Undone.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7372/9696933616_66ab81d6d0_o.jpg"></html> \n[[{{}}|below6]]
"Excuse me--I'm trying to find--"\n\n"No--stop it, stop touching that. You're not getting anything."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3763/9696934242_746afc119d_o.jpg"></html>\n\nThe children begin to wail in unison.\n\n"We're leaving--no, you're not--you're not getting anything. No. Tobias. You are making a scene in front of people. You're sister--no. No. We'll get you something at the other--we're going. Now. //Now//."\n\nThe children screech and flail as she hauls them into the undergrowth.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2810/9696934344_c2db2af1d3_o.jpg"></html>\n \nShe was probably [[busy|RoomA13]].\n
Undone City.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5344/9696933686_b002a6bb56_o.jpg"></html> \n[[{{}}|below5]]
"How can I be calm? How can I go home to my wife like this? I've got two teenagers that won't even talk to me, and a mortgage barking up my ass! Everthing's shit and you're content to make it worse--don't you think about anyone but yourself?"\n \nDon't be rude; be the bigger carapace in this situation. "I am going to leave now; please, do not follow me."\n \n"Why would I follow you, you... freakin' bitch--get outta here! Go on, b-before I punch your lights out!" The man slumps into the park bench and begins sobbing into his hands.\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7300/9696933410_90edb00a00_o.jpg"></html>\n\nThis is probably a good time to [[skedaddle|RoomD]].\n\n\n
"Sorry, I'll say--I'm the one who's sorry!" He flaps a hoary paw at you. "We've been having a lot of break-ins in this community lately. Lotta robb'ries happening. You know what that's like? You know what it's like to have someone rob your home?"\n \n"I don't have a home--"\n \n"Pph, pah!" he chorts. "You an immigrant? You got your card on you?"\n \n"[[My what?|cyclops4]]"\n
When you wake up, it's darker than before.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7300/9693705089_1437e6d8fe_o.jpg"></html>\n\nRead the [[SIGNPOST|entrance1]].\n
You feel something twisted shudder at your left shoulder. Your right is a phantom sensation--something knotted underneath.\n\n\nThat's the ground. Yes. You can't fly. That's fine--you just need to get to your kind--you just need to-------\n\n[[{{}}|Lock]]
See what the [[family|family]] can tell you.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7285/9693706393_cb49afdb6e_o.jpg"></html>
"And it's not a race thing, believe you me!" He pats his chest. "You have a good..." The man walks away, humming "Trampled Under Foot" by Led Zeppelin.\n \nMust have been a [[fluke|RoomA12]].
You follow corridors of stone, clambering over strange and alien artifacts, all hard edges and terrifyingly-Euclidean shapes.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2885/9696933688_078b4cfc04_o.jpg"></html> \n[[{{}}|below2]]
You approach the fellow. He eyes you warily.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2863/9696931952_e8572fbdaa_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"[[Hey, how's it going|gentleman2]]?"\n
You enter a warm, stagnant chamber. You see a [[pullcord|face1]].
