randy: false
--
[if timeTaken == 0]
{embed passage: 'FlirtySibling'}
[if timeTaken == 1]
{embed passage: 'SilentSibling'}
[if timeTaken > 1]
{embed passage: 'AnnoyingSibling'}
[continue]--
{pk.names}'s oldest {flirt.noun} opens the door partway and smiles at me. "Hi {narr.nick},"
{flirt.lang.ze} drawls. "You look good wet." There's a reason {my} nickname for
{fiirt.lang.zir} is {flirt.nick}.
[if orientation=='asex']
{embed passage: 'GrossSqueeze'}
[else]
{embed passage: 'SexySqueeze'}
[continue]
Disconcerted, I hurry [[up the stairs->BffRoom]] to
{pk.name}'s room with my
[if shoesWet; append]
very wet
[continue; append]
shoes and dripping outerclothes still on.randy: true
--
I try to ignore the way {flirt.lang.ze} makes my heart skip a beat.
I squeeze by {flirt.lang.zir} and {flirt.lang.ze} leans into me in all
the right places.
It's annoying that {flirt.lang.ze} is younger
than me but somehow so much more comfortable in {flirt.lang.zir}
sexuality.I try to ignore the way {flirt.lang.zir}'s overt sexuality annoys me.
As I squeeze by {flirt.lang.zim}, {flirt.lang.ze} suggestively rubs against me.
I can smell {flirt.lang.zir} body odor.
{I} shudder. If {flirt.lang.ze} is like this as a tween, what's {flirt.lang.ze}
going to be like in high school?{pk.nick}'s younger {quiet.noun} opens the door,
says "oh it's you," and goes back up the hall.
{embed passage: 'BoundUpstairs'}{pk.name}'s little {pest.noun} opens the door, screams
"{narr.nick}!," and starts pummeling {me}.
{I} let {pest.lang.zim} go at it for a while until {pk.name}'s
mother's disembodied voice tells {pest.lang.zim} to leave me be.
One last reproachful punch and {pest.lang.ze} runs down the
hall to the kitchen.
{embed passage: 'BoundUpstairs'}{I} leave my sopping clothes and
[if shoesWet; append]
regrettably wet
[continue; append]
shoes in the entry hall and
[[bound up the stairs->BffRoom]] to {pk.name}'s room
on the second floor.{I} can hear the rapidfire typewriter noise of {pk.name}'s daisy wheel
printer as {i} mount the stairs.
When {i} step through the threshold to {pk.lang.zir} room,
{pk.name} is hunched over {pk.lang.zir} Apple IIe, bathed in the
green glow of the monitor, examining a screenful of
extended ASCII characters. The daisy-wheel spits away
in the corner with what looks like dozens of pages of
continuous-feed paper already printed.
“Something about {mg.nick}?” {i} ask. {pk.name} jumps
a foot and puts {pk.lang.zir} hand to {pk.lang.zir} heart like a
bad movie actor, only {pk.lang.ze} isn't acting. Then {pk.lang.ze} turns.
How to describe {pk.name}? Do you know many prematurely
gray teenagers? Let's just say {pk.lang.ze} can take life
pretty seriously.
“Hi, {narr.name},” {pk.lang.ze} says when {pk.lang.ze} recovers.
“Can you make anything out of this?”
{I} look at the text displayed on the monitor.
The jumble of characters on the
{reveal link: "25x80 display", text: "25x80 display (damn {i} wish {my} Vic-20 had that kind of resolution!)"}
doesn't look completely random, but it doesn't look like words either.
More like ASCII art gone wrong. {I} try to defocus my eyes
to see if it resolves into one of those stereogram
puzzles you see in the paper sometimes.
{cycling link, choices: ['Nothing.', 'Nada.', 'Rien.', 'Nichts.', 'Wait is that a..? Nah.']}
“Greek to me,” {i} say, quoting
{reveal link: 'Casca', text: "one of the conspirators who killed Julius Caesar"}
. “What is it?”
{pk.nick} frowns. “A newcomer called Thothamon posted it to my BBS
today. No idea who they are or why they posted it.
