"I think I can feel it!"

"And... I want more of it. I've been feeling quite stuck. The saloon's been losing money... I think?... it's been losing money for as long as I can remember. I'm starting to get the idea that maybe I could change that. I don't want to have everything the same every day anymore."

"But... I don't think I can actually tell how much G you have? When I try to just know it doesn't seem to work."

"Interesting.  Possibly not good, but interesting."

"I've got 5000G total.  I put nine fish tacos into the crate, and Emily put one, to see if it made a difference who put things inside it.  So far, it seems to have worked, but I'll have to check with Emily to be sure there weren't consequences for her."

"The part of you that has the spark--should be able to look at the saloon, which has been losing money, and realize that's okay because there isn't any amount of money the saloon has.  Or if it is, it's zero, and stays zero every day you lose money.  Nothing changes, when the saloon loses money, you don't come closer to bankruptcy."

"Things in Pelican Town will change, I'm pretty sure of that.  The thing I'm trying to say is more--the times may not be changing but they're not bad, for your saloon, if you step back and look at them through the spark."

Gus does not look convinced that his problems are entirely imaginary, but he puts on a stoic face.

"Nothing to fear! Of course!"

"You're right. As of right now, the saloon has a balance of zero, and I also have a personal balance of zero. I'll watch and see what happens!"

"I was going to ask you to try escorting me to Emily's while continuing to talk, in case that'd save me the clock-time.  But on reflection that might cost you time walking back by yourself.  I'm not asking you to not open your tavern exactly at noon.  Not just yet.  We probably want to take things a little slow, where we push using the spark, so that if something goes wrong for the first time it'll be a less large thing and we'll have an idea of where to trace it.  Emily had a wise and sparky point about not going for 999 small fish tacos immediately.  I made sure to farm parsnips this morning even though I might have a different source of money.  That's why I'm emphasizing that the saloon won't fail if we go slow."  Oliver hopes he is able to remember this point himself.  It is not really in his nature and he tends to be forgetful about things that aren't in his nature.  But, he should at least give this good advice to other people!

"I'll follow you in after a moment.  I want to see if there's people inside your saloon the moment you open for business, even though nobody else seems to be standing around waiting to step in."

"Well, I do have this arm full of groceries I just got at Pierre's."

Gus looks at his empty arms in confusion.

"Huh."

"Anyway, come on in when you're ready."

He'll:

1. wait a few seconds without mentally terminating the conversation to see if that holds Gus in place;

2. deliberately terminate the conversation if it proves to be holding Gus in place;

3. check the time to see if it jumped after the conversation ended;

4. check the time again after an internal ten-count to see if the clock visibly moves in a ten-count;

5. and then follow Gus in.

Gus turns and enters the saloon immediately, even while Oliver is holding the conversational lock!

It was still noon when the conversation ended.

And it was still noon after a ten-count, though it felt like a slightly later noon than all the other noons.

The inside of the saloon is mostly empty. Gus has taken up his customary position behind the bar.

"Sorry to disappoint you, it's just me in here!"

"As my high school science teacher used to say, there are no good or bad experimental results, only results!  This one suggests that reality keeps track of where people are on a level where they have to move from one place to another instead of just being there."

He strides over to the counter.

"I might or might not have done anything while I was outside that'd change my G!  Now that you're behind a cash register, can you tell how many G I have?"

Gus stares at a point in space just to the side of Oliver's right ear for a moment.

"Mmmmm.... nope!"

"Huh.  Do you think you could've done that yesterday, before you--woke up?"

"I don't recall ever knowing how much G anybody else had, especially not in my sleep!"

"Without actually materializing a baguette for me--can you tell whether I have enough money that I should get a baguette, if I ask for one?"

Wow.

"I think you have to ask for the baguette, I don't think I ever get to read your mind, or your bank account, about it, until we try the transaction."

"Veeerry interesting.  I'm going to go check in with Emily and try some time shenanigans along the way."

"Wait... so you're not going to buy a baguette? You know this saloon presently has 0G!"

"It will still have 0G if I buy the baguette, and my own bank account will show--150G less, I think it was?"

"It's 120G, and, well, I guess you're probably right. All right then, off you go."

Gus picks up a completely clean beer mug and starts polishing it with a cloth.

Oliver thinks for a moment and then forebears to point out that Gus is wasting effort, it's possible that Gus will end up very bored if Oliver points out that Gus has no way of improving the condition of any objects around the tavern.  Sometimes the spark can be a disadvantage that way.  Oliver likewise doesn't point out that Gus can potentially buy things, probably in literally unlimited quantities, despite having 0G; this potentially sets weird events in motion and may not be entirely to Oliver's own advantage to point out.

Instead Oliver takes out his cellphone.  Does his cellphone's time match his own mysterious sense of time?

Yes, his cellphone tracks with the sun in the sky overhead as well as Oliver's internal body clock. It is presently 12:20pm.

Well then, next up Oliver's going to start his cellphone's stopwatch app, and see if time seems to be going at one second per second according to the stopwatch app.