I think you removed the visible count when you redesigned the blog, so though I knew you were in the 3,000's I didn't know exactly where. So... 150 days to go before you reach a 10 year anniversary then? Today I'm bringing back Marcello, whose only outing on the blog seems to have been with Isabella Bonfontaine, here.
Sameness "This trick with the lights," said Isabella as she and Marcello looked down into a natural grotto from a high ledge, "does it work everywhere or just here?" "I don't know," said Marcello. "This has been my first real opportunity to try it out, it's not like I'm lost for light in most places." Isabella hmm-ed with pursed lips, finding this hard to believe, and looked down again. Below them water fell from three different channels and splashed merrily down into a rocky grotto with a pool that looked both deep and cold. Lichen grew greenly on the rocks, making Isabella certain that they'd be lethally slippery, and at the back of the grotto there were what looked like carvings. Each with Marcello's odd ability to have the rock itself produce light and illuminate what they were looking at, the carvings looked worn enough that she was sure they'd have to swim over to see them properly. The air was cold as well, their breaths lightly misting in front of them, and she was secretly pleased that she'd insisted that Marcello dress for the cold despite the temple being in what was technically jungle. "Rope, I think," she said. "This looks too slippery to climb down." "It all looks the same," said Marcello. "Is that natural, do you think?" Isabella looked down yet again, wondering what exactly he meant. The rocks were haphazardly laid out to her eyes, and there was no pattern to the lichen on them. The walls were grooved, runnelled, and calcified and looked like a cave wall; nothing odd there. And yet, now that he'd drawn her attention to it, there was something odd about the cave, something that she just couldn't quite pinpoint. It was like staring at an optical illusion trying to will it to change shape and show you what it really was. "Something's odd," she said.
Marcello sat on the edge of the ledge and let his feet swing over the edge. "It's like the last two caves we were in," he said. "This the only time we've found a grotto." "No, it's... the air is the same stillness, the walls are the same texture, there's a challenge to be solved before you can move on to the next cave...." And just like that the scene resolved itself to Isabella. "Ah," she said, sitting down next to him. "Damn it, you're right even if you don't make any sense. This is another trap." "I don't make sense?" Marcello arched an eyebrow and she wanted to punch him. "It's a sequence trap," she said. "I don't see any of the sameness you're talking about, but we're being lured into finding the one solution to the puzzle, the only way out. Which will either lead us to a fatal dead end, or round in circles until we drop dead of exhaustion. We have to find the secret exit, the one the people who used to use these caves would know about and isn't obvious." "If it's a secret...?" She did punch him this time, lightly, on the arm. "Like almost everything else in here," she said. "You're after treasure, remember? People don't leave it sitting around waiting for anyone to come along and steal it." "Well that makes sense," said Marcello. He sounded oddly happy. "So... you're the expert, where do we look for secrets?" "I wish I knew," said Isabella. "But it's probably not by those carvings on the other side of the pool. Got any other good tricks to help out?" "The only other one is this," said Marcello. "Fiat thermos." "Let there be heat?" Below them the rocks sagged into lava and a cloud of steam rose up as the pool boiled away.
[Sorry for the double post; blogger will tell me I've used too many characters but not how many, so I can't work out easily how to shorten it]
4 comments:
I think you removed the visible count when you redesigned the blog, so though I knew you were in the 3,000's I didn't know exactly where. So... 150 days to go before you reach a 10 year anniversary then?
Today I'm bringing back Marcello, whose only outing on the blog seems to have been with Isabella Bonfontaine, here.
Sameness
"This trick with the lights," said Isabella as she and Marcello looked down into a natural grotto from a high ledge, "does it work everywhere or just here?"
"I don't know," said Marcello. "This has been my first real opportunity to try it out, it's not like I'm lost for light in most places."
Isabella hmm-ed with pursed lips, finding this hard to believe, and looked down again.
Below them water fell from three different channels and splashed merrily down into a rocky grotto with a pool that looked both deep and cold. Lichen grew greenly on the rocks, making Isabella certain that they'd be lethally slippery, and at the back of the grotto there were what looked like carvings. Each with Marcello's odd ability to have the rock itself produce light and illuminate what they were looking at, the carvings looked worn enough that she was sure they'd have to swim over to see them properly. The air was cold as well, their breaths lightly misting in front of them, and she was secretly pleased that she'd insisted that Marcello dress for the cold despite the temple being in what was technically jungle.
"Rope, I think," she said. "This looks too slippery to climb down."
"It all looks the same," said Marcello. "Is that natural, do you think?"
Isabella looked down yet again, wondering what exactly he meant. The rocks were haphazardly laid out to her eyes, and there was no pattern to the lichen on them. The walls were grooved, runnelled, and calcified and looked like a cave wall; nothing odd there. And yet, now that he'd drawn her attention to it, there was something odd about the cave, something that she just couldn't quite pinpoint. It was like staring at an optical illusion trying to will it to change shape and show you what it really was.
"Something's odd," she said.
Marcello sat on the edge of the ledge and let his feet swing over the edge. "It's like the last two caves we were in," he said.
"This the only time we've found a grotto."
"No, it's... the air is the same stillness, the walls are the same texture, there's a challenge to be solved before you can move on to the next cave...."
And just like that the scene resolved itself to Isabella.
"Ah," she said, sitting down next to him. "Damn it, you're right even if you don't make any sense. This is another trap."
"I don't make sense?" Marcello arched an eyebrow and she wanted to punch him.
"It's a sequence trap," she said. "I don't see any of the sameness you're talking about, but we're being lured into finding the one solution to the puzzle, the only way out. Which will either lead us to a fatal dead end, or round in circles until we drop dead of exhaustion. We have to find the secret exit, the one the people who used to use these caves would know about and isn't obvious."
"If it's a secret...?"
She did punch him this time, lightly, on the arm. "Like almost everything else in here," she said. "You're after treasure, remember? People don't leave it sitting around waiting for anyone to come along and steal it."
"Well that makes sense," said Marcello. He sounded oddly happy. "So... you're the expert, where do we look for secrets?"
"I wish I knew," said Isabella. "But it's probably not by those carvings on the other side of the pool. Got any other good tricks to help out?"
"The only other one is this," said Marcello. "Fiat thermos."
"Let there be heat?"
Below them the rocks sagged into lava and a cloud of steam rose up as the pool boiled away.
[Sorry for the double post; blogger will tell me I've used too many characters but not how many, so I can't work out easily how to shorten it]
Never changing
Ordinary
There's nothing to see
Here, folks
Imaginary and invisible
Never different, always
Going to be the same.
--------------
I wrote this before reading Greg's comment, but it actually seems to go along nicely.
Greg - yeah, in June I think is the 10 year anniversary. I can never remember the date because I didn't start the blog at the start of the month.
Good to see this pairing again. An intriguing puzzle they've found themselves in, and I look forward to whatever comes next, whenever it may come :)
Morganna - yes, I would say it goes quite nicely. Another top notch acrostic, they're always a pleasure to read.
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