THURSDAY
JULY 28TH, 2011
(Synecdoche)
9:40
AM
WOMP WOMP
diddle liddle WOMP WOMP
WOMP w-WOMP
WOMP
dooooo wackadadackada WOMP WOMP
I'm awake, I'm awake.
What.
Sounds like Legsteps.
9:41
AM
Donnie's
got the grumpiest expression.
"I never even liked
dubstep."
I'm going out to the street.
9:42
AM
Well, it is
Legsteps. Those black legs from yesterday have woken up, and the
speakers have appeared. They look like boomboxes rocking above the
skyscrapers, on comically long stilts. Then there's smaller Legsteps
on street corners, some even down this way.
And the fires from
yesterday have spread even further, with black smoke filling the sky
in every direction, but not in San Francisco itself? Smack-dab in the
center of the city, there's some kind of trippy teal-colored.. rising
pillar of teal fire
instead.
I
can hear screams now.
I think there must have been a population that didn't want anything
to do with the RAF, and they stayed indoors yesterday. Or I guess it
could be the Indisen who were left? I don't see anyone from standing
here,
there's just.. noise.
Screams and dubstep. The soundtrack to the end of San
Francisco.
Frankly, this is a mockery. The future of this city
was already dead. The Archangel saw to that quite thoroughly.
9:44
AM
Donnie's coming out.
"Oh my god…"
Yeah,
I know.
..oh, she's looking at Tiger, lifeless on the
curb.
Yeah…
"He.. he didn't want to see what was
coming. He didn't need to see
this."
No. He didn't need to see this.
"God."
she's crying.
holding her hand.
9:47
AM
"It's.. it's
time for us to leave this place. Long past time."
Agreed.
We need a Door.
9:49
AM
Gathering
whatever supplies we can from the house. Got bags.
How are we
gonna find a
Door?
"There's plenty of buildings here, there's got to be
a Door in one of them."
Yeah, but, searching every
building? We've been here for five days and I
never found a Door. Did you?
"No… and I'd rather we
didn't split up to search."
Exactly. This is a tall fucking
order.
"Can't we leave the city? Search for Doors out in
the rest of the, er, state? Like the bikers?"
There's smoke
and glow in all directions. I think
we're circled in by fires.
"Okay, well, you think,
you don't know. That's
what we should try first."
10:18
AM
Took the car.
Didn't take that long to run into the southern fires. They cover
every street, laterally. We're still not done checking, maybe there's
an opening..?
10:33
AM
No.
No such thing.
And we already know the only way out to the
north was the Golden Gate. The east had a bridge too, but Donnie's
not optimistic about our prospects. (Then the west is all Pacific
Ocean. Even if there was
a miraculous way across, we're not going to end another month riding
on an even longer
ferry.)
These fires blocking us cut through
the buildings, like they're ethereally placed. They're spreading real
fires from them, but
it's clear we're just not allowed to leave.
If there is a way
out of this deathtrap, it's by finding a Door.
11:00
AM
"ONE HOUR"
that
stopped us in our tracks. it came from the sky, I think from where
the teal fire's going. maybe it was just part of the music…
We're
still going door by door, looking through the houses that aren't
locked.
Donnie, this is way too slow. We'd be better off trying
some big department stores or something.
"But those are
going to be up there,
closer to where the green fire thing is!"
Well, it's either
that, or still be doing this
when an hour's up!
"Please don't yell at me!"
I'm
not, I'm-- look, just. We should look for offices, apartments,
workplaces, malls. They offer more doors, more chances
for Doors.
11:10
AM
How
about this one? This one's pretty far from the center. Stonestown
Galleria.
11:14
AM
I
realize we can't be that thorough, but god,
I'm just seeing regular abandoned and ruined shops.
God, please,
please, give us a sight of another sky, another world…
Please...!
11:21
AM
Hobby
Lobby
Checkers
Nordstrom
Foot Locker
Office
Depot
Barnes and Noble
American Eagle
Bad Bambi
San
Francisco dies, piece by piece
11:34
AM
We've
left the mall and are on the search again
The sky in the center
of the city is an increasing whirl of spinning dark clouds
We're
seeing people now, glimpses of panic inside the windows of their
houses
Corpses fallen out of front doors
Scattered on the
streets
Some are on rooftops, some are half hidden in
manholes
Some with bubbling skin
Some with frostbitten
limbs
Some with slit throats
Some with maggot-infested
coats
San Francisco dies, piece by piece
11:39
AM
"There!"
