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Note: I'm writing this as someone who has watched the entire original series, Fire Walk With Me, The Missing Pieces, and The Return, as well as other features from Lynch's filmography (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead); marked for spoilers now, do not proceed if you haven't seen them all. This is a longpost for Twin Peaks-obsessed nuts like me.
One of the things that remains a statement of the original incarnation (and thus, a statement by being substituted with HD digital cameras in The Return) is Twin Peaks's absolute mastery of the highly saturated 4:3 box TV aesthetic. I've heard Lynch was adamant the color palette not be corrected to a grittier, desaturated version when execs received the tapes. It's part of what's made so many iconic sequences and shots from the original run hallmarks of Tumblr and Instagram accounts aplenty. Twin Peaks came (and could be argued, ushered) on the precipice of a major shift in the television format. We would see the contemporary form of television media developed further with shows like The Sopranos in the HBO prime cable era, or The X-Files (no wonder Chris Carter plundered Twin Peaks's cast for his own attempt). As a marker for the end of the 80s and its preceding decades though, in many ways Twin Peaks to spoke to a form of TV largely since faded: soap operas and sitcoms and serials. It's part of why I loved the metatextual inclusion of the soap opera Invitation to Love, allowing the show to reference its own stylized dramaturgy.

Jade & Emerald... Jade give two rides, hm?
Very specifically, I find the series loves to riddle blue and red, like one oni to another. Fire and water. Hot-cold (like the shivery feeling Audrey gets when she holds an ice cube on her bare skin for a long time). The red and blue on Mike's TP varsity letterman jacket could be the most striking and concise marriage of this dynamic pairing. Donna & Maddie dive into this in the season 2 opener, scheming at the Double R (docked points for the silly jailhouse seduction routine by Donna, though). Subtler in palette but more obvious in Americana, Major Briggs's omnipresent blue uniform incorporates red in his breast patch (and Don S. Davis's ruddy-warm complexion, imo) speaking to his inherent patriotism as part of the Air Force. On more than one occasion Big Ed is spotted with a red & blue flannel.
Much to be said about the pairing of Bobby & Mike, comparing to BOB & MIKE; MIKE saw the face of God, but Bobby is the one who saw the light in this duo.
The flashing lights of a cop car. Dr. Jacoby's iconic 3D glasses-flavored shades (note that Jacoby and Ben both hailed from the Robert Wise-directed 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story, the famous 50s musical depicting rival gangs experiencing a Romeo & Juliet plot amidst culture clash in NYC). Lil the Dancer, communicating through expressive dance a coded message in FWWM. A barbershop quartet in the background behind Coop & Albert in "Coma".
I believe it's The Secret History of Twin Peaks book that is paired with red and blue filter lenses, so you can view certain hidden information? Either way, Lynch likes his 50s/60s Americana; reminds me of Castle Horror gimmicks.
The blue flower was a central Romanticism symbol; as blue roses don't occur in nature, they hold an air of mystery and fantastic possibility. Tennessee Williams used the blue rose to symbolize the fragile & unique character Laura(!!) in The Glass Menagerie.
The sign outside One-Eye Jack's. Red pairs often with green or black in gambling/casino situations; from the card deck motif for the sex workers to the mix-match patches of a roulette wheel. The malfunctioning lift for Leo in "The Orchid's Curse." The stage behind Julee Cruise during Roadhouse performances, especially "Lonely Souls." Even though the Red Room is known for its red, we see eventually that the Lodge holds strobing blue lights and the milky cataracts of doppelgangers. In a more peaceful sense, blue light washes over Laura as she smiles in the Lodge at the end of FWWM, reunited finally with her angel.
You can practically hear the buzz of the neon zapping into life from here. Knowing how important electricity is to Twin Peaks, these little details really stand out.
Ben and Jerry, at various times, switch between the two to complement each other much like the Miser Brothers. We also see it in Ben's interactions with Catherine; their affair in "Traces to Nowhere" finds Catherine clad in a powdery blue blanket, Ben's fiery tie, Catherine's ruby toenails (sidenote: not a fan of the Tarantino interaction). We see more of this Ben-Catherine color scheme in "Cooper's Dreams" during the Iceland convention with Leland's impromptu dancefloor breakdown. Ben, as central locus for Twin Peaks's criminal element, seems to be a lightning pole for these color dynamics. Notable is his integral need as a character to keep his publicly clean image and seedy underworld dealings separate, the perfect human symbol for Lynch's sequence in Blue Velvet's intro depicting the rotting & squirming insects buried beneath the idyllic Levittown surface of Lumberton. And Ben, even beyond his perennial cigar, enjoys many scenes by the fire of a hearth.
Ben floats through the two by himself on a regular basis, which I think ties into his role as the uber 80s corporate & cold American businessman, espousing social niceties & charm but hiding his sinister and impulsive skeletons in the closet. It's almost like he should be Lodge, but he's only run parallel to it as a human being.
Likewise, when it comes to the Lodge, BOB and the Man from Another Place/The Arm make a perfect red-blue pair. I noticed this especially in FWWM during the chaotic convenience store sequence. Given that during the night the sky can range from black as a cup of Coop's coffee to a Prussian shade, by following a Goethe color theory mindset, we can admit "Blue is a darkness weakened by light." BOB never comes off weak, but as a possessing spirit, for the viewer, his sudden appearances/reveals herald a (at times literal) spotlight into the black oil that is his essence (follow this link for a Youtube vid that informed some of my own theories). Goethe characterizes blue as common (think of country folk and bikers and truckers), as well as cold and melancholy, powerful. Red is much easier for The Arm; in addition to evoking the Christian iconography of a devilish imp figure, he is pure fire, the kind that truly walks with you (Goethe considers red as beautiful, dignified, closer to the essence of light; perhaps this echoes the Neoclassical Venus statue found often with Red Room curtains, or the red lipstick of the various beautiful women commonly prey to Twin Peaks).
BOB's always clad in blue denim to match The Arm's impish red suit. Noticeable since they remain the two most active agents as Lodge creatures, continuing the BOB/MIKE dualism that existed pre-show.
Given the only color left to throw in is white (HMM,, White Lodge? Sarah's pale horse? Leland's hair? The stuffed arctic fox in Ben's office? That weird long-faced elk thing at the Packard-Martell house? Pete and Coop enjoying/trying to order a mug of milk? The Tremond/Chalfont boy's white mask?) and you have the Star-Spangled Banner itself (the mini-flag at Twin Peaks Sheriff's office that flanks Coop while he's sitting across the table from Dr. Jacoby, as well as Coop's fixation on the full-sized incarnation while he's in the Bros. Fusco's office during his Dougie stint in The Return, are just two instances). Notable as a tri-color national aesthetic, red white & blue sometimes finds its way back in altered forms: straightforward visual representation with the Icelandic investors, as well as more tonally & artistically-derived influence from Lynch's favorite country (we'll forget the agonizing French hookup leaving scene from The Return and think more of Monica Bellucci's dream sequence, or Ben & Jerry orgasming over fresh baguettes with brie).
Great shot from Tim Hunter here.
Part 9, \"This is the chair.\" I remember this sequence being a spark of sorts, tantalizing to see Coop stir somewhat from his Dougie stupor.
While it should come as no surprise an American show would have many American-specific themes, I'm often convinced that Lynch is using the visual shorthand to simultaneously sing, criticize, celebrate, and reflect on what it means to be America. It is not coincidence that Dale Bartholomew Cooper's name reflects the notorious Pacific Northwest hijacker D.B. Cooper, or Harry Truman with the 33rd President (who, mind you, ordered the atomic bombs dropped in WWII). Or Franklin "Frank" Truman with the 32nd, for that matter. Coop openly ponders the Kennedy assassination (itself rife for conspiracy theories and speculation, much like TP) in a log to Diane, as well as Marilyn Monroe's involvement with the family; who else is Laura Palmer but a hometown Monroe?
Much like D.B. Cooper, Coop took a historic leap.
I would love to dig down deep and really review all of his work to understand more about Lynch's fixation on Lincoln (a portrait is in the Donna/James classroom when Laura's death is announced; a dramatic shot in Blue Velvet fixates on Lincoln Street which divides the town's good/bad parts & has an antagonist by the name of Booth; the "Gotta light?" Woodsman in The Return).
Now if someone could explain this connection... Dick says this right before the fire alarms go off and swamp Leland with water while BOB rams Leland's head in to break his last vessel and escape from justice.
Why Lincoln? I refer to it as The House Divided. Lincoln is one of the most recognizable presidents, partially due to his assassination (Kennedy echo), partially due to his role in the Civil War and how America resolved its most divisive internal conflict. He's emblematic of the Old America and the New America, slavery and post-slavery, secession and preservation. Somewhat like Republicans & Democrats, red v. blue. We know the toy Lincoln Logs, we hear the term Lincoln Lawyer, he's even one of the faces on Mt. Rushmore (referenced explicitly in The Return - "There they are Albert, faces of stone"- as well as compositionally in "Cooper's Dreams"); given the existence of both a Black Lodge and White Lodge in mythos, I think it's safe to draw at least some broad comparison to black America and white America (as well as Windom Earle's fetish for chess). Even as a goofier entry during Season 2's decaying period, Ben's mental lapse into General Robert E. Lee and fixation on the Civil War (mirroring Johnny Horne's fixation with the indigenous headdress and colonist America) gives some meat to this motif. Although it's never quite outright verbalized in show, one gets the sense that America is inherently built on some original sins. The water in the well was poisoned before the Trinity test
Notable too for the context of having Hawk (Nez Perce) included in this recreation. Mt. Rushmore was originally a sacred place for the Lakota Sioux; its present condition is considered desecration to their culture. America in its current incarnation was founded on the genocide and forced relocation of its indigenous peoples; Twin Peaks is loaded with Native American patterns and imagery, i.e. The Great Northern.
Note as well that red, by itself, can easily be tied to Twin Peaks's lifeforce, and by extension Lynch's entire repertoire. Fire. Red velvet curtains. Lipstick and nail polish. Blood. Pete's fisherman flannel. Audrey's heels, and her cherry trick. Norma's cherry pie. Log Lady's frames. "Let's rock" on Agent Desmond's car in FWWM. The women at One-Eye Jack's. The blooming roses peaking through white picket fences in Blue Velvet. The vast majority of neon signage (The Roadhouse especially). The traffic light at Sparkwood & 21. Leo's ostentatious Corvette. The lifeline zigzags on the high school walls. MIKE, in Philip Gerard, is fond of red tops, connecting him directly with The Arm. Much is made of Twin Peaks's proximity to Canada in the original series; the corrupt Mountie during the internal investigation arc stands out. The balloons at Dougie's corporate plaza. The Scarlet Letter. Lancelot Court, red door. Laura Palmer's Secret Diary.
Night time, my time. Red can be a carnal color, igniting passion, but also a warning to stop, turn back. Often we find it in the company of characters who have experienced a lot in Lynch's world, and not too much good.
And blue too. Blue is much more sparing in Twin Peaks, to greater mystical effect. Blue Rose. Laura's cold lips in the Pilot. Blue Velvet. Isabella Rossellini's dramatic eyeshadow as Dorothy Vallens. The waitress outfits at the Double R Diner. Leo's button-down when Shelly shoots him. The light in the morgue as Hawk tails Philip Gerard. The lifeline zigzags on hospital monitors (how they spike with Ronette, how they fall flat when Leland strangles Jacques). Ronette is swaddled in soft blue blankets during the S2 opener, her tilted head recalls Marian imagery (interesting from a Madonna-Whore complex standpoint); two episodes later her IV drip is tainted with blue dye, a visit from BOB. Maddie Ferguson's nightgown during her carpet-stain vision. Coop's iconic jammies. Rita's blue key & Betty's blue box in Mulholland Drive. The woman's hair at Club Silencio. Whenever television sets or camera footage shows up onscreen in Twin Peaks, there's a noticeable cool blue tint: think of that first tape, Laura & Donna dancing in the woods; the static showcased in the opening credits to FWWM; the footage of Coop gambling, obsessed over by Jean Renault. Gordon & Albert speaking together after meeting with Mr. C and watching Tammy walk away. Flashes of lightning. The sign at the Luna Lounge, where Fred Madison plays his discordant sax solo in Lost Highway.
Two dead girls wash up in the water. Calhoun Memorial's morgue stays bathed in blue light. Louise Bourgeois claimed it as hallmark, stating blue left behind \"the drabness of day-to-day reality\" for \"a world of freedom\", inner truths. BOB is certainly free.
Beyond red and blue, the colors I tend to notice in Twin Peaks are pink and green (notable for following a warm/cool polarization as well), which do not concern themselves to the same extent with Americana, if at all. Pink is much more sparse in its application, typically feminine: Nadine's prom dress during her suicide attempt in the S1 finale; Naido/Diane's bathrobe in The Return; the drapes behind the new One-Eyed Jack's girl Ben sleeps with in "Zen" (purposefully designed to evoke a vagina, in my opinion); fudging into purple, but we can count the Mauve Zone and Coop's run-in with Naido to an extent; Gersten Hayward's princess outfit during her piano performance for the Palmers; the trio of Candie, Mandie & Sandie; the gut-churning Pink Room sequence from FWWM with Laura & Donna.
Candie was a surprising standout for The Return. I felt these girls were a commentary on One-Eyed Jack's in the way the Mitchum Bros. were commentary on Ben & Jerry; where Ben & Jerry enjoyed public acceptance but indulged in dark secrets and ran through vulnerable sex workers, Bradley & Rodney have a dark reputation/entrance but ultimately possess hearts of gold, rescuing at-risk women like these three.
Green is more expansively utilized, and supernatural in tone: the billowing leaves of those Douglas firs in an ominous breeze; the iconic Twin Peaks font's outline; the guiding light we see through Dougie's eyes (which I assume has always been a part of Coop's psyche and intuition); Dougie's iconic oversized jacket; the infamous Owl Cave ring; the vintage lampshade adorning Ben's desk; the childhood bike Ben fondly recalls in The Return; the framed picture of the tall pine in the Sheriff's Department lobby; the tiny fir stuffed by the partition in the Palmer household; Jade & Emerald, even. Ben says to Leo, conspiring to burn the mill in "The One-Armed Man" - "Three nights, Leo. Green light." Something about it reminds me of Jay Gatsby's over-analyzed yearning green light from the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic; the idea of the American Dream with wanton capitalism, and how it's impossible to achieve (am I crazy for thinking there's a connection between Big Ed's Gas Farm's neon egg sign and the West Egg/East Egg class divide?).
Of course, the owls are watching. Much like the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.
Ed's business harkens to how convenience stores (early-to-mid-century modernist American consumerism) were both the pumping blood and desiccated bone of our culture, as well as the Woodsmen womb. It also reminds me of old-style egg timers, and what is Twin Peaks but a show obsessed with the manipulation and perception of time? Was it the chicken or the egg that came first? Is it future or is it past?
By the time of The Return, we have lost these overly saturated tones, but the direct symbolic use of color is still integral to a Peaks viewing. I find it even more interesting that The Return made extensive use of black & white footage. Eraserhead and The Elephant Man alike (I've found both hold the spores for concepts and aesthetics fully developed in Lynch's later filmography, like the chevron Lodge floor pattern we all dearly love) were filmed in this manner; I feel Lynch chose this as nod to this earlier work, as well as the old formats of pre-color TV and film, like WWII newsreels. I find it relevant as well that older generations dream in black & white, a vanishing phenomenon which is directly related to the media of their era. B&W film informed the visual rhetoric of their unconscious minds; we, as younger Americans, dream in Technicolor.
This is the first shot we see of The Elephant Man. Notice how this is specifically his left arm, hand floating over the flame. Later in the film during a particularly moving sequence, Merrick first proves he is capable of speech for the first time by reciting the 23rd Psalm in a louder and louder tone, mirroring Annie Blackburn's prayers while Windom Earle led her bound into the Lodge.
The black & white sequences occur within the Lodge, relate directly to the Lodge - may Part 8 live forever in its atomic power - or otherwise involve unexplained phenomena (Cole's Monica Bellucci dream). By the time of The Return, a disconnect with the past and nostalgia is a core theme. The colors have faded. Coop, a half-baked shadow of himself, only gets restored by the chance mention of Gordon Cole's name in Sunset Blvd. Note Billy Wilder's 1950 film revolves around an aging actress lost in the reverie of her long-gone prime. (Also note her insistence, when William Holden's character asks her about the Salome film script, she's not conducting a "comeback" but a *return*; this, I feel, ties in as well to Major Briggs's underappreciated vision scene, emphasizing the idea of a return.) Although not shot in black & white, Pete, assisting Catherine as she tears apart their library, pauses for a moment during "The Last Evening" to linger on his high school yearbook. He's lost in the old pre-color photos, in the memory of Midge Jones, a man we never know. He's returned to a place in his youth, much like Garland's return to the gleaming, radiant marble of the fantastic palazzo in his S2 vision.
These two live in a retro-futurist Art Deco fever dream, accompanied the very appropriate Slow 30s Room soundtrack piece. Everything about the Fireman & Senorita Dido tells me of an America past its prime. I'm also convinced this was what Lynch envisioned for Briggs's palazzo; if only Don S. Davis was alive for The Return.
There's a plethora more I could get into, definitely for another thread: the preoccupation with trinities, animals, rings, technology, fine art references, and sonic elements are on my mind as well. I need to rewatch The Return again soon so more connections and thoughts are present. Let me know if you guys enjoyed this rambling mess!

