Fandom [Homestuck] Paradoxopolis

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

The year is 2009.
April the 13th.
A young girl stands in her room, though it was roughly 13 years ago she was given life, it is only on this momentous day that she will be given a name.

What is her name?

==> Enter name.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==> Dorkney Igloo

The girl seems rather unenthused by your response. And prompts you to try again.

==> Anna Aronson

Perfect! And it only took you two tries.

==> Anna: Examine room

Your name is ANNA. And in contradiction as to what was previously mentioned, it is not a particularly momentous day of any sort. Though as usual you will attempt to MAKE THE MOST OF IT. Which will usually end in quite the opposite given your track record. You are particularly fond of wasting time by indulging yourself in your numerous INTERESTS. You enjoy LITERATURE and POETRY of WESTERN EUROPEAN descent as well as their eastern antithesis, JAPANESE LIGHT NOVELS, MANGA and ANIME. And you also have an affinity for GAMES. From either DATING SIMS to MMORPGS to FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS, your taste is whatever it needs to be to suit your whims. You are an AMATUER MARKSWOMAN, a purveyor of KNICK-KNACKS and a BOTANICAL ENTHUSIAST. With interests so varied and time virtually limitless, you briefly consider the question:

What will you do?

==> Anna: Message friends

Heh. What friends?

You go over to your PC. While having downloaded a reliable chat client some time ago, you are not privy to online interaction of conversation out of your own volition most of the time. And as of now, you are content with that.

You open up your Abraxas web browser to check up on your latest interest. As mentioned before you are a gaming fanatic and have a particular interest in a video game whose release date happens to be today. You have pre-ordered a release package which to your surprise has been noted to have made alarmingly precarious progress to be delivered to you. Though, everything about the game has been said to be precarious to you.

You check up on the progress of your parcel.

Eidolon Astronaut ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

"Tracking Unavailable due to inclement meteorological activity."

Looks like you won't be checking on that parcel's precarious progress for a while.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==>

Dammit, it looks as if the precautions you've taken to minimize the risk factor of today have been dealt with. You were told by the site last you checked that the parcel was to arrive sometime today. And now that you don't have the latest update available you'll be forced to check and actually go outside your house for once. But you don't know what it means by 'meteorological activity'. Isn't mail supposed to arrive no matter the weather? The danger level is at maximum, and perhaps you could wait until the very end of today to check and therefore maximize the potential of the mail already being there when you get it, but you know for a fact that you wouldn't be able to stand your curiosity throughout the day, especially when things are this boring as of now...

You decide to prep.

==> Anna: Find a disguise

You choose to employ a disguise as the craftiest method available to prepare yourself for the idea of going outside of your apartment. In order to blend in and avoid contact with anyone you may encounter outside, you must first come up with a convincing outfit to delay suspicion. You look around your room for ideas.

Your eyes meet your variety of anime posters you have strewn about your walls. Tacked on at your own discretion, the colorful sheets of paper display some of your favorite characters, but they supply very little in the way of costuming. Your eyes look over to your many bookshelves, or your array of cacti which sit together on your wardrobe drawer. You open the cabinets, peeling through clothes to find them piled amidst a collection of junk you've accrued from many years of fighting a losing battle against impulse buying before you find them.

==> Anna: Captchalogue sunglasses

You do that. You employ the Poetry Modus. Which has a way that stores your inventory by the number of syllables they have as you assign them names. The modus has two settings, Haiku and Sonnet, which are respectively the Easy and Hard modes of the modus' operations. You use haiku for now, mostly because you need to get moving while you still have the motivation to check in for now. You have to compose a haiku for each item or for a set of items if you want to store them, and recite the haiku to retrieve that item.

You captchalogue the Sunglasses, and then your bed sheet for good measure.

Sunglasses and sheet,
make me want to leave my room,
and find my parcel

Admittedly not one of your better ones. But you're in a hurry dammit! You'll don the costume as soon as you leave.

==> Anna: Leave

Eidolon Astronaut
​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

You exit into the HALLWAY that contains your room, bathroom, and against the far wall, your GRANDFATHER'S ROOM. It also leads into the main room/kitchen that forms the bulk of your apartment.

You see a variety of artwork and tomes on shelves containing the rich history of EASTERN EUROPE.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

God there's so much stuff over here you can't run two feet without bumping into a globe. The old man packs so many of these antiques, statues, bookshelves and paintings around the apartment that they could more appropriately fill a three story home if an actual manor at that! You don't' mind the display in itself considering how you've never destested the idea of Eastern European culture, but living with this much crap can become stifling after a while.

You navigate down the hall towards the kitchen/living room. You have no idea where your grandfather could be. Considering how he disappears and reappears as he pleases some days, he can be incredibly spry or even unnervingly fast for an old man in a wheelchair. But you've grown accustomed to it, considering how he seems so nice and gentle whenever you interact.

