update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
Madison Scott-Clary
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@ -37,13 +37,13 @@ Programs. Explanations. Elucidations. Errata. Words to chuckle over with your gr
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled, of the Ode clade is pleased to welcome you to its gallery opening. Tonight, it has prepared for you a modest exhibition of its works within the realm of instance artistry. This is presented at the culmination of its tenure as Fellow, though the name rankles, of Instance Art in the Simien Fang School of Art and Design.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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And the sound of a door opening
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A short, slight…thing, steps from the next room through one of the two doors on the far wall and calls for attention. To call it a person seems almost misleading. It’s a dog. A well-dressed dog? A glance further on in the program offers a glib explanation:</p>
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And the sound of a door opening</p>
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<p>A short, slight…thing, steps from the next room through one of the two doors on the far wall and calls for attention. To call it a person seems almost misleading. It’s a dog. A well-dressed dog? A glance further on in the program offers a glib explanation:</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(As though reading)
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<strong>The Artist</strong></p>
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<p>This gallery exhibition serves as the capstone for Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled, of the Ode clade in its role as fellow. The fellowship in instance art was created specifically for Dear in recognition of the excellence it brings to the field.</p>
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<p>Dear’s instance is modeled after that of a now-extinct animal known as a fennec fox, a member of the vulpine family adapted to desert living. Dear has modified the original form to be more akin to that of humans. The iridescent white fur appears to have been a happy mistake.</p>
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<strong>The Artist</strong>
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This gallery exhibition serves as the capstone for Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled, of the Ode clade in its role as fellow. The fellowship in instance art was created specifically for Dear in recognition of the excellence it brings to the field.
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Dear’s instance is modeled after that of a now-extinct animal known as a fennec fox, a member of the vulpine family adapted to desert living. Dear has modified the original form to be more akin to that of humans. The iridescent white fur appears to have been a happy mistake.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Well. That’s a thing. Anyway.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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@ -79,11 +79,13 @@ It doesn’t last.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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One instance of Dear…</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(interrupting) The original? Maybe? </p>
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(interrupting)
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The original? Maybe? </p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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…Heads through the left-hand door and the other.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(interrupting) The fork? It’s so hard to keep track with all these people</p>
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(interrupting)
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The fork? It’s so hard to keep track with all these people</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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…steps through the right door.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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@ -92,7 +94,7 @@ How do you remember it, these many years later? How do you take the fact that so
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You take a step back and acknowledge it.
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You acknowledge it because you forked. You followed both Dears, damn the consequences.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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The room you wind up in is smaller even than the foyer, and the ticket-holders have to press even closer together. The audience that winds up here is the least diverse, containing none of the Taskers and very few of the Trackers who wound up at this (apparently primarily Dispersionista) event. As such, the press is met with uncomfortable silence: one doesn’t normally talk about dissolution strategies with strangers, but Dear has deftly forced it to be an issue.
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The room you wind up in is smaller even than the foyer, and the ticket-holders have to press even closer together. The audience that winds up here is the least diverse, containing none of the Taskers and very few of the Trackers who wound up at this - apparently primarily Dispersionista - event. As such, the press is met with uncomfortable silence: one doesn’t normally talk about dissolution strategies with strangers, but Dear has deftly forced it to be an issue.
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There’s no sign on the fox’s face that it knows what it has done. Just that calm, polite smile. Curious. How can one know that a fox is smiling rather than snarling or something, much less that the smile is polite. Perhaps styled after those old cartoons of anthropomorphic animals, or simply just an impression.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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Thank you. Much cozier in here.</p>
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@ -146,7 +148,8 @@ This makes you <em>furious</em>.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Without even thinking, you reach out a hand and grab one of the instances of Dear by the scruff of the neck and drag it to you, giving it a good shake as you do so.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(shouting) What the fuck do you think you’re doing?</p>
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(shouting)
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What the fuck do you think you’re doing?</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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The fennec snarls at you and, with surprising force, grabs your forearm and, using itself as a pivot, swings you around through about a quarter-circle’s arc. It keeps its paws on your arm, one on your elbow to keep it straight and one on your wrist, and shoves you back by lunging forward.
