Category Archives: Nautilus

00370515

Blue Mountain from the slopes of neighboring Pink Peak, the actual namesake for the town it towers above. Not as much from the western direction we see here but more from the north. And to its north lies not a *barren* landscape bereft of humans but comparatively so. I might be heading there next; who knows where I’ll end up. Lower Pink Peak might be closing up for the spring, what with the early encroachment of poison ivy and, quickly following behind it, other bothersome woodsy aspects like snakes and bugs thanks to a mild winter here in the NC mountains. And despite a fairly cold March much to my disappointment. I spotted some poison ivy coming out on the town’s greenway 2 days ago, about the soonest I remember it sprouting. Use to be, I swear, the *end* of April I’d start seeing it instead of more toward the beginning. But maybe its just a weird spring, and the plants are confused because of all the odd weather, hot then cold, hot then cold. But overall pretty mild still, like I said. I can’t help but think of the advancement of global warming…

That night I found a figurine of one of Batman’s archvillains Poison Ivy staring menacingly in the same direction as similarly green Kick-Ass in a Nightsity comic book store display case. The night before this we observed Edward ordering a kick-ass grasshopper, his regular, from bartender Lexi at the seedy Nightsity establishment he runs for Ben Left Horn, formerly Jer Left Horn in these here photo-novels, 37 in a series so far.

Turning to leaves, there are precisely 3 population places named Leaf in the US, the same amount as found on a poison ivy plant. One of these is in Greene County, Mississippi, and whose only notable person, according to wikipedia, is named Lloyd *Green*, a pretty famous steel guitarist featured on Ken Burns’ “Country Music”. Also according to wikipedia as I found out this morning, villain Poison Ivy uses the power of an interplanetary force known as Green for the purposes of her ecoterrorism.

Why does Edward order a drink named kick-ass from a bar in the same town as a comic book store featuring the wannabe superhero? What is Shelley being tempted into by wearing a “Crazy Blue” outfit, another type of uniform if not a wet suit? Does formerly blue clad Duke Blue Devil Grant Hill still drink Sprite? Does it still quench his thirst? And what of his less famous and less tall Duke basketball running mate Thomas Hill, who won a national championship with him in ’91 and ’92? Hills again — peaks, higher and lower. The only way to figure out more is to go inside again.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0037, 0515, Blue Mountain, Mississippi, Nautilus, NIGHTSITY, Red Hill, Upper Austra

left is right

“You don’t understand these people, Shelley. They are *powerful*. He’s over there with his new girl, *plotting* things. Things that can’t be stopped.”

“*I’m* his new girl,” said unruffled Shelley to this, assuming a cute pose in her seat opposite Edward. Ben Left Horn and Mona sat across from them in the balcony area. Indeed they were plotting, or at least Ben was plotting and Mona was acting as a sounding board for his ideas. She was good that way. Ben thought she might be a keeper, one of the true harem he was collecting down through the years. And Shelley… perhaps the new queen, he thought. Queen of the cats.

“If you put back on that Crazy Blue outfit you’ll be gone to me, to the world at large,” Edward continued. “This place, this Nightsity, will suck you in.”

“What do you care? Surely,” she thought aloud, “surely not for the benefit of *Arthur* after all you’ve done to him.”

“*You’ve* done to him,” he retaliated, then got back to the main subject. “*Don’t* take the gig, Shelley. You don’t know where it will lead you.”

I want… adventure, she thought, thinking of boring, stuck-in-the-mud Arthur. The Arthur who gasped at every sentence of the draft of her 5th novel, not believing what he was reading. What did he expect? she thought. He was gone *most* of the time these days. It will all come to a Shakesperian end, she surmised, but then quickly forgot — backtracked. Running away from the sunset, running toward the moon, no matter how full and blood red it was, indicating warning. Arthur was still her hubbie, her lubbie wubbie. Edward was just a distraction while he was away on the Omega continent. *Corsica* continent, she then reminded herself, confusing lies with truth again. *I’m* the one involved with Omega, she quickly remembered. Lonelyheart Publishers. They said to *juice* it up a bit — that’s what all those lonely housewives want. An *escape*, and a steamy one at that. So she had to write more detail, each novel becoming more graphic and revealing than the one before. That was the development. She tried to pretend it was deeper characters, twistier plots. But at the bottom she was seeing the writing clear. DEMO. DEMON. Satan at the middle, doing what he does best. Black Lake; starless.

