Bill (Wheeler) always dreaded going to see The Boss. It was a scary walk through the Red Curtain Hallway, for one. And at the end: The Venus Door. What could Philip want from me today?
—-
Both look at the pile of money stacked up on the marble table. “As you can see, life’s been good lately, Bill. But you’ve been neglecting me.”
“Now tell me all about this chess game you’ve been playing.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0311, Iris
“Thank you guys for joining us tonight on… ‘Nascera Today’. We’re always very curious about the various manifestations of core avatars.”
“Good to be here,” Annie replies smoothly.
“Likewise,” adds Karl coarsely. He coughs.
“So… to begin. Annie, you’re playing the role of a bad girl who wants to turn into a good artist, but is having trouble with the conversion. As the core being Wheeler, a number of your characters in ‘Collagesity 2018 Early’ are trying to jumpstart an art career. Can you elaborate on that?”
“Sure, Mr. Corea.”
“Just Sidechick will do.”
“All right Sidechick. Let’s begin with Annie, the body of which I have now. Annie is a bad girl, yes, but comes from a broken home. Her parents, as well as a good chunk of the remainder of her relatives, were sucked up in the Great Rift between 2010 and 2013. I was 13 in 2013, a Y2K baby, then. But the year 00 didn’t cause any large scale anomalies like anticipated.”
“Thankfully.”
“Yes, thankfully Sidechick.” She turns to her boyfriend. “Karl, you suffered a mental breakdown that year, didn’t you?”
“A giant robot rabbit crushed my car!” He huffs and coughs again, but doesn’t elaborate.
“‘Nuff said, I suppose.” Annie eyes him a little longer before pivoting back to Sidechick. “What was the question again?”
“Sidechick looks through his notes, then: “Just to talk about your various characters in the present Collagesity novel and their artistic aspirations.”
“Well…” Karl sneezes here. “Okay, you’re not coming down with a cold are you Karl? Because you’re sleeping down in the Rabbit Hole if so. I’m not catching what you have.”
Karl shakes his head. “No, not the Rabbit Hole, no. I’d rather sleep on the open beach.”
“But that will make your cold worse. No, the Rabbit Hole will have to do. I’ll build a fire down there when we get home.”
Karl huffs some more, sneezes, but then nods his head in resignation.
“Can we continue now? Get it all out — the sneezing and the coughing — and be done with it. Sidechick’s come a long ways to conduct this interview. I for one can’t concentrate with all these pre-cold antics going on.”
Karl takes a minute to cough and sneeze some more. He really gets into it. They both watch him in shock and awe. He then nods again to indicate it’s all over and he’s ready to continue, noise free hopefully.
Annie stares blankly at Sidechick Corea. “I’m so sorry. What was the topic again?”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0307, New Island
“Just block out the chessboard,” Catvas I purred. “Focus on the temple. Think of the moths, where they were, where they are now. *Be* the moth. Fly free to the moon and back. You are a moth.”
On the floating raft 3 stories below, Cactus concurrently ponders the same identity while companions Tiniest Tell Tale and Akira think about fish and birds respectively.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0305, Heterocera, Iris
https://simplewunderlich.wordpress.com/tag/nascera/
Nascera is the continent of the Linden Homes – “ready-to-move-in homes belonging to a themed community and available only to premium account members”. Read all about this on http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Linden-Home-overview/ta-p/700103. There are several landmasses with Linden Homes visible on the map now. But it seems, they still are all called Nascera 😉
After the others had gone back to their respective homes — Baker Blinker and Karoz to Chilbo; Hucka Doobie to Gaston; Wheeler and Spongeberg/Grassy to Iris — Baker Bloch decides to stick around and explore more of Nascera, kind of picking up where he left off those over 8 long years ago now. He’s pretty sure this plaque in Budsic wasn’t here before when he biked around the continent’s 8×8 original core of sims in the days. The Lindens had subtly and sometimes not so subtly changed the landscaping surrounding the central California Modern region since his initial forays.