But someone posted the same thing to {mg.name}'s BBS
last year, or something like it. {mg.nick} thought it was
important."
Then nonsequitorially, "How’s your Lovecraft?”
> [[Admit {i} don't know Lovecraft from Hatespeech->NoLovecraft]]
[if randy]
> [[Feign familiarity with this erotic art form->LovecraftErotica]]
[if lovecraftTrigger]
> [[That does ring a bell, wrack {my} brain->BrainWrack]]
[continue]"Not ringing any bells," {i} say. "Not even tempted
to exploit opportunities for suggestive humor here."
"Appreciated," {pk.nick} smiles wryly.
{embed passage: 'LovecraftExposition'}"Yeah I know love craft. Part of my genetallic inheritance
if you know what I mean..."
{pk.name} looks horrified. {I} feel the same.
"Sorry {pk.nick}, I can't do suggestive humour. What's Lovecraft?"
{pk.name} shakes {pk.lang.zir} head. The meaning is clear: don't
ever try to be cool again.
{embed passage: 'LovecraftExposition'}*Lovecraft*... the Cthulhu Mythos
section of Deities and Demigods! Suddenly {i} recall
suppressed memories of reading that drivel.
“I’ve read some of the Del Rey collections,” {i} say.
"Original, unscary 'horror' with cardboard characters.
You want horror? Give me a good radio program, heard
{reveal link: "one", text:"one (this radio drama where someone helps their friend who needs a blood transfusion but the only way to do it is by putting themself in a kind of coffin that extracts the blood and when the friend gets the blood it makes them feel amazing so they don't turn off the transfusion until the donor is dead)!"}
last week and I can't shake it." Trouble sleeping, {i_m}
not kidding.
{pk.nick} picks up the thread, nodding.
{embed passage: 'LovecraftExposition'}{pk.name} goes into
exposition mode: {pk.lang.Zir} voice deepens, {pk.lang.ze} looks
into space, and the theme music from Tron starts
playing in the
{reveal link: "background", text: "background ({I} think it's coming from downstairs, are they renting a VCR?)"}
in accompaniment to the insane cadence of the daisywheel.
"Lovecraft was an existential horror writer from the '20s
pulps, a regular in Weird Tales. He was very innovative.
Invented a whole cosmology and eon-spanning history
of the earth, universe, multiverse whatever, with
several different evil pantheons of insane monstrous gods.
Lovecraft invited - encouraged - other authors to
situate their stories in his alternate version of our
earth and to reuse and extend his mythos. Kind of like
the shared worlds we have in Dungeons and Dragons today.
And they did! His gods from C'thulu to Azathoth would
appear in other authors' works like
Howard's *{reveal link: "Conan", text: 'ugh Conan... we will never see eye to eye on that movie, stupidest ever...'}* -\"
{I} clear my throat meaningly.
"Right!" continues {pk.nick}. "Anyway Lovecraft's idea of
magic was that it was unfailingly evil, and he came up
with the idea of a terrible insanity-inducing grimoire called the
*Necronimicom*\" (somehow the tron music is not playing
anymore and for dramatic tension the daisywheel has sputtered
to a stop... {i} swear
{i} hear wind howling in the atavistic part of my brain)
"... anyway Cultes des Ghoules is one of these
books of cosmic knowledge that drives you insane," continues {pk.nick},
"And this is a printout of it," {pk.lang.ze} finishes lamely.
It *does* looks insane. Like alphaghetti with all the sugar
replaced by interdimensional chaos and rolled into an
fanfold printout.
> [[Lighten the mood->ThatsNotAGrimoire]]
> [[Remind {myself} what {mg.name} had to say about it->MacguffinGrimoire]]
> [[So it's supposed to be a book about ghouls right?->Ghoules]]Suddenly it feels
{reveal link: 'cold', text: 'cold (well my clothes *are* wet)'}
and dark in {pk.nick}'s room. {I} try
to lighten the mood by pointing at the fanfold paper
gibberish. “So this is ‘Cultes des Ghoules’?" {i} say.
"Should be a moldy old
tome made from human leather with maybe a bit of ichor
dripping from it."
