He offered her a rose and promised he was going to get her out of this backwater place.
But for right now, they were just off the map.
Category Archives: 02
psychopath
“So what do you think?”
“Nice. Elements of TILE. This will do. For a while,” she tacked on.
“Of course.” Big Wanda shifted her sturdy legs. “You know you didn’t have to shoot that girl. She wasn’t doing anything but doing her job.”
“I know.” Little Oakley Annie waved her heavily used revolver in the air with this. “I just didn’t like the way she talked. Too nasal.”
“You shot her in the *nose*. You didn’t have to do that.”
“She lived. In fact, she’s right over there at the coffee shop. She came with me. We made up while you’ve been away scouting for a new place. I bought her a new nose. Plastic. New place; new nose.”
Recalling the awful scene, a surprised Big Wanda looked away from Lake Como, searching for the pot peddling girl they’d met in Rethymno behind them. No luck. Instead, Little Oakley Annie and her gun pointed kind of toward her own nose dominated the view. “You do believe me?”
“Umm. Of course, Little Oakley… Annie.”
“Because if you *didn’t*…” Annie positioned her gun more threateningly, the face obviously a target now.
“Of course I believe you,” Big Wanda reinforced, starting to sweat.
Little Oakley Annie then threw herself back on the rainbow colored recliner, laughing. “Because I didn’t… she’s dead.”
Big Wanda gathered her legs under her again. “Oh.”
“Yeah, that face was pizza after I got finished with it. Which reminds me… I’m starved. Any place to eat around here? I’ve had enough coffee.”
Obviously, thought Big Wanda, but dare not say it aloud at this moment. Must remember not to buy LOA any 4 shot expressos again. Nor talk in a nasal way in any shape or form. Talk through the mouth, talk through the mouth, talk through the mouth…
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0014, 0205, Horsa, Maebaleia/Satori
1/2 Japanese
Big Wanda knew one thing and one thing well.
She wasn’t going back to Jael.
—–
Here’s the deal so far…
I think this Collagesity novel 14, this “Collagesity 2019 Middle” officially (I suppose), is all about the continent of Maebaleia, aka Satori. Here’s an article concerning the continent from the Second Life wiki…
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Satori
… and I’ll then quote some appropriate material from this informative “Second Life Tourist Blog” entry about the name origin:
http://thesecondlifetourist.blogspot.com/2016/09/know-mainland-satori.html
Satori was the fourth continent created in Second Life, after Sansara, Heterocera, and Jeogeot, and the first of the ‘eastern’ continents. It was started in February 2007 and the land portion was finished on June 18th of the same year. I have read that it was originally called Maebaleia (In Portuguese “Mae” is ‘Mother’ and “baleia” is ‘whale’, so Maebaleia apparently means “Mother Whale”) and you will see it listed as both “Satori” and “Maebaleia”. If you look at the map, it is easy to imagine a whale with a calf.
Some people thought that “Maebaleia” was too hard to spell, and after a vote on the old SL forums the name was changed to “Satori”. One meaning of “Satori” is “enlightenment”. It has also been called the “Asian” or the “Japanese” continent, and the frequent signboards echo an eastern style theme.
In 2010, mainland explorer Dahlia Jayaram flew a balloon over Maebaleia/Satori and then created this interesting flip book viewable on Youtube…
… which I’m going to study in more detail later. Just skimming through it now, I recognized a couple of virtual places that factor into *my* more lengthy exploration of the continent down through the years now, but, still, are no longer in existence. The thing about any mainland travelogue is that it quickly becomes obsolete due to the mutability of Second Life itself, plus the fact that the continents are severely depopulated in comparison to the golden or salad days, peaking at around 2007, say.
—–
Hmm. A horse in the middle of Horsa, or at least an *ass*.
This is maybe where we can hide out next.
—–
And I’m up to page 12 now…
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0014, 0204, Blue Feather Sea+, Horsa, Maebaleia/Satori
X-ed out
Bob, Fred, Ethel, Pat, Squirm, and Poochie lived on Sandpiper Drive atop a bank overlooking Maebaleia’s seemingly deepest sinkhole. Called Sink X, because it was the 10th found and also, perhaps — especially long term — the most mysterious and relevant to our present story.
Also on the lip of the sinkhole was the town itself: Pipersville, named after the same avatar that founded Sandpiper Court a little later on. So the court and its 3 houses can be seen as a type of suburb of the town in my mind. Sink X links them together, large to small.
I’ve changed my mind. Let’s start in town instead. Cindy A., Jim A., and Todd A. conglomerate at a popular Pipersville watering hole.