==> Anna: Enter living room

You pass by a ceiling high marble statue of Calliope, the greek muse of poetry that marks your entry into the living room and kitchenette contained within it. The room is decorated accordingly as with the rest of your house. Portraits of Ivan The Terrible, landscapes of the swiss alps and Italian renaissance recreations line the walls, leaving almost zero wall space, while the living room is taken up by a large rectangular dining table with matching wooden chairs furnished with rich embroideries of flowers.

==> Anna: Examine statue

You've always loved the visage of the feminine beauty that dominates the room. Calliope stands with a scroll firm in hand, as if to challenge passersby to question her, yet also standing with a force that offers a great wisdom. You've looked up to her for almost all of your life, and the more you read about her the more you grew accustomed to the lore surrounding her.

==> Anna: Leave apartment

You go to open the door. Standing adjacent is a large suit of armor. Occasionally, your Grandfather will indulge himself in the niceties of other countries in order to obtain a variety of fanciful and interesting finds. You figure this to be where you may have gotten some of your impulsive purchasing and hoarding habits from. Takes one to know one you guess.

Eidolon Astronaut

​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

You exit into the 4th FLOOR HALLWAY.

It is barren, relative to the room behind you, and it has a faint odor of plastic and fresh paper.
​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==>

Great, now all you have to do is-

Oh wait fuck. The key! You need the key to get into your mailbox in your apartment building or else your definitely risking a trip for nothing! You turn around and slam the door behind you. Oh god that was loud. You hope you didn't disturb your grandfather in the process. You turn around and walk towards the dining room table. It's absolutely littered with a variety of mail, bills, letters and forms that you've taken from the mailbox in previous trips outside. You must have left the key here somewhere...oh god...

Eidolon Astronaut ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

As you attempt the shuffle through the pile, you realize you have no idea how to do that, as your hands are only meant for Captchaloguing.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==> Anna: oh fuck

You have composed a new poem!

Mail mail mail mail mail
mail mail mail mail mail mail mail
mail mail mail mail mail

Jesus christ. If you have to say mail one more time...

Hah! Found it! The key was buried at the bottom of the stack of paper per usual. Unfortunately, your sheet and sunglasses have fallen to the floor given how you had to store so much of that mail in your fetch modus. All 17 syllables of it. You deploy the mail onto the table once again and decide to captchalogue the items again.

Sunglasses and Sheet
make me want to leave my house
Key in hand, prepared

Well that was a damn ordeal. But now that you have the key you can finally go outside. You leave your house once again, passing by the large suit of armor.

==> Anna: Deploy costume

You deploy your costume, careful to recite only the first line of poetry as you wrap the sheet around your shoulders and put the sunglasses over your already incredibly large spectacles for good measure. Yes, you are perfectly disguised as someone who is totally innocuous and boring, no talking going on here.

Eidolon Astronaut​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

You exit the apartment back into the industrial smelling hallway.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==> Anna: mail

You descend the stairs to your apartment complex. The elevator has never worked before in your whole life of living here, and you don't expect it to now. You walk out in an unseasonably hot day in the middle of April. Before you stretches the assortment of buildings and within them people. THe air around you seems to sizzle for whatever reason, as the sky ahead becomes bleak and obfuscated with a choking cloak of gray, disconcerting storm.

Around you is the buzzing sound of people. Utopia stretches around you yet closes in upon itself. Existence within the lives of man is a painful and paradoxical one. One of shared connection by design yet at heart one of cruel and unyielding self-interest that destroys yet creates. Where there is infinitesimal light lies hope of unknown depths, and the same unto darkness no different. Life is an oxymoron. For what does it mean to exist at this crossroads?

- English Romantic Poet Lord Byron

You are almost certain Lord Byron said that.

You walk over and open your mailbox with the key.

Eidolon Astronaut ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

But in a cruel twist of fate, a joke played onto you seemingly by the universe itself... the mailbox was empty.
Just another day in the machinations of some unknown puppetmaster pulling the strings.

But in the words of Lord Byron, there may be a hope in these unknown depths.
There is always the infinitesimally small chance that your grandfather already grabbed it this morning.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

You are not of the belief that Lord Byron exactly knows your circumstances to the point where he understands the fact that your grandfather is in a wheelchair! It makes no sense that your grandfather would have already gotten the parcel. Though, you know him to be an exceptionally spry and crafty figure, especially for his age.

You wouldn't be absolutely baffled by the idea that he could have already snagged it when you weren't looking. Well you're never looking. But why would he do something as silly as that? Your grandfather has never questioned many of your impulse buys in the past. Mostly because he understands the allure of buying something for absolutely no reason but simply to have it. Not to mention his excessive and inexplicable amount of wealth he has for...some reason. Could he be testing you?

You consider all of this as you walk up the stairs and walk into your apartment once again. The visage of the living room greets you with a feeling that was once familiar and comforting ut has now slowly devolved into suspicion and uncertainty.

==> Anna: Inspect

You begin to inspect your surroundings a little bit more carefully. Never know where the old man could have hit it.​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

Upon inspection, you notice that the door to your Grandfather's room is open.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==> Anna: :?

