The night began with an idiosyncratic solstice ritual of our own, during part of which two participants both pulled the sun tarot card. Earlier in the week ML had also found a large sun face which we placed nearby, acting as a sort of watcher-guardian. Afterwards, we vaguely remembered having played the Mask Game for Peculiar Mormyrid two years ago, and thought it might be worthwhile to try it again with this new Sun Face. We looked up the questions and added a few more, but did not re-read the old answers and did not remember them. Afterwards, we noticed some interesting cross pollination between the two games. The belly of a whale seems to be an especially common spawning ground for mask-spirits, and most are oviparous. The scent of turpentine in the air may also be a telltale sign that a mask is near…
(The original Mask Game can be found here.)
Describe this object’s life cycle.
ML: It is like a coral, constantly producing microscopic beams of warmth.
SC: The mask is a maoist revolutionary who on the eve of his 31st birthday grew celestial tentacles and catapulted into space.
CC: It begins as a singularity, and expands into a pod filled with world eggs. It grows for a thousand years until it bursts, which sends the world egg shooting out from it in all directions including time.
There is a land where everyone is born with this mask on their face. What does that world look like?
ML: It is a veil of smoke through which the occasional glimmer of another face is seen and then lost.
SC: Fur and wheat grow from the earth. The Sunface are many, and the Surface are confused. The Sunnose is ripe.
CC: It is a completely dark planet but nobody can tell it is dark because they are wearing a mask of light.
To what emotion does it correspond?
ML: Patient, pained.
SC: Transformative joy & hunger without object.
CC: Optimistic yet dubious
What scent goes with it?
SC: Turpentine
ML: Cardamom & Campfire smoke
CC: Chamomile
Can it die and, if so, how?
ML: Yes, loneliness can bring its core temperature down until it dissolves as brittle ash.
SC: No
CC: Yes, but only if it is born inside the belly of a whale that has become beached.
Does the mask have a lover? Who?
SC: A dark haired lady with two sentient black boots. The boots are expelling sweat, and the boots are shivering.
ML: It has in eye but not consumed.
CC: Yes, it has many. Its newest and most energetic lover is the celestial lion with the mask of the moon.
What is the mask thinking right now?
ML: My lips are dry.
SC: I will kill you. Stop prying.
CC: I am a black star inside.
What is its name?
ML: Calum
SC: Charley
CC: Zinia
Dream on the longest night of the year
I dream of a women who has broken the law. She runs away, and reaches a beach. They send a giant fiery ball to find her and execute her. She is laying down on the beach, and a blue heron sees her and falls in love with her. The fiery ball locates her, but he sees the heron first and becomes confused. This gives her time to escape into the ocean where the fiery ball cannot reach her. -CC
MASK SPIRIT LAYING EGGS INSIDE THE BELLY OF A WHALE