CODED SYSTEM MARKED DECKS
Marked decks are a very special tool, because they contain a variety of secrets that helps magicians perform amazing tricks that would never otherwise be possible. You do not need to learn any complex moves that take a long time to master, because you can use the markings on the card backs to identify cards, and this enables you to accomplish apparent miracles with relative ease.
The markings on marked decks typically come in two main forms: reader systems and coded systems. Reader systems are very straight forward to use, because somewhere hidden on the card back is printed the actual value and suit of the card, e.g. 9 of Hearts would be indicated by 9H. While this makes them easy to use, it also means that there's an increased risk that the marking system can be detected.
Coded systems are much more subtle than reader systems, because they rely on other visual indicators to tell you the value and suit of the cards. One example is the famous marked deck by Theodore De Land, which first appeared more than a hundred years ago in the early 1900s. It's still published today with names like "DeLand's Original $100 Deck" or "DeLand's Automatic Playing Cards". The artwork on the back had circular patterns that corresponded to a clock face, and depending on which dots were coloured in, you could immediately identify the value and suit of a card.

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Coded marking systems like this can be very subtle, and it's much less likely that a spectator will figure it out, unless they are told. Even if they notice some unusual dots, or variations in the pattern of the card back design, these will often seem meaningless to the unenlightened unless they know the secret. But when you do know the secret, these marking systems can quickly be mastered and used for strong magic tricks.
I've already covered marked decks using reader systems in a previous article, so in this article I'm only covering marked decks that use a coded system of marking. It's not an exhaustive list of all such decks, since there are many, many such decks that have been produced over the years. I also wanted to ensure that anything recommended here is actually readily available on the market today, so I've only included decks that you can easily find for purchase. I won't pretend that this is a definitive list of the all-time top marked decks with coded systems, since there may well be other candidates as good as the ones included here. But these are some of my own favourites that I have used myself, and most of them are popular, and are well worth considering if you're looking for a marked deck of this sort.

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MINT v2
The Mint v2 decks are available in either blue (Blueberry) or green (Cucumber). They were the brainchild of Asad Chaudhry, who runs 52Kards, a popular youtube training channel for card magic and cardistry.
The Mint brand was created with the goal of providing the perfect deck for magicians, by combining classic playing cards with a modern design pattern that feels contemporary and stylish. This is the second version of the deck, with some enhancements to the original, and was produced with the help of over half a million dollars of support on Kickstarter - a real testament to the popularity of the Mint brand.
This beautiful deck immediately impresses once you hold the tuck box in your hand, with a simple look topped with stylish foil, that conveys a sense of luxury and class. The lavish use of foiling on the back of the box accentuates the tiled design that is this deck's signature. Full interior printing with a tiled design in metallic foil confirms this impression once you open the box.
The card faces have had a makeover from the standard look, and the adjustments that have been made to the pips and court cards results in a fresh approach that still looks familiar and practical. The indices employ a thinner and more elegant font which also emphasizes that this is an original design while not being too far removed from the traditional style we are all used to, to ensure that they will still be at home in the hands of a magician.
To figure out the marking system, you'll have to head to the 52Kards youtube channel. Asad has made a 12 minute video where he explains all the ins and outs of the marking system, and you can check this out even if you don't own the deck.
It's a very practical and well thought out system that isn't hard to learn, and the Mint V2 deck is a definite improvement on the original version of this deck in several ways.

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MECHANIC
The crew at Mechanic Industries first created their Mechanic decks, which featured card backs with flipbook animation, and more importantly with a marking system hidden in the cogs and wheels. The Mechanic v2 deck is the improved and revised version of the original.
After the success of this deck, they decided to produce a very special version of their deck to celebrate the fifth birthday of Mechanic Industries in 2017. And what better birthday present can there be than something new and shiny? The Mechanic Metallic decks are a matching pair entitled Glimmer (gold) and Shiner (Silver). For added luxury, the interior of these tuck boxes is entirely foiled, for a visually stunning look! The outside of the tuck boxes also employs extensive use of foil, along with stylish embossing.
Metallic gold and silver inks are used for the card backs to ensure a completely glamorous look, which has a design similar to the original Mechanic decks.
To match the stylish look of the tuck boxes, metallic gold, silver, and red Pantone inks have been used on both the backs and faces of all the cards. Metallic silver ink decorates the court cards of the Shiner deck, while metallic gold ink is used for the court cards of the Glimmer deck.
As an extra bonus for magicians, the included Jokers include images of the Grinder coins from Mechanic Industries, giving possibilities for combining card magic with coin magic.
Like the original Mechanic Deck, the metallic decks have both a flip book animation system and a marking system built into the card backs. Riffling through the deck shows the cogs turning, and therein also lies the secret for identifying the suit and value of each card, which is cleverly built into the design.

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MORTALIS
Despite only being a teenager, Pravar Jain is a professional magician and cardist from India, who has accomplished more than most of us. He formed his own company Area52, and it's under this label that he produced the Mortalis deck, which was released in very limited numbers in October 2018.
The actual design of the playing cards is by Canadian Christofer Lacoste, who was also behind the art of the popular Mint Playing Cards.
This deck has a very practical look, with standard indices and pips on the faces for the most part. One exception is the changed look of the court cards, which have been re-coloured by replacing the usual garish yellows and reds with more muted colours including a soft beige, which creates a more professional look. The Ace of Spades features a giant pip that reprises the design from the card backs, and looks similar to the look on the front of the tuck box.
One surprise is the absence of Jokers. Pravar has never felt the use for Jokers, and decided to opt for two gaff cards instead. Given the love for magicians that is shown in the card backs, this won't come entirely as a surprise. The gaff cards are a double-backer, and a duplicate King of Hearts.
The deck comes with a link to a seven page PDF that explains how the marking system works. It features a coded marking system that Pravar himself created, and is based on how you read a clock. As the back of the tuck box proclaims: "The closer you look, the less you see."
The markings are fairly well hidden, and rather clever, although a riffle test will show that something unusual is going on. Pravar states that it can be read quickly in under 3 seconds, although I think it will take quite a bit of practice to be able to read it that quickly.

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KNIGHTS
Created by Daniel Madison and Chris Ramsay, the Knights deck from Ellusionist draws on a tradition as old playing cards themselves: chess. It pays tribute to this golden foundation stone of modern gaming, and takes its name from the piece with the unusual movement: The Knight.
Pictured here is the Gold edition, which has a tuck box with an elegant and distinguished combination of white with gold foil, giving an immediately luxurious and classic appearance. The popularity of this deck is evident from the fact that this edition was followed by several other versions in different colours: Green, Red, and Blue.
The number cards and court cards feature a uniformity in style, but retain a limited colour palette within the confines of a somewhat traditional look, to enhance the look and feel of complete class.
I especially love the Joker, which features a check-mated king and a raven. But there's no doubt that all the cards evoke an immediate sense of style and sophistication, and it is also a very practical and functional deck.
The back of the cards has a college of small chess pieces decorating the artwork, and therein of course lies our clever secret.
When it was first released, this wasn't even advertised as a marked deck, and the secret will escape the notice of all but the very careful observer. What I like about this system is that it doesn't use clock-style markings, but a very different system, one that is also thematically related to chess and the point value of the pieces.

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1900 SERIES
The Blue 1900 Series deck is a brand new release from Ellusionist.
But it doesn't come out of nowhere, because it is a successor to their highly popular vintage series 1800 marked decks, and is perhaps even intended as their replacement. The 1800 series decks featured standard Bicycle rider-back designs that had been put through a very convincing faux aging process.
Just like its predecessor, the 1900 series deck literally looks like it is more than a century old, and it's just as if a deck of cards has survived more than a century. Even the tuck box is designed to look genuinely ancient and worn.
Yet despite the old, rustic, and grungy look, which makes the cards look cracked and worn, the cards themselves are the same high quality as a normal Bicycle deck, and handle beautifully. Their vintage look, combined with quality handling, never fails to impress people.
I haven't included the popular 1800 series decks on this list, because their availability is limited and they aren't being reprinted. I suspect this because of strict new rules that Bicycle has implemented to prohibit publishing decks that change the rider-back design, which would exclude the reader system of the 1800 series decks.
As a result of this new policy, the 1900 series deck relies instead on carefully distinguishing the location of dark stains and white scratches that indicate the suit and value of the cards. This marking system requires fairly close attention to detail, and tired eyes may find this a little tricky. But the weathered look is brilliant, and the deck is worth getting for that alone. The style of weathering is different than the 1800 series decks, but it is equally effective - although I am concerned that it could also draw attention to itself, and thus give away this deck's secret. Even so, it's a very stylish deck.

