  
ClubFloyd Transcript:
The idea behind ClubFloyd
is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of
people meet online to cooperatively play a game of
interactive fiction. |
|
ClubFloyd Transcript:
The idea behind ClubFloyd
is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of
people meet online to cooperatively play a game of
interactive fiction. |
|
ToyShop & Floyditorium
|
#ClubFloyd Discussion
|
|
| Jacqueline hollers, "ClubFloyd! Now! We're playing Eurydice by Anonymous, so all you 99%ers should join us!" | DavidW says, "oh, I've played this one." | |
| djfletch arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | DavidW says, "I'm curious to see how people find it." | |
| Doug asks, "So we're playing a Euro dice game?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Maga mentioned to the author we'd be playing. I need to get back into the flow. I thought I would be caught up entirely, but hit a glitch with a transcript last night that stopped the process. Vimes troubleshot it, though, and so we should be entirely caught up, to include ClubFloyd, today. Before we leave today, let's decide what we're playing this week so I can actually use the RSS feed and let the author know before the last minute and stuff." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Doug), "That's what I hear." | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Zach, have you played it?" | ||
| Zach says, "Nope." | ||
| Doug asks, "will the author be joining us?" | ||
| Zach says, "I saved all the winners for last." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Mmkay, cool. Three is enough." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Zach), "Not at all sure." | ||
| Binder clears his throat. | ||
| Doug asks, "Or maybe the author is already here??!?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "But the cool new thing about ClubFloyd is that -- oh, hi, Binder." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Doug), "OMG I KNOW" | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Binder, have YOU played it?" | ||
| Binder says, "I have not." | ||
| Jacqueline exclaims, "Four is merrier than three!" | ||
| Doug says, "don't count me, I may be in & out as I try to switch to a better desktop environment." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Anyway, what I was saying is that I can now process a transcript easily in about three to five minutes, so the author, even if they're not here, WILL actually see the transcript. I'm giddy." | ||
| Binder says, "That is an awesome time savings." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Anyway, shall we begin? Yes, Lisa." | ||
| maga says, "the author has not responded, fwiw" | ||
| maga says, "but they could be among us and we'd never even know it *wigglyfingers*" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load sleepmask eurydice" | ||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | For help with Eurydice, or IF in general, type HELP at any time. Floyd | Press any key to continue. | Doug says, "I bet the author is... JACQ" | |
| Jacqueline asks (of maga), "It's YOU, isn't it?" | ||
| Binder says, "This is clubfloyd, not werewolf." | ||
| Jacqueline exclaims, "Hahaha - let's all point at each other. David and Binder and Zach, make your accusations!" | ||
| Doug says, "haha" | ||
| Jacqueline laughs at Binder. | ||
| maga says (to Jacq), "there is one detail that totally exonerates me" | ||
| Zach says (to DavidW), "You, in the billards room, with the parser!" | ||
| maga says, "you will know it when you find it" | ||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 1 Floyd ] Floyd ] Floyd ] Floyd ] Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drown'd, Floyd ] Let darkness keep her raven gloss: Floyd ] Ah, sweeter to be drunk with loss, Floyd ] To dance with death, to beat the ground, Floyd ] Floyd ] Than that the victor Hours should scorn Floyd ] The long result of love, and boast, Floyd ] 'Behold the man that loved and lost, Floyd ] But all he was is overworn.' Floyd ] Floyd ] --Tennyson, 'In Memoriam' Floyd ] Floyd ] Floyd | Floyd | Eurydice Floyd | An Interactive Fiction Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 120921 / Inform 7 build 6G60 (I6/v6.32 lib Floyd | 6/12N) Floyd | Floyd | Empty room Floyd | This room is full of silence. Freshly disturbed dust hangs upon the Floyd | air. There are patterns of pressure upon the carpet, suggesting there Floyd | are spaces where once there weren't. The walls are bare, but for the Floyd | occasional pictureless hook. There is a wardrobe here, a chest of Floyd | drawers and a skeleton of shelves against the far wall. Floyd | Floyd | The only way out is to the west onto the upstairs landing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says (to maga), "methinks etc protest etc" | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 2 Floyd | Floyd | > X ME Floyd | Floyd | You've been better. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x wardrobe" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 3 Floyd | Floyd | > X WARDROBE Floyd | Floyd | The wardrobe casts a knobbly shadow against the bare wall behind it. Floyd | The door hangs very slightly open, showing a crack of darkness. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Quit talkin' all fancy like that or I'll switch my vote to you." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "open wardrobe" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 4 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN WARDROBE Floyd | Floyd | You step into the wardrobe and sit down in the space, pressing your Floyd | senses against the emptiness as if longing alone is enough to create Floyd | something from nothing. With your eyes closed you can almost feel the Floyd | soft pressure of Celine's clothes against your face and breathe in the Floyd | scent of her rising from the disturbed fabric. But you cannot delude Floyd | yourself for nearly as long as you would like to. This wardrobe is Floyd | empty. There is nothing here, and you get out again before you start Floyd | to feel foolish. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "There was a previous IF game with a Eurydice in it: The Reliques of Tolti-Aph. But mostly in name only." | |
| Doug says, "I just remembered that I had a dream in which it was revealed that Adam Cadre wrote this game. Which seems pretty unlikely." | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x chest" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 5 Floyd | Floyd | > X CHEST Floyd | Floyd | A pale pine set of drawers. Floyd | Floyd | > | maga says (to DW), "the evidence that exonerates me also exonerates Graham Nelson" | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "open chest" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 6 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN CHEST Floyd | Floyd | There is no point opening them because you know they contain nothing, Floyd | and you don't want to have to remember everything that's gone. All Floyd | her scarves, and rings, and pretty things. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Wait, this is really written in Quest? Huh." | |
| Doug asks, "has an anonymous game ever won IFcomp?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Hm, not sure, but this one came damn close." | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 7 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Empty room Floyd | This room is full of silence. Freshly disturbed dust hangs upon the Floyd | air. There are patterns of pressure upon the carpet, suggesting there Floyd | are spaces where once there weren't. The walls are bare, but for the Floyd | occasional pictureless hook. There is a wardrobe here, a chest of Floyd | drawers and a skeleton of shelves against the far wall. Floyd | Floyd | The only way out is to the west onto the upstairs landing. Floyd | Floyd | > | maga says, "pseudonymous, sure" | |
| DavidW says, "Not one that stayed Anonymous, iirc." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 8 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying nothing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x shelves" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 9 Floyd | Floyd | > X SHELVES Floyd | Floyd | These shelves are a framework for nothing but air. The books they Floyd | held not so very long ago evade you now. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x carpet" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 10 Floyd | Floyd | > X CARPET Floyd | Floyd | The carpet is the colour of sand, as though the room has become a Floyd | tideline, washed clean of its cockleshell memories and mermaid-hair Floyd | dreams. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "May I >ABOUT?" | |
| ASchultz says, ".. notices the transcripts can be processed quicker now and cheers." | ||
| Binder says, "okbyme" | ||
| Zach says, "sure" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "about" | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | > Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | Binder says, "I like the 'room has become a tideline' line." | |
| Jacqueline presses the yellow enter button. | ||
Floyd ] Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | I don't know how to say this without sounding like an arse, but Floyd | Eurydice is a text adventure about grief. Although there are a few Floyd | puzzly elements, it's mainly a mood piece, focused more on exploration Floyd | and atmosphere than problem-solving. It's meant to have a sort of Floyd | dreamlike quality to it so don't worry if you don't immediately know Floyd | what you're supposed to be doing. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | Jacqueline says, "Anonymous said, 'arse.' I'm back to thinking it's you, maga." | |
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | > Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "N" | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | > Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "N" | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | > Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Jacqueline presses the yellow enter button. | ||
Floyd ] Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | Eurydice isn't exactly over-endowed with special commands because I Floyd | lack the programming werewithall for anything that cool. I hope most Floyd | of the things you might want to do are accomodated in the body of the Floyd | game anyway and that context-specific actions are adequately sign Floyd | posted. But you might want to consider the following: PLAY (a musical Floyd | instrument should you acquire one), TALK TO (for interacting with Floyd | people) and TURN AROUND (under a very specific set of circumstances). Floyd | I would also recommend that you try repeating actions if it seems Floyd | appropriate, since you will likely find they have different outcomes - Floyd | especially when it comes to talking to people. With reference to Floyd | TURNING AROUND, if you happen to be in a situation in which it might Floyd | not be ideal to TURN AROUND, doubling back on yourself will also Floyd | count. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | Binder says, "heh heh over-endowed" | |
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | > Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "N" | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | > Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x dust" | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | > Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Jacqueline presses the yellow enter button. | ||
Floyd ] Thank yous Floyd | More thanks than I can say to my friends and loved ones - you may be Floyd | few in number but you are great in heart. Floyd | Floyd | And many many many thanks to my long-suffering, unsuspecting beta Floyd | testers: Issy, Guy, Julian, Jessica, Dan, Shim and Arthur, with Floyd | special thanks to Issy for the lovely artwork. Floyd | Floyd | Also, um, to Emily Short (who has no idea who I am - and for that Floyd | matter I don't know who she is) but without her I wouldn't know a damn Floyd | thing about Inform 7. In all honesty, I still don't know that much. Floyd | The actual coding underpinning this thing is a terrible mess, but Floyd | that's not Emily Short's fault. Pro tip: if you want to learn how to Floyd | use Inform 7 don't start with an absurdly convoluted story about Floyd | bereavement. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | Zach says, "whoops" | |
| Jacqueline says (to Z), "One sec, I think this is the last one before I get out of the menus." | ||
| DavidW asks, "Was the last game we played that implemented TURN AROUND "Fingertips - Turn Around'?" | ||
| Binder says, "Well, that's cemented the earworm, thanks." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Binder), "heehee" | ||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||
Floyd ] Instructions Floyd ] Floyd ] N = Next Q = Quit Menu Floyd ] P = Previous ENTER = Select Floyd | Introduction to Eurydice Floyd | Instructions for Playing IF in General Floyd | Special Commands in Eurydice Floyd | > Thank yous Floyd | Contact the author Floyd | I'm stuck! | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "Q" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 10 Floyd | Empty room Floyd | This room is full of silence. Freshly disturbed dust hangs upon the Floyd | air. There are patterns of pressure upon the carpet, suggesting there Floyd | are spaces where once there weren't. The walls are bare, but for the Floyd | occasional pictureless hook. There is a wardrobe here, a chest of Floyd | drawers and a skeleton of shelves against the far wall. Floyd | Floyd | The only way out is to the west onto the upstairs landing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to Z), "Be my guest." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x dust" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 11 Floyd | Floyd | > X DUST Floyd | Floyd | A haphazard swirl of dustmotes suspended in a haze of evening light. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x patterns" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 12 Floyd | Floyd | > X PATTERNS Floyd | Floyd | The carpet is the colour of sand, as though the room has become a Floyd | tideline, washed clean of its cockleshell memories and mermaid-hair Floyd | dreams. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "This is a sad room. We should go throw ourselves down the stairs." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 13 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "wait, why did you think this was Quest, Jacq?" | |
| DavidW says, "yeah, it's obviously not in Quest." | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "version" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 13 Floyd | Floyd | > VERSION Floyd | Floyd | Eurydice Floyd | An Interactive Fiction Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 120921 / Inform 7 build 6G60 (I6/v6.32 lib Floyd | 6/12N) Floyd | Identification number: //FFA6C31A-1543-463E-B66A-0B37683BB1BB// Floyd | Standard interpreter 1.0 (6b) / Library serial number 080126 Floyd | Standard Rules version 2/090402 by Graham Nelson Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Because maga said there was a really obvious thing that got both him and Graham Nelson off the hook." | |
| Jacqueline says, "I was just theorizing." | ||
| Jacqueline smiles. | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 14 Floyd | Floyd | > LISTEN Floyd | Floyd | The voices are too muffled by distance for you to make out anything Floyd | beyond the fact that people are speaking. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "ohhh." | |
| Jacqueline says, "...theorizing facetiously." | ||
| Doug says, "sorry, missed that joke entirely." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "It was a stealthjoke, no worries." | ||
| Doug says, "I know what the thing maga was talking about was because I read his review" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "No spoilers, svp." | ||
| Binder says, "f x landing" | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x landing" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 14 Floyd | Floyd | > X LANDING Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 15 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "Which room?" | |
| DavidW says, "Perhaps the author's comment that Emily Short doesn't know him or her. Emily certainly knows both maga and Graham." | ||
| Binder asks, "ransack our room?" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "True" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Well, I'm kind of keen on the idea of being miserable in Celine's room, but there are also people to talk to, so I'm torn." | ||
| maga says, "that was not what I was thinking of, but okay fine" | ||
| djfletch says, "also, Nelson probably knows how to avoid lower-case room names in Inform." | ||
| Binder says, "I am also okay with moping in Celine's room." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 16 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Empty room Floyd | This room is full of silence. Freshly disturbed dust hangs upon the Floyd | air. There are patterns of pressure upon the carpet, suggesting there Floyd | are spaces where once there weren't. The walls are bare, but for the Floyd | occasional pictureless hook. There is a wardrobe here, a chest of Floyd | drawers and a skeleton of shelves against the far wall. Floyd | Floyd | The only way out is to the west onto the upstairs landing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach sneezes | |
| Jacqueline says (to djf), "Aw. Be nice. If this is someone's first attempt, it's particularly impressive." | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "mope" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 16 Floyd | Floyd | > MOPE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "mourn" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 16 Floyd | Floyd | > MOURN Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "grieve" | ||
Floyd ] Empty room 16 Floyd | Floyd | > GRIEVE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 17 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "Oh, so we started in Celine's room?" | |
| DavidW says, "yes" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] your room 18 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | your room Floyd | Your room is a complete mess. The bed is unmade. The bookshelves Floyd | that once lined the walls are a ruin of fallen books and splintered Floyd | wood. There are piles of things that shouldn't be piled everywhere. Floyd | All the things you thought you cared about feel like mockery. Floyd | Floyd | A mysterious lyre, slightly battered from possibly having fallen from Floyd | your bookshelves, lies among the wreckage. Floyd | Floyd | Behind you, to the east, is the upstairs landing Floyd | Floyd | > | djfletch says (to Jacqueline), "Yes, agreed." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x lyre" | ||
Floyd ] your room 19 Floyd | Floyd | > X LYRE Floyd | Floyd | It looks out of place. It is not an especially beautiful object; if Floyd | anything it seems worn. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] your room 20 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | You really have no idea how to even begin to play a lyre. You pluck Floyd | at the strings a bit and they make a sad little sound sound like Floyd | elastic bands vibrating over an empty ice-cream tub. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "practice lyre" | ||
Floyd ] your room 20 Floyd | Floyd | > PRACTICE LYRE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x bed" | ||
Floyd ] your room 21 Floyd | Floyd | > X BED Floyd | Floyd | You briefly consider making it, or crawling into it but you cannot Floyd | quite bring yourself to do either. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "story of my life" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x bookshelf" | ||
Floyd ] your room 21 Floyd | Floyd | > X BOOKSHELF Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x mockery" | ||
Floyd ] your room 21 Floyd | Floyd | > X MOCKERY Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] your room 22 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | your room Floyd | Your room is a complete mess. The bed is unmade. The bookshelves Floyd | that once lined the walls are a ruin of fallen books and splintered Floyd | wood. There are piles of things that shouldn't be piled everywhere. Floyd | All the things you thought you cared about feel like mockery. Floyd | Floyd | A mysterious lyre, slightly battered from possibly having fallen from Floyd | your bookshelves, lies among the wreckage. Floyd | Floyd | Behind you, to the east, is the upstairs landing Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Okay, weird. Until he mentioned the ice cream tub, I was all Victorian in my head." | |
| Binder says, "Oh. I had thought it was modern day because we're all emo." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "heh" | ||
| Jacqueline says, ">X MY BLACK LIPSTICK" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "look under bed" | ||
Floyd ] your room 23 Floyd | Floyd | > LOOK UNDER BED Floyd | Floyd | You find nothing of interest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x piles" | ||
Floyd ] your room 24 Floyd | Floyd | > X PILES Floyd | Floyd | It's just stuff, the accumulated detritus of a life lived heedlessly. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Jacqueline), ">SING ABOUT MIASMA" | |
| Jacqueline says, "Though the name 'Dave' threw me off as well." | ||
| Jacqueline exclaims (at DW), "O! Rainy day!" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "dance" | ||
Floyd ] your room 24 Floyd | Floyd | > DANCE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Speaking of Dave, shall we go invade his personal space?" | |
| Binder says, "No dancing, we're in mourning." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] your room 25 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Sure." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 26 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 27 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | dave's room Floyd | Dave's room is little more than a storage space. The bed is just a Floyd | bare mattress and there are boxes of books - mostly yours - piled Floyd | everywhere. Damp socks, and half-finished laundry, strew the floor. Floyd | Floyd | The upstairs landing lies to the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder exclaims, "Hey that's our stuff!" | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x books" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 28 Floyd | Floyd | > X BOOKS Floyd | Floyd | You own far more books than can be stuffed onto your shelves - here Floyd | they live in boxes and gather dust. Every now and then you open them Floyd | up and rifle through them and it's like meeting old friends you forgot Floyd | you cared for. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "take books" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 29 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE BOOKS Floyd | Floyd | You don't really feel in the mood for digging through your books. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x bed" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 30 Floyd | Floyd | > X BED Floyd | Floyd | An uncovered bed really gives a place a transient look. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, ">write name in books" | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x socks" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 31 Floyd | Floyd | > X SOCKS Floyd | Floyd | Dave's socks are plentiful and, truthfully, not entirely pleasant. Floyd | They are bought in bulk by his parents and are therefore always Floyd | identical, bobbly and embroidered - incongruously - with Ws. You are Floyd | not sure if they are damp because they have recently come out of the Floyd | washing machine or because they desperately need to go in it. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Oh, Dave must be short for Wavid." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "take socks" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 32 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE SOCKS Floyd | Floyd | Even in the extremity of grief, you cannot imagine willingly touching Floyd | Dave's socks. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "finish laundry" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 32 Floyd | Floyd | > FINISH LAUNDRY Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 33 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | dave's room Floyd | Dave's room is little more than a storage space. The bed is just a Floyd | bare mattress and there are boxes of books - mostly yours - piled Floyd | everywhere. Damp socks, and half-finished laundry, strew the floor. Floyd | Floyd | The upstairs landing lies to the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "I guess we're not hungry." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x laundry" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 34 Floyd | Floyd | > X LAUNDRY Floyd | Floyd | Dave's socks are plentiful and, truthfully, not entirely pleasant. Floyd | They are bought in bulk by his parents and are therefore always Floyd | identical, bobbly and embroidered - incongruously - with Ws. You are Floyd | not sure if they are damp because they have recently come out of the Floyd | washing machine or because they desperately need to go in it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "smell it" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 35 Floyd | Floyd | > SMELL IT Floyd | Floyd | You smell nothing unexpected. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x bed" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 36 Floyd | Floyd | > X BED Floyd | Floyd | An uncovered bed really gives a place a transient look. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "That response horrified me." | |
| Binder says, "From smelling the socks." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "make bed" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 37 Floyd | Floyd | > MAKE BED Floyd | Floyd | That would be kind of odd... Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "remember dave" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 37 Floyd | Floyd | > REMEMBER DAVE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "think about dave" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 37 Floyd | Floyd | > THINK ABOUT DAVE Floyd | Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to think. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "think" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 38 Floyd | Floyd | > THINK Floyd | Floyd | What a good idea. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "who is dave?" | ||
Floyd ] dave's room 38
Floyd |
Floyd | > WHO IS DAVE?
