Nope. No one else. The gang who helped
install this new counter have been the only others in
the store today. SO! The sub-levels are all yours!
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Mysti Sage Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Merlin walks into the DISCO.
"Hi
Kestryll! How's the store? Business buzzing as
usual?
_____________________________ Proud
Member Researcher/Adventurer for the Institute for
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds NICE
(Numbingly Interested and Curious Explorer)
Other than Cruiser, no one else has been
in today. Quiet as usual. Need anything? Anything at
all. No reallY! I could get it for you! I know where
everything is now. Really! What do you need?!
Oh,
sorry.
Kestryll goes back to polishing the
cosmetic
counter...
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Mysti Sage Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Merlin sees Cruiser walking out with a
swimsuit.
"What's the swimsuit for?" he
asks.
_____________________________ Proud
Member Researcher/Adventurer for the Institute for
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds NICE
(Numbingly Interested and Curious Explorer)
She's going on a trip with Boatingirl.
Or so I'm told.
Hey, Merlin! Long as you're here,
would you mind watching the place for a few. I need to
grab a quick bite to eat from the Eggroom. Fig Newtons
are nice, but I'd rather have something a little more
filling...
Please?
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Mysti Sage Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
"What a coincidence! Mysti has telep-ed
me saying that he's going on a trip with BG too! Well
Cruiser, be safe, and tell Mysti hi for me," he tells
her as she walks
out.
_____________________________ Proud
Member Researcher/Adventurer for the Institute for
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds NICE
(Numbingly Interested and Curious Explorer)
Elkae Dr. Elkae Knutsson, Dir., Dept. of
Stymied Peregrinations & Asinine Mischief, Inst. of Advanced
Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Earlier that day while Kestryll was
out, Elkae had been down on sublevel two looking for a
box of oatmeal to make chigger cookies for Speedy.
Cereals weren't kept down there, but she didn't know
that. As she turned a corner, her shoulder bumped one of
the shelving units holding the bathing suits. The jolt
caused her to drop the jar of gourmet chiggers. Just as the glass shattered,
a pile of ladies swimsuits plopped down onto the mess.
Being in a hurry, Elkae tossed the yellow suits back
onto the shelf and kicked the broken glass under the
bottom shelf. With a sigh, she went back and grabbed
another jar of chiggers then continued her search for
the oatmeal.
Proud Member ~~~~~~~~~ There's no place like home (except the Institution) ~~~~~~~~~
Kest gets impatient as his stomach
starts to growl at him.
Just mind the store
for a few, kay. Don't touch anything, don't make a mess
and the directory is behind the other counter if anyone
comes looking for anything. Kay? Thanks.
Kest
steps out the door then pokes his head back
in.
Oh! And no magic in the store. Thanks to
those cones awhile back, the place has a tendancy to be
a little unstable especially in the lower levels. I
expect everything to be as I left it, young man!
He grins then
zips off to the Eggroom for
snack.
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Mysti Sage Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Merlin sits down behind the desk and
gets comfy.
"This certainly is boring," he
thinks.
All of a sudden, little colored lights
appear in front of him and start dancing
around.
"No! No! Stop! Go away! Get out! They'll
think I'm doing magic! Shoo!" says Merlin
desperately.
But the lights
stay.
_____________________________ Proud
Member Researcher/Adventurer for the Institute for
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds NICE
(Numbingly Interested and Curious Explorer)
Kestryll comes shuffling back in
looking a little different... Completely ignoring the
little lights, he shuffles up to the counter and slaps a
piece of paper down. It says,
Fertilizer.
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Kestryll seems to get a little
impatient. A slight burbling groan escapes his throat.
Finally he snatches up his paper and shuffles off down
the aisles to find his own fertilizer.
Five
minutes later he shuffles back up with a bag of
fertilizer. He tosses a wad of muddy dollar bills at
Merlin and shuffles out.
Shuffling into the
garden he stops by the back wall and tears open the bag.
Then drops the whole thing into the water. He watches as
the water turns a pale green as the fertilizer mixes
into it. After a minute he leans down and fishes the
empty bag out. Then links
out.
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Mysti Sage Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Merlin wakes up and sees muddy
footprints on the floot.
"Strange..."
And
then the lights start moving
faster.
