⛌ bluff ⛌

[SHIVERS]

You can make this quick.


Check out the TOLA-4 - if it's there, if it even supposedly disappears -
then the C07. That one seems safest.
You don't really want to mess with the 225.


You walk to the center curtain and part it,
moving inside.
















The room within is
relatively normal.

Still the same green walls and carpet,
still the same sourceless light;
but it's only the computer system, sitting on a desk across from the curtain.


You walk over to get a better look.







It's-


oh
i recognize this
i think

looks really similar to one of the first computers i ever used
didnt know it was called a TOLA

The computer itself is a dark grey box - about a foot and a half wide and maybe four or five inches tall, you estimate - with a keyboard protruding from the front of it.
The TOLA is currently connected to an old, but nicely kept CRT monitor; grey with dark brown wood paneling on the sides.
The monitor has two knobs and a speaker on its front, along with a few plastic dials underneath them.
Another cord leads next to the keyboard, where the aforementioned cassette reader has been placed, along with what looks to be an example cassette to test out.

You pull the nearby office chair over and seat yourself at the desk.







Curiously, you reach up and turn the power knob on the monitor.

It crackles to life,
eventually lighting up with static.
You hear the faintest electronic hum coming from the CRT.









Your shoulders relax against the tall back of the chair.




Feeling somewhat calmer,
you find the computer's power switch on the side of the box.

It kicks on.







 

▶ Logo Rhythmic IV
Reginald J. Lewis

The black screen turns to dark green,
while a bright green square seems to drift around the screen in a spiral pattern, drawing a blocky line with various sparkly effects in a simplistic animation.

When it finishes, the letters for TOLA appear, one in each corner of the screen around the spiral.
It holds for a couple of seconds, then the entire screen fades to bright green.

Dark green text appears along with a blinking cursor.









TOLA4 . . . . . . . . OK.
INPUT . . . . . . . . OK.
DISPLAY . . . . . . . OK.
CST_RDR . . . . . . . OK.
ADDTL . . . . . . . NONE.


INSERT CASSETTE.







You reach over and pick up the cassette next to the reader.

It's white, with a blue label that's fairly worn.
Most of the label's fields aren't filled in, though someone's written on the two lines for 'Title'.




ARC-DRIVE RELAY
1183 1141 8514




huh.
maybe its a game?
i remember that one back in the day had a couple
the mansion one was pretty fun




Feeling a little excited for the first time you step foot in this place,
you open the cassette reader and pop it in.












The computer seems to detect the cassette;
a new line of text appears.


LOAD CASSETTE? Y/N




You tap the 'Y' key on the keyboard,
then hit 'ENTER.'


















LOADING DATA . . .













Various buzzing noises emit from the monitor's speaker.
It's a little bit loud, but otherwise not a big deal.


You reach out for the volume knob to turn it down.












Your hand doesn't make it.











 

▶ Stretch Marks
Siarate

Your head pounds.
Your vision tilts.

The screen suddenly seems far away.

You feel pins and needles along your ears
moving downwards.
















Something







is Wrong











You scoot the chair away from the table.



It takes far too long to stand up.








Your body feels sluggish.
You use the desk for support.



You turn around, walking towards-












The curtain is gone.













You're standing in an open field, at night.


Trees border the field, though they're distant.






Wind sifts through the grass.










There is no other sound.
There is no moon in the sky.














You turn back around.

The TOLA is still there.




You barely manage to sit.
















Around you, there are walls again,
but there is no curtain behind you.


You see through a window ahead of you - a few cubicles and computers.






You recognize this place.







There's no time to process.







You try to turn the TOLA off.
The switch does not move.

You grab and pull at its cords.
Your muscles don't respond as they should.

You try to stop the cassette reader.
To open it.
To break it.
Anything.
You can't muster up the strength.

You pull frantically at the computer.
Trying to throw it to the floor.
It doesn't budge.









Your fingers are numb.









You can't move your mouth.















Something red drips onto the desk.

You look down and reach up,

checking.















Blood runs from your muzzle.

It stains your hand.







A wheeze trails from your throat.






Your neck is  bur ni n  g.

















But the rest of you feels





hardly there at all.












It's hard to see.

It's hard to think.








It doesn't feel like you're breathing anymore.






























An idle thought drifts lazily to the murky surface

how you'd like to sleep.


















A light suddenly shines from behind you.

You turn the chair with nearly-numb paws.











 

▶ Late Night TV

There's a television behind you, in the corner.
It looks towards you.



Playing some show or another.
You can't tell.
You can barely hear it.





You don't really feel here.













You know where you are.





This is your bedroom.

From a
long
time ago.
















Your legs are made of lead



but you force yourself to stand





to take a few wavering steps towards the TV.














You focus, when you're close.

Trying to see what show is on










as if
maybe that could help you







somehow



you think.


























Something

dark
and fuzzy

pushes forward into your vision.




It tips over in front of you
and THUMPS onto the floor in front of you.




The room looks a little brighter, now.


















You look down, to see what fell.


































































 

▶ Facing Responsibility
Siarate

Your own head   lays on the floor between your feet.








Blood pools from its mouth
and the stump where its neck had been.

Your glasses rest a few inches nearby, bent from the fall.



There's still some motion left.
Its muzzle opens and closes a microscopic amount.
Its cheek twitches.






Its eyes are wide open



but you can tell just by looking

that it's dead.

















The rest of your still-standing body


looks to be rotting.

















You're missing some of your fingers.













You hadn't noticed.


























It













all















feels






















numb































The room rotates

vertically.





You realize only after
that you fell.