Floyd |
Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| Doug says, "Dave's not here, man." | |
| Jacqueline asks, "Can we speak to the peeps?" | ||
| Zach says, "heh" | ||
| Doug asks, "maybe visit the upstairs bedroom first?" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 39 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Upstairs is my vote." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "up" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 40 Floyd | Floyd | > UP Floyd | Floyd | You pad about halfway up the staircase and then a vague sense of guilt Floyd | assails you ... you probably shouldn't be snooping around in John's Floyd | room. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "okay then." | |
| Zach says, "He must not have any of our books" | ||
| Binder says, "Well that just makes me want to do it MORE." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "up" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 41 Floyd | Floyd | > UP Floyd | Floyd | There is so much guilt washing about at the moment that violation of Floyd | privacy hardly seems like bothering over and you make your way up the Floyd | stairs to John's room. Floyd | Floyd | John's Room Floyd | John's room occupies the attic spaces. It is a room of peculiar Floyd | geometries. The whole place is a mess at present, and the blinds of Floyd | the skylights are down so that triangular shadows cast themselves Floyd | across the walls. There are no obvious signs of Celine, but why would Floyd | there be? There is the jester's mask she bought John for Christmas Floyd | hanging on the wall. Floyd | Floyd | Lying on the floor, in a corner, is a plastic bag Floyd | Floyd | The stairs down will take you back to the upstairs landing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "fight guilt" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 41 Floyd | Floyd | > FIGHT GUILT Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "huh. I never saw this room." | |
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bag" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 42 Floyd | Floyd | > X BAG Floyd | Floyd | It is a weirdly bulbous shape. The handles are knotted together so it Floyd | looks as if the bag has bunny ears. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "guilt shmilt, we must explore!" | |
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x mask" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 43 Floyd | Floyd | > X MASK Floyd | Floyd | From last Christmas, you seem to remember, another lifetime. Like all Floyd | Celine's gifts, it came exquisitely wrapped - black and gold, perhaps, Floyd | to match the mask itself. You wonder if Celine's box of wrapping Floyd | paper, ribbons and decorations is still beneath the eaves, or if her Floyd | parents took that too. "Why go to all that trouble for something Floyd | that's just going to be ripped off?" you'd ask. But Celine loved the Floyd | ephemeral. And, so, apparently did you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open bag" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 44 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN BAG Floyd | Floyd | You undo the tight knots with difficulty and look inside, already Floyd | knowing what you'll find. The contents gleam silver like pirate Floyd | treasure - the empty packets of Celine's medication you found on the Floyd | floor of her bedroom the night she disappeared. It is not the first Floyd | time you have asked yourself if you should have insisted on taking it Floyd | with you to the hospital, but it is not a question you dare ask Floyd | yourself too often. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x eaves" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 44 Floyd | Floyd | > X EAVES Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x packets" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 45 Floyd | Floyd | > X PACKETS Floyd | Floyd | Diazepam ... fluoxetine ... aripiprazole ... the names fly past you, Floyd | tangling your tongue up in a merciless succession of rarely used Floyd | letters. Most of the packets are empty but not all. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get them" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 45 Floyd | Floyd | > GET THEM Floyd | Floyd | I'm not sure what "them" refers to. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get packets" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 46 Floyd | Floyd | > GET PACKETS Floyd | Floyd | You rifle through the packets and eventually find one that isn't Floyd | gutted. You pop a couple of pills from their foil cocoon ... although Floyd | they represent a peculiar form of memorabilia to say the least. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "oops, didn't think that would pop pills." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x pills" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 47 Floyd | Floyd | > X PILLS Floyd | Floyd | (the pills) Floyd | Smallish, off-white, round, innocuous, except not. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "oh wait, just popped them from their foil, not *popped* them" | |
| Binder says, "Now that we have drugs, I am okay with talking to other people." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf7" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: Floyd ] John's Room 47 Floyd | Ok. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Errrr." | |
| DavidW says, "hm, how interesting. This should give us additional options later in the game, now that we have these." | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 48 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | John's Room Floyd | John's room occupies the attic spaces. It is a room of peculiar Floyd | geometries. The whole place is a mess at present, and the blinds of Floyd | the skylights are down so that triangular shadows cast themselves Floyd | across the walls. There are no obvious signs of Celine, but why would Floyd | there be? There is the jester's mask she bought John for Christmas Floyd | hanging on the wall. Floyd | Floyd | Lying on the floor, in a corner, is a plastic bag Floyd | Floyd | The stairs down will take you back to the upstairs landing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "open blinds" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 49 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN BLINDS Floyd | Floyd | You stand beneath the skylight and draw up the blinds. From this Floyd | peculiar angle you can see nothing but sloping roofs and an expanse of Floyd | endless sky. Light as bright as orange juice pours down from the Floyd | setting sun but it is not warm. After a moment or two, you let the Floyd | blinds fall back into place. You don't want John to know you were Floyd | messing about in his room. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x mask" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 50 Floyd | Floyd | > X MASK Floyd | Floyd | A black and gold jester's mask, with empty eyes and a wry, mocking Floyd | mouth. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "close bag" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 51 Floyd | Floyd | > CLOSE BAG Floyd | Floyd | You attempt to re-tie the knots - God knows why - but the plastic is Floyd | too stretched. Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "get mask" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 52 Floyd | Floyd | > GET MASK Floyd | Floyd | You have no intention of stealing it but you unhook it carefully from Floyd | the wall and, after a moment of hesitation, place it against your Floyd | face. The interior of the mask is cool and smooth, like dead skin. Floyd | You look out at the world from a different face, your peripheral Floyd | vision imprisoned by the edges of the eyeholes. You trace your Floyd | fingers over the painted smile. It strikes you as no less real than Floyd | any other expression you have worn lately and it is with reluctance Floyd | that you return the mask to its place on the wall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "take mask" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 53 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE MASK Floyd | Floyd | Better not keep indulging yourself with painted fancies. Besides, it Floyd | belongs to John and you shouldn't really be fiddling with it. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "pouring orange juice light, nice." | |
| Binder says, "Yeah, there's some excellent poetic phrasing in this." | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] John's Room 54 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "Now down to the peoples?" | |
| DavidW says, "sure" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "d" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 55 Floyd | Floyd | > D Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "d" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 56 Floyd | Floyd | > D Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x painting" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 57 Floyd | Floyd | > X PAINTING Floyd | Floyd | You painted this - in the loosest sense of the word - when you were Floyd | about eighteen and nurturing an over-inflated sense of your own Floyd | creativity. It is a black canvas with a heavily textured shape of Floyd | reddish swirls in the middle and a speckling of white stars in one Floyd | corner. Sometimes it looks like a wound, sometimes like a freshly Floyd | forming galaxy. Your last housemate thought it was something obsence. Floyd | So much for your aristic soul. Ho hum. So much for your artistic Floyd | soul. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x panels" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 57 Floyd | Floyd | > X PANELS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 57 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOOR Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 58 Floyd | Floyd | > LISTEN Floyd | Floyd | There are too many voices for you to be able to make out much of any Floyd | conversation. Besides, eavesdropping is the most foolish of vices. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "oh, there are more foolish vices than that." | |
| Binder says, "srsly" | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 59 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 59 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOOR Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder asks, "peopleward?" | |
| Zach says, "sure" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Sure" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x painting" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 60 Floyd | Floyd | > X PAINTING Floyd | Floyd | The beginning and end of your artistic career, hanging there on the Floyd | wall for all to wince at. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "wince" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 60 Floyd | Floyd | > WINCE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] living room 61 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | There are lots of people gathered in the living room. Stepping inside Floyd | unfortunately catches the attention of the one you like least. Laurie Floyd | clatters towards you and, before you can do anything to save yourself, Floyd | captures you in a hug you feel vaguely socially obligated to endure. Floyd | You hold yourself as rigid as a blade until she goes away again. The Floyd | rush of hatred you feel towards her is positively intoxicating. Floyd | Floyd | There are so many people here. Have they come to ... what? Stare at Floyd | the bereft? Why? Is this how other people grieve? En masse? Floyd | Floyd | Your housemate John is sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of Floyd | the coffee table, frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, Floyd | sits opposite and appears much more laid-back about the whole Floyd | business. Rick is slumped on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Floyd | Elsie is sitting next to him, apparently watching the game. Jess is Floyd | huddled in a cloak on the other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking Floyd | almost as uncomfortable as you probably do. As for Laurie, she's Floyd | leaning against the fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite Floyd | suffering like she's living her own little Victorian melodrama. Floyd | Floyd | And finally, in the far corner of the room by the open door to the Floyd | kitchen, like a person in its own right, is the last piece of Floyd | household furniture you bought in consultation with Celine: a wrought Floyd | iron coat stand. So nouveau-gothic darling. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen or south into the hall Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Nice secondary descriptions in this game." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x laurie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 62 Floyd | Floyd | > X LAURIE Floyd | Floyd | Laurie is small and pretty, pale with apparent grief, and you despise Floyd | her. She's only here because she's dating Twitch (although they are Floyd | both fucking other people) and she must have met Celine all of twice. Floyd | You suspect she is enjoying the enactment of tragedy. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x john" | ||
Floyd ] living room 63 Floyd | Floyd | > X JOHN Floyd | Floyd | You remember the first time you invited John and Celine to come to Floyd | dinner. You can see them now on the doorstep, John slightly behind, Floyd | handsome and distinguished in a military-style coat with gold buttons Floyd | and braiding, Celine, in black just like always, holding out to you a Floyd | hand-tied bouquet of flowers the colour of her lipstick, and smiling. Floyd | Floyd | Jess leans her head against Adrian's shoulder. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x twitch" | ||
Floyd ] living room 64 Floyd | Floyd | > X TWITCH Floyd | Floyd | You only know Twitch by reputation. He is an old school friend of Floyd | Celine's and your paths have never crossed. He looks like the Floyd | clinically depressed stoner he is, which is not devoid of a certain Floyd | glamour. He has restless fingers and idle eyes. Floyd | Floyd | Twitch steeples his fingers as he ponders the board in front of him. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "these NPCs feel familiar" | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x jess" | ||
Floyd ] living room 65 Floyd | Floyd | > X JESS Floyd | Floyd | You cannot look at Jess at the moment without remembering the drive Floyd | the hospital, stars streaking overhead, the slow drip-drip-drip of Floyd | time in the waiting room, and the hushed, awkward solemnity of a brief Floyd | bedside visitation. Floyd | Floyd | Laurie stands behind Twitch, combing her fingers through his lightly Floyd | curling hair. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "interesting that it didn't actually describe John" | |
| Zach says, "Yeah" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x adrian" | ||
Floyd ] living room 66 Floyd | Floyd | > X ADRIAN Floyd | Floyd | You find a flickering of kindred in Adrian's glance. You are sure he Floyd | finds this gathering almost as unendurable as you do. Floyd | Floyd | Rick opens a new bottle of port. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "x rick" | ||
Floyd ] living room 67 Floyd | Floyd | > X RICK Floyd | Floyd | Rick is a man not suited to inaction. On the sofa like this, he looks Floyd | like a pile of himself. The port he is drinking is surely of Floyd | excellent quality but it seems to afford him little pleasure at the Floyd | moment. Floyd | Floyd | John sighs heavily as he loses yet another game of Go. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x elsie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 68 Floyd | Floyd | > X ELSIE Floyd | Floyd | You don't know Elsie very well, but this mainly because there is not Floyd | much overlap between your lives bar some friends in common. She has Floyd | always struck you as a terribly nice person. Floyd | Floyd | Jess leans her head against Adrian's shoulder. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Physical appearance is less important in stories than you think." | |
| Jacqueline says, "This is an ambitious number of NPCs to have in a room. Go you, Anonymous." | ||
| Doug says, "haha 'pile of himself'. Reminds me of 'bag of Hank'" | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] living room 69 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | Laurie paces back and forth in front of the fireplace, her fuck-me Floyd | boot heels clomping on the wooden floor - clearly she is not garnering Floyd | enough attention to feel comfortable. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x game" | ||
Floyd ] living room 69 Floyd | Floyd | > X GAME Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x coat stand" | ||
Floyd ] living room 70 Floyd | Floyd | > X COAT STAND Floyd | Floyd | You seem to own far more coats than four people living in a house Floyd | could possibly need or want. The metal of the coatstand is almost Floyd | entirely obscured beneath fabric. One of your own coats is just Floyd | visible. There are two identical big brown dusters belonging to Dave. Floyd | Celine's slightly shabby, soft velvet jacket. A zebra-striped hoodie Floyd | of John's. His big military coat with the golden buttons. More Floyd | beneath. Floyd | Floyd | Someone makes a desultory remark. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "wonder where Dave is." | |
| Binder says, "Hey where's Dave...timing" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x my coat" | ||
Floyd ] living room 71 Floyd | Floyd | > X MY COAT Floyd | Floyd | It's just your coat. Long, black, ordinary, equipped with a belt you Floyd | never bother to tie, buttons you never fasten and pockets with no Floyd | linings, where you keep losing things. Floyd | Floyd | Jess and Adrian converse in soft whispers. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, "Wasn't his mattress bare? Maybe he's left for some reason." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x pockets" | ||
Floyd ] living room 72 Floyd | Floyd | > X POCKETS Floyd | Floyd | There's a distortion in the fabric way down at the very bottom of the Floyd | coat, as if something has slipped between the lining and the coat Floyd | itself. Floyd | Floyd | Adrian tries to catch your eye. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Yeah, maybe he sleeps somewhere else, with an SO." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x distortion" | ||
Floyd ] living room 72 Floyd | Floyd | > X DISTORTION Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "get coat" | ||
Floyd ] living room 73 Floyd | Floyd | > GET COAT Floyd | Floyd | You unhook your coat with difficulty from the coatstand, nearly Floyd | over-toppling the whole teetering structure. Folding it over your Floyd | arm, you can feel the edge of something caught in the lining. Floyd | Floyd | Somebody asks the Rick the time. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x lining" | ||
Floyd ] living room 73 Floyd | Floyd | > X LINING Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "try search pockets" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "search pockets" | ||
Floyd ] living room 74 Floyd | Floyd | > SEARCH POCKETS Floyd | Floyd | Digging through your pockets, your fingers catch the edge of something Floyd | that has fallen down into the depths of the lining. After an Floyd | impressive display of digital dexterity, you fish out a 50p coin. Floyd | Floyd | Adrian picks one of the Sunday paper supplements from the pile on the Floyd | coffee table but discards it when he discovers it's about two weeks Floyd | old. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "I never think of using 'search'." | |
| Doug says, "I guess that's a convention I missed" | ||
| DavidW says, "by the way, you can TALK TO these people, if you want." | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Adrian tried to catch our eye. It might be merely random, but shall we engage him in conversation?" | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "talk to adrian" | ||
Floyd ] living room 75 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO ADRIAN Floyd | Floyd | Under different circumstances you would actually quite like to talk to Floyd | Adrian. Maybe you are deluding yourself with suspicions of kinship Floyd | but you can more readily imagine yourself saying something that feels Floyd | true to him than anyone else. But how can you speak of anything in Floyd | this company, at this time. Better not to talk to him at all. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "catch adrian's eye" | ||
Floyd ] living room 75
Floyd |
Floyd | > CATCH ADRIAN'S EYE
Floyd |
Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "talk to adrian" | ||
Floyd ] living room 76 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO ADRIAN Floyd | Floyd | Under different circumstances you would actually quite like to talk to Floyd | Adrian. Maybe you are deluding yourself with suspicions of kinship Floyd | but you can more readily imagine yourself saying something that feels Floyd | true to him than anyone else. But how can you speak of anything in Floyd | this company, at this time. Better not to talk to him at all. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "wink at adrian" | ||
Floyd ] living room 76 Floyd | Floyd | > WINK AT ADRIAN Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "heh. Well, maybe we can't talk to everyone." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nod at adrian" | ||
Floyd ] living room 76 Floyd | Floyd | > NOD AT ADRIAN Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "hm, was hoping that was one of the repeat-for-different-results." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x coin" | ||
Floyd ] living room 77 Floyd | Floyd | > X COIN Floyd | Floyd | This is exactly what it looks like, except it is relatively freshly Floyd | minted and has a brightness to it that would have delighted you when Floyd | you were a small child. Floyd | Floyd | Jess pulls out a notebook and begins writing, or sketching, something Floyd | in it and then gives up. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "talk to john" | ||
Floyd ] living room 78 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO JOHN Floyd | Floyd | "How's the game going," you ask. There is a pause as John considers. Floyd | "I'm losing," he concludes finally. "Oh," you say. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, ""Oh."" | |
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] living room 79 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | "How are you doing?" you ask, since it is the officially sanctioned Floyd | question at a time like this. "Still losing," he says. You didn't Floyd | mean the game, and you're pretty sure John didn't either but it's Floyd | probably better this way. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "I am enjoying this, but I can't help feeling like I'm stuck in a teenager's angsty poetry notebook." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to laurie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 80 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO LAURIE Floyd | Floyd | God no. You don't want to support her delusion that she has any place Floyd | here. If you tried to talk to her, you might have to kill her. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "> DRUG LAURIE" | |
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "kill laurie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 81 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL LAURIE Floyd | Floyd | You leap across the living room, shrieking like all the legions of Floyd | hell and throw yourself at Laurie, in a whirlwind of clawing, biting, Floyd | hitting, kicking and spitting ... or at least you imagine doing it. Floyd | It's not, in any sense, a real temptation, pleasurable though it would Floyd | be to wipe the condescension from her face. Floyd | Floyd | Jess pulls out a notebook and begins writing, or sketching, something Floyd | in it and then gives up. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "YAY IT WORKED" | |
| Doug says, "seems better than teenager" | ||
| Binder says, "Oh man." | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "talk to jess" | ||
Floyd ] living room 82 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO JESS Floyd | Floyd | You wonder what to say to Jess but her ways are not your ways and Floyd | despite mutual affection there are times when your differences seem Floyd | less like intriguing points of interest upon the tourist map of your Floyd | psyches than insurmountable barriers to understanding or accord. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Oh, darn, just imaginary." | |
| djfletch says, "haha nice" | ||
| Zach says, "The angst seems justified since someone died" | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] living room 83 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | Jess and Adrian converse in soft whispers. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Binder says (to Floyd), "talk to rick" | ||
Floyd ] living room 84 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO RICK Floyd | Floyd | "Care for some port, m'dear?" offers Rick, with a valiant semblance of Floyd | his usual bonhommie. "It's a very fine old tawny." You don't doubt Floyd | it but you aren't sure inebriation would be the best addition to your Floyd | mood right now. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x port" | ||
Floyd ] living room 84 Floyd | Floyd | > X PORT Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Oh, I don't know, there are some excellent teenagers out there. And I have a certain soft spot for very angsty, flowy, superfluous teen-like poetry. It's why I like Fiona Apple so much." | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "talk to rick" | ||
Floyd ] living room 85 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO RICK Floyd | Floyd | Rick produces a silver hip flask with a flourish. "Absinthe?" he Floyd | suggests, raising his brows, entirely conscious of the effect. Floyd | Amusement temporarily alleviates the atmosphere in the room. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to rick" | ||
Floyd ] living room 86 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO RICK Floyd | Floyd | Rick reaches a hand into a shopping bag languishing by the side of the Floyd | sofa. "Iberian ham?" he says. "Brie? Some pate?" You are starting Floyd | to feel churlish but you keep shaking your head. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder exclaims, "Rick just became my favorite. He's double fisting!" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to rick" | ||
Floyd ] living room 87 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO RICK Floyd | Floyd | Rick has probably run out of random indulgent foodstuffs to offer you Floyd | by now, and you do not want to press in case the temporary semblance Floyd | of normality founders. You remember that some of the people in this Floyd | room are your friends and that you will not always feel this way. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "The PC is female, right?" | |
| Binder says, "Maybe Rick is just omniendearing." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "I'm getting that sense." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to twitch" | ||
Floyd ] living room 88 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO TWITCH Floyd | Floyd | Like most comprehensively broken people there is a touch of the Floyd | rockstar about Twitch, and he wears it well. You are conscious of an Floyd | uncomfortable intermingling of attraction and disdain, and that makes Floyd | you rather shy of talking to him. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "ask john about dave" | ||
Floyd ] living room 88 Floyd | Floyd | > ASK JOHN ABOUT DAVE Floyd | Floyd | (To communicate in Eurydice, TALK TO a character.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to twitch" | ||
Floyd ] living room 89 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO TWITCH Floyd | Floyd | You really have no idea what to say to him. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x eurydice" | ||
Floyd ] living room 89 Floyd | Floyd | > X EURYDICE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Nice thumbnail descriptions of these people." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to Elsie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 90 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO ELSIE Floyd | Floyd | "Would you like a cup of a tea?" asks Elsie, the moment you step into Floyd | her visual range. You shake your head and thank her. Elsie is a Floyd | perpetual tea-maker. It might annoy you in somebody else but Elsie's Floyd | tea is the sincerest tea you have ever drunk. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, "That's the best kind" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] living room 91 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | "How are you doing?" you both say, at exactly the same time and with Floyd | exactly the same intonation. You smile awkwardly at each other. "I'm Floyd | okay," you say into the pause that follows. "I don't think I am," Floyd | says Elsie, shyly. Her honesty ripples through the room like a stone Floyd | dropped into a fetid pond. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Sinceritea." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] living room 92 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | You feel obliged to click into comforting mode. It is not that you Floyd | don't want to comfort Elsie, it's just you're afraid that all your Floyd | words are lies. "I have to believe that it's a choice she made," you Floyd | say. "She was so unhappy, you can understand why she did it." But Floyd | you don't. You don't. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Oh, Binder." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] living room 93 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Elsie nods. You wonder if her faith makes this even harder for her. Floyd | You want to ask about it, but what can you say? "So do you think Floyd | Celine has gone to Hell for what she did?" Maybe not. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Ack, a suicide." | |
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah, let's not ask Elise if she thinks Celine is in Hell. That seems poor form." | ||
| Zach says, "I figured that's why there were all the empty pill containers" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] living room 94 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Neither of you really dare say anything else. It's too delicate a Floyd | balance to maintain, between honesty and lies, compassion and cruelty. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "seems still uncertain though." | |
| Jacqueline says (to Z), "Yeah, me too. I figured she was either already horribly ill or she'd done herself in." | ||
| Doug says, "'I have to believe' means we want to think it's a suicide, but it might have been accidental overdose" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x celine's jacket" | ||
Floyd ] living room 95
Floyd |
Floyd | > X CELINE'S JACKET
Floyd |
Floyd | Yeah, you're going to look like a right doink in front of a bunch of
Floyd | people you used to call your friends if you start stroking Celine's
Floyd | jacket.
Floyd |
Floyd | John sighs heavily as he loses yet another game of Go.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| DavidW says, "So want to say something, but shan't." | |
| Zach says, "I think the going to Hell part implies suicide as well" | ||
| Doug asks, "if I don't call them friends anymore, what do I care what I look like?" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x john's jacket" | ||
Floyd ] living room 95
Floyd |
Floyd | > X JOHN'S JACKET
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x celine's jacket" | ||
Floyd ] living room 96
Floyd |
Floyd | > X CELINE'S JACKET
Floyd |
Floyd | Yeah, you're going to look like a right doink in front of a bunch of
Floyd | people you used to call your friends if you start stroking Celine's
Floyd | jacket.
