He spotted her between 2 groups of silhouetted protesters. She didn’t appear to him like she did to other people, like to her best friend and co-worker Nancy, for instance. He saw her for who she really was. A being as dead as himself. Perhaps moreso.
Breaking off her glare, Bettie turns to Nancy, hidden by a rusty pipe from his angle. “We better get you back inside before things get nasty down here.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0116, Heterocera, Lapara
Wheeler and Buster Damm were walking north through Olde Lapara Towne, aiming to check out the teahouse in that direction owned by the real Clare Nova, when suddenly chanting protesters came around the back corner of the Grand Lapara Hotel, startling them. “Look straight ahead,” Buster urged, gauging the situation. “Don’t make eye contact or you’ll be absorbed.” But they were on a direct collision course. Wheeler and Buster had to pretend to become one with the hive mind.
Super good thing for them that they didn’t know who Buster *really* was.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0115, Heterocera, Lapara
Wheeler and Buster then wandered over to the town’s new power station.
“Look, it’s one of those *real* old timey computers, Buster. And there’s Rocky’s novel again. Looks like he might be finished.”
“Is Nancy alive or dead at the end? Can you tell?”
“Who’s ‘G’, Buster?” Wheeler asked in turn.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0109, Heterocera, Lapara, Washington
Buster Damm dare not enter the Circle of Orange again for fear of imprisonment but Clare, I mean, Wheeler took the chance. She wanted to look at that Lapara book again in Saturnia Saturn. She disguised herself appropriately, which was of course no problem now since she remained at least 74 to 75 percent clown.
“Hmm, a red-green ball on the bench beside it, neither color fully manifesting.”
She tried to sit on one or the other, but poses were all screwed up. To the book…
Oh cool. She could just *buy* it for L$0. Done.
Back to the Lapara pool!
—–
“Let’s see,” she said while floating and turning. “You just wear it like a HUD.”
She summoned Buster to join her in the examination. She could share the book with anyone.
Mentioned within are the High Mountain Road, Lapara Airport, Lapara Tibetian Monestary, and then Olde Lapara Towne itself to close.
So Clare Nova didn’t build a town in Lapara, she just owned parcels here. Perhaps still does. “Looks like we have some exploring to do, Buster!”
“Can I change out of these wet clothes first?” he complains, wishing again they had enough money to buy a proper room.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0108, Heterocera, Lapara, VHC City
Rocky’s novel begins in the Magill House on The Hill, or the Magill Hill House or just the Magill House or Hill House. Yes, a woman named Lil lived there, who everyone knew as Nancy. Piggies were at bay in those times. Marshmallow men had yet to appear. Confetti always in the air. Parades galore. God Bless America.
Despite being prime real estate, the place is curiously empty these days. Just look at the view from the top porch!
Spectacular waterfalls can be seen tumbling down mountains towering above the town to the north, some of the highest peaks in Second Life I’ve been told. It’s a grand setting.
Yet within the house Buster Damm senses sorrow still. In the mid 20’s, a young lad named Daniel or Danny courted the tall, fetching Magill girl, the only child of Steve and Richard. Danny was shot 3 times and killed during a 1926 4th of July party at a local gay saloon owned by Nancy’s fathers. He managed to crawl to the dry-goods store next door to die at 1 minute past midnight on the 5th, a legal threshold. The shooter, Gideon “Spider” Murphy, former lover of Danny and leader of the notorious Purple Gang, was in turn, shot to death by Nancy while incarcerated at what was then the Lapara jailhouse, now designated as the primary landing point within Olde Lapara Towne itself. Completing the triangle of tragedy, Gideon was turned into the city’s first vampire the following week, with his original human victim being none other than our fair Nancy.
It goes without saying that Rocky’s novel has everything to do with this tragedy and then some. Including the fact that Buster Damm certainly isn’t a stranger to this town. He stares up at the place of the killing. Not the first or third but second.
His own.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0106, Heterocera, Lapara
The search for Nancy goes through Bakers. So decrees Buster Damm, in an Olde Lapara Towne pool now but still playing. He’s hip to the Oracle. Too hip? Wheeler Wilson floats nearby, trying to decide what clown costume to wear at the first rehersal. Number 304 is an instant wowzer, she thinks. Yes, I’ll go with that.
—–
“I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. Magill,” he types. Stepping back, Rocky realizes he maybe just might have composed the final line to that GAN. Celebrations are in order!
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0105, Heterocera, Lapara, Rubi
Wheeler Wilson was taking a break from playing pool with Buster Damm over in a Ratcliff speakeasy when she got the call.
“Clown part, eh? L$100 a week, huh? I’m there dude.”
“What’s cook’n?” asks Buster after she hung up. In answer, she threw one of her rats and an attached chunk of cheese at him.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0005, 0104, Heterocera, Pond District
Collage 17 returns to Collagesity from Muff. Whole SoSo Gallery along with it. Red-green split fades and disappears.
—–
Woody bids farewell to his “summer home” in Bermingham. *He’s* moving to Collagesity! But I don’t think our story as a whole is quite done with that realm.
George is still there, for one thing.
Maybe Bendy as well. Probably is.
—–
Without Pitch/Baker in tow, Hucka Doobie says goodbye to the News and Views coffee shop across from the great hotel.
Yep, heading back to Collagesity too along with the others. He thinks of Pitch and what went wrong with this town. Or went right, now that the last of the vampires have been vanquished. After years of abuse Pitch has given up on VHC City. He use to be in the center. He became tired of living on the edge, without security, without a role to play. So he unconsciously attracted the end. More on that soon.
