ClubFloyd Transcript:
Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory by Katherine Morayati
As played on ifMUD on May 1, 2016

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.

Below is a transcript of Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory written by Katherine Morayati. Laid off from the Synesthesia Factory placed 30th in the 2015 Interactive Fiction Competition, and as of the date of this transcript has been nominated for three Xyzzy Awards (Best Writing, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Implementation). You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting the IFDB page: Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory.


WARNING! Below you will find a transcript of people playing these games, and it goes without saying that the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never played these games, and think you might like to at some point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead, you might want to return to the interactive fiction page.


ToyShop & Floyditorium
#ClubFloyd Discussion



Miseri asks, "What're we playing tonight, Brain?" Jacqueline says (to Miseri), "Well, we haven't begun yet."
Jacqueline says, "Waiting until the top of the hour to discuss."
Teaspoon says, "Hi"
Teaspoon arrives, ready to play with the toys. Jacqueline says, "Aloha, folks."
Jacqueline says, "So. The Xyzzy nominees literally just dropped."
Doug says, "woooo"
Teaspoon asks, "are we picking one of them?"
Jacqueline says, "That was my thought. To pick a Floydable one that we have not yet played."
Jacqueline | [LINK]
Miseri has to step out for a few minutes. Feel free to start without him.
Jacqueline says, "So, for Best Game, we've played Brain Guzzlers and Midnight. Swordfight, but I think that's it."
Roger says, "Birdland looks pretty well-recommended if we can handle it"
Jacqueline says, "Hm. No, doesn't seem Floydable. We unfortunately (short of a Google Hangout or something, which not all of our regulars can do) can't play Twine. But I now have it on my personal To Play list."
Jacqueline says, "Hm, and Hollywood Visionary is ChoiceScript through Steam or the app stores."
Jacqueline says, "And SPY INTRIGUE is also online only."
Roger says, "Hrm"
Doug asks, "has Floyd played Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory?"
Jacqueline says, "First one I see that we can play but have not yet played is Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory by Katherine Morayati."
Jacqueline says, "Timing."
Busta arrives, full of funk, but no fun. Busta says, "I vote for Synethesia"
Teaspoon says, "I've heard good things about it."
Doug asks, "oh huh, looks like Club Floyd never played Oppositely Opal?"
Roger says, "Yeah I generally like her work, so let's go for it"
Doug says, "2nd place in ParserComp"
Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Nope"
Jacqueline says, "So, we only have two weeks to get our votes in. I guess that means that while we'll be helping some folks to explore some new-to-them games, there's a lot of independent study required for some of us."
Doug says, "also looks like Scroll Thief was played when it was in Introcomp but not the final version"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load sleepmask laidoff"
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | This piece contains language and other mature themes.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Do you wish to continue (Y / N)?
Busta says, "I played introcomp scroll thief but not final scrollthief so that's a good one too"
Teaspoon says, "So that's a yes then."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "y"
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory
Floyd |
Floyd | A work of interactive fiction by Katherine Morayati.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please choose one of the following options:
Floyd |
Floyd | About (recommended for first-timers) : A
Floyd | Start : (SPACE)
Floyd | Quit : Q
Doug says, "I think I've played all but 6 of the nominees. and 4 of those are in the Best Use of Multimedia category."
Jacqueline says, "Let's do the about just in case it has some new verbs or something."
Teaspoon says, "agreed"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "a"
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |  > About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Roger asks, "Are we entranscripting?"
Jacqueline says, "Yep"
Doug says, "(I have played SynFac, for the record)"
Jacqueline says, "I'm thinking either About the Piece or the FAQ"
Jacqueline says, "Let's take them in order."
Jacqueline says, "Or, heck we could do them all."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |  > About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Jacqueline says, "I want to see this one."
Teaspoon presses the yellow enter button.
Floyd ]                          About the Author
Floyd | Katherine Morayati is a music writer by day and by night and an
Floyd | interactive fiction person the rest of the time. She is the
Floyd | editor-in-chief of SPAG and the author of Broken Legs, which
Floyd | took second place in the 2009 Interactive Fiction Competition. This is
Floyd | nothing like that.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue.
Teaspoon says, "Nice"
Teaspoon pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |  > About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |  > About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon presses the yellow enter button.
Floyd ]                          About the Piece
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory is a work of parser
Floyd | interactive fiction. In parser IF, one progresses through the work by
Floyd | entering commands at the command prompt. Some parser IF is designed
Floyd | around puzzles; this work is puzzleless. Think of it as akin to a
Floyd | short story, or perhaps what's increasingly called "dynamic fiction."
Floyd | The point is not to win but to explore: to build a story, and choose
Floyd | what goes into it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory accepts standard parser
Floyd | commands as well as individual keywords. For instance, you could type
Floyd | "examine computer" or simply "computer." The latter method may be used
Floyd | on many salient words or phrases in the story, often more than once.
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory is effectively a story
Floyd | generator, as well as a work of interactive fiction. The downloadable
Floyd | version will produce a text file, intended to be read alone as
Floyd | standalone prose. Note: Quixe does not currently support this feature.
Floyd |
Floyd | Those used to traditional IF are advised that certain meta-commands
Floyd | are not supported, for example SAVE, RESTORE and UNDO. Other verbs,
Floyd | such as LOOK, will work differently than one may expect. The work is
Floyd | short enough and puzzleless enough that they are not necessary.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue.
Teaspoon says, "Glad we checked."
Teaspoon pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |  > About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |  > FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon presses the yellow enter button.
Floyd ]                                FAQ
Floyd | Is the work fictional?
Floyd | Yes.
Floyd |
Floyd | Is the work autobiographical?
Floyd | No.
Floyd |
Floyd | Are these characters composites?
Floyd | Some.
Floyd |
Floyd | Are these characters meant to be likable?
Floyd | No.
Floyd |
Floyd | Is this a story or a game?
Floyd | Both.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue.
Roger says, "No messin around here"
Jacqueline nods.
Teaspoon pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |  > FAQ
Floyd |    Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |  > Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon presses the yellow enter button.
Floyd ]                             Soundtrack
Floyd | For those interested, a soundtrack to Laid Off from the
Floyd | Synesthesia Factory is available on Spotify:
[LINK]Floyd | j
Floyd |
Floyd | Tracklisting:
Floyd |
Floyd | 1. Sofi de la Torre, "Vermillion"
Floyd | 2. Polica, "I Need $"
Floyd | 3. Kelela, "Rewind"
Floyd | 4. EMA, "Smoulder"
Floyd | 5. Indiana, "Solo Dancing"
Floyd | 6. Bat for Lashes, "Sleep Alone (Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid
Floyd | Remix)"
Floyd | 7. Alexandra Strunin and Scanner, "Robot"
Floyd | 8. Dawn Richard, "Frequency"
Floyd | 9. Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands, "I Don't Remember"
Floyd | 10. Ladytron, "Deep Blue"
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue.
