Counterfeit Monkey — 178 of 292

Emily Short

Release 6

Section 8 - Your Bunk

Your Bunk is aft-starboard from the Galley. It is nautical . It is indoors. The description is "Amazing: it's even tinier than my apartment, and the bed isn't even a twin in width. Across from the bed is a built-in [bench], with [random portholes] above, just at the waterline."

The bench is an enterable supporter in Your Bunk. It is scenery. The description is "It's hard and less comfortable than a sofa, but it is adequate for seating on the rare occasions when a second person comes into your room. Mostly you read on the bed."

Some financial records are a thing. The clipping is a thing. The description of the financial records is "Brock and Slango managed for you at first, depositing your part of job commissions into a Swiss bank account. It is only recently that you've started to branch out in managing that money. After your wire transfer to your brother, you have only a few tens of thousands of dollars left, but that will change when you get your share for rescuing the plans of the T-inserter."

The description of the clipping is "This is a clipping from your hometown paper, from when you took second place in a national spelling bee at the age of twelve. Years of training and study, practice every night of the week, and [i]your parents were satisfied when you placed second[/i]. They were proud. Your mother gave an interview on TV.

All that stuff about the struggle to achieve perfection as man's gift back to God, or whatever? They made that up. They were happy to cash in on your not-quite-perfect performance in the end, happy to be local celebrities for two weeks, happy to tell everyone how they trained you up and what good parents they were. You were humiliated by your loss at the last moment, and they didn't care. Enter Slango in your life, and cue your departure; and you haven't seriously looked back since.

...Well. If I may be permitted a word (and I don't see how you could stop me, sorry): I don't think they were hypocrites. I think they meant well. But I can understand how all that would have done a heck of a job on your head."

Your wardrobe is an openable closed container in Your Bunk. It is fixed in place. "[if your wardrobe is open]Your wardrobe door is open[otherwise]Your wardrobe door is firmly closed, which is helpful because otherwise it is tricky walking around in here[end if]." Understand "door" as the wardrobe.

Your wardrobe contains a sundress, a black turtleneck, some trousers, and a swimsuit.

The sundress, black turtleneck, trousers, and swimsuit are wearable.

The description of the sundress is "Bought during a vacation in Nauplia. It was tempting to look like the other tourists. And why not?" The sundress covers the torso-area.

The description of the black turtleneck is "It averts attention and is useful on jobs." The turtleneck covers the torso-area.

The description of the trousers is "Close-fitting and dark col[our]ed, useful to wear when going places sneakily by night." The trousers cover the legs-area.

The description of the swimsuit is "Often the only form of exercise available is swimming off the back of the True Macaque, and Slango insists that you and Brock do this daily if on-shore forms of exertion are not available. It's a one-piece suit, meant for function rather than show." The swimsuit covers the torso-area.

Sanity-check wearing the sundress:

say "I would kind of feel like it was cross-dressing, if that makes sense." instead.

Sanity-check wearing the swimsuit:

say "I'm not quite ready to appear in spandex in my [--] that is, our [--] new bod." instead.

[Instead of wearing the trousers:

say "There's no need to change just now."

Instead of wearing the black turtleneck:

say "There's no need to change just now."]

When play begins:

let d be a random rightmost drawer that is part of a bed in Your Bunk;

move the financial records to d;

let d be a random leftmost drawer that is part of a bed in Your Bunk;

move the clipping to d;

Every turn when the player can see portholes:

if a random chance of 1 in 13 succeeds:

say "[one of]Odd patterns of light dance on the ceiling, reflected through the portholes from the water outside.[or]The yacht rolls gently under the influence of an especially strong wave.[or]The waves lap gently against the side of the ship.[or]Just outside the porthole, a seabird is visible resting on the waves; and then it floats on.[or]The wake of what must be quite a large ship raises the [i]True Macaque[/i] and then lowers her again.[as decreasingly likely outcomes]".

Your bed is a yacht bed in your bunk. It is scenery. The description is "Homely but familiar."

Some back portholes are portholes. They are in your bunk.

Instead of going fore in Your Bunk:

try going fore-port.