—–
Buster Damm came back to VHC City from the PCH Forest to find that his coffin underneath the Blue Angle had been deleted. He was exiled just like Pitch. Dead ball era over, I suppose.
—–
Mary: One last bit of “reeling them in” from her favorite fishing hole across the tracks from the city. Like Buster, she’s following Pitch outta here.
There’s too much at, er, stake, not to. Within the Realm of Orange or overall Sphere of Influence of VHC City, she remains sterile. Outside is another story.
—–
Another nearby red-green dichotomy. The abode of hot, temperamental Angelina Dickenson, a police woman of sorts. We haven’t met her in our story yet, and maybe never will. But she’s the one who drove the nails in the last two vampire coffins of the area. Again — for better or worse. Siren always set to on. Continuously looking out for the town, especially the Sister side.
—–
But what of the Bemberg part? Still reading Sunklands, landlady Summerhill Nova sits in her office contemplating what to do about Baker and his several rentals there.
Obviously, she thinks, since Baker is the same as Pitch he’ll be leaving too. But should he be forced out? Punished, in a way. Summerhill is hoping he’d just quickly exit of his own volition and she could wash her hands of the matter. Let it just fade away.
—–
Baker himself stands before the blue door, thinking he should never have gone through it and made another dwelling place in Sister. Illegal, yes. Indefensible, correct. But, overall, temporary and harmless, like *everything else*. Like many of us after November’s big bump, Angelina was way under her land impact limit. Had the story been worth it? I think so. Else it would never have been told, I suppose.
—-
And we’re not quite through yet. The Musician is still circling around Clown Central, trying to find a way out for both he and Wheeler. Trapped in a dream. Sikul Himakt. He suddenly realized what had to be done.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0004, 0515, Heterocera, VHC City
Baker Bloch changed into Pitch Darkly and summoned Buster Damm to the scene. They couldn’t think of anywhere else to go, so they took her to a nearby church just on the other side of the woods. Tronesisia and Mary were supposedly still out of town. VHC City was not safe any longer. King Orange’s place was too close to the edge for comfort. No, it would have to be the church. The real Clare Nova’s church.
The next day, after a good night’s rest in a barrel bed located on the second floor, Wheeler felt a little better. “You called me Clare,” she said to Pitch Darkly, sitting in a nearby chair. Damm was out gathering firewood in the forest. “I distinctly remember your voice saying the name Clare in alarm. You thought I was dead.”
“Actually, at first I thought you were Mary. But, yeah, I did say Clare. I’m not sure why. I knew you were the person in the picture.”
“What picture?” asks Wheeler.
Pitch uncrossed his legs. “Never mind that right now; I’ll show you later. First you must get better. That was a nasty collision you had with that tree.”
“Hallo-ween tree,” she said.
“That’s right. Nowhere near Christmas. I don’t know why you were there. Do you remember your name now?” Pitch looked at her keenly.
“I’m Wheeler. My name is Wheeler. Wheeler Wilson.”
“That’s it,” says Pitch Darkly, encouraged.
“Or is it Wilson Wheeler?”
—–
“Very sad,” Pitch said to Buster later after they’d shared a meal of fruit and vegetables downstairs. “It’s as if she’s stuck between regular and reverse times.”
“She must have made successful contact with the shadow being.” Buster looks around the room. “Sure are a lot of bear images around here, Pitch. And more in the woods — real ones. There’s a cave if you haven’t noticed. Bear cave. Thing shocked me when I went inside and turned to the right. But she’s a right fine fellow. Name’s Abigail. But she’s mad as hell at the real Clare Nova. She’s hunted her kind. For example, look to your right.”
“I know. I’ve seen it over there.”
“And your left.”
“Appears to be circus related,” guessed Pitch. “Clowns… bears. We’re moving closer to the truth.”
“Wheeler may not fully come out of it for a while,” said Buster, sighing.
“We may have to keep her here,” suggests Pitch. “Nowhere left to turn.”
“And danger all around.” Buster scans the room again.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0004, 0510, Heterocera, VHC City
“What do you think Buster? It’s the first image that comes up in a google search for ‘pitch darkly’ that isn’t a part of the Sunklands blog.”
“But… there’s nothing in it,” Buster logically replied.
“Oh, there’s a bit of blonde or red hair if you look closer. Right down there at the bottom.”
“Not much.”
“No.”
“So what does it mean?”
“Hmmmm… I’m sensing a general absence about the Pitch Darkly character. And of VHC City as a whole. I guess you heard that George won’t be joining us anytime soon.”
“Yeah, sorry about that Pitch,” Buster replied. “False pregnancy alarms are tough. I have 23 children — I think — scattered around not only VHC City but the whole of mainland. Been around, you know. 2 by what use to be called Blue Angels alone. Use to live underneath the hot spot, hehe.”
“Thank you Buster. We’ll keep trying, of course. I want to have a kid so bad.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really?”
“Ummm…”
“You don’t do you?”
“No.”
“Not at all, do you?”
“No. Not really at all.”
“Well there you go.”
—–
Outside the Sphere of Influence or Realm of Orange (take your pick at this point), our boy George has discovered a small Christmas tree on the southern edge of the PCH Forest he now dwells within. “Presents!” he cries, and looks at the tags. The one with the green bow up front is from Lou. The larger present that has a red bow says it’s from Morris. And then perhaps the biggest one tied with a white ribbon is from Osborne. Osborne Wells. Which to open first??
—–
Afterwards, Baker Bloch goes to the same spot in the woods and find something different: a seemingly dead witch glued to a tree she obviously ran into while driving around drunk on her broomstick. He now realizes whose head it is at the bottom of that empty picture.
“Clare!”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0004, 0509, Heterocera, VHC City
Sunklands 