Busta says, "## Am I messing around? No."
Jacqueline says, "Ugh. That is going to be hard to copy and paste from Floyd (but doable)."
Teaspoon asks, "shall we begin?"
Jacqueline says, "Yes, Lisa."
Teaspoon asks, "Lisa?"
Jacqueline says, "Sorry, it's a reference to a song from Purple Rain."
Teaspoon says, "Ooh, right."
Teaspoon pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]                            Instructions
Floyd ]
Floyd ]  N = Next                                              Q = Quit Menu
Floyd ]  P = Previous                                          ENTER = Select
Floyd |    About Interactive Fiction
Floyd |    About the Author
Floyd |    About the Piece
Floyd |    FAQ
Floyd |  > Soundtrack
Floyd |    Credits
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "q"
Floyd |    Credits
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue.
Teaspoon pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory
Floyd |
Floyd | A work of interactive fiction by Katherine Morayati.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please choose one of the following options:
Floyd |
Floyd | About (recommended for first-timers) : A
Floyd | Start : (SPACE)
Floyd | Quit : Q
Teaspoon pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]
Floyd | I'm searching for a colour, don't think it's got a name. It's
Floyd | something between pink and brown -- just like when the sun sets,
Floyd | sometimes when it rains, like it's the first time you see it go
Floyd | down. - Stina Nordenstam, "Memories of a Colour"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g"
Floyd | down. - Stina Nordenstam, "Memories of a Colour"It was still
Floyd | months before we'd tell each other our stories. And even then some
Floyd | seemed too small to bother with. So why do they come back to me now?
Floyd | Now, when I'm so weary of all of it. - Jenny Offill, Dept. of
Floyd | Speculation
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g"
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:00 pm
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory
Floyd | A story, eventually; by Katherine Morayati
Floyd | Release 3 / Serial number 151021 / Inform 7 build 6L38 (I6/v6.33 lib
Floyd | 6/12N)
Floyd |
Floyd | Studio 4D, 7:00 pm
Floyd |
Floyd | An afterimage is a visual left lingering before your eyes, after
Floyd | you've focused on one thing too long; burnt-out retinae, producing
Floyd | bullshit.  If you've seen red you produce un-red; blue, un-blue;
Floyd | green, un-green. An involuntary strike. The state is not permanent,
Floyd | until it is.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your primary project at Synfac was developing wearables. But your
Floyd | last project was sentiment analysis. Intern work. Your job
Floyd | was to mine influential tweeters, popular song, emails and letters and
Floyd | texts acquired for you by means you'd rather not consider, for the
Floyd | oily stuff of emotion. This was supposed to focus you. Instead you're
Floyd | now a broke computer, made of errors: tweet fragments, disheveled
Floyd | paragraphs, bastardized sentiment. You have no sentences, just quips;
Floyd | no thoughts, only responses. Here is one:
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid off from the synesthesia factory. Branded a fool. What will
Floyd | they say, Monday at --
Floyd |
Floyd | You have gotten no further. There is no rhyme to what you do now. And
Floyd | at any rate, your concern is not Monday at whenever the hell. Your
Floyd | concern is tonight at 8 PM.
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | Synfac originally hired you as a copywriter, then promoted you to
Floyd | amorphous creative, then gradually demoted you once they detected a
Floyd | lack of actual creating. This was not in the plan; you took the job a
Floyd | year ago knowing headquarters were far from any robust job market. It
Floyd | was less a move than a trust fall.
Floyd |
Floyd | To compensate, Synfac put you up in a company apartment and paid the
Floyd | first month's rent. Nothing extravagant, of course: a studio, slightly
Floyd | under market rate but of course not free; a bit over-sparsely
Floyd | furnished, as if they'd rented the unit expecting a bachelor; full to
Floyd | distraction with Synfac technology, to remind you that the space was
Floyd | meant for after-hours research. Even the unit number was deliberate,
Floyd | as explained to you on day one: Studio 4D, the fourth dimension. Which
Floyd | is time, of which you now have an abundance.
Floyd |
Floyd | You've got to admire how legit it all was: standard real estate
Floyd | company, standard contract and standard lease, and this year's lease
Floyd | doesn't end until December. Optimism: You get to stay here even after
Floyd | your layoff. Pessimism: You must.
Floyd |
Floyd | Without your Synpiece with you, the room is blank and chilly, less
Floyd | modern design than empty ice tray. Everything is some form of inert
Floyd | gray: dormant green-screen wall paneling, dresser practically frozen
Floyd | shut, desk a little more cluttered these days but as desks go still
Floyd | austere. Only your saturator pole seems obviously amiss.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Doug says, "FYI, the FAQ answers are randomly generated"
Teaspoon says, "Ah."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:01 pm
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Floyd | > I
Floyd |
Floyd | You're wearing a ratty cotton dress.  A lifetime of possessions has
Floyd | left you with this.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "dress"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:02 pm
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Floyd | > DRESS
Floyd |
Floyd | You've worn this ratty dress since Friday night: a billowing tarpish
Floyd | thing, colors dulled, holes in the hem. Dress as metaphor. Fortunately
Floyd | for you, this metaphor is easily revised.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Busta says, "REVISE"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "revise"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:03 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > REVISE
Floyd |
Floyd | Your first thought: to check your computer. This is in fact your
Floyd | default thought; give it five years and it'll have your cortex and
Floyd | also your amygdala. "Thought" is the wrong word. What it is: now your
Floyd | core creature drive. Ancient drives: hunger, exhaustion, libido. And
Floyd | their modern replacements: refreshing, unplugging, FOMO.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "refresh"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:04 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > REFRESH
Floyd |
Floyd | Your next thought: How you have managed such disarray in a week's
Floyd | span. You feel as if you have been dropped into a spot-the-difference
Floyd | picture, the kind from a children's whodunnit book, where you are
Floyd | expected to solve the mystery of how you murdered your life.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "I'm still catching up, fwiw."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "unplug"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:04 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > UNPLUG
Floyd |
Floyd | What do you want to unplug?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "Caught up."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "unplug me"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:05 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > UNPLUG ME
Floyd |
Floyd | You aren't something you can switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "Sadly, Spotify is not cooperating."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "x dresser"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:06 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X DRESSER
Floyd |
Floyd | You consider changing your outfit. You were never extravagant with
Floyd | fashion. The idea of a uniform appeals: wearable anonymity, no skin,
Floyd | signals or stories. But none of that is accepted in women, not even in
Floyd | tech, not even the temperamentally private. And you have been told you
Floyd | have more of a story to tell. And anyway, even a uniform would take up
Floyd | space. So now you have a dresser full of clothes reserved for special
Floyd | occasions, which you suppose tonight is.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "open dresser"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:07 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > OPEN DRESSER
Floyd |
Floyd | You open your dresser and clothes drool out. This is a new pattern:
Floyd | carefully stacked and folded clothes on the bottom, tossed and crammed
Floyd | clothes on top. Like tree rings for your employment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "And I have Computer Blue stuck in my head from that 'Yes, Lisa' comment."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "take clothes"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:08 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > TAKE CLOTHES
Floyd |
Floyd | Every outfit betrays you in some way. Now you wear: A simple cotton
Floyd | dress, dully, subtly polka-dotted. Appropriate age: late thirties, or
Floyd | forties, or at least fully grown up.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "polka dots. Right-ho."