Inhale: "All the usual. Barely made it out the door without the old 'ball and chain,' giving me the typical interrogation--waited in line a damn twenty minutes at the Dunkin Donuts and the idiot teenager working it couldn't tell her ass from her brains--and then I get held up at the 7/11--you know, the one owned by the Pakis?"\n\n"U-uh..."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9696934244_93779d5ba6_o.jpg"></html> \n\n"You know--they talk about--" he leans in, looking left and right, "You know, after we got Osama? After we beat 'em? I don't think we shoulda hadda pay to--we shouldn't a fixed up those countries after." He pauses, licking his lips nervously. "Same like Germany a-and the Japs after World War 2."\n\n"[[E-excuse me|gentleman4]]?"\n
"Oh, just the usual bullshit!" he sighs, swinging his arms.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2863/9696931952_e8572fbdaa_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"Oh no, [[what's wrong|gentleman3]]?"\n\n
\nMaybe there's a pattern forming. You get an idea to skirt the man, this grim Polyphemus. You need only walk by without attracting attention.\n \nHead at a 45 degree angle. Arms at your sides. Shoulders level. Even breathing. Passive. You are ittle more than a lukewarm breeze. You're doing it. You've got it. You're--"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7283/9696933196_fa26248e9e_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"[[HEY!!!|cyclops2]]"\n
"N-no, I'm not all right. In fact, nothing is all right!" He blows his nose on a handkerchief, which are apparently still a thing people use. "But I can't tell you about it, oh, it's too dreadful."\n \n"Do you need me to call a... [[an ambulance|man2]]?" You aren't sure what that is, but it's a thing people say around here.\n
"No… doctors can't fix me. I'm a mess. My life is in shambles." He lurches towards you, smelling strongly of department store cologne. "I'm so ashamed! All I want to do is... is bugger men!"\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5510/9693705795_fe692a9bde_o.jpg"></html> \n\n"[[Dude!|man3]]"
"What am I supposed to do? They say--I mean, I've just heard--that you can meet men online for anonymous sex in hotels and restrooms, but I could never go through with something like that! What kind of man would that make me? What if I meet a serial killer, or contracted a verennial disease, or both!"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5510/9693705795_fe692a9bde_o.jpg"></html>\n\n\n"I [[don't need to know|man4]] this information!"\n
\nHe steps away, lips pursed, nose scrunched. "I thought--so I just open up to you and you throw it back in my face? What kind of discriminatory... punk are you?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3744/9696933432_b102202edd_o.jpg"></html>\n\nThe man is causing a Scene, and there's no one around. Try to deflate the situation.\n \n"Sir, please, just [[calm down--|man5]]"\n
"Hello. How's it going?"\n\n"Uhm, can I help you?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7320/9693706239_35956f8db0_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"Yes--I just emerged from the [[womb|pensive1]] of Gaia and I'm trying to find my people?"
"Afraid not. They usually go that way," he gestures vacantly towards the east. "Beyond the Undone City. Out there."\n \n"Beyond the what?"\n \n"Must get back to work--these monuments indicate the natives once worshipped frightful death gods in this region! Fascinating! Have a good day!" The scientist scampers up the monolith, enthralled in the pursuit of [[inquiry|science4]].\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/9693704129_b2d8dc7b6f_o.jpg"></html>
You take a deep breath.\n \nYou cover your eyes.\n\nYou uncover them.\n \nNo one. \n\nNo one demanding anything.\n\nNot peace, no--but something temporarily akin to it.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2873/9696931580_91defe3324_o.jpg"></html> \n \nYou should go, go and find your people, out in that vast and varied land.\n \nGood luck.\n\nEND\n\n--------\n\n"It doesn't matter: we know\nthey went with guttering rushlight\ninto the dark; came to terms\nwith the given world; must have had\n—as their hands moved steadily\nby spiderlight—one desire\nwe'd recognise: they would—before going on \nbeyond this border zone, this nowhere \nthat is now here—leave something\nupright and bright behind them in the dark."\n"The Cave Painters" \n
Attempt dialogue with the victim of neoliberal capitalism.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/9693706551_581a5981f0_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"[[Good morning, I'm--|vagrant1]]"
"Very well, then--familial history. Lecherous cousins, unctuous uncles, atrocious aunts, abortions, divorces, separations, vasectomies, mastectomies, cancers, tumors--tell me everything!"\n \n"I don't have to tell you //anything//."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3803/9693704925_4191049933_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"YOU MUST!" The Face bears down upon you. It smells of lighter fluid and asbestos. "YOU MUST TELL ME-- I MUST HAVE THIS INFORMATION!"\n \nDon't be [[intimidated|face5]].\n
"All you want is it feel more powerful than other people."\n \n"I have only asked--not tormented! If a man cannot be free to speak, to ask, to inquire--in his own home--where does the madness end? Where is the last bastion of political uncorrectness? Have you come here to take it from me? I'll not see my country turned into a Nazi Russia! \n\nOh, there's the way out.\n \n"I'm going, now. [[Goodbye.|face6]] \n
The Face bars your passage.\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/9693704891_51d63771d0_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"No! You have not answered all my questions! You have not revealed yourself!"\n \n"What kind of.. of... what kind of person demands that all social interactions happen on their own terms?"\n \nA word floats up in your mind, unbidden, pulled from the cosmic goulash. You [[pluck|face7]] it out. It means nothing to you, and yet, it is perfect.
