purrVurt

[Ijhel]

OOC:
If you've read anything by Jeff Noon, you'll understand the title.
If you haven't; Vurts are alternate realities, accessed by inserting vurt feathers into your mouth.

IC:
It’s a Sunday afternoon and I'm bored. Outside the sun has long since faded into the grey sky and the world is draped in shadows.
Rain has dewed the windows and the cars below make the glass glitter and shift with their colours.
I open the teak wood box and pull out a blue feather. Its tiny label reads ‘Fantasia IV’ and it’s a new vurt I’ve never tried before.
A sip of water from the glass on the low table and I let myself fall onto the couch. Licking my lips in anticipation I place the feather in my mouth and fall back into the vurt.

I am standing in a room. Ahead are two doors. One is blue, the other is red.
On the wall is a painting of the Mona Lisa. She smiles and says;
“Warning.
You are now entering a Pornographic Virtual Experience. If you are eighteen years or older, please continue through the blue door. If you are under the age of eighteen, exit now through the red door.”

I proceed through the blue door.

Beyond is another room with a single door. On the wall is a painting I don’t recognise. A small girl stands before a huge bull headed figure. The Minotaur.
She smiles and indicates the door.
“This is the entrance to Fantasia IV. Before you enter, please select an avatar.”
“What are my choices?” I ask.
“Any creature from mythology will do” She indicates the Minotaur, “Or you can let him decide.”
I ponder this. I’m not an expert on mythology.
“Very well” I answer, “Let the Minotaur decide.”
“As you wish” She points to the door. “You may enter the vurt now. Remember, when you want to leave, just call for the Minotaur, and he will let you out.”
I nod.
Stepping through the door I find myself on a hill of broken trees. I turn back, but of course the door is gone.

Around me, the sky is a vast, unhindered arc of blue with only a few traces of cloud on the distant horizon. Around the hill, a forest stretches away in all directions.
This is a strange porno vurt, but I already knew that. The ‘Fantasia’ series is always set in strange other worldly settings.
Some where around here, there will be other players. I am about to start walking down the hill for the forest when I realise I am no longer human, my hands have changed, and I have green skin. I’m not sure what I have become, but I am incredibly light on my feet all of a sudden. The excess weight of my stomach, the ponderous nature of my arms and legs and the stiffness in my neck have all disappeared, and each step I take through the ferns feels like I’m leaping.
“Minotaur?” I call out.
“Yes?” replies a heavy voice from behind me.
I turn in surprise to find the vast muscular rust coloured bulk of the Minotaur standing there. Steam rises from his mouth.
“What am I?”
“You are the Green man. A denizen of the old world forests”
I look down the hill to the dark and tangled forest ahead.
“Who else is here?”
“There are several other players in this vurt at the moment. You cannot meet them all since they are not all in this level.”
I turn to ask how many levels there are, but he is gone.
I shrug and make my way down into the heavy undergrowth.

 

[Ijhel]

The undergrowth is cool and dark, and upon entering this strange place, I feel my senses sharpen in the stillness.
I am alone it seems. I look back once at the hill and the blue sky behind me, searching for the Minotaur, but he is no where to be seen.
A feeling of loneliness drops onto me and I pause undecided. Should I go on?

I press forwards, curious as to what the forest conceals.
Over head, the branches gradually become thicker and the sky is soon invisible to me. The air is growing warmer though, and the green darkness takes on the velvet feel of a dream.
There is very little sound. The odd birds call now and then, my light footsteps and after a few minutes of making my way through clinging branches and giant ferns, I hear a voice. Some where ahead of me is the sound of laughter. I stop and listen, staring towards the sound, but it is passed.
I push through more giant ferns, spreading their leaves from my way like great emerald fans and find myself on a path which cuts across my way. So then, sitting on a fallen log and staring in either direction I wait and listen. Over head, through the tree’s I can see the sky again, but the warmth of the air is increased. Its as if I am coming closer to a source of great heat.
Indecision battles with my senses.

Suddenly I hear the laughter again; I look sharply to my right, and catch a heart beats glance of some one far down the path dancing across the shadows to disappear into the undergrowth.
A small woman dressed in green? An elf?

I begin walking towards where I had seen her, but there is no one there. Around me comes the sound of birds, singing and chirping, their sounds softened by the warm undergrowth, The green light, mellowed by the over hanging leaves.
I feel slightly mellow. Good.
I hear the distant sound of water and continue along the path. Up ahead is a stream and as I approach I see several figures playing in the water. They see me approaching and gather together to whisper and giggle and I stare in surprise at their short plump bodies.
Each has long dark green hair which hangs wetly about them, slightly covering but not concealing their naked bodies. Their eyes, quick and slanted, are dark and green and watch me with a wicked glee.
As I reach the waters edge they spread apart again sinking lower into the water, their lips curving wider in smiles of naked lust.
None of them speak, but their invitations are unmistakable.