“You know he use to go by Jer,” Edward said to fill the void. “He and his brother switched names, just to confuse the lot of us, the readers I suppose.” He looks for the 4th wall with this, to no avail.

“Horns?” said Shelley.

“Those too.”

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0037, 0514, Nautilus, NIGHTSITY, Upper Austra

Ben

“Oh it’s a God awful outfit, this Crazy Blue.”

(reply)

“*No* I’m not going to keep wearing it. I just tried it on just for laughs and giggles. If anyone was here looking at me, what they’d be doing.”

(reply)

“Well, that’s very kind I suppose. But it comes off in a moment.”

(reply)

“Just stop it, *you*.”

—–

“Is she gone yet?” asked the bigger boss about the singer Edward Daigle was suppose to fire today. They were out on the docks to afford more privacy. Plus it was a starless and bible black sky, nothing to distract from fully enjoying a blood red moon.

“Not quite. I’m letting her work out her shift before telling her.”

“But it has to be today,” the bigger boss reinforced. “Someone else is coming in. She doesn’t know it yet but she is.”

Edward had a pause. The bigger boss was flirting with Shelley just yesterday as she still clung to his arm. What’s that girl up to? Could it be?

“Who?”

“Oh you know her. You know her well.”

*Gulp*.

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00370512

“Still in Nanon Sweet Morning light in the room in the room, box springs are broken next to hand springs. Colorado.

“The place: BIONaz Gulch (sim) next to Snowmass near Woody Creek. Colorado. Woody Woodmanson loves Snow — comes from that land and sometimes hung out with fellow native Snowmanster and then seems, later on, to himself animate a snowman after moving back to Collagesity with the rest of the Baker family in photo-novel 04.”

“Let me guess (for the 3rd): Colorado.”

“Correct.”

—–

“We could go with several but let’s use Jack Torrance leaning against a Colorado map in Kubrick’s “The Shining” while disabling a ham radio, head appearing to touch a location called Cannibal or Canibal Plateau.

“Kubrick did this to indicate Jack is actually a wannabe cannibal in the film, as foreshadowed by him talking about the Donner Party LINK in the scene where he, with his family, approached the evacuating Overlook Hotel to take over as winter caretaker.”

“Mountain air,” says Wheeler to this. “I’m soo sleepy (!).” She mimics Wendy’s yawn in the film again just before Jack’s Donner Party exposition.

And so we return.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0037, 0512, Colorado, Long Islands, Nautilus, New Mexico, Rank & File, Wild West

Nightsity 01

“I seemed to have left my wallet back at the office, Lexi. Be a dear and cover for me again?”

“Sure thing, boss,” said the cyberpunk bartender back, use to such things. He’ll make it up to her in the end, she thinks. Surely he’ll make it up to her. “Soo. Whatta ya think of the act down there?”

If I wanted a Lt. Uhura I’d go back to Star Wars Academy and order me up a Princess Leia, he thought. “Okay,” he said aloud.

“Star Trek Theme,” said Lexi. “I recognized it from my time on Venus. Popular there. Star Wars is of course hated on that planet. Ever since Luke Skyhobbler declared Martian Law.”

“I recall.” Thus the reason Edward, some people’s Eddie, didn’t bring up Wars. He received his Kick-Ass grasshopper, extra shot of crème de menthe. Now he could do some serious pondering about his business and its future.

“You going to tell her or should I (again)?” asked Lexi, knowing the woman was going to get the axe. Boss only visits once a week, and almost always there’s a firing as a result.

He drank a deep drink, set the 1/2 empty glass back down on the counter. “You, I suppose. Ben here yet?”

“Benny?” said Lexi, knowing Ben since he was a little boy. Couldn’t ever get the hang of the grown up name. “He’s around.”

Edward reached into the other pocket to retrieve a cigarette. “Do you know where?” He lights, he puffs, kind of in her face, just to make sure she knows he’s a tiny bit irritated at the lack of details.

“Sure, sure,” she responded, trying not to cough even a little. No one smokes in here but the Boss anymore. Rules of the Boss, actually. Only he is allowed to break them. Typical.