"An asshole!"\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5458/9693704909_41d5144523_o.jpg"></html> \n \n"You're an asshole. I get it now! You're just an asshole! You're not a person--a person wouldn't demand the world revolve around them, and that everyone else dance to their jig! And I don't have to put up with you; or anyone else who wants to dictate my life!\n\n"No... noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo--"\n \nThe Face collapses and begins to dry-heave. "I've... I've never been defeated," he whispers. \n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/9696932548_e80a264003_o.jpg"></html> \n\n"Why? What made you think this was ok?"\n\n"I'm sorry. You just... you just... had such... a kind face..."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2823/9696932420_fc9a04e21f_o.jpg"></html> \n\n[[Depart|escape]] this place--it was never meant for you.\n\n
This seems like a nice area. It is probably very quiet in the evenings. You hear the calls of boatswains and see whispers of smoke rising from the settlement in the distance.\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2828/9693706097_2ceb386506_o.jpg"></html>\n\nThat pensive-looking woman seems to be your age. Establish rapport as a [[fellow millennial|pensive]].
<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5464/9696932678_0cfcd2613c_o.jpg"></html>\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3674/9693704971_32f63ab272_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"WHO DARES ENTER THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED!?"\n\nDon't panic. Stay still.\n\nThe Face leers down at you.\n\n[[Stand tall|face2]].
"I don't have to talk to you."\n \n"I AM THE FINAL ARBITER. THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA. AND YOU SHALL BE JUDGED FOR YOUR FOLLY IN ENTERING HERE!"\n \nYou don't have time for this nonsense. "I don't have time for this nonsense."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7435/9693703949_6e482d53c8_o.jpg"></html> \nThe Face blinks. "This... this is an outrage!"\n \n"I'll say."\n \n"Well... well you may not pass... until you reveal your secrets unto me! Topic One: Sexual history!"\n \n"This is [[totally absurd!|face3]]"\n
You're about to say goodbye, but the woman has already left, all avenues of conversation with you depleted.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5537/9696934062_38fe6ebdcf_o.jpg"></html>\n \n[[Move on.|RoomC1]]
Magi Story
"Excuse me, sir?\n\n"Hm? What's that?"\n \n"I'm a little lost. I was wondering if you've seen anyone around here that looks like me?"\n \n"No. No one like you." The man's face knots up, and tears start streaming down his face. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3732/9696933538_5a13bfe2d0_o.jpg"></html> \n\nThis man may be injured, or experiencing some sort of cardiovascular episode; you should help him immediately.\n \n"[[Sir, are you all right|man1]]?
Pain. From the crown of your head on down like a wedge. It compels you to move. That way.\n\nYou go up.\n\nYou're not sure what the point of //up// is. For all you know, you could be going down--whatever that means. The dampness never changes.\n\n[[Struggle, struggle, struggle.|Underground6]]
The obstruction is gone. How you came to be in another place you do not know. Perhaps you stayed still as the dampness moved around you.\n\nYou think you remember doing this before--clawing, grasping, feeding; but the memory is indistinct. It seems like it has been a very long time.\n\n[[Struggle.|Underground5]]\n
You're far afield, away from the //hoi palloi//. The air is humid. Vast hills and massive, primordial trees seems to encircle the whole of this wild country.\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3781/9696931866_a65cb9ca54_o.jpg"></html>\n\nPerhaps you could see what that [[scientist|science1]] at the base of the monolith knows.