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POLYANTHA
The Polyantha deck is from Daniel Schneider, and is part of his series of "Black Roses" decks. Daniel had previously created his first deck, Black Roses Playing Cards, in 2014. This was his second deck, so he employed similar artwork for the card faces, but he removed every colour for an exclusively all-black look in a classic casino style, to target magicians. The word polyantha is taken from the Rosa Polyantha species of rose that was popular around the turn of the 20th century, and is simply a name that Daniel found appealing.
The Polyantha deck did already appear in 2016, with printing by MPC. This 2019 re-release sees this deck get a wider distribution and a higher quality printing courtesy of USPCC.
Looking at the faces will reveal that despite the traditional look, customization has been applied, by featuring various personalities from the world of magic and the world of playing cards. If you look carefully there are some other fun details, such as the two black roses below the giant Ace of Spades pip, which indicates that this is Daniel's second deck design. Two extra cards are also included: a jet black casino cut card, and a 50/50 gaff consisting of a 2 of Diamonds and a 8 of Spades.
Given the jet black look, these are the kind of playing cards perfect for low light situations where the colours are hard to distinguish anyway. It is precisely the kind of sleek deck that you'd expect to find in the hands of James Bond types in a casino setting. It won't be for everyone, and it won't be ideal for most card magic due to the all-black cards, but there will be some magicians for whom this deck will make the perfect look given their style.
The cards have a borderless back design that produces an eye-catching pattern in fans and spread. A closer look reveals a tiled pattern consisting of tiny black roses. Studying these closely will prove to be the key that unlocks this deck's secret markings. These will not easily be detected by the unenlightened, because the markings are extremely tiny and well-hidden, and you'll need very, very good eye-sight to pick them up.
My deck didn't come with any information explaining the marking system, and it proved quite challenging to figure out, even though I knew it was a marked deck. I contacted Daniel and quickly received an image that clearly explained everything. Technically it is a reader system rather than a coded system, but I've included it in this list given that it's very well hidden, and that you do have to rely on a coded system for figuring out the suits of the cards.

https://preview.redd.it/ghxzuikruox41.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f25b7f081e40087cf3c2b394bef0166a3cec9e87
BUTTERFLY
Once again I've left one of the best decks for last. The Butterfly deck from Ondrej Psenicka deserves special mention for having a truly innovative system that allows you to do things with it that are truly impossible to do with any other deck.
The second edition of this acclaimed deck comes with a choice of either red or blue card backs. It is very well presented, and makes an immediate impression with the gorgeous custom wrapper that the deck is shipped in.
The faces of the deck have a fairly standard look to them, but the card backs feature a stunning borderless design that revolves around the beautiful butterfly, and I love how this looks in fans and spreads.
Also noteworthy is the fact that this deck is produced by Cartamundi. As a result the cards are slightly thicker and yet feel softer than a standard USPCC produced deck.
More importantly however, is the fact that this ground-breaking deck employs a unique and ingenious marking system that even trained magicians won't easily detect. With the deck you get a key card that explains how the marking system works, as well as a link to full video instructions (53 minutes!) that explains everything thoroughly.
When the two built in marking systems are combined, it's incredible what you're able to do with this deck, because you can read a card without even spreading the deck. It takes some time to master, but you can do real miracles once you have it down, including finding any card just by looking at the side of the deck. It's truly amazing, and as proof of this deck's power is the fact that its creator, Ondrej Psenicka, used it successfully to fool Penn and Teller on their Fool Us show!

https://preview.redd.it/q6m5bfftuox41.jpg?width=501&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ee9a6f1b94836403ddebd0ad04750ebe5ad7fdb
FINAL THOUGHTS
One series of decks that I haven't included in the above list is the NOC decks. These have a minimalist back design, which accounts for the acronym behind the name (Nothing Only Color). This makes them very popular with cardists, and they have been released in a wide range of different colours, and slight adjustments for style. Because these cards only indicate the suit, it's not a fully marked deck in the strict sense, which is why it doesn't qualify for the above list. But the markings are so clever, that they are almost impossible for the `unenlightened' to figure them out even if they're looking for them. Many people who own these decks don't even realize that they're marked!
Of the ones listed above, which ones are the best? This will largely be a matter of pure preference, and can be decided by which style you like the best. You should consider how much effort you are willing to put into deciphering a coded marking system, and how easy it is to use. And this is by no means a complete list, or even an attempt to list the definitive top coded decks; there are certainly many others, although the Butterfly deck would certainly be a strong contender to be included in any list of all-time best marked decks.
Do remember that none of these decks are intended for your weekly poker night. The secret that is built into the card backs specifically has the professional magician and mentalist in mind, so don't be tempted misuse them! But if you do enjoy card magic, it's terrific to see the growing range of marked decks available, and the ones featured here are among the best you'll find.
Where to get them: See a large range of marked decks over on PlayingCardDecks here.
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.

Preview image
I just wanted to share my flow, which will help keep children busy for a while. This is a statistical experiment of random dice rolls. You manually enter value of the die and UI draws chart of all throws. Also you can turn on automatic throws. This flow requires node-red-dashboard.

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min + 1)) + min;\n\nswitch (msg.payload) {\n case 1: return [msg,null,null,null,null,null];\n case 2: return [null,msg,null,null,null,null];\n case 3: return [null,null,msg,null,null,null];\n case 4: return [null,null,null,msg,null,null];\n case 5: return [null,null,null,null,msg,null];\n case 6: return [null,null,null,null,null,msg];\n}\n","outputs":6,"noerr":0,"x":240,"y":140,"wires":[["a2883210.56c9a"],["a8fe7b76.fbe298"],["7281ce34.9f5a2"],["8e3864a9.014128"],["234f31c0.ca7b7e"],["2834950b.5ef8ba"]]},{"id":"e1fe6b70.34eca8","type":"comment","z":"7ac0f60d.d160d8","name":"enable to autothrow","info":"","x":130,"y":220,"wires":[],"icon":"font-awesome/fa-arrow-up"},{"id":"f0642e96.3aeef","type":"switch","z":"7ac0f60d.d160d8","name":"!auto","property":"topic","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"neq","v":"auto","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":1,"x":730,"y":140,"wires":[["532ba59f.4384ac"]]},{"id":"28f8f613.eeb49a","type":"ui_group","z":"","name":"Statistics","tab":"2b1e24ca.17fa74","order":1,"disp":false,"width":11,"collapse":false},{"id":"43d7c4af.b0ef8c","type":"ui_group","z":"","name":"Count","tab":"2b1e24ca.17fa74","order":2,"disp":false,"width":18,"collapse":false},{"id":"2b1e24ca.17fa74","type":"ui_tab","z":"","name":"Random","icon":"casino","order":1,"disabled":false,"hidden":false}]

UDP: updated code that I've used in my 10 hours video

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die.payload=\"⚁\"; break;\n case 3: die.payload=\"⚂\"; break;\n case 4: die.payload=\"⚃\"; break;\n case 5: die.payload=\"⚄\"; break;\n case 6: die.payload=\"⚅\"; break;\n}\n\nreturn [ counter, pronounce, inequality, msg, die 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Чтобы занять дочь, набросал программу, собирающую статистику значений, выпавших при бросках 🎲. Заодно решил её автоматизировать и проверить - насколько рандом рандомный. Реализовано на платформе Node-Red, которая в общем-то создана для других вещей. Смотри до конца, подписывайся на канал и спасибо за твоё время и внимание.
\n\nRandomize Code:\n max = Math.floor(6)\n min = Math.ceil(1)\n random = Math.floor(Math.random() * (max-min+1)) + min\nInequality:\n max = Math.max(a) // where a = array, e.g. on roll #1019 a = [165,161,173,169,188,163]\n min = Math.min(a)\n inequality = (max - min) / (max + min)
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That is, release day was on December 24, 2019. Sorry this post is a bit belated; life, you know.
Relevant Wiki Poll: For those of you who use the wiki... Once upon the time the wiki used to have one article for each cruise ship (Entrance and Exit) in this arc; now, however, it currently has one (underdeveloped) article on both ships. Do you think it would be more useful to have one article per ship, or is having one article on both ships sufficient?
I've set up a twitter poll on the Baccano! Wiki's Twitter account here, so please do vote in the poll if you're on Twitter! If you're not on Twitter, lemme know in a comment? Thanks!
Yen Press webpage: Hardcover | Digital
Where to buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Rightstuf | BookWalker | iBooks | Kobo | and more... Check out the Yen Press webpages for more retailer links.
This is a megathread for this release. Any questions, discussion starters, live reactions (good and ill), etc. pertaining to it are very welcome in the comments below!
I'll be sharing my Release Notes in this text post as usual; for those new to the subreddit, my Release Notes typically include:

official name spellings (e.g. of characters, places, organizations, etc); notable differences between the official and fan translations (e.g. facts/canon info previously incorrectly translated)
any general official translation choice worth noting (such as a font change for a character perspective, though these are more noticeable in print)
You get the idea.

Some guidelines: When commenting in this thread, please spoiler tag anything referencing future, yet-to-be-officially-translated volumes. Automatically assume there are people here who have only read up to the official release.

Release Notes

Official Spellings

Character Names/Nicknames

Jacuzzi's great-grandson is Bobby Splot, and Bobby has nicknamed his friends Tall, Humpty, and Troy.
Carnea is spelled as is; we'll have to wait for Vol 13 for surname spelling.
The siblings' names are once again Claudia and Charon. Claudia has nicknamed the animatronic shark Sharkey.
- 'Once again' in that they were mentioned by name in Durarara!!x8, which YP has translated.
The filmmaker's name is confirmed John Drox.
- This is also the spelling used in Durarara!!x4.
The four great weapons are called the Four Afflictions at one point and consist of Illness, Aging, Life, and Death.
The drug cartel's sniper is Angelo; Angelo is occasionally dubbed 'Gunslinger' by other characters. Meanwhile the freelancing demolisher he works with is alternatively referred to as the demolition specialist and demolition guy.
Angelo's son's name is confirmed Carlos.
- This Carlos is likely the same Carlos who serves as a member of Etsusa Bridge's cast. Carlos actually predates Angelo, since his debut novel came out in 2004 whereas Baccano! Vol 12 was published in 2007.
The two mercenaries who obtain Charon's autograph are Kevin and Baum.
The group they work for, the Mask Makers, are also referred to as the 'businessmen' in the narrative.
The divorced couple's names are confirmed Misao and Hiroko.
The captain of the Entrance has his named spelled Folk Connor.
- I believe the F.T. version of his name was Falk Corner.
The mastermind refers to themself as Copycat.

Other Names

The two cruise ships' names, Entrance and Exit, are named as such in the sense of "Entrance to paradise" and "Exit from the ordinary" respectively.
The casino on Entrance is called Fontana di Trevi.
The major movie distributor which will distribute the film Drox and the Walkens are filming is the McDannell Company.
- Durarara!!x4 spells it 'McDonnell', not 'McDannell', and I believe the F.T. of Vol 12 used 'McDonnell' as well.
- Naritaverse note: the McDonnell Company has ties to the American Jack-o'-Lantern talent agency whose Japanese branch Max Sandshelt heads in Drrr!!. John Drox has hired Kasuka Heiwajima (Drrr!! character) for quite a few of his films.
The film Claudia and Charon are promoting is Shark Flight, sequel to John Drox's Mode Gears movie based off the Mode Gears comic series.
- Claudia's character is named Aisha, while Charon is the physical stuntman/'actor' for the Gear. Aisha's mother's name is spelled Carrie, not Kari.
Claudia's films other mentioned by name:
- Attack of the Killer Edisons
- The Wild Dog in the Wind (Angelo's favorite)
Czes simply refers to Firo as Firo, not something like 'big brother Firo'.
"The world had dubbed her 'Claudia-of-All-Trades," apparently.
The twin luxury ships' scheduled meeting event in the Pacific Ocean is referred to as the Crossing, not the Meeting.
Claudia calls Firo 'Uncle Firo', but Charon sadly refers to Keith not as 'Uncle Keith' but 'Mr. Keith' in the official TL. Tragic.
Claudia also refers to her great-grandparents as Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather Felix, which was a bit more formal than I was expecting.
Angelo calls Firo 'Firo', not 'Mr. Prochainezo.'
The Mask Makers refer to their leader as 'president'.