Ok {my} voice is steadying now, "...kind of anachronistic to see it on a
computer printout,” {i} finish."Remind me what {mg.nick} said about the *Cultes des Ghoules*
incident on their BBS last year?" {i} ask. "I remember {mg.lang.ze} thought
it was important but I'm not remembering too well."
*Because at the time {i} thought {mg.name}'s shit behaviour was
assholery rather than a cry for help.*"Ok so it's a French book about ghouls," {i} prod... "Maybe
not the same creative tour de force that the *Necronimicon* was?"
Is it just {me} or does it get colder, quieter, and darker every
time {i} name that
{cycling link for: 'beegeeReference': ["tome", "tome/tune beegees heh that lightens the mood!"]}
?siblingOnPhone: false
timeTaken: 0
damageTaken: 0
bikeLocation: 'garage'
shoesWet: false
lovecraftTrigger: false
--
The sunroom is a damn cold place to be hunched over a computer in April.
{I_m} on {pk.name}'s {reveal link: 'BBS', text: 'bulletin board system'}
and there is a message waiting for {me} from
{pk.lang.zim}: “Come see me. Re: {mg.name}. Important.”
Short and to the point is very {pk.nick}. Peremptory tone is not.
{I} look outside. Dirty wet snow covers everything, and it is raining a thin gruel.
In a month it'll be easy to [[bike to {pk.lang.zir} place->BikeToMycroft]], but not yet.
{I} could [[run there->RunToMycroft]].
Or maybe {i} should just [[call {pk.lang.zim}->CallMycroft]].siblingOnPhone: true
--
The modem cuts out with a squawk as my {narr.sibling.lang.noun} picks up the phone in the sewing room.
That means that the phone will be tied up for an hour or more.
> [[Get the bike out and brave the slush->BikeToMycroft]]
> [[Run to {pk.name}'s - it's only a kilometer->RunToMycroft]]timeTaken: timeTaken + 2
shoesWet: true
--
{I} put on my black trench coat, pale blue toque, and running shoes.
Five minutes’ run later and {i_m} at {pk.name}’s parents' manse, feet soaking wet.
{embed passage: 'Manse'}
{embed passage: 'KnockOnFrontDoorOfManse'}bikePumped: false
--
{I} head to the garage where my bike is. The garage is
kinda packed what with a Rolls-Royce gray diesel Peugeot 504 car, a pool pump, a change room, and
all the normal used-once-in-blue-moon equipment that is in garages everywhere.
{My} bike is jammed in with a couple other bikes along
the cement wall. {I} gingerly pull it out and notice that the tires are kinda squishy.
>> [[{pk.nick} sounded in kinda a hurry, just go!->BikeToManse]]
>> [[The floor pump is right there on the wall, pump the bike up->PumpUpBike]]timeTaken: timeTaken + 1
bikePumped: true
lovecraftTrigger: !siblingOnPhone
--
[if siblingOnPhone]
Cursing the injustice of having a {narr.sibling.lang.noun} who's always on the phone,
{I} pump up the tires.
[else]
Reflecting on the quality of the artwork of Erol Otus,
{I} pump up the tires.
[continue]
{I} try to remember to bend at the knees instead
of pushing with my arms. The tires feel pretty pumped now.
Time to go. {embed passage: 'BikeToManse'}{I} pull the garage door open with
{reveal link: 'practiced ease', text: 'practiced ease (there is a knack to it)'},
roll {my} trusty Eaton Viking 10-speed out the driveway, and put {my} foot on the
right pedal, giving a couple of pushes with {my} left before awkwardly
swinging it over the rack on the back of the bike so {i} can get on.
The driveway is clear of snow so the first test comes when plowing through
the slush at the end of the driveway.
The trick when biking through slush is to never reveal your fear or that
slush is gonna spin you right round.
[unless bikePumped]
{embed passage: 'WipeOut'}
[continue]
One of the oddities of winter road biking is that it's easier to
bike on the main drags because there's more salt there, and more
traffic to cut nice channels in the snow. Of course those cars
don't always like waiting behind a bicyclist. Boo hoo them.