What!
"In
front of that window! Behind that van!"
What! What!
"That's
not a zombie! Is it an Indisen? Wave at it!"
What?
"Wave
at it!"
It
saw us, then ran away,
cracking its broken foot on the floor again and again.
Then it
got grabbed by a blonde woman in dungarees, both hands around its
throat, and she
saw us and stared at us.
Now she's coming this way, dragging the
body in staggered steps.
11:40
AM
The
one who had run from us is unconscious now, carried on the dungaree
woman's shoulder.
And now that she's closer to us, I'm
realizing, by the dead look in her eyes (and living human body), that
this is a Camper.
"Why are you still here?"
Um.
Hi, Salmacis. Was that an Indisen?
donnie "I'd hoped it was
a Camper."
"Well, you've found one all the same. Now,
why are you
still here? I
thought your plan was to leave this city last night."
We..
decided to sleep instead.
"That was foolish. Now you cannot
leave."
We, uh. We've noticed. We were looking for a rabbit
hole.
"That will be your only chance, yes, but with eyes
all over the city, I have seen no evidence of one."
Then!
Then what? We're fucked, then?
"...I will not allow you to
die. Not here. Wait here while I decide what to do with the Indisen,
and I will send more Camper to protect you."
IloveyouEAT.
the
camper walks away, saying "I told you: Call me Salmacis."
11:42
AM
Approaching
sound of a lot of feet
BIG HORDE OF CAMPER turned the corner on
the street ahead.
Some have wings of flesh, some have growths on
their neck that vaguely resemble attempts at second heads, some have
extra arms.
They're passing us now.
One has stepped out of
the crowd and onto the sidewalk with us.
It is a dorky
pencil-pusher with thinning hair and office shirt.
donnie
"nice."
meh. I prefer the girls.
salmacis "I
know. But this is what you're getting. Now come, we will stick near
the mass for safety in numbers."
walking!
Are these
the Camper that were on their way before?
"Yes."
So
they got here okay.
donnie "Did they meet any
resistance?"
"The undead to the south, the Indisen to
the north. The Fears within the city know not to pick off my bodies;
the undead are the Archangel's pawns, but they still have autonomy
and are driven by hunger."
Wait, Fears within the
cities?
"They are gathering."
Which ones?
"All
of them."
o_o
"Something big is about to happen
here, something from Xanadu itself, and they wish to see it for
themselves."
So that's why the Legsteps are here?
"The
stereo sirens? Yes. It is also why the Indisen have gathered,
according to interrogations I have made. Answers are predictably
vague, but the Rapture is moving into its next stage."
11:45
AM
Salmacis
is taking us to a location it believes to be safe, though there
really is no telling what's going to happen at noon.
It will
send a squad of 25 Camper to do the rabbit hole search for
us.
11:52
AM
Grassy
hill.
Fancy modern building, with some damage, atop the
hill.
There's big windows on the front, letting us see the
center of San Francisco. Or, I mean. We can see some skyline, and we
can make out the teal pillar.
I can see the Legsteps stepping
back and forth, having established their perimeters. They're moving
in a pattern. Like a ballet that towers over the city.
11:53
AM
The
dorky Camper will wait here with us.
It would also like to see
what's about to happen.
11:55
AM
camper
"Now what are they
doing?"
What? Huh.
Flocks, land-darkening flocks, of
birds coming in from all sides. They're all the same type, and
Are
those the Morphs?
"Yes."
They're entering a
formation, moving as one, spinning with the clouds.
Like the
clouds, they're increasing in speed.
11:56
AM
Sheets
of paper, crumbling flyers, abandoned hats, fly from the streets and
into the air as the Morphs whip up a tremendous wind.
They're
forming a tornado.
And
they're still going faster and faster.
11:57
AM
The
Legsteps are starting to pump less and less music and more and more..
sounds.
