“Honey? Are you coming?” a prepared Tronesisia called from the bedroom.
“Ich bin eingefroren,” Tin S. Man squeaked back after a pause from the bathroom in his squeaky clean state.
—–
“Aww, babydoll. Not again!”
Category Archives: Novels
present and past
He paused in reading his little red book to call to her. “Time to go home, kid.” For that’s what he already was nicknaming Heidi Hunt Ives, appropriately; she couldn’t help but snicker a little inside every time he used it. “5:00. *Lord* Marion will have laid out what he considers dinner back at the manor in about 15, swee…” Philip Strevor bit his tongue. He almost called her sweetie! She certainly is some kind of bewitching child, he considers, staring in her direction through jungle gym bars welded together with red, yellow, and blue pentagons. Marion had that part right.
“I’m coming,” she complied, finishing up her last dangle of the day.
Philip then turned again to watch the only other kid in the small playground. Unsupervised, but he seemed a little bigger than Heidi and a boy as well — probably all right to fend for himself, he deduced. It reminded him of his days growing up in South Yankton. Snow 9 months out of the year. Playing in the cold with Tommy Fox, Archie Hound, and the rest of the gang. He was use to cold, yes. Craved it, in fact. But he had to leave when he was 6 years old, his family cast out of the village after he attempted an armed robbery of its lone bank, pheh. Yeah, the prison guard families there were a bad influence, but he got away from crime. For a while. Turned to science; turned to the stars. B.A. in Physics at Cambridge. M.A. in Applied Astronomy from Oxford Shoe. That’s where he met Jimmy and became buds. Jimmy said there was another position at the observatory in Australia that he had just earned a job at himself. “Southern skies,” Jimmy lured. “Whole new realms to explore. And you can still see your precious Spica from that hemisphere *almost* as well,” he tacked on. Ah yes, *Spica*, Philip thought bitterly. He paid for that small loss of brightness indeed.
Philip Strevor decked up at Cambridge in better days.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0305, Capitol City-, Gaeta V
where they are…
Gaeta 5 is the only finished continent of the Gaeta series. The initial project was to build 5 continents (named from Gaeta 1 to Gaeta 5), then to unite them into a single block of sims. Today, only Gaeta 5 is complete and a part of Gaeta 1 was built. Gaeta 5 is the most compact continent, with no gulfs or estuaries. On map, [it] has a [peanut shape]. This continent is an endless plain. It is linked to Corsica by a two-sim large passage (see Transcontinental Channels).
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Gaeta_5
where they *aren’t* (any more):
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0304, Capitol City-, Clemscott-, Comfrey, Gaeta V, GTA
Home Orange
“It *is* this place, Broken Heart Jackie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Anyway, it’s time to get to work.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0303, Heterocera, Rubi
more Raven Manor
I’ve been here before, Marion ruminates. But a smaller version, a *tiny* version.
Something about orange.
—–
Heidi Hunt Ives giggles from within again. “Here, Philip Dilip, point me in the opposite direction and see if that will work better. Toward the falls. Whatsaname? Anyway, to the northeast this time instead of the southwest. Let’s see what this baby has got!”
So Phlip Strevor helps Heidi point the bulky cannon atop Raven Manor the opposite way from whence they just shot it. Heidi merely got stuck around the tower spire he stares at in the above snapshot, unable to enter banned property in that direction. Checking the inworld map, Philip agrees a northeast trajectory may prove more fruitful.
“So *next* time you have a go in it, old man. Alright? I’ll do this round and then you get to choose. Okay, let’s do it! Ready… are you ready Philip?”
“Yes,” he calls from behind, touching the cannon and getting prepared for the munchkin’s countdown. He had to admit to himself this was fun. But he wouldn’t dare tell the kid. They weren’t that good of friends… yet.
“One, two…”
And off she flies again, a cannonball with raven black hair. He immediately lost sight of her. She tumbled and tumbled through space, her puffed up little skirt blocking most of the view.
Then she was home again, sent there by a land security orb.
Drat! she thinks. She looks through her friend list and finds Philip, then requests a teleport back to Capitol City. No good pics of her journey through the air. She’ll have to try it again.
—–
“Ready, set…”
Although pointed in the exact same direction, for some reason she wasn’t spotted by the security orb this time and sent home. Dusting herself off from the hard landing, Heidi checked the map. Maybe 300 meters she had gone! Not even in Babablacksheep any longer. But where was this?
