Episode One: Balcony

*Living Room*

To the east lies the hallway.

To the west lies the balcony.

To the north lies the kitchen.

(To the south, the wide, wild world.) - Upon using keys.

[West]

The world. It's all.... there. Cars drive past below you, people are in various domestic poses... hanging out the washing, retrieving the washing, buckling a child into a seat.

It's warm, and the breeze only serves to move the warmth around.

[Look]

You are on the balcony. A small outdoor setting with two chairs is here, along with a handful of dead potplants.

The floor is littered with water-swollen cigarette butts. At some stage, you guess it was raining.

A pack of cigarettes sits on the table, along with a lighter.

[Look at potplants]

Long dead potplants. Potentially a fire hazard.

Occasionally something new will grow - with no input from you. Some bizarre phoenix or... sea monkey effect.

And then, inevitably, it will die. And the cycle will begin anew.

Now that you have observed it, you feel an obligation to leave the potplants alone. They seem to have a system going. Better that you don't interfere.

[Look at setting]

A table, two chairs. An empty coffee cup. A long-finished candle.

A pack of cigarettes and a lighter sit on the table. You hope they have avoided the morning dew.

[Look at cigarettes]

A pack of cigarettes. Tax rise after tax rise has driven them to inflationary prices, but fortunately their intrinsic value still exceeds their economic value.

One day the moral panic will subside, and migrate toward the too-deserving realm of liquor. Then it will be your turn to laugh.

[Look at lighter]

A plain, black, plastic lighter. You peeled the warning label off long ago. Come to think of it... there are very few labels that can survive more than three minutes with you.

[Use cigarettes]

Probably not now. It's too early. Better to save it until you need it.

[Take cigarettes]

You take the cigarettes. Nobody can hurt you now - not any more than you can hurt yourself.

[Take lighter]

You take the lighter. Who knows - if everything goes fubar, you can always burn it to the ground.


[East]