Floyd |
Floyd | John sighs heavily as he loses yet another game of Go.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| Doug says, "heh, quick games." | |
| Jacqueline says, "Man, John sucks at Go." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "dave's jacket" | ||
Floyd ] living room 96
Floyd |
Floyd | > DAVE'S JACKET
Floyd |
Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x dave's jacket" | ||
Floyd ] living room 96
Floyd |
Floyd | > X DAVE'S JACKET
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x dave's coat" | ||
Floyd ] living room 96
Floyd |
Floyd | > X DAVE'S COAT
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x john's hoodie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 96
Floyd |
Floyd | > X JOHN'S HOODIE
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Perhaps time is moving sloooowly for us. Or perhaps the every turn things are randomized." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x coat stand" | ||
Floyd ] living room 97 Floyd | Floyd | > X COAT STAND Floyd | Floyd | You seem to own far more coats than four people living in a house Floyd | could possibly need or want. The metal of the coat stand is almost Floyd | entirely obscured beneath fabric. There are two identical big brown Floyd | dusters belonging to Dave. Celine's slightly shabby, soft velvet Floyd | jacket. A zebra-striped hoodie of John's. His big military coat with Floyd | the golden buttons. More beneath Floyd | Floyd | A conversation starts up but sputters out like a candle flame in less Floyd | than a minute. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x Dave's dusters" | ||
Floyd ] living room 97
Floyd |
Floyd | > X DAVE'S DUSTERS
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x zebra-striped hoodie" | ||
Floyd ] living room 97
Floyd |
Floyd | > X ZEBRA-STRIPED HOODIE
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| DavidW says, "I suppose only two coats were actually coded." | |
| Binder says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] living room 98 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | Jess leans over and makes a show of being of interested in the Floyd | progress of the game. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "We've talked to everyone? Try out the kitchen?" | |
| Binder says, "Sure." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 99 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | You remember long, sun-drenched afternoons in here with Celine, baking Floyd | and talking, filling up the kitchen with laughter, the scent of sweet Floyd | things cooking and occasionally smoke and the smell of stuff you've Floyd | burned to a crisp. The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented Floyd | house. It has faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and Floyd | fitted cupboards in shades of coffee and cream. It would be a Floyd | pleasure to cook in such a kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on Floyd | the little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x Vera" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 100 Floyd | Floyd | > X VERA Floyd | Floyd | Vera-the-Aloe is an aloe vera plant, hence the name. You christened Floyd | her in an excess of cleverness. Celine grew her from a tiny shoot Floyd | Her soil is dry, and her long leaves are droopy, fraying brown at the Floyd | ends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "water vera" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 101 Floyd | Floyd | > WATER VERA Floyd | Floyd | You lift Vera up, careful not to damage her trailing fronds and carry Floyd | her over to the sink. You are sure there is a better way to do this Floyd | but you hold her under the tap until her soil is damp and then take Floyd | her back to the table. There is no instant improvement and you can't Floyd | really tell if she looks any happier but you feel a bit better. It Floyd | would be just too hopeless of you to let Celine's plants die with her. Floyd | Floyd | > | maga says, "meh, I kind of want to watch you play this, but I should really go and run" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x Tilda" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 102 Floyd | Floyd | > X TILDA Floyd | Floyd | Tilda is also a plant, although you've forgotten what kind. You named Floyd | her Tilda after Tilda Swinton because she is a very beautifully Floyd | androgynous plant. She has green leaves, shiny as wax, and generous, Floyd | open-mouthed flowers with immensely long, lascivious stamen. Celine Floyd | also bought and nurtured Tilda. She seems to be fine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x Natalie" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 103 Floyd | Floyd | > X NATALIE Floyd | Floyd | Oh hell, you'd entirely forgotten Natalie was here. She's come up Floyd | from London for you, especially for you ... to be with you now in your Floyd | time of need. You know you ought to feel gratitude but you can't seem Floyd | to muster any. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to Natalie" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 104 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO NATALIE Floyd | Floyd | Natalie comes over and hugs you. She is no Laurie but you find Floyd | touching people, and being touched, difficult at the moment. The Floyd | world waits for you, or possibly recedes from you, behind a pane of Floyd | glass, visible but inaccessible. Somebody breaching it is a dull kind Floyd | of ache. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 105 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | "How are you doing, hon?" she asks, all warmth and sympathy. You Floyd | suspect "doing" is a polite way of saying "coping". "I'm fine," you Floyd | lie. And, then, because it's so obvious a lie: "It's hard, of Floyd | course." "Yeah." Natalie gazes you at with an expression that is Floyd | starting to become familiar - why do people always look at the Floyd | bereaved that way? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 106 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | "I'm nearly done with the pasta," says Natalie, "so at least this way Floyd | I'll know you're eating." You mumble your thanks, inevitably sounding Floyd | ungracious. You feel monstrous, caged behind your glass, snapping at Floyd | proffered kindness, howling at a heedless sky. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 107 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Seeing you lingering in this awkward, Natalie stops stirring and Floyd | smiles at you encouragingly. "I'm here for you," she says. "Do you Floyd | want to talk?" You have to bite back sarastic things you don't mean. Floyd | So you keep smiling and shake your head. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 108 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Seeing you lingering in this awkward, Natalie stops stirring and Floyd | smiles at you encouragingly. "I'm here for you," she says. "Do you Floyd | want to talk?" You have to bite back sarastic things you don't mean. Floyd | So you keep smiling and shake your head. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf8" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: Floyd ] kitchen 108 Floyd | Ok. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x hob" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 108 Floyd | Floyd | > X HOB Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "take pills" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 109 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE PILLS Floyd | Floyd | You already have those. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "eat pills" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 110 Floyd | Floyd | > EAT PILLS Floyd | Floyd | While imitation may be thought to be the sincerest form of flattery, Floyd | you should probably not start randomly taking someone else's Floyd | medication. It didn't do much good for Celine, after all. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Back garden? Get away from folks?" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x open cupboards" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 110 Floyd | Floyd | > X OPEN CUPBOARDS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Back garden sounds good to me." | |
| Zach says, "yeah" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 111 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x lawn" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 112 Floyd | Floyd | > X LAWN Floyd | Floyd | The blades are tipped by an unhealthy yellow and sway indolently in Floyd | the slight breeze. As you watch, a violent ripple of motion seizes Floyd | the stalks and whips them back and forth. At first you think it must Floyd | be the wind but then you see a blur of a new green in the grass and a Floyd | snake slithers onto the patio. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 113 Floyd | Floyd | > X SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You would not have thought there were such snakes in England. It is a Floyd | strong, sinuous creature, dappled in black diamonds like a snake on a Floyd | Snakes And Ladders board. It has hateful yellow eyes, as blank as Floyd | pieces of glass. You are not by nature inclined towards Floyd | anthropomorphisation but there is something both directed and Floyd | malignant in its gaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "pet snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 113 Floyd | Floyd | > PET SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "I trust people know why a snake would be in a game called Eurydice?" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x patio" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 114 Floyd | Floyd | > X PATIO Floyd | Floyd | Yellowing stone, green weeds, a maze of cracks and encroachment. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 115 Floyd | Floyd | > X SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You would not have thought there were such snakes in England. It is a Floyd | strong, sinuous creature, dappled in black diamonds like a snake on a Floyd | Snakes And Ladders board. It has hateful yellow eyes, as blank as Floyd | pieces of glass. You are not by nature inclined towards Floyd | anthropomorphisation but there is something both directed and Floyd | malignant in its gaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "talk to snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 116 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | Unsurprisingly, you have nothing to say to it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "take snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 117 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | Even assuming you could catch it, it looks like it might be poisonous. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "I'm going to let that hang in the air so as to not be a spoiler, DW." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 118 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | A snake, still as stone, has partially emerged from the long grass. Floyd | It seems to be watching you. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "Hmm. Anything else to do with the snake?" | |
| DavidW says, "You could try to kill or kick it, I suppose." | ||
| Jacqueline wonders whether or not to say something. | ||
| Zach says, ">GIVE SNAKE TO LAURIE" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Z), "ha" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "kill snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 119 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You have nothing with which to hurt it, beyond ill-will. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x weeds" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 119 Floyd | Floyd | > X WEEDS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "kick snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 119 Floyd | Floyd | > KICK SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x sky" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 119 Floyd | Floyd | > X SKY Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x sun" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 119 Floyd | Floyd | > X SUN Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "I'm guessing it's just an allusion, and that we're not meant to play a part, per se, though... given the special verbs. I'm still not entirely sure where this will go, though I have an idea." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give pill to snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 119 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PILL TO SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Binder says, "Oh." | |
| DavidW says, "It's pills, not pill." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "turn around" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 120 Floyd | Floyd | > TURN AROUND Floyd | Floyd | You glance nervously over your shoulder but there is nothing untoward. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give pills to snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 121 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PILLS TO SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | The snake doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "step on snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 121 Floyd | Floyd | > STEP ON SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "Try the front door?" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 122 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I have no objection." | |
| Doug says, "I guess we're fenced in or something" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 123 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented house. It has Floyd | faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and fitted cupboards in Floyd | shades of coffee and cream. It would be a pleasure to cook in such a Floyd | kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on the Floyd | little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] living room 124 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] living room 125 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a 50p coin Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 126 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Thanks. That was what I wanted to try but wasn't sure I should." | |
| Doug says, "yeah, just peeked at the wikipedia page..." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Though I guess if we don't make use of our knowledge of the myth, there's possibly little point. It's been encouraged." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Ah." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "I think I remember the story... but, hm." | ||
| Zach asks, "Hmm?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Nothing." | ||
| Doug says, "it wouldn't let us play the lyre either" | ||
| Zach asks, "Does a coin play a part in the myth?" | ||
| Doug says, "maybe Dave is the lyre player" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "True. But maybe just not yet. (For the lyre.)" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Zach), "Dunno if I'm getting my myths confused, but there's payment needed to cross into Hades." | ||
| Doug asks, "wonder who the satyr is. Twitch?" | ||
| Zach says, "Ah, right." | ||
| DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "There's was even a Zork game that did the payment thing to Hades." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Yes, complete with gratuitous rock music." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 127 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | You have a vague nagging sense that you've left something in the house Floyd | you ought to have with you. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "well hm." | |
| DavidW says, "And yes, that is a different myth, I believe." | ||
| Zach asks, "Did we try taking the lyre?" | ||
| DavidW says, "dunno" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "up" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 128 Floyd | Floyd | > UP Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] your room 129 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | your room Floyd | Your room is a complete mess. The bed is unmade. The bookshelves Floyd | that once lined the walls are a ruin of fallen books and splintered Floyd | wood. There are piles of things that shouldn't be piled everywhere. Floyd | All the things you thought you cared about feel like mockery. Floyd | Floyd | A mysterious lyre, slightly battered from possibly having fallen from Floyd | your bookshelves, lies among the wreckage. Floyd | Floyd | Behind you, to the east, is the upstairs landing Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get lyre" | ||
Floyd ] your room 130 Floyd | Floyd | > GET LYRE Floyd | Floyd | You certainly can't remember ever having bought, or been given, a Floyd | lyre. It is smooth and slightly warm in your hands, its shape a Floyd | graceful curve like a human spine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "out" | ||
Floyd ] your room 131 Floyd | Floyd | > OUT Floyd | Floyd | But you aren't in anything at the moment. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 132 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "I hate that default response to out, by the way" | |
| DavidW says, "mm" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "d" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 133 Floyd | Floyd | > D Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Marlborough road 134 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Marlborough road Floyd | This is just an ordinary street, lined by Victorian terraces, with Floyd | their slightly over-ambitious moulding and bow windows. In the Floyd | distance you can hear the muted roar of traffic streaming down the Floyd | Abingdon Road. It is not quite suburbia but it's a pocket of Oxford Floyd | unreached by spires, dreaming or otherwise. The fading light is Floyd | nonetheless tinged by gold. The sky is a swirl of grey and pink, like Floyd | the interior of a shell. There is a biting promise of winter in the Floyd | air. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is to the northwest, your house to the east, and other Floyd | places lie elsewhere. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 135 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park Gate Floyd | The gate to Hinksey Park is not far from your house but by the time Floyd | you arrive the sky is already suffused by a greyness that has blotted Floyd | out the potential glories of an Oxford sunset. Night is snapping at Floyd | your heels. The park is the old fashioned kind, a basic arrangement Floyd | of paths and benches, grass and trees. The nearest bench is over-hung Floyd | by a willow tree, which has wept a burthen of withered foliage onto Floyd | the seat. There is a lake, girdled by a path and an open air swimming Floyd | pool. Floyd | Floyd | A river, which must be a tributary of the Thames, flows to the west. Floyd | Malborough Road lies to the southeast. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "elsewhere" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 135 Floyd | Floyd | > ELSEWHERE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "huh, 'burthen'" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x lake" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 136 Floyd | Floyd | > X LAKE Floyd | Floyd | The lake is misshapen splodge in the gloom. The breeze occasionally Floyd | picks up ripples on the water. At its edge, an enormous swan twists Floyd | its neck towards the sky and flings wide its white wings like an Floyd | angel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x swan" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 137 Floyd | Floyd | > X SWAN Floyd | Floyd | Swans are peculiar creatures. How can something so beautiful be so Floyd | ungainly? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x swan" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 138 Floyd | Floyd | > X SWAN Floyd | Floyd | Swans are peculiar creatures. How can something so beautiful be so Floyd | ungainly? Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "oops. sorry." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x pool" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 139 Floyd | Floyd | > X POOL Floyd | Floyd | Currently it's just an empty hollow, painted chlorine blue. You used Floyd | to go all the time during the summer months - sometimes with Celine. Floyd | You used to say she was a water-ninja she could swim so fast. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "burthen = burden, apparently" | |
| Zach says, "Ah, water ninja. Now I'm remembering the myth." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x bench" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 140 Floyd | Floyd | > X BENCH Floyd | Floyd | There are ordinary wooden benches at irregular intervals around the Floyd | park, sometimes half-hidden by the knots of trees. Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x willow tree" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 141 Floyd | Floyd | > X WILLOW TREE Floyd | Floyd | Oh willow, thou art sick. Autumn has stripped its bravado, leaving it Floyd | frail and naked in the gathering dusk. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x foliage" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 141 Floyd | Floyd | > X FOLIAGE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x burthen" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 141 Floyd | Floyd | > X BURTHEN Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "sit on bench" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 142 Floyd | Floyd | > SIT ON BENCH Floyd | Floyd | You go into the park and sit down on the nearest bench, letting the Floyd | darkness enclose you. You're not very far from the houses and the road Floyd | but the light and the noise doesn't reach you here. You could be in Floyd | another world. The feeling of being entirely alone saturates your Floyd | skin like cold. You listen to the almost imperceptible sound of air Floyd | moving across the lake and through the scrubby grass. Tilting your Floyd | head back, you stare at the sky. It looks as if it is made of stone. Floyd | You wonder if this is how Celine felt, sitting on this bench perhaps, Floyd | waiting to die, and stand up again hastily. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "look under bench" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 143 Floyd | Floyd | > LOOK UNDER BENCH Floyd | Floyd | You find nothing of interest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "search bench" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 144 Floyd | Floyd | > SEARCH BENCH Floyd | Floyd | The bench is empty. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x grass" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 144 Floyd | Floyd | > X GRASS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "enter swimming pool" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 145 Floyd | Floyd | > ENTER SWIMMING POOL Floyd | Floyd | That's not something you can enter. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "swim" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 145 Floyd | Floyd | > SWIM Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "west?" | |
| DavidW says, "sure" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] river 146 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | The river is a snake of moving darkness. There is a railway line Floyd | running parallel on the other side and open fields after that. There Floyd | is some kind of flat-bottomed boat by the bank nearest to you, and a Floyd | tall man, in a long coat, is standing in the bow of the boat. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is behind you to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x tall man" | ||
Floyd ] river 146 Floyd | Floyd | > X TALL MAN Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x man" | ||
Floyd ] river 147 Floyd | Floyd | > X MAN Floyd | Floyd | The man is so swathed about in garments it is hard to make out much Floyd | about him. He is imposingly tall, or would be if he didn't stand in Floyd | the hunched-over fashion he does, and seems gaunt. His hood is pulled Floyd | down over his face, so you only occasionally catch glimpses of his Floyd | profile: you piece together an impression of sharp-nosed pallor and Floyd | pale eyes the colour of dirty water. One of his gloved hands rests Floyd | upon the pole he probably uses to propel the boat through the water. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 148 Floyd | Floyd | > X BOAT Floyd | Floyd | You're not really an expert in boats. This one seems to be designed Floyd | upon similar principles to a punt, although it lacks the comfortable Floyd | cushions, champagne and strawberries you know for a fact to be an Floyd | essential part of any punting trip. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give coin to man" | ||
Floyd ] river 149 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE COIN TO MAN Floyd | Floyd | You toss the coin to ferryman. It turns over and over in the air, Floyd | flashing silver, and then he reaches out a gloved hand and engulfs it Floyd | in darkness. He carries it to his mouth and bites it. "That's not Floyd | silver," he says. But then he shrugs. "It'll do. In you get." Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "aw, you didn't even talk to him first." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] river 148 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to man" | ||
Floyd ] river 149 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO MAN Floyd | Floyd | At your approach, the hood turns in your direction and seems to be Floyd | sizing you up. "This journey isn't for you," the ferryman says Floyd | finally. His voice is neither as deep nor as sonorous as the hood Floyd | merits, and the words seem rehearsed somehow. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] river 150 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | You open your mouth to protest but the man speaks before you have a Floyd | chance. He heaves a gusty sigh that causes his garments to billow Floyd | around him alarmingly as if they contain nothing but smoke. "Let me Floyd | guess," he says, "you want to take it anyway." Again, you attempt to Floyd | answer him but he prevents you. "There's no need to look like that. Floyd | You're not the first, I doubt you'll be the last." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] river 151 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | It is hard to tell beneath the hood but the man seems to be regarding Floyd | you quizzically. "Haven't I seen you before somewhere?" he asks. Floyd | "There's something about you ... you seem a bit familiar." You shake Floyd | your head. You have certainly never seen him before. "No," he Floyd | agrees, after a moment. "I suppose that wouldn't be likely. I'm not Floyd | exactly in a position to receive repeat custom." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] river 152 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | "Will you take me across?" you ask, propelled by some sort of instinct Floyd | you cannot easily articulate. You hardly know what you'll find on the Floyd | other side of the river, or why you'd want to get there. The ferryman Floyd | shakes his head, partly to emphasise an answer you are fully expecting Floyd | to be negative but, also, you suspect, to express a kind of weariness. Floyd | "I'll tell you what I tell you everyone who comes to the banks of the Floyd | river and looks for me," he says finally. "If you want to cross, Floyd | it'll cost you silver and, under the usual circumstances, seven days Floyd | of lamentation but I'll waive them on account of the cold weather." Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, "hooray" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] river 153 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | There's no point trying to change my mind or haggle me down," says the Floyd | ferryman, a bit impatiently. "Rules are rules. No silver, no Floyd | ferrying. That's the way it's always been, that's the way it'll Floyd | always be. But between you and me you'd be better off going home in Floyd | any case. You have no place on my boat, no place on the journey and Floyd | the end that comes is not your end." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give coin to man" | ||
Floyd ] river 154 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE COIN TO MAN Floyd | Floyd | You toss the coin to ferryman. It turns over and over in the air, Floyd | flashing silver, and then he reaches out a gloved hand and engulfs it Floyd | in darkness. He carries it to his mouth and bites it. "That's not Floyd | silver," he says. But then he shrugs. "It'll do. In you get." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "enter boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 154
Floyd |
Floyd | > ENTER BOAT
Floyd |
Floyd | As you step towards the boat the Ferryman intercepts you again.
Floyd | "Coming back is harder than going," he says. "Are you sure?"
| Zach asks, "yes?" | |
| DavidW | yes or no>> | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Points for the punt / Charon comparison." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf9" | ||
Floyd ] river 154 Floyd | Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | Floyd | Please answer yes or no.> Floyd ] river 154 Floyd | Floyd | > CF9 Floyd | Floyd | Please answer yes or no.> | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 155 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | You step into the boat. There is a space for a single passenger but Floyd | it is not exactly luxurious. You barely have time to sit down upon Floyd | the damp wooden boards before the ferryman takes his first stroke, Floyd | propelling the boat forward at an unlikely speed that causes the Floyd | moving air to catch at you like icy hands. You remember that someone Floyd | told you once that a punt can travel at 30 miles an hour in Floyd | favourable conditions ... but this one slips across the moonslick Floyd | water as effortlessly as if it is glass. At any rate, you are glad Floyd | that the man has sufficient taste to punt from the Oxford end. You Floyd | tilt your head back. You are going so fast that the stars are smeared Floyd | across the sky. Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | Something has happened. You have lost track of time, or track of Floyd | yourself, or something. You were looking at the sky, feeling stars Floyd | upon your skin, no, you were in a boat, cold seeping through you, wind Floyd | tangling in your hair. But there is no trace of the punt here, or the Floyd | man, or even a river. How did you get here? Where are you? There is Floyd | a set of open wrought iron gates before you, as intricate as briars. Floyd | Beyond them, hazy in the darkness to the southeast, a round lawn, Floyd | dotted with trees. It all feels familiar somehow. Floyd | Floyd | Guarding the gate is biggest dog you have ever seen, a haunch of | Jacqueline says, "Oh." | |
Floyd | bloody meat and a vast water bowl at its feet.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| Zach asks, "Undo and save?" | |
| Jacqueline says, "Possibly, yeah" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Though I'm sure we're supposed to do this." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] river 154 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] river 155 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | The river is a snake of moving darkness. There is a railway line Floyd | running parallel on the other side and open fields after that. There Floyd | is some kind of flat-bottomed boat by the bank nearest to you, and a Floyd | tall man, in a long coat, is standing in the bow of the boat. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is behind you to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "press save" | ||
Floyd ] river 155 Floyd | Floyd | > PRESS SAVE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "cf10" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: Floyd ] river 155 Floyd | Ok. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give coin to man" | ||
Floyd ] river 155 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE COIN TO MAN Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "you already gave it" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] river 156 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "enter boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 156
Floyd |
Floyd | > ENTER BOAT
Floyd |
Floyd | As you step towards the boat the Ferryman intercepts you again.
Floyd | "Coming back is harder than going," he says. "Are you sure?"