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It lets you go and, in one complex motion, aims a swipe at your face with one paw while the other slams, palm flat, against its jacket pocket.
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@ -161,7 +164,8 @@ A room set for battle.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You grin wildly.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(muttering) Good. Let it hurt. This ‘exhibition’ goes way beyond what it should.</p>
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(muttering)
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Good. Let it hurt. This ‘exhibition’ goes way beyond what it should.</p>
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<p>DEAR growls, feral.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Dear only growls.
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@ -299,7 +303,8 @@ The taskers do not look cozy.</p>
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I would like to elaborate on my previous point. This exhibition is about the idea of instance creation as art, and in that sense, it is the easiest job I have ever had. Instance creation <em>is</em> art.</p>
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<p>Some muttering.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(interrupting) All instance creation. This show is about utilizing that consciously, but all instance creation is art. It is structured experience. The Taskers, and I believe you are all here? The Taskers are the tightest adherents to structure. The most baroque.</p>
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(interrupting)
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All instance creation. This show is about utilizing that consciously, but all instance creation is art. It is structured experience. The Taskers, and I believe you are all here? The Taskers are the tightest adherents to structure. The most baroque.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled forks once more, an identical copy of itself appearing standing just next to the original. The instance quickly quits and dissipates. An example, perhaps.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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@ -341,9 +346,11 @@ But here you are.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You and a tiny fennec.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(overlapping) You and a lapis sky.</p>
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(overlapping)
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You and a lapis sky.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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(overlapping) You and endless green fields.
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(overlapping)
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You and endless green fields.
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You and a sunny day.
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Outside <em>and</em> a sunny day.
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The fennec, which had been grooming itself after the flight from the explosion, gives you what can only be a smirk and another wink, and starts heading off away from where the door ought to have been but is no longer.</p>
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@ -373,7 +380,8 @@ You roll your eyes. The fennec grins.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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You know you were told to send an instance to the exhibition, right?</p>
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<p>YOU
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(warily) Yeah.</p>
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(warily)
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Yeah.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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So why not quit?</p>
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<p>YOU
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@ -404,15 +412,18 @@ I suppose. That is one way to think of it, yes. I am not fond of the play metaph
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Just as you begin to respond, begin to ask the obvious <em>who?</em>, the fennec quits. This sim, as a whole, provides a courtesy feature of a faint outline existing and then fading after a quit, crash, or failure. That just means you get to fume in the direction of a slowly fading outline of a fennec, standing at the mouth of the cave.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(resigned) The fennec’s right, though, you could just quit.</p>
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(resigned)
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The fennec’s right, though, you could just quit.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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(a bit frustrated) But <em>you’re</em> right, too, you think. You want to see how instances become art.</p>
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(a bit frustrated)
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But <em>you’re</em> right, too, you think. You want to see how instances become art.</p>
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<p>YOU
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Cave it is, then. </p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You say this as though this is some sort of choose-your-own-adventure book or roleplaying game and you have to follow the available exits.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(smirkingly) Ah well.</p>
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(smirkingly)
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Ah well.</p>
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<p>The wind sounds die down. Quiet crawling.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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As far as caves go, this one is rather unremarkable.
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@ -420,7 +431,8 @@ You laugh at yourself for having such a thought. The life you’ve chosen fo
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You drop to your knees, brushing a hand through the last vestiges of the faint outline of that shitty fox, and crawl past the entrance of the cave.