You'll dig forever, you'll dig until you can't remember ever doing anything else.\n\nFor some reason, it's easier to breathe.\n\nFor some reason, it's easier to dig.\n\nFor some reason---\n\nFor some-----\n\nBlinding light.\n\nYou did not know what light was and now you do, as though the notion had been hidden until now. There is no dampness pressing down. You hear noises all around you. You grope forward, unseeing, until you strike something big and abrasive that rises above you.\n\n[[Climb.|Above1]]
You are alone.\n\nClosed in on all sides. The world is damp and black.\n\n[[Struggle.|Underground2]]\n
Some obstacle. It feels impossibly dense under your touch. You are hungry.\n\nYou rip it open, a sliver of wound, and press your face against the mealy flesh.\n\nIt is cold and tastes of the dampness concentrated. You drink it up until you can drink no more and it feels like your gut may split. You grow tired; you need rest.\n\n[[Sleep.|Underground4]]\n\n
The dampness yields as you move through it, seeing nothing; hearing only the sound of your digging. The dampness closes up behind you.\n\n[[Struggle.|Underground3]]
"Is it?" The Face narrows suspicious eyes on you as it moves and jitters with noises like an accordion. \n\n"Perhaps that is merely the obfuscation of a deviant! A pree-vert! I see clearly--you are a homosexual, perhaps? Or prefer the company of multiple partners? Household pets? Cars? Appliances!? Speak, or be forever cursed!"\n \n"I don't have to put up with this." You survey your surroundings. There has to be way [[out of here|face4]].\n
Your exoskeleton rejects you as a foreign body and you sling backwards still half-blind and your legs are the only thing holding you up and they too are rejected and you hang for a moment wondering what happens in this nothing and then you drop away and discover "gravity."\n\nBut this is all right. You have the means. [[Flap|Gravity]] your wings.
The skin of your eyes peeling away; the splitting wedge inverting your whole body. Your fingertips leave behind fingertips as you go limp with shock and loll backwards over empty space. Your whole world had been dampness defined by occlusion; and now, [[absence|Above3]].\n
\nCompulsively you begin to scale the surface. You know you must go high--high up enough to see, to feel the wind. The pain-wedge now feels as though someone is physically pulling you apart, head first, with the tips of their fingers.\n\nClimb--\n\nHeight is imperative. Everything depends on it. Keep going. The pain is normal. The pain is tangling you up. Your skin is warping, sloughing, sliding.\n\n[[Climb--|Above2]]\n
\n"Girl," she says. "What are you talking about? Why the hell would I go off on a complete stranger? Since when is 'Hey, what's up?' an invitation to confess?"\n\n"That's what I'm [[wondering|entrance4]]."\n
"Can I help you, sir?"\n\n"Can I--" he clears his throat, "just what is it that you're doing around here?"\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2861/9693705491_e830214847_o.jpg"></html>\n\nThis man is obviously unstable--a bruising tumor of paranoia, anger, and entitlement. Apologize and smooth things over.\n\n"[[Sorry?|cyclops3]]"\n
Delving deeper, alone.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7431/9696933660_1486830324_o.jpg"></html>\n\n[[{{}}|below3]]
\nYou step out onto a clear patch of ground. There is no one around. Birds are singing.\n \n"Hello?" you offer.\n \n"How's it going?" you say.\n \n[[Nothing|escape3]].\n
She deflates. "Huh? No. I haven't seen anyone like you around here."\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3721/9693706273_5262b86383_o.jpg"></html>\n\nYou should probably just [[get going|RoomB2]].