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 157 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | You step into the boat. There is a space for a single passenger but Floyd | it is not exactly luxurious. You barely have time to sit down upon Floyd | the damp wooden boards before the ferryman takes his first stroke, Floyd | propelling the boat forward at an unlikely speed that causes the Floyd | moving air to catch at you like icy hands. You remember that someone Floyd | told you once that a punt can travel at 30 miles an hour in Floyd | favourable conditions ... but this one slips across the moonslick Floyd | water as effortlessly as if it is glass. At any rate, you are glad Floyd | that the man has sufficient taste to punt from the Oxford end. You Floyd | tilt your head back. You are going so fast that the stars are smeared Floyd | across the sky. Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | Something has happened. You have lost track of time, or track of Floyd | yourself, or something. You were looking at the sky, feeling stars Floyd | upon your skin, no, you were in a boat, cold seeping through you, wind Floyd | tangling in your hair. But there is no trace of the punt here, or the Floyd | man, or even a river. How did you get here? Where are you? There is Floyd | a set of open wrought iron gates before you, as intricate as briars. Floyd | Beyond them, hazy in the darkness to the southeast, a round lawn, Floyd | dotted with trees. It all feels familiar somehow. Floyd | Floyd | Guarding the gate is biggest dog you have ever seen, a haunch of Floyd | bloody meat and a vast water bowl at its feet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 158 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | All three heads turn in your direction as you lift the lyre, and a Floyd | strange shiver runs down the length of the beast's back. If it was Floyd | human you don't know what emotions you'd ascribe to it. It holds Floyd | itself still and silent, only the heaving of its flanks to betray the Floyd | fact it lives at all. And you play, strange, savage music, spiralling Floyd | out of the lyre, drenched inhuman colours, filling your mouth up with Floyd | heat and the tang of metal. Your heart tightens sickeningly in your Floyd | chest, pulsing with the lyre strings, something like excitement, Floyd | something like dread. The dog trembles where it stands, its eyes Floyd | ablaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "so, punting from the oxford end. Was that a reference to the urban dictionary definition?" | |
| Jacqueline says, "I think it's merely a reference to which end of the punt, and that the urban dictionary definition is something else entirely." | ||
| Doug says, "I figured" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x dog" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 159 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOG Floyd | Floyd | The beast strains against its bonds Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Or rather, the position of the punter. In Oxford I think they stand down inside the punt, as opposed to up on the top of the boat at its stern." | |
| Jacqueline says, "I've punted in Cam, never been to Oxford." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 160 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | You feel as if you have been running, and running hard, and your Floyd | fingers tremble on the strings, fearful of the lyre and its music. Floyd | But everything has changed. Softly, softly, comes the scent of green Floyd | things growing, dark places, damp fur, warmth in your belly and all Floyd | around, different songs. You lose time, the names of things. The Floyd | stars becomes nothing but distant light. Your four clawed feet trample Floyd | complex concepts to nothing but travelled earth, and happiness is the Floyd | flow of the night. Then comes the creeping cold, not without, but Floyd | within, and it snaps like winter at your heels. And you don't know Floyd | what it means that yours is now the only song, and yours the only Floyd | pounding paws, and yours the fur and yours the hunger and you alone Floyd | who slumber in the dark places and dream of dreams once shared. The Floyd | music fades to silence, and the dog slumps to the ground, ungainly Floyd | now. Its eyes fall closed and it seems to sleep. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "That's a nice Fluffy." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "se" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Hospital Approach 161 Floyd | Floyd | > SE Floyd | Floyd | You muster up your courage and sidle past the subdued monster, holding Floyd | your breath lest you rouse it. Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Hospital Approach Floyd | You could be visiting a stately home, or an Oxford college, or a Floyd | country church, except you're not. You know there are more modern Floyd | constructions hidden away behind it, one of which - the severely acute Floyd | ward - lies like Sleeping Beauty's castle behind thorns of metal and Floyd | stone. Floyd | Floyd | Circling an oval of moderately well-kept grass is a gravel path and, Floyd | beyond it to the west, a sandstone building gleams palely golden Floyd | against the shadowed sky. The gates loom to the northwest. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug | in Cambridge they stand on the till and punt with the open end forward, while in Oxford they stand inside the boat and punt with the till forward. | |
| Jacqueline says, "Some of this has been a bit ott for me, but that bit was truly lovely." | ||
| Lionheart arrives, full of fun and funk. | Jacqueline says, "The second response to >PLAY LYRE, that is." | |
| DavidW says, "Warneford Hospital is also in Wikipedia, fwiw." | ||
| Doug asks, "off or odd?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "ott? Over the top." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "The orange juice sunset ref you all enjoyed I thought was a bit much." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "But most of this is beautiful and longing and achieves precisely the dreamlike quality the author had hoped for." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 162 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you cross the lawn, your footsteps lost among the many you have Floyd | already taken, you feel a horrible tightness round you heart as if Floyd | someone had a hand round it and was squeezing. There is a burning at Floyd | the back your throat, like a lump of tears and bile is stuck there. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x vaughan" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 163 Floyd | Floyd | > X VAUGHAN Floyd | Floyd | You can see it, square and sensible, at the end of the path. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "huh, I thought the 'yours the only pounding paws' was a bit much, yeah." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 164 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you walk down the path, a human cry breaks upon the silence and Floyd | dies. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I find it .... (sunglasses) lyrical. YEEAAAAAH." | |
| Doug says, "haha" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "I think it was trying to flow like music. It worked for me." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "And it flowed like sleep." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Both." | ||
| Doug says, "but it didn't flow like orange juice." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "No, thankfully." | ||
| Jacqueline smiles. | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x tree" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 165 Floyd | Floyd | > X TREE Floyd | Floyd | It is hunched over the bench like a sullen teenager, its leafless Floyd | branches hanging, lethargic. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x bench" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 166 Floyd | Floyd | > X BENCH Floyd | Floyd | Wooden, a little bit worn but not so much that it looks like nobody Floyd | cares, only lightly besplattered with bird shit. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "sit on bench" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 167 Floyd | Floyd | > SIT ON BENCH Floyd | Floyd | You sit on the bench for a brief moment. Cigarette ends are strewn at Floyd | your feet, riotously like rose petals, and from them rises a stale Floyd | scent and a ghostly nicotine buzz. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Just a smidge o' pidge." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x doorbell" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 168 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOORBELL Floyd | Floyd | Strangely totemic, it has a button for you to press and a grill - such Floyd | as you might find on the visor of the villain in a sci-fi movie - for Floyd | you talk into. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take ends" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 168 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE ENDS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, "We don't need a smoke that bad" | |
| Doug asks, "shall we ring?" | ||
| DavidW says, "I didn't sit on this bench when I played and missed seeing the cig butts." | ||
| Doug x window | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x window" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 168 Floyd | Floyd | > X WINDOW Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug oops | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x bow-window" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 168
Floyd |
Floyd | > X BOW-WINDOW
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 169 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOOR Floyd | Floyd | Blueish. Doorish. Very very lockedish. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "ha" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "ring" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 169 Floyd | Floyd | > RING Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "push" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 169 Floyd | Floyd | > PUSH Floyd | Floyd | What do you want to push? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "button" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 170 Floyd | Floyd | > BUTTON Floyd | Floyd | You depress the button and listen to the silence while you wait. You Floyd | do not trust the doorbell. It demands your faith yet gives you no Floyd | miracles. It doesn't even buzz to let you know it's actually Floyd | functional. Finally, just when you have given up all hope in the Floyd | doorbell, there is a crackling from behind the grill and a distorted Floyd | voice asks what you want. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to grill" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 171 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO GRILL Floyd | Floyd | You mumble your name into the grill, and explain you have come to get Floyd | Celine. A warped sigh gusts out of the grill with such force you are Floyd | surprised it doesn't ruffle your hair. Then crackling dies away and Floyd | the grill speaks to you no further. You assume that that means Floyd | someone is coming to open the door but for all you know they could be Floyd | activating the lever that drops you into the alligator pit. Floyd | Floyd | You are starting to wonder if perhaps they've forgotten you're there, Floyd | or if answering the doorbell is a mere hobby, when there comes the Floyd | sound of muted rattling and banging from behind the door as someone on Floyd | the other side begins the ceremony required to open it. It is finally Floyd | eased open, just enough for you to squeeze through, by a Nurse, Floyd | glowering at the effort required to perform the most basic tenets of Floyd | her job. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x nurse" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 172 Floyd | Floyd | > X NURSE Floyd | Floyd | You recognise her as Celine's Named Nurse, although you're damned if Floyd | you can remember what she's called. But then it's only fair. She Floyd | would, after all, insist on calling Celine "Selin" (which she hated) Floyd | instead of Celine. "Like Celine Dion." Celine had tried to explain at Floyd | first. "Ohhhhhh," said the Nurse, in the voice reserved for Floyd | patronising utter crazies, "so *you're* Celine Dion." Celine had been Floyd | obliged to explain that she meant her name was spelled and pronounced Floyd | similarly to the singer's, not that she believed she actually was Floyd | Celine Dion. She told you about the misunderstanding later, laughing Floyd | to cover her embarrassment. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to nurse" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 173 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO NURSE Floyd | Floyd | You try to bring yourself to say something polite to her but it's like Floyd | forcing up a chicken bone. In the end your masochism only extends to Floyd | a grimace-like smile. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 174 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOOR Floyd | Floyd | The blue door stands open now, guarded by the Nurse. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "anyone want to do anything before we go in?" | |
| DavidW says, "not me. I'm surprised the nurse hasn't closed the door again already." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Carry on." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "in" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 175 Floyd | Floyd | > IN Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 176 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 177 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | The Nurse stands huffily by the door as if opening it for you has been Floyd | a Herculean labour the like of which she resented performing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "west" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 178 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you edge past the Nurse, she put out a log-like arm to momentarily Floyd | stop you entering. "You'll need to see the Doctor first," she says, Floyd | gruffly. "You can't take a patient away without the doctor's Floyd | permission." You nod your understanding, although your mind is full Floyd | of Escape from Alcatraz visions, search lights flashing, sirens Floyd | screaming and helicopters whirling overhead as you and Celine run, Floyd | hand in hand, giggling into a different coloured future. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "sorry" | |
| Doug asks, "what does nicotine smell like?" | ||
| DavidW says, "cigarettes" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x pinboards" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 179 Floyd | Floyd | > X PINBOARDS Floyd | Floyd | They are covered in slightly scrappy, utilitarian messages. The names Floyd | of the nurses on shift. Advertisements for a workshop on Coping with Floyd | Psychosis. The telephone number for Mind The Mental Health Charity Floyd | (or, as their charity shop reminds you, Mind The Step). Various Floyd | advocacy services in case you should happen to find yourself in One Floyd | Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x bookshelf" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 180 Floyd | Floyd | > X BOOKSHELF Floyd | Floyd | There are overly-rifled paperbacks, yellowed by use, stuffed Floyd | haphazardly onto the shelves. A quick glance at the spines reveals Floyd | them to be without exception the kind of airport novels you probably Floyd | wouldn't want to read even at an airport. Or in a loony bin. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x table" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 181 Floyd | Floyd | > X TABLE Floyd | Floyd | A plain, square table piled with sweating glossy magazines. The Floyd | titles blare at you but, somehow, do not appeal. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, "Coping with Pyschosis: Your Voices and You" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get magazine" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 181 Floyd | Floyd | > GET MAGAZINE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get magazines" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 181 Floyd | Floyd | > GET MAGAZINES Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "ok. which way?" | |
| Zach says, "Any which way" | ||
| DavidW says, "no comment" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 182 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "The mystery of the bow-window revealed!" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x artwork" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 182 Floyd | Floyd | > X ARTWORK Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x art" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 183 Floyd | Floyd | > X ART Floyd | Floyd | You stare for a bit at the collage of pictures. They seem touched by Floyd | neither madness nor genius. They look, in fact, like the sort of Floyd | pictures you would attempt if you were in hospital and weren't very Floyd | good at drawing. One shows a childishly circular moon hanging in a Floyd | bruise coloured sky. Another, with precision but not skill, reflects Floyd | the building in which you stand. Someone has attempted a wolf, a Floyd | bemused-looking, lopsided wolf. A bowl of fruit, faded with apathy. A Floyd | tree, competent but for the hostile angles of its bared branches. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x wall" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 183 Floyd | Floyd | > X WALL Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach asks, "To the doctor?" | |
| DavidW says, "go for it" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 184 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | This is a typical Doctor's office. It has a clinical air, but no more Floyd | than you would expect. It is really very neat in here. The walls are Floyd | hung with what look to be modern art prints, all in identical frames, Floyd | imprisoned behind glass. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor is sitting behind the desk, his elbows resting atop it and Floyd | his chin upon the platform provided by his interlocked fingers. Floyd | Floyd | The door to the south leads back to the dining hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | He seems surprisingly young for his role. His hair is coal black and Floyd | his eyes only one shade lighter, stark against the white coat that Floyd | hangs open over an austere pinstriped suit. He has a stern, unlovely Floyd | face and returns your regard steadily. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd |
Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes?" The Doctor's voice is not quite impatient, but the clipped
Floyd | quality of it suggests it very soon will be. "You know I cannot
Floyd | accede to your ..." He stops abruptly, as if searching for a word, and
Floyd | settles finally on "...request". I suggest you let me send you home,
Floyd | where you belong."
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd |
Floyd | > G
Floyd |
Floyd | Please answer yes or no.>
| Zach asks, "No?" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "no" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 186 Floyd | Floyd | > NO Floyd | Floyd | At your refusal, the Doctor frowns. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "that's a weird decision point" | |
| Zach says, "Yeah." | ||
| Doug asks, "why would a player say yes there?" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "cf11" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185 Floyd | Ok. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I never did try answering yes there, but I assume the game ends there if you do say yes." | |
| Zach says, "I don't know. I'll see what happens" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd |
Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes?" The Doctor's voice is not quite impatient, but the clipped
Floyd | quality of it suggests it very soon will be. "You know I cannot
Floyd | accede to your ..." He stops abruptly, as if searching for a word, and
Floyd | settles finally on "...request". I suggest you let me send you home,
Floyd | where you belong."
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Home Again 186 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | "I confess, you have surprised me," says the Doctor, although he does Floyd | not look displeased about it. "I had not anticipated that you would Floyd | be so ... reasonable." He stands. "I am sorry for your loss." His Floyd | hand upon your shoulder is ice cold even though layers of fabric but Floyd | it only hurts for a moment and then the Doctor, his office, and the Floyd | Warneford are gone... Floyd | Floyd | Home Again Floyd | You are standing on the pavement outside your house. The street looks Floyd | exactly as it always looks, except evening has crept fully across the Floyd | sky during your wanderings and the nascent night is definitely cold. Floyd | You are conscious, for a second or two, of a vague nagging feeling, as Floyd | if you have left something behind, but it passes swiftly. Hinksey Floyd | Park still lies, like a shadow, to the northwest and the rest of the Floyd | world awaits in every other direction. The door to your house stands Floyd | before you, waiting for you to open it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Home Again 187 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "I guess we left Celine behind..." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||
Floyd ] Home Again 187 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN DOOR Floyd | Floyd | The brass handle is as cold as the night air beneath your hand but, Floyd | for once, the door does not stick. It swings open before you in Floyd | invitation, spilling a treasury's worth of light over the front path. Floyd | Warm air rushes out to greet you and, from within, you hear the Floyd | strains of speech and laughter rising like a phoenix Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Friendship", one of four possible endings for Eurydice. To Floyd | discover another, have you tried looking for Celine in the hospital? Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | Jacqueline says, "Well, it's like those CYOAs that on the first page say, 'If you say, "Yes! I like drinking foaming, glowing liquid from a stranger's cup made from a bull's horn!" turn to page 72. If you instead decide that really, you hate adventuring... and besides, you have homework to do, turn to page 2.'" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "cf11" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| Zach says, "Heh." | |
| Zach says, ""Friendship" doesn't sound like a terrible ending though." | ||
| maga says, "the choice is meaningful, just not meaningful as a choice" | ||
| Doug asks, "I guess that choice was supposed to represent choosing to be satisfied with the friends we have rather than trying to bring back the dead?" | ||
| Zach asks, "Maybe not trying to bring her back meant we found friendship with the others?" | ||
| Zach says, "Yeah. Trying to bring someone back from the dead isn't really the healthiest thing." | ||
| DavidW says, "anyway, talk to doctor, no." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd |
Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes?" The Doctor's voice is not quite impatient, but the clipped
Floyd | quality of it suggests it very soon will be. "You know I cannot
Floyd | accede to your ..." He stops abruptly, as if searching for a word, and
Floyd | settles finally on "...request". I suggest you let me send you home,
Floyd | where you belong."
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "no" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 186 Floyd | Floyd | > NO Floyd | Floyd | At your refusal, the Doctor frowns. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 187 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | Before you can speak again, the Doctor forestalls you. "I'm afraid Floyd | you will not change my mind with tragic looks or eloquent words. I Floyd | have seen and heard them all a hundred throusand million times Floyd | before." You wonder, briefly, whether you are supposed to challenge Floyd | him to a game of chess or, possibly riddles. "I cannot be tricked," Floyd | he says, as if in answer. "Nor changed. It is not my nature." Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "haha 'throusand'. I like it" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 188 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | "Your insistence is as wearisome as it is predictable," comments the Floyd | Doctor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 189 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | Time seems to unravel around you like the fraying threads of a Floyd | tapestry as you lift the lyre into your arms. The Doctor is on his on Floyd | his feet, his face pale with fury and his eyes ablaze, but it's too Floyd | late to stop you. Music fills the air like cherry blossom, sweetly Floyd | drifting, falling like fleeting kisses upon the senses and fading as Floyd | swiftly as a summer evening. For a moment, the Doctor is tranfixed, Floyd | his face naked in pain and sorrow, and then his cold hands are Floyd | wrenching the lyre from your grasp. The notes shatter into rainbows Floyd | of refracted light and then they're gone. There is a vicious crack, Floyd | like a bone breaking, and the Doctor flings the pieces of the lyre to Floyd | the floor. In seconds nothing remains of the lyre but a sprinkling of Floyd | dust the colour of old blood. "Take her then," he cries, "take her Floyd | and may damnation have you both. You'll find Celine in the gardens Floyd | beyond the Sun Room. Take her with you, as you wish, but remember: Floyd | don't turn around, or she's mine forever. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "didn't expect that to work." | |
| DavidW says, "hm. Wondered how that would work." | ||
| Zach says, "Woah" | ||
| Doug says, "shame about the lyre" | ||
| DavidW says, "It wasn't what I did." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "..." | ||
| Zach says, "I wonder if one of the 4 endings was saying no to the ferryman? Or if that was just the Friendship ending again." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 190 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Zach), "maybe" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 191 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | A young-ish, not entirely unpretty woman, who steals from the other Floyd | inmates and has no visitors, is staring blankly out of a window at the Floyd | shadow-sloshed world outside. She turns, smiles hopefully and shyly Floyd | at you and then flees. You try to feel more kindness towards her but Floyd | she pilfered Celine's favourite perfume. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 192 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | Now you notice a set of doors at the back of the room have been flung Floyd | wide open, drawing you like a beckoning finger, west, towards the Floyd | shadow-smothered gardens. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x bed" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 192 Floyd | Floyd | > X BED Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 193 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Gardens Floyd | Somebody tried. Here there are the elements of a garden. Grass, Floyd | although it is mainly mud. Banks of soil where perhaps flowers might Floyd | grow. Squatting shrubs, hunched in upon themselves. And in Floyd | silhouette the anorexic shapes of trees, stripped before the oncoming Floyd | winter. Moonlight forms puddles here and there. Floyd | Floyd | The Sun room waits to the east. Floyd | Floyd | Celine is sitting on a stone bench. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 194 Floyd | Floyd | > X CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine is beautiful but not today. The monochrome palette of the Floyd | Warneford has wrung her out. Her clothes are too black, her skin is Floyd | too pale, her eyes too dark. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 195 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine smiles to see you, convincing gladness, desperate eyes. You Floyd | exchange the usual greetings, the usual enquiries, and, as ever, she Floyd | thanks you for coming to see her, as if it is a kind and wonderful Floyd | thing and not a terrible strain for both of you. You tell her silly Floyd | stories of the colour of the October leaves and how much you're Floyd | looking forward to the blossom trees. She listens, and laughs, and Floyd | pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "hm, should have tried to talk to young-ish woman" | |
| Zach says, "I assumed that was the nurse that opened the door" | ||
| DavidW says, "no, it's someone else." | ||
| Doug says, "oh, nevermind, she fled" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 196 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine is not feeling so good and will only tell you so if you press Floyd | her. She has - quite literally - forgotten the way home, along with Floyd | everything she learned on her art history course last term. She has Floyd | forgotten the tombstone cake you made for Jess's birthday. She has Floyd | forgotten Rick's parents are dead. She has forgotten the entirety of Floyd | Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It'll come back, you tell her, don't worry, Floyd | and anyway we can watch it all over again - think how much fun that'll Floyd | be. She listens, and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Omg. She's even forgotten Buffy?" | |
| Zach says, "Heh, I was going to make a Buffy joke about trying to bring back the dead" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Now I really am thinking maga wrote this." | ||
| Doug asks, "so how do we get her to follow us?" | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 197 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline exclaims, "We can lure her will pills!" | |
| Jacqueline says, "Kidding again." | ||
| maga says (to Jacq), "I would never advocate punting from the Oxford end" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give coat to Celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 198 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE COAT TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I suppose >TAKE CELINE, or just head back and assume she's following." | |
| Zach says, "So much for trying to be a gentleman" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 199 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine tells you her secrets, the ones she hasn't forgotten, the ones Floyd | you wish she could forget, the ones she has forgotten you already Floyd | know. You try to make it okay with your words. And Celine listens, Floyd | and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 200 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You are determined not to leave this place this time without Celine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kiss celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 201 Floyd | Floyd | > KISS CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Keep your mind on the game. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "celine, go east" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 202
Floyd |
Floyd | > CELINE, GO EAST
Floyd |
Floyd | (To communicate in Eurydice, TALK TO a character.)
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| Jacqueline says (to maga), "But it seems more stable." | |
| Jacqueline says, "Easier to navigate." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "clubf take celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 202 Floyd | Floyd | > CLUBF TAKE CELINE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), " take celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 203 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE CELINE Floyd | Floyd | I don't suppose Celine would care for that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give pills to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 204 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PILLS TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "But I know this is heresy to you." | |
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 205 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly you remember. It's time to go home. "Will you follow me?" Floyd | you ask, and Celine nods. She seems only a little afraid. Floyd | Floyd | > | maga says, "from behind and on top: that has always been the Cambridge way" | |
| Jacqueline says, "snrk" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 206 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Gardens Floyd | Somebody tried. Here there are the elements of a garden. Grass, Floyd | although it is mainly mud. Banks of soil where perhaps flowers might Floyd | grow. Squatting shrubs, hunched in upon themselves. And in Floyd | silhouette the anorexic shapes of trees, stripped before the oncoming Floyd | winter. Moonlight forms puddles here and there. Floyd | Floyd | The Sun room waits to the east. Floyd | Floyd | Celine is sitting on a stone bench. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "sit" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 206 Floyd | Floyd | > SIT Floyd | Floyd | What do you want to sit on? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "sit" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 206 Floyd | Floyd | > SIT Floyd | Floyd | What do you want to sit on? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "sit on bench" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 207 Floyd | Floyd | > SIT ON BENCH Floyd | Floyd | That's not something you can sit down on. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "sit on celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 208 Floyd | Floyd | > SIT ON CELINE Floyd | Floyd | That's not something you can sit down on. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "sorry" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 209 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | "You will follow me, won't you?" you say again and Celine assures you Floyd | she will. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "fourth time's a charm!" | |
| DavidW says, "so was third" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 210 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | As you enter the sunroom from the gardens, your own footsteps sound on Floyd | the floor but you hear no others. Perhaps Celine has not followed as Floyd | promised she would. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "oh, sorry, missed that" | |
| DavidW says, "remember, no turning around!" | ||
| Zach asks, "Want to see what happens if we do?" | ||
| Doug says, "that was the fourth time (and fifth time)" | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Did the instructions imply that 'double back' (tsd, too) would work if needed?" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "cf12" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: Floyd ] Sun Room 210 Floyd | Ok. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "That it would also count as turning around, yes." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "turn around" | ||
Floyd ] Marlborough Road Again 211 Floyd | Floyd | > TURN AROUND Floyd | Floyd | You are assailed by the sudden certainty that Celine has not followed Floyd | you and that you are alone, going home without her, that the Doctor Floyd | and everyone else in this terrible place have taken you for a fool. Floyd | You whirl round, ready to re-trace your steps, to find her again and Floyd | save her, to drag her out of here if you have to. Your heart lurches. Floyd | Dizziness sweeps over you. The Warneford is dissolves around you like Floyd | damp sugar. You feel as though you're about to faint, and the last Floyd | thing you see before you lose track of everything is Celine, Floyd | wide-eyed, standing behind you. Floyd | Floyd | Marlborough Road Again Floyd | Marlborough Road is greyish in the dawn. It seems you have been Floyd | wandering all night long. You are tired and cold, but this knowledge Floyd | beats only half-heartedly against your mind. The world is a formless Floyd | shadow around you and the door to the house stands before you, waiting Floyd | for you to open it. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "did we ever go south from the entrance?" | |
| DavidW says (to Doug), "no" | ||
| Zach says, "No, I was wondering about that" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||
Floyd ] Marlborough Road Again 211 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN DOOR Floyd | Floyd | The brass handle is chill beneath your already chilled hands, but even Floyd | that is not enough to rouse you. You shove open the door and step Floyd | into the waiting silence Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis. *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Failure", one of four possible endings for Eurydice. To Floyd | discover another, perhaps you should be more careful not to turn Floyd | around or double back on yourself when Celine is following you. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | Doug says, "two down" | |
| Zach asks, "I guess trying the south room would count as doubling back now?" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "restore cf12" | ||
Floyd ] Marlborough Road Again 211 Floyd | Floyd | > RESTORE CF12 Floyd | Floyd | Please give one of the answers above. Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf12" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 210
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 211 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | You strain to hear even the slightest hint of movement but there is Floyd | nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps you have been tricked. Yes, that Floyd | seems very likely. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "btw, 'push restore' should also work." | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 212 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Regardless of trickery, you cannot see any advantage in going to the Floyd | women's corridor at the moment. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "we can try that later from an earlier save I guess" | |
| Zach asks, "Yeah. Want to do that, or finish with this ending first?" | ||
| Doug says, "let's keep going" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 213 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You look around for the nurse but then notice that the door seems to Floyd | be standing very slightly ajar. You seize the opportunity and slip Floyd | through Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing that follows you now, it seems, is silence. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 214 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 215 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Warneford exit Floyd | Here on the Warneford lawn again you can see a streak of lightness at Floyd | the eastern edge of the sky. Behind you, a smear of gold and grey, is Floyd | the Warneford. Before you, to the northwest, the wrought iron gates, Floyd | as tall as thistles to a child, inevitably sealed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 216 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | You can't, the gates bar your way, as insurmountable as death itself. Floyd | All you can do now is turn around. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "well dang" | |