General Notes

I believe the fan TL indicates that the restaurant in Prologue 1 is in the "very south of South America," but the official TL isn't that specific. In other words, there's no indication as to what geographical area of S. America the restaurant is in.
The fan TL states that Illness and Death swing from the northeast and northwest sides of the room, but the official TL states they swing from the southeast and northwest sides.
Minor tidbit, but the businessmen yell the following to Angelo--"Quit talking like the hero in Contract to Kill!" instead of, "Stop acting like you're Chuck Norris in Hitman!"
Re: Angelo's thoughts on the Demolisher--sorry, the 'demolition guy--in Prologue 2: The official TL makes it sound as if the demolition specialist helped out the drug cartel once or twice a year during big conflicts rather than him and Angelo mutually helping each other out a few times.
- Can I just call him the Demolisher anyway? Thanks.
Engel has once again converted metric units into Imperial units:
- The dimensions of Exit in metric units: length 306m; height 55m; 52m wide
- The dimensions as given by Engel: full length 1,004 feet; total height 180', total width 171'.
Time confusion? Maybe someone can help me out with this: while waiting to board the Entrance, Firo internally notes that Maiza and Czes returned from their search around half a month ago (fan TL says two weeks). In his subsequent flashback to the TV scene and Czes returning later that night, he remembers blurting to Czes, "Well, get this! Just a couple weeks ago, on the day you and Maiza came back..." ...and we soon flash back to the present, two weeks (and one day) later.
- So...wait, wouldn't it be 4 weeks/a little over a month since the day of Maiza and Czes' return instead of half a month? Maiza & Czes return/Firo befriends photographer -- "couple weeks pass" -- TV day + "let's go on a family trip" -- next day Molsa presents tickets -- "two weeks pass." ????
- Am I missing something, or did Narita accidentally confuse himself here?
I guess we have to assume Firo/Narita meant to say 'a month ago' rather than 'half a month ago', given the two weeks -> [family trip decision -> two weeks apparent sequence of events. However, does that conflict with anything else we know about the timeline? Maiza stops to visit Begg in NJ in Aug 2002 when he and Czes are on their way back to NY, so the day of their return/Firo befriending photographer must have also happened in August. But the Entrance is also departing in August, so...
So...maybe Maiza and Czes returned at the very beginning of August, and Entrance is departing at its tail end? That might work. Actually it sounds pretty likely when one remembers the mastermind is trying to recreate the Flying Pussyfoot incident.
I guess the alternative is Narita did mean half a month and only mean for two weeks to pass between the trip proposition and departure, but that would mean Maiza and Czes came back shortly before the trip proposition...so...moving on...
The official TL phrases a line as "many of [Felix Walken's] children and grandchildren] rather than "[Claire's[ descendants," so I guess it's confirmed Claire had more than one kid.
The amount of chips Firo garners while gambling is worth a hundred thousand dollars.
The official TL specifies that the mansion in Illness' flashback to when she was nine-years-old is "European-style," though I guess this info doesn't actually help narrow down the location.
Claudia's declaration to Illness in the fan TL, "If you need to kill someone, I'll kill them for you," is different in the official TL: "When it's time to kill you, I'll do it myself."

MISC

It probably goes without saying that Misao's (and Firo's) photographer friend lives next to Mikado from Drrr!!, right?
For those who might not have caught it or realized, Firo's offhand mention of how he and Luck once crushed a syndicate in Mexico over fifty years ago is a reference to the plot of the second audio drama *Firo Prochainezo Witnesses the 53rd Death of Pietro Gonzalez, which takes place in Summer 1936.
This isn't so much a release note as it is an idle observation I had while reading the official TL... Illness 'justifying' or 'rationalizing' her actions as the result of a sickness/'abnormal self' (even while trying to be 'human') sort of seems opposite to Yakumo's rationalization process in Etsusa Bridge (wherein he's obsessed with normalcy and insists that he is normal and him killing is normal). Anyone else get that sense?
"One, yet legion."

Here's the official TL's take on the chanting Illness hears on the phone:

"Death is a neighbor to be feared. Life is kin to be dreaded. Agony abides with light...fury and shame dwell in shadow...in their illustrious presence, I simply...consume a single leaf from the garden..."

Not too many notes this time around, I think. For now I'll just post what I have and not go into quotes I liked a lot since I have things to do and this post is already a couple days late; can always comment with additional personal thoughts later.
Oh, right! Since this is the novel where Claudia and Charon's famous "comic book creator" father is mentioned, I'm going to link to this post I wrote 9 months back in which I conducted a little investigation into where the JP wiki got the name "Clifford Walken" (possibly the dad in question) from. Might be worth checking out if you missed it?

Good night, groupies! After tonight's performance one our contestants will be retiring from the stages for this season, but who will it be?
Please welcome our judges!
Sally Spellman, looking like the LSD you took for inspiration for your music!
Miyu Moon, our resident kill our die romantic!
With special guest judge
Sulphur Bomme, who will help decide who gets the winner's mayo!
This week, our contestants were tasked with creating posters for their debut concerts as musicians alongside music video looks based on their assigned genres!
...Veruschka

Although you did a great job this week, you didn't flop nor top the charts, you were radio friendly enough.

You're safe this week and still on the run for the crown.

The rest of you you represent the Highs and Lows of the week. Starting with...

RIPPER HOLE | POSTER

Sally Spellman: You’ve managed to have the most eye catching poster in my opinion, it’s a very moody piece and the colors grab your attention in the best way possible, the perspective is a little wonky, especially since the text not completely lining up, my only issue is there no being acknowledgement of when the event is going to happen, no venue, no website, no date! Adding those little details that would have cemented this at a complete 10/10.
Your outfit is lovely and I’m here for a bearded queen who actually integrates a beard into a look in a way that goes along with everything and not just for the gag of having a beard. The abstractness of the look is cool but I think everything is wacky and you have a very simple hat, so it should have definitely been more extra than what you’ve got there, I’ve seen some people rag on you about the wobbliness of your looks but I don’t think it’s something you’ve overdone at all, it in some way is part of your style because that’s how you presented your queen to begin with and you’ve proved you’re capable of doing different things but I wonder if you can serve us more rigid shapes for next week or whenever the opportunity comes. The colors in your look being the same palette as your poster but more muted was a really nice touch and I think it would look amazing on a music video.
Miyu Moon: First off, this poster, WOW, it grabbed my attention immediately and absolutely makes me want to see this show. It is really minimal on the info, I think it could have used a little more info even if it was just a "Saturday night at 'that' Club" or something vague, just to give it a little more of a realistic poster feel. As it is now it could possibly be a movie or something, but that being said the saxophone and mic do kinda force me to assume a musical element so that does help send me in a direction. But overall, this poster still does what a poster should, it grabs my attention and it gives me a feeling and I want more. The angle is so dramatic, the fact that she's laying in such an askew way but looks so satisfied it really gives me some sense of wildness that I want to see live. I would typically associate the jazz age with some classier dress, so to see you so wildly nude and unhinged I'll have to assume this is some bootlegger party in an underground club and I want in.
The outfit pairs perfectly with your poster, I can imagine that underneath this neon coloured zoot suit you're ready to turn into that stage poster version of yourself. I'm not sure how but I do agree that these colours lend to the feel of jazz, there's something so bright and brassy about the sound that you translated well into your look. Bagginess can often look really shapeless so you made a smart choice to show parts of yourself and still give us some sexy body to balance out the shapelessness of the suit coat. I also love all the tiny details with the stitching and sparkles and whatnot, they also help give shape to something that could otherwise just be a blob, so all the choices in your material use are really "right". And the blue lip is a perfect touch, just a little bit of cool tone to stand out from the warmness you've got going on. Really great look, I can imagine this in a video of you dancing and singing around very sultry and slowly revealing yourself to the camera until we reach your final, most sinful form.
Sulphur Bomme: Hello Ripper! Overall I feel like this is a great hybrid genre of Jazz and incorporating your own Ripper Hole stylistic twist to it. I really think the colour scheme plays well into the Jazz theme, I thought of the Monsters Inc. title card and that has a jazz track to it so it really invoked that theme, not just in your poster but throughout your work. I think this is my favourite concept of the week, honestly.
I love the production of perspective in this, You’re really showing off your artistic knowledge in a way that isn’t primarily focusing on fashion. It kinda puts you up as a really well rounded individual and it doesn’t make the poster feel like a flat, boring image. I think to push this it might’ve needed a bit of tailoring - I focused more so on the objects in frame rather than Ripper (who in this case is the main headlining act) so your colour choices would have benefitted from shifting the object tones to a colour that suits the background so they are still present, have an iconic focus, but not as much as Ripper who would have benefited from a more yellow or orange sort of hue.
Your outfit I enjoy a lot because it matches your act quite well, super clear to me that you’re going to be performing your songs in some retro futurism minimalistic ideal that American homeowners aspire to be a part of , and you haven’t shied away from a lot of colour. Nitpick - I think when it comes to colour,try to be a bit cautious with the saturation, especially red hues because of it being such a rich physical colour for the eyes.
I want you to start experimenting with maybe producing outfits that have less wavy intentions - I’ve noticed your go-to is to produce very wavy aesthetical linework in your pieces, either explicitly in form or implicitly with pattern, and I want to see if you can produce an outfit that demands a certain edge of control. I’m aware that you did produce a very angular look Week 2, but the fit was very tight to Ripper’s body, so it could be a good idea to sort of see if you can produce not even just an angular look, but look that has more control than complete waviness to it. I hope this helped!
Up next is...

ORIANA | POSTER

Sally Spellman: Your poster looks legit, the almost unintelligible band name, the graphicness of it and the gore make me think I could spot this somewhere and I’d think it’s a real event, in my opinion the placement of the information wasn’t the best and the font choice as well, a serif sort of font would have gone better with the mood of your poster and maybe I’m the only one who is going blind but I think having this pure white text against black and white scribbles make the text blend in a little but to be honest I’m just nitpicking because you did a stellar job this week.
Your music video look is great, the red tattoos resembling body harm are a very nice touch and very on brand, I seriously have nothing to nitpick on every detail that I see is very flattering and you made the usual not fashionable heavy metal garbs look amazing and you didn’t rely on bondage or bdsm to do so, wouldn’t look out of place in a music video for this genre at all.
Miyu Moon: There is absolutely no question when looking at this poster as to what sort of show I'm going to see, and that is exactly what we wanted. I love the tiny scribbly detail in the hair, that in itself almost lends more to a horror element than the entrails, in a Japanese graphic novel sort of way. The info is maybe a little lost in the hair though, it's certainly readable when you look closely but from afar it's kind of lost and could have benefitted from something helping the words stand out, be it an outline or colour or different placement, there's probably a lot of subtle changes but either way it's a subtle change. The poster looks interesting and exciting to an alt crowd for sure, and I think the info you put is the perfect amount of specificity and lets us know when, where, and what to expect, it really does its job.
This music video look is awesome and I would absolutely wear it immediately. I really love the texture you've done inside the coat, it makes it look like you're wearing sheets of flesh and I mean... what's more brutal than wearing raw, bloody flesh? I like that the outfit itself is pretty simple in what garments there are; dress, jacket, boots, but the detail makes them really cohesive and as if they were perfectly made to go together in this music video. The body art also lends a nice level of detail to the look so it doesn't seem too simple. I can imagine the video being a view of the band rocking with Oriana up front and center belting it out in this look, the crazy face paint is perfectly attention grabbing for a lead singer.
Sulphur Bomme: Hello Oriana! Both your poster and look have an amazing depth of posing and dynamicism to it. The selection of black, white and red really pull this poster in for me, as well as the choices you have made to fit your genre.
From the font being that “are these trees or is this a metal band font” (thanks Memorie), the choice to pull the hair out from the background using shading and mark making, the subtlety of the inclusion of red, the guts spelling out “LIVE” - the information, everything here has really solidifed a strong conceptual poster as well as the act Oriana would produce. I think if you could improve this, perhaps the mark making you used to shade your crease for your eyes would’ve really made the form a lot stronger and pull it into a massively memorable moment for any graphic design challenge that has been done on MPAR.
For your outfit, absolutely phenomenal. I think people should take notes from this on how to make their concepts dynamic, interesting and positioned to be powerful. This is a great example not only for this challenge, but also for lipsyncs I feel. Your branching out into fabric rendering, I’m noticing - your latex details are quite visually impactful here. A nitpick for this for me would probably be the inclusion of a little bit of glint or perhaps a tiny, tiny dark grey line that notifies us that there is a pupil or a scelera contact lens in Ori’s eye holes in both the poster and the outfit. That’s really all I can find wrong with it in my eyes.
I hope you continue your detail exploration and your rendering skills. You have such a strong eye for fashion and it’s starting to be well matched by your choices of rendering fabrics and details. I hope this helps!!
Up next is...