"I ree-itterate--are you here to see someone, missy? You got business around here?"\n \nEgress, egress.\n \n"I'm just passing through."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5463/9693705537_8fc15f2560_o.jpg"></html>\n \n"Let's see that green card, then." He trundles forward, his round pate glistening, sports watch straining against the flesh of his wrist. "As a member of the Block Watch, I am empowered by the State Constitution to seek and search any possible delinquents."\n \n[[RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN|cyclops6]]\n\n
"I'm just..."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/9693704249_d79f9fd1c8_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"I'm just really worried about Rh incompatibility right now. What if my baby is Rh positive, and I'm Rh negative, and my baby has a [[heart attack|pensive5]] in the womb?"\n\n\n
"Have you spoken with your doctor about the risks of your pregnancy?"\n\n"Wu-wuh? I'm not pregnant! Why would you assume something like that? Jeez!"\n\n"Th-then why are you worried?"\n\n"It's a serious problem--do you know how hard it is for me to date people? The kind of stress I go through, thinking, 'How am I going to break it to them that we might not be Rh compatible?' Nobody understands! No one knows what it's like to have something you can't change sabotage all your chances at a relationship!"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5331/9696933924_025e3b3566_o.jpg"></html> \n\n"Y-you could adopt?"\n\n"And get a baby that doesn't match? I totally couldn't do that--I mean, it's not a race thing!"\n\nTry to get back on topic. "Have you seen anyone else around that [[looks like me?|pensive6]]"\n
"Oh my gosh, did you have a stroke? Raise your right hand. Does your jaw hurt? Is your speech slurred?"\n\n"I don't understand!"\n\n"DO YOU SMELL ALMONDS!?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7384/9696933618_a85e3c1b37_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"Please stop [[freaking out!|pensive3]]"\n
She backs off, covering her mouth. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, I'm just freaking out right now. Can I vent a little?"\n\n"[[Vent?|pensive4]]"
"What are you talking about?"\n\n"I--I'm not one-hundred percent on that right now…"\n\n"Are you okay? Have you been hurt?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3669/9693706181_4d00efcc9f_o.jpg"></html> \n\nShe gets a bit too close to your personal bubble.\n\n"Do you need me to call an ambulance?"\n\n"[[A what|pensive2]]?"\n
Get answers from that [[worldly|vagrant]] vagrant.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3806/9696932006_0eff831ac6_o.jpg"></html>
No sounds. Like you remember.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7325/9696933740_d0fa7c9081_o.jpg"></html>\n\n[[{{}}|below4]]
The threshold forebodes. \n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7317/9693705255_c48df8a143_o.jpg"></html>\n\nIt's very dark. But you're used to that. [[It's no big thing|below1]].\n
"I'll admit, it's bad out there for a motherfucker. It is. Poverty. Illness. All that bizz. Aight, we all got our problems, but to unload that on some rando? Nah."\n \n"But what do I do? Why does this keep happening to me?"\n \nShe shrugs. "I'm lucky, you know. Momma said I got a DBF. Default Bitch Face. It ain't easy. It's an era of oversharing--where you rip your guts out all over somebody, and then ya blow a gasket when they ask why you got your shit all over them." The apparition checks her cellular. "I gotta go, girl. Remember what I said."\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2862/9696931672_aa59872215_o.jpg"></html>\n \n"Are you magic?"\n \n"Magic? I'm a gatdamn moth." [[She flies away|entrance5]].\n
They lack the faculty of speech or thought or hearing. Your queries fall on literally no ears.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3809/9696933576_35d14e61d5_o.jpg"></html>\n\nTry the [[sullen man|man]] sitting in the small public park.
"This neighborhood used to be a great place to raise a family--and now just look at it! The people we got moving in here--up all night playing music and smoking marijuana cigarettes--and it's not a race thing, nossir!"\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3761/9696933286_f6a87d1795_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"--of course--"\n \n"You used to be able to leave your front door unlocked; could let the kids play outside! And and and a Wal-Mart goin' up--like that'll fix a damn thing!\n \n"[[--I--|cyclops5]]"
UNDONE CITY\nTURN BACK\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3711/9696932812_0b785b3c35_o.jpg"></html>\n \nThere is no way back.\n\nBy the entrance, an [[apparition|entrance2]].\n\n<html><IMG SRC="\nhttp://farm4.staticflickr.com/3790/9696932830_d22b8a7bba_o.jpg"></html>
