Tag Archives: NODAL

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Despite being 2 1/2 years removed from the event, she still kept her clothes on in what they called the big bathroom, seen here taking a bath instead of her usual shower, just to mix things up. Her everpresent pink shirt and pants dry quick enough, plus she’s more concerned at this location today about properly cleaning and grooming her head and lower extremities than parts in-between, what with handy items she could rez through the sink like a cordless hairdryer (seen above) and leg razor (see below). She could deal with the rest later in the smaller, private bathroom of the home she shares with 6 other people, including Shelley now, who just popped in one night after coming into Storybrook through the rat hole. Which they all did at one time, whether they remember it or not. Whether they *realize* it or not, Marsha Pink Krakow additionally thought. Conspiracies, pheh, she almost said aloud in disgust. Virgin birth, hmph. The things they teach you in church-school. And it’s within such stifling environments that a monster like Tom Banks could arise. Holding a rose when she first saw him. For Tammy.

Storybrook back then was a normal sized town with normal sized buildings and normal sized sinks and tubs. Before the coming of the map rat, who certainly had a tale to tell, a giant tale indeed. He stayed normal and the rest of them — us (she thinks) — shrank down. Done with the head now, down to the legs.

She was actually glad she had leg hair now because it meant she was growing up. Basically a full blown woman at 15 1/2. One-half more year and she can be on her own, away from the rest, away from Storybrook potentially. Because she had her plans all mapped out, damn the blocking rodent. She was going to walk right past the monster into the real, normal world again. Her new friend Shelley did it to get here, she can do the same to get out. Inspiration. But whether to take the girl with her becomes a new problem. Or fellow friends Lelia, Kellyya… even Tammy, since if they kind of cooked the idea up together that night in last May’s August, despite the smacking, sucking; she can’t hold those noises against her 3rd bestie formerly 1st bestie forever, although she could bump her down yet again in the friendship tier and replace her with Shelley. Seems so long ago now. The new girl and her fresh perspective has changed *everything*.

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0602, River

00390515

“My buns are hot,” uttered Tammy “Beige” Brown sitting on the oven. She gasped. “My buns are *done*.”

“Tale over, yes yes,” spoke Marsha “Pink” Krakow from the table in front of her. “How did you get home so soon? Work over already? It’s only 10:01 in the morning.” She stares ahead, like everyone else here except one. Evil out there, she knew. The one who didn’t stare out beyond the 4th said something to her. “*I’m* suppose to be Martha in this scene.” She rewords the same to Bob “Tom” Wassleburg offcamera (except substituting Pink for Martha), who just throws up his hands in exasperation. “It’s *Marsha*… stupid,” seethed the actor playing Marsha at the table. “We can’t let that one just *stand*. Can we?”

And so they knocked her over and additionally beat the crap out of her, scene over.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0515, River

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Something had happened. She seemed to have grown a little again upon waking up. She couldn’t turn off the lamp beside her. She stared at cow patterns on a shower curtain.


Probably asleep still — yes, that’s it. Mysteriously, no walls in the place she decided to bed down for the night, so no secrets. She could hear everything being talked about below.

“Well guys, I’m off. Wish me luck!”

“Luck, Wanda.”

“Tammy,” Tammy corrected.

“Right,” said Doris Lelia. Wearing pink on the green couch and turning a bit red. Kellyya on the flowery chair had said nothing yet, per the script of course, or so she hoped. She (the actor playing Kellyya) didn’t exactly remember her next line. She’d have to improvise. But director Bob “Tom” Wassleburg (Wassleburg?) seemed to like improvising in a role. Not all the time of course but sometimes, if the mood calls for it. May get away with the gaff. Unlike poor Alice Flowchart (Lelia) back there.

“And how about *you*? Kellyya isn’t it?” Tammy didn’t know Kellyya as well as Lelia, who she went to school with. “Aren’t you going to wish me well on my first day of work?”

Kellyya remained silent. The actor playing Kellyya figured that jealousy would explain the lack of a good luck wish. *She* hadn’t had a bonafide job in years. And her confidence suffered for it.

“*Anyway*…” Tammy turned from the two, one on her good side and one on her shit list now. Without another word she walked out the door which didn’t exist and got on her bike, intending on riding into the next room which was also the next town. Storybrook. We’ve been here before.

“Maybe I should take a hopper today,” Tammy contemplated aloud from the bike seat, looking over at the green blue red yellow in a row and forgetting about Lelia and Kellyya for the moment. Such confusing names!

Aah yes, better! She’ll show up to work in *such* a good mood, heh.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0514, River

stranger

Suddenly, miraculously, she had shrunk down, her weight even closer to Zero now as she’s checking. Crocogator watched from atop one of the floating ducks in the distance, somewhat disappointed the tale hadn’t gone on. But Story Room calls. Residents.