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 217 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN GATES Floyd | Floyd | You throw yourself at the gates but you know even as you do that Floyd | there will be no opening them. The metal tears at the skin of your Floyd | hands and you send a chorus of clattering to the silent sky. They are Floyd | securely sealed and there is no forcing them. You can't go back, you Floyd | can't go through them. It's time to turn around. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 218 Floyd | Floyd | > SEARCH GATES Floyd | Floyd | You find nothing of interest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 219 Floyd | Floyd | > X GATES Floyd | Floyd | They look exactly the same as they did before, but they're sealed Floyd | shut, barred and implaccable. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "climb gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 220 Floyd | Floyd | > CLIMB GATES Floyd | Floyd | I don't think much is to be achieved by that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "placc gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 220 Floyd | Floyd | > PLACC GATES Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "knock" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 220 Floyd | Floyd | > KNOCK Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Doug), "I think you mean placate" | |
| Doug says, "placcate :)" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "turn around" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 221 Floyd | Floyd | > TURN AROUND Floyd | Floyd | You turn around slowly, as you know you inevitably must. Celine is Floyd | standing behind you, smiling. The rising sun gleams upon her hair and Floyd | in her eyes, her cheeks flushed with the first light of dawn. The Floyd | grass at her feet is a carpet of flowers and as you rush into her Floyd | opening arms you find yourself clutching at nothing but a flurry of Floyd | petals the colour of her lipstick. Floyd | Floyd | And Back Again Floyd | Marlborough Road looks exactly as it did when you left it, except it Floyd | is greyish in the dawn. It seems you have been wandering all night Floyd | long. Your house is dark and quiet behind its curtained windows, as Floyd | if it has closed its eyes. The world waits at your back, the front Floyd | door lies ahead, waiting for you to open it. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "ok, turn around I guess" | |
| Zach says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 221 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN DOOR Floyd | Floyd | As you reach out to the door handle, a flash of colour catches your Floyd | eye. There is a flower petal stuck to your palm. Shaken free by your Floyd | movement, it drifts to the ground, gleaming briefly in the gloom. The Floyd | door swings open and you step inside, into neither emptiness nor cold, Floyd | and your hand warm as if someone holds it still. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Flowers", one four possible endings of Eurydice. To discover Floyd | another, have you tried playing the lyre more? Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | Doug says, "hm" | |
| DavidW asks, "Do all the endings have names beginning with F? Friendship, Failure, Flowers, ...?" | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Our smashed lyre?" | ||
| Doug asks, "I guess that represents... a satisfying reminiscence, that lets us move on with life?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "An homage to Zork II..." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "(Again, kidding.)" | ||
| Doug says, "I guess we'll need to play the lyre before the doctor" | ||
| Zach asks (of DavidW), "You said you got an ending without playing the lyre to the doctor?" | ||
| Doug says, "we haven't used the pills yet either." | ||
| DavidW says, "I saw the Flowers ending, but I didn't play the lyre for the doctor." | ||
| DavidW says, "And I never had the pills either." | ||
| maga says, "pretty much every puzzle has a non-lyre solution" | ||
| Zach asks, "Ah. We could have given the dog pills?" | ||
| Zach asks, "Could we have played the lyre to our friends? To the snake?" | ||
| DavidW says, "I probably shouldn't explain what I did until you've at least seen the south part of the hospital." | ||
| Zach asks, "Could we have started an emo-folk band?" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "cf11" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 186 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 187 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | You hear footsteps behind you, slapping like wet fish against the Floyd | grey hospital floor. You freeze and half-turn but then they recede. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 188 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Women's Corridor Floyd | The greyness unrolls before you like the tongue of a sick frog. This Floyd | sign above your head (this is not an exit) reminds you that it's women Floyd | only past this point, but who is going to see you at this time of Floyd | night? Floyd | Floyd | Identical doors, all closed but for the one that stands slightly ajar Floyd | to the west, line the corridor. Going north will return you to the Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 189 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Celine's Room Floyd | The memories of past visits rise up to gnaw at you like wolves. You Floyd | see Celine, sitting on the bed, the colour washed out of her by her Floyd | surroundings, her knees pulled up to her chin. Jess is there beside Floyd | her, back to the wall, feet dangling off the end of the bed. You'd Floyd | snuck in and you're kneeling on the floor, elbows folded on the Floyd | coverlet. You're probably pretty damn uncomfortable. Spread out Floyd | between you are brightly coloured cards. You're playing Once Upon A Floyd | Time, a game for telling fairytales. "Are you sure I used to like Floyd | this?" Celine is asking. "Yes," you say, "it's one of your Floyd | favourites." "You used to win all the time," Jess adds. Celine Floyd | laughs, uncertain. "That doesn't seem very likely," she says. "It'll Floyd | come back," you say, half-reassuring, half-pleading. Except it, of Floyd | course, doesn't. None of it does. Floyd | Floyd | A small, perfectly square, yellow-painted room, probably identical to Floyd | all the others on this corridor. The carpet is a greyish-blue, only Floyd | slightly stained. There is a pine-coloured wardrobe and bedside Floyd | table, a single bed and a chair. There are signs of occupation - the Floyd | black cardigan hanging on the back of the chair, books and a radio on Floyd | the bedside table - but it's not the kind of room you can personalise. Floyd | It is a transitory space. Above the bed, the wall is splashed with a Floyd | grid of cards and postcards, twenty or thirty of them maybe, pinned up Floyd | there as bright as butterfly wings. Floyd | Floyd | You can see the Women's Corridor through the door to the east. Floyd | Floyd | On the narrow strip of a windowsill is a houseplant, another daub of Floyd | colour. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "oh, so we're not female?" | |
| maga says, "yeah, I was surprised by that, too" | ||
| maga says, "up until that point I'd been reading the PC as very intentionall gender-ambiguous" | ||
| maga says, "er, intentionally" | ||
| Zach says, "I kind of thought we had a thing for Celine" | ||
| Doug says, "Rick called us "m'dear', but I guess that's just English and not feminine" | ||
| Doug says, "and yeah, when the game started I assumed we were Celine's boyfriend. probably my own gender bias though" | ||
| Zach says, "Because when we looked at John we thought of seeing them together." | ||
| maga says (to Doug), "well, campy English, but that's right for the milieu" | ||
| Zach says, "And I thought the PC might have been jealous" | ||
| Zach says, "I think there was a mention of Celine when we entered John's room" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x cards" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 190 Floyd | Floyd | > X CARDS Floyd | Floyd | You open a couple of the cards at random. Your own handwriting greets Floyd | you. All the cheerful, loving, desperate, tender, thoughtful, silly, Floyd | downright banal words you sent, as if they could make a difference. A Floyd | card for every day that passed. But not enough. How could they be? Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "my guess was that John was Celine's ex" | |
| Jacqueline says, "I thought we were female and had a thing for her, and that possibly she was once with John,." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Timing." | ||
| maga says, "it's boho studentland: everybody is bisexual and screwing everybody else" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x plant" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 191 Floyd | Floyd | > X PLANT Floyd | Floyd | This is Sylvia (after Sylvia Plath who also, we know, went mad), an Floyd | Anthurium with dark red flowers, all Georgia o'Keefe. It was a gift Floyd | you nearly weren't permitted to give because of the toxic leaves. "No Floyd | committing suicide by eating Sylvia," you said, pretending to Floyd | admonish. And how Celine had laughed. "I promise not to kill myself Floyd | by eating an anthurium," she said with mock solemnitude, knowing at Floyd | least ten better ways to do it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x cardigan" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 192 Floyd | Floyd | > X CARDIGAN Floyd | Floyd | An ankle-length black wool cardigan, thick and soft, the sort of Floyd | garment you could curl up inside and feel comforted. You think it was Floyd | a present from John. The smell of the Warneford and cigarette smoke Floyd | clings to it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x radio" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 193 Floyd | Floyd | > X RADIO Floyd | Floyd | You thought it might help her pass the difficult, interminable hours. Floyd | It didn't. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "open wardrobe" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 193 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN WARDROBE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "hey, I have that game (Once Upon a Time)" | |
| Jacqueline says, "I also have this odd sensation that, while the author lives in the UK, they may not be from the UK." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "take cardigan" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 194 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE CARDIGAN Floyd | Floyd | You don't want the cardigan. When her parents came to take everything Floyd | that was left of her, you told yourself that people were not their Floyd | things. You have to keep believing that because otherwise you'll have Floyd | nothing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 195 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get plant" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 196 Floyd | Floyd | > GET PLANT Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 197 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Celine's Room Floyd | A small, perfectly square, yellow-painted room, probably identical to Floyd | all the others on this corridor. The carpet is a greyish-blue, only Floyd | slightly stained. There is a pine-coloured wardrobe and bedside Floyd | table, a single bed and a chair. There are signs of occupation - the Floyd | black cardigan hanging on the back of the chair, books and a radio on Floyd | the bedside table - but it's not the kind of room you can personalise. Floyd | It is a transitory space. Above the bed, the wall is splashed with a Floyd | grid of cards and postcards, twenty, thirty, forty of them maybe, Floyd | pinned up there as bright as butterfly wings. Floyd | Floyd | You can see the Women's Corridor through the door to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x books" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 197 Floyd | Floyd | > X BOOKS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cards" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 198 Floyd | Floyd | > X CARDS Floyd | Floyd | You open a couple of the cards at random. Your own handwriting greets Floyd | you. All the cheerful, loving, desperate, tender, thoughtful, silly, Floyd | downright banal words you sent, as if they could make a difference. A Floyd | card for every day that passed. But not enough. How could they be? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "eat plant" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 199 Floyd | Floyd | > EAT PLANT Floyd | Floyd | That's plainly inedible. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "please, please, don't eat the daisies," | |
| Zach asks, "I guess we can give the plant to Celine?" | ||
| Doug says, "sure" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 200 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Women's Corridor Floyd | The greyness unrolls before you like the tongue of a sick frog. This Floyd | sign above your head (this is not an exit) reminds you that it's women Floyd | only past this point, but who is going to see you at this time of Floyd | night? Floyd | Floyd | Identical doors, all closed but for the one that stands slightly ajar Floyd | to the west, line the corridor. Going north will return you to the Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 201 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | An inmate, a sallow-complexioned, heavy-set man, pauses in the act of Floyd | taking a book from the bookshelf. "Cunt, you fucking cunt," he says, Floyd | quite distinctly, as he walks away from you, the book stuffed under Floyd | his arm. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 202 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | There is a woman curled up on one of the wicker chairs, looking away Floyd | from you, out over the shadowed grounds. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 203 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | All the doors and windows are locked up tight, there's no way out. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 204 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | A man shuffles past you down the grey corridor. He is tall and Floyd | overweight, and he looks wrong. It is something in the way the weight Floyd | is distributed, distending his hair-speckled belly so that it hangs Floyd | below his T-shirt, swaying slightly as if something is actually inside Floyd | it. An alien baby perhaps. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 203 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "x woman" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 204 Floyd | Floyd | > X WOMAN Floyd | Floyd | She seems to be at the unforgiving end of the spectrum of middle-age, Floyd | her face worn and withered by the cold glare of the moon. Shadows Floyd | emphasise the gauntness of her cheeks and define in cruel charcoal the Floyd | lines that radiate from her eyes. Her coarse, ash blonde hair falls Floyd | straight to her waist and hangs like dead weight. Garlands of Floyd | withered flowers give her the air of an aging hippie. Under your Floyd | scrutiny, she turns her head in your direction and smiles and you feel Floyd | a fleeting trace of warmth. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to woman" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 205 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO WOMAN Floyd | Floyd | Hesitantly you offer a polite greeting and are relieved when the woman Floyd | turns away from the window and smiles at you in return. If she is an Floyd | inmate she is, at least, not antisocially mad. "Hello," she says, "I Floyd | can see that you're a visitor." Her voice is as deep and rich as Floyd | freshly turned earth. You think of honey-drunk bees and heavy, golden Floyd | days. "So am I," she says. "At least, I think I am. It's sometimes Floyd | so hard to tell." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 206 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | She turns away from you again towards the windows. "I wish I could Floyd | make something flourish here," she says. "I can sometimes make things Floyd | grow but it's not the same." She strokes a hand absently through the Floyd | brittle strands of her hair. "I miss the colours of things. It all Floyd | fades so quickly. What's your favourite colour," she asks, suddenly, Floyd | with a glance in your direction. You tell her and she smiles again. Floyd | "Of course it is," she says. "Mine is green." Same as Celine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 207 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | She is plucking at her skirt. As the fabric moves you realise it Floyd | isn't grey, as you first thought, but a pale green, all but washed Floyd | out. "I'm truly sorry about your friend," she says. And there must Floyd | be a look on your face that makes her add: "That is why you're here, Floyd | isn't it?" Her voice is gentle and her eyes are pale and sad in the Floyd | moonlight. "You know you shouldn't have come. She can't leave with Floyd | you." She is silent a moment. When she continues speaking the Floyd | reassurance in her voice is as warm as sunlight against your skin. Floyd | "Of course you'll miss her. It will never be easy but it will be Floyd | easier than this. And one day you'll stop and be surprised at just Floyd | how easy it is. Then I'm afraid you'll feel guilty but that, too, Floyd | will pass. As it should." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 208 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | The woman smiles reassuringly at you and her regard travels across Floyd | your skin, leaving a glissando of fading warmth in its wake. Then she Floyd | turns away and casts her gaze out of the window again, moonlight Floyd | etching the lines on her face. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Beautiful." | |
| Zach says, "Yeah" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 209 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | There is a woman curled up on one of the wicker chairs, looking away Floyd | from you, out over the shadowed grounds. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 210 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | One of Celine's few friends (one to whom you have lost endless games Floyd | of Scrabble) passes you with a nod and a greeting. "I'm very much Floyd | looking forward to the coping with psychosis workshop tomorrow," he Floyd | comments, with a look so wry and self-knowing you cannot help but Floyd | laugh. He waves and vanishes into his room. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 211 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 212 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | This is a typical Doctor's office. It has a clinical air, but no more Floyd | than you would expect. It is really very neat in here. The walls are Floyd | hung with what look to be modern art prints, all in identical frames, Floyd | imprisoned behind glass. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor is sitting behind the desk, his elbows resting atop it and Floyd | his chin upon the platform provided by his interlocked fingers. Floyd | Floyd | The door to the south leads back to the dining hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 212
Floyd |
Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes?" The Doctor's voice is not quite impatient, but the clipped
Floyd | quality of it suggests it very soon will be. "You know I cannot
Floyd | accede to your ..." He stops abruptly, as if searching for a word, and
Floyd | settles finally on "...request". I suggest you let me send you home,
Floyd | where you belong."
| ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "no" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 213 Floyd | Floyd | > NO Floyd | Floyd | At your refusal, the Doctor frowns. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give plant to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 214 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PLANT TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | Hades doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I suppose I'm not allowed to say what ought to be done next." | |
| Doug says, "the doctor's name is Hades? I missed that" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "show pills to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 215 Floyd | Floyd | > SHOW PILLS TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | Hades is unimpressed. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Hades' name wasn't mentioned until that default message used it." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 216 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | Before you can speak again, the Doctor forestalls you. "I'm afraid Floyd | you will not change my mind with tragic looks or eloquent words. I Floyd | have seen and heard them all a hundred throusand million times Floyd | before." You wonder, briefly, whether you are supposed to challenge Floyd | him to a game of chess or, possibly riddles. "I cannot be tricked," Floyd | he says, as if in answer. "Nor changed. It is not my nature." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 217 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | "Your insistence is as wearisome as it is predictable," comments the Floyd | Doctor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 218 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | "Your insistence is as wearisome as it is predictable," comments the Floyd | Doctor. Floyd | Floyd | > | Zach says, "..DavidW" | |
| Zach says (to DavidW), "Yeah" | ||
| Doug asks, "so is the deal that Celine doesn't actually show up until we persuade the doctor?" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "I, personally speaking, am fine with the other endings just being revealed. I'm working on transcripts and just enjoying the show as it scrolls by at this point." | ||
| Zach says, "Me too" | ||
| DavidW says (to Doug), "More or less, yes." | ||
| maga says, "but there is more than one way to accomplish this" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kill doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 219 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | Violence isn't the answer to this one. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 220 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | This is a typical Doctor's office. It has a clinical air, but no more Floyd | than you would expect. It is really very neat in here. The walls are Floyd | hung with what look to be modern art prints, all in identical frames, Floyd | imprisoned behind glass. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor is sitting behind the desk, his elbows resting atop it and Floyd | his chin upon the platform provided by his interlocked fingers. Floyd | Floyd | The door to the south leads back to the dining hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x prints" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 221 Floyd | Floyd | > X PRINTS Floyd | Floyd | You look at each of the paintings in turn. They are placed a precise Floyd | intervals along the grey wall. Each print has the name of the piece Floyd | and the artist printed along the bottom. First, there is a Rothko, Floyd | Blue, Green, and Brown. Then IKB 73. And finally Composition in Red, Floyd | Blue, and Yellow. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x ikb" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 221 Floyd | Floyd | > X IKB Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x ikb 73" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 221 Floyd | Floyd | > X IKB 73 Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I was so sure those colours were a code sequence to unlock something else." | |
| Doug says, "heh" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x desk" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 222 Floyd | Floyd | > X DESK Floyd | Floyd | A desk purchased for utility rather than aesthetics. Currently it Floyd | bears the darkened screen of a computer, and several precise stacks of Floyd | papers, each held down by a identical glass paperweight. There is Floyd | also a Newton's Cradle in stainless steel, ironic and incongruous. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x cradle" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 223 Floyd | Floyd | > X CRADLE Floyd | Floyd | The balls sway, eerily silent even when they collide, back and forth, Floyd | back and forth in perpetual motion. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get it" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 224 Floyd | Floyd | > GET IT Floyd | Floyd | You itch to fiddle with the toy but beneath the cold gaze of the Floyd | Doctor you dare not touch it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get paperweight" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 224 Floyd | Floyd | > GET PAPERWEIGHT Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x papers" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 224 Floyd | Floyd | > X PAPERS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x computer" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 224 Floyd | Floyd | > X COMPUTER Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "hm. I forgot to examine the desk. Sloppy of me." | |
| Doug asks, "perhaps we have to do something somewhere else that will cause the doctor to leave so we can play with the toy?" | ||
| Doug says, "or, just play the lyre for other people" | ||
| DavidW says, "tell him we wrapped his Lexus around a tree." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 225 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 226 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 226 Floyd | Floyd | > X DOOR Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "I'm confused, where is the door to the television room?" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x television" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 226 Floyd | Floyd | > X TELEVISION Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x television room" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 226 Floyd | Floyd | > X TELEVISION ROOM Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "It would have to be west, but it's not implemented." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 227 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | A young-ish, not entirely unpretty woman, who steals from the other Floyd | inmates and has no visitors, is staring blankly out of a window at the Floyd | shadow-sloshed world outside. She turns, smiles hopefully and shyly Floyd | at you and then flees. You try to feel more kindness towards her but Floyd | she pilfered Celine's favourite perfume. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 228 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | There is a woman curled up on one of the wicker chairs, looking away Floyd | from you, out over the shadowed grounds. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "There may be a map at the hospital's website." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 229 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | As you lift the lyre, a strange expression crosses the woman's face. Floyd | "Please don't do that, dear," she says. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "haha" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 230 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | A torrent of cherry blossom petals pours from between your fingers as Floyd | they move across the strings but as even as they spiral to the floor Floyd | they begin to wither and then they turn to ice and then they shatter Floyd | where they fall, and each breaking pricks your skin like a wasp sting. Floyd | And the lyre weeps and so does the woman, and the air all around you Floyd | grows cold and heavy and blots out everything until there is only Floyd | silence and the silver traces of disappearing tears and melting ice. Floyd | Your hands are empty; the lyre is gone. And the woman is looking at Floyd | you as if she doesn't like you much. "My husband.." she says "He Floyd | doesn't like ... he won't ... you'd better go. She's waiting for you Floyd | in the gardens, just through here. I'll open the door for you." She Floyd | crosses the room and fiddles with the lock. "Remember the rules," she Floyd | says, when she is finished. "Don't look back." And before you can Floyd | say any thing else, she hurries from the room. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "okay then." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 231 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | Now you notice a set of doors at the back of the room have been flung Floyd | wide open, drawing you like a beckoning finger, west, towards the Floyd | shadow-smothered gardens. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "still not how I did it." | |
| Zach asks, "Oh, I guess she's what's her name?" | ||
| Zach asks, "Persephone?" | ||
| DavidW says, "yes." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 232 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Gardens Floyd | Somebody tried. Here there are the elements of a garden. Grass, Floyd | although it is mainly mud. Banks of soil where perhaps flowers might Floyd | grow. Squatting shrubs, hunched in upon themselves. And in Floyd | silhouette the anorexic shapes of trees, stripped before the oncoming Floyd | winter. Moonlight forms puddles here and there. Floyd | Floyd | The Sun room waits to the east. Floyd | Floyd | Celine is sitting on a stone bench. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "so is this just going to go to the same ending?" | |
| DavidW says, "Probably." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "give plant to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 233 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PLANT TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "so hm, do we think the fourth ending involves playing the lyre for Celine?" | |
| Doug says, "I suppose we can try this and see if it's the same" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 234 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine smiles to see you, convincing gladness, desperate eyes. You Floyd | exchange the usual greetings, the usual enquiries, and, as ever, she Floyd | thanks you for coming to see her, as if it is a kind and wonderful Floyd | thing and not a terrible strain for both of you. You tell her silly Floyd | stories of the colour of the October leaves and how much you're Floyd | looking forward to the blossom trees. She listens, and laughs, and Floyd | pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 235 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine is not feeling so good and will only tell you so if you press Floyd | her. She has - quite literally - forgotten the way home, along with Floyd | everything she learned on her art history course last term. She has Floyd | forgotten the tombstone cake you made for Jess's birthday. She has Floyd | forgotten Rick's parents are dead. She has forgotten the entirety of Floyd | Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It'll come back, you tell her, don't worry, Floyd | and anyway we can watch it all over again - think how much fun that'll Floyd | be. She listens, and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 236 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine tells you her secrets, the ones she hasn't forgotten, the ones Floyd | you wish she could forget, the ones she has forgotten you already Floyd | know. You try to make it okay with your words. And Celine listens, Floyd | and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 237 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly you remember. It's time to go home. "Will you follow me?" Floyd | you ask, and Celine nods. She seems only a little afraid. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 238 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | As you enter the sunroom from the gardens, your own footsteps sound on Floyd | the floor but you hear no others. Perhaps Celine has not followed as Floyd | promised she would. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 239 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | You strain to hear even the slightest hint of movement but there is Floyd | nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps you have been tricked. Yes, that Floyd | seems very likely. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 240 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You look around for the nurse but then notice that the door seems to Floyd | be standing very slightly ajar. You seize the opportunity and slip Floyd | through Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing that follows you now, it seems, is silence. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 241 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 242 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Warneford exit Floyd | Here on the Warneford lawn again you can see a streak of lightness at Floyd | the eastern edge of the sky. Behind you, a smear of gold and grey, is Floyd | the Warneford. Before you, to the northwest, the wrought iron gates, Floyd | as tall as thistles to a child, inevitably sealed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 243 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 244 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | You can't, the gates bar your way, as insurmountable as death itself. Floyd | All you can do now is turn around. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "turn around" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 245 Floyd | Floyd | > TURN AROUND Floyd | Floyd | You turn around slowly, as you know you inevitably must. Celine is Floyd | standing behind you, smiling. The rising sun gleams upon her hair and Floyd | in her eyes, her cheeks flushed with the first light of dawn. The Floyd | grass at her feet is a carpet of flowers and as you rush into her Floyd | opening arms you find yourself clutching at nothing but a flurry of Floyd | petals the colour of her lipstick. Floyd | Floyd | And Back Again Floyd | Marlborough Road looks exactly as it did when you left it, except it Floyd | is greyish in the dawn. It seems you have been wandering all night Floyd | long. Your house is dark and quiet behind its curtained windows, as Floyd | if it has closed its eyes. The world waits at your back, the front Floyd | door lies ahead, waiting for you to open it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 245 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN DOOR Floyd | Floyd | As you reach out to the door handle, a flash of colour catches your Floyd | eye. There is a flower petal stuck to your palm. Shaken free by your Floyd | movement, it drifts to the ground, gleaming briefly in the gloom. The Floyd | door swings open and you step inside, into neither emptiness nor cold, Floyd | and your hand warm as if someone holds it still. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Flowers", one four possible endings of Eurydice. To discover Floyd | another, have you tried playing the lyre more? Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | Doug says, "check." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "RESTORE" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf12" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: Floyd ] Sun Room 210 Floyd | Ok. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "hm, we want 11?" | |
| Zach says, "Yeah, if you want to find the non-lyre solution" | ||
| Zach says, "To get to Celine" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf11" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 186 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 187 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 188 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Two nurses are standing by the pay phone, talking animatedly about Floyd | nothing you can catch. It is strange to hear giggles and whispering, Floyd | as if this was some kind of ordinary place. They fall silent as you Floyd | approach and then disappear into an office. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "did we try giving the pills to Persephone?" | |
| DavidW says, "I don't think so" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 189 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "I guess DavidW didn't use the pills" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 190 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Women's Corridor Floyd | The greyness unrolls before you like the tongue of a sick frog. This Floyd | sign above your head (this is not an exit) reminds you that it's women Floyd | only past this point, but who is going to see you at this time of Floyd | night? Floyd | Floyd | Identical doors, all closed but for the one that stands slightly ajar Floyd | to the west, line the corridor. Going north will return you to the Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 191 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 192 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Celine's Room Floyd | The memories of past visits rise up to gnaw at you like wolves. You Floyd | see Celine, sitting on the bed, the colour washed out of her by her Floyd | surroundings, her knees pulled up to her chin. Jess is there beside Floyd | her, back to the wall, feet dangling off the end of the bed. You'd Floyd | snuck in and you're kneeling on the floor, elbows folded on the Floyd | coverlet. You're probably pretty damn uncomfortable. Spread out Floyd | between you are brightly coloured cards. You're playing Once Upon A Floyd | Time, a game for telling fairytales. "Are you sure I used to like Floyd | this?" Celine is asking. "Yes," you say, "it's one of your Floyd | favourites." "You used to win all the time," Jess adds. Celine Floyd | laughs, uncertain. "That doesn't seem very likely," she says. "It'll Floyd | come back," you say, half-reassuring, half-pleading. Except it, of Floyd | course, doesn't. None of it does. Floyd | Floyd | A small, perfectly square, yellow-painted room, probably identical to Floyd | all the others on this corridor. The carpet is a greyish-blue, only Floyd | slightly stained. There is a pine-coloured wardrobe and bedside Floyd | table, a single bed and a chair. There are signs of occupation - the Floyd | black cardigan hanging on the back of the chair, books and a radio on Floyd | the bedside table - but it's not the kind of room you can personalise. Floyd | It is a transitory space. Above the bed, the wall is splashed with a Floyd | grid of cards and postcards, twenty or thirty of them maybe, pinned up | Zach says, "Let's get the plant again" | |
Floyd | there as bright as butterfly wings.