Your grandfather's room? But his room is never open. Usually when you don't see him you figure he's always tucked in there, alone and observing his more private collection of artifacts he's kept away from you, no doubt because he believes you will break them on accident. One ancient vase that survived the French Reign of Terror down the drain later and you're still paying the consequences. You suppose it's why five year olds should not be permitted rollerblades in a home with carpeting.

You walk forward and enter his room. Maybe you were right and he's chosen to test you. Which still makes no sense. You are not even convinced he's breathed a single breath of outside air since the mid 90s.

Eidolon Astronaut ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

Inside the room was something you did not expect.
NOTHING.

The room has a BED and a DESK, but that's about it, it completely lacks any SEQUESTERED STASHES of MILLENNIA-OLD TOMES or ANCIENT ARTIFACTS. It's barren.

On the desk is THREE (3) DOCUMENTS, An EMPTY PACKAGE from a "Dr. Quinn", and a NOTE for you.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==> Anna: Freak out

What? Well, no shit this is really confusing and all, but you are not behooved to really 'freak out' over the reality to what was behind this door all these years. It's not like you took to coming up with wild fantasies about who he was. Besides, you don't believe you've ever held a verbal conversation with him in your life that's lasted beyond you trying to speak at him to no avail. SO you can't say you knew too much about him. But this is still really interesting. Where's all that sweet loot, if there was any at all? And where did he get off to?

You go over to the desk.

==> Anna: Examine documents ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

The First Document is a list of over a hundred names, each handwritten and crossed out, you only recognize one, and it is not crossed out.
"Aronson, A."

The other two documents have been gone over in a black ink and cannot be read.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==>

What the hell? What has your granddad been up to? Is this some kind of a mailing list? This is incredibly odd behavior considering you've known him to be a slightly strange and aloof character, but nothing to the level of this shenanigry. You quickly take the three documents, putting them inside of your sylladex. You inspect the note, seeing that the package is empty.

Paper, how it folds,
Inky documents behold,
What's going on here?

Ok, you pause your inquiry for a second to give yourself props on that one.

Eidolon Astronaut
​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

"Granddaughter
If you are reading this, then that means something terrible is coming.
You must make haste, Head to the basement through the elevator."

This building doesn't have a basement, or a functioning elevator.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==>

What the fuck.

You thought your grandpa was just being mysterious and doing some weird test thing. But now you know that he is just insane! You choose not to pocket the note, seeing as it has no informational value and you are....admittedly a little to freaked out to compose a haiku right now. What is he on about anyway? He has you...worried.

==> Anna: Equip arms

What? They're right-oh.

You go out into the living room once again. You normally have no reason to defend yourself against aggressive entities in the comfort of your home, but desperate times call for desperate measures. You open up the glass case at the far end of the room, where an ornate revolver and six pistols sit on dsiplay. You think your grandfather got this from some kind of museum. You believe it was an antique purchased by some Austrian noble who had a taste for western wear. Only for it to be ironically purchased by someone interested in European Wear.

The circle of impulse is complete you suppose.

You allocate your Strife Specibus to RevolverKind. You are now LOCKED and LOADED.

==> Anna: pew pew

Heh. As cool as it would be to practice with this thing, you believe you should focus your attention on the more pressing matter of-

BLAM

Ohgodholyfuck.

You realize that in addition to having a hairpin trigger, this thing is incredibly powerful! Notably enough by the now missing eye replaced by a crater in the large statue's face. Sorry Calliope. You better put this thing on safety if you want to stay in one piece.

==> Anna: Descend?

It's one thing to go along shooting up statues and arming yourself in case of emergency because your granddad is kind of bugging out. But it's another to decided to go out into public of all places and risk you hand at a daring and dramatic descent down a cool elevator that apparently works.

...

Even though it would be pretty cool.

==> Anna: Descend

You take a cautious step out of your house, careful as to make sure no one is present. You scurry over to the elevator, pressing the call button rapidly.

Eidolon Astronaut
​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

After the brief period it took to call the elevator it -surprisingly- opens. It is pristine, as if has never been used before. There is button for every floor, and one labelled "B"

As you descend the elevator into the depths, far deeper than you thought it would go, you feel as though it will never end.
And then it ends, the doors open into a long hallway with a large bulky door with a valve on it. it is cracked open.​

 

[Elision of Ecritures]

==>

You cock your gun as soon as your eyes meet the cracked open valve. You walk with great reproach, aiming your pistol straight at the valve before you slowly open it, still holding your finger gently against the trigger, trying desperately not to waste another bullet on furniture.

Eidolon Astronaut ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

Elision of Ecritures

The door creaks open.

On the other side is a cavernous empty space dug into the earth. The cave is larger than your entire building, and it is full of abandoned scaffolding and mining equipment. The most eye-catching this in the cave is a large tower carved from smooth stone bricks of a slightly red hue, and wrapping around the stairs and walls is a giant statue of a snake. This "Snake Temple" has a faint greenish light peering through the only door atop its stairs.​