Some nights they discuss this very subject: the Maebaleia sinkholes, which one is most mysterious, which one is even the deepest, and, sometimes, on the darkest of nights, they talk about the Crabwoo disaster associated with the 13th and last one. Some try to relegate that particular sink to a bowl, a Super Bowl they grant, but still a bowl and not a sink proper. A professor of Sinkology at a nearby university came in one evening and attempted to straighten out each and every one of them while downing pint after pint of delicious, locally brewed Stigman’s Quarterly, an IPA with an alcohol content of 11.6. Almost wine strength. Well, he looked at each and every one of them in the eye and stated, plain and clear as he could, that Satori, aka Maebaleia — and he straightened them out on the *name* of the continent as well — no, this *Satori* contains no sinks proper and that only Jeogeot (where he was born and raised, by no coincidence) and Corsica contained legitimate sinkholes, like the wide, deep Chasm Deep for the latter and, obviously, the most famous sink of all, Big Sink, for Jeogeot. “These depressions in *your* continent are either too shallow” — and he gave the stereotypical Finsteraahorn-Dammastock example here — “or too close to the coast to count. Like this so-called Sink X.” These were fighting words, and indeed Professor Suckaluck was beat to a pulp later that night by town thugs and sink fanatics alike, then tossed over the edge of town, eventually rolling and rolling and then resting, dead as a doorknob, at the bottom of the sinkhole he had earlier dismissed as irrelevant and mistermed. Certainly relevant to him now.
re-creation: death of Professor Suckaluck.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0014, 0203, Maebaleia/Satori, Pipersville/Sink X
Preston
“Hold on Small Robin. We’re going around some curves now.”
“Wheeeeee…”
“*No* Big Baby Jane. Don’t reach into the TV for the people; I told you. Do you want another hit from my zapper gun? I can *doo* that.”
“Ka-BLAM!”
“WH-AA-AAAAAAAA!!”
“Pres-TONN!!!”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0014, 0202, Elmaer, Maebaleia/Satori, Pipersville/Sink X
pyramids
Agents 25 and 41. Let the games begin, I suppose.
Agent 52 and Messed Up, who manifests at various points in the maze and offers tips for money. “The far side wall is transparent. That’ll be 50 lindens.”
Agents 49, 62, and 20. Rare conjunction of 3; all are trapped and stymied at the moment.
Agents 96 and 69.
Agents 24 and 55, just before the latter’s head was sliced off and his eyes were pecked out. What a thing to have to witness!
End of the road for Agent 29?
Hardly.
(to be continued?)
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0014, 0201, Elmaer, Maebaleia/Satori
next post
“Oops! Holding hands again. You have to watch that.”
“Sorry. Accidental.”
“So how do you like it? Great view down Old Cannon Road into the woods. You can probably watch Baker Blinker’s comings and goings. Make sure she’s not cheating on you, hehe.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t she?” You are, she thought to herself. 1/2 and 1/2.
“I like the apartment just fine.”
“Why — can’t you and Baker Blinker just live together. What’s this thing about the 2 separate places?”
“You know why.”
“I really don’t,” spoke Wheeler. “You had your one shining moment together. You should be happy now. Don’t mantis’ just make love once a year anyways? Aren’t you part mantis?” she teased again.
“You know I’m not.”
“Karoz, though. That’s Zorak backwards. And Zorak is a mantis. Space Ghost’s sidekick. That’s Baker Bloch’s father.”
“I know who Space Ghost is.”
“Where *is* Space Ghost? Oh, I guess I should be asking Baker Bloch that question. But *your* father. What’s all this b.s. about being Gene Fade’s son? Gene Fade doesn’t exist. Does he?” Wheeler was becoming curious again; doubts about his nonexistence creeping in once more. Karoz *was* here. He *could* be part moss. Probably more likely than being part mantis. And his mother — she must get more of the story about his mother. Both of ’em.
—–
They stare into the post into the post into the post…
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0013, 0216, Rubi
Gene Fade’s Mountain Revisited
“Then we rounded the corner and, lo and behold, downtown Notherton was still there (!). Right below us. Gene Fade was so excited.”
“Because, um, Gene Fade was there — with you.”
“Right. And then the 5 sided mall (!!). We looked for it and then suddenly it was just looming before us, all dramatic and stuff.
“You can’t see the mall, mind you. It exists in another dimension.”
“Of course it does. Gene Fade’s dimension.”
“Exactly.”
Wheeler went to the next picture.
“And Gene Fade reached Notherton from this road leading back to his home at Jupiter Rock.”
“Jupiter Rock was his home,” Baker reaffirmed. “The town was named after the rock looming above it.”
“Gene Fade’s dimension. A dimensional rock as well.”
“Of course. It had a big red spot on it. More garnet colored, I suppose, but still red and obviously connectable to the same on the planet Jupiter. That’s how it got its name.”
“Not because Gene Fade or his town was from Jupiter. Because that would be ridiculous.”
