“Two Joint Joints, side by side. One in Gaston — here. The other: NWES. How could this be?” Then Greg Ogden remembers who he is, deep down. He loses the hair, the campy hobo shirt. The Red Cross returns.
He recalls bastard pirate Randolph two (motel) doors down, not one to cross by any means.
4×4: it was all coming back to him.
He has to reach Climax.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0016, 0603, Gaston+
He wasn’t budging, this Big Black Smoke. “I have as much right to be here as you, red boy,” he declared from his cheap, green box seat. “You ain’t paying no rent.” He settles back, crosses his arms behind his head. “Neither am I.”
Greg Ogden argued that he is about to pay the rent but is still trying the apartment out at times.
“Times what?” replies the larger, black man. “42?”
Greg didn’t know the answer to that. He didn’t know everything. He remained silent, contemplating whether to leave. But *he* had as much right to be here as Big Black Smoke. This remained a stare down for now. He told him that.
“Hey,” then declared BBS. “You ain’t that red dude who’s going to marry that red haired gal in the church next door this coming Sunday? She’s been talking about you. About how you become cross sometimes.”
Greg said he wasn’t this person, although he likes to dress in red. Greg Ogden explains that he use to be a red mechanoid playing in a punk band with 2 other, differently colored mechanoids. “We got kicked out of Olde Lapara Towne due to a noise ordinance,” he furthered. “We came here to escape, to *hide* and regroup. But this place…”
“I know I know,” responded Big Black Smoke, looking around at all the red walls surrounding them. Like a cell. “This place changes you.” He was starting to feel sorry for the boy. “You know Golden Jim, the police chief? Don’t confuse him with Golden Joe. That’s a chef. You see what I mean about this town, boy? This New (Lapara) Towne? Same as the old town, hmph.”
Greg says he’s trying to leave but can’t. “Stewart’s dead,” he offered, nodding toward the window with the bay view. “Newton owns that ship out there now. That’s his brother.”
“I *know* who Newton is.” Big Black Smoke resisted the urge to call him ‘fool’, but he’s certainly trying to step off a ledge now. “You can’t leave once you stay here long enough.” Big Black Smoke had figured out who Greg Ogden was, and that this was his old apartment. Golden Jim had told him about the 2 Greg(g)s, one with the extra ‘g’, or, better (explained Golden Jim), the ‘g’ *stolen* from his last name. This theft bought him some jail time. Golden Jim wasn’t here then, but, again, this was legend. Like the day Pierre Schaeffer rode into town and stole all the Berries and took them off to La La Land. Even nimble Thimble couldn’t escape. Ahh, Thimble, thought Big Black Smoke, traveling back further in time to a thinner physique. Those were the days. The Dark Ages. I wish those old times could return. But Pierre changed all that. Him and the eye guy.
“This is *Jasper*, fool.” Big Black Smoke couldn’t help himself. “You’re stuck as much as those *flies* over in Central Park!”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0016, 0602, Gaston+
“So here it is all mapped out, Hucka. The murder. *The* Murder. The ‘crime scene’: here. This building. Upstairs I mean. Not downstairs — *here* here. Up there here.”
“The ‘murdered’ is Dr. Rabbid Baumbeer, yes,” speaks Hucka Doobie, trying to speed things along. Much to analyze and absorb tonight.
“Then next is the ‘motive’,” continues Baker Bloch in a line. “Peepee, the person –er, creature murdered in the first place. The start of a chain reaction.”
“Cool.” Hucka Doobie moves to the next line down. “Then the ‘#1 suspected’ — the murderer of *Rabbid*, is, um, Lu Ellen? Did I get that name right?”
“Lu Ellen Hutchinson, yes. Or maybe Hutchison without the (first) ‘n’. I’ll have to check.”
“But Lu Ellen (for the first name),” Hucka Doobie attempts to firmly establish.
“Yes.”
“Moving on, then, is ‘clue # 1’, which is provided by synchronicity investigator Alice L. Farrowheart. We also know now that this person sometimes goes by Lilly.”
“No, I never said that,” defends Baker Bloch. You must be confused, yes, with Alice Frame. Another Alice F. — perhaps interesting.”
“Okay, I’ll trust you with that,” offers up Hucka Doobie. “But this is from the Red Umbrella, specifically a Sam Parr collage from the Red Umbrella. Specifically specifically Sam Parr 04. This is a marriage. Who is getting married? Well…”
“Wheeler. Wheeler is getting married.” Baker Bloch is referring to information shared with Hucka Doobie earlier as they drank coffee at Spunky’s in Southside. Surprising news!
“The married woman — Wheeler or not — is then throwing a frog toward a green man who is removing his own head in ‘clue # 2’. This is the next collage in Sam Parr — Sam Parr 05, part 1 of a diptych.”
“Part 1 of 2, yes,” elaborates Baker Bloch (unnecessarily).
“So in summary — for now — the just married gal throws a frog at a man and turns him green and removes his head. This is her father Peepee, murdered by Bullfrog. But it is *also*…”
“Bullfrog,” completes Baker Bloch. I don’t think it can get any clearer than that.