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It is unremarkable in that it is almost cartoonish in construction. A low hillock with a rough hole bored in the side, rocks protruding here and there, worms and roots dangling from the ceiling. Always large enough to crawl through on all fours, but never enough to stand up in.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(thoughtful mumbling) The construction is actually quite well thought out. At least, as far as cramped spaces go.</p>
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(thoughtful mumbling)
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The construction is actually quite well thought out. At least, as far as cramped spaces go.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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As soon as the cave turns a corner and the light of day behind you is lost to view, it all seems rather less inviting than it did before. The air was still before, but now it’s stale; cool and moist has become humid and sticky.
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It’s difficult to say whether the walls are closing in or whether that’s just claustrophobia setting an assertive hand on your shoulder.
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@ -433,25 +445,30 @@ The tunnel keeps going.</p>
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Rocks dig into knees and palms.
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And you keep climbing.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(accelerating) Up and through</p>
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(accelerating)
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Up and through</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You climb.
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Nearly vertical.
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(brightly, faster now) And, to your relief, it grows lighter.
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(brightly, faster now)
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And, to your relief, it grows lighter.
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You hasten.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(excited) Up and out!</p>
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(excited)
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Up and out!</p>
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<p>YOU shout</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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And fall.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(overlapping) And fall onto the street.</p>
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(overlapping)
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And fall onto the street.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Looking around, you see the building housing the exhibition just behind you. You hunt for the front door. An instance of Dear putters around just past the glass doors, picking up programs and generally tidying up the place.
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You go to give the doors a try, but they’re locked.
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That’s why you looped back around, isn’t it? To confront that shitty fox once more and ask it what it meant by <em>who’s watching</em>.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(angrily, as though through gritted teeth) You just want to shake that–</p>
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(angrily, as though through gritted teeth)
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You just want to shake that–</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You’re fuming, you realize.
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You sit down on the curb, indulging in a moment to relish the anger, the self-righteous feeling of bolstered confidence. Then you work on calming down.
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@ -500,18 +517,21 @@ The room has muted lights — brighter than the previous room but still deci
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Dear — Dear-prime, perhaps, as it doesn’t have any of the frothy bloodlust look about it — smiles disarmingly and urges the audience into the room.
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Another difference: there’s plenty of space to spread out here, rather than the previous overcrowded rooms.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(politely) Pease, please, take a seat. Please sit. The stressful portion of the exhibition is over, and now it is time that we had a talk.</p>
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(politely)
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Pease, please, take a seat. Please sit. The stressful portion of the exhibition is over, and now it is time that we had a talk.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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There’s some grumbling, stress indeed. Some still look warily at the artist. But folks do as they’re told, splitting off into their little subgroups. Couples and threesomes wind up on couches and love-seats (if the blobby furniture could be called such) while larger groups wind up on melty-looking beanbags. You and your group, all single, find a cluster of such furniture and scatter to the component pieces. You wind up with a love-seat to yourself and make yourself comfortable.
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Dear follows along with the groups. All of them. Forking and splitting off towards the clusters of furniture so that each group winds up with its own instance of the fox. You notice that each instance is fluffier, softer, a touch heavier than the original. As a scheme to make the artist seem friendlier, it works pretty well. The new instances nearly exude kindness.
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You marvel, for a moment, at how easily folks seem to take being shifted from the context of violence to the context of comfort. That there are a majority of Dispersionistas certainly explains part of it. The rest, you suspect, might be due to the fact that, despite those context shifts, this all took place within the overarching setting of an art exhibit.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(wryly) Those are meant to be safe.</p>
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(wryly)
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Those are meant to be safe.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Dear had said that instances were art, and perhaps that really is the case: perhaps it’s like those plays where the audience plays a role. Perhaps you and your friends, all of the audience, are the art. Perhaps Dear only hung the frames.