Busta says, "heh, late thirties and forties is fully grown up"
Busta says, "too real"
Jacqueline says, "Pretty much."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "look"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:09 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > LOOK
Floyd |
Floyd | Your apartment, in theory: A neutral base to practice and study this
Floyd | business of feelings with no interference; decor would be a stain,
Floyd | life a confounding variable. This translates in design to
Floyd | "minimalism," which is appealing enough. But your apartment, in
Floyd | practice: The usual ecru hamster-box with every serviceable white,
Floyd | frosty or clear item of furniture you or Brian found within a
Floyd | fifty-mile radius. The bed was from a prefab catalog; the desk was
Floyd | forgotten in the corner of a Methodist thrift store; the kitchen is
Floyd | like all kitchens are; the shelves, you are certain, were literally
Floyd | cubicles once.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "shelves"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:10 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > SHELVES
Floyd |
Floyd | The bookshelves, as described: An aspirational perk, the mark of
Floyd | creatives, suitable for picturesque libraries arranged in rainbow
Floyd | colors. Bookshelves, as supplied: Gray plastic overstock from the
Floyd | office, suitable for cubicles and other modular stacking. Upshot:
Floyd | Under palatial office sun or a Synpiece lens, they shine. Pessimism:
Floyd | In any other circumstances they suck away vibes. And here you have no
Floyd | Synpiece, no office, and no good vibes. A while back you arranged some
Floyd | books and knickknacks and old photos about the shelves. Only the
Floyd | photos help, and only to a point.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "these are juicy shelves"
Busta says, "the best shelves"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "x books"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:11 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X BOOKS
Floyd |
Floyd | After taking the Synfac job you bought every design, programming and
Floyd | theory tome you'd ever seen namedropped in a blog post or heard in a
Floyd | colleague's half mention. You'd built up quite the impressive library,
Floyd | even arranged it all by color (if anyone earned the right, you did).
Floyd | What you didn't do: ever read them.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "Ours is a tale of tragedy."
Jacqueline says, "heh"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "x knicknacks"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:12 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X KNICKNACKS
Floyd |
Floyd | Proverb from a dubious online repository: I'm A-OK; I dress au
Floyd | fait; I don't stay home like sad Henri.
Floyd |
Floyd | Statements that apply to you: zero. Optimism: No, you've made the
Floyd | second one apply. And the third will come in half an hour. And even
Floyd | the first, if tonight goes well.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "I've seen people who organize books by color. It's pretty striking."
Doug asks, "is this the post-comp release?"
Busta asks, "how would you ever find the book you want?"
Jacqueline says, "It's what I just downloaded from IFDB this morning."
Jacqueline says (to Busta), "That is why I don't have my books organized that way."
Teaspoon says, "I saw a photo of someone who had a whole collection of Penguins sorted by colour"
Teaspoon says, "it was striking"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "x photo"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:12 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X PHOTO
Floyd |
Floyd | Which do you mean, the office photo, the cuddling photo, the third
Floyd | photo or the photos?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Busta says, "for a second I thought you meant actual penguins"
Jacqueline says, "hahaha"
Teaspoon says, "That would be easy to sort by colour"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "x office photo"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:13 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X OFFICE PHOTO
Floyd |
Floyd | You remember this. You took it the first day on the job, about a month
Floyd | into dating, which naturally bound job and relationship into one unit,
Floyd | a synchronized squad cheering on your self-improvement. It seems a lot
Floyd | more unfortunate in retrospect.
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "x cuddling"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:14 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X CUDDLING
Floyd |
Floyd | You'd driven into the city to visit him at the park, which seemed a
Floyd | little silly given the surfeit of parklike stuff in your own
Floyd | neighborhood, but it turned out rather nice. Off camera, you remember,
Floyd | there were babies. You recall thinking it was too early on to safely
Floyd | coo over babies in his presence, but nothing felt wrong.
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "third photo"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:15 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > THIRD PHOTO
Floyd |
Floyd | This photo was early on, obviously. At Lurie Lake near the old power
Floyd | plant. Some abandoned building at some late hour, lit by artificial
Floyd | red flash. From a car, maybe. Or strobes off a far-off arena. Nothing
Floyd | you could have planned. You are in purple and besotten.
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "One sec: household curtain emergency"
Teaspoon says, "er, right."
Roger asks, "What was this nominated for?"
Busta says, "Jacq doesn't buy just any curtain"
[LINK]
Doug says (to Roger), "Best Writing, Implementation, Innovation"
Jacqueline says, "Okay, I'm back."
Jacqueline asks, "So we need to switch to that?"
Teaspoon says, "We haven't gone far yet, might as well"
Jacqueline says, "(And the answer to why it's not linked to on ifdb is because people likely were unaware.)"
Jacqueline says, "Hm. No one is around who can delete this one, so I'll just put a number after it."
Jacqueline says, "One sec."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "quit"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:15 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > QUIT
Floyd |
Floyd | Are you sure you want to quit?
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "y"
Floyd | Are you sure you want to quit?
Floyd | > Y
Floyd | cheapglulxe quit with exit status: 0
Floyd asks, "That game over already? It was just getting good. Wanna play another?" Busta says, "I vote switch if it's easy"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load sleepmask laidoff2"
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | This piece contains coarse language and mature themes.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Do you wish to continue (Y / N)?
