|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OFFICE COMPLEX--CUP 8--"WORRISOME LANDSCAPE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc008, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Emily was sweet and beautiful, but Am was homely and chunky. As Dolthethmen stood there, he instantly knew that Am would like him, that he would like Emily. and that Emily would like someone else. This was the way it always went. Yearnings were chains of paper clips in Dole's mind. Dolthethmen thought: "The trick here is to alter reality so that Emily likes me, the guy she likes will like Am, and Am will like this other guy. If I can but solidify my initial appraisal, and then alter reality a bit, I'm sure we can have a nice double-date. In fact, why not have Am be the girlfriend Hasnafter was referring to?" Quickly, Dolthethmen's eyes shot onto Am's breasts, to make sure they were sufficiently huge, shapely, and succulent so as to correspond to Hasnafter's description. They were huge, but shapeliness and succulosity were in the eyes of the beholder. And indeed, Hasnafter was enough of a loser to think this girl a prize. So Dolthethmen desired to alter reality in the following way: that Hasnafter would walk in and be Am's boyfriend, want to go out, and suggest Dole for Emily's date, and that they later split, and he and Emily go back to her apartment and make love. Such a plan! But did he really have the ability to alter reality to such an extent? No, perhaps not, but he in that moment implored himself to remember this situation in the future when he would be in a state of greater power, and apply the reality-altering expression back in time so that the events he had just outlined would indeed occur. The next moment brought a signaling flash and light-headedness to Dolthethmen, and he knew that the realityalter had been achieved. He knew that Hasnafter would walk in any second. A clarification here. In referring to the altering of reality, I am referring to an innate ability on the part of an entity to change aspects of their environment in more fundamental ways than physical. Dolthethmen's strategy assumes that such a power can be applied to the past as well as the present. So he simply made a mental note that if he ever gained the ability to alter reality in a stable and effective manner, that he then alter this particular moment in the past, now the current present. Portions of this reasoning are dubious in a temporal and logical sense, but it worked in any case--though perhaps not in the same fashion as Dole expected. But then came a flurry of irrational fears in the face of his confidence that his realityalter was a success. Was Emily a good lover? Did she have VD? Might he impregnate her accidentally? Would he discover later that she had other love interests? He cursed himself for not being more complete in his realityaltering guidelines. But he figured that since the expression would still be generated in the future, he could continue to model his desired alter up to any point before a certain pathway in reality was revealed. In other words, until all the effects of the alter were apparent, could he not edit his mental note? Well, it mattered not, as Dole turned and saw Hasnafter approaching. "Dolthethmen!" Hasnafter said. "Long see no time! I see you found my girlfriend already--couldn't wait to hear about her from me, eh?" In a moment of panic, Dolthethmen hoped that reality would go his way; that Am and not Emily would turn out to be Hasnafter's girlfriend. "Girlfriend?" Dolthethmen asked "Yeah, the most lovely girlfriend anyone could ever have..." Hasnafter said as he strode forward and put his hands on Emily's shoulder, coinciding with her last guy in the game getting killed, "Emily!" Dolthethmen was about to collapse again, and was lightheaded, but then he heard them all laughing and saw in his panic Hasnafter embracing Am and saying: "Ha! Just testing ya, and you didn't believe it. See? Our love for one another is so great that it's visible and nobody could believe I was going out with anyone else but Am. So hey guys--you wanna go out? Emily, I know you were complaining that you didn't have a date, but I'm sure Dolthethmen would oblige! You're girlfriend wouldn't mind, would she, Dole?" "I don't have a girlfriend." "Well! And Emily doesn't have a boyfriend, so this looks like a match made in heaven! Let's go!" Emily spoke: "Well okay, if it's okay with you, Dole." "Fine by me." "Well okay!" Hasnafter said. "Let's go!" "Thank you thank you thank you." Dolthethmen thought to himself. "Oh wait a minute, huh? I wanna play another game of 'Arc of Hypnosis'!" Am said brightly. "Okay--why don't we all play!" Hasnafter said. "No," Emily said, "you can only have two players at a time--me and Dole'll play 'Worrisome Landscape'--okay, Dole?" "Yup." Dolthethmen said. "Things are going much too well." Dolthethmen thought to himself. 'Worrisome Landscape' was his favorite game. Favorite videogame, at least. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----