Old-school sirens, shrieking glitches, sweeping noises like a sea of
violin strings in a combine harvester.
It's hurting our ears,
but we can't look away.
Donnie and I are transfixed with morbid
fascination.
And Salmacis is engaged.
11:58
AM
The
roads are swirling up, forming corkscrew mountains of tarmac and
pavement.
The buildings are inverting, flipping, floating.
The
smoke clouds overhead are gathering thicker.
The Legsteps
aren’t even playing music at this point. They’re echoing back the
sounds of the Morphs’ destruction.
Speaking of, I think the
Morphs are starting to form specific structures out of their carnage.
o_o;
It looks like they’re forming a giant…
…courtroom
in the sky.
11:59
AM
They’re done, they stopped on a dime. All sounds
abruptly cease, and all life has stopped to watch.
Extra
Legsteps drop out of the clouds from above. These ones don't have
stereos. They have cameras.
Do we have a TV in here?
Quick,
turn it on.
…
All channels are displaying the feed.
I
suspect the whole earth is allowed to watch this.
“Judgement
begins in one minute.”
12:00
PM
"Let the Judgement of San
Francisco commence."
The
“jury box” made of debris and tarmac contains at least
five-hundred Indisen.
Some of them look like they’re trying to
run for their lives, but they quickly flinch and sit still.
In
the defendant’s chair is a terrified man. There is no defense.
In
the prosecution’s chair is the Archangel, looking slightly
surprised to be there.
12:03
PM
The clouds overhead are parting, forming a cir
SCREAM
WHAT
Oh my god the Camper’s eyeballs
sizzle
sockets
Donnie.
Donnie, don't look at what Salmacis looked at. Whatever you do. Look
at anything but that circle in the clouds.
I'm sorry, I would
have warned you if I'd have realized. ._.
camper
"I should have known.
It's the Judge."
12:04
PM
The voice from
the clouds booms, "The Judge has been watching
from the sun all this time. The Judge is here to
give the city its final judgement.
Court is now in session."
12:07
PM
The defendant is floating in mid-air and screaming out of
terror.
"ELON MUSK. YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED
IN REPRESENTATION OF THE POPULATION OF SAN FRANCISCO. YOUR
JUDGEMENT HAS COME."
Elon is saying he doesn't
even live here. He's asking
what he did wrong.
"YOU ARE BLINDED BY YOUR
HUNGER. YOU RIDE OUT THE WAVE, CONTENT TO FEED ON THE MACHINE. YOU
BLEED AMERICA TO DEATH."
Elon is
begging for clarification. Now for forgiveness. Now for
anything.
"ONLY THE PROSECUTION SHALL DECIDE ANY
MERCY YOU RECEIVE."
The Archangel stands up,
composure regained.
"Trap him in a car. Throw the car off a
cliff."
..Elon’s being dragged away by Indisen, kicking
and screaming.
…he’s gone now.
"As for the rest of
this miserable shithole, with its insubordinate uppity young fucks,
throw it all in the Rapture!"
…what.
O_O
"THE PROSECUTION IS ONLY HERE TO SUBMIT THE SENTENCE
FOR THE DEFENDANT. I WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF THIS CITY, AND LIKEWISE
THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE."
"Of
course, Your Honor. I got ahead of myself."
"FURTHERMORE,
I AM ALSO TASKED WITH DECIDING YOUR
FATE, ECCLESIARCHWAY. YOU WERE THE PROSECUTION FOR THE PRIOR CASE.
NOW YOU ARE THE DEFENDANT, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE EARTH'S PANTHEON OF
FEARS."
"Come
again?"
"AND
I AM INCLINED TO GIVE YOU THE SAME SENTENCE THAT I GIVE TO SAN
FRANCISCO."
"You
what?"
"YOU
ARE HARDLY WITHOUT GUILT IN THIS. THE HUMANS HAD TO FOLLOW EXAMPLES,
AND YOU IN PARTICULAR HAD YOUR FINGERS IN THE POT."
"Hang
on a moment, I'm on your side in this!"
"I
DO NOT BELIEVE YOU ARE. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT ANYONE BELIEVES YOU
ARE."
"Well!