{I} just need to go one block on Commissioners Road which
divides {my} old South London suburb from the newer, southerner,
Lockwood suburb. {I} make it without incident and peddle all the
way to Chiddington Ave where {pk.name}'s Manse
{reveal link: 'heaves', text: 'heaves (present tense of hove right?)'}
into view.
{embed passage: 'Manse'}
Maybe {i} should [[park the bike in the back->ParkBikeBackOfManse]]
but {i}'d have to traipse through some wet snow to get
there.
So maybe {i} should just [[lean it up against the front porch->LeanBikeOnFrontPorch]]
where any asshole might see it and
{reveal link: 'steal it', text: "steal it (Yeah. Lost three bikes that way)"}.damageTaken: damageTaken + 1
shoesWet: true
--
Or maybe the trick is to have well pumped, skinny tires that can
cut through the slush. Anyway {i} wipe out right away. But {i_m} a teenager
so {i} get back up immediately and check to see if
{reveal link: 'anyone saw that', text: 'anyone saw that (only the weiner dog across the street did, yapping at me derisively)'}
.
{I} pretend that it didn't hurt, get back on the bike, and keep going.The reason {i} say manse is that {pk.name}'s father is the priest for St John
{cycling link, choices: ["the Redeemer", "the Apostle", "the Evangelist", "Prester"]}'s
parish,
and the house {pk.nick}'s family lives in is the manse that comes with the job.
{I} don’t know much about this stuff, but {i} thought a
{reveal link: 'manse', text: "house supplied by a parish for their preacher"}
was usually built right
beside the church so the benighted faithful could get ahold of the minister pretty easily.
Not so with St. John’s. {pk.name}’s home was over a mile away from the church,
and looks for all the world like a bog standard two-story yellow-brick house with
aluminum siding and weathered gray shingles. Maybe it was an enlightened attempt
by a shrinking, misogynistic church to make a pastor’s life more attractive by reducing the
likelihood of the octogenarian parishioner pop-in visit.
Or maybe the manse was placed there to hide and protect something
important, like
{cycling link, choices: ["the toenails of a saint", "a shard of the True Cross", "an Elder Sign"]}.bikeLocation: 'behindManse'
timeTaken: timeTaken + 1
shoesWet: true
--
{I} carry the bike through the snow into the back yard and lean it against
the back of the house.
The manse has a separate garage in the back yard.
{I} feel like {i} {reveal link: 'see a glimpse of something', text: 'see something nightmarishly large, scaly, and smelling of fish'}
watching {me} from behind there.
> [[Look behind the garage->DeepOneTracks]]
> [[Go back to the porch and knock on the front door->KnockOnFrontDoorOfManse]]The fishy smell gets stronger as {i} approach the back of the garage, and {i} notice
that the snow is beaten down in a wide arc at the back of the back yard
starting from the back of the garage and extending around to the side of
the neighbour's house. The tracks are large and... webby? {I} have
{reveal link: 'a bad feeling', text: 'an irrational fear based on an unhealthy level of exposure to the horror genre'}
about this.
> [[Look closer->MessilyDevouredBehindGarage]]
> [[Heed {my} tingling spidey senses and go back to knock on the front door->ReturnToFrontPorchOfManse]]The briny, rotten fish smell grows stronger.
{I} get just the slightest aerial view of the manse's backyard as {my}
head is separated from {my} body by a large monster.
{restart link, label: "Would love to get a closer look but ... dead."}bikeLocation: 'mansePorch'
--
{I} lean the bike against the wrought-iron railing on the front porch.
{embed passage: 'KnockOnFrontDoorOfManse'}{I} trudge back to the front of the manse. {I} can see some kids coming
down the sidewalk from Upper Queen's street.
{embed passage: 'KnockOnFrontDoorOfManse'}There's a buzzer beside the front door but {I_m} pretty sure it
doesn't work so {i} knock. {I} squint through
the frosted glass side panel to see if anyone is coming.