Ryu and Ingerstall, he thinks after reading the story behind the Vertical Blinds Historic Battlefield. That would be the position of black queen’s knight and black queen respectively on Wheeler and Ellen’s chessboard, hmm. And Budsic here between them: the black queen’s bishop. Queerly, Karoz Blogger subsequently found a white bishop in a new Nascera sea southwest of here, after the early 2010 continent expansion beyond the original 8×8. Beyond the confines of a chessboard design, that is. And then, much more recently, Baker Bloch himself found a *black* bishop in a neighboring sim while popping over here one night for a quick visit.
And now this plaque in a “black bishop sim”; chess was definitely a theme to be dealt with. But what would be — or has been — Ellen’s next move beyond his Knight to King’s Bishop 3? Wheeler is greatly confused as to the weakness of her play so far.
—–
“There. I’ve finally done it,” proclaims Bill (Wheeler) back in Iris. “Knight to Rook 3; weak knight move counters weak knight move. Let’s see what she does with it. But now I can finally rest at night!”
—–
Ellen’s next move came much quicker than expected.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0217, Heterocera, Iris, Nascera
“If you get confused or lost, Campbell, we’ll go ahead and design this as a place you can come to achieve clarity. Now I’ll go ahead and sit beside you since I’m already here. I’m Bracket Jupiter.”
“Hi Bracket,” speaks Campbell O’Pine cordially. “Nice to greet you.”
“So logically that places Spongeberg beside you on the other side. Spongeberg is currently playing the role of your Mmmmmm cousin Grassy Noll. Remember to call him Grass as much as possible. Last seen: getting stoned with Wheeler who is now The Bill. We’ll get to her in a minute. So we’ll seat Grassy who is Spongeberg beside you, since you’re kind of partners. Grassy, can you change into your base character just so Campbell will know what it looks like.”
“Sure.” He changes.
“And I’ll do the same.”
“So here we are,” Bracket says. “Let’s spread it out a little further. Beside me would be Wheeler we spoke about before. She plays a variety of characters but we’ll place her here in the base or core form again. And then beside Spongeberg we have Karoz Blogger — we’re getting into the older souls now of the blog, Campbell.”
“Okay. Hi Wheeler. Hi Karoz.”
Jointly: “Hello.”
“And then beside them we have The Bakers: Baker Bloch next to Wheeler over there, and then Baker Blinker sitting beside Karoz Blogger. Baker Blinker and Karoz are married — you guys are married still?”
“Yes,” they answer in unison. No stares were directed toward Wheeler.
“Baker Blinker and Baker Bloch,” Bracket continues, “are the owners of Collagesity. We’ll visit there soon for further orientation. But for now you must remain in Nascera. *Don’t* go back to New Island. Don’t get lost again.”
“Alright.” But both knew he would.
“And then to round out the circle we have resident blog spirit Hucka Doobie sitting directly opposite you. This is her classic bee form, but she’s refined it a bit now. Would you like to show us, Hucka?”
“Not right now,” the bee person requests.
“Since Hucka most understands among us about getting lost, she’s going to take you under her wing, Campbell.” Awkward pause here, then Bracket realizes his mistake. “Aww, I subconsciously made a bee joke. I’m sorry, Hucka. I know you’ve changed.”
“I have.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to show us how much you’ve changed now? Just for more orientation. It’s important Campbell here knows.”
“Very well.”
“And I can hide my antennae under my hair if needed,” she furthers.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0216, Nascera
Bill (Wheeler) spoke over the loud, synchronized drumming. “These guys are nice, Grassy, but I feel something is missing. Why don’t you go up and join them! You played a mean bass steel pan in your college days, didn’t you? The Merrymen wasn’t it?”
“We *emulated* The Merrymen,” the Mmmmmm Grassy clarified. “Played a lot of their songs. But Calypso and the Carribean are far back in the rear view mirror now.” He sighed. “We better head over and meet Catvas I and Catvas II for bridge. I’m afraid that’ll have to do for our synchronized quartet tonight, ha.”
“Catvas I always smells of bird,” Bill complains. “And Catvas II of fish.”
