Chapter 1: Act Your Part Well

She'd spend hours in the shop, looking over different books, holding them briefly in her hand — until she found one that didn't want to leave her fingers. It was therapeutic and another way to cure the boredom that came with not being able to leave that very shop.

It wasn't clear how long she had been stuck here, alone and unable to exit through the shop's door. All that she knew came from the little robotic voice that sounded out in her head now and then.

'The next batch of players will be arriving soon.' 

'Remember to act your part well. Don't step out of bounds. Don't go out of character or you'll suffer the consequences.'

Thankfully, she had never experienced those consequences for herself, and it wasn't something she would ever want to know. But from what her friend Ashlyn had told her, it wasn't anything good: not that it was expected to be so.

It was just something that was to be expected if you stepped out of line, and so far, Faye had done nothing to step out of bounds. She played her part well and did everything she was supposed to.

Today, she was relaxing on the window seat on the top floor - here was the best spot to see all that was happening outside. It was her favourite place in the shop, as it allowed her to have a sense of connection to the outside.

Deep down Faye did have a desire for the outside, but it wasn't enough to break the rules set by the mechanical bodiless voice. As long as she had this one life, she would live it well, and play it safe to not find out what would happen if she went against the mechanical voice.

Being absorbed in her book of choice for that day, she was slightly startled when the tinkling of a bell above the door sounded downstairs. Sighing, she placed the bookmark in the book to mark the place she last read, and stood up. 

Stretching out her aching muscles, she made her way down the winding stairs until she got to the bottom and saw the players loitering about the shop. Faye felt a headache forming behind her brows, and it took some effort to put on her work face to mask the irritation that was creeping up. 

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"Hello, welcome to The Reading Nook." She smiled genially at the players and swept a glance at each of them. "How may I help you?"

Some players ignored her and walked off on their own, not even sparing a glance in her direction. She felt her eye twitch, but she kept up her smiling face and pretended like she hadn't noticed a thing; after all, going out of character or showing emotions that weren't consistent with her NPC status wasn't allowed. 

One player stood out amongst the rest. He was handsome in a sunny way. With ash-blond hair and cyan eyes that shone in the overhead lights, Faye had to fight the urge to block her eyes at the brightness. With an awkward look at his companions, he stepped forward and said, "sorry about them. We're all tired from the long journey and are just looking for a place to have a brief rest."

He explained his friend's actions, and Faye relaxed somewhat at his sincere apology. She was about to speak when he continued to say, "would it be possible to sit upstairs for a while, and have some food to replenish our energy?"

Faye returned his smile with one of her own and stood aside to show the stairs at the end of the bookcases. "Of course, if you'll make your way upstairs, I'll be with you shortly to take your orders. And you could browse the multitude of books here to your heart's content." 

She moved to the side to allow them through and acted like she didn't see the scathing looks from the players as they went past, all apart from the man who had spoken previously. 

He paused before her and said, "thank you for letting us stay here." He took her hand and placed a hefty pouch in her palm. "Take this for your troubles." And before she could reply in thanks, he grinned and followed his friends upstairs. 

Faye watched him leave and then pinched her furrowed brows to ease the headache that had now fully formed. 

Today was going to be a long day.

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