BIANCA BIQUINI | POSTER

Sally Spellman: Your poster reads more like a children’s book illustration to me, it’s not ugly or bad but I guess the intent is lost on me, the way you used the space is a little weird because you have some dead space which I think you could have filled with more floral motifs, if this were a little more elongated and the stone were sitting on water you could use this change in colors to lay some additional information on top, the colors you chose for the fonts don’t really stand out! I know you went for an earthy vibe but even so there could have been ways to do it.
Your music video look is pretty and I love it on its own but I don’t see much dragginess in it, wish you could have gone a different route with it since it feels a little derivative of Trixie to me and I think it would have been cool to see a take on brazilian folk music instead, you didn’t do a bad job at all Bianca but this didn’t meet the mark for me. I’m always rooting for you but it’s also come down to splitting hairs, hopefully you’re prepared to try your hardest next time!
Miyu Moon: At first glance I thought this poster was like, a storybook cover. It's really cute and gentle but in terms of getting information across as a show poster I think it's a little all over the place and it's hard to find the right emphasis or flow of info on the poster. Even though you're there playing your banjo I find myself overlooking that and not assuming any musical element other than as an addition to the visual aesthetic. I think maybe it's partially the fact that there are so many colours and patterns going on that it's hard to really grab onto any specific chunk of text or area of the poster as being the important center of information. The info is all there, but it doesn't feel like the musical act itself is at the center of this poster so much as it's just a general ethereal flowery feel that's happening and that could really be anything.
This outfit is super cute, but it's kind of drowning you in a sea of beige. I like the long ethereal hair, but then the outfit just seems really basic in comparison to the fairy-like feeling the hair and makeup are giving me. It's a nice outfit but I think it's just so soft and subtle that I wouldn't really be grabbed by this music video, if you were out strumming the harp in a field of flowers I feel like it would all just blend together. I would have liked to see you go more grand with your outfit and give something that could believably be an "iconic" music video look. Right now I feel like this look is just kind of a fan of the show, like a girl who came to get autographs from the singer after the show rather than the world touring singer herself.
Sulphur Bomme: Hello Bianca! Your poster fits the genre quite well, colour scheming and the iconography, but it’s just really not hitting a level that I expected.
Your referenced Trixie Mattel in your poster and I feel like that her EP cover for Moving Parts would’ve been a great reference point for your poster. Lana Del Rey too - just because the layout of your poster has this emptiness because of the spaces, and in comparison a lot of posters this week are much stronger because they’ve covered a lot of space. I think if you did something along the lines of an actual creek rather than this really oblique sort of background to your piece, it would’ve produced more of a punch - even if the background was trees or something just to have a bit more of that folksy impact, it would’ve worked a lot more.
Your outfit is really strong, I absolutely adore the hair and the posing on this. Your artwork always has this fluidity to it that’s just absolutely breathtaking, and for challenges like this I think if you were to produce a fluid piece like you have with your look for your poster it would’ve worked so well especially for this genre. One nitpick would be if your boots were a little shorter and they had little scalloped socks coming out that would’ve really pushed a bit more of a folksy vibe to your outfit this week, and also if you don’t start wearing heels that make Bianca at least eligible to ride the Junior Rollercoasters at the fairground next week I will sue you. I hope that helped!!
Up next is...

SELECTA | POSTER

Sally Spellman: Your poster gives me salsa casino from the start and that’s everything you needed to do, the colors are nice and they’re fiery so on that regard there’s no complaints on my part, however I wish you had finessed this some more because there are parts that feel rushed (The chileans can’t dance text being the more clear example), nothing that puts you in a bad spot but I think it could have been even greater than it already is, hopefully Selecta will earn the gaviota de platino!
Now onto this look, AZÚCAR! El yerberito moderno came through, people will think Salsa and jump to the red mini dress with frills conclusion but you absolutely slayed this by paying homage to Celia Cruz, it’s extra because salsa is extra, it’s dramatic, fiery and passionate just like this look, the two streaks of red hair resembling horns are absolutely genius, it has that camp feature but also you can see that when the video heats up she will take off the coat and still have a very cool look but actually look more modern without it! You absolutely aced this one.
Miyu Moon: This poster is wild as hell and I love it, it would immediately make me want to read it and understand what sort of show is going on. It's got a great design element going on, it definitely looks like a real show poster and has all the info needed to make it believable and effective. It's definitely got an active, fiery feel to it with the dynamic posing and bright colour scheme. I like that it has a sort of retro printed look to it, even if it is "retro" in origina it's a look that still works well for posters up this day. Even if I don't know jack about salsa I know this show is going to be high energy and musical and dance based and that alone is really all you need to hook an audience.
This look is big and demands attention and regardless of genre that is exactly what a music video look should do, this look would definitely be something people would see and remember. I like the fuostrich looking trim you added in there, definitely adds a sense of action and motion to such a big, bulky garment. I wouldn't think tight jeans would lend to salsa dancing but I suppose that's up for you to prove me wrong, because the little hip furnishings are super cute and I would love to see them in motion. The overall devil imagery is really well done, I love the little hair streaks because... well... you kow me. I will say that I wish your poster and music video outfit went together a little better, they have some colour in common but the devil imagery is so strong in the look and nonexistant in the poster so I wish they were just tied together a little more so it felt like they were all a part of the same era of a musician's career.
Sulphur Bomme: Hello Selecta! I’m getting retro Old Hollywood painted poster vibes from your Salsa poster and your look - you’re perfect, you’re beautiful, you look like Linda Evangelista, are you a model…
I think one of the most visually striking things on your poster is the colour scheme and the restrictive scheme is such a strong palette too - blue red and orange is a really powerful triad scheme and you using a neutral like white played to your advantage here. The wear and tear of the poster works extremely well for this case, and I love the inclusion of Selecta in and out of drag. It’s really detailed, really informed and really strong! I hope that the artifacts on the white bar are intentional however, otherwise you could’ve gone with perhaps quickly analysing and erasing some of them out for a more clean look. That’s my only nitpick.
Your costume is kinda fun in its own way. I love the reference point of Celia Cruz, I got that almost immediately (shocking, a white person with an understanding of culture, I know) and I just really enjoy this moment a lot. Some people may argue it’s very costumey, but your reference point is costumey so I understand that, and this challenge we’re not looking for explicit couture - you’re performing! Salsa divas are performers, and this is very valid form of drag, it’s very campy, it’s very different to what you’ve done, and it works really fucking well. I think if anything, I would’ve perhaps changed the hair to be a bit more beehive. But this week I feel like you’ve really produced something that isn’t causing an imbalance, it’s very strong referential material and you’ve sold a strong Salsa concept. Keep exploring how you’re exploring, and Season 4’s BTM2 might be a thing of the past with your Season 4 WIN. I hope that helped!!
Up next is...

AURA | POSTER

Sally Spellman: This is the other poster that looks legit, I’m not very worldly so I haven’t seen many concert posters in my lifetime but this one is pleasing to look at and that’s enough for me, the humor in it is great and the bitch got sponsors a plenty! One thing that I thought was a smart touch was the inclusion of a scan code because of course that would be a thing haha.
Now your look itself feels like a rehash, I’ve seen this hood, I’ve seen these baby hairs, I’ve seen this cinched waist with a coat with long sleeves! Not ragging on you but I don’t want you to start repeating formulas just because they’ve worked before, I want to see different sides to Aura and I think it’s time to start experimenting with new elements, shapes and silhouettes. My one issue is that I wish you had gone for a shtick because admittedly it is hard to think of an EDM video where the musician stands out (Thinking of the likes of Avicii, David Guetta, Calvin Harris) so I wish you had gone for a shtick characteoutfit like Daft Punk or even Deadmau5. I appreciate your art and designs but I think it’s the time to flip the coin so we can see the other side, Aura!
Miyu Moon: Wow, this poster looks super modern and definitely like an EDM show. I love the logo and colours, it's definitely got that vaporwave kinda thing going that is super popular in EDM nowadays as opposed to the straight up CMYK neons of rave yesteryear. There's a lot of info going on, almost too much, which is honestly kinda believable because I believe that a DJ would put all this stuff on a poster. I also like the little details like the QR code (I scanned it out of curiosity) and the sponsorship logos at the bottom, it pushes it to be very realistic.
The outfit though, it's gorgeous and all but as a music video look it leaves me wondering a lot. It's just a bit non-specific as to waht feel we're going for here, there's something very high fashion haute-couture about it but also something EDM and I'm just not entirely feeling the connection between the two. The look is pretty but just as a music video look it's not giving me a lot of feeling or flow, like nothing is really standing out as an iconic element of this look or giving me really a sense of what the music or song could be like. The only thing really making this look feel any amount EDM appropriate is the neon lines in the coat, but then the outfit and the coat don't really connect besides maybe the pinkish tone in the coat and pants? There's just something very non-specific about this look and overall sort of stiff, it's not jumping out with any particular element.
Sulphur Bomme: Hi Aura! Off the bat, I’ve been to Greece, Spain, even in the UK, and these posters - I’ve seen these fucking posters everywhere.
This is a well crafted poster and your design fits so well in one of those cabanas that uses Live House Music as a selling point on an island somewhere. You’re really showing a side that I didn’t expect of you - and that’s your humour. This poster, while it’s not taking itself seriously, It’s very well put together, so your humour is kind of a silent killer that’s emerging really well with this. I love the inclusion of the logos, I think that’s what puts it head and shoulders above the other ones for me personally? But I think the main issue here that’s dragging you back is your look.
Your massive coats and cinching seem to be a signature for you, but for this challenge it would’ve been amazing if you tapped into perhaps producing an outfit that screamed “NuEDM Drag Queen Lady DJ”. If you harken back to audition looks, a lot of people used black, white and neon colours and effortlessly pulled off these neon fantasies. I know that your reference poole was probably a lot short-handed by the lack of female DJs, but I feel like tapping into the likes of perhaps, Daft Punk (looking at how the two are like, robot-human augmentations) Ulala Space Channel 5 could’ve been another reference poole, Jet Set Radio - all these sort of references might’ve helped push a new silhouette and concept for you. For next week, try to think about production of silhouettes, and perhaps branching out and exploring a little bit whilst keeping it in your own little realm of Aura. I hope that helped!
Up next is...

ARCANGELO | POSTER

Sally Spellman: This poster I don’t like, I’ll be understanding of you being under a time crunch so I won’t blame you, this isn’t really giving me hip hop but rather a brochure that a jehovah's witness would give me, I know christianity is your gig but I think it didn’t help you for your poster, I wish the silhouette’s pose were different, more relaxed rather than “enlightened”.
The look itself isn’t very exciting to me, it’s a hip hop look alright, very early 2000s Cee Lo Green sort of thing I think it was a good opportunity to experiment more with holy imagery rather than restricting it to just some bling, the lamb coat was a nice touch and let me say I think this lineless style is very cool! I think since it was supposed to be a music video look you could have gone larger than life with it, especially since you got hip hop!
Miyu Moon: There is something really strange about this poster and I can't put my hand on it. Maybe it's the singular wing or the fact that it's all so dark and mysterious but it's just not jumping up and grabbing my attention. I can tell that it's a show of some sort, if not for the word "concert" in the title I would have no idea that it is music based at all and would probably just assume it's some sort of church group or a public talk or something. The blue and white colour scheme is definitely heavenly, but it's just kind of a big wash of cool tones and would probably blend into the background out in the world.
Admittedly I find this outfit really charming, the big wooly jacket is so country. I like the way you combined the country boy element with the hip hop element, the heeled timbs are great and the jewelry is perfect. The outfit underneath however is pretty basic in its own, it's just a button down shirt and a pair of adidas track pants. I would have liked to see an outfit that looked more custom made and flashy in its intricacy, right now it looks kind of like somebody's dad made a costume for a music video in their backyard and not like an actual high budget musical artist. The idea behind this is right but I just think it needed to look a little more interesting without relying on just the coat or the chains, I feel like the elements of the outfit should still sell an image of country even if there isn't literal sheeps wool laid on top. Also, the poster and look really don't have much to do with each other, like this outfit is way more fun and interesting than the poster. I wouldn't think the person on the poster was this same person in the music video, so I wish your poster was more exciting to match this level of fun.
Sulphur Bomme: Hello Arcangelo! I think the poster has elements that are strong but feel ultimately rushed in a sense of understanding that you were late yesterday. Which is understandable, but some of these elements would have really worked a lot more in tandem with time management.
I don’t really get Christian Hip Hop from this at all if I’m completely honest. It’s giving me like, northern lights but make it viewable from these select locations. I think the inclusion of information and your stylistic intention to bring this back to Arcangelo is there, just that this poster is just not correlating towards Hip Hop, it’s more like a tourism brochure? If you referenced Christian Hip Hop there’s still a bit of grime and a bit of street style to it, and that would’ve made it more iconographic with Hip Hop. Boom Boxes, a Bible but it’s got a Gucci bookshield on it, who knows.
Your outfit really just screams the dad at the communion who got into the Sunday School dress-up chest? That kinda fits with the Christian Hip-Hop theme. It just needs a lot more than you’ve presented I feel. This would’ve really benefited from an on-the-nose sort of patterned top and bottom, Gucci vibes of like, Calabasas Street Style but make it Jeffree Star Untouchable, a puffer jacket instead, more jewellery, wear the entire sales rack of Claire’s, it needed to be elevated to a level that could compete and stand out more on its own. And I’m sad because you could’ve really took a comedic route with this and really stuck it to the rest of the competitors, because you genuinely are a good humoured and strong at delivering jokes.
I think next week would be a time to really harken back to the production of work say, from Disease Week and Seasons Week. Really have fun with Arcangelo, because when you have fun it’s so obvious that you enjoyed designing the look and you enjoyed the production of it. I hope this helped!
The judges have made their decisions.
Selecta you've got the sabor, you've got tumbao, AZÚCAR! You're safe.
Oriana This week your death metal poster and look... gave us life, you're safe.
Ripper Hole The jazzman jazzed all over the place, I'm testifying, condragulations you're the winner of this week's challenge.
Bianca Biquini While we were expecting you to folk out, this week you folked up, I'm sorry my dear but you're up for elimination.
Aura Your EDM poster was amazing but your music video look killed the radio star...
Arcangelo Your hip hop presentation was more of a big flop...
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Arcangelo, I'm sorry my dear but you're also up for elimination.
That means Bianca Biquini and Arcangelo, you're both up for elimination
The lipsync song for this week is Audio by LSD. The lipsync looks, and our next elimination, will be revealed in a few hours, at about 9:00am PST. We'll see you there!