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As if summoned by thought alone, an instance of Dear pads up to your group and, by your leave, settles down on the cushions beside you. If it amped up the friendliness of its build, it doubled that with its face. Teeth muted, whiskers full and slicked back, eyes bigger and friendlier, ears gone from large to almost comical.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(softly, smiling, unapologetic) Once again, I must apologize for that stress.</p>
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(softly, smiling, unapologetic)
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Once again, I must apologize for that stress.</p>
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<p>Silence.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You decide to speak up.</p>
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@ -530,9 +550,11 @@ It’s easy to feel intrigued: the art itself is intriguing.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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Beyond that, though, <em>Dear</em> is intriguing. Dear, with its choice of form.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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(overlapping) Dear, with its mastery of this new art.</p>
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(overlapping)
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Dear, with its mastery of this new art.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(overlapping) Dear, with its casual refusal to conform.</p>
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(overlapping)
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Dear, with its casual refusal to conform.</p>
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<p>YOU
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So what do <em>you</em> get out of this, then? This art?</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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@ -556,7 +578,8 @@ Dear turns itself to sit cross-legged on the love-seat facing you. You find your
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Your friends stand up.
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Dear-Prime, at the center of the room, calls out in a soft voice.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(from a distance) The next exhibits are just this way. If you will follow me…</p>
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(from a distance)
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The next exhibits are just this way. If you will follow me…</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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Dear reaches out a paw and rests it atop one of your hands.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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@ -581,7 +604,8 @@ You raise a hand, but it quits before you can touch it.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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This is intentional. I am not a fennec. I rather like them, of course, but I am not one. I am an amalgam. I am something more. Or rather, we all are, and I am trying to embody it.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(thoughtfully) So you’re greater than the sum of the parts? Fennec and human?</p>
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(thoughtfully)
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So you’re greater than the sum of the parts? Fennec and human?</p>
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<p>DEAR
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It would be better to say that we are all more than human. We may be post-human, as the old saws would have it, but we are certainly now more than the sum of the parts of our identities. (grinning) Fennec mostly just because I like foxes, though. All the deep words in the world will not hide that fact.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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@ -589,7 +613,8 @@ You laugh, giving its paw a pat with your free hand.</p>
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<p>YOU
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Well, hey, if it fits, might as well.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(laughing) Think it does?</p>
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(laughing)
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Think it does?</p>
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<p>YOU
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Well, sure. Just got me wondering what you get out of it.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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@ -616,17 +641,21 @@ You move to comply, then pause, tilting your head. </p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You finish the motion and brushing your fingertips over the back of one of the ears once. Then again and again. Dear wasn’t kidding about the softness. You suspect it was a selfish request on its part, as the fox ducks its chin to tilt its head toward your hands, leaning in closer.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(muffled) ‘We’, yes.’ The Ode clade is quite old.</p>
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(muffled)
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‘We’, yes.’ The Ode clade is quite old.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(pause) You describe them as romantic, but talk of moving past romantic ideas of self.</p>
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(pause)
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You describe them as romantic, but talk of moving past romantic ideas of self.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(mumbling) Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes. Other ear, if you please.</p>
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(mumbling)
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Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes. Other ear, if you please.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You laugh, earnestly and easily. You slip your other hand from under Dear’s paw, and bring it up to stroke the back of the other ear. The touch gets a pleasant shiver out of the fennec.</p>
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<p>YOU
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Fennec fits. Or, at least, soft animal does. You seem to act a little like how cats acted, though.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(lazily) Meow. Seriously. There is room for romanticism and romance itself within post-modernism.</p>
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(lazily)
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Meow. Seriously. There is room for romanticism and romance itself within post-modernism.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You move the hand that was stroking the first ear to ruffle the fur between the ears, laughing again.</p>
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<p>YOU
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@ -640,9 +669,11 @@ But I am not <em>not</em> coming on to you.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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You’re at a loss for words.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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(distantly) I’m flattered, but–</p>
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(distantly)
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I’m flattered, but–</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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(distantly) You’re sweet, you know–</p>
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(distantly)
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You’re sweet, you know–</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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You settle for silence and simply relaxing beneath Dear.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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@ -654,13 +685,15 @@ Dear settles with its muzzle resting alongside your neck.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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Mmhm.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(sigh) Same here.</p>
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(sigh)
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Same here.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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The fennec nuzzles in against your neck. Whiskers tickle, raise goosebumps.