_____________________________ Proud
Member Researcher/Adventurer for the Institute for
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds NICE
(Numbingly Interested and Curious Explorer)
Kestryll strolls out of the Eggroom
with a half-eaten bagel and cup of coffee in hand. He
heads down to the DISCO and stops just inside the
doorway.
MERLIN!! I thought I said no magic!
And where did all this mud come from?!
He
stomps over and thunks his coffee and bagel onto the
counter. He spins around and the swats at the fireflies
sending them all fleeing out the door. Then he turns
back and with both hands on the counter he leans over
and glares at Merlin. Then in a cold quiet voice he
says,
You have a lot of explaining to do,
young man. In fact, I don't even want to hear it right
now. out. go. now.
He suddenly rushes around
the counter and chases Merlin out the door slamming it
shut behind him. Then he storms over and snatches up the
mop and bucket and begins to clean.
You want
something done right, ya gotta do it yerself. Last time
I leave the store in someone else's care... Look at this
mess! Kids these days! I swear!
...
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
Veronica lifted the lid on the last box
in the office. Before going through the contents, she
stood and stretched her arms over her head, she was
sore, hungry, thirsty, disheveled, irritated and
frustrated and she could not decide in which order to
put her discomfort. She had spent all day in the office,
searching through old filing cabinets, desks and storage
boxes long forgotten. Although she could not read D'ni,
she was able to decipher that most of the papers and
letters she had found were dated 25 years ago or more
and she wondered where they came from and who had left
them behind. Unable to read the actual letters
themselves, she had left them where she found
them.
Sitting down on the floor next to the last
box, she pulled out a stack of photographs. She coughed
as she disturbed layers of dust and she watched as one
piece of a photograph floated to the floor next to her
foot. She stared in amazement at it, then picked it up
and turned it over. What could this mean? She gave a
start as a spider-like creature crawled from the box and
she quickly stood. She desperately needed to get back to
the Hood for a bite to eat and to clear her head. The
rest of the box could wait until later. She tucked the
piece of photograph in her backpack, then headed out the
door.
When Veronica comes out of the room, she
finds herself facing a bright, shimmering blue cloud which fades into lights like
stars, which scatter in all directions, leaving her face
to face with Grizz. He smiles at her, and gives her a
huge Grizz hug.
"It's so good to see you! I've
been keeping my eye on you, and I know you're doing the
right thing in looking for your parents. But why didn't
you tell me about the picture? You know I would have
helped you. I still will if you want me to. I am
learning so much with Yeesha, but I'm not sure I like
all of it. I need a break from her world, I think. I'll
help if I can. And why aren't you saying anything?
That's not like Nica at all."
He grins a huge
grin at her, and waggles her chin a
bit.
_______________________________ Co-owner
of the DISCO in the Hood.
Elkae, chocolate chip
cookies are fine for me. No chiggers please...
(associates chiggers with roaches and then remembers her
roach experience... shudder!)
Veronica stands there while Grizz
waggles her chin, stunned. "Where did you...how
did...what were those...?"
"Was there a question
in there?"
"I thought you said you needed to
"follow the path of Yeesha" or something like
that!"
"So did you."
"I thought I was
ready, but I'm not and then I received this!" She
unzipped her bag and grabbed the photograph of the
MYSTerious couple holding her and put it right under
Grizz's nose.
"So I see."
"I don't know
who sent this to me and then I came here to see if
Chuckles could help me, he is in security, isn't he? You
know every time I say that it sounds like I'm saying
he's insecure, do you suppose there is another way I can
word it? AND I did not want to keep you from going
that's why I did not tell you since you seemed to need
to go!!" Her last words echoed off the cavern walls.
"You look tired and hungry."
"I am. Can
you please stop talking so much so we can go home?"
Veronica stomped off to the nexus linking book by the
docks. Grizz looked up as if seeking strength from above
and followed behind
her.
Grizz momentarily considered using
Yeesha links to get to the DISCO, but he decided he
really did need a break from Yeesha's world, so he
simply followed Veronica, and linked to the nexus after
her. It would be good to get back home to the DISCO. He
hadn't had a Fig Newton for.... well it seemed like
years.
_______________________________ Co-owner
of the DISCO in the Hood.
Experimental Program 1
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