{embed passage: 'EnterManse'}{embed passage: 'Narrator'}
{embed passage: 'NarratorSibling'}
{embed passage: 'PreachersKid'}
{embed passage: 'Moonglum'}
{embed passage: 'PKSiblingFlirt'}
{embed passage: 'PKSiblingQuiet'}
{embed passage: 'PKSiblingPest'}narr.name: 'Morlock'
narr.name (pronouns==='feminine'): 'Morgan'
narr.name (pronouns==='masculine'): 'Mordred'
narr.nick: 'Mor'
--narr.sibling.name: 'Ally'
narr.sibling.name (orientation==='andro'): 'Alison'
narr.sibling.name (orientation==='gyno'): 'Allan'
narr.sibling.lang: unalike.sibling
--pk.name: 'Mycroft'
pk.nick: 'Mick'
pk.nick (pronouns==='feminine'): 'Micro'
pk.nick (pronouns==='masculine'): 'Mike'
pk.lang: affirmed.pronouns
--mg.name: 'Moonglum'
mg.nick: 'Moon'
mg.lang: affirmed.pronouns
--flirt.nick: 'Flirt'
flirt.noun: unalike.sibling.noun
flirt.lang: unalike.sibling.lang
--quiet.nick: 'Silent'
quiet.noun: unalike.sibling.noun
quiet.lang: unalike.sibling.lang
--pest.nick: 'Pest'
pest.noun: alike.sibling.noun
pest.lang: alike.sibling.lang
--[if orientation=='pan' || orientation=='asex']
{embed passage: 'NonbinaryOrientationPronouns'}
[if orientation=='andro']
{embed passage: 'AndroOrientationPronouns'}
[if orientation=='gyno']
{embed passage: 'GynoOrientationPronouns'}
[continue]into.noun: 'everyone'
into.noun (orientation==='asex'): 'noone'
into.pronouns: nonbinary.pronouns
indifferent.pronouns: nonbinary.pronouns
alike.sibling.noun: 'sibling'
alike.sibling.lang: nonbinary.pronouns
unalike.sibling.noun: 'sibling'
unalike.sibling.lang: nonbinary.pronouns
--into.noun: 'girls'
into.pronouns: gyno.pronouns
indifferent.pronouns: andro.pronouns
unalike.sibling.noun: 'sister'
unalike.sibling.lang: gyno.pronouns
alike.sibling.noun: 'brother'
alike.sibling.lang: andro.pronouns
--into.noun: 'guys'
into.pronouns: andro.pronouns
indifferent.pronouns: gyno.pronouns
alike.sibling.noun: 'sister'
alike.sibling.lang: gyno.pronouns
unalike.sibling.noun: 'brother'
unalike.sibling.lang: andro.pronouns
--[if person=="first"]
{embed passage: 'FirstPerson'}
[if person=="second"]
{embed passage: 'SecondPerson'}
[continue]person: 'first'
i: 'I'
my: 'my'
myself: 'myself'
mine: 'mine'
me: 'me'
am: 'am'
i_m: "I'm"
I: 'I'
My: 'My'
Mine: 'Mine'
I_m: "I'm"
--person: 'second'
i: 'you'
my: 'your'
myself: 'yourself'
mine: 'yours'
me: 'you'
i_m: "you're"
am: 'are'
I: 'You'
My: 'Your'
Mine: 'Yours'
I_m: "You're"
--nonbinary.pronouns.ze: 'ze'
nonbinary.pronouns.Ze: 'Ze'
nonbinary.pronouns.zim: 'zir'
nonbinary.pronouns.zir: 'zir'
nonbinary.pronouns.Zir: 'Zir'
nonbinary.pronouns.zirs: 'zirs'
nonbinary.sibling.alike: 'sibling'
nonbinary.sibling.unlike: 'sibling'
gyno.pronouns.ze: 'she'
gyno.pronouns.Ze: 'She'
gyno.pronouns.zim: 'her'
gyno.pronouns.zir: 'her'
gyno.pronouns.Zir: 'Her'
gyno.pronouns.zirs: 'hers'
andro.pronouns.ze: 'he'
andro.pronouns.Ze: 'He'
andro.pronouns.zim: 'him'
andro.pronouns.zir: 'his'
andro.pronouns.Zir: 'His'
andro.pronouns.zirs: 'His'
andro.sibling.alike: 'brother'
andro.sibling.unalike: 'sister'
--
[if pronouns=="nonbinary"]
{embed passage: 'NonbinaryPronouns'}
[if pronouns=="feminine"]
{embed passage: 'FemininePronouns'}
[if pronouns=="masculine"]
{embed passage: 'MasculinePronouns'}
[continue]Ze: 'Ze'
ze: 'ze'
zim: 'zir'
Zir: 'zir'