Floyd |
Floyd | You can see the Women's Corridor through the door to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the narrow strip of a windowsill is a houseplant, another daub of
Floyd | colour.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get plant" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 193 Floyd | Floyd | > GET PLANT Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "no, I never got into John's room, so I never used the pills." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get radio" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 194 Floyd | Floyd | > GET RADIO Floyd | Floyd | You can't really see reason to cart that around with you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x books" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 194 Floyd | Floyd | > X BOOKS Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 195 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 196 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Women's Corridor Floyd | The greyness unrolls before you like the tongue of a sick frog. This Floyd | sign above your head (this is not an exit) reminds you that it's women Floyd | only past this point, but who is going to see you at this time of Floyd | night? Floyd | Floyd | Identical doors, all closed but for the one that stands slightly ajar Floyd | to the west, line the corridor. Going north will return you to the Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 197 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | An inmate, a sallow-complexioned, heavy-set man, pauses in the act of Floyd | taking a book from the bookshelf. "Cunt, you fucking cunt," he says, Floyd | quite distinctly, as he walks away from you, the book stuffed under Floyd | his arm. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 198 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | There is a woman curled up on one of the wicker chairs, looking away Floyd | from you, out over the shadowed grounds. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to woman" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 199 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO WOMAN Floyd | Floyd | Hesitantly you offer a polite greeting and are relieved when the woman Floyd | turns away from the window and smiles at you in return. If she is an Floyd | inmate she is, at least, not antisocially mad. "Hello," she says, "I Floyd | can see that you're a visitor." Her voice is as deep and rich as Floyd | freshly turned earth. You think of honey-drunk bees and heavy, golden Floyd | days. "So am I," she says. "At least, I think I am. It's sometimes Floyd | so hard to tell." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give pills to woman" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 200 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PILLS TO WOMAN Floyd | Floyd | Persephone doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "ha" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give plant to woman" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 200
Floyd |
Floyd | > GIVE PLANT TO WOMAN
Floyd |
Floyd | The woman seems to light up as you offer her Celine's plant. For a
Floyd | brief moment, a cloud engulfs the moon and you think she might be, or
Floyd | once have been, quite beautiful. But then the moon bursts free and
Floyd | she's just an bare-foot oldish woman draped in dead flowers, clutching
Floyd | a pot plant like it's a priceless thing. "She's lovely," she says,
Floyd | running a reverent finger over one of the leaves. "I'll love her, I
Floyd | promise." There is a brief, awkward pause. "Oh." The woman fixes
Floyd | you with her moon-blanched eyes. "You want something in return, don't
Floyd | you? Of course you do. You want something foolish and impossible.
Floyd | You expect me to speak to my husband, don't you?
| DavidW says, "yes" | |
| Doug says, "huh." | ||
| Doug asks, "did she express interest in plants before?" | ||
| DavidW says, "yes" | ||
| Doug says, "sorry, missed it" | ||
| DavidW | "I wish I could make something flourish here," she says. "I can sometimes make things grow but it's not the same." | ||
| Doug says, "ohh right. I almost made a joke about Flourish there too." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "no" | ||
Floyd ] Home Again 201 Floyd | Floyd | > NO Floyd | Floyd | The woman smiles, but it is tinged with melancholy. "It's sweet that Floyd | you're willing to give me something for nothing but that's not the way Floyd | it works. Don't worry, I know a way to make it fair. I'm going to do Floyd | the best thing anyone could possibly do for you right now. You're not Floyd | going to agree with me but you will, in time. Before you can protest, Floyd | the woman rises - she is surprisingly tall and graceful - and takes Floyd | Sylvia from your hands. "Thank you," she says. "I don't expect you Floyd | to thank me for what I'm about to give you but it's going to be all Floyd | right, my dear, I promise." She leans in and kisses your lips. A Floyd | fleeting taste of honey and then she, and the Warneford, and Floyd | everything else, fade away. Floyd | Floyd | Home Again Floyd | You are standing on the pavement outside your house. The street looks Floyd | exactly as it always looks, except evening has crept fully across the Floyd | sky during your wanderings and the nascent night is definitely cold. Floyd | You are conscious, for a second or two, of a vague nagging feeling, as Floyd | if you have left something behind, but it passes swiftly. Hinksey Floyd | Park still lies, like a shadow, to the northwest and the rest of the Floyd | world awaits in every other direction. The door to your house stands Floyd | before you, waiting for you to open it. | Zach says, "And Persephone is the goddess of spring" | |
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||
Floyd ] Home Again 201 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN DOOR Floyd | Floyd | The brass handle is as cold as the night air beneath your hand but, Floyd | for once, the door does not stick. It swings open before you in Floyd | invitation, spilling a treasury's worth of light over the front path. Floyd | Warm air rushes out to greet you and, from within, you hear the Floyd | strains of speech and laughter rising like a phoenix Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Friendship", one of four possible endings for Eurydice. To Floyd | discover another, have you tried looking for Celine in the hospital? Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | Doug says, "just checking." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] Home Again 201 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | Home Again Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 200 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give plant to persephone" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 200
Floyd |
Floyd | > GIVE PLANT TO PERSEPHONE
Floyd |
Floyd | The woman seems to light up as you offer her Celine's plant. For a
Floyd | brief moment, a cloud engulfs the moon and you think she might be, or
Floyd | once have been, quite beautiful. But then the moon bursts free and
Floyd | she's just an bare-foot oldish woman draped in dead flowers, clutching
Floyd | a pot plant like it's a priceless thing. "She's lovely," she says,
Floyd | running a reverent finger over one of the leaves. "I'll love her, I
Floyd | promise." There is a brief, awkward pause. "Oh." The woman fixes
Floyd | you with her moon-blanched eyes. "You want something in return, don't
Floyd | you? Of course you do. You want something foolish and impossible.
Floyd | You expect me to speak to my husband, don't you?
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 201 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | The woman holds out her hand to you and, after a moment's hesitation Floyd | you take it. It is a strong, weathered, rather unladylike hand. With Floyd | Celine's plant still cradled in her other arm she leads you on her Floyd | soundless feet through the grey corridors of the Warneford until you Floyd | come to the Doctor's office. Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | As soon as you enter his office, the Doctor's attention flies to the Floyd | woman with you. "Is there something I can do for you?" he asks. Floyd | Floyd | The woman meets his ardent gaze with disinterest. "There's something Floyd | you can do for my friend here," she says. "And don't give me the Floyd | usual rubbish about the rules, I know just how flexible your rules can Floyd | be." Floyd | Floyd | "That was an isolated incident," he replies, flushing. He seems to Floyd | have forgotten you're standing there, because he blurts out his next Floyd | words with a terrible, naked earnestness: "I know I have wronged you Floyd | but I cannot ... that is ... I need ... " His hand moves compulsively Floyd | to his heart as if he means to pluck it out and offer it to her, but Floyd | she glares him back to silence. Finally, he says, with something of Floyd | his customary coldness: "I would do anything to assure your comfort Floyd | while you're here with me." Floyd | Floyd | She thrusts the plant into his face. "Then I want this," she says. Floyd | Floyd | "I offer you my kingdom and all you want is a weed?" Floyd | Floyd | She shrugs. "You'll never understand." Floyd | Floyd | "Very well," says the Doctor, finally. "Since you ask it of me." He Floyd | turns on you, contempt scored across his face. "You'll find Celine in Floyd | the gardens beyond the Sun Room. Take her with you, as you wish, but Floyd | don't look back or she's mine forever." And that seems to be the Floyd | mattered settled. Floyd | Floyd | The woman, still cradling the houseplant drifts out. She does not Floyd | look at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 202 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 203 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 204 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | A young-ish, not entirely unpretty woman, who steals from the other Floyd | inmates and has no visitors, is staring blankly out of a window at the Floyd | shadow-sloshed world outside. She turns, smiles hopefully and shyly Floyd | at you and then flees. You try to feel more kindness towards her but Floyd | she pilfered Celine's favourite perfume. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 205 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | Now you notice a set of doors at the back of the room have been flung Floyd | wide open, drawing you like a beckoning finger, west, towards the Floyd | shadow-smothered gardens. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 206 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Gardens Floyd | Somebody tried. Here there are the elements of a garden. Grass, Floyd | although it is mainly mud. Banks of soil where perhaps flowers might Floyd | grow. Squatting shrubs, hunched in upon themselves. And in Floyd | silhouette the anorexic shapes of trees, stripped before the oncoming Floyd | winter. Moonlight forms puddles here and there. Floyd | Floyd | The Sun room waits to the east. Floyd | Floyd | Celine is sitting on a stone bench. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 207 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine smiles to see you, convincing gladness, desperate eyes. You Floyd | exchange the usual greetings, the usual enquiries, and, as ever, she Floyd | thanks you for coming to see her, as if it is a kind and wonderful Floyd | thing and not a terrible strain for both of you. You tell her silly Floyd | stories of the colour of the October leaves and how much you're Floyd | looking forward to the blossom trees. She listens, and laughs, and Floyd | pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 208 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "uhh" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 209 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 210 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine is not feeling so good and will only tell you so if you press Floyd | her. She has - quite literally - forgotten the way home, along with Floyd | everything she learned on her art history course last term. She has Floyd | forgotten the tombstone cake you made for Jess's birthday. She has Floyd | forgotten Rick's parents are dead. She has forgotten the entirety of Floyd | Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It'll come back, you tell her, don't worry, Floyd | and anyway we can watch it all over again - think how much fun that'll Floyd | be. She listens, and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "and again" | |
| Doug says, "seemed like a bug though" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 211 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine tells you her secrets, the ones she hasn't forgotten, the ones Floyd | you wish she could forget, the ones she has forgotten you already Floyd | know. You try to make it okay with your words. And Celine listens, Floyd | and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 212 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly you remember. It's time to go home. "Will you follow me?" Floyd | you ask, and Celine nods. She seems only a little afraid. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 213 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "hm." | |
| DavidW says, "hm, yeah, that does seem like a bug." | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 214 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "but anyway, I'm hoping the lyre works at the gates." | |
| Doug says, "oh" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 215
Floyd |
Floyd | > E
Floyd |
| DavidW says, "I never got the lyre to the gates." | |
Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | As you enter the sunroom from the gardens, your own footsteps sound on Floyd | the floor but you hear no others. Perhaps Celine has not followed as Floyd | promised she would. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 216 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | You strain to hear even the slightest hint of movement but there is Floyd | nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps you have been tricked. Yes, that Floyd | seems very likely. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 217 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You look around for the nurse but then notice that the door seems to Floyd | be standing very slightly ajar. You seize the opportunity and slip Floyd | through Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing that follows you now, it seems, is silence. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 218 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 219 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Warneford exit Floyd | Here on the Warneford lawn again you can see a streak of lightness at Floyd | the eastern edge of the sky. Behind you, a smear of gold and grey, is Floyd | the Warneford. Before you, to the northwest, the wrought iron gates, Floyd | as tall as thistles to a child, inevitably sealed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 220 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | You can't, the gates bar your way, as insurmountable as death itself. Floyd | All you can do now is turn around. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 221 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "hmph." | |
| DavidW says, "I never played the lyre for the ferryman or the nurse." | ||
| DavidW says, "hmph. Lyre isn't for the gates then." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "eat pills" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 222 Floyd | Floyd | > EAT PILLS Floyd | Floyd | While imitation may be thought to be the sincerest form of flattery, Floyd | you should probably not start randomly taking someone else's Floyd | medication. It didn't do much good for Celine, after all. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x gate" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 222 Floyd | Floyd | > X GATE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 223 Floyd | Floyd | > X GATES Floyd | Floyd | They look exactly the same as they did before, but they're sealed Floyd | shut, barred and implaccable. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "Wonder if there's another, less obvious route out?" | |
| Zach says, "I wonder what the pills are for? If anything." | ||
| Doug says, "sorry, should have saved" | ||
| DavidW asks, "I dunno. The dog?" | ||
| Zach says, "Oh right." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "turn around" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 224 Floyd | Floyd | > TURN AROUND Floyd | Floyd | You turn around slowly, as you know you inevitably must. Celine is Floyd | standing behind you, smiling. The rising sun gleams upon her hair and Floyd | in her eyes, her cheeks flushed with the first light of dawn. The Floyd | grass at her feet is a carpet of flowers and as you rush into her Floyd | opening arms you find yourself clutching at nothing but a flurry of Floyd | petals the colour of her lipstick. Floyd | Floyd | And Back Again Floyd | Marlborough Road looks exactly as it did when you left it, except it Floyd | is greyish in the dawn. It seems you have been wandering all night Floyd | long. Your house is dark and quiet behind its curtained windows, as Floyd | if it has closed its eyes. The world waits at your back, the front Floyd | door lies ahead, waiting for you to open it. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug asks, "so, should we go to an earlier save maybe?" | |
| DavidW asks, "Or play the lyre at the doctor *after* Persephone has interceded for us?" | ||
| DavidW asks, "maybe even talk to him after the intercession?" | ||
| Doug asks, "Did we have any time then?" | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 224 Floyd | Floyd | > OPEN DOOR Floyd | Floyd | As you reach out to the door handle, a flash of colour catches your Floyd | eye. There is a flower petal stuck to your palm. Shaken free by your Floyd | movement, it drifts to the ground, gleaming briefly in the gloom. The Floyd | door swings open and you step inside, into neither emptiness nor cold, Floyd | and your hand warm as if someone holds it still. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Flowers", one four possible endings of Eurydice. To discover Floyd | another, have you tried playing the lyre more? Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 224 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | And Back Again Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Zach says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] And Back Again 225 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | The thought of going somewhere else reminds you that you are tired, Floyd | very very tired. Too tired to run any more from the empty spaces in Floyd | your house. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "oh yeah, they're still in the room after they tell us where Celnie is" | |
| DavidW says, "he is; she leaves" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf11" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 185
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 186 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 187 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | You hear footsteps behind you, slapping like wet fish against the Floyd | grey hospital floor. You freeze and half-turn but then they recede. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 188 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Women's Corridor Floyd | The greyness unrolls before you like the tongue of a sick frog. This Floyd | sign above your head (this is not an exit) reminds you that it's women Floyd | only past this point, but who is going to see you at this time of Floyd | night? Floyd | Floyd | Identical doors, all closed but for the one that stands slightly ajar Floyd | to the west, line the corridor. Going north will return you to the Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 189 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Celine's Room Floyd | The memories of past visits rise up to gnaw at you like wolves. You Floyd | see Celine, sitting on the bed, the colour washed out of her by her Floyd | surroundings, her knees pulled up to her chin. Jess is there beside Floyd | her, back to the wall, feet dangling off the end of the bed. You'd Floyd | snuck in and you're kneeling on the floor, elbows folded on the Floyd | coverlet. You're probably pretty damn uncomfortable. Spread out Floyd | between you are brightly coloured cards. You're playing Once Upon A Floyd | Time, a game for telling fairytales. "Are you sure I used to like Floyd | this?" Celine is asking. "Yes," you say, "it's one of your Floyd | favourites." "You used to win all the time," Jess adds. Celine Floyd | laughs, uncertain. "That doesn't seem very likely," she says. "It'll Floyd | come back," you say, half-reassuring, half-pleading. Except it, of Floyd | course, doesn't. None of it does. Floyd | Floyd | A small, perfectly square, yellow-painted room, probably identical to Floyd | all the others on this corridor. The carpet is a greyish-blue, only Floyd | slightly stained. There is a pine-coloured wardrobe and bedside Floyd | table, a single bed and a chair. There are signs of occupation - the Floyd | black cardigan hanging on the back of the chair, books and a radio on Floyd | the bedside table - but it's not the kind of room you can personalise. Floyd | It is a transitory space. Above the bed, the wall is splashed with a Floyd | grid of cards and postcards, twenty or thirty of them maybe, pinned up Floyd | there as bright as butterfly wings. Floyd | Floyd | You can see the Women's Corridor through the door to the east. Floyd | Floyd | On the narrow strip of a windowsill is a houseplant, another daub of Floyd | colour. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get plant" | ||
Floyd ] Celine's Room 190 Floyd | Floyd | > GET PLANT Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Women's Corridor 191 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Women's Corridor Floyd | The greyness unrolls before you like the tongue of a sick frog. This Floyd | sign above your head (this is not an exit) reminds you that it's women Floyd | only past this point, but who is going to see you at this time of Floyd | night? Floyd | Floyd | Identical doors, all closed but for the one that stands slightly ajar Floyd | to the west, line the corridor. Going north will return you to the Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 192 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Two nurses are standing by the pay phone, talking animatedly about Floyd | nothing you can catch. It is strange to hear giggles and whispering, Floyd | as if this was some kind of ordinary place. They fall silent as you Floyd | approach and then disappear into an office. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 193 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | There is a woman curled up on one of the wicker chairs, looking away Floyd | from you, out over the shadowed grounds. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "save" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf13" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 193
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give plant to woman" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 193
Floyd |
Floyd | > GIVE PLANT TO WOMAN
Floyd |
Floyd | The woman seems to light up as you offer her Celine's plant. For a
Floyd | brief moment, a cloud engulfs the moon and you think she might be, or
Floyd | once have been, quite beautiful. But then the moon bursts free and
Floyd | she's just an bare-foot oldish woman draped in dead flowers, clutching
Floyd | a pot plant like it's a priceless thing. "She's lovely," she says,
Floyd | running a reverent finger over one of the leaves. "I'll love her, I
Floyd | promise." There is a brief, awkward pause. "Oh." The woman fixes
Floyd | you with her moon-blanched eyes. "You want something in return, don't
Floyd | you? Of course you do. You want something foolish and impossible.
Floyd | You expect me to speak to my husband, don't you?
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 194 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | The woman holds out her hand to you and, after a moment's hesitation Floyd | you take it. It is a strong, weathered, rather unladylike hand. With Floyd | Celine's plant still cradled in her other arm she leads you on her Floyd | soundless feet through the grey corridors of the Warneford until you Floyd | come to the Doctor's office. Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | As soon as you enter his office, the Doctor's attention flies to the Floyd | woman with you. "Is there something I can do for you?" he asks. Floyd | Floyd | The woman meets his ardent gaze with disinterest. "There's something Floyd | you can do for my friend here," she says. "And don't give me the Floyd | usual rubbish about the rules, I know just how flexible your rules can Floyd | be." Floyd | Floyd | "That was an isolated incident," he replies, flushing. He seems to Floyd | have forgotten you're standing there, because he blurts out his next Floyd | words with a terrible, naked earnestness: "I know I have wronged you Floyd | but I cannot ... that is ... I need ... " His hand moves compulsively Floyd | to his heart as if he means to pluck it out and offer it to her, but Floyd | she glares him back to silence. Finally, he says, with something of Floyd | his customary coldness: "I would do anything to assure your comfort Floyd | while you're here with me." Floyd | Floyd | She thrusts the plant into his face. "Then I want this," she says. Floyd | Floyd | "I offer you my kingdom and all you want is a weed?" Floyd | Floyd | She shrugs. "You'll never understand." Floyd | Floyd | "Very well," says the Doctor, finally. "Since you ask it of me." He Floyd | turns on you, contempt scored across his face. "You'll find Celine in Floyd | the gardens beyond the Sun Room. Take her with you, as you wish, but Floyd | don't look back or she's mine forever." And that seems to be the Floyd | mattered settled. Floyd | Floyd | The woman, still cradling the houseplant drifts out. She does not Floyd | look at you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 195 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | The strings are silent, absolutely silent, beneath your fingers. The Floyd | Doctor, who has dropped his head into his hands, looks up briefly to Floyd | smile at you without warmth or mirth. "Your damage is already done," Floyd | he says. "A small mercy for which, I can, at least be thankful." Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "well, that's something, but probably didn't change the ending." | |
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "talk to doctor" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 196 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO DOCTOR Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor is ice pale. "It is not enough that you use my w-wife, my Floyd | only weakness against me, you also expect me to converse with you? Floyd | Begone, lest I set my dogs on you." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "take cradle" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 197 Floyd | Floyd | > TAKE CRADLE Floyd | Floyd | You itch to fiddle with the toy but beneath the cold gaze of the Floyd | Doctor you dare not touch it. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "oh, maybe the fourth ending is Fido Food" | |
| Doug says, "heh" | ||
| Doug says, "it did say we should try playing the lyre more, though." | ||
| Zach says, "Maybe restart for the 4th ending? If it does require that we play the lyre at everything." | ||
| DavidW asks, "Perhaps Persephone can be found elsewhere?" | ||
| Doug asks (of maga), "did you get all four endings?" | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Well, can't the lyre be played at the gate?" | ||
| Doug says, "nope" | ||
| DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "Apparently not." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Oh, I missed that bit." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Darn." | ||
| Zach says, "Or it got bugged at that point" | ||
| Doug says, "oh right, that was the blank response" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "I was hoping all puzzles could be solved by a(n unsmashed) lyre." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Oh - yeah. I did see that." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Darn." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Where you went 'um.'" | ||
| Doug asks, "so maybe if we restart we can get to that state again without tripping the bug?" | ||
| DavidW says, "The lyre does seem to be otherwise a one-use skeleton key." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Hm, seems unlikely, but not impossible." | ||
| Doug says, "well, we used it on the dog" | ||
| Doug says, "and then Hades & Persephone both break it" | ||
| Jacqueline asks, "Did we ever play it at the pity party?" | ||
| DavidW says, "no" | ||
| DavidW says, "nor against the snake!" | ||
| Doug says, "oh right, playing it for Celine was also the blank response" | ||
| DavidW says, "Bet the snake listens to it." | ||
| jenrexrode arrives, full of funk, but no fun. | Doug says, "ok, just peeked at the hints" | |
| Doug says, "apparently Flowers is the hardest to get to" | ||
| maga says, "I think it's meant to be, but it's really not" | ||
| Doug says, "yeah, I think I know what we need to do different" | ||
| Doug says, "although these hints seem sort of backwards. hm." | ||
| Zach asks (of Doug), "Did you see what's needed for the other ending?" | ||
| Doug says, "I think so." | ||
| Doug asks, "want me to try it?" | ||
| Zach says, "Yeah, I'm going to have to go soon." | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf10" | ||
Floyd ] river 155
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] river 156 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | The river is a snake of moving darkness. There is a railway line Floyd | running parallel on the other side and open fields after that. There Floyd | is some kind of flat-bottomed boat by the bank nearest to you, and a Floyd | tall man, in a long coat, is standing in the bow of the boat. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is behind you to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give coin to man" | ||
Floyd ] river 156 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE COIN TO MAN Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] river 157 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a lyre Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "oh right, we did that" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] river 158 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "board boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 158 Floyd | Floyd | > BOARD BOAT Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "enter boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 158
Floyd |
Floyd | > ENTER BOAT
Floyd |
Floyd | As you step towards the boat the Ferryman intercepts you again.