The world becomes solid. The curtain closes slightly more, just a slither.

Suddenly we are in a different place altogether.


Hmph. How’d I get over here??

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0513, Colorado, River, West Virginia

Phyllis

“‘No purple,'” I said from the side, quoting from the introduction of the world famous manifesto, *her* manifesto. “Yet you sit on purple.”

“Um hmm.” She nodded.

“Is this, then, about the boyy?”

She contemplated an answer for a second, then: “Yes, this is about the boyy more than anything else. And why I chose to avoid talking about the subject, the color. The gurl too, obviously. If–”

“Lisa,” I clarified, then regretted interrupting her flow. She was, after all, a master channel. So all the TILists say that count. But this was beyond (the) four. Hard to tell how many could keep up if all this was made public. Which was, I suppose, my job.

“If only (another pause), for a contrast. Say, priceless versus highly priced, very high indeed but still a certain amount — not infinite.”

“The boyy is a pure channeler,” I dared. I had to know.

Again the pause. She was in the spotlight, as it should be. Making shit happen per usual. “Pure as in 2 separate from 1. Let me illustrate.” She shifts her weight slightly on the latex ottoman, making it squeak but pleasantly, I noted. “Where *I’m* from there is a city of the land that is as central as a heart. Named for the founder of our great land. Brightonia is its name. Yet eventually, as a center must find a circumference to become circular and all encompassing and also reflect in on itself, a 2nd great city was formed, not as big or important as the first but still two. A balance; a sidekick if you will. Necessary: a role assigned. This is the boyy. And from those 2 come all else.”

‘The great scribe Nauty of Naughtilus has taken credit for the boyy’s channel. Is this correct?”

Pause. “All things being equal: yes. The pen was neither red nor blue.”

“Describe the gurl’s role.”

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0511, Constantynople, Nautilus, Rank & File

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Pitch eventually found Wheeler in another one of those Hana Lei lands, specifically designed for kids this go around. And that’s how our Shelley Struthers, now reverted to a child — at least temporarily — got involved.

“What happened to her face?” Pitch asked Shelley after they were able to separate away from Wheeler for some private talk. “It’s like, I don’t know, 2 things superimposed on each other that don’t belong.”

“Yeah, the blonde hair,” Shelley agreed. Then she explained that it went back to when Wheeler was underneath the chocolate all that time, lapping it up like some kind of deranged dog. “Must have done something to her complexion.”

“Hmm,” Pitch said to this. “Shouldn’t she, then, I don’t know, turn *brown* or something?” Not blonde, he additionally thought.

“Might not work like that,” quickly answered small Shelley, already wise way beyond her age. For she wasn’t really she in the hallucination. This is kind of combining several layers into one, smooshing them altogether like a club sandwich in a vise. Thus the picture of the faces in the carnival poseboard, I believe they call them. To illustrate or symbolize the change (another flattening).

But this might be better: Wheeler preparing to take a ride on the Olympia Looping roller coaster, drawn in by the 4 colors of TILE displayed all around. “TILE” she said to the attendant after he asked for her ticket. Jim Crochet Wedding Dress let her ride anyway, little voice in his ear telling him so. The Big Boss, or at least one of the Big Bosses, Wonka I believe. Or Wonky. Wonky like Willa, ha ha. OK, I’ll stop, Wheeler. So getting back to her (always her, never me it seems lately), she takes a ride, but she also calls over a companion. “Arthur, I need you Arthur,” she said in the message accompanying the teleport offer. “I need you more than ever.” Take in what happens when I trip the light fantastic, she added to herself. Because she knew she’d see stars; they were just that bonded by this point. She’d write all this up from the perspective of Edward later on, about 2:01 in the morning, she’s guessing. Always seems to be that or around that.

“What happened to your face?” he asked upon showing up.

“Never mind that, I’ll change before we start looping.” And he got in beside her, ready for a start. With her deformed mug still in place, she kissed.

“I love you Wheeler!” he shouted before the TILE colors even came into play: still on orange. All Orange, as it turned out. The rest was mere refraction from the whole.

Pitch just stood there at the bottom beside Jim, wondering what happened to Shelley as he watched blue turn into red turn into green turn into yellow to end the looping. All grown up again and gone? he wondered. He’d find out soon enough (here come the cars).

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0508, HANA LEI

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Pitch woke up on the other side of the Heart of the Island forest in a mess. His head hurt. He didn’t remember what happened. Wheeler, he then recalled. She ate the wrong kind. She won’t be getting out as easily as me. He raises up a bit and looks around at the big pink doughnut he sits in, he *escaped* in. He dares to look over at the police box through the trees, envisions the girl entering it and encountering whiteness inside. *That* was his salvation. Little Shelley Struthers from Hooktip just up or down the lane. Uncorrupted. Able to resist chocolate and other sweets, no chewy gum for example. Just as pure as golden ticket Charlie before her. But what now? He can’t leave without Wheeler, he understands. She is still a part of him, despite the, erm, evil. No: misjudgment. He’ll have to go back inside. To the beginning!