FULL CRITIQUES

Welcome to my novel, inspired by Barry Pepper's role in Crawl (2019)

Chapter 1: Envy, Wrath
Nobody ever imagines themselves as a victim. I certainly didn't. I admit I was kind of a cocky little shit so maybe I deserved to be here: half-naked in a swamp with a bullet in my chest. I think there was also a bullet in my head, either that or I cracked my skull on something while in the process of crawling out of my makeshift grave. "I am Army Master Sergeant Adam Severgine," I said out loud to no one. I needed to remain conscious, I needed to survive.
This was no different from a deployment. Except instead of fighting for my country, for the chance to prove myself, I was fighting to dig myself out of a shithole of my own creation. "I am Adam Severgine, husband, father...addict." Tears filled my eyes. My wife and daughter were miles away in Biloxi, Mississippi.
I had no fear of death and dying but eventually, they would find out how badly I fucked up. I lost thousands of dollars in gambling, booze, heroin, meth. I should have just gotten out when I had the chance.
Instead, I turned tricks, ran drugs; I became a bitch to avoid becoming a bitch. The idea made me laugh. "Ow..." Fuck, I'm going to die.
"No, you're not." The male voice sounded calm, serene. "Do you even know where you are?"
‘I know I'm imagining you, whatever the fuck you are.’
"Because the mighty Master Sergeant Adam could never be communicating with an angel," the voice said with a laugh. The grass in front of me started to blow in the wind.
\swish* *crunch* *swish* *crunch**
The blades of grass seemed to grow taller, their shadows forming the shape of a man with long wavy hair.
"Is that what you are?" I asked with a chuckle. A sharp pain struck my side; I definitely had broken ribs.
As the angel came closer, he seemed to materialize into a mortal form; olive skin, green eyes, and hair that seemed to be streaked with red, blue, purple and gold. "What do you think I am?"
"You kind of look like the Lord, Jesus Christ," I said, my voice starting to slur into a southern accent as I felt my mind drifting away.
The angel laughed as he ran his fingers through his rainbow hair. "I'll take that as a compliment." He then reached over his shoulder and pulled on a golden cloak out of thin air. "Are you ready to go?"
"Go where?"
The angel shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"I guess not." Any place had to be better than dying alone in the swamp.
The angel reached out his hand. "You can call me Leo."
I took his hand, as I did, a series of letters flashed before my eyes; 'E-N-V-Y.' The letters were in thick black font as if someone was throwing them at my face. But why 'envy'?
I jolt awake, in full uniform, outside of a commander's office. I had been here before but where was I?
"Come in," said a female voice.
I knew who it was; Lt General Allyssa Blake. I was back at my station in Alaska. Still afraid of how the hell I managed to travel back in time I took a breath and entered the office giving the appropriate salute.
The much younger woman had blonde hair, light blue eyes, and lips that made me dream of what she looked like out of uniform. "At ease," she said with her soft breathy voice. She returned the salute and motioned for me to take a seat.
Allyssa never sounded like an officer. She gave off ASMR, that tingly feeling down your spine. She was pageant-queen beautiful, brilliant, but more than anything she was kind. Her wonderful heart was the only thing keeping me from bending her over the desk and fucking her brains out.
Sat down, focusing my eyes on the floor. I at least knew what this meeting was about. "Thank you for meeting with me Ma'am."
"Of course, Sergeant. Do you still want the transfer?"
Was this a memory or a test? "The transfer to Mississippi?"
"Yes, unless there was another position you were interested in pursuing."
"Sorry, I'm just a little one edge as of late. I apologize for the nature of my request I-" My daughter was sick, my wife was cheating on me because she was 'lonely.' I needed to be home, to reclaim my family.
"Hey," she stood up and took my hand. "I love you, Adam. You're a good guy. You're going to go home and you're going to fix this. I already have a replacement lined up."
"You do?" This part was new. I never stuck around to learn who she put in my position.
"Lawrence will take over."
"Lawrence Heath?" Lawrence Heath was an Air Force liaison officer. He had more training and education then I did so from a technical standpoint he was a good choice. But he was also Alyssa's ex who transferred to Japan after she miscarried their son.
"He wants to marry me," her voice was so angelic, calm.
Time stood still. I can feel a sharp pain in my chest. "Leo? Please tell me this is a dream."
Leo placed his hand upon my shoulder. "What do you remember about Lawrence?"
"H-He never actually hurt her."
"Alyssa miscarried in the middle of the office. You drove her to the hospital. You held her hand while she cried. Where was he?"
"He was at work. He came to her as soon as he could. I loved her like a sister, and I know it broke her when he left. But she loved him." I reached my hand to touch Alyssa's frozen cheek. "I hope they found happiness."
"Impressive," Leo said, starting a slow clap. I turned to see my guardian angel sitting on an office chair, his rainbow hair flowing about his face. "I wonder how someone so noble ended up in a place like this."
"What?" With a jolt, I was back in the swamp. My chest felt like it was being crushed and my head was throbbing. In my hands, I felt an unbearable burning sensation. But I knew perfectly well why that was. Shooting up heroin between your broken fingers tends to fuck shit up. I forced myself to scoot backward until I felt myself leaning against a massive tree. The rough bark cut into the skin of my back and neck, but I was still grateful for the opportunity to rest.
Lighting cracked the sky, forming a distinct series of patterns, 'W-R-A-T-H'- Wrath? I couldn't help but smirk. I mean, I had plenty to be angry about. So, I was actually curious as to where the angel was going to take me next. "I'm ready."
I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming, breath.
I could hear the sound of a plane landing. My skin was no longer in pain, but my heart as beating a mile a minute as I stood in the cool airconditioned TSA waiting room. I knew where this was. When I opened my eyes, I was meeting my daughter. My wife and I had tried for years to conceive but it was never meant to be. At the age of thirty, we started the process to adopt from China. After years of waiting, we stood hand in hand at the immigration office of Jackson, Mississippi. China had been our last hope. For whatever reason, we were unable to even get on a waiting list for a European or North American baby. That was another reason I was nervous. The little girl was already six months old. What if she took one look at me and decided, 'Nope, I'm not going to be able to love these military-redneck white folks?' I was scared. Fate had a reason for never blessing us with a biological child.
As the adoption rep put the baby in my arms, I felt only the light of God's love. "Hello, Cece."
My wife scoffed, "I thought we agreed on a name- Annabelle-Rylie?"
"Felicity June Severgine," that's her name, my daughter's name.
The next few moments flew by in a blur, but a painful number of them were of me abandoning my family. As the years passed, I saw myself in uniform leaving for deployment; moments when I truly believed that I might not come back alive. Other times I was just in sweatpants and a t-shirt as I kissed my family goodbye. Before my eyes, Cece transformed from a toddler to a teen. I suddenly felt a wave of nausea. The last time I saw Cece she was no longer the beautiful girl I remembered.
I closed my eyes and fell to my knees. "Oh, God..." I knew what I was going to see; my angel my reason for living, in a medically induced coma.
"She never told you what really happened," said Leo's disembodied voice.
I stood up to see the angel standing over Cece's bed. "My wife told me it was pneumonia." I'd never made it to my daughter's side to see for myself.
"Marni told you that, knowing it would take you at least a month to get home. The wounds healed by then. And what didn't heal could be explained away. Ironically, after a seizure, she did develop a sepsis infection in her lung that mimicked pneumonia." Leo made his way to Cece's side and held her hand. "But you didn't see what she looked like the day of the phone call." Leo kissed Cece's forehead. "I'm so sorry little one, this will only last a moment."
I had a feeling I was not supposed to hear that last part.
Cece had a breathing tube but as time regressed it vanished, replaced with the monstrous number of wounds. She cried, then screamed. Her face covered in bruises, cuts, and clearly broken bones. Her clothing transformed into a short blue dress; one I had never seen before.
Time stood still as my government issue phone rang. I hit my thigh only to feel no pockets. The phone was in the palm of my hand. "Hello?"
"Hi, Daddy."
I remember this conversation. She said she came home from a dance. Homecoming, Prom?
"I went to a party," Cece's said, her voice cracking with sadness. "It was great."
Silence.
Leo poked my arm. "Hey, it's your line."
With trembling hands, I moved the phone to my mouth to speak. "That's great, baby."
"Should go," she said as her breathing became labored. It was clear she was trying not to cry. "I-I love you, Daddy."
Marni came in the room just as Cece hung up. "Hi, sweetie, do you feel up to talking to the police officers? They need to get your statement and do a rape kit."
"Yes, Mom," Cece glanced at the phone, giving it a squeeze. "I'll be ok. I just wish Dad was here."
I got to see the rest of the scene. According to her statement, she had been raped, beaten and left for dead. That was how she escaped. When her date (and his three friends) thought she was dead, they locked her in the trunk.
She remembered what her father had told her about how to escape a trunk and managed to not only kick out the tail light but also get the trunk open while the piece-of-shit car was going forty down a backroad. Battered and bloody she ran for her life until she found her way to the main street.
Leo placed his hand upon my shoulder. "What would you have done if you knew the truth?
"I would have fucking killed the bastards."
"Really?" Leo waved his hand, to focus back on the scene.
Marni took a seat, holding Cece's hand. "What did you tell your Dad?"
"Nothing. I didn't want him to be disappointed in me," she said, burying her face in her pillow.
"I could ever be disappointed with you," I said out loud. I knew she couldn't hear me, that hurt more than anything. But not more than the feeling of my leg getting blown off.
A sharp pain shot through my leg. Suddenly I was back in terrorist occupied Iraq, riding in a supply convoy. A larger truck ran us off the road, into an IED. At least that's what I was told.
The vehicle I was in exploded, and I was pinned under the rubble. Somehow my leg was extracted from the mess and sent along with the rest of my broken body to Landstuhl, Germany where I spent the next few weeks waking up.
At the time, my home station was in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That was where my wife was living with a then eleven-year-old Cece. I remember I’d asked that I be transferred back to my family; if I was going to die, I wanted to die at home. My superiors, the US military; they owed me that much.
My next memory was of Cece staying by my side. I'd suffered burns over twenty-five percent of my body, there were bone shards in my hips and my leg had been put back together with pins and rods. It was a unique sensation, to be a living mass of pain. The local medical team determined that I would never walk again. So, the goal was to make me comfortable.
I was allowed at-home hospice care. This meant that I was placed under the attention of a nurse for administering therapy, and medications, but during the majority of the week my wife was tasked with wound care. At least she was supposed to be. My wife never touched me. To do so would have meant to show some level of compassion.
I remember Cece asked the nurse to teach her how to change the dressing on my leg. I have to assume the nurse thought she was curious and adorably sweet. Because otherwise, it was not the safest practice.
I closed my eyes. When I awoke, I was back in that wonderful moment. "Cece?"
"Hi, Daddy," my little daughter said in a calm whisper as she donned oversized medical gloves.
“Hi, Sweetheart,” I replied in a horse whisper.
“If I hurt you, I’m really sorry.” She changed out the gauze, using a bottle of peroxide to wash the open wounds.
I flinched but tried my best to stay quiet.
"Mom said that I needed to say goodbye," Cece explained as she worked with a gentle touch. "She told me the only reason you came home is because you're too sick to go back. I don't believe her." She finished in silence before getting a clean blanket from the closet. "You're going to walk again." She cuddled by my side, resting her head on my shoulder. "Superheroes don't die."
My heart filled with a sense of faith that I didn't know was possible.
She spent her summer by my side; changing my bandages, helping with physical therapy. I was also working with a therapy nurse who was impressed by my level of strength.
For Cece's twelfth birthday she had a party at the on-base movie theatre. I paid the bills but Marni took on the responsibility of making the day special for our daughter. Cece invited her entire class, she looked so genuinely happy.
I arrived in my wheelchair. As the movie played, it was 'Step Up', some kind of dance movie from the golden age of hip-hop music. The movie was played on the projector as background noise, as the kids ate pizza and talked.
I waited in the back until she noticed me.
"Dad!" She broke off a conversation with several friends to run over to me. "Oh my god! Did you just get here? How was your therapy appointment?"
From my wheelchair, I reached to the cane at my side and I stood up.
Cece cupped her hands over her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.
I took my first (pain-stricken) steps since the accident that should have taken my life. I stood tall, strong, as Cece threw her arms around me.
"I love you, Daddy. You're my hero." she paused to wipe tears from her eyes. "But does this mean you're leaving again?"
I was. I could have taken medical retirement, stayed with my family. But I needed the money. I needed to pay off a mortgage, send my daughter to a good college: I wanted to make my family proud.
So, I took a position in Alaska as a squadron lead. That’s when the addictions started. painkillers lead to heroin. loneliness lead to gambling and prostitution. all because I left behind the one person who truly cared.
The world went dark. I was sitting alone in an empty theatre as Leo appeared on the screen. "Hi, Adam. Wow, this is certainly an interesting view."
"Yeah," I replied in a weak voice.
"Well, I have to ask, what would you have done if you knew the truth about your daughter's assault?"
All I could do was laugh. The situation was clear now: I was dead and this was Hell. "You really want to know?"
Leo shook his head. "Look, I'm not a sadist, I just have a job to do. I was human once, just like you. And no, you're not in hell."
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
The man laughed as he turned towards the theatre and with one swift motion, seemed to jump from the screen. He walked towards me, with the fabric of the curtain attached to his back like wings. "So, what would you have done? Her attackers were never prosecuted. If you had a moment with those boys in a soundproof room with just your revolver, what would you do?"
I thought for a moment. I had no one to blame but myself. "I would eat my gun." Was Cece dead? I needed to know. If she was gone, I truly wanted to die.
Leo approached me, placing a hand upon my shoulder. "Much better, on to the next test."
I gripped his arm. "Why should I trust you?"
Leo rolled his eyes. "Maybe because I'm the one with the magic powers."
"You're my driver," I said in a tone that came off ruder than intended. "But what would happen if I said I'd rather walk to my final destination."
Leo chuckled and shrugged. "Hell, if I know. Maybe someone will find your body. Maybe you'll reunite with Cece in heaven. Or maybe she'll survive and grow up believing that her hero abandoned her. What do you want from me?"
"You said you were human once- I want to know something about you."
Leo cupped his hand to my face, tracing a finger along my jawline. He appeared to be studying my features, which gave me an opportunity to study his. "What do you see when you look at me?"
"You have green eyes," I said in a whisper. His eyes were hypnotic, his breath; warm, comforting, human.
"I know what it feels like to love someone until it hurts." Leo leaned in and kissed my lips, breathing a long constant stream of air that seemed to crackle with electricity.
Chapter 2: Lust, Greed
'All you need is love? Love? Love is all you need?' The voices hummed in my ear. They weren't singing, they were asking. I know where I am and I don't want to open my eyes.
"How does that feel?" asked a voice that was not Leo. It was Dr. Ethan Rogers, my physical therapist. He was a younger man; late twenties, early thirties, with blond hair and blue eyes- the most all-American soldier you could ever hope to meet. And he was massaging my naked thigh with a vibrator.
I know I'm hard, and I know what he's about to do next.
"I'm going to put this inside you," he said in a most professional tone of voice.