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A moment of shared silence and touch. Your hands brush along the fox’s back, imagining how soft the fur might be beneath the dressy shirt. Dear’s blunt muzzle continues those soft rubs against your neck.
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It leans up, nose dotting its way against skin, cheek, to your ear.</p>
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<p>DEAR
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(murmuring, playful, close) The only downside to being a fox is that it is really hard to kiss with a muzzle.</p>
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(murmuring, playful, close)
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The only downside to being a fox is that it is really hard to kiss with a muzzle.</p>
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<p>Long pause.</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 2
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And then it quits.</p>
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@ -669,7 +702,8 @@ Your arms collapse against your front, through the ephemeral outline of the fox
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With a shout, you scramble off of the love-seat, shock forcing you to stand in a defensive position.
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The air is cold after the contact.</p>
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<p>YOU
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(stammering, confused, shocked) Dear?</p>
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(stammering, confused, shocked)
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Dear?</p>
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<p>NARRATOR 1
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The room is empty.
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It takes a moment for you to remember that you’re within a gallery exhibit. That Dear hung the frames in which you’re the art.
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||||
|
|
@ -691,7 +725,8 @@ How many of you were there, now? So hard to remember, and in love stories, the n
|
|||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You try to get a peek of what’s down the hole beneath the floor, but, other than dirt and rock, you don’t see anything before it slams shut.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(grumbling) Fuck it.</p>
|
||||
(grumbling)
|
||||
Fuck it.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You merge the memories blithely, ignoring any potential conflicts. You’re hungry for reasons to hate.
|
||||
A panel in the side of the room gives way and folds back into a corridor.
|
||||
|
|
@ -727,7 +762,8 @@ The viewpoint skitters off to the side (lots of ankles, here) and toward a wall.
|
|||
And there’s your shoes, with less dirt on them than they have now, and then the door swings open. The viewpoint leaps through, into sun and grass, with the shoes (and the rest of you) falling after.
|
||||
Until now, the playback had been silent, but directed speakers start to project a little bit of audio, muffled.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(through recording) You’re one tenacious fuck, you know that?</p>
|
||||
(through recording)
|
||||
You’re one tenacious fuck, you know that?</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 2
|
||||
Everyone but you laughs.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
|
|
@ -763,7 +799,8 @@ How had Dear <em>done</em> that?</p>
|
|||
…showing a fight that’s far more well-choreographed than you remember. Seeing it from Dear’s point of view, it looks a lot more like purposeful herding. The safety settings on that room had been so high that that’s about all it had been.</p>
|
||||
<p>Then the instance’s point of view gets whipped around to face you, your face squarely in its vision.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(through the recording) What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!</p>
|
||||
(through the recording)
|
||||
What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You wince at the sound of your voice, hoarse from excitement, profane, coming from those directed speakers.
|
||||
Then the fight begins in earnest.
|
||||
|
|
@ -773,11 +810,13 @@ Except to you. You know.
|
|||
The details play out on the pedestal with a cool, almost clinical precision, holding none of the emotion that you had felt. The blows, the circling, the jumps and scratches.
|
||||
The syringe.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(softly, from nearby) I had to mean to do it.</p>
|
||||
(softly, from nearby)
|
||||
I had to mean to do it.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
The fight isn’t so far off, that anger not so much less than at a boil that you don’t still have a strong urge to deck the fox standing in front of you.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(sad, resigned) If I did not mean to do it, you would have been confused. Maybe there would be victory, but it would have been empty and hollow. Confusion is not what was called for, in this exhibit. Victory or loss. Stress and decisions.</p>
|
||||
(sad, resigned)
|
||||
If I did not mean to do it, you would have been confused. Maybe there would be victory, but it would have been empty and hollow. Confusion is not what was called for, in this exhibit. Victory or loss. Stress and decisions.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You take a breath. One of those intentional breaths, the ones where you breathe out longer than you breathe in.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
|
|
@ -802,7 +841,8 @@ The Medium</p>
|
|||
The fifth pedestal, the one in the center of the room, is four recordings playing at once.