Your shoulder had banged into the desk,
tilting it.

















Your view,
pointed up at the ceiling,
watches

as things begin to fall from the desk.
















The reader










the cassette









the keyboard and computer itself-


You don't see where they fall.




































The monitor slides to the edge.

























You watch as it tilts.











It's still on.








It's still loading.























Its screen faces you.
















You feel your train of thought recede,

washing out like a tide.

























The monitor




slips
















You stare in


as it plummets




onto
































































































































You can see again.








You don't remember opening your eyes, but you're awake now,
staring at the ceiling.

The room is dark, and it's spinning a little.
There's a dim blue light coming from

Somewhere - you aren't investigating again, you couldn't care less.













You feel
out-of-it.



Your memory's fuzzy, though that doesn't really surprise you.



You remember looking in on the TOLA,
messing around with the cassette reader.

After that,






nothing.










You must've

passed out?
Were you really that anxious?









You feel stupid.




At least your neck doesn't hurt anymore.





You sit up,
then stand.








You feel pretty heavy, especially your head.
Nothing quite moves right, and you're still feel dazed.
Even your vision's a little blurry.


makes sense if i passed out
REALLY hope no one saw me





oh well

i want out of here already














You find the black curtain in the dark and part it,
stepping through.














This room is different than the one you came through before.
You swear it is.



It's smaller, and there doesn't seem to be much in here at all:

Only a red door labeled 'EXIT',
and something rectangular hanging on the adjacent wall.



You walk towards the exit,
turning your head to check the other-





















It's


a mirror.





Inside it stands
something unfamiliar.








You see
your jacket, your jeans, your sneakers

on-








You take a step closer.





-being worn by
someone wearing an old CRT for a head, with a bright blue screen.
The monitor's grey.
Wood paneling on the sides. Knobs on the front.



why would-


































The memories of the cassette loading rush back to you.


You feel woozy.








You look down.

You see curved, grey, segmented claws of hard plastic,
moving and stretching as you will them to.


You reach your
plastic claw
up.







The plastic claws knock against the screen.
It hurts a little.


Your  screen.
Your  head.








You run your claws against the sides of the monitor

You can feel them
running across your head.




You

grasp the sides of the monitor,


in a desperate attempt,



trying to pull it off.






It hurts when you try.









You let go.
























You stare

into the mirror.


You spot text on your screen.










DATA LOADED.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
DRIVE "ARC:" INITIALIZED.




ARC:\


There's a blinking cursor at the end of the text.




























You'll






wake up, soon.

You're sure you will.







You have to.
















You walk as briskly as you can to the exit.

All your movement feels wrong.
Nothing is quite weighted in the right way anymore.
The dizziness hasn't worn off, either, but you fight through it.








You're soon through the door into a white hallway.

There's another exit door at the far end,
this one with a push bar instead of a door knob.






You hurry towards it.


Your pace is slow and off-kilter, but you're nearly there.









An open elevator shaft to your left catches your eye.


You can see the cables.

It's only blocked by a padlocked gate.




As you realize the cables are moving,
the elevator itself raises up into view - open on the inside.








A short, raspberry-colored rabbit - a pockitt, you think -
is on the other side.
You spot a plastic keychain in the shape of an '8' hanging out of their pocket.

They yelp and jump upon seeing you,
startling you in turn.

You back up to the wall,
feeling vulnerable being seen like this.
You don't know why.

"...the...
fuck... is--?"

You don't hear the rest of the sentence as the elevator rises beyond this floor.

























You don't want to think about what just happened.
That someone might've seen you like This.





This all feels real,
you feel Awake,

and you don't want to think about That, either.









You rush to the exit
and push your way through,
















stumbling-























You manage to catch yourself on something.










It's the fountain.









You look down into the water
at the TOLA-4's monitor
staring back at you.













You stand up.






















You're outside.


The museum is behind you,
looking exactly the same as when you went in before.
















You should be
much more scared than you are.

You feel like you should.





You're still scared.
Anxious.

But there's a certain haze over it.

Your emotions feel a little bit distant.
Maybe you don't have a brain anymore, you think.










The distance is almost



comforting.













You take a deep br-

You


can't breathe.






You don't breathe anymore.







But that feels
normal, somehow.





















Options.


You should probably do something about this.

It looks like the bar is still open, for the moment.
You remember one of the only phones is in there, and there's likely people, too.
Maybe you could get some help.
Though,
don't bars out in the country usually have a gun behind the counter?
Someone could - understandably - think you're... Something... and shoot you.
Or is that only saloons that have those?
Maybe you've seen too many westerns.

The pool building is just next to you.
You heard voices in it before, though you don't hear anything at all inside now.
You also aren't really sure what happens if you get wet, now.
You scoot away from the fountain, just in case.
Hopefully it doesn't rain.

The parking lot is nearby.
You could just go get your car keys from your cabin,
drive off, and never look back.
Could you even drive well like this, though?
Things don't exactly feel 'calibrated' well, at the moment.
You aren't used to this body. You're still kind of dizzy, too.

There's an orange light out by the cabins.
It's probably the campfire.
If it's lit, there might be someone over there.
Good to know, no matter what you decide to do.

You did also see someone with the key for the #8 cabin.
You could go check their cabin, see if they're home.
Maybe you could explain yourself. Maybe you could ask them questions;
they Are the ONLY person you know of who you know has been into the museum.
If that was real.
And if they're already out of the museum.
They could also: Run or Attack you on sight.
But so could anyone, when you look like this.






With any luck,
you'll wake up in a little while.

Even if it feels real.



You'll wake up.
And everything will be normal.

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