What about the Fears as a whole? Surely you're not going to give me a
severe sentence-- I mean, give them
a severe sentence-- just on my
actions alone! You're a Fear too! Remember me? Remember the good
times, Osiris?"
"YOU
RAISE A GOOD POINT. THE FEARS, AS A WHOLE, WERE NOT ALWAYS ON BOARD
WITH YOUR PLANS. SOME OF THEM NEVER WERE. WE WERE THE GODS. YOU WERE
JUST A CHILD THAT WE PICKED UP ALONG THE WAY."
"How
dare
you!"
"THIS
MATTER CLEARLY REQUIRES MORE THOUGHT. I WILL CONSULT WITH THE POWERS
ABOVE."
"Powers
above???"
(Yeah, powers
above???
o__o)
"IN
THE MEANTIME, I MUST DELIVER THE SENTENCE FOR SAN FRANCISCO, AS THAT
IS THE MATTER ALLOCATED FOR JULY 28TH. THE PROSECUTION WAS
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEFENDANT'S SENTENCE, AND THAT HAS BEEN HANDED
DOWN. THE COURT CONCURS WITH IT AS SYNECDOCHE."
loud
bang. a gavel?
"AS
BELOW, SO ABOVE. SAN FRANCISCO, YOU WILL BE GIVEN TO THE RAPTURE. LET
IT BE DONE."
roaaaaaars
and screams
The sky is turning purple.
We
have to get out of here, we have to get out of here now.
12:12
PM
The now-blind Camper is
ushering us to the exit of this house.
"My
Camper have found a Door; I will do my best to lead you there. Don't
look back. Don't look up. Don't ever
turn around. Just follow me."
12:24
PM
been one long run.
salmacis has allowed us to pause for breath.
we're not looking
around, even though we hear no screams anymore.
what I hear is
something far stranger.
a rising pitch. a vortex of rising
pitches.
snapping strings.
warping sirens.
like the
intersection of a thousand mutually exclusive worlds, and our world
of sense is not the one that will survive.
we don't want to see
it.
as much as we’ve been wondering ever since
May, we do not want to see Rapture.
we want to know what
it is, but we don’t want to see it.
12:37
PM
we pass a flood
of little children
they’re holding decapitated arms above
their heads, the individual fingers burning as human candles.
make
a wish?
12:40
PM
The Legsteps have begun womping again.
They’re
pumping Conker’s Bad Fur Day— wait, A Clockwork Orange—
dubstep out there.
I seem to recall this piece wasn’t
originally A Clockwork Orange. I think it was a funeral piece
from centuries ago. Queen Mary the first?
It’s… kinda
fitting.
Vaguely.
Depressing, for sure.
Awfully
surreal. I grew up with this piece, though from Conker, not
the original two sources. And now I watch a western Babylon be thrown
into the fires of Rapture set to this.
San Francisco’s
funeral, the fires of the Archangel, the flames of the Judge.
12:54
PM
"We are nearly there! The Door is in a department
store just up here."
Goddammit, we were searching
big stores and malls! We just didn't get that far!
1:06
PM
Chase Center.
God, my heart is pounding. The ground
is rumbling.
Salmacis says the Door is in a manager's office at
the far end.
1:10
PM
It's in the back of
this shop! Gotta get through Old Navy! Gotta get past
the...
Mannequins. Why’d it have to be
mannequins.
I fully expect them to
yep
They’re
moving.
1:11
PM
They’re reaching for Donnie. Tiger Stripes, let’s
teach them to keep their hands to themselves, shall
we?
HEEEYAH
WHACK
Stupid piece of plastic.
1:13
PM
They’re coming back to
life.
HACK
SLASH
KAPOW
KASLASH
KAHACK
There's
flesh inside of them.
1:15
PM
More are migrating over from other stores.
Surrounding
us.
And more Camper are coming in to help us, but the mannequins
are pushing furniture over to block the doors.
Why the fuck do
they have strategy? Do these
ones not want to die?!
"We want company…"
EAAAH
a
voice speaks to me...
1:20 PM
the
mannequins grabbed donnie
and left me here
I've
got to go after them
I can't fail again
the
musicians are watching me.
not now, you fucking spectators.
do
you want to see?
