UN: Ulysses | Text

[restingstitchface]

Well, I would hardly claim this is my favoured method of passing time, but there’s no use protesting. Sometimes we need to knuckle down and ensure the work is done. Because as you can see for yourself, sometimes the work is dull.

In any case, I am offering everyone a pleasant extra-curricular activity to pass the time.

Try responding to this post with the first word that comes to mind. Respond to words posted by others with other words that come to mind. I am more than aware such games are not for everybody, but perhaps you should give it a shot.

Ah, I suppose I should get us started:

Police.

As in, somebody call the police because this is Hell.

[People who enjoy social media often press send before thinking about their answers. But how is that his problem?]

Comments

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Riddles!

[ RIP crane, Doreen is incredibly psyched about camp and she's one of your campers! ]

[restingstitchface]

[Great. Now he's stranded in the second layer of hell.]Enigma.

How are you taking to these activies, Doreen?

[Oh look. First name basis. So nice and gentle.]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Honestly? I'm really enjoying them, I never got to do the whole 'summer camp' thing as a kid. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop, though.

[restingstitchface]

Oh, I think given the choice of entertainment, it's already there. Not that I would know.

[He gossips about the camp and how bad it is. He shares how he never got to do it as well (Thank God). But hey! He's still doing the work!]

But their understanding of what goes bump in the night? Well, it's all rather limited, isn't it?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

I mean, summer camp is pretty benign compared to dystopian steampunk trains or social media-based thunderdome hellscape planets! We've definitely dealt with a lot worse, I'll take s'mores and friendship bracelets over those any day.

[restingstitchface]

[God, it's like he's back at university, managing children.

Thank you, Aurora.]

We all need a bit of levity in our lives, right?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ that tracks, she is a university student! ]

Yeah, exactly! Enjoy the good times when they come, y'know?

[restingstitchface]

Let the good times roll, right?

[His idea of a good time is different to most.]

In any case, you seem to have adapted well to life in the great outdoors.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Aaah, well, we used to live out in the country when I was a kid, and my mom has a cabin in southern Ontario. I'm used to the outdoors, but there's a lot more to do outdoors when you're kickin' it at camp!

[restingstitchface]

Ah, then camping must be second nature to you.

I confess I would prefer a warm shower and a clean bed. And nobody lurking inside my room. Because you know what they say about summer camps and horror...

It's almost archetypal.

[Nearly everyone gets murdered.]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Ohhh, I bet you were an 80s-slasher-movie kinda guy instead of a Disney-channel-musical-movie kinda guy! More Friday the Thirteenth than Camp Rock, I mean.

[ Crane, from what little she knows of him, does not seem the type to enjoy a High School Musical. ]

Well, on the bright side, we know everybody here, and there have been zero serial murders, so you don't have to worry about that part! But I know the woods can seem a little creepy if you're used to the city, especially at night. It's too quiet, right? We could probably find some kinda white noise machine for you if it really bothers you.

[restingstitchface]

[Campfire horrors? Not at all. Slashers are emotionally dull. He prefers films like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. He resonates with the idea individualism is futile in the face of a controlled system. But he doesn't care for its humanist message.]

Not at all. Considering where I came from, the silence is a blessing. It makes a nice change of pace to not worry about traffic.

[And crowds of people who really don't notice where they're going, who's watching...]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Where are you from? Big and noisy, lots of traffic, I'm guessing... New York? LA? Maybe Chicago or Toronto? I know I'm being pretty North-American-Centric here, but I'm going mostly off your accent.

[ Man, if Crane starts busting out the supervillainy at some point, Doreen is gonna be so upset! He seems cool! ]

[restingstitchface]

Ah, I'm... Gotham, New Jersey.

[He says like it's the most natural thing in the world. Who hasn't heard of Gotham? One of the few cities as large and spectacular as New York.]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Is that, uh... anywhere close to Newark, or...?

[ yeah, it is very clear that Doreen has never heard of this place! Maybe she and Crane just have different definitions of 'big city'? ]

[restingstitchface]

[Huh. Oh she's another one of those people.]

Not particularily. They're the same state, of course, but it's at least a drive of 110 kilometers.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

In that case I think this might be some multiversal thing, because I've never heard of the place. What's it like? I mean, you seem pretty... run-of-the-mill 21st century, so I'm assuming we're not talking jetpacks and intergalactic travel?