“Nope. I agree. The rabbit is obviously the frog.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0016, 0601, Jeogeot, NWES Island
“I can see it in my mind’s eye right now Ruby, er, Cathy. Right over there in that open part of the sky. A round, perfectly black head with round black ears to match. Don’t you see it too?”
“I’m, er, *prrr*, trying!”
“No need to shout,” scolded Eraserhead Man playfully. “Not when you’re around. We should get married right here and now, babydoll. Right at this crossroads. Save us a lot of time later on.”
Cathy A. laughs and twirls around in place with her blue rose, acting all ditzy as usual.
“Anyway…” EM stares back up in the sky. “That’s what I see. We’ll, hmm, probably have to alter it for copyright reasons. Maybe, um, *deflate* one of the ears; make it look more like a dog’s. A droopy dog ear, yes. Like that card I used in the other show.”
“‘On the Air’? *prrr*.”
“No, the other one. The less famous one.”
“Oh.”
“Like *this*, actually.” Eraserhead Man holds up his coffee mug for Cathy A. to see. Indeed: droopy dog ears. She gets a little afraid at the sight, which EM senses.
“Yeah, I know how you feel. Anyway, that’s what follows Axis around, wherever he goes now. The North will have to surrender unconditionally to the high menace.” Eraserhead Man looks up. “The high menace in the high castle.
Now place your rose over there and we’ll begin again.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0616, Maebaleia/Satori, New Eden-, X-City
“He will — see you now.” The voice was husky and deep, sort of like Darth Vader.
“That’s great. That’s wonderful! I’m so happy.”
“Are you — not rattled?” the giant turtle asked, his beak only inches from the crocogator’s ear now.
“Nah, nah, I’m okay. It was better than, say, Barry *Manilow*, hehe.” Crocogator stared over at Andy’s huge face. “Get it? Because Barry Manilow is so *awful*.” Andy most definitely didn’t get it. There was nothing more to say here.
—–
“Watch out for the exploding lamb!” Winkler the big frog warned. Luke Skywalker this time.
Crocogator walked around the lamb, but in doing so moved just left enough to fall out of “Heaven” while crossing this open corner.
“God dammit!”
So close to God, he lamented while dusting himself off back on the ground. Now I’ll have to start all over.
He looked around for the clown so that he could start all over.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0615, Maebaleia/Satori, X-City
Inertia had finally found her. Wonderful, smart, pretty, dedicated Teebestia, love of her life. A *castle* at that, she thinks. I knew she’d go further than her dead end lawyering job in Olde Lapara Town. But, trouble is, does this also mean she’s *married*? One way to find out; hope she’s home.
She came one day too late. Axis had already seen this probability and taken steps to avoid it. The gay life of Inertia and Teebestia, happy together, would not play out now. Shame: such a good match, a *positive* relationship. But Axis had won the battle of the heart. You cannot outbrain him.
Inside:
“Finally found a place to hang my painting, Teebestia.
“I think — I’m home.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0614, Maebaleia/Satori, X-City
“It’s pretty obvious by now, Hucka Doobie, that the South is slowly but surely taking over the North, bit by bit, piece by piece. There’s Gregson to consider, what with its 7 spawned little demons wreaking havoc on the town by now, no doubt. Then Pipersville with its Red Devil Alley.”
“Creepy Alley, uh huh,” the bee person responded. Psychic guru to the blog.
“And now… X-City. Center of the North, as Horns of Hatton is to the South. Capitol cities each. But now: infested with chickens. Just like the other one.”
Hucka Doobie looks around, wishing they’d stop their gall darn cackling for just a moment so she can think clearer.
“Red Devil again. Who is…”
“Don’t say it yet,” requests Hucka Doobie, now holding her head from the pain.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0613, Maebaleia/Satori, X-City
“Ahh! A monster!
“Oh thank God. A beautiful princess…
“… with a death skull face *panic*!
“What *is* this place?
“And where the hell did the clown go? Over there?”
—–
—–
“Oh God! Lost control! Spinning…!”
—–
“Okay, there’s the Lord,” Crocogator continues, “safe” on the other side now. “But I can’t concentrate on him because of all these *slapping tentacles*. This is not Heaven. It’s Hell!
“And where’s that horrible, gut wrenching ‘music’ coming from?
“Certainly not from over *there*.
“Can’t… *move*.”
—–
“How long to keep him in the cat place, sire?”
“Oh, a couple hollers more should do it.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0612, Maebaleia/Satori, X-City
“I pray that I’ve done good by you my Lord.”
“ARISE.”
“Okay, yes sir,” Crocogator speaks to the booming voice in the sky, his King. He rises.
“AROUSE.”
“Um. What?”
“A ROSE.”
Sacrificee Renaldo O’Donnell stands up from the sacrificial altar, heart beating again within him. He has a new one.
“I will take you to the King now.”
—–
“Not those two silly beings. The real one. Over here.”
“Alright. Thank you again! Thank you so much.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0611, Maebaleia/Satori, X-City
Hmph. I suddenly can’t remember why I’m here at the X. Something about finding something. But what?
He breathes deeply; massive, blood stained chest heaving.
Better get back to Buster over in Long Drive, Pitch thinks. Back to the dance — last thing I recall.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0015, 0610, Maebaleia/Satori, X-City
Sunklands 