I could have attacked him, punched him in the face, or at the very least or at least said no. But it felt so good. I knew my scar tissue was prominent. It was a disgusting crater that ran along the entirety of my leg. I stayed in shape; my body was lean, muscular but that seemed all for show. I needed to look the part of a soldier, maybe if I was lucky, I would be able to pass my physical. My legs were for running, training. My cock was for pissing. My ass was for shitting. It had been months since I allowed myself to feel sexual pleasure.
"Just relax, let yourself go."
Damn it feels incredible. My eyes open on their own, staring straight into the blinding room light. The bulb is blinking forcing me to blink. Letters form in the shape of the light. 'L-U-S-T.' Yeah, I guess so. But it wasn't a lust for sex.
I feel him inject my leg; my broken, mangled leg. My leg that existed for the sole purpose of causing me unbearable pain, akin to the fires of hell. In a matter of moments, all of that was but a memory. He told me he was giving me morphine but I knew it had to be something stronger. That shit fucked with my head. Like a cool wave of tranquility; life death and every emotion in-between.
"I can get you a prescription for morphine, maybe even fentanyl.” His voice is calm, cool, like an ice tea on a hot day. “All you have to do is submit to me."
All I could do was laugh. "Sure, sounds great." My speech was slurred. This man was the devil and I willingly jumped headfirst down the rabbit hole into Hell.
I was physically fit. Dr. Ethan Rogers knew he could rent me out to anyone who had a fetish for dominating. Over the next year and a half, I lived as a sex-slave. I was bound, gagged. I sucked cock and even let men fuck me in my on-base housing. I was a human party favor, but I was always well compensated.
I took their pills, so many pills, all the colors of the rainbow. Most of the time, I never knew what any of it was, only that it was my prize. And when given vials of heroin, meth and God knows what else, I shot up in my arms, legs, but mainly my hands just because no one at my actual job seemed to notice my hands.
It was a perfect system. By day I was a soldier; a flawless, reliable worker who could be counted on for any job. I was a great husband and father who was working tirelessly to make sure his family would be taken care of. I worked myself to the bone, playing through the pain. But at night I was free.
Until the day my heart stopped.
I awoke in Alysa Blake's room, on her sofa. "Wow, you fucked up." The general looked like her actual youthful age. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun.
"Aly?" I tried to speak but immediately had to vomit.
General Blake had a bucket waiting by the side of my head. "You're going to stay here for a while." She placed a cold washcloth to my neck focusing on my artery. "This is going to help with the pain in your chest."
I shook my head. "But, what about my leg?"
"You're not the only one living with chronic pain." Alyssa took my hand a placed it on her hip, just below her abs. There was a massive scar. I knew the story; she had been shot in the hip; the bone and surrounding tissue had to be rebuilt. This was likely the reason for her later miscarriage. "I'm not giving you anything for your leg. You're probably going to have another seizure from all the drugs you already took."
I tried to move, to sit up- anything. But the pain seemed to course through my body. I wanted to cry or scream, but no sound was coming from my parched throat.
I gripped my head as a massive migraine pounded my vision. In the midst of my agony, I didn't even notice Alyssa leave and return with a blanket until the moment she cuddled by my side. "I'm going to stay with you."
I nodded, with a noticeable lump in my throat.
"Talk to me about Cece." Alyssa put her arms around me as she rested her head on my chest. “What is she like?”
I knew what this was. This moment, it was the opposite of lust. Nothing was worth more than my family, my daughter "She's a dancer."
"A dancer?"
"I think my wife has her in gymnastics and cheerleading but she..." I swallowed hard thinking about the last time we talked. Cece asked if she could send me a link to a video of her ballet recital. She loved ballet, she wanted to be a choreographer. She sent the link but my Alaska internet was too weak to see it without an extensive amount of buffering. And the camera had been placed so far back I could barely make out her face. I told her as much, but that I would love to see her dance someday.
"Have you seen any of her performances?"
I nodded. "C-Can I have some water?"
"Sure." Alyssa turned away, attempting to sit up.
Try as a might, my arms wouldn't let her go. "I feel sick. But, more than anything, don't want to cry in front of my commanding officer."
Alyssa glared at me with a look of seriousness. "I found you in your room bleeding from your ass. I performed CPR until you were lucid enough to walk with your arm around my shoulder." She only lived a few houses down and often visited.
I couldn't remember making the walk to her house but it wouldn't be the first time. I had the habit of dialing her number when I was too high to think straight. "My apologies Ma'am."
She reached for my hand, stroking between my fingers. "If I was here as your commanding officer you would be in a hospital awaiting a medical discharge." Her fingers paused on an open sore where I injected regularly. "I'm here as your friend, because what you need right now is a friend."
I knew she wasn't wrong. "Thank you."
"So, tell me about the time you saw your little girl dance."
My hands were trembling as my eyes filled with tears. "She sent me a USB."
"She sent you a file on a flash drive? Wow, that's really sweet."
"Cece had somehow used her phone to record a solo piece in her backyard. I didn't recognize the song, something Gaelic sounding about finding your wings to touch the sky." With the warm memory in my heart, my body relaxed.
"That sounds like the theme from the movie Brave," Alyssa said as she sat up. "Wow, that brings back memories. Anyway, I'm going to get you some water now."
Brave? Of course, it was.
Alyssa returned with a bottled water and a straw. "Take small sips." Once it appeared like I was not going to vomit again she took her place back on my chest, holding me close. "You need to go home."
"I know." I stroked her hair as I looked up at her stucco ceiling.
"You need to research a position at a base closer to your family,” she said as she kissed my cheek. “And I will sign off on it."
"Thank you." Now I just wish she talked me out of driving down to the states. Maybe I wouldn't have fucked up as badly as I did.
A lonely drive, six hours on the road, maybe eight. Behind the wheel of a rented SUV carrying all my worldly possessions, I thought I could keep focus, I thought I-
And here comes the crash.
I opened my eyes, but all I see is darkness. "Leo, are you there?"
I could feel someone grab my hand, pulling me from the vehicle. It wasn't Leo, but rather a younger male, possibly a teen.
"Wow, Leo was right, you are fucked up." The kid pulled me out of the vehicle, seemingly indifferent to my level of pain. "You should grab your wallet and suitcase. We have a bit of a walk into town.”
I did as he asked. I could recall what happened at this moment in time. While it did not include a Native American surfer-boy, I knew where we were headed.
"How long did you manage to stay clean for?" the smug teen asked.
I turned to him with a look of contempt. He stood maybe 5'9", and although he had an attractive face and youthful demeanor, I would have no problem punching his lights out.
"Really, old man?" The boy laughed.
"Master Sergeant Adam Severgine," I said with a groan.
"I know," he said, happily, skipping down the road. "I'm Jamie. Welcome to Oklahoma."
"How old are you? And where's Leo?"
"Leo will meet us in town. And as for me-" Jamie did a backflip landing in front of my face, close enough to kiss my lips. "I'm legal."
"Are you a guardian angel too?"
"Are you asking if I have powers?"
"I am," I replied through gritted teeth. I could remember how long the original walk took me. By the time I got to town, my leg was killing me.
"That's not why you got high off your ass."
"Oh, fuck you!"
"You got clean just long enough to pass a physical, for the job transfer. And then you started using again like the fucked-up junkie that you are!" Jamie continued doing flips and cartwheels down the empty road.
I focused on my own path looking down at my boots as I walked. My leg was mostly healed, to the point where I could walk unassisted, I could even drive. But I still felt an ache, a chronic pain that would never go away no matter what drugs I took.
Jamie appeared in front of me, lifting my face to look into his eyes. "I'm bored and I miss my boyfriend so I'm going to do you a favor." He punched me in the face with all the force of a fighter jet.
I awoke on the floor of a casino. And I do mean floor: My eyes opened to reveal the sight of paramedics working frantically. They had apparently just finished restarting my heart.
When I looked straight ahead, sitting at a slot machine was Jamie. The little punk was doubled over in laughter.
Leo stepped out of the shadows. He raised a finger giving the 'give me a second' sign. He embraced Jamie, speaking to him in a quiet tone. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but at least Leo was calming him down. When Jamie finally stopped laughing, the couple walked to the elevators.
A tall older man, in a suit, came over to check on the scene. He was the hotel manager and a former Marine. We talked for a while, with me telling him my situation. He kindly offered to give me a room for the night, free of charge. It was the least he could do for a fellow soldier.
Yes, it was only for one night. I could contact the rental agency and they could send a new car to my location. But until then he offered to buy me dinner and give me a tour of the hotel and casino.
Everything was going great. After hanging out with my new friend I took a seat at one of the many the table poker tables.
I was by no means an expert but I preferred tables, to computer-generated games of chance. That was when I met Lola. She looked like a typical cocktail waitress, just a few years away from retirement. She was possibly old enough to be my mother (either that or she had just spent too much time in the sun,) but she was undeniably beautiful. She made sure to flirt, playing with her long blonde hair as she brought me free drinks.
"Drink up," she said, before taking a shot. She cupped my face, forcing the shot of whiskey down my throat. "It's on me, love." Next thing I knew she was on my lap. I was winning hand after hand; she was truly my good luck charm. When I was too drunk to walk, she offered to escort me to my room.
I remember collapsing on to the bed. I could feel her hands, her long nails, then her mouth. When I was ready, she started to ride me. Talking dirty in a way that my wife never did, I gave her full control. she got on her knees and wanted me to fuck her from behind. I did, and what was when a man barged in with a master key. It was the manager.
My memory is blacking in and out but I remember him getting on the bed. He and Lola are laughing. They offer me cocaine.
The next morning, I awoke to the sight of Lola in my bed. Her naked chest was moving, so I had no immediate reason to panic.
Jamie stood in the corner wide-eyed. "Wow, I was raped to death by a demonic cult and even I found that disturbing."
Leo walked through the wall to stand at Jamie's side. "And this isn't even the worst of it."
I tried to sit up but my body hurt. "Why, the fuck, are you even here?" Just my luck, I had a pair of fuck-boy morons for guardian angels.
Leo sighed. He approached the bed, stroking Lola's hand. "You can't change the past." He made a turn to the closet, grabbing my phone from my pocket. "But you can choose your future."
I was lucid enough to move my arm and unlock my screen. I had wi-fi. I clicked on my email. it was open to a message from Cece, starting with a link that I had never seen before. "Greed.mov?"
Leo shrugged. "You should probably take a look."
I clicked. There was Cece in her blue dress, sitting on her bed. "Hi, Dad. I'm a little nervous. I really like Jason, and well, I wish you could have met him. He's so much like you. He wants to join the Marines, travel the world. I mean, I guess I'd write to him. A lot of my friends are planning on getting married, so their boyfriends don't cheat. It's really stupid. Jason says he loves me, he wants to marry me. I'm pretty sure he just wants to fuck me." Cece looked down at her silver ring. It had belonged to my grandmother who passed away before Cece was born. I had given it to my daughter on her sixteenth birthday. It was only then, on that video, did I notice where she wore it. She wore it like a wedding ring: a purity ring.
Cece looked to the side, at her computer, to press a few keys. "I hope this will help my anxiety." The music starts to play, it was a slow, Celtic, song. I watched as she moved her arms, in a graceful ballet pose. She appeared to be free-styling a dance piece, in her room, dancing on her bare feet. It was truly breathtaking. But why was the file titled 'greed.mov'?
"I can't wake up without you, Dad." The voice was not coming from the phone.
I nearly screamed at the sight of Cece's broken, bloody form.
Jamie put his arm around Cece, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry, she's still in a coma."
The creepy, undead version of my daughter leaned her head on Jamie's shoulder. She turned just enough to look at me with her dark, innocent, eyes. "When you rocked me to sleep, you would tell me stories. I think you assumed I couldn't hear you or what I wasn't paying attention."
"You couldn't even talk." For the first two years, I was so nervous about being a father, that I would unload all of my horrific stories on to Cece like a verbal diary. she didn't speak a word until she started preschool at age three and even then, I never heard anything from her teachers about my stories.
"Knowing so much about your past is why I always had such respect for you." Cece took a step forward, reaching out her hand. "I know what you saw, what you experienced. It made you the person you are." When she came closer, her hand hit a glowing wall of energy. She nodded her head knowingly. We weren't in the same space. "Jamie said you're going to make your way back to me."
I knew our time was short so I had only one question to ask. "Why greed?"
"You told me I was your treasure; I was everything you ever wanted."
"I'm so sorry."
"That wasn't meant as an attack. Not at you, not ever." Cece moved closer. She was able to sit on the bed, her hand caressing the fabric. Her moves were careful and deliberate.
I would have given anything to be able to touch her hand. I knew in my heart this wasn't an illusion, this was my daughter.
Cece pursed her lips and continued, "There's an old saying, 'Shoot for the moon, even if you fail, you'll be among the stars.' Well, what happens when you reach the moon but it's not the finish line that you thought it would be. You always want more, I did anyway. that's why I let Jason go as far as he did. I thought I could have it all; I'd go to college and have a hot, long-distance boyfriend. maybe we'd meet up in Europe where I would audition for a ballet company. At least that's what I thought." Cece wiped tears from her eyes. "He was dating me as a practical joke. I was the nerdy-science geek who was also a dancer. The rumor was that I clearly wanted to be fucked, but my stern military daddy was keeping me inline." She paused for a moment, looking into my eyes. "I guess he was half right. I knew Jason's plan was to make me choose between you and him. And what's really messed up is, I would have chosen him. I was greedy." Cece took a few steps back, her form already starting to fade. "I miss you so much, Dad. Please come find me."
Leo cracked his knuckles. "Well, this was fun but we have miles to go before we sleep. So-" He turned to Jamie.
“Yeah, I know.” Jamie nodded, with a sigh, as Cece vanished.
Next, Leo turned to me, with hesitation. "This next part is going to hurt."
"More than seeing my dying daughter?"
Leo clicked his tongue as he moved to Jamie's side. "Adam, how much do you remember about your trip from Oklahoma to Louisiana?"
"Do I remember who shot me and left me for dead int he Louisiana swamplands?" I clearly did not.
"Do you want to know?" Leo asked, twirling a lock of his rainbow hair. "I mean I'm supposed to show you, orders from the big boss," he said, motioning towards heaven. "But I think it would be a little cruel."
Jamie's eyes lit up. "Can we just give him a summery? He'll feel just as shitty but we won't have to watch it!"
Leo pursed his lips, clearly trying to hide laughter. "Jamie..." Leo took a breath to calm down. "None the less you are correct. But to stay in line with the," he made the pointing gesture again, "I'll give him just enough to dwell on during our hike back to civilization."
Jamie leaned against a wall as Leo stepped towards me. He crawled into bed, positioning himself on top of me like a snake. His long hair trickled against my face. "You good, Adam?"
"As good as I can be."
"I'll make this quick." Leo closed his eyes.
I did the same. The images flashed before my eyes like the world’s worst vacation slideshow. Oh, God.
More sex, drugs, a few suicide attempts. Luckily it would only last three weeks. I apparently went on the mother of all drug binges. I didn't want to go home, and I knew why. My daughter was sick, but my wife… my beautiful, kind, wife, Marni-Lynn was a fucking whore who’d torn my heart out a long time ago.

