|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- WINTER STADIUM THEM--CUP 1--"THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDE" --------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Winter Stadium Them  ||  -------> (Cup SRws001, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dizappacha was 21 and a petite young woman. She wore a blue shirt, a multicolored tie, and a man's sport jacket, black. Below, she had a schoolgirl-style skirt going down to mid-calf, a black-and-gray checkerboard design. Her hair was a soft blue-green, dark, and it hung full of body halfway down her back. On her feet here a pair of black basketball sneakers. She was walking down Rillekon's Road. Alone. No money. No stuff. Until recently, she had been a member of Streamlike Lodge--an exciting young startup company which took over a building and converted it into a plethora of "Atmosphere Suites"--rooms stuffed to the gills with sound, lighting, scenting, visuals, theming construction, and the like--all meant to create certain atmospheres. As well, there were "cast members", in costume and in character all the time while in the rooms. The net result of this was quite effective. People who entered the suites were quickly drawn into the created situation. Only problem was, the whole venture had to make money, and this was where they ran into a little trouble. Renting the suites was rather expensive, but with a group of people chipping in, it might not be so bad. Streamlike Lodge pitched the Atmosphere Suite service in a variety of way--as a place to take a date, hang out with your friends, have company meetings or entertain clients, and the like. Each suite had different sorts of diversions. Some, like the "Perfect Family Home", had a den complete with TV and stereo stocked with vintage content, plus "Mom" to bring you snacks, and brothers and sisters to play boardgames with. Another, called "Opium", offered a smoky (non-narcotic) exotic dance and gambling environment--a real popular one to bring a client to in business. Dizappacha danced in this one, till she caught the drift that there was some real prostitution going on. Then she high-tailed it outta there. "Shelter" recreated a cozy little cabin in the woods with a variety of natural disaster going on outside, like hurricanes and blizzards. Complete with roaring fire, this was a popular one for dates. But the cost of operating Streamlike Lodge was sky high, and the partners were barely keeping their heads above water. Still, it was a unique concept, and they were getting a lot of press, so the founders all hung on, though they were losing their shirts. Dizappacha had a small equity stake--her boyfriend had been one of the founders--but they broke up. It was mostly amiable. He started cheating and she didn't care all that much. She realized she didn't want to be with him anymore. But then the whole thing with Injure Bodoni started. He was also one of the founders, and a real techno nerd kinda guy. Basically, he started obsessing on Dizappacha after she broke up with Larry Jonx, thinking it was his chance to date her. He wasn't all that blatant about it, and that was the problem. He'd talk to her, but avoid eye contact, and sort of shuffle off in the middle of a conversation for no reason. Typical loser, Dizappacha thought. She was wrong, though. Injure Bodoni was the guy who had the original idea for Streamlike Lodge. But it was really esoteric, and involved people going into some sort of meditative state in the suites, in order to try and transfer their minds to some other universe. Well, Injure's friends thought it was a cool idea making all these different Atmosphere Suites, but they didn't really get the whole "new age" aspect. They had nothing against Injure experimenting, but they decided that promoting the venture as a place to go and meditate and maybe drift off into another world was not the best marketing angle. There was one Suite that was Injure's brainchild--"Maximum Ice". It was themed as a barren, Arctic night with a sky full of brilliant stars. But there was this highway running through the wasteland. It seemed kind of out of place. People rented Maximum Ice, but nowhere near as often as some of the others. Injure spent a lot of time in there, constantly making refinements, sometimes at an insanely meticulous level, like moving a "star" a few millimeters, rearranging the fake snow, fixing the letter spacing on the signs on the highway. Everyone thought he was nuts. Dizappacha took pity on Injure. She saw how hard he was working and how sexually frustrated he was, still a virgin at 24. She wasn't thinking of starting a relationship with him--she didn't find him attractive in the least--but rather, she felt that maybe she could steer him in the right direction, make him less nervous around girls, maybe even coach him a little on dating etiquette. Of course, this just frustrated Injure more. He wasn't interested in any other women except Dizappacha. And soon, Dizappacha came to regret getting closer to Injure. Cuz he starting using some kind of magic or psychic powers on her, and she wound up getting too deep into Injure's bizarre sphere of activity. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----