|
||||
They all feature you. They all feature the things that you did during your time here in the exhibition. All of those sly forks and subtle mergers.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(smiling, close by) Did you think I did not know?</p>
|
||||
(smiling, close by)
|
||||
Did you think I did not know?</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You feel a heat rise to your cheeks. A blush? Deeper anger? </p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
|
|
@ -816,13 +856,15 @@ It smiles. You find it a touch odd that the smile is simple and kind, not sly an
|
|||
<p>YOU
|
||||
Is it okay?</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(laughing) Of course it is! This is a show on instance art. That is why it is expected. That is why there are five small exhibits here, not four.</p>
|
||||
(laughing)
|
||||
Of course it is! This is a show on instance art. That is why it is expected. That is why there are five small exhibits here, not four.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You smile tentatively.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
That was a rather Dispersionista thing to do for a Tracker.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(abashed) I may have had a few drinks before.</p>
|
||||
(abashed)
|
||||
I may have had a few drinks before.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
I suspect a good many of those here did.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
|
|
@ -832,7 +874,8 @@ Dear spreads its hands in a graceful gesture before clasping them at its front o
|
|||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
You and I have talked about this.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(mumbling, distracted) I suppose we have</p>
|
||||
(mumbling, distracted)
|
||||
I suppose we have</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 2
|
||||
You are still sorting through the merged memories, after all.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
|
|
@ -843,7 +886,8 @@ You nod, watching the multiple feeds play out in their own courses. Watch. Guess
|
|||
<p>YOU
|
||||
What are we supposed to do with our experiences here?</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(laughing) This is not a lecture. No classroom, no notes, no papers to write. It is not a tool that you take away to use. (pause, sly) And even if it were, that’s your fucking job, not mine.</p>
|
||||
(laughing)
|
||||
This is not a lecture. No classroom, no notes, no papers to write. It is not a tool that you take away to use. (pause, sly) And even if it were, that’s your fucking job, not mine.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 2
|
||||
The Lover</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
|
|
@ -865,20 +909,24 @@ The art is the story behind it all. The art is…experiences?</p>
|
|||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
“Was that a question?” your friend asks.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(bemused) I do not make art because I know why. If I knew why, I would not need to make art, then, would I?</p>
|
||||
(bemused)
|
||||
I do not make art because I know why. If I knew why, I would not need to make art, then, would I?</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
The friend laughs. “So you’re a romantic?”</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(smug) Perhaps you should watch the exhibit again.</p>
|
||||
(smugly)
|
||||
Perhaps you should watch the exhibit again.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You approach the pedestal just as the feed loops back to the beginning.</p>
|
||||
<p>Once again, you’re viewing a scene from Dear’s point of view.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(from the recording) We can stay and chat a bit more. Do not worry, I am running this show, I make the rules.</p>
|
||||
(from the recording)
|
||||
We can stay and chat a bit more. Do not worry, I am running this show, I make the rules.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You watch yourself shrug.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(from the recording) Sure, why not? Came for the exhibition, after all. Might as well get the most of it.</p>
|
||||
(from the recording)
|
||||
Sure, why not? Came for the exhibition, after all. Might as well get the most of it.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
When the instance of Dear looks around, you see that the room is almost empty, the last folks, your friends, drifting out the door.
|
||||
The conversation that follows is low on intensity and high on subtle, emotional cues. You watch yourself and the fox have a slow and easy conversation about ‘why’s.