1:26
PM
they run fast for meat
dressed up like fake
people
through the streets
oh god don’t look up.
it's so bright up there.
1:30
PM
spidercats falling from the sky.
1:45
PM
It’s getting dark awfully early.
my fucking
chest... so much running…
where are all the camper?
1:53
PM
to the park
Twin
Peaks
what significance
is there to this
2:05
PM
This was one of the pieces of land carried wholesale by
the Morphs. It's an entire mass of dirt and grass slapped on top of
this part of the city.
HEY, DONNIE WHERE ARE YOU?
WHERE IS
ANYBODY?
I definitely saw them go here
Didn't I?
2:06
PM
It’s getting darker.
Darker and darker.
Can't
see much more than ten feet in front of me.
Noises. So many
noises. Some of them so low I can feel them in my
body…
Rustling.
Sounded
like someone said "Hmm?" or a comfortable yawn.
just
walking. walking. walking into the dark
MANNEQUIN, THERE
YOU
AREN’T
HELLO YOU're... you're Ace Man. or, no, what
was it. The Beacon.
Wearing a shroud of white this time, a tall
thin ghost with a featureless beak where the face should be.
Silently
standing there. Facing me.
..raising an arm to reach for me
(This page has gross stains on it.)
2:23
PM
..I've been.. throwing up… at his feet…
Every
time I think I'm done, I breathe in and smell vomit and more of it
comes
pouring out. thrusting out. forcing out.
I think I
even passed out after a while
but I woke up to vomit more
I
need to.. I need to go... I
need to stop.. I need to…
god, it's. it's the beacon. he
smells like. death. he smells like centuries of rot. he smells like
2:31
PM
no
I need to get up
all my fault
This
sickness is all in my head.
The Beacon wants me to give up. This
is how he gets you.
2:35
PM
god
it’s so hard to want to get up
2:40
PM
Legsteps
pumping
my head
I can’t
2:43
PM
the spell is broken
because someone jumped the
beacon
someone grabbed its shrouded shoulders and brought it
down to the ground
someone in a combat suit
with red hair
Donnie!!!
"GET HIM NOW!"
OKAY
TIGER
STRIPES
SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!
Smashed his
beak mask. Let’s take this fucker off.
2:44
PM
betty boop eyes
dot for a mouth
no nose
okay
you can have your mask back
3:20
PM
a lot happened. we're
in the rabbit
hole now. let me.. tell it.
After
I gave the Beacon its mask back, to cover that swollen and deformed
cartoon-in-real-life face (shudder!!!), I saw myself in a longgg
rotten hallway, castle walls slimy and damp black brick. cold barred
prison cells spaced unevenly apart on both sides, with unspeakable
smells. they contained mannequins.
I could not see all the way
down the hallway due to a smoky hazy smoke collecting in the
distance. But I had to do something,
so I started.. walking down the hall.
Someone was coughing past
the haze. Where I was going.
Then I was back in the park, in San
Francisco. Donnie
was standing over the empty robe of the Beacon as black smoke
sizzled, from it, upwards into the sky.
An
unrecognized voice
said "From the Mechro to the Flood you go."
Donnie
and I looked at each other. We didn't feel threatened by that voice,
but we knew there was no time to ask questions. So
we got the hell out of there.
As we ran, we heard the Legsteps
emit hideous metal screeches as the music progressed into atonal
electronic noise, and the Morphs swirled hurricanes out of the clouds
that sucked the tallest buildings from the city into the sky brick by
brick.
I don't know how long we ran for. I mean, evidently not
much more than 30 minutes? God, my legs hate the apocalypse, but at
least I'm getting a good workout every day. We found Salmacis's
rabbit hole,
with no resistance this time, no mannequin army.
We ducked in.
3:24
PM
Sitting
on a well-trodden dirt path surrounding a pit that a waterfall drains
into. Smells like nature. No sound but rushing water.
This world
is peace.
Donnie's hugging me while I write. She doesn't
understand the last few hours. I can't say I do either, but it must
have been a Fear free-for-all. Pick the bones of the city in its last
moments before…
God.
It didn't deserve that.
"Nobody
deserved…"
No.