“Let’s actually switch, Wheeler,” he says over when getting there just before the first bite, thanks to Shelley’s help once more. “I think I can handle chocolate a little better than you.”

“Heartburn, yeah,” Wheeler said, remembering her once in a while condition and withdrawing the object from her salivating mouth — just a bit.

“Here,” Pitch said, extending the pink one in her direction and ready to grasp the brown with the other. Can she?

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0507, Constantynople, Nautilus, Rank & File

he bats right he bats left doesn’t matter

“That was some pitch… Pitch. Explosive, even!”

“Thank you. I tried hard on that. Bit of spit, admittedly, to cut down on the Lively. Return to dead ball era, where I was *king*.”

‘Of course you were, Pitch. And Buster was a marvelous shortstop back in those days too.”

“Damm right!” Both laugh then quickly compose themselves. Serious stuff now. Library. Saving Constantynople.

—–

There he was, in Special Collections again. Looking for himself. I’ll have what I’m having and all. Self service. He already had his eye on something.

“Can I help you?” reading room coordinator Swanie Rivers jumped in, trying not to flap her wings this time despite the head, the gum. Calm and cool, like a waterfall or attached stream. *Not* a volcano or any kind of lava flow. Blue, clear, ready for tubing on a sticky ass hot summer day. She’ll let him select something and then tell him. No f-ing gum in Special Collections! But… calmly, cooly. No wing flapping.

“What’s in that more crooked shelving, those ring binders over there?” Philip believes he’s seen it in a dream. Several times in fact.

“Oh, yes, that’s part of the Merk Coolie Brighton collection. He use to work here!” Swamie told herself not to get excited and shout in the room, even though no one is currently there except Philip and her. But… he use to *work* here!

“Am I in it?” he asked, throwing Swanie for a loop. A closed one. Not-what-she-seems cleaning lady Ross C. slides through the cracks in the front door to observe.

Philip pops his gum one…

last…

time.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0503, Constantynople, Nautilus, Rank & File

dream ended

Welp, my stay on the island of Constance didn’t last as long as I hoped it would. Leaving in a week. Immediate neighbor called my town there *junk*. Another neighbor has blocked it off with a big screen. Shame. But where to next? Maybe take a little break from virtual land ownership, rent smaller places for a while? NWES City remains an option, a strong one. Perhaps the most logical one. Just like I’ve done before. But playing around with this “island-state” certainly was fun, I’ll say! Our Second Lyfe is soo mutable.

I’ll take the redecorated CROOKED with me wherever I go. And I can keep exploring the island from a distance, without all the involved money. I’ll regroup elsewhere. Though it might take a while to get back to this finely balanced point. Goodbye Myrtle and the rest! Let’s see what happens this week to tie a bow on the process.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0413, Constantynople, Nautilus, Rank & File

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“Okay, I’m heading to the other side of the island now, Dancing Chuck, love of my eye, apple of my life.” No answer per usual. Chuck didn’t have a speaking part in this here photo-novel, 39 in a series. Philip didn’t expect one of course. As long as he did his job in the way he was manufactured to do. “And take care of Flip Flop Fish up on the second floor and the roof, will ya.” Philip always used both locations to describe FFF’s whereabouts, since he was stuck between the two, tail projecting above the roof and head and main part of the body below. Caught as much as a fish in a net, ready for filleting with an appropriate knife. But this never happened. Philip needed his energy and knowledge too much. Or maybe it was a she; he’d have to check sometime. His (or her) name I believe was… Limey. Very interesting: because quite similar to Bart’s handy tree outside his bedroom window he used to escape the house and watch the cow film in downtown NWES City, the one he reviewed in what turned out to be his now world famous addendum to the TILE Manifesto. But Philip was probably aware of this connection too, what with being a world famous figure himself, a world *creating* figure, actually. 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime, hmm (if so). The plot thickens.

On his way up to Constantynople and the library he intended to visit to see what had been written about him within, he stops by the town’s assimilated airfield for a drink at an attached bar. This was the same establishment fully formed and approved alternate or doppelganger Shelley first met her original self and compared notes, desired eating habits to begin. “I’ll have what she’s having,” the doppelganger tested, finding it good but she would have added a bit more salt to the fries and ketchup to the chicken. Her first real meal, though. How exciting!

“I’ll have what *he’s* having.” It is happening again.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0039, 0410, Constantynople, Nautilus, Rank & File