zir: 'zir'
zirs: 'zirs'
affirmed.pronouns: nonbinary.pronouns
--Ze: 'She'
ze: 'she'
zim: 'her'
Zir: 'Her'
zir: 'her'
zirs: 'hers'
affirmed.pronouns: gyno.pronouns
--Ze: 'He'
ze: 'he'
zim: 'him'
Zir: 'His'
zir: 'his'
zirs: 'his'
affirmed.pronouns: andro.pronouns
--Phil Surettesetup/person.twee
setup/pronouns.twee
setup/orientation_pronouns.twee
setup/characters.twee
start.twee
home_to_manse.twee
daisywheel.tweeconfig.style.page.fork.divider.style: 'none'
config.body.transition.name: 'fadeInOut'
--
[todo]
Maybe want an 'into' guys/girls/anyone/noone option to replace gay/straight.
[continue]
It's 1983 and {cycling link for: '_person', choices: ["I am", "you are"]} in London,
identifying as a mostly {cycling link for: '_orientation', choices: ['pansexual', 'gynophile', 'androphile', 'asexual']}
high school frosh
that goes by {cycling link for: '_pronouns', choices: ['ze/zir','she/her','he/him']}.
Yeah… [[not that London->Setup]].pronouns: 'nonbinary'
pronouns (_pronouns==='she/her'): 'feminine'
pronouns (_pronouns==='he/him'): 'masculine'
person: 'second'
person (_person==='I am'): 'first'
orientation: 'pan'
orientation (_orientation==='androphile'): 'andro'
orientation (_orientation==='gynophile'): 'gyno'
orientation (_orientation==='asexual'): 'asex'
--
{embed passage: 'Person'}
{embed passage: 'Pronouns'}
{embed passage: 'OrientationPronouns'}
{embed passage: 'Characters'}
{embed passage: 'OtherLondon'}Yeah.. {i} go by {affirmed.pronouns.ze} and {i_m} into {into.noun}.
{I} live in Other London. Other London has a Thames river running through
it just like Real London,
but like everything in Other London, it’s smaller and less impressive
than the real thing.
Real London's St. Paul’s Cathedral is a baroque masterpiece with a huge dome.
In Other London, it’s a red brick church with a square tower.
Other London also has Big Ben (an office tower),
a Tower of London (a two-story bar with a battlemented facade),
a London Bridge (a contract bridge group),
... and so it goes down the line. You get the picture.
Some things in Other London have no corollary in Real London. Like snow.
In Other London there’s snow every winter, a lot of it.
The snow covers over a lot of the nasty shit that goes down here, but it alway melts eventually.
So forget everything about Real London.
It doesn't help one to understand Other London.
Some things seem kind of the same, some don’t, there’s no rhyme or reason to it.
Like, there are Mars Bars in Other London but not Cadbury’s Flake.
Men at Work is on the radio in Other London, but not Bucks Fizz.
Just know, when {i} see a anthropomorphic icthyoid creature outside
22b Baker St, the office {i} see it at is a hat store
in a suburb called Lockwood,
a suburb wholly absent from Conan Doyle’s London.
And {i_m} talking about a fish person.
> [[Tell me more->Bulletin]]
> [[Borrrring...->Reprimand]][JavaScript]
let complaints = [
"I get it. Well-written Lovecraftian horror is an oxymoron.",
"You lost me at 1983.",
"Not into any kind of ersatz London ... I'm out.",
"I can't inhabit a town without my beloved Cadbury's Flake.",
"London Bridge Club. The horror.",
"Snow? Too cold for my taste."
]
write(complaints[Math.floor(Math.random() * complaints.length)])
[continued]