"This is all such senseless
violence. Using people as fodder. Even when we're all against the
apocalypse, even when we're trying,
we can't... help
each other. The things we saw...
the things we were a part
of…
the things we couldn't
stop…"
>__<
This
is the end. This is the end of the world. Like, the end of the very
real world that we call "human." Everything I thought I
knew…
"Judged, rejected, condemned without appeal."
I
think that made the Fears panic. I think we saw the Fears panic.
"Oh
god, we're all going to die."
There's.. going to be more
bloodshed before October, yeah.
"You don't think we're all
dead?"
I don't know. I think San Francisco was always going
to die. I think that was just... done,
that was decided,
even before we got there many days ago. I think... the blue sky did
its job; it fooled everyone into letting the RAF fuck around, because
the RAF were just people,
and we're used
to a world run by people.
'The rich.' Pah.
It was the damn
people.
A world run by
people.
As we've been seeing,
our world had a lot more in it than just people. We invited unrest on
ourselves, not by using money, but by thinking that it was as simple
as
money, that money
was as simple as 'money,' some thing we invented.
But maybe we didn't invent money. Maybe we didn't invent the world.
Maybe we forgot to shut up and listen
to the world.
"...you're on one of your
rambles."
Sorry.
"No, I'm just realizing. You
want someone who can keep up."
Well.
...can't
you?
..she's pondering. finger on her chin. "......if money
wasn't something we invented, then are you suggesting inequality is
innate?"
No. I'm saying inequality is one of many results
of us thinking we invented and control the world. The behavior of the
rich was a problem
in the world, exactly as big of a problem as people said
it was, but it's not something that can be fixed by just killing
all the rich people,
or even by systematically
killing those who make financial transactions.
Because you'd have to be insanely powerful to be able to do
any of that.
"And then you'd be proving that there was
something more fundamental, a power
dichotomy, under it all. And you'd have just advertised that you're
on the top of that."
Exactly. Archie was able to manipulate
masses of people using, what did he call it? Populism? He didn't need
money
to do that. He, in fact, needed.. not
money.
He,
intentionally or not, exposed some of the deeper levers of power that
made
our old world work. Something about speech... something about
community.
"Community is important. We'd die without
it."
We're
not born as groups of people, we're born alone. We don't dream
together; my dreams are in my
brain, as your dreams are in yours. My
saying that shouldn't threaten
the values of
community, because I'm speaking literal universal truths, and what
good
is a community that is threatened by universal truths? Community
needs to account
for
the individuals in us all. Everyone
has an "I." And Everyone
is, at the end of the day, a far larger community than any other
group.
The days where a lack of community would kill us are
irrelevant. The world was already
set up
so that none of us
could
go without community, no matter how hard we tried,
no matter how much we rejected it or it rejected us.
But we talked like it was still a possibility, still a threat. We
barked at the shadows forming on our comfortable walls.
The truth is, community was killing
us just the same as it was saving us. Just the same as money
was killing us, and saving us.
"So,
if there's a line being drawn here, aren't you falling into a trap by
claiming that community
was the problem? Just like those who say money was the problem."
If
I went around trying to dismantle all instances of community just by
virtue of them being communities,
then yes. And there were
people like that in the world. Plenty of them on the internet. It's
what 4chan was known for.
What
I'm doing here is. Well, I'm rambling. But in particular, I'm
outlining systems
here. And I'm trying to process the shit we've been seeing, in my own
way.
"Archie led thousands to their death. And you're
saying he preyed on our need for community, because the way
we relied on community was innately flawed."
Yes.
Yes!
"And. You don't
think that's evidence that we're all going to die."
I think
he pulled the trigger too soon if he had wanted to kill all
of us. I think he's just exposed the flaws for
us, so we know what to watch out for now.
"You think he
helped us?"
I don't think he meant
to. He saw an opportunity for short-term gain and jumped to
it.
"Huh."
3:30
PM
resting
my head in donnie's lap. :3
"Do you think he's the god of
death?"
Well, he's. His name
is Death. I think. And he has power over all the dead.
"Do
you think he's good
at
representing death?"
Oh god. Are we allowed to form
opinions
on that?
"We're in Xanadu. No birds are reading your
journal. Word's not gonna get back to him. So, do you think he's
scary enough
to be the Grim Reaper? Or do you think he's full of it?"
