ran with light feet as fast as she could, hearing heavy stomping behind her mere seconds later.
She was fast but she was small, her only savior the frequent spots of darkness in the halls between lamps. She had gone so far that she didn't know where she was anymore when she found another set of stairs going downwards, this one a tight spiral that gave her a minor dizzying spell as she reached the bottom. The brunette child quickly found a random pillar once she did, her back firmly glued to it in hopes of not being caught by the ogre nun.
Stomp….stomp…stomp…..
Her surroundings were dark, but she seemed to be in some sort of great room, with not much furniture. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a red door to her right she had missed. But the nun had already made it down the stairs and would catch her very soon if she didn't find a way out without getting spotted. The door was too obvious. They had been told not to go downstairs….perhaps it may have been better to get caught whilst still upstairs?
"Hmmmmmm" the nun grunted, turning her head this way and that, searching carefully.
Stomp….stomp…..stomp...
Manon swore she could smell her. Stale wine and steel. Why did a nun smell like that? She squeezed her eyes shut and begged for the omnipotent system to save her.
"Boo."
Manon couldn't even scream. She did not have time to react to anything. She just remembered a blinding red light and then she was gasping for air, standing on the inside of the room she had left to fulfill her mission. Her shoes were back on her feet. Her skin was not sweaty. But her fear was real.
"Oh…so that's how it's gonna be."
….....
....
Colette and Stella had found the manager's bedroom. Easy.
The problem was that a guard was there. A burly thing, something like a giant troll of a sister.
Colette knew her name, of course: Lizbeth. She was large and meaty like a mercenary, mean faced and very frightening to young children.
However, contrary to popular belief, she was very mild mannered and rather kind.
Except for in one instance: breaking the rules.
And well, that was exactly what Colette and Stella were there to do. Obliterate them.
"So, I think you should distract her while I go inside." Stella whispered harshly from around the corner. They were far enough to where Lizabeth would only see them if she moved to her left, but she definitely wouldn't hear their whispers. Colette rolled her eyes, needing this task to go as smoothly as possible.
"That won't do anything and you know it. We need a real distraction that will last." She muttered, turning away to think to herself. Usually she would have already broken into the manager's room by now- because Lizabeth only showed up 10 minutes after finishing up tea time. But Stella had prolonged tea time due to her ranting about her awful plans, until Colette simply had to drag her out and tell her they'd talk on the way.
Thus, she needed a plan she usually wouldn't use. The Manager's room had a key and she already knew how to get in…they just needed Lizabeth occupied for 10 minutes….
"Lizabeth- the manager asked me to fetch you. Something about the desserts for tonight?" a child's voice rang out. The large woman grunted, excitedly, if an excited grunt were possible.
"I'll go. You watch, Remy." She spoke gruffly.
"You can count on me!"
Lizabeth stomped away, making her way towards the main staircase as fast as her thick legs could carry her. Stella and Colette were frozen until Remy spoke again.
"Hurry up. I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart." The boy said, holding the bedroom door open as he waited for the girls. His dark nickel hair was slicked back formally, a few stray strands unwilling to be tamed falling on his forehead. His attire was also nicer than before, a nice black shirt and trousers with some silver embroidery on his pockets and around the cuffs of his sleeves.
Colette blanched, not excited to owe Remy anything.
[Remy thinks Colette will surely be grateful. He intends to hold this, as well as the covering for Manon earlier at lunch over her head for a while]
Colette sighed even as Stella pulled her along by force, stepping inside the expansive room. It was a lot like the house's halls, navy blue and stars. As if they had just stepped into a galaxy. The bed was ornate gold, shining as a focal point. Windows were all covered by massive velvet drapes, and the woman had nothing else inside her bedroom aside from rows upon rows of short drawers literally lining the entire room like filing cabinets. They were all black and all had some sort of rune combination on them.
Behind the girls, Remy put the key back in its place tucked into the wall lamp on the outside wall of the room, before entering after them.
"Welcome to Sister Anya's cave."