\n\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5475/9696931526_fdf02c0a22_o.jpg"></html> \nTamamareen, "cicada" April 11, 2011 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution\n\n\nA cicada shell;\nIt sang itself\nutterly away\n-Matsuo Bashuo\n\n\n"They've left the world of weather and panic\nbehind them and gone on in, drawing the dark \nin their wake, pushing as one pulse\nto the core of stone. The pigments mixed in big shells \nare crushed ore, petals and pollens, berries\nand the binding juices oozed\nout of chosen barks."\n"The Cave Painters" Eamon Grennan, 1991\n\n\n\n[[Begin|Underground1]]\n\n\n
You feel around.\n\nThere is dampness below you and a cool breeze. The soft light above you is weak; it was always weak, you just didn't know.\n\nStruggle.\n\nYou stand up. You had something to do. Somewhere to go. You remember it being urgent, somehow. Kin. Right. Find the others like you. \n\nYour eyes start working. Looks like a world. Yep. It's a world, all right. And you're [[in it.|RoomA1]]
\n"Get away from me!" You dive out of reach. The man produces an airhorn out of nowhere. "Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!" he cries. The horn honks like a wounded pelican. "Hands outta those pockets! Get on the ground, get on the ground now!"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5527/9693705669_978c71022d_o.jpg"></html>\n\nYou weave around the patriot-vigilante and dive into the underbrush, stumbling down a morass of vines and dirtwork.\n \nYou skim something hard and stony and tumble down a second incline, this one much longer, and [[bump your head and go black|entrance]].\n
You step through the archway. There is a long, dusty stairwell that echoes underfoot.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5337/9696932462_6280edd601_o.jpg"></html>\n \nYour knees sting after a while. It's a long climb. But the air is getting [[cleaner|escape2]].
"Hey, how's it going."\n \n"Fine."\n \n"That's it?"\n \n"Hm?" she touches her cheek. "That's what?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5501/9696932852_b036324464_o.jpg"></html>\n \n"That's all? No life story? No [[explosion|entrance3]]? No venting, no revealing of psychosexual terrors?"\n
"Oh, thank… thank someone or other. Can you tell me where to find them?"\n \n"I've not idea!" he beams. "Not my jurisdiction--I only know on account of my mentor in my PhD program did a rather long sabbatical among the magi-people. Came back with an outrageously outlandish vinegaroon for a wife, much to the chagrin of the entire department!"\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5322/9696933038_41133a929c_o.jpg"></html> \n\n"So... you don't know [[anything?|science3]]"\n
You should try finding someone that knows what's going on. Get your bearings.\n \n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/9693704695_33c68c78a3_o.png"></html>\n\nEveryone's probably pretty friendly around here.\n\nSeek aid from the [[gentleman|gentleman1]] in the tan jacket.
"Excuse me, sir, hello?"\n \n"What's that? I'm very busy--" the man practically boggles at you. "Magicicada septendecim? My goodness, you're rather late! Or is it too early?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/9693705317_31797307b4_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"Early for what? Late for who?"\n \n"The emergence, of course! The 17-year brooding. You ought to go and find your people."\n \nA breakthrough! Finally, [[someone with answers|science2]].\n
Still, that's a lead. You just need to progress past... the next [[obstacle|cyclops1]].\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7432/9693705497_86284a9b86_o.jpg"></html>
You don't see any signs of your people. You think getting higher up might help, but your wings don't work. They hurt when you try to move them, down inside. You wonder if they're supposed to be like that.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5480/9693705293_92b38486d4_o.jpg"></html>\n \nThis neighborhood seems a little rough, but if you keep cool you should be okay.\n \nTry the [[monks|mushroom]].
"Got a buck, missy?" She growls.\n\n"I--what's a buck?"\n\n"Aw, to hell with it." She starts to burrow.\n\n"Wait, I need directions?"\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/9693706647_ac14e7dacb_o.jpg"></html>\n\n"Well, why didn't you say so? When I worked at the Rest Stop Kiosk they used to call me the "[[Human GPS|vagrant2]]!"\n
bryce mainville
"I just emerged from metamorphosis and I'm trying to find my brood to continue the Wheel."\n\n"Meta-huh? The heck does all that mean?"\n\n"I'm not really sure. Have you seen anybody like me?"\n\n"Not in a while now. Why doncha try over thataway. And don't get to friendly with nobody, lotta weirdos around on account of the weather." She digs into the earth.\n\n<html><IMG SRC="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/9693706659_9bba95624e_o.jpg"></html>\n\nTry over [[thataway|RoomB1]].\n \n