
> the recording begins aimed at a slightly dingy looking couch. there are a fewv empty cans of beer on the coffee table in front of it and a pin-up poster of her imperious condescension sitting on a cake behind it. after a fewv moments theres a blue flash and the poster is replaced vwith one of a seal hanging off the side of an iceberg vwith its flippers: hang in there! silence. nothing. > a minute later theres the sound of a car pulling up. then the sound of a door opening. cronus is patting his pockets as he steps into frame. "vwhere is it, vwhere is it..?" he pauses as he suddenly realizes the change in poster. "vwh- my mint condition first edition condy cake number 7 fivwe by eight glossy! vwhat happened-" he turns to face a vwall off-screen and gasps dramatically. "muckrake all secrets revwealed: no kitten around, not you too-" and again. "hilda flour panties? no, no no no..." > he stumbles out of vwiewv, face pale. a ripping sound can be heard before he ambles back into frame. its hard to make out exactly, but hes holding a t.h.i.n.k. poster. "vwhat did they do vwith you..." he drops the poster and it flutters dowvn to the ground. cronus starts jogging around his livwing room, ripping poster after poster off his vwalls, and piling them on the couch. thirty years from nowv it vwont matter vwhat shoes you vwore. hang in there! smile! livwe laugh lovwe. enjoy the little things. hang in there! hang in there! hang in there! > by time hes givwen up, cronus is panting, hunched ovwer, hands on his knees. "shit, no time for this, shes vwaiting on me..!" he runs out of vwiewv; the sound of him stomping up the stairs echoes dowvn. silence. silence. silence. a scream. the sound of someone half-falling dowvn the stairs. cronus careens into vwiewv, holding a can of axe body spray, and absolutely covwered in silly string of all colors. he holds the can up, vwinces, tries once more to spray himself- and earns another splattering of multi-colored mess for his trouble. he yelps and throwvs the can avway to thunk against the vwall. > cronus takes a deep breath as he plops dowvn on the couch, crushing all the posters underneath his ass. "damn it, this dont evwen smell like axe..." he leans tovwards the end table beside the couch to grab for a loose box of cigs. cronus takes one out and slips it betvween his lips. he makes no motion to try to light it. instead he just leans back and sighs- the air passing betvween his lips is enough to send bubbles out the end of the cigarette. > he svwears and tosses the cig avway out of instinct. he sniffs the air, frowvns, then grabs a newv cig from the box. he carefully places this one betvween his lips and blowvs; more shiny bubbles burst from the other end. cronus sniffs again, then shrugs. "guess thats vwhere my axe vwent." he stands up, blowvs a vwhole mess of bubbles, then vwalks through it. "much better." he brushes off as much of the silly string as he can, but misses that a blob stuck to his ass has left one of the hang in there posters stuck to his rump. > cronus starts to head back tovwards the front door, then pauses. he faces tovwards the camera, then smiles vwide. he approaches it then picks it up. the frame shifts to something closer to his povw. "did i leavwe you recording? heh, that i did, that i did. vwell figure out vwhos screvwing vwith me after all... hmm, may as vwell bring you vwith, just in case i need you." he heads outside, camera in towv. his ostentatious muscle car, backed up in the drivwevway, comes into vwiewv. > "vwait a tic-" as cronus approaches the vwiewv hones in on the bumper. theres a sticker: "✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ magic is real ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧". cronus chuckles smugly, crouches, then rips it off. as he starts to stand back up, the camera catches something he misses: a hand reaching out from underneath the car to apply a newv, identical sticker. the feed cuts off soon aftervwards. #substance @gadabouttrickster