“You smell of lion,” Grassy continued the grousing. “And I smell of, um, sodden earth? Haystacks?” He looks down at his white, sneakered feet. “Haven’t quite pinned it down.”
“We’ll get to Montana and then we’ll know.” Bill leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “Got any more of that wacky weed on ya? I brought some tweezers.”
“Then I’ve got the pony, hehe. We’ll figure out the rest later.”
“I dig!”
—–
Bill carefully laid down the now empty tweezers on the seating. “Ahh. Life is good, Grassy. Grass. But all this reminds me.” She waves her arm around to indicate. “I really should get back to that chess game with Ellen.”
“You’re lion *snicker*”.
—–
15 minutes later:
“I wonder what the Catvases did tonight in our stead?”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0213, Iris
“I thought this lobster might at least partially make it up to you, Catvas. I’m so sorry I’ve neglected my painting lately. It’s that darn chess game. I can’t decide on the next move!”
“I’m Catvas II, actually,” the feline across from her corrected while purring over the dinner. “You can tell the difference by my fishtail, which Catvas I doesn’t have. Instead she has the wings of a bird. In truth, The Bill, I think you might be losing your grip. The chess battle is turning your mind soft and fuzzy, like Stan over there.” Catvas II nods toward the hairier cat washing dishes tonight. “I suggest: withdraw from the match. If black wins, that might also be the end of *you*.”
“But,” counters The Bill, “that also means the reds and yellows stand victorious over the carcasses of the blues and greens. No, Catvas, er, II, this is not just a black and white situation. There are winners and losers in all 4 corners of the world.”
Then Grassy returned from the bathroom and they knew not to say anything more about all that.
—–
When to move you first, my Queen? Rey Wisa ponders from far below.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0206, Heterocera, Iris, Nascera
It was a most remarkable coincidence (again). I knew Baker Blinker, er, *Furry Karl* had to get from Horizons-Pluto to New Island by boat, probably with a woman companion in tow, but couldn’t figure out how they’d exit the Horizons subcontinent’s 4th and southernmost region, the “hookless” one (explain that in a little bit), and into Zindra proper. Do they turn east or west at the bottom? I figured east, but there was nothing in that direction.
Then by accident I stumbled upon a portal tonight that solved the tricky problem — or Wheeler did. She decide that Lou would be the best character to play this particular role, and also rezzed Norris beside her as a sounding board for ideas.
“What do we do now?” asked the bleached face Norris to his sitting companion.
“We simply wait here at the canal. It’s already set up. Baker Blinker will never make it out of the Horizons sub-continent by boat. We’ll make sure of that.”
“Cool, I suppose.”
“Yeah… cool.”
She smiles while watching the dance of rippled water beneath her pale, dangling feet. No choice to make now.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0113, Horizons, New Island
“I’ve tried so many times to paint the Moth Temple and attached pier village, Catvas. Tried and failed. It’s just so beautiful as is.” Bill gets up and moves toward the winged feline.
“But try I must again.” She then peers down at the piers. “Ooo… looks like Ellen has made another move at the chessboard. Forgot *this*!”
“Okay,” the disappointed Catvas purred after an awkward pause. She should be use to the feeling by now. “Maybe tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow it is, my friend”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0109, Heterocera, Iris
But instead Buurb finds himself heading left, toward the freebies library at the end of Lost Heaven Road. What to buy today? he considers. Maybe something for Mabel this time.
—–
Yes, more bean stew for Mabel. He loves that stuff. And — Buurb couldn’t resist — a Green Lantern mini-avatar for himself, hehe. He can hear his wife now: “You’re *such* a Sheldon.”
Bill (Wheeler again) couldn’t figure it out. Why would this mysterious Ellen insist on going first and then make such a weak opening move? She counters with her own weird kind of opening: Pawn to Queen 4. Because at this rate she was going to win in 13 moves or less. Anyway, she’d check back tomorrow and see if Ellen had stopped by to play again. Poor girl; maybe not the brightest of us all.
—–
But Bill was wrong about that.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0008, 0108, Heartsdale+, Heterocera, Iris, Nascera
Sunklands 