Alana's Journal

1^st April 2013

I'm back from my weekend of hiking and wild camping with Rory. Skinny dipping in freezing lochs is one thing, a hot bath is something else entirely.

As it's April Fools day I thought somebody was having a joke at my expense, until I examined the invite more thoroughly before I sat down to write you, and before Da told me he'd found it on the kitchen table when he got in on Friday night. He'd no idea of how it had got there as there were no signs of a break in.

The invite had been inside a sheet of folded parchment, the parchment folded so as to form an envelope, the corners sealed on the back with wax into which had been pressed some form of seal. Examining the seal I had found it to consist of a Phoenix displayed, with a Crown in the top right and a Rose in the bottom left. On the front, in inked Japanese style caligraphic script had been my name. There were no sins of any postmark or other indication that it had been through the postal or any other courier delivery system.

The invite inside was on heavy highgrade watermarked paper, in a mix of printed and hand written script

"Alana MacFarlane you are here by invited as my personal guest to the Mizzurian Expo (May 2nd – 5th) and Grand Expo Ball (4th May 8:00pm)
As my personal guest you will be staying at my residence in Carnelian and all transfer to and from the Expo will be catered for.
I will be on hand to personally collect you at 12:20 pm on Monday 29th April.
Sincerely yours
Cordelia Chan
President and CEO Mizzurian Corporation
Please ensure you have this invitation with you on the day."

Other than the obvious, the first thing I noticed was that the paper on which the invite was written had been treated in a manner which I use to treat all my special artwork. Who ever this Cordelia Chan was, and by what ever means she had sent this to mean, I must assue that she either has a similar ability to me or knows someone who does. Whilst the invite has been treated it didn't turn cold to the touch when I concentrated on it.

I shall have to do some serious reseach tomorrow, but for now I need some sleep, something I didn't get that much of over the weekend, which had sort of been the whole idea.

2^nd April 2013

Where do I start exactly?

Mizzurian? A huge multi-million dollar corporation, 67% owned by this Cordelia Chan. A rags to riches games company that now owns a whole load of unrelated companies for reasons nobody appears to understand, and a Company that either is pulling the worlds biggest hoax, or is so far ahead of anything else in the world that they can't be from this world.

Then there is Cordelia Chan herself. Other than a very obscure piece in Time magazine which doesn't really shed much light on who she is, there is nothing out there about her. In effect she's a modern Howard Hughs.

The question from this is why me given the apparent furory over the obtaining tickets to the Event? The upside of going may be a shoe-in to the Games company as an artist, and maybe just maybe an opportunity to learn somthing further about my pictures. The downside is that I'm going to need a better wardrobe, I don't think camo trousers and a t-shirt would cut it in that environment.

7^th April 2013

It's been a long couple of days, preparing and then drawing a new picture of my bedroom. At least if everything goes pearshaped in the US I can make a fast exit and return home.

9^th April 2013

Today has been another strange day. A day of occurrances that cannot be coincidences and can only be in someway connected to me having received the invite, even if I can't for the life of me fathom how and why.

The odd occurrances started early, as did I, having decided to go into Oban to do some shopping. As I walked down to the bus stop, there was a large dog, maybe a wolfhound, I'm not 100% sure, lying on the verge about 100yards away. Nothing odd in that, a loose dog just lying in the grass