Counterfeit Monkey — 109 of 292

Section 2 - Webster Court

Webster Court is north of Hesychius Street and west of Crumbling Wall Face. "[if former direction is north]Hesychius Street opens here into a broad and plainly-paved court[otherwise if former direction is west]Here below the wall is a broad, plainly-paved court[otherwise]A broad and plainly-paved court[end if][unless statue of Noah Webster is as-yet-unknown], named for [the statue of Noah Webster][end if]."

Instead of facing west in Webster Court:

say "The old city wall cuts off any view towards the harbor and the far horizon. The taller houses permit a view over, however."

Instead of facing northwest in Webster Court:

say "Roget Close is west, but there's no passage or street running northwest."

[Instead of facing northeast in Webster Court:

say "[You] could go that way around behind my parents' house and enjoy their garden. They " ]

Rule for distantly describing Webster Court:

say "In that direction is Webster Court, as made unmistakable by the gleaming bronze pate of old Noah himself."

A description-concealing rule:

if the statue of Noah Webster is not as-yet-unknown:

now the statue of Noah Webster is not marked for listing. [after its first introduction it becomes scenery, since it's not really interactive and we want to emphasize other things]

The statue of Noah Webster is a fixed in place thing in Webster Court. "Lending its name to the location is a bronze statue of Noah Webster."

Understand "bronze" as the statue.

The description is "It's that hero of spelling reform, and personally responsible for the island going over to American[ize]d spellings over the British standard."

The introduction is "My mother likes to irritate my father by quoting what his contemporaries called Webster: a 'viper', a 'maniacal pedant', and (always a fav[our]ite at Reform Day parties) 'a toad in the service of [i]sans-culottism[/i]'. She makes sure to pronounce that in the most Parisian accent possible."

Rule for listing exits while looking in Webster Court:

say "The streets continue south, east, and west; and just to the northeast is my parents['] side garden."

Check waving the letter-remover at the statue of Noah Webster when the current setting of the letter-remover is "u":

say "The device chokes on the concept, though my mother might say that this whole island is already the State of Noah Webster." instead.

A description-concealing rule when the location is not Webster Court:

now the statue of Noah Webster is not marked for listing.

Instead of examining the statue of Noah Webster when the player is not in Webster Court:

say "From this distance the statue is little more than a glare of sunlight."

After deciding the scope of the player when Webster Court is adjacent to the location:

place the statue of Noah Webster in scope.

My parents' home is a facade in Webster Court. The printed name is "my parents['] home". Understand "house" or "building" or "pink" or "large building" as my parents' home. "The [one of]large building just to the north [--] yes, the one in pale pink [--][or]large, pale pink building north of us[stopping] is [my parents' home]." The introduction is "I think I mentioned that my parents were well off. My father works for the Bureau, embarrassingly, and my mother was born into the kind of money that we like to pretend doesn't exist on this island."

The description is "It's stucco and tile, inspired by southern California ideas of gracious living. There are potted palm trees inside, and leather sofas, and French oil paintings for which expensive importation lic[ense]s had to be bought.

My childhood bedroom faces northwest, away from the docks, towards the roofs of other villas and the open sea."

The pink door is north of Webster Court and south of Foyer. The pink door is a door. The pink door is scenery. It is lockable and locked.

Parental appearance is a scene. Parental appearance begins when the location is webster court and Patriotic chard-garden is visited and Private Beach is visited.

When parental appearance begins:

move fake-father to the location;

say "The door to my parents['] house opens and my father comes out. He's talking over his shoulder: 'Sorry, dear, but [i]someone[/i] has to be on call.'

My mother answers from inside, but we can't make out what she's saying.

'Surge on the grid,' Father replies. 'Could be an unauthor[ize]d synthes[ize]r, but more likely... yes, exactly. I'll try to be home before the fireworks.'

He closes the door behind him.";

if the player wears the monocle:

try taking off the monocle;

if the player encloses the backpack:

if the backpack is closed:

try opening the backpack;

if the backpack is open:

try inserting the monocle into the backpack;

Report taking off the monocle in the presence of fake-father:

say "Hastily I take off our monocle and palm it. Father shouldn't recogn[ize] us in our current body, but wearing expensive Bureau equipment in his presence would be a terrible idea." instead.

fake-father is a man. fake-father is privately-named. The printed name of fake-father is "Father". Understand "father" as fake-father. The description of fake-father is "He looks put out. Serial Comma Day is supposed to be a day off, even for him." The initial appearance is "My father is just outside [my home]. He's clipping the cuffs of his trousers so that he won't snag them on anything during his ride in to work. His scooter is propped against the [statue of Noah Webster], ready for action."

After writing a paragraph about fake-father:

now the prior named noun is fake-father.

Sanity-check doing something other than examining something during parental appearance:

if the current action is the action of taking off the monocle:

make no decision;

if the current action is the action of opening the backpack:

make no decision;

if the current action is the action of inserting the monocle into the backpack:

make no decision;

say "We don't dare drawing father's attention. I'm going to have us stand over here as though checking on the health of the neighb[our][']s lawn, shall I?" instead.

Parental appearance ends when turn-taken is true.

Turn-taken is a truth state that varies. Before reading a command during parental appearance: now turn-taken is true.

Rule for listing exits while looking during parental appearance:

do nothing.

Instead of waiting during parental appearance:

say "We hold our breath."

Sanity-check going somewhere during parental appearance:

say "Hang on; I want to see where [fake-father] goes." instead.

When parental appearance ends:

remove fake-father from play;

now turn-taken is false;

say "[if the prior named noun is fake-father]He[otherwise]My father[end if] sees us from a distance and gives a neighb[our]ly wave. 'Happy Punctuating!' he shouts.

I wave back rather weakly.

He gets on his [if not looking]small red [end if]scooter, checks his helmet, and revs off to the south. Off, apparently, to investigate the synthes[ize]r that put us together. That will go slowly because of the holiday, but I'm guessing there will be Bureau investigators crawling all over the south side of old town in an hour or two."

Instead of doing something to the pink door:

say "Walking into my parents['] house is the action perhaps most likely to get us caught."

Rule for printing the name of the pink door:

if the player can see the pink door, say "door here";

otherwise say "door of my parents['] villa".

[Because we need to stop you so that you can see the scene with Dad if you were otherwise just going to be passing through:]

After going to Webster Court when Private Beach is visited and Patriotic Chard-Garden is visited and parental appearance has not happened :

let N be the number of entries in the described motion of the player;

if N is greater than 1:

say "[path-walked so far][paragraph break]";

clear path-walked for the player;

increase path description count by 1;

otherwise:

try looking;

now approach-destination is Winding Footpath. [Tricks the approaching verb into stopping here even if you're trying to reach someplace really far away.]

[pause the game. ]