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "y"
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory
Floyd |
Floyd | A work of interactive fiction by Katherine Morayati.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Please choose one of the following options:
Floyd |
Floyd | About (recommended for first-timers) : A
Floyd | Start : (SPACE)
Floyd | Quit : Q
Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]
Floyd | I'm searching for a colour, don't think it's got a name. It's
Floyd | something between pink and brown -- just like when the sun sets,
Floyd | sometimes when it rains, like it's the first time you see it go
Floyd | down. - Stina Nordenstam, "Memories of a Colour"
Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd | down. - Stina Nordenstam, "Memories of a Colour"To become
Floyd | fluent, natural, to cut out the detour that sweeps us around what's
Floyd | fundamental to events, preventing us from touching their core: the
Floyd | detour that makes us all second-hand and second-rate. - Tom
Floyd | Mccarthy, Remainder
Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd | Mccarthy, RemainderIt was still months before we'd tell
Floyd | each other our stories. And even then some seemed too small to bother
Floyd | with. So why do they come back to me now? Now, when I'm so weary of
Floyd | all of it. - Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation
Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]
Floyd |
Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:00 pm
Floyd | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory
Floyd | A story, eventually; by Katherine Morayati
Floyd | Release 4 / Serial number 151206 / Inform 7 build 6L38 (I6/v6.33 lib
Floyd | 6/12N)
Floyd |
Floyd | Studio 4D, 7:00 pm
Floyd |
Floyd | An afterimage is a visual left lingering before your eyes, after
Floyd | you've focused on one thing too long; burnt-out retinae, producing
Floyd | bullshit.  If you've seen red you produce un-red; blue, un-blue;
Floyd | green, un-green. An involuntary strike. The state is not permanent,
Floyd | until it is.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your primary project at Synfac was developing wearables. But your
Floyd | last project was sentiment analysis. Intern work. Your job
Floyd | was to mine influential tweeters, popular song, emails and letters and
Floyd | texts acquired for you by means you'd rather not consider, for the
Floyd | oily stuff of emotion. This was supposed to focus you. Instead you're
Floyd | now a broke computer, made of errors: tweet fragments, disheveled
Floyd | paragraphs, bastardized sentiment. You have no sentences, just quips;
Floyd | no thoughts, only responses. Here is one:
Floyd |
Floyd | Laid off from the synesthesia factory. Branded a fool. What will
Floyd | they say, Monday at --
Floyd |
Floyd | You have gotten no further. There is no rhyme to what you do now. And
Floyd | at any rate, your concern is not Monday at whenever the hell. Your
Floyd | concern is tonight at 8 PM.
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | Synfac originally hired you as a copywriter, then promoted you to
Floyd | amorphous creative, then gradually demoted you once they detected a
Floyd | lack of actual creating. This was not in the plan; you took the job a
Floyd | year ago knowing headquarters were far from any robust job market. It
Floyd | was less a move than a trust fall.
Floyd |
Floyd | To compensate, Synfac put you up in a company apartment and paid the
Floyd | first month's rent. Nothing extravagant, of course: a studio, slightly
Floyd | under market rate but of course not free; a bit over-sparsely
Floyd | furnished, as if they'd rented the unit expecting a bachelor; full to
Floyd | distraction with Synfac technology, to remind you that the space was
Floyd | meant for after-hours research. Even the unit number was deliberate,
Floyd | as explained to you on day one: Studio 4D, the fourth dimension. Which
Floyd | is time, of which you now have an abundance.
Floyd |
Floyd | You've got to admire how legit it all was: standard real estate
Floyd | company, standard contract and standard lease, and this year's lease
Floyd | doesn't end until December. Optimism: You get to stay here even after
Floyd | your layoff. Pessimism: You must.
Floyd |
Floyd | Without your Synpiece with you, the room is blank and chilly, less
Floyd | modern design than empty ice tray. Everything is some form of inert
Floyd | gray: dormant green-screen wall paneling, dresser practically frozen
Floyd | shut, desk a little more cluttered these days but as desks go still
Floyd | austere. Only your saturator pole seems obviously amiss.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "panelling"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:01 pm
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Floyd | > PANELLING
Floyd |
Floyd | Your first thought: to check your computer. This is in fact your
Floyd | default thought; give it five years and it'll have your cortex and
Floyd | also your amygdala. "Thought" is the wrong word.  Something closer:
Floyd | anymore, your core creature drive.
Floyd |
Floyd | The original creature drives: hunger, exhaustion, libido. And their
Floyd | modern replacements: refreshing, unplugging, FOMO.
Floyd |
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "sing"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:02 pm
Floyd | [Enter an individual word, a short phrase, or a command.] >
Floyd | > SING
Floyd |
Floyd | Your next thought: How you have managed such disarray in a week's
Floyd | span. You feel as if you have been dropped into a spot-the-difference
Floyd | picture, the kind from a children's whodunnit book, where you are
Floyd | expected to solve the mystery of how you murdered your life.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "desk"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:03 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > DESK
Floyd |
Floyd | Rudimentary method of painting a fresco: Find a blank surface,
Floyd | preferably white. Apply paint on top; let it turn to sediment. Apply
Floyd | more paint on top of the hardened old paint. Repeat until you have
Floyd | produced a thick pile of texture and art. Now, subtract all the art.
Floyd | What remains is what has happened to your desk in the days since it
Floyd | happened.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your computer sits idle. Your severance papers are where you left
Floyd | them. So is your old keycard.  And check stubs and seltzer cans,
Floyd | clutter on and all around it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "Oh, we were fired."
Teaspoon says, "Oh dear."
Teaspoon says, "(I know, I know, it was in the title and all.)"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x papers"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:04 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X PAPERS
Floyd |
Floyd | You have looked at your severance agreement exactly twice. It is
Floyd | printed on chipper iridescent letterhead with a color-wheel stamp, and
Floyd | it tells you in lawyerspeak to go fuck yourself. Also: They'll give
Floyd | you four weeks' severance, if you never admit to it. And: You may not
Floyd | say what they did to you. You've broken this clause with your mother
Floyd | and therapist already. By tonight you'll break it with Brian (or
Floyd | worse). Perhaps you're breaking it now in your head.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "brian"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:05 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > BRIAN
Floyd |
Floyd | What Brian is: A man you used to know. Deflatingly human when you're
Floyd | with him, horribly beguiling when you're not. It wasn't enough for him
Floyd | to finagle his way into every memory of every item in your home; you
Floyd | can't stop documenting everything about him on top of that -- all your
Floyd | old emails, all your texts, the whole corpus of it.
Floyd |
Floyd | What Brian also is: a person you dumped in a rambling email and then
Floyd | tentatively un-dumped in another, in less than a 24-hour span. While
Floyd | you're being honest..
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline asks, "While you're being honest.. ?"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "email"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:05 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > EMAIL
Floyd |
Floyd | What do you want to email?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline asks, "Oh, huh. How about Brian?"
Teaspoon says, "sure"
Jacqueline says, "(I was expecting some feels about email when I typed that, not thinking it would be a verb)"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "brian"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:06 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > BRIAN
Floyd |
Floyd | Proverb from a dubious online repository: I'm A-OK; I dress au
Floyd | fait; I don't stay home like sad Henri.
Floyd |
Floyd | Statements that apply to you: zero. Optimism: You could make the
Floyd | second apply right now. And the third will come in half an hour. And
Floyd | even the first, if tonight goes well.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "So, you were changing clothes before we reset the game..."
Teaspoon says, "true"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "dresser"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:07 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > DRESSER
Floyd |
Floyd | You consider changing your outfit. You were never extravagant with
Floyd | fashion. The idea of a uniform appeals: wearable anonymity, no skin,
Floyd | signals or stories. But none of that is accepted in women, not even in
Floyd | tech, not even the temperamentally private. And you have been told you
Floyd | have more of a story to tell. And anyway, even a uniform would take up
Floyd | space. So now you have a dresser full of clothes reserved for special
Floyd | occasions, which you suppose tonight is.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "clothes"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:08 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > CLOTHES
Floyd |
Floyd | Every outfit betrays you in some way. Now you wear: Black-and-white
Floyd | work skirt, black shell. Unremarkably put-together. You'd wear it on a
Floyd | job interview if you had one.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "Apparently this is also randomised"
Teaspoon says, "(I think I prefer this to polka dots)"
Doug says, "katherine says (on Euphoria chat): "tell them I apologize for totally missing MY OWN CLUBFLOYD DAY""
Jacqueline says, "She had no idea this was happening."
Roger exclaims, "Neither did we!"
Jacqueline says, "We had no idea this was happening."
Teaspoon says, "we didn't either"
Jacqueline says (to Roger&Tsp), "Exactly."
Doug says, "yeah it's the hottest of hot takes."
Jacqueline says (to Doug), "Please tell her as much."
Doug says, "almost like there was inside information!"
Jacqueline says, "I am not one of the cool new kids on Euphoria."
Jacqueline says, "Anyway, I agree about the polka dots."
Jacqueline asks, "Did this say we had green screen walls? Can we do something amazing with that?"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "walls"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:09 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > WALLS
Floyd |
Floyd | Actual green screens are green because -- to simplify -- cameras
Floyd | detect that color best. Your apartment is not green because humans
Floyd | also detect the color, quite emphatically, usually when trying to
Floyd | sleep. But "green screen" is the best term anyone came up with for
Floyd | what your apartment has got: panels -- floor-to-ceiling each, so no
Floyd | room for other decorations -- that display images that change the feel
Floyd | of a room. The idea was from f.lux, the endgame probably to show or at
Floyd | least enhance ads, and the technology from Disney cruise ships.
Floyd | Presumably the makers did not visit CruiseCritic.com, which you did
Floyd | and found tourists complaining about the glitches jerking and fritzing
Floyd | their way down the promenade of their "virtual balconies."
Floyd |
Floyd | These, too, are currently glitchy; they're supposed to work in tandem
Floyd | with the Synpiece and saturator, but never quite pick up either's
Floyd | signal, like a radio skipping stations. Even when they work they just
Floyd | sort of change the room's paint job.
Floyd |
Floyd | A disconcerting feeling while alone: realizing you are surrounded by
Floyd | screens.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "we have to use our saturator to change them, I suppose."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "saturator"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:10 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > SATURATOR
Floyd |
Floyd | The existence of such a thing called a "saturator pole" is of course a
Floyd | blunder. One of the code-dwellers uttered the words "responsive
Floyd | design" in range of someone whose earshot was triply unfortunate:
Floyd | someone wonky enough to pay attention to programmers, pretentious
Floyd | enough to wonk over monochrome design publications, and executive
Floyd | enough to wrench his pretentions into an official pivot. Thus rose,
Floyd | like a techy Tower of Babel, the Saturator, which (the pitch goes)
Floyd | detects your emotional undercurrent -- your presence, basically -- and
Floyd | infuses the room with simpatico ambience and portent, like an air
Floyd | freshener for mood. (The original tagline said "incense for mood," but
Floyd | marketing thought that sounded too hippie, someone higher-up and
Floyd | unbuttoned asked whether there was a type of incense not for
Floyd | mood, and thence went the afternoon.)
Floyd |
Floyd | It took another month of meetings to persuade legal to have one
Floyd | installed in your apartment, a month you regretted once the prototype
Floyd | came in: a Super Mario-esque monstrosity that protruded horizontally
Floyd | over the bed and across the room, like a fluorescent light if those
Floyd | were large and killed you if you woke up wrong. You bitched, others
Floyd | bitched, and from the bitching came the current model: a vertical pole
Floyd | where a heating pipe would be, slender, slightly gnarled and ending in
Floyd | a broad starburst two feet from the ceiling. It pulses with a deep
Floyd | unidentifiable color; in about a three-centimeter radius surrounding
Floyd | the pole are cilia of iridescent light. You think it resembles a
Floyd | maypole. Everyone else who's ever been in your place thinks stripper
Floyd | pole. At one point that was funny.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x saturator"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:11 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X SATURATOR
Floyd |
Floyd | Marketing never settled on one metaphor for the saturator pole. Guy
Floyd | who spent half of the workday moonlighting for his progressive rock
Floyd | band: "It's like an amplifier. Except it amplifies you!"
Floyd | Woman you are uncertain has left her teens yet: "Like an Instagram
Floyd | filter, except, like, permanent?" Guy about town: "Like catching
Floyd | feelings. Ugh." Suit from some mysterious corner office: "It could
Floyd | collect user data if it's on long enough."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "use saturator"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:12 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > USE SATURATOR
Floyd |
Floyd | You must supply a noun.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "It's noting the time in the status line. I wonder if that's important."
Teaspoon says, "good question"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "experience feels"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:13 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > EXPERIENCE FEELS
Floyd |
Floyd | You consider PR. The problem: to succeed in doing PR for others you
Floyd | must first prove you've succeeded in doing PR for yourself. You must
Floyd | turn all the glop that is you into a tantalizing direct-to-consumer
Floyd | product, call it Aspirational You. Aspirational You is something
Floyd | special. Aspirational You does not evaporate or sweat under heat; she
Floyd | solidifies, like a cake. If she were knifed the blade would come out
Floyd | clean.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon asks, "did we want to email brian?"
Roger says, "I assume it will be"
Busta says, "I like the writing. No wonder it got a nom."
Roger says, "I'm not sure if I like it or not, but whatever it is, it's that a lot"
Jacqueline says, "heh"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "email brian"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:14 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > EMAIL BRIAN
Floyd |
Floyd | For a few months your job was to distill all the history of color
Floyd | psychology into meeting length. Most color psychology is not really
Floyd | psychology, but Synfac's competitors, at least in their outward-facing
Floyd | materials, seem to work with the rigorous material of "vibes" and
Floyd | "moods," so your layperson's stab was fine.
Floyd |
Floyd | One system: the Luscher Color Test, in vogue a few decades ago but now
Floyd | usurped by the MMPI and Big Five. The Synpiece's underlying color
Floyd | model is only slightly altered from it: orange for force, blue a sort
Floyd | of pristine placidity, purple surrender.
Floyd |
Floyd | These days you either encounter the test intact in old psych studies
Floyd | or bastardized by a proto-Buzzfeed quiz site. Bunk, obviously, but
Floyd | also sideways genius. Its makers found something unexploited: the
Floyd | Forer effect for those prone to self-loathing, i.e. half the Internet.
Floyd |
Floyd | What you are, uncharitably: "Looking to stand out in the crowd and
Floyd | wanting to keep her rank and status. Her current situation is
Floyd | irritating her because she can't seem to find anybody out there who
Floyd | values the same high standards she does. She is feeling isolated and
Floyd | wants to give in to her carnal urges, but can't bring herself to
Floyd | appear weak in the eyes of others."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon asks, "er, what?"
Jacqueline says, "Yeah, that seems like it didn't respond to our input."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "email"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:14 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > EMAIL
Floyd |
Floyd | What do you want to email?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Busta says, "if it doesn't recognize the command, it moves on with it's own set path"
Jacqueline says, "Yeah"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "message"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:15 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > MESSAGE
Floyd |
Floyd | Every phobia has two parts. There is the phobia itself. Then there is
Floyd | the meta-phobia: the fear that no one takes your fear seriously.
Floyd |
Floyd | One known phobia: scopophobia, the fear of being watched. According to
Floyd | psychiatric journal The Alienist and Neurologist, published
Floyd | in 1906, scopophobia is most common in women. This is not elaborated
Floyd | further.
Floyd |
Floyd | You are at your computer. The top Google results for scopophobia and
Floyd | women: 1. Wikipedia. 2. An online store of graphic tees for women:
Floyd | devils, evil eyes, glitterfied fear slogans, figures dripping with
Floyd | viscera. All form-fitting, naturally. 3. Something from something
Floyd | called the Creepypasta Wiki: "Do they see a monster wrapped delicately
Floyd | within glittering wrapping paper? Do they see malice hidden within me
Floyd | or do they see an ingenue?" There are comments on this. They gave this
Floyd | scopophobia an 8 out of 10.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "Ah, right."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x walls"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:16 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > X WALLS
Floyd |
Floyd | You and Brian had a joke that next April Fool's Day you were going to
Floyd | break into whoever at the Synpiece office manages this stuff and show
Floyd | hapless users just whatever the fuck. "Maybe those screamer videos,"
Floyd | Brian said when he first got the idea. "Or stop-motion! You know, like
Floyd | the super-slow kind that only moves when you're not looking?" He could
Floyd | go on for hours like this, kitten-quick, drawing in energy from
Floyd | something vital and wonderful that has nothing to do with you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "esk"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:17 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > ESK
Floyd |
Floyd | Everything here is contaminated by memories. Like when Brian set all
Floyd | the wall panels to a stop-motion sequence of photos of the two of you.
Floyd | Or the time he stopped by when you were calibrating the saturator
Floyd | pole. ("Calibrating the saturator pole" sounds like a bad joke. You
Floyd | know this because he made it.) You'd hoped to climb it, but that
Floyd | failed. So you'd stood tippy-toes on a footstool he bought weeks ago,
Floyd | monitoring every gradual shade of mood; he'd distract you the whole
Floyd | time, blowing up clouds of dust, performing little fireman flourishes
Floyd | by the base, pretending to spot you then grabbing you by the waist
Floyd | pretending to be King Kong.
Floyd |
Floyd | The goal was to make you smile for once. Or so he said. You don't
Floyd | remember whether you did. What you remember: the air was tinged
Floyd | yellow-gray.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "desk"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:18 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > DESK
Floyd |
Floyd | Even the slighest glance at your computer compels you to check it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "computer"
Floyd ]  Studio 4D                                            7:19 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > COMPUTER
Floyd |
Floyd | Optimism: You never much used the laptop they gave you, meaning you
Floyd | are now merely underemployable, not underemployable and computerless.
Floyd | Pessimism: Which means you did all your work on your own machine,
Floyd | which means now your work space has permanently squatted upon your
Floyd | home space. Like a snake still in its shouldabeenshed skin. It isn't
Floyd | even a good or fast computer anymore. If you were a snake you'd be the
Floyd | overgrown eldritch kind.
Floyd |
Floyd | You have only two windows somehow: browser, email client. It would be
Floyd | admirable organization, were your screen not covered in sticky notes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "notes"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:20 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > NOTES
Floyd |
Floyd | Mouldy headline from a productivity bloglet: to-do lists are out,
Floyd | clogging your computer screen in obtrusive to-do stickies is in. What
Floyd | the headline did not say: humans are resourceful and can learn to kind
Floyd | of stick them down the sides.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are four, jaggedly written. Manila notes down the left side:
Floyd | CHECK EMAIL FROM COLORBUZZ; FILE YOUR DAMN SEVERANCE PAPERS ALREADY
Floyd | YOU CRETIN. Rouge notes down the right: GUESS WHAT ROSLYN YOU'VE
Floyd | STOLEN A SYNPIECE!!; BRIAN, LURIE LAKE, 8 PM. ?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "BING 8pm"
Teaspoon asks, "So, how do we get there?"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "lurie lake"
Floyd | >
Floyd | > LURIE LAKE
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a photo of you and Brian at Lurie Lake, by the power plant
Floyd | when dusk turns the sky auburn, where you look all right. You look
Floyd | like an object of love. And you never figured out how you did it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Somehow it is 7:20. If you don't leave now, you never will. There is
Floyd | no plan that cannot be expedited by agonizing over it.
Floyd |
Floyd | You get in your car and drive into the dark.
Floyd |
Floyd | * * * * *
Floyd | * * * * *
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g" Roger says, "Good jorb"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:31 pm
Floyd | Lurie Lake is five minutes outside the city, which translates to
Floyd | twenty minutes from your apartment, or ten the way you are driving.
Floyd | You are reasonably sure this is where you are still heading.
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Your car is a mess, but you still notice it immediately: your
Floyd | Synpiece, on the floor by the backseat, right where you left it.
Floyd |
Floyd | You had to put that thing somewhere hard to reach; to the dismay of
Floyd | your coworkers with road rage, driving while augmented is not
Floyd | recommended. Everyone with a prototype got a huge warning saying so.
Floyd | Reason one: Driving with a Synpiece, depending on its calibration,
Floyd | falls somewhere between driving to a particularly nocturnal soundtrack
Floyd | and driving while high. Reason two: It does things to you. If you're
Floyd | commuting you'll wish you weren't. If you're driving past an
Floyd | ex-lover's house you'll perhaps drive toward it. If you're driving in
Floyd | a subdivision it'll seem impossibly hushed, the particular intimacy of
Floyd | suburban stillness; every house will suggest things that happen behind
Floyd | its closed doors.
Floyd |
Floyd | Funny how you still believe that warning.
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "Whoa."
Jacqueline says, "I just meant to recollect the lake, not go there."
Roger says, "Yeah well this PC is decisive damnit"
Teaspoon says, "apparently so"
Busta says, "she takes recollecting very seriously"
Jacqueline says, "Well, it's a lot like that last paragraph."
Jacqueline says, "If you see an ex-lover's house you'll perhaps drive toward it, and if you think about Lurie Lake you will drive there immediately."
Teaspoon says, "but we're not actually wearing our synpiece yet"
Roger says, "I'm reminded of sitcom settings somehow"
Teaspoon says, "(I'm sure we will before the game is done)"
Roger says, "Where an unemployed person with no significant skills somehow has a huge downtown loft apartment and a car and just a whole bunch of stuff"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "wear synpiece"
Floyd | >
Floyd | > WEAR SYNPIECE
Floyd |
Floyd | (first taking the Synpiece)
Floyd | You slip the Synpiece into your left eye. It doesn't behave like a
Floyd | contact lens exactly. Not hard enough. Presumably safer. You have
Floyd | sussed out the precise feeling: it feels like a pat of butter to the
Floyd | cornea. In the sense that it is cold, you mean. But also in the sense
Floyd | that it melts.
Floyd |
Floyd | Undocumented steps to get this thing to actually work: 1. Caress the
Floyd | eyelids to gently nudge the Synpiece into position. (1.5. Pull over,
Floyd | are you thinking?.) 2. Cup your eye sockets in your fingers,
Floyd | like you're in a horror movie and will shortly produce their contents.
Floyd | 3. Close your eyes tight. 4. Meditate, or breathe controlledly, or if
Floyd | it's you think upon your unsuitability to do either. Just at any rate
Floyd | pause. This sort of breathing produces a tremor, which is normal. 5.
Floyd | Imagine you will open your eyes and the world has changed. You need
Floyd | not imagine your actual surroundings. In fact, it's better if you
Floyd | don't. Imagine an executioner's blade at your neck. Or autumn's first
Floyd | windowful of snow. The point is not what to expect; the point is
Floyd | to expect. 6. Open.
Teaspoon says, "we're being bribed by the company. For what reason we don't know, although the PC does."
Jacqueline says, "True."
Roger says, "I'm not feeling like this narrator is reliable, but there's nothing else, so here we go"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | to expect. 6. Open.
Floyd | * * *
Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:32 pm
Floyd | * * *Now I am night driving. Now I tilt my head back and fill myself
Floyd | with breeze. Now there is something like a sunset. Now the radio
Floyd | darkens its key. Now the road arches its lanes in front of me; and now
Floyd | the road curls its lanes behind me.
Floyd |
Floyd | I can't see the Synpiece while it's on. He told me I'd go cross-eyed
Floyd | wearing it. It's more that everything looks closer than I know it is.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "Possibly I shouldn't have put this on while driving."
Jacqueline says, "But I'm liking the effect."
Teaspoon says, "Probably not, but hey, why not."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "drive"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:33 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > DRIVE
Floyd |
Floyd | Now the moon in the sky dips down into my car with every ripple in the
Floyd | road.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "Trippy."
Teaspoon says, "I like the shift to first person"
Jacqueline says, "Hm. Yeah."
Jacqueline says, "Well spotted."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "brian"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:34 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > BRIAN
Floyd |
Floyd | What Brian is: not the sum of his traits. Five-foot-six, thatch of
Floyd | hair, perpetually bemused expression, limbs goofy like a
Floyd | scarecrowThat's all.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "Hrm. Missing period & space. Odd."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "me"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:35 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > ME
Floyd |
Floyd | At this hour through headlights, the trees on the highway look like
Floyd | they're a movie scene. I know the kind: damp fetid cedar, rainymood
Floyd | lighting, lovers thrust forward into tree trunks and downward into
Floyd | needles.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "I imagine there could be formatting issues."
Teaspoon says, "with the tense shift"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "drive"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:36 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > DRIVE
Floyd |
Floyd | Glimpse of a sign: Exit 49, turn right. Lurie Lake is Exit 51. Not
Floyd | long to go.
Floyd |
Floyd | I hear somebody else's radio through my own car. They seem to be
Floyd | listening to how strobe lights sound.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "listen"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:37 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > LISTEN
Floyd |
Floyd | The way I'm driving, the car sounds about to fall apart.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "one presumes that's the fault of the synpiece"
Roger says, "Nah I think she's just a shitty driver"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:38 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > G
Floyd |
Floyd | Now I am tailing their car like a wolf. Now their music is louder and
Floyd | someone is howling in it. I imagine an entire pursuit narrative in
Floyd | their head. And I imagine their head must be nice to get into.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Busta says, "I missed what version of Inform this is"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g"
Floyd ]  Driving                                              7:39 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > G
Floyd |
Floyd | There are seven ways to turn into the city. What a sad person I would
Floyd | be to take advantage of any of them.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Busta says, "I'm assuming this is after the big adaptive text update"
Jacqueline says, "We could maybe try to remove the synpiece."
Roger says, "LAKE might just get us there. Maybe."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "lake"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           7:40 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > LAKE
Floyd |
Floyd | Now the buildings are growing tall and thrusting against the horizon;
Floyd | now the traffic swells to meet it; now I feel perfectly small.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "g"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:00 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > G
Floyd |
Floyd | Now I am clear to the shore of the lake. Everything is jagged like
Floyd | lightning or a fence. And I am alone.
Floyd |
Floyd | I exit my car like a queen enters her chambers. Then I approach the
Floyd | station like a supplicant approaches her liege: tiny, wrapped in
Floyd | autumn space. Now I'm walking slow; now I'm walking fast.
Floyd |
Floyd | The lake shore is steps away from me to the north; perhaps I'll have
Floyd | company there.
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | There was an explosion at the plant a few years back: no casualties,
Floyd | just smoke and burnt-fire sky. It is a terrible thing but right now it
Floyd | seems like it would enhance the mood.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ASchultz arrives, full of fun, but no funk. Teaspoon says, "do we meet him with our piece on, or without"
Roger says, "Maybe he'll seem taller if we keep it"
Busta says, "I feel like he might be easier to re-dump if we have it out"
Jacqueline asks, "Do we want to dump him?"
Teaspoon asks, "does our character know?"
Teaspoon says, "I don't think she does"
Jacqueline says, "Yeah, I don't think she does either."
Roger says, "He's gotta be around here somewhere"
Teaspoon says, "he's north"
Teaspoon says, "so we should decide now how we're playing it"
Jacqueline says, "Make amends, I say."
Jacqueline says, "Well, wait."
Jacqueline asks, "So, we got up enough nerve to break it off with him, the immediately tried to take it back. Why might we do that?"
Teaspoon says, "because we're feeling insecure and crave emotional support, perhaps"
Busta says, "I'm just going on the feeling he isn't good for her"
Teaspoon says, "which doesn't necessarily mean that he's the *right* emotional support"
Jacqueline asks (of Busta), "Like, he must not be good for us or we would never have tried to push him away in the first plac?"
Roger says, "Sure but he might be financial support, so let's see"
Jacqueline asks, "er, place?"
Jacqueline exclaims (at Roger), "Roger!"
Jacqueline never knows if Roger is being facetious or not.
Teaspoon says, "We're not in a Victorian novel here. I don't think we have to set our cap at him to survive."
Roger says, "We could save if we're really torn on this"
Jacqueline says, "So let's redump Brian, then go find Mr. Darcy."
Teaspoon says, "heh"
Jacqueline says, "I don't think we can save."
Teaspoon says, "We can't."
Jacqueline says, "Let's just do this."
Jacqueline says, "I don't even care how it goes."
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:01 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > N
Floyd |
Floyd | I approach the lake, suddenly noting every footstep and breath.
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm at the lake now; with each step the fence tears something new in
Floyd | the sky. Now I'm looking out on the water like there's a ship waiting
Floyd | for me. Now I'm sitting on a park bench looking up at the latticework
Floyd | of leaves above me. The only time I pay attention to those is while
Floyd | being unsatisfactorily kissed. It's better this way: as prelude, not
Floyd | distraction.
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "lake"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:02 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > LAKE
Floyd |
Floyd | The water is murky with possibility.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "swim"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:03 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > SWIM
Floyd |
Floyd | There are no railings here. Go any further and I'd plunge into the
Floyd | lake. A thought.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "I almost typed >F DROWN, but I'm afraid the game might just do it."
Teaspoon says, "no sign of brian anyway, huh"
Busta says, "that "a thought" is pretty onimous"
Teaspoon says, "yes"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "think"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:04 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > THINK
Floyd |
Floyd | I am thinking of Brian's folk-music phase. Specifically, of this:
Floyd | "Made my steps towards the water where Undine last was seen, I was
Floyd | told that if you saw her, it should make you more naive..."
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | * * *
Floyd |
Floyd | Brian approaches with his familiar half-darting half-bouncing gait.
Floyd | I've made myself hidden, I don't know why.
Floyd |
Floyd | I emerge and walk up to Brian, wordlessly. I can't think of anything
Floyd | to say, and besides, the air feels reactive against me like I'm
Floyd | searing it, and I don't want to ruin that.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Are you OK?" he asks. "Your email was a little... concerning." He
Floyd | pauses. "Roslyn, what is this?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Busta exclaims, "ugh, gotta go... have fun!"
Busta goes home. Teaspoon says, "or both emails"
Teaspoon says, "Nice tht we have a name"
Jacqueline asks, "Maybe we just >TALK?"
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "talk"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:05 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > TALK
Floyd |
Floyd | (to Brian)
Floyd | I try to form what I'm thinking into words. It takes longer than it
Floyd | should.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'm good. I'm better, actually. Look." I throw my head back and brush
Floyd | a wisp from my eye, a combination ta-da and flirt.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What's wrong with your eye?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's the Synpiece," I say. "I'm wearing it right now."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Is that it?" He waves his hand in front of my eyes, like he's swiping
Floyd | a phone; he looks less impressed than he should. "Huh." I think I'm
Floyd | supposed to think he's angry. What I do is take his hand. It feels
Floyd | like it's made of tremors and unfulfilled --
Floyd |
Floyd | "Roslyn, you're shaking."
Floyd |
Floyd | I laugh harder than I meant to. "I guess you could call this thing a
Floyd | drug." Now he's drifting. "This doesn't make any sense." "I just want
Floyd | to try."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Roger says, "It's a lake but that's not important right now"
Jacqueline says, "heh"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "talk"
Floyd | >
Floyd | > TALK
Floyd |
Floyd | (to Brian)
Floyd | The lake looks straight out of a ballad, the kind where heroines are
Floyd | fucked or passionately murdered.
Floyd |
Floyd | "This isn't going to fix everything. It's a glorified piece of
Floyd | plastic. You said so yourself," Brian says. "What exactly do you
Floyd | expect?" In response I pull him close and kiss him like I'm arranging
Floyd | a movie set. I guide and choreograph his hands to where they need to
Floyd | go, move him by the hair and press him against the bench. The sky is
Floyd | burnt orange and the air is chills. I try not to think about anything
Floyd | else.
Teaspoon says, "I wonder if the person's a Doctor Who fan."
Roger says, "Alright smoochies"
Iria arrives, full of funk, but no fun. Miseri asks, "think?"
Teaspoon says (to Floyd), "think"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:05 pm
Floyd | else.I pull away and try to gauge Brian's expression. It is something
Floyd | between curious, upset and dazed, and I can't place it. "Are you
Floyd | okay?" In response he pulls me into a hug. This is all he does for
Floyd | five minutes, and all he does for the rest of the night. Somehow I
Floyd | find this pleasant. Specifically, as pleasant as a compromise.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** The End ***
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last
Floyd | command?
Floyd | >
Teaspoon says, "uh, sorry"
Miseri says, "oh, it was just a break."
Iria exclaims, "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into!"
Jacqueline says, "That was an okay ending."
Teaspoon asks, "why is there a restore option when we can't save?"
Jacqueline says, "Not sure."
Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "undo"
Floyd ]  Lurie Lake                                           8:05 pm
Floyd | >
Floyd | > UNDO
Floyd |
Floyd | The use of "undo" is forbidden in this game.
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last
Floyd | command?
Floyd | >
Jacqueline says, "But there you go."
Roger says, "Maybe we can try to poke it into his eye."
Jacqueline says, "They're there even though you can't do them."
Iria asks, "Maybe the way the parser is written perhaps?"
Teaspoon says, "they didn't change the default"
Iria says, "There you go."
Teaspoon says, "It wasn't a bad ending, anyway"
Roger says, "OR WAS IT"
Doug says, "when I played SynFac the first time, I never found Brian and I assumed the game was pretty much linear so you would never find him"
Doug says, "which I actually thought was okay. But after seeing some discussion in reviews I realized there was more to the game, which was also cool."
Doug says, "also I think the lack of undo and save/restore is for the sake of the generated transcript? which is supposed to end up looking like a complete story."
Teaspoon says, "That's logical"
Doug | Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory is effectively a story generator, as well as a work of interactive fiction. The downloadable version will produce a text file, intended to be read alone as standalone prose.




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