Honestly,
I don't know. I never had the strongest opinions on death as it was?
I never understood how I could. Death is the greatest mystery, Door
to a world we can't come back from. No word has come back from there.
We don't know how it works. So we don't even know
if it's scary.
But, for what it's worth, I think Archie is plenty scary. He's scary
like a mafia boss. Or what I always assumed a mafia boss to be
like.
"What, you never watched The
Godfather?"
Nope.
"I
thought your parents were film buffs."
They
were. I wasn't!
"It's so good. A little slow, but the best
films always are. Shall I tell you about it?"
Uh
"So,
it starts with this wedding party..."
11:00
PM
edvard
grieg
morgenstimmung
playing on a legstep
who's
walking past us on his way
11:01
PM
I guess I fell asleep
in donnie's lap.
God I need a piss.
Is it. Is it okay if I
piss in that pool?
"yeah.. I did it before we slept…"
oh,
you're awake.
"just enjoying the rest, baby..."
11:02
PM
I wonder where that
Legstep's even going.
"It was beautiful. One of those
things playing a different genre?"
Maybe
it's. Based on their mood?
"What if we followed it? Do you
think it'll lead us to people?"
Well, it raises the
question of a Legstep without anyone to hear it, yes.
"Or
maybe it'll lead us to another world."
Ooh!
The wonders of Xanadu! Immaculate nature, a universe of sense!
:D
"You're in a good
mood today."
What can I say? I got to talk it out before we
slept. I needed that.
"Mm, and what we did
after."
>w<
"C'mon. I'm up. You're up. The
music's fading. Let's chase it."
11:05
PM
Legstep
walked into a Door made of feathers. o:
11:06
PM
A
city in the clouds!
The buildings are stitched out of feathers.
Little gingerbread men walk to and fro.
Every one of them looks
at us funny.
11:08
PM
There's a giant muffin in the skies floating this way.
11:15
PM
WE’RE RIDING IN THE GIANT MUFFIN! :D
11:20
PM
The muffin travels back
and forth between two cloud-islands. A sky-ferry!
We rode it
across and are taking a look at a local map.
We’re
outside the “Chocolate Geography Center.” o:
11:25
PM
The planet below these
clouds, as indicated by slides on the walls inside the windows of
this Geography Center, slides pointed at with candy cane pointers by
gingerbread men in suits, addressed to rooms full of more gingerbread
men in suits, is made of chocolate.
Donnie wonders if these
clouds are actually cotton candy.
This place is making me so
hungry.
11:44
PM
After more walking, down shortbread streets, past candy
cigarette lightposts and lollipop street signs, watching the brownie
cars drive by, greeting gingerbread families walking their gummi bear
pets on leashes, we found a market serving free food.
What do
candy men eat?
11:45
PM
Flesh cookies. Liver
bread. Blood drinks, human crackling and fat rinds. Human eyeballs in
bowls made of bone, and they eat the bone too (it's like rock candy
to them).
Everyone is still eyeing us.
We’re
just gonna… stroll on out of here inconspicuously. ^^;;
11:48
PM
WHERE RABBIT HOLE
11:50
PM
gingerbread people with almond harpoons and nougat nets
are behind us.
I think they're trying not to be noticed.
we
did not come this far to be hunted down by candy.
11:54
PM
ONTO THE MUFFIN, QUICK!
FIND THE CONTROLS
GO
GO GO DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE
FLY
TO THAT HUMONGOUS TOWER OF STRAWBERRY
IT
LOOKS IMPORTANT
(Attached:
“Elon Musk in a sweet tan suit, hoarding blues from his old
coot, bears witness to red fate, pairs fitness to dead weight. Tell
me sell me tell me elm, he asks this to the trees: What's the
birds say?
Tweet tweet! Green fires in the sky, children
shouting 'FATHER WHY,' it's a veritable unforgettable the likes of
which you'll never see again, not in your lifetime, not on your
number line, if you ask I'm fine, I'm verifiably veritable,
absolutely administrable, preposterously prophetic, pathetic like the
skyscraper. Nay, I am the
skyscraper.
That one's for you, now I'm for the birds.”)