“I wouldn’t say it would be ridiculous,” Baker countered. He thought about sulking but then changed his mind.
“I do really like the rock art on the posts,” said Wheeler, flipping back to picture 01. “80 posts to conform with the 80 posts you had in your new Sunklands blog at the time of its discovery. And both are still going on — rock posts and blog posts. Both continue. That certainly seems important.” The rest, thought Wheeler to herself: hogwash most likely. There was no Gene Fade. But, she modified, there *could* be Mossmen.
(to be continued)
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0013, 0215, Asha, Corsica, Frank Park, Gene Fade's Mtn.
a one and a two
“So this is where Old Mabel performs her Hannah Montana routine, huh,” spoke Baker Blinker, not touching her breakfast yet.
“Go ahead,” urged Baker Bloch, seeing his female counterpart’s hesitation. “The Bennington experiment eggs are the best. So tasty. I’m on my second helping.”
“Umm. I think I’ll pass. Thanks for the food, though. It just smells a little — off to me.”
“Bennington eggs? No way. They ship them in fresh every day. I hear the delivery truck rattle down main street every morning promptly at 5:00am. Or so.”
“From your home of Darkly Manor?” the female Baker attempts to clarify. “You *are* Pitch Darkly here in Collagesity. That’s where you live.”
“Err. Yeah, I suppose.” Baker Bloch was trying to understand how all that worked. He had memories of being the bloodied vampire originally from VHC City, and lots of them. Marriage to Mary Greentop. Construction of Darkly Manor to lure him to Collagesity from VHC City when the latter finally became impossible to live in. But how could he lure himself? He must be in two places at once.
“Well I’m all ears now. Convince me — and Karoz — to come back. Now that our coup didn’t work.”
“As you’ve described, it worked for one shining moment.”
“Morgan, yeah. But then — in the same spot even…”
“I know. Karoz lost the wrestling match again. Or won it — something.”
“But you’re right. We had it for a moment.” A climax, she thought, but didn’t say aloud. Then: droop all around. Julian reduced to Julia; loss of “N”. AlmaNoz separated out to Alma and Oz. But where did the “N” go? she pondered. Was the one time enough to lure them back? Like the good ol’ days?
“Two places,” Baker Blinker started the compromise in earnest. “We’ll have to have two places to live.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0013, 0214, Rubi
Baysity
“So. This is your portal.”
“I come down here to Dennis, I get cleaned up, um hum.”
“Err, you mean you get cleaned up and then you come down here to Dennis.” Baker Bloch remembered that Wheeler had said something was wrong with Tropp — True Opp. Maybe it’s that he gets everything backwards. He decides to test.
“So, Wilson Wheeler is your best mate down here.”
“Wheeler Wilson, yes.”
Aha! Baker thought.
—–
“I left him over there dancing. He seems to try to dance his way into a different form. Axis.”
“I’ve heard of him. Rules The Waste, among other places. Rosehaven even, perhaps.”
“We can’t get rid of him.”
“I know.”
“We tried. Same with Wheeler.”
“True enough.” Karoz leaned forward. “You know I have a different user than you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Come clean with it.” Baker Bloch knew, but he wanted to hear Karoz speak the name.
“Gene Fade.” Baker Bloch nods, trying to look a little shocked. “And the same goes for Tropp — Opp.”
“Gene Fade is Tropp’s user as well.” Baker kept his mouth open.
“But Tropp is the same as Bracket, originally king of the Comma Islands.”
“And, I’m guessing, Mmmmmm Grassy Noll is a Gene Fade avatar as well.”
“Could be.” Karoz continues his own story. “I was designed to safely walk the uber sacred peak of Grandaddy Mountain without damaging precious and sometimes rare plants. No animal interaction either. But I forsook this destiny and became enmeshed in Second Lyfe. Our Second Lyfe.”
“Chilbo.”
“Noru, actually. Norum.”
“Right.”
“Norum was stronger than Chilbo — Chilbol — in the early days. Before the deforestation.”
“Right. Plants talk. Plants aid. Look at Collagesity now. The only thing keeping it living and breathing is the Rubi Woods.”
“Correct.” He continues onward with more “revelations”. “Gene Fade is my father. Father *and* user.”
“I still…”
“Grassy too. Gene created Grassy from his own genes.”
“‘Fade to Moss,’ Baker proffers. “The production tells all of this.”
“But not in this dimension. Not yet. Gene wanted to go beyond his days as Grassy Noll’s sidekick in all those Salad Bar Jack action-adventure movies. He was quite famous, but only through Grassy. ‘Fade to Moss’, an autobiography that wasn’t an autobiography, was suppose to propel him into a different circle, a different level.”
“Didn’t work.”
“No.”
(to be continued)
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0013, 0213, Bay City/Nova Albion, New Eden-, Sansara
Sunklands 