(to be continued)

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00370509

Even in Sweet Nanon’s Morning light, it was a creepy place, what with its rickety old picket fence, grown up yard, and weatherworn appearance. Dare our heroine go inside? That would be Crazy. Crazy Ass Blue. Let’s do it!

Turns out the basement was the worst part but that was just because of all the kitty litter, a blockage of sorts. The heroine carefully descends…

—–

Part 02…

It was a tight squeeze but she made it, newly placed crown just fitting under ceiling. Top of the kitty tower, Queen of the Basement. She surveys her queendom and deems it needs cleaning up. Pretty badly. She’s lost control of her 15 year old girl and 4 year old boy, her subjects. Better return to the Room and draw out a plan.

But she looked and looked but couldn’t find her way back. Just walls. She forgot that she was already in the Room. And always had been.

She exits the house disappointed.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0037, 0509, Long Islands, Nautilus, Wild West

“Yelloo!”

—–

“Whatcha reading these days, Older Me?”

“Oh, pretty much blank pages, you know. Just me — you — reflected back. Everyman’s Problems.”

“Or Everywoman’s!”

—–

“Oh I’ve had my share of adventures down through the years. Hiking (pause). Biking.”

“Sounds like you plugged along nicely.”

Solemnly: “I did. I had to turn into a man sometimes to get by — female animations only go so far! Right in this very room in the center of the Cactus House it started, in fact. Long long ago. Lemont was with me of course. Your Arthur.”

“*Your* Arthur.”

“No. No dear. That’s not correct. That’s not correct at all.”

—–

“In terms of Nautilus, things have become a *bit* more complicated.”

“I *see* (!).”

—–

“I better get back to work, child. You should leave now.”

(to be continued)

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Cheeks

“If you are red you rise up to meet blue in pink. If you are blue you rise up to meet red in pink. Peaks are where things do a flippy floppy. And in this case one is larger and one is smaller. Crazy Blue.”

“I’m going to wear my Crazy Blue outfit for the rest of this photo-novel, Baker. Just for a meditative device.”

“Then we won’t be seeing much of you beyond these points.”

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00370502

Not too awfully long ago it was the other way ’round.
filed under: Which one’s pink?, Blue Mtn., One Pink Mtn./Pink Mtn./Pink, flippy floppy stuff

https://www.britannica.com/story/has-pink-always-been-a-girly-color?fbclid=IwAR2dDM-tb-P6QmvsioHs25uHjHJbSxy40fpJBBy4qQII4mCIN_0UFgRTI-M

At the beginning of the 20th century, some stores began suggesting “sex-appropriate” colors. In 1918 the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department claimed the “generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Additionally, a 1927 issue of Time noted that large-scale department stores in Boston, Chicago, and New York suggested pink for boys.

—–

“Let’s talk about your plug, Ruby.”

“Ruby?” she said.

“Just go with the flow.”

“Well… it covers up an anatomy flaw. Between 2 Cheeks.”

“Good enough. Now… let’s talk about the pink skin.”

“Pink?”

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0037, 0502, Blue Mountain, Lower Austra, Nautilus, North Carolina, Red Hill, Wild West

00370416 (party 16)

Then Sandman made his pitch, which meant Shelley made the pitch for him, still writing, still scribbling down ideas to be written out properly later. “I have a whole sim out there, down there, up, over.”

“Oh yeahh?” she decided to say. “Tell me about it. Can I come?”

“Precisely what I was going to say.”

“Through me,” she said. “Pitch it.” She closed her eyes to the pitch black sky and listened. The noise of the party died away. Edward’s game of life was over. The 6th turned out to be false, unlike the first 5. It wasn’t all about him. Butterscotch, he loved butterscotch. Didn’t hate it.

So he brought out the red and green box, showed it was empty, and then brought out the somewhat smaller, lavender box that use to reside inside it and also demonstrated its emptiness by–. “What it needs, Shelley–” he said, laying it down between them now.

“Don’t tell me. Let me guess.”

Sandman turned away from the rail, dared to look in her eyes again now that they were closed. Put a lid on it, he thought. Close it up. She opened her eye. He stared into infinity.

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