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Everything in this level, Clint quickly realized, was ruled by money and desire. He couldn’t even quench his thirst at a public drinking fountain without the fountain’s cheery A.I. asking him to insert two coins. Clint jammed his hands in his empty pockets and kept walking, mouth tacky with fear. True, he did not need water to stay alive, but something in his belly sure as hell would make it easier to focus right about now. His thoughts wadded up and stuck together like half-chewed gum.
Malina was gone. That fact chased itself in maddening circles around his mind. When he let himself think about it too hard the panic nearly made him too dizzy to walk straight. But Malina needed him to be calm, so he took deep breaths and thought through his options.
There was the brochure, of course. He could go wash dishes all night long and hope he got anywhere close to it. The guard had said Malina would be trapped for five hundred hours: nearly twenty-one days, if time was even reinstated as a concept in this level. They couldn’t idle around the second circle that long, hoping that no one else would figure out the riddle.
And where was Virgil?
Too many worries, too many questions. Clint walked and walked until he found a directory of the city center, and then he stood gaping in front of it. Every block had dozens of tic marks corresponding to some shop or strange attraction: there were countless retail stores of companies he’d never heard of, arcades, cinemas, bookstores, coffee shops, speed dating centers, gyms, everything he could imagine was sprawled out on the map before him.
At the corner of the map, a message in tiny font reminded him: WHEN YOU UPGRADE TO THE CLOUD PHONE XII, YOU CAN TELEPORT TO AND FROM LOCATIONS FOR FREE! ON SALE FOR ONLY 4000 COINS Even smaller fonts below that listed the caveats and costs for older model phones.
Clint pawed around in the cracked plastic shell that had once held paper maps, but it looked like it had been empty for years. He kicked at the pavement and felt oddly like Malina for a moment. But then his frustration cleared, and he began trying process this meaningfully.
This, too, was just another game. And once he figured out how the system of it worked, he could scrounge up some money, get Malina free, get them the hell out of there.
Clint decided his best option was to just walk in and out of shops until he found someplace that would let him work for something, anything. But the first store he walked into, the shopkeeper looked at him with horror written all over his face. “Oh, no, honey,” he told Clint. “I’m sorry, but you’ll scare people away.”
He tried not to feel weirdly hurt at that. Clint wandered back out onto the street. He tore off his bulletproof vest and left it on the road. He wore only his jeans and the black sweater, dark enough that no one could see the dry blood saturating it. But when he caught his reflection in the store window, he saw why the shopkeeper had reacted that way. Why Malina had been trying to wash herself up in a public fountain of all places. He was gore-spattered, his face streaked with dirt and thick rivers of sweat.
A familiar voice piped up from beside him, “Jeez, you do look like shit.”
That made Clint whirl around. He saw Virgil smirk up at him. The boy had different clothes, somehow. His jacket was bright purple leather, his jeans black and tight to his legs. His boots were spiked on the toes, and it seemed as if he had tried to style his hair in a pompadour.
“What do you think?” the spirit asked, turning so Clint could survey him. “Do I fit in?”
“Yeah. You look great.” Clint grimaced at his reflection again. “How did you even get all that stuff?”
“I went shopping! I love visiting this level. They always have the coolest stuff.”
Clint tried to keep the greed out of his eyes. “You have money?”
“Nah. I made some. Like this.” Virgil grabbed a green-colored shake out of midair and began sucking on the straw.
“Can you just… do whatever you want?”
“Sort of, and also not really.” Virgil wavered a hand. “I have certain administrative privileges. We’ll put it that way. Where’s your buddy?”
Clint shook his head in disbelief. “She got arrested because she climbed in a water fountain.”
Virgil giggled and chewed on his straw. “I know. I just wanted to hear you say it out loud.”
“It would be helpful if you warned us of this kind of stuff, you know.”
“It’s better if I don’t. More exciting for both of us.” The boy’s grin was just as fierce, but he didn’t seem particularly keen to disobey the laws of physics in front of so many witnesses. He kept leaping up off the ground an inch or two and then thinking better of himself and floating back down, restlessly.
“Does that mean you could make some coins appear for me too? Please?”
“Hah. No.” The boy tossed his half-finished drink into a nearby trashcan. “I told you. I can’t help you cheat.”
“But if I asked for a hint…”
“I could be obliged to find you an answer.”
Clint looked around at all the passersby, who skirted by like he was a bump on the wall. Not even really a person. Every once in a while, one of them would tap something on their phone and evaporate into the very air. He supposed that was the teleporation the strange ad had bragged about.
He said, “If I can’t get any money, how am I supposed to clean myself up enough to get a job to get money?”
“The cycle of poverty,” Virgil agreed, solemnly. “I guess you’ll have to do what most people who don’t have money do when they still want shit.”
Clint stared at him in confusion until Virgil lifted his eyebrows, meaningfully. Then it clicked for him.
“Oh.” Clint paused, processing that. Half-cursing himself for not thinking of it first. “You mean steal.” He supposed in a made-up world, ethics did not matter. There were no felony convictions in hell, after all.
“I was beginning to worry you were the dumb one after all.” The boy crammed his hands in his jacket pockets and surveyed the street with a lazy smile. “All you need to win this game is the ability to figure shit out. Get yourself unstuck.” He patted Clint’s elbow like Clint was the child here. “I have faith you can do it. Now, I’m going to go play some arcade games until my eyes melt out of my head.”
“I thought you were going to help me,” Clint called after him, frustration sharpening his voice.
Virgil turned around to laugh at Clint as he walked backwards. “I just did!”
“Right,” Clint muttered. He turned and stomped off in the opposite direction. Then paused, remembered what the officer had said. He whirled around, and the boy was gone. Clint jogged to the end of the block: no sign of Virgil anywhere. “What the fuck is a View-Room?” he asked the empty air.
Clint knew this much about this world: there was a store or kiosk for every use Clint could imagine. The city was so huge that he walked in circles for hours without even realizing it. Here, night did come, but it was an abbreviated thing and eternally discolored by the glow of billboards and advertisements. Casinos, shops, theme parks, galleries, resorts that would simulate the experience of being a farmer or sorcerer or king. There seemed to be no limit to the size and scope of the city.
He walked through the night and most of a second day, lost in a sea of niche-game nooks. Then Clint paused to stare at his map. His belly dropped sickeningly.
He’d filled barely a wedge of the map. It seemed that the second level was a dense labyrinth, so deep that if he tried to map the whole thing he would be lost inside of it forever.
Clint sat on the edge of a water fountain. It was not the same fountain that Malina had been arrested in, but it reminded him enough of her. He wondered what Malina was doing. Where that van had sped her off to. His belly ached with worry.
He turned around and cupped water from the fountain to clean off his face. He dried himself off with the bottom of his shirt. It made his skin feel a little less caked, made him feel just a little cleaner. More human.
A man passed by. He wore workout clothes covered in gold-threaded baroque patterns. Clint stood up and waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention. The man barely glanced up from his phone, where he was playing some pattern matching game. Clint asked him, “Could you tell me where to find the View-Room?”
The man did not even look up when he scoffed at Clint. “Man, fuckin’ google that shit,” he said, and he kept on walking.
Clint reached out and snatched the man’s phone out of his hand, just to get him to break eye contact with the fucking thing. Then he stared at it in his hand for a moment. Realized how much money it could be worth. Virgil’s arrogant smirk sprang to his mind.
As the man roared at him, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Clint turned the phone off and took off running.
The other man either didn’t care enough to run after him or he was so slow despite the gaudy sweatpants that Clint quickly shook him. He sprinted down this side street and that, diving behind dumpsters and pallets when he heard the occasional scream of a police siren.
But no one came to find him. When he paused to clutch his knees and wheeze for breath, he looked around to find himself in an older part of town. The stalls here were slumping, their signs faded or unmarked altogether. Shop owners watched him through grimy windows, their eyes dark with mistrust.
Clint stopped in the middle of the road to turn the phone back on. It immediately began blaring at him, “Anti-theft mode initiated. Transmitting GPS…”
“Fucking fuck fuck,” Clint muttered, turning the phone off quickly again.
From over his shoulder, someone said, “I could help you disable that, you know.” Clint turned to see a man standing there with a dense blond beard, his face twisted in a razor-tooth smile. “For a fee.”
“I don’t have any money,” Clint told him.
“Step into my office.” He pulled back the raggedy curtain to his stall. His was not even a building, just a cubby in a wall, shrouded in shadows. “We’ll make a deal.”
Despite the cries of anxiety at the back of his mind, Clint followed the man inside.
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