Evening...

[tristfully]

'Cicadas at the End of Summer'

Whine as though a pine tree is bowing a broken violin,
As though a bandsaw cleaves a thousand thin sheets of
titanium;
They chime like freight wheels on a Norfolk Southern
slowing into town.

But all you ever see is the silence.
Husks, glued to the underside of maple leaves.
With their nineteen fifties Bakelite lines they'd do
just as well hanging from the ceiling of a space
museum —

What cicadas leave behind is a kind of crystallized memory;
The stubborn detail of, the shape around a life turned

The color of forgotten things: a cold broth of tea & milk
in the bottom of a mug.
Or skin on an old tin of varnish you have to lift with
lineman's pliers.
A fly paper that hung thirty years in Bird Cooper's pantry
in Brighton.

Martin Walls

[.......]

Will someone please tell me the steps to unlocking the memory inside of a cicada shell? Succinctly.

Comments

[nublada]

There was definitely something about burying it. And I think they got kind of [...] mind sproingy after that party where everything got a little soggy at the end!

Senior Thorntrails

[lionellovelace]

Should we be trying to unlock our cicadas too?
I'm not sure anymore.
That's not a 'no.' It's an 'I don't know.'

Senior Thorntrails

[nublada]

I [...] do really want to figure it out. I'm just curious, and it seems like the only way to get more information without actively [...] harming people.

Senior Thorntrails

[gasgiant]

do you think that like all the weeds getting worse is bc people are fuckin with these bugs tho

Senior Thorntrails

[nublada]

[...] I don't know. We probably should have asked at the séance. [...] But maybe it was only a matter of time before things came to light.

Re: Senior Thorntrails

[gasgiant]

maybe we should go find the smarmy gryphonbeat bug and ask HIM what happens??

either way better to know than not know in the end right

Senior Thorntrails

[nublada]

Senior Thorntrails

[nublada]

Yes, let's! [...] I'm not sure where to find him, but if we do let's not tip our hand and tell him how many we have in our collective possession.

Re: Senior Thorntrails

[gasgiant]

pocket always comes when you yell about parties so maybe we just need to run around campus yelling about [...] hair product

i bet he uses a lot

Senior Thorntrails

[nublada]

I think we have enough hair product in our dorm alone to make an entirely new bug-person if we really want. Let's bring him a welcome home present!

Senior Thorntrails

[gasgiant]

oh hell yeah he's gonna love us or at least be unable to forget our names and faces for the rest of his days

Senior Thorntrails

[lionellovelace]

He also likes candy, right? Or least that's what the rumors always were.
And based on the other night, he likes the cold, too.

Senior Thorntrails

[gasgiant]

oh i bet that dude would love the hell outta some ice cream then huh
i'll bring a pint

Senior Thorntrails

[lionellovelace]

[...] Maybe two? We might get hungry.

[tristfully]

So far you've only gotten yours damp, then?

[nublada]

So far! Meant to go on a burying spree, but school and sports got in the way.

[tristfully]

You know, they'll have to cancel finals if one of us dies.

Just saying.

[nublada]

I would absolutely crush a GED.


[...] Wait, is someone going to die if I do or don't start burying my rock??

[tristfully]

That's yet to be seen. Although, I wouldn't over worry. Everything is already in motion.

[nublada]

So I may or may not be responsible for someone's death and there's not much I can do about it so I might as well keep recklessly plowing ahead??

Sounds like a typical weekday, to be perfectly honest.

[themurderbird]

They had better not cancel finals.

[nublada]

We could petition to take them in a private facility where there are no bug rocks or ghost bugs.

[themurderbird]

Oh, agreed! That seems fair, all considering.

[merlinpletcher]

Who cares? We're graduating either way.

Besides, do you want to take exams written by possessed professors?

[themurderbird]

I care! How will I make valedictorian without final grades? How will I put it on my Curriculum Vitae?

As long as I can excel at them, then why not?

[merlinpletcher]

Just use the grades we've already got? Easy. Besides, everyone knows you're going to be valedictorian.

Can't trust them. Not for anything.

[themurderbird]

But it's not the same if I don't prove it.

You think their knowledge of their areas of expertise is compromised? Besides, are any of them possessed other than Treetops?

[merlinpletcher]

You'll prove it. Just maybe not with exams.

I don't care about their expertise. I just mean I wouldn't trust anyone that's compromised like this. [...] It's just Treetops so far. But that could change.

[quidditched]

[...]

Fountain.

Springs.

Mud.

Cave. [...] Falls ?.

[...] [...] Will you give it back ?

[gasgiant]

oh yeeahhhh our bug rock got all funky after we got drenched at pocket's last partay and that's like falls water right

[quidditched]

[...] Yeah. Think so.

Rocks wanted to go there.

[gasgiant]

like they told you??

[quidditched]

Rocks don't talk.

[...]

Scream sometimes.

[gasgiant]

yeah ours got all buzzy once

so how'd you know they wanted to go to the falls

[quidditched]

Checked a compass.

Not recently.

[nublada]

Did she someone take yours??

[quidditched]

No ? [...] .

[nublada]

Oh! Good! So who needs to give it b Just making sure I don't need to beat anybody up today.

[quidditched]

[...] Thanks. Not today.

[tristfully]

Did you bury it in the mud somewhere specific?

[...]

After I'm done, maybe. I think Lionel Qualls wanted me to have this memory.

[quidditched]

Thorntrail. [...] Where Chanel did.

[...]

Oh. [...] He show up ?

[tristfully]

That tracks. Thank you.


I had this strange, intense need to look inside his jacket pocket even though I'd already looked before and there it was. I want to think that he put it there for me.

[quidditched]

Course.

[...] Think you're right. That someone helped us find them.

[quodpotted]

you alright?

[tristfully]

Ah, no. Not especially. [.....] It's fine though.