Home?
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0302, Capitol City-, Gaeta V
HHI Again
Philip Strevor became bored waiting for Marion Harding to show up with the new recruit to their gang, and started poking around the upper floor of Raven Manor, one of the largest buildings of Capitol City and located in the sim of Babablacksheep.
Hmm, he pondered. Wonder why this big office has a map of Terra Aurca on the wall instead of Gaeta V or Capitol City or sumtin?
He sits down in the centre of the room and thinks: One day I will be a big shot in this town and command from a posh desk like this. He pretends that people are seated opposite him, asking for favors.
“I see, Mrs. Brighton,” he says calmly for the set up. “But *no*, we cannot lend you 10,000 lindens so that your little boy can get out of jail. You can see him in 10 years!” He slams his hand down on the desk to punctuate the idea and then laughs heartily, head tilted backwards. He laughs so hard his sides start to ache. He must be careful.
Marion opens the room’s large oak doors with the fresh recruit in tow. “There you are. Playing like you’re important again?”
Laughter died down, Philip merely grunts.
“I haven’t seen you in about a week, Philip. You’re wearing short sleeves. But where’s your cybernetic arms? What’s happened?”
Philip doesn’t answer but instead stands up stiffly and goes over to the recruit and starts looking her over — he even sniffs her several times during the process. He turns toward Marion. “A *kid*? You said there was a twist, but… a *child*?”
“First off, introductions,” Marion replies, steady in the face of fury. “Philip Strevor, this is Heidi Hunt Ives. Heidi: Philip.”
Heidi Hunt Ives, who is of course Billy Jean Kidd again, extends a hand. “Please to meet you Philip.”
Philip doesn’t shake her hand. He instead roughly takes Marion’s arm and leads him to a far corner of the room. “A word, please,” he says as they walk.
Chance? Heidi thinks with amusement while watching them recede from her. Chants?
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0301, Capitol City-, Gaeta V
monochrome
“Well, Wheeler. What’s next for you… us?”
“Call me Kidd here. Billy Jean Kidd. Chroma who is Jimmy has fused with Wheeler and The Musician. The great 3-n-1. Norris.”
“Norris?” the great vampire Pitch Darkly questions. He did not know this name. “Do you mean Morris?”
“I do not,” replies The Kidd firmly, sitting forward with hands on knees now. She stares toward him.
Pitch decides to enter mouseview to get a better look at her.
Such an interesting simulation. Simulacrum. He takes up the thread again. “So, who is this Norris, then?”
“You know. 3-n-1,” she states once more.
“Humm, Sandusky,” Pitch says, nodding. Nodding off, that is.
—–
Blackness again.
Then falling. He recalls a brief glimpse of a large, many windowed building.
Something was lost. Not just eyesight. Earsight; speechsight. He falls and falls, then lands, upright, in the midst of animals.
Solid water. He thinks: ark. But then intuitively realizes this is more simulation and there is a door out of what is actually a small globe. Like a door from Earth to Heaven. He thinks of “The Truman Show” and going beyond “The Wall”. True man.
He finds the door in a logical seam, and faces a different, greener water. Atoll style.
He makes his way to a distant shore via an inflatable mattress.
On the beach, he looks back at the globe with the animals within, but knows the animals cannot see him. He thinks to check the owner of the globe, the inflatable mattress, the water itself and the beach and the rocks. All belong to The Kidd again. He is in her realm, he realizes.
—–
Pitch wakes up. A brief nap, but meaningful. Billy Jean Kidd is still staring at him, wide awake all the time.
“I have removed your cardboard eyes and given you back your sights, all 3 of ’em. All I do for this is to ask a small favor. Only one. Find Norris the Father. Look in Beaver City, Nebraska. Find him and tell him that the time has come to firewalk between Republicans and Democrats. He’ll understand. He’ll come here, then. I know you can pull this off. Else: darkness again. You have all the resources of this island at your disposal. And other entities will be dropping by to help.
“But…” he implores.
“Mary?” Billy Jean Kidd guesses correctly about what is foremost in his mind. “Yes. Her too.” Mary manifests beside The Kidd. Pitch Darkly wonders if she’s grown taller since they last met about a week back.
“One chance out between two words,” she chants.