|
||||
|
|
@ -895,13 +943,15 @@ You watch the whole interaction again, this time from the other point of view. Y
|
|||
You watch as the point of view rises, leans in closer to the you pictured there on the pedestal, watch as it leans in close, into a hug far more intimate than one would expect from someone one had just met, two bars worth of drinks aside.
|
||||
The viewpoint switches to somewhere above the fox and yourself on the couch, though the audio stays close by.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(from the recording) The only downside to being a fox</p>
|
||||
(from the recording)
|
||||
The only downside to being a fox</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
You turn around as casually as possible so that you don’t have to watch. You will yourself not to hear. Will your ears to turn off, your sense of hearing to disappear.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 2
|
||||
You hear all the same.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(from the recording) Is that it is really hard to kiss with a muzzle</p>
|
||||
(from the recording)
|
||||
Is that it is really hard to kiss with a muzzle</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
There’s Dear, in front of you.
|
||||
Not the softened overly-kind dear from the blue room. Just normal Dear. Well, `normal’. Dear-prime.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -919,11 +969,13 @@ Dear waits.</p>
|
|||
<p>YOU
|
||||
I’d say you did an admirable job with the exhibition.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(quizzically) Admirable? I set up a situation — several, really — in which audience members feel emotions toward ephemeral constructs and made it art. I do not know if that is admirable. It is just art.</p>
|
||||
(quizzically)
|
||||
Admirable? I set up a situation — several, really — in which audience members feel emotions toward ephemeral constructs and made it art. I do not know if that is admirable. It is just art.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
But you–</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(interrupting) I am an artist, that is what I <em>do</em>. I am a person, though. Also a fox-person, but a person nonetheless. And I feel like I cut too deep with that one. Was that unfair of me?</p>
|
||||
(interrupting)
|
||||
I am an artist, that is what I <em>do</em>. I am a person, though. Also a fox-person, but a person nonetheless. And I feel like I cut too deep with that one. Was that unfair of me?</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
Your shoulders sag.
|
||||
Dear waits.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -932,7 +984,8 @@ I don’t know. I had a few drinks, the exhibit was stressful. It was suppos
|
|||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
Dear waits. You feel discomfited.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(frustrated, but resigned) Look, it’s just silly, is all. I don’t even know why it affected me so much. (trailing off) Look. Was it true? What you said? Are you lonely? Were you earnest? Were you coming on to me?</p>
|
||||
(frustrated, but resigned)
|
||||
Look, it’s just silly, is all. I don’t even know why it affected me so much. (trailing off) Look. Was it true? What you said? Are you lonely? Were you earnest? Were you coming on to me?</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
Dear nods, simple and straightforward. </p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
|
|
@ -945,9 +998,11 @@ I am sorry. I did cut too deep. I was not thinking. It is not my goal with these
|
|||
The weight of decision hangs heavy around your neck, heavy enough to bow your head. There’s very little you feel you can say without making that decision right then, so you stay silent for a moment.</p>
|
||||
<p>A long pause</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(cautiously) I feel like you’re trying to ask me out.</p>
|
||||
(cautiously)
|
||||
I feel like you’re trying to ask me out.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
(equally cautious) I am not <em>not</em> asking you out.</p>
|
||||
(equally cautious)
|
||||
I am not <em>not</em> asking you out.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
Dear smiles faintly.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 2
|
||||
|
|
@ -957,7 +1012,8 @@ Listen, can you give me a night? Let me put some thought into it.</p>
|
|||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
Fair. And listen, I really am sorry. There are bits of this show that I wrote thinking that they would lead to one thing, some spectacular art, and they led to…well, this.</p>
|
||||
<p>YOU
|
||||
(more upbeat) I get it. Kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure story that got a little out of hand.</p>
|
||||
(more upbeat)
|
||||
I get it. Kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure story that got a little out of hand.</p>
|
||||
<p>DEAR
|
||||
I suppose.</p>
|
||||
<p>NARRATOR 1
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue