|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- PECULIAR LATHER--CUP 15--"DISTANTWIND HOUSE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Peculiar Lather  ||  -------> (Cup SRpl015, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Uh..." Tanner said. "Well we have this game we play now where we have to come up with weird ideas, and then write them down in notebooks, and then use that base of ideas as a sort of simulated academic rivalry thing, describing essays we would write, research we would do, etc. Sort of like rival metaphysics departments at different universities. We call it Distantwind House." Mem stared at Tanner with a concerned expression on his face. Fluffy smirked a little. Fisher yawned and signed to Tanner. Thread interpreted--"She wants to know who invented the game, and how long you've been playing." "Well, uh, Little Fisher, uh, I made up most of it, but I had help from some of my friends. Especially Minion Van Hall--he's one of the friends who came here with me." Fisher signed again, and Thread translated "This Distantwind House sounds like fun--would you consider teaching me and my friends how to play it sometime?" "Sure!" Tanner said. "In fact, Martin Fovea is also here in Agoopish, and he plays too. We could set something up sometime, I'm sure." "You planning on staying in Agoopish for awhile?" Thread asked. "Uh, well, I just got here, and I'm not exactly sure what my plans are. But if it's at all possible I'd sure like to stay. I wasn't prepared to find a paranormal city this afternoon, to tell you the truth." Tanner said. "What are some of the ideas in this Distantwind House game?" Thread asked. "Well, a few of the ones I did recently were, like, one was if you sleep exactly nine hours--to the millisecond--something devastatingly bizarre will happen. Another one was could there be a place where Thursdays only come along once in awhile? Oh, and a good one I came up with the other day was doubling your life by writing on the other side. Y'know--like a piece of paper or something. Also we get a lot of ideas from that TV show 'Johnny Pitch'." "Johnny Pitch?" Mem asked. "Where have I heard that name before?" "Well, it's an old TV show from Boolevathers, based loosely on the Essevent deck of occult cards." "Certainly--Johnny Pitch is a card in that deck." Mem said. "Yeah--and there are other characters from the deck, and a lot of other cool characters too. Me and my friends watch it all the time. They just started broadcasting it in Gullia Fair last year." "Sounds fascinating. Lo, tell me something of it, Tanner." Mem said. "Well, right now in it, Johnny is being harassed by this guy Daniel Odd, only he doesn't know that it's his twin brother, see. And Bookfaye, Johnny's girlfriend, is being held prisoner in the basement of a library by the ghost of the poet Libro Gesessnar. He's fighting the ghost of Pervellack Slochlin, another colonial poet guy. Speedy Chill and Mouse Powder are lost in A Rainy Town, and Darkfreen the ultra warlock is up to his old tricks. And the typesetter Whawque St. Wave is helping the jester Treezle Trookus hide--but is putting him to work as well, and Johnny's friend, Alex Mammonville, is researching into the legendary Ebsekkian, Evil Master of Weirdness, and Tendril Davy got killed--again--and, and, and the pion fiends Infoflfam and Fwhich get trapped in an evil movie theater, and, and, uh, lots of stuff." Tanner said. "I see you really like the show." Fluffy said, finishing up her coffee. "Yes," Mem said, "we must get Blankablark to put this 'Johnny Pitch' program into his schedule." "Blankablark?" Tanner asked. "Yes," Fluffy said. "Adlai Blankablark runs one of the two TV stations here in Agoopish. And sometimes he imports shows from Earth to broadcast." "Can't you get any Earth TV stations here?" Tanner asked. "Well," Thread said "We can't receive any broadcasts from Earth, but with this new cable TV thing you have over there, we should be able pipe Earth TV in, just as in the case of the phone lines." "But of course Blankie isn't too thrilled at the prospect of Earth TV dissipating his audience." Fluffy said. Little Fisher squeaked and nodded. Tanner finished his coffee, slurping loudly. Silence for a while. Mem pulled a watch from his vest and frowned as he looked at it. "Is that the time?" Mem said, getting up with the aid of his cane "Well I must be off. Lo, Fisher and Thread, I trust you two will be at the next meeting?" "Certainly." Thread said. Fisher nodded and yawned again. "Maybe Tanner could come to the next meeting too." Thread said. Mem glanced at Tanner, looked him over for a few seconds, and then said "Why certainly. I'd like to hear some more about this game of his." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----