Fourth Wall

One: The Meeting

Chloe despised her job as a grocery store cashier. The fluorescents always buzzed and made her involuntarily squint all throughout her shift, resulting in a killer headache.

Not to mention, it was so very clear to Chloe each time a customer passed through her lane that they wished she was an automated machine so they didn't have to think about how to speak or act in front of her. It was a feeling she well understood, but didn't change the fact that her shifts felt like they sapped all the energy from her.

She entered her apartment, shutting and locking the door behind her as she let out a groan of frustration she'd been holding in for hours. She sounded like a dying moose.

She kicked off her shoes, leaving them where they fell, and immediately stripped off her clothes until she was entirely naked. It was a funny, rather un-graceful dance she did in order to eject the clothes so efficiently. Her work uniform felt massively overstimulating, and shucking it made Chloe feel new.

Well, almost.

She ran the shower until it was searing hot before stepping inside. Her apartment was small and cheap(read: shitty) but it had a solid shower door and excellent water pressure. Both were ranked high amongst Chloe's list of priorities.

Freshly showered and still steaming with the residual heat of the water, Chloe wiggled into some soft pajama pants and tugged on a sweatshirt that was easily three sizes too large for her with nothing underneath. The sweatshirt had been her ex's. Landon. Barf.

Regardless, it was hers now, and super comfy. Finishing the assembly of her ultimate comfort 'fit, she tugged on some fuzzy cabin socks before cozying up on her couch and booting up Baldur's Gate 3.

She ran it on her laptop but hooked it up via HDMI to her 56" flatscreen. The two electronics were the single most expensive items she owned, and it showed that she could barely afford them.

But to Chloe it was worth it. This was the best way to experience games. With your head right in them. Graphics had improved so much she could see individual pores on the characters during close-ups; a stark contrast to the Lara Croft triangle-tits of yesteryear(1996.)

A sigh of contentment left Chloe's lips as she snuggled up to her controller, the sounds of Baldur's Gate 3 filling her tiny "living room." The controller remained plugged in at all times. She couldn't stand losing battery at an inopportune moment. She'd worn the buttons smooth and the left joystick caught often, but she couldn't afford a new controller yet.

Finally the game loaded, the world rendering somewhat slowly. Truthfully she knew she was asking far too much of her poor little laptop, but she couldn't help herself. This was the world she wanted to be in right now.

Not this one. All shades of gray. Bills due. Empty stomach. Empty fridge.

No, better to be exploring the wreckage of the Nautilus with her party members; Laezel, Shadowheart and Wyll. She'd picked them up along the way, along with a few others who remained stationed at base camp.

The four of them were doubling back to a path Chloe thought they'd taken already; apparently theh hadn't, for there was a pale man with white hair crouched nearby, calling for aid.

He was saying it's "one of those brain things. You've killed it before haven't you?" Chloe knew the Illithid worm crawling in her character's brain is what the stranger was referring to. Her options were to help or don't, essentially.

Chloe squinted at the screen, eyeing the seemingly nervous pale elf. Devastatingly handsome.
Must be evil.

Still, Chloe deliberated. If it is a worm, I should definitely kill it, she thought.

She chose the option to investigate. A perception check rolled. It was successful, and Chloe's character was able to see the stranger poised to strike behind her with a dagger.

I knew it! She thought victoriously, but it was short-lived. The stranger's dark eyes bored into her character's.

"I saw you aboard the Nautilus! Free and unrestrained. You're with them, aren't you?" He demanded. Chloe scoffed at the TV.

"As if," she said aloud, slurping a Coke noisily before choosing the dialogue option that pleaded her innocence.

But just as she clicked it, something happened. Was that...did he look over here?

Thinking surely it was a bug or her imagination, Chloe scooted closer to the tv. She flipped through a few more dialogue options, learning his name was Astarion. Nothing else unusual happened.

Chloe shook her head at herself. Just in her mind, as she'd suspected.

Still, she sat riveted without making a choice just to watch him. His idle animation was a simple eye movement and facial twitch, and Chloe watched for several minutes before being satisfied that of course the animated man was not looking at you, you freak.

But Chloe had a feeling she couldn't shake.

Like she wasn't alone in her apartment anymore.