“Worlds,” Billy Jean Kidd corrects. “You meant worlds there.” Mary turns toward her but doesn’t respond. Pitch blows out air in resignation before shutting his eyes and falling asleep again.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0216, HANA LEI
Falmouth Visit, Top
Jacob I. understands that collages exhibited in Falmouth gallery’s top 3 floors don’t apply to the present situation, so he quickly moves through them to this perch on floor 6, offering a great view into the Rubi Woods.
Through his increased draw distance, he realizes he can *just* make out the large tree at his user’s friend Pearl Grey’s property in Rosieri, the sim southwest of Rubi. It reminds him that Baker Bloch needs to go over to her Wanderlust Art Gallery on the Sansara continent and change the texture out on his displayed collage there for the Jan./Feb. exhibit. The recently completed “SpicA” comes immediately to mind as a candidate. Here’s a link describing Pearl’s Nov./Dec. exhibit that’s wrapping up.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0215, Heterocera, Rubi
Falmouth Visit Floor 3
Once more, Jacob I. peers between floors.
He notes the similarity of 12 sided figure in Falmouth 21 on floor 2 and the 3d geometric shape of Falmouth 31 in front of him.
He approaches Falmouth 31. The yellow ball Cartoon Paul McCartney (Paul McCartooney) shares with or offers skirt wearing Ms. Lady — yet another “12 Oz Mouse” character — is Earie again, the yellow member of Story Room. Like in the cemetery before with Danny watching on. Third eye ball. Eyeball. Yellow like the billiard ball of Falmouth 18. The one at the top of the 10 part tetractys triangle.
And then *this* whopper of a collage: Stonethwaite again (Falmouth 32/33). Jacob I. decides to basically leave this one alone for tonight. He doesn’t sense the needed portal within, although he can tell it provides some very important clues and tips of how to proceed afterwards.
The interior of Stonethwaite End and Restaurant (Falmouth 35; 2 part animation). We’re getting close! he realizes.
The final 2 collages of Falmouth’s floor 3 also contain some interesting imagery…
… but it’s Falmouth 36 immediately preceding them that draws his focus presently.
This is where we’ll enter, he understands. Already prepared. He’ll relay all of his findings here to Broken Heart Jackie in the morning.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0214, Heterocera, Rubi
Falmouth Visit Floor 2
“Ahh, Stonethwaite,” Jacob I. coos when encountering Falmouth 2o on floor 2. “Or quite close — the fabulous Greenup Gill valley just south.” A collage of two photos from that region here, with “The Shining’s” dart throwing Danny, a prostrate Mr. Bean, and others helping to glue them together.
Story Room again (Falmouth 22, a 4 part animation), joined in another peculiar way now.
Falmouth 23: Jacob I. feels more meaning here as well. A strolling Sherwood Anderson of “Winesburg, Ohio” fame in center, a posed 19th U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes in upper right. Another county implied: Sandusky in Ohio, home to both. A direct descendant of President Hayes use to drive darts into his Mouse Island just north of it.
Jacob I. decides to manifest a Phillip Linden doll to help him ponder the meaning of Falmouth 23. “My user enters a portal behind or beside the grave of Annie, standing for animation.”
But the concept blew Phillip’s mind.
Famouth 24: There is a pattern here. Hayes again. Images from “The Shining” once more. Shark and Fitz from “12 Oz Mouse” — which he’s viewed now in its 3 hour movie format. Clock as well. 2:37 I suppose. Now 15 minutes beyond the 2:22 slice of time that Fitz was stuck in at his Cardboard City for the majority of the film. Like Phil of “Groundhog Day.” “1 Pink.”
And then Stonethwaite itself in Falmouth 26 (!). Stonethwaite End and Restaurant to be exact, the place where, let’s see, I suppose Chroma could have run this, Jacob ruminates. He’ll have to check…
More Stonethwaite in Falmouth 27 and 28 that follows…
… and more in Falmouth 29/30 to finish up floor 2. A type of diptych for this one, he thinks.
“My user”, he says aloud. “Staring at the transfigured end of that railroad tunnel in Devizes, England.” On the bridge. A place of accosting. Man shaped like small tank. Escape. But both roommate there and the roommate’s landlord now dead in the ensuing 4 1/2 years.
And to the left: Peanut once more from “12 Oz Mouse”. “Hmm,” Jacob I. utters again. “The Gaeta V continent is shaped like a peanut. I wonder what *that* might mean? What are the 2 Peanut images — darted, hatted regular and undarted, unhatted cubic versions — discussing here?”
Onward to floor 3…
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0007, 0213, Heterocera, Rubi
Sunklands 