Floyd | "Coming back is harder than going," he says. "Are you sure?"
| DavidW asks, "Can we play the lyre for the snake?" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 159 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | You step into the boat. There is a space for a single passenger but Floyd | it is not exactly luxurious. You barely have time to sit down upon Floyd | the damp wooden boards before the ferryman takes his first stroke, Floyd | propelling the boat forward at an unlikely speed that causes the Floyd | moving air to catch at you like icy hands. You remember that someone Floyd | told you once that a punt can travel at 30 miles an hour in Floyd | favourable conditions ... but this one slips across the moonslick Floyd | water as effortlessly as if it is glass. At any rate, you are glad Floyd | that the man has sufficient taste to punt from the Oxford end. You Floyd | tilt your head back. You are going so fast that the stars are smeared Floyd | across the sky. Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | Something has happened. You have lost track of time, or track of Floyd | yourself, or something. You were looking at the sky, feeling stars Floyd | upon your skin, no, you were in a boat, cold seeping through you, wind Floyd | tangling in your hair. But there is no trace of the punt here, or the Floyd | man, or even a river. How did you get here? Where are you? There is Floyd | a set of open wrought iron gates before you, as intricate as briars. Floyd | Beyond them, hazy in the darkness to the southeast, a round lawn, Floyd | dotted with trees. It all feels familiar somehow. Floyd | Floyd | Guarding the gate is biggest dog you have ever seen, a haunch of Floyd | bloody meat and a vast water bowl at its feet. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says (to DavidW), "yep, but that's further back." | |
| DavidW says, "it is now" | ||
| Doug says (to DavidW), "wanted to try that next" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give pills to dog" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 160 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE PILLS TO DOG Floyd | Floyd | Cerberus doesn't seem interested. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "put pills in bowl" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 161 Floyd | Floyd | > PUT PILLS IN BOWL Floyd | Floyd | You stand around, being still and looking boring, until the dog's Floyd | attention is distracted. Seizing your opportunity, you flick some of Floyd | the diazapam into the water bowl where it quickly dissolves. Some Floyd | minutes pass before the dog drinks, but eventually it lowers one of Floyd | its heads to the bowl and slurps up most of the contents. You watch Floyd | it from a safe distance; its movements grow sluggish and its head Floyd | droops. Finally it keels onto its side and lies there, like a felled Floyd | oak tree, not quite asleep but too lethargic to care much about Floyd | anything much Floyd | > | DavidW says, "aha" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "se" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Hospital Approach 162 Floyd | Floyd | > SE Floyd | Floyd | You muster up your courage and sidle past the subdued monster, holding Floyd | your breath lest you rouse it. Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Hospital Approach Floyd | You could be visiting a stately home, or an Oxford college, or a Floyd | country church, except you're not. You know there are more modern Floyd | constructions hidden away behind it, one of which - the severely acute Floyd | ward - lies like Sleeping Beauty's castle behind thorns of metal and Floyd | stone. Floyd | Floyd | Circling an oval of moderately well-kept grass is a gravel path and, Floyd | beyond it to the west, a sandstone building gleams palely golden Floyd | against the shadowed sky. The gates loom to the northwest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 163 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you cross the lawn, your footsteps lost among the many you have Floyd | already taken, you feel a horrible tightness round you heart as if Floyd | someone had a hand round it and was squeezing. There is a burning at Floyd | the back your throat, like a lump of tears and bile is stuck there. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "any way to keep those gates open?" | |
| Doug says, "my theory is that cerberus will still be there this time" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "save" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > SAVE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to write: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf14" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 163
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Hospital Approach 164 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | As you walk down the path, a human cry breaks upon the silence and Floyd | dies. Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Hospital Approach Floyd | You could be visiting a stately home, or an Oxford college, or a Floyd | country church, except you're not. You know there are more modern Floyd | constructions hidden away behind it, one of which - the severely acute Floyd | ward - lies like Sleeping Beauty's castle behind thorns of metal and Floyd | stone. Floyd | Floyd | Circling an oval of moderately well-kept grass is a gravel path and, Floyd | beyond it to the west, a sandstone building gleams palely golden Floyd | against the shadowed sky. The gates loom to the northwest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Hospital Approach 165 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | You'd really rather not face the enormous monster demon dog thingy of Floyd | doom again. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "guess not." | |
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x gates" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Hospital Approach 165 Floyd | Floyd | > X GATES Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "hm. They're not even there when open." | |
| Doug says, "ok, my plan is to go and play the lyre for the doctor again, and then get celine to follow us and see if the gates are open this time" | ||
| DavidW says, "So I guess pushing the bench repeated to bar the gates isn't possible." | ||
| Doug says, "alternately we can try just never using the lyre" | ||
| Doug says, "although the hints imply that not using the lyre is the way to get to flowers." | ||
| Doug says, "I couldn't find an actual walkthrough" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 166 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 167 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 168 Floyd | Floyd | > PUSH BUTTON Floyd | Floyd | You depress the button and listen to the silence while you wait. You Floyd | do not trust the doorbell. It demands your faith yet gives you no Floyd | miracles. It doesn't even buzz to let you know it's actually Floyd | functional. Finally, just when you have given up all hope in the Floyd | doorbell, there is a crackling from behind the grill and a distorted Floyd | voice asks what you want. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to grill" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 169 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO GRILL Floyd | Floyd | You mumble your name into the grill, and explain you have come to get Floyd | Celine. A warped sigh gusts out of the grill with such force you are Floyd | surprised it doesn't ruffle your hair. Then crackling dies away and Floyd | the grill speaks to you no further. You assume that that means Floyd | someone is coming to open the door but for all you know they could be Floyd | activating the lever that drops you into the alligator pit. Floyd | Floyd | You are starting to wonder if perhaps they've forgotten you're there, Floyd | or if answering the doorbell is a mere hobby, when there comes the Floyd | sound of muted rattling and banging from behind the door as someone on Floyd | the other side begins the ceremony required to open it. It is finally Floyd | eased open, just enough for you to squeeze through, by a Nurse, Floyd | glowering at the effort required to perform the most basic tenets of Floyd | her job. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 170 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you edge past the Nurse, she put out a log-like arm to momentarily Floyd | stop you entering. "You'll need to see the Doctor first," she says, Floyd | gruffly. "You can't take a patient away without the doctor's Floyd | permission." You nod your understanding, although your mind is full Floyd | of Escape from Alcatraz visions, search lights flashing, sirens Floyd | screaming and helicopters whirling overhead as you and Celine run, Floyd | hand in hand, giggling into a different coloured future. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 171 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 172 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | This is a typical Doctor's office. It has a clinical air, but no more Floyd | than you would expect. It is really very neat in here. The walls are Floyd | hung with what look to be modern art prints, all in identical frames, Floyd | imprisoned behind glass. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor is sitting behind the desk, his elbows resting atop it and Floyd | his chin upon the platform provided by his interlocked fingers. Floyd | Floyd | The door to the south leads back to the dining hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 173 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | Time seems to unravel around you like the fraying threads of a Floyd | tapestry as you lift the lyre into your arms. The Doctor is on his on Floyd | his feet, his face pale with fury and his eyes ablaze, but it's too Floyd | late to stop you. Music fills the air like cherry blossom, sweetly Floyd | drifting, falling like fleeting kisses upon the senses and fading as Floyd | swiftly as a summer evening. For a moment, the Doctor is tranfixed, Floyd | his face naked in pain and sorrow, and then his cold hands are Floyd | wrenching the lyre from your grasp. The notes shatter into rainbows Floyd | of refracted light and then they're gone. There is a vicious crack, Floyd | like a bone breaking, and the Doctor flings the pieces of the lyre to Floyd | the floor. In seconds nothing remains of the lyre but a sprinkling of Floyd | dust the colour of old blood. "Take her then," he cries, "take her Floyd | and may damnation have you both. You'll find Celine in the gardens Floyd | beyond the Sun Room. Take her with you, as you wish, but remember: Floyd | don't turn around, or she's mine forever. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 174 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 175 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | The silence of the hospital surrounds you like an itchy blanket. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 176 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | Now you notice a set of doors at the back of the room have been flung Floyd | wide open, drawing you like a beckoning finger, west, towards the Floyd | shadow-smothered gardens. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 177 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Gardens Floyd | Somebody tried. Here there are the elements of a garden. Grass, Floyd | although it is mainly mud. Banks of soil where perhaps flowers might Floyd | grow. Squatting shrubs, hunched in upon themselves. And in Floyd | silhouette the anorexic shapes of trees, stripped before the oncoming Floyd | winter. Moonlight forms puddles here and there. Floyd | Floyd | The Sun room waits to the east. Floyd | Floyd | Celine is sitting on a stone bench. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 178 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine smiles to see you, convincing gladness, desperate eyes. You Floyd | exchange the usual greetings, the usual enquiries, and, as ever, she Floyd | thanks you for coming to see her, as if it is a kind and wonderful Floyd | thing and not a terrible strain for both of you. You tell her silly Floyd | stories of the colour of the October leaves and how much you're Floyd | looking forward to the blossom trees. She listens, and laughs, and Floyd | pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 179 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine is not feeling so good and will only tell you so if you press Floyd | her. She has - quite literally - forgotten the way home, along with Floyd | everything she learned on her art history course last term. She has Floyd | forgotten the tombstone cake you made for Jess's birthday. She has Floyd | forgotten Rick's parents are dead. She has forgotten the entirety of Floyd | Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It'll come back, you tell her, don't worry, Floyd | and anyway we can watch it all over again - think how much fun that'll Floyd | be. She listens, and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 180 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine tells you her secrets, the ones she hasn't forgotten, the ones Floyd | you wish she could forget, the ones she has forgotten you already Floyd | know. You try to make it okay with your words. And Celine listens, Floyd | and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 181 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly you remember. It's time to go home. "Will you follow me?" Floyd | you ask, and Celine nods. She seems only a little afraid. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 182 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | As you enter the sunroom from the gardens, your own footsteps sound on Floyd | the floor but you hear no others. Perhaps Celine has not followed as Floyd | promised she would. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 183 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | You strain to hear even the slightest hint of movement but there is Floyd | nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps you have been tricked. Yes, that Floyd | seems very likely. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 184 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You look around for the nurse but then notice that the door seems to Floyd | be standing very slightly ajar. You seize the opportunity and slip Floyd | through Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing that follows you now, it seems, is silence. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 185 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 186 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Warneford exit Floyd | Here on the Warneford lawn again you can see a streak of lightness at Floyd | the eastern edge of the sky. Behind you, a smear of gold and grey, is Floyd | the Warneford. Before you, to the northwest, the wrought iron gates, Floyd | as tall as thistles to a child, inevitably sealed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 187 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | You can't, the gates bar your way, as insurmountable as death itself. Floyd | All you can do now is turn around. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "well shoot." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 187 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "doctor smash'd it" | |
| Doug says, "yeah, but I was hoping that drugging the dog would have changed things" | ||
| Doug asks, "should we try the snake then?" | ||
| DavidW says, "sure. I'm about ready to pass out an hour ago." | ||
| DavidW says, "I'm currently a caffeine and sugar elemental." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "haha" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Now I want Rob Wheeler to draw that." | ||
| DavidW says, "yes!" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "restore" | ||
Floyd | > Floyd | > RESTORE Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read: | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "cf8" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 108
Floyd | Ok.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 109 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented house. It has Floyd | faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and fitted cupboards in Floyd | shades of coffee and cream. It would be a pleasure to cook in such a Floyd | kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on the Floyd | little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x knifeblock" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 110 Floyd | Floyd | > X KNIFEBLOCK Floyd | Floyd | Currently it contains only one knife. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 111 Floyd | Floyd | > I Floyd | Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a 50p coin Floyd | your coat Floyd | some pills Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x knife" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 112 Floyd | Floyd | > X KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | A cleaver-style knife, still relatively sharp despite your ineptitude Floyd | with a sharpening stone. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get it" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 113 Floyd | Floyd | > GET IT Floyd | Floyd | You draw the knife from the knife block, earning yourself a worried Floyd | look from Natalie. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "We don't have the lyre yet." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 114 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | You had better not wander around the house carrying a cleaver. For a Floyd | start, you could fall over and accidentally stab yourself, which would Floyd | be embarrassing. But also it could make the people in the living room Floyd | - who are technically your guests - feel uncomfortable Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "drop knife" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 115 Floyd | Floyd | > DROP KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | You slide the knife back into the knifeblock. Natalie looks relieved Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] living room 116
Floyd |
Floyd | > W
Floyd |
| DavidW asks, "oh, maybe the knife is for the snake?" | |
Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 117 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "up" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 118 Floyd | Floyd | > UP Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] your room 119 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | your room Floyd | Your room is a complete mess. The bed is unmade. The bookshelves Floyd | that once lined the walls are a ruin of fallen books and splintered Floyd | wood. There are piles of things that shouldn't be piled everywhere. Floyd | All the things you thought you cared about feel like mockery. Floyd | Floyd | A mysterious lyre, slightly battered from possibly having fallen from Floyd | your bookshelves, lies among the wreckage. Floyd | Floyd | Behind you, to the east, is the upstairs landing Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get lyre" | ||
Floyd ] your room 120 Floyd | Floyd | > GET LYRE Floyd | Floyd | You certainly can't remember ever having bought, or been given, a Floyd | lyre. It is smooth and slightly warm in your hands, its shape a Floyd | graceful curve like a human spine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] upstairs landing 121 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | upstairs landing Floyd | The upstairs landing is dimly illuminated from the light in the empty Floyd | room. From here, you can hear a murmur of voices coming from the Floyd | living room downstairs. Floyd | Floyd | To the north is Dave's room, to the west your own. The empty room Floyd | that was Celine's is to the east. There is a flight of stairs leading Floyd | up to John's room and another going down to the ground floor of the Floyd | house. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "d" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 122 Floyd | Floyd | > D Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 123 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] living room 124 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 125 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented house. It has Floyd | faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and fitted cupboards in Floyd | shades of coffee and cream. It would be a pleasure to cook in such a Floyd | kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on the Floyd | little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get knife" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 126 Floyd | Floyd | > GET KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | You draw the knife from the knife block, earning yourself a worried Floyd | look from Natalie. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 127 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x lawn" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 128 Floyd | Floyd | > X LAWN Floyd | Floyd | The blades are tipped by an unhealthy yellow and sway indolently in Floyd | the slight breeze. As you watch, a violent ripple of motion seizes Floyd | the stalks and whips them back and forth. At first you think it must Floyd | be the wind but then you see a blur of a new green in the grass and a Floyd | snake slithers onto the patio. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 129 Floyd | Floyd | > X SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You would not have thought there were such snakes in England. It is a Floyd | strong, sinuous creature, dappled in black diamonds like a snake on a Floyd | Snakes And Ladders board. It has hateful yellow eyes, as blank as Floyd | pieces of glass. You are not by nature inclined towards Floyd | anthropomorphisation but there is something both directed and Floyd | malignant in its gaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 130 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | A sudden surety takes possession of your fingers and they dance Floyd | seemingly of their accord across the lyre strings as if they find them Floyd | familiar. Music floats across the still evening air, honey-sweet and Floyd | sad. You play to the neglected grass and the uncharted sky, to the Floyd | inconstant breeze and the fading light. Even the snake lifts its Floyd | head, and sways entranced. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 131 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | You are reluctant to touch the lyre again so soon, in case you dispel Floyd | your own song by remembered incompetence. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kill snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 132 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | While the snake still seems enraptured by the music, you grip the Floyd | kitchen knife in sweat-slippery hands and lunge. You decapitate the Floyd | snake in one clean blow - there's a confusion of sensory information, Floyd | a gush of blood, a hiss of pain, the fleshly thump of the snake's Floyd | ruined body hitting the pattio and then ... nothing. No blood, no Floyd | snake, nothing. Just the fragrance of the olive trees and a sudden Floyd | brightness in your eyes as if you stand beneath a different sun. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "wow" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 133 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "Both lyre and knife were needed?" | |
| Ellison arrives, ready to play with the toys. | Doug says, "think so." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 132 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 131 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 130 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 131 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | A snake, still as stone, has partially emerged from the long grass. Floyd | It seems to be watching you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kill snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 132 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | While the snake still seems enraptured by the music, you grip the Floyd | kitchen knife in sweat-slippery hands and lunge. You decapitate the Floyd | snake in one clean blow - there's a confusion of sensory information, Floyd | a gush of blood, a hiss of pain, the fleshly thump of the snake's Floyd | ruined body hitting the pattio and then ... nothing. No blood, no Floyd | snake, nothing. Just the fragrance of the olive trees and a sudden Floyd | brightness in your eyes as if you stand beneath a different sun. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "oops." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 131 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 130 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 129 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 130 Floyd | Floyd | > X SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You would not have thought there were such snakes in England. It is a Floyd | strong, sinuous creature, dappled in black diamonds like a snake on a Floyd | Snakes And Ladders board. It has hateful yellow eyes, as blank as Floyd | pieces of glass. You are not by nature inclined towards Floyd | anthropomorphisation but there is something both directed and Floyd | malignant in its gaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | djfletch says, "Interesting. I don't think I even found the snake at all." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kill snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 131 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You make a stabbing motion in the direction of the snake with the Floyd | kitchen knife but it easily evades you. Its tongue darts in and out Floyd | of its mouth, as if it is taunting you. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "yup. It needs both. Interesting." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "drop knife" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 132 Floyd | Floyd | > DROP KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | That's one of your kitchen knives! You don't want to just leave it Floyd | lying around in the garden. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 133 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented house. It has Floyd | faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and fitted cupboards in Floyd | shades of coffee and cream. It would be a pleasure to cook in such a Floyd | kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on the Floyd | little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Nice." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "drop knife" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 134 Floyd | Floyd | > DROP KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | You slide the knife back into the knifeblock. Natalie looks relieved Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 135 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | A snake, still as stone, has partially emerged from the long grass. Floyd | It seems to be watching you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 136 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | A sudden surety takes possession of your fingers and they dance Floyd | seemingly of their accord across the lyre strings as if they find them Floyd | familiar. Music floats across the still evening air, honey-sweet and Floyd | sad. You play to the neglected grass and the uncharted sky, to the Floyd | inconstant breeze and the fading light. Even the snake lifts its Floyd | head, and sways entranced. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kill snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 137 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | You have nothing with which to hurt it, beyond ill-will. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 138 Floyd | Floyd | > GET SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | Even assuming you could catch it, it looks like it might be poisonous. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "yeah, seems like there's nothing else to do with the snake" | |
| Doug says, "I also am not sure it will change the ending." | ||
| Doug says, "the hint says 'just play the lyre everywhere' so maybe we have to play it three times" | ||
| Doug asks, "shall I try that? any other ideas first?" | ||
| DavidW says, "yeah, the snake business may be entirely optional and have no effect on the endings whatsoever." | ||
| DavidW says, "And I gotta lie down. Eyes are burning." | ||
| DavidW says, "good luck" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 139 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented house. It has Floyd | faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and fitted cupboards in Floyd | shades of coffee and cream. It would be a pleasure to cook in such a Floyd | kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on the Floyd | little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "get knife" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 140 Floyd | Floyd | > GET KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | You draw the knife from the knife block, earning yourself a worried Floyd | look from Natalie. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 141 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | A snake, still as stone, has partially emerged from the long grass. Floyd | It seems to be watching you. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "kill snake" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 142 Floyd | Floyd | > KILL SNAKE Floyd | Floyd | While the snake still seems enraptured by the music, you grip the Floyd | kitchen knife in sweat-slippery hands and lunge. You decapitate the Floyd | snake in one clean blow - there's a confusion of sensory information, Floyd | a gush of blood, a hiss of pain, the fleshly thump of the snake's Floyd | ruined body hitting the pattio and then ... nothing. No blood, no Floyd | snake, nothing. Just the fragrance of the olive trees and a sudden Floyd | brightness in your eyes as if you stand beneath a different sun. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 143 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | back garden Floyd | The back garden is really little more than a lawn-gone-wild and a Floyd | weedy patio. The sky is a cool grey curtain backlit by the weak sun. Floyd | The chill air bites at your skin. Floyd | Floyd | You can get back into the house to the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "x lawn" | ||
Floyd ] back garden 144 Floyd | Floyd | > X LAWN Floyd | Floyd | The blades are tipped by an unhealthy yellow and sway indolently in Floyd | the slight breeze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 145 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | kitchen Floyd | The kitchen is surprisingly spacious for a rented house. It has Floyd | faux-granite counter tops and matching tiling, and fitted cupboards in Floyd | shades of coffee and cream. It would be a pleasure to cook in such a Floyd | kitchen. Floyd | Floyd | Scattered across the worksurface nearest the hob is an array of Floyd | cooking utensils, onion skins and pepper cores, including the wooden Floyd | knifeblock you bought for a tenner in Boswells during a sale. Floyd | Floyd | Vera and Tilda (plants, not people, and therefore bearable) are on the Floyd | little round kitchen table. Floyd | Floyd | Natalie is by the hob, stirring a pan of pasta. Floyd | Floyd | The back door leads into the back garden to the north, and, if you're Floyd | feeling particularly brave (or masochistic), the living room is to the Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "drop knife" | ||
Floyd ] kitchen 146 Floyd | Floyd | > DROP KNIFE Floyd | Floyd | You slide the knife back into the knifeblock. Natalie looks relieved Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] living room 147 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | living room Floyd | The extensive living / dining area was one of the features that drew Floyd | you all to this house when you were looking for places to rent. That Floyd | and - despite the fact none of you have been able to bring yourself to Floyd | do anything as prosaic as cleaning for days - the fact it's not an Floyd | abject shit hole like most of places on offer when you were doing the Floyd | rounds. Floyd | Floyd | Currently, it's all cluttered with people. Your housemate John is Floyd | sitting cross-legged on the floor at the end of the coffee table, Floyd | frowning over a game of a Go. His opponent, Twitch, sits opposite and Floyd | appears much more laid-back about the whole business. Rick is slumped Floyd | on the sofa, a bottle of port at his elbow; Elsie is sitting next to Floyd | him, apparently watching the game. Jess is huddled in a cloak on the Floyd | other sofa, Adrian beside her, looking almost as uncomfortable as you Floyd | feel. As for Laurie (fucking Laurie), she's leaning against the Floyd | fireplace, and wearing an expression of infinite suffering like she's Floyd | living her own little Victorian melodrama Floyd | Floyd | The coat stand is still in its corner, looming like an unexpected Floyd | guest. Floyd | Floyd | Your escape routes are east into the kitchen, or south into the hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] living room 148 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | You can't go that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] downstairs hall 149 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | downstairs hall Floyd | Winter light lies in anaemic strips upon the floor from where it has Floyd | fallen through the glass panels in the front door. There is an awful Floyd | painting hanging on the wall. The murmuring voices are more of a Floyd | babble now; too many over-lapping conversations create an alien, Floyd | baboonish gibberish. Floyd | Floyd | The outside world lurks to the west and the living room to the north. Floyd | Or you could always just retreat upstairs. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Marlborough road 150 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Marlborough road Floyd | This is just an ordinary street, lined by Victorian terraces, with Floyd | their slightly over-ambitious moulding and bow windows. In the Floyd | distance you can hear the muted roar of traffic streaming down the Floyd | Abingdon Road. It is not quite suburbia but it's a pocket of Oxford Floyd | unreached by spires, dreaming or otherwise. The fading light is Floyd | nonetheless tinged by gold. The sky is a swirl of grey and pink, like Floyd | the interior of a shell. There is a biting promise of winter in the Floyd | air. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is to the northwest, your house to the east, and other Floyd | places lie elsewhere. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Hinksey Park Gate 151 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park Gate Floyd | The gate to Hinksey Park is not far from your house but by the time Floyd | you arrive the sky is already suffused by a greyness that has blotted Floyd | out the potential glories of an Oxford sunset. Night is snapping at Floyd | your heels. The park is the old fashioned kind, a basic arrangement Floyd | of paths and benches, grass and trees. The nearest bench is over-hung Floyd | by a willow tree, which has wept a burthen of withered foliage onto Floyd | the seat. There is a lake, girdled by a path and an open air swimming Floyd | pool. Floyd | Floyd | A river, which must be a tributary of the Thames, flows to the west. Floyd | Malborough Road lies to the southeast. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] river 152 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | The river is a snake of moving darkness. There is a railway line Floyd | running parallel on the other side and open fields after that. There Floyd | is some kind of flat-bottomed boat by the bank nearest to you, and a Floyd | tall man, in a long coat, is standing in the bow of the boat. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is behind you to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "give coin to man" | ||
Floyd ] river 153 Floyd | Floyd | > GIVE COIN TO MAN Floyd | Floyd | You toss the coin to ferryman. It turns over and over in the air, Floyd | flashing silver, and then he reaches out a gloved hand and engulfs it Floyd | in darkness. He carries it to his mouth and bites it. "That's not Floyd | silver," he says. But then he shrugs. "It'll do. In you get." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "enter boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 153
Floyd |
Floyd | > ENTER BOAT
Floyd |
Floyd | As you step towards the boat the Ferryman intercepts you again.
Floyd | "Coming back is harder than going," he says. "Are you sure?"
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 154 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | You step into the boat. There is a space for a single passenger but Floyd | it is not exactly luxurious. You barely have time to sit down upon Floyd | the damp wooden boards before the ferryman takes his first stroke, Floyd | propelling the boat forward at an unlikely speed that causes the Floyd | moving air to catch at you like icy hands. You remember that someone Floyd | told you once that a punt can travel at 30 miles an hour in Floyd | favourable conditions ... but this one slips across the moonslick Floyd | water as effortlessly as if it is glass. At any rate, you are glad Floyd | that the man has sufficient taste to punt from the Oxford end. You Floyd | tilt your head back. You are going so fast that the stars are smeared Floyd | across the sky. Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | Something has happened. You have lost track of time, or track of Floyd | yourself, or something. You were looking at the sky, feeling stars Floyd | upon your skin, no, you were in a boat, cold seeping through you, wind Floyd | tangling in your hair. But there is no trace of the punt here, or the Floyd | man, or even a river. How did you get here? Where are you? There is Floyd | a set of open wrought iron gates before you, as intricate as briars. Floyd | Beyond them, hazy in the darkness to the southeast, a round lawn, Floyd | dotted with trees. It all feels familiar somehow. Floyd | Floyd | Guarding the gate is biggest dog you have ever seen, a haunch of Floyd | bloody meat and a vast water bowl at its feet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 155 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | All three heads turn in your direction as you lift the lyre, and a Floyd | strange shiver runs down the length of the beast's back. If it was Floyd | human you don't know what emotions you'd ascribe to it. It holds Floyd | itself still and silent, only the heaving of its flanks to betray the Floyd | fact it lives at all. And you play, strange, savage music, spiralling Floyd | out of the lyre, drenched inhuman colours, filling your mouth up with Floyd | heat and the tang of metal. Your heart tightens sickeningly in your Floyd | chest, pulsing with the lyre strings, something like excitement, Floyd | something like dread. The dog trembles where it stands, its eyes Floyd | ablaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "se" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 156 Floyd | Floyd | > SE Floyd | Floyd | You move. The beast throws back all three heads and hurls a howl of Floyd | blood-curdling ferocity at the sky. And the clouds shake. You think Floyd | it would probably be for the best to stop moving. Floyd | Floyd | > | maga asks, "uh, why did you give the boatman the coin?" | |
| Doug says, "ohh" | ||
| Doug asks, "should we lyre the boatman too?" | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 155 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 154 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] river 153 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||
Floyd ] river 152 Floyd | Floyd | > UNDO Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "l" | ||
Floyd ] river 153 Floyd | Floyd | > L Floyd | Floyd | river Floyd | The river is a snake of moving darkness. There is a railway line Floyd | running parallel on the other side and open fields after that. There Floyd | is some kind of flat-bottomed boat by the bank nearest to you, and a Floyd | tall man, in a long coat, is standing in the bow of the boat. Floyd | Floyd | Hinksey Park is behind you to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] river 154 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | You sit down on the bank of the river and begin to run your fingers Floyd | lightly over the strings of the lyre. A strange stillness creeps over Floyd | the universe as if it is holding its breath for you. You play. At Floyd | least you think it counts as playing. It is as if the lyre has a Floyd | human throat, from which you tear sound. You fill the space between Floyd | earth and sky with screaming, bend the grasses to the ground with Floyd | pain, strip the bark from the trees with the lash of your grief until Floyd | the lyre shudders so violently in your hands you fear it will tear Floyd | itself apart. "All right, all right," says the ferryman, hastily. Floyd | "I'll take you across. Just that's enough of that, you hear me? No Floyd | more of that." Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "haha" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "enter boat" | ||
Floyd ] river 154
Floyd |
Floyd | > ENTER BOAT
Floyd |
Floyd | As you step towards the boat the Ferryman intercepts you again.
Floyd | "Coming back is harder than going," he says. "Are you sure?"
| ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "yes" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 155 Floyd | Floyd | > YES Floyd | Floyd | You step into the boat. There is a space for a single passenger but Floyd | it is not exactly luxurious. You barely have time to sit down upon Floyd | the damp wooden boards before the ferryman takes his first stroke, Floyd | propelling the boat forward at an unlikely speed that causes the Floyd | moving air to catch at you like icy hands. You remember that someone Floyd | told you once that a punt can travel at 30 miles an hour in Floyd | favourable conditions ... but this one slips across the moonslick Floyd | water as effortlessly as if it is glass. At any rate, you are glad Floyd | that the man has sufficient taste to punt from the Oxford end. You Floyd | tilt your head back. You are going so fast that the stars are smeared Floyd | across the sky. Floyd | Floyd | Iron Gates Floyd | Something has happened. You have lost track of time, or track of Floyd | yourself, or something. You were looking at the sky, feeling stars Floyd | upon your skin, no, you were in a boat, cold seeping through you, wind Floyd | tangling in your hair. But there is no trace of the punt here, or the Floyd | man, or even a river. How did you get here? Where are you? There is Floyd | a set of open wrought iron gates before you, as intricate as briars. Floyd | Beyond them, hazy in the darkness to the southeast, a round lawn, Floyd | dotted with trees. It all feels familiar somehow. Floyd | Floyd | Guarding the gate is biggest dog you have ever seen, a haunch of Floyd | bloody meat and a vast water bowl at its feet. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "lay lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 155 Floyd | Floyd | > LAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 156 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | All three heads turn in your direction as you lift the lyre, and a Floyd | strange shiver runs down the length of the beast's back. If it was Floyd | human you don't know what emotions you'd ascribe to it. It holds Floyd | itself still and silent, only the heaving of its flanks to betray the Floyd | fact it lives at all. And you play, strange, savage music, spiralling Floyd | out of the lyre, drenched inhuman colours, filling your mouth up with Floyd | heat and the tang of metal. Your heart tightens sickeningly in your Floyd | chest, pulsing with the lyre strings, something like excitement, Floyd | something like dread. The dog trembles where it stands, its eyes Floyd | ablaze. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Iron Gates 157 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | You feel as if you have been running, and running hard, and your Floyd | fingers tremble on the strings, fearful of the lyre and its music. Floyd | But everything has changed. Softly, softly, comes the scent of green Floyd | things growing, dark places, damp fur, warmth in your belly and all Floyd | around, different songs. You lose time, the names of things. The Floyd | stars becomes nothing but distant light. Your four clawed feet trample Floyd | complex concepts to nothing but travelled earth, and happiness is the Floyd | flow of the night. Then comes the creeping cold, not without, but Floyd | within, and it snaps like winter at your heels. And you don't know Floyd | what it means that yours is now the only song, and yours the only Floyd | pounding paws, and yours the fur and yours the hunger and you alone Floyd | who slumber in the dark places and dream of dreams once shared. The Floyd | music fades to silence, and the dog slumps to the ground, ungainly Floyd | now. Its eyes fall closed and it seems to sleep. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "se" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Hospital Approach 158 Floyd | Floyd | > SE Floyd | Floyd | You muster up your courage and sidle past the subdued monster, holding Floyd | your breath lest you rouse it. Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Hospital Approach Floyd | You could be visiting a stately home, or an Oxford college, or a Floyd | country church, except you're not. You know there are more modern Floyd | constructions hidden away behind it, one of which - the severely acute Floyd | ward - lies like Sleeping Beauty's castle behind thorns of metal and Floyd | stone. Floyd | Floyd | Circling an oval of moderately well-kept grass is a gravel path and, Floyd | beyond it to the west, a sandstone building gleams palely golden Floyd | against the shadowed sky. The gates loom to the northwest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 159 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you cross the lawn, your footsteps lost among the many you have Floyd | already taken, you feel a horrible tightness round you heart as if Floyd | someone had a hand round it and was squeezing. There is a burning at Floyd | the back your throat, like a lump of tears and bile is stuck there. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 160 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you walk down the path, a human cry breaks upon the silence and Floyd | dies. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "push doorbell" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 161 Floyd | Floyd | > PUSH DOORBELL Floyd | Floyd | You depress the button and listen to the silence while you wait. You Floyd | do not trust the doorbell. It demands your faith yet gives you no Floyd | miracles. It doesn't even buzz to let you know it's actually Floyd | functional. Finally, just when you have given up all hope in the Floyd | doorbell, there is a crackling from behind the grill and a distorted Floyd | voice asks what you want. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 162 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | The lyre feels strange and knobbly in your hands. It does not want to Floyd | be here, it does not want to play. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "aw" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to nurse" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 162 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO NURSE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to grill" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 163 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO GRILL Floyd | Floyd | You mumble your name into the grill, and explain you have come to get Floyd | Celine. A warped sigh gusts out of the grill with such force you are Floyd | surprised it doesn't ruffle your hair. Then crackling dies away and Floyd | the grill speaks to you no further. You assume that that means Floyd | someone is coming to open the door but for all you know they could be Floyd | activating the lever that drops you into the alligator pit. Floyd | Floyd | You are starting to wonder if perhaps they've forgotten you're there, Floyd | or if answering the doorbell is a mere hobby, when there comes the Floyd | sound of muted rattling and banging from behind the door as someone on Floyd | the other side begins the ceremony required to open it. It is finally Floyd | eased open, just enough for you to squeeze through, by a Nurse, Floyd | glowering at the effort required to perform the most basic tenets of Floyd | her job. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 164 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | As you edge past the Nurse, she put out a log-like arm to momentarily Floyd | stop you entering. "You'll need to see the Doctor first," she says, Floyd | gruffly. "You can't take a patient away without the doctor's Floyd | permission." You nod your understanding, although your mind is full Floyd | of Escape from Alcatraz visions, search lights flashing, sirens Floyd | screaming and helicopters whirling overhead as you and Celine run, Floyd | hand in hand, giggling into a different coloured future. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Belatedly, that was great, playing the lyre to board the boat." | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 165 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "n" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 166 Floyd | Floyd | > N Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Doctor's Office Floyd | This is a typical Doctor's office. It has a clinical air, but no more Floyd | than you would expect. It is really very neat in here. The walls are Floyd | hung with what look to be modern art prints, all in identical frames, Floyd | imprisoned behind glass. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor is sitting behind the desk, his elbows resting atop it and Floyd | his chin upon the platform provided by his interlocked fingers. Floyd | Floyd | The door to the south leads back to the dining hall. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "play lyre" | ||
Floyd ] Doctor's Office 167 Floyd | Floyd | > PLAY LYRE Floyd | Floyd | Time seems to unravel around you like the fraying threads of a Floyd | tapestry as you lift the lyre into your arms. The Doctor is on his on Floyd | his feet, his face pale with fury and his eyes ablaze, but it's too Floyd | late to stop you. Music fills the air like cherry blossom, sweetly Floyd | drifting, falling like fleeting kisses upon the senses and fading as Floyd | swiftly as a summer evening. For a moment, the Doctor is tranfixed, Floyd | his face naked in pain and sorrow, and then his cold hands are Floyd | wrenching the lyre from your grasp. The notes shatter into rainbows Floyd | of refracted light and then they're gone. There is a vicious crack, Floyd | like a bone breaking, and the Doctor flings the pieces of the lyre to Floyd | the floor. In seconds nothing remains of the lyre but a sprinkling of Floyd | dust the colour of old blood. "Take her then," he cries, "take her Floyd | and may damnation have you both. You'll find Celine in the gardens Floyd | beyond the Sun Room. Take her with you, as you wish, but remember: Floyd | don't turn around, or she's mine forever. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Dining Hall 168 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Dining Hall Floyd | This is the large, bow-windowed room you could see from outside. Dull Floyd | light washes in from the corridor behind you and flickers from beneath Floyd | the door to the television room. Square tables are neatly arranged Floyd | and the far wall boasts a display of artwork. Upon the air hangs the Floyd | cloying scent of old, institutional dinners. Floyd | Floyd | The Doctor's Office lies to the north, the Vaughan Thomas corridor to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "s" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 169 Floyd | Floyd | > S Floyd | Floyd | You hear footsteps behind you, slapping like wet fish against the Floyd | grey hospital floor. You freeze and half-turn but then they recede. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 170 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | Now you notice a set of doors at the back of the room have been flung Floyd | wide open, drawing you like a beckoning finger, west, towards the Floyd | shadow-smothered gardens. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "w" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 171 Floyd | Floyd | > W Floyd | Floyd | Warneford Gardens Floyd | Somebody tried. Here there are the elements of a garden. Grass, Floyd | although it is mainly mud. Banks of soil where perhaps flowers might Floyd | grow. Squatting shrubs, hunched in upon themselves. And in Floyd | silhouette the anorexic shapes of trees, stripped before the oncoming Floyd | winter. Moonlight forms puddles here and there. Floyd | Floyd | The Sun room waits to the east. Floyd | Floyd | Celine is sitting on a stone bench. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celnie" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 171 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELNIE Floyd | Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 172 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine smiles to see you, convincing gladness, desperate eyes. You Floyd | exchange the usual greetings, the usual enquiries, and, as ever, she Floyd | thanks you for coming to see her, as if it is a kind and wonderful Floyd | thing and not a terrible strain for both of you. You tell her silly Floyd | stories of the colour of the October leaves and how much you're Floyd | looking forward to the blossom trees. She listens, and laughs, and Floyd | pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 173 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You are determined not to leave this place this time without Celine. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "talk to celine" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 174 Floyd | Floyd | > TALK TO CELINE Floyd | Floyd | Celine is not feeling so good and will only tell you so if you press Floyd | her. She has - quite literally - forgotten the way home, along with Floyd | everything she learned on her art history course last term. She has Floyd | forgotten the tombstone cake you made for Jess's birthday. She has Floyd | forgotten Rick's parents are dead. She has forgotten the entirety of Floyd | Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It'll come back, you tell her, don't worry, Floyd | and anyway we can watch it all over again - think how much fun that'll Floyd | be. She listens, and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 175 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Celine tells you her secrets, the ones she hasn't forgotten, the ones Floyd | you wish she could forget, the ones she has forgotten you already Floyd | know. You try to make it okay with your words. And Celine listens, Floyd | and laughs, and pretends. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "g" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford Gardens 176 Floyd | Floyd | > G Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly you remember. It's time to go home. "Will you follow me?" Floyd | you ask, and Celine nods. She seems only a little afraid. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Sun Room 177 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Sun Room Floyd | This is a primitive conservatory of sorts. It is by far the most Floyd | attractive room in the Warneford, which reflects well on neither the Floyd | Warneford nor the room. It has wicker chairs and, disconcertingly, Floyd | there is white-sheeted hospital bed against one of the walls. The Floyd | square, unbeautiful windows overlook the grounds and currently admit a Floyd | spill of moonlight the colour of old milk. Floyd | Floyd | As you enter the sunroom from the gardens, your own footsteps sound on Floyd | the floor but you hear no others. Perhaps Celine has not followed as Floyd | promised she would. Floyd | Floyd | The Vaughan Thomas corridor lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Corridor 178 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Corridor Floyd | There are soft felt pinboards on the wall, above a row of chairs. An Floyd | over-stacked bookself shoved in the corner and a square table do Floyd | nothing to break the monotony. The Warneford Hospital has a Floyd | distinctive smell. It is the smell of a place that very consciously Floyd | has no smell, underscored by a desperate edge of nicotine. Floyd | Floyd | You strain to hear even the slightest hint of movement but there is Floyd | nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps you have been tricked. Yes, that Floyd | seems very likely. Floyd | Floyd | This interminably greyish corridor meanders north, west and south. Floyd | East would take you outside again, through the blue door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Exterior 179 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | You look around for the nurse but then notice that the door seems to Floyd | be standing very slightly ajar. You seize the opportunity and slip Floyd | through Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Exterior Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Ward is another grey building. It has a bow-window Floyd | which looks like an ill-at-ease addition to its uniformity. There is Floyd | also an awkward, spindly tree guarding a nearby bench. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing that follows you now, it seems, is silence. Floyd | Floyd | The door that leads west into Vaughan Thomas has been painted blue. Floyd | There is a doorbell next to it in industrial grey. The path leading Floyd | to and from Vaughan Thomas lies to the east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Vaughan Thomas Path 180 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas Path Floyd | The path sidles away down the side of the main building, taking you Floyd | away from facades. Here, there are no country house lawns, no Floyd | sandstone and classical pillars. There are patches of scrubby grass, Floyd | borders that may perhaps bloom one spring, and scattered buildings Floyd | that are too perfectly, facelessly functional to have anything of Floyd | beauty or ugliness to them. There are jaunty painted signs to Floyd | Cotswold House and Wintle Ward. Floyd | Floyd | Vaughan Thomas waits to the west, the Hospital Approach is to the Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||
| Doug says (to Floyd), "e" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 181 Floyd | Floyd | > E Floyd | Floyd | Warneford exit Floyd | Here on the Warneford lawn again you can see a streak of lightness at Floyd | the eastern edge of the sky. Behind you, a smear of gold and grey, is Floyd | the Warneford. Before you, to the northwest, the wrought iron gates, Floyd | as tall as thistles to a child, swinging open before you. Floyd | Floyd | > | Doug says, "yay" | |
| Doug says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||
Floyd ] Warneford exit 181 Floyd | Floyd | > NW Floyd | Floyd | You run through the gates and, as soon as both feet are indisputably Floyd | over the threshold, you turn. The shock of seeing her again, standing Floyd | before you, looking no different to the last time you saw her alive, Floyd | is too much for you. You fall but soft grass catches you, and laughter Floyd | as heady as wine comes bubbling out of your mouth. Eurydice leans over Floyd | you, while behind her the darkness peels away from the sky like a Floyd | layer of dead skin. There is a moment of confusion. You feel an Floyd | inexplicable coldness seeping into your skin from what should be the Floyd | sun-warmed grass, and there is a babble of concerned voices - the Floyd | wrong voices - calling out a name - the wrong name. But then Eurydice Floyd | kisses you and her lips are flower-petal soft and her mouth tastes of Floyd | music and the sky is the colour of lapis-lazuli and, on the breeze, Floyd | comes the scent of olive trees... Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Finis. *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | This is "Fable", one of four possible endings for Eurydice. To Floyd | discover another, why not stop relying on the lyre to solve your Floyd | difficulties? Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last Floyd | command? Floyd | > | Doug asks, "hm, so was it because we used the coin before that we always got to Flowers?" | |
| maga says, "I think you only get Fable if you use the lyre for everything, yes" | ||
| Doug asks, "also, wait, did we die?" | ||
| maga says, "or maybe for some proportion of things, to include the snake" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Well done." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm rather surprised that this came in second." | ||
| Doug says, "re-reading Emily's review now. Interesting that she says 'I think it needed to do a better job of cluing the player about where to look for the second and subsequent playthroughs, by laying bare something about the game’s internal logic at the end that implies how a replay could go differently.'" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "But then, scifi isn't my thing, and it *is* many people's thing." | ||
| Doug says, "because that seems like exactly what it does. Maybe there was an update after her review" | ||
| maga says, "it was my choice for first place, at any rate" | ||
| maga says, "(though it has some obvious flaws, and I haven't really played Andromeda)" | ||
| Doug says, "oh, I thought you meant you were surprised it came as high as second. I know I am." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm also surprised that nothing in the comp averaged higher than an 8, I wonder if that's the norm." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Surprised this didn't average out a bit higher than 7.15" | ||
| maga says (to Doug), "you spent quite a lot of time being confused about how to get the alternative endings, from my perspective" | ||
| maga says (to Jacq), "a number of reviews amounted to 'bah emo'" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "They probably didn't get that far into it, I suspect." | ||
| Doug says, "well, I think I was confused because we got the hardest ending before the second-hardest ending" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "But then, I am also all about the rainy day miasma stuff, so." | ||
| Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Yeah." | ||
| Jacqueline says, "And possibly the easiest ending last." | ||
| maga says (to Doug), "the 'hardest' ending is so totally not" | ||
| Doug says, "if we hadn't found the coin or the pills, I thnk it would have been easier to find Fable first" | ||
| maga says, "I mean, it does a pretty good job of directing you to the coin, and giving the coin to the boatman is so obvious that you were doing it even when you intended to lyre everything" | ||
| Doug says, "anyway, I thought it was a decent game (I liked some of the writing in particular, but apparently the opposite parts from what Jacq liked...), but it had a lot of rough edges and the game as a whole ultimately didn't really cohere for me." | ||
| Zach says, "I thought the writing was very enjoyable, but I wish the story had been fleshed out more apart from the myth." | ||
| Doug says, "I might not have gotten to a lot of the rough edges in the first two hours, though." | ||
| Doug says, "and yeah, what Zach said. would have liked more interaction with the NPCs, I think." | ||
| Zach says, "I suppose the living room did a good job of that though." | ||
| Doug says, "certainly an impressive first game, though" | ||
| Zach says, "Any more and it might have hit the 2 hour limit." | ||
| Doug says, "better than mine!" | ||
| Zach asks, "So we don't know who wrote it or the author wants to remain anonymous?" | ||
| Doug says, "if anyone knows, they're not telling" | ||
| maga says, "I'm interviewing them for SPAG, and they claim that it is indeed their first game" | ||
| Doug says, "I think my least favorite part was all the yes/no questions" | ||
| Doug says, "which if you answered in the obvioisly boring way, actually led to one of the better endings (as in, you reject the fantasy stuff and just get on with life), but it didn't feel earned at all." | ||
| maga says, "there are other ways you can get that" | ||
| maga says, "but yeah, the game's structural premise leads to rewarding behaviour in counterintuitive ways, which is sort of the point, I think" | ||
| Doug says, "also, Celine ends up being a pretty vague character. Maybe because of the intentionally vagueness of the relationship" | ||
| Doug says, "but there wasn't anything that suggested actually coming to terms with what happened to her, it was just sort of reliving her drug-damaged final weeks" | ||
| Doug asks, "I guess maybe the idea is that you regret not having taken her away from the hospital sooner?" | ||
| Doug asks, "and so actually getting her out gives you closure?" | ||
| Doug says, "but the way to get her out is to bribe the doctor's wife, which is just an unrelated obstacle puzzle" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "Great session, folks." | ||
| Doug says, "anyway, thanks Jacq! and thanks Zach & DavidW!" | ||
| Doug | There are moments of humour, such as when you grab the cuddly Cthulhu doll. There are moments of pure horror, like when you see the skeletons in the hospital ward. | ||
| Doug says, "I guess we missed both of those!" | ||
| Doug says, "that's from Victor's review of Eurydice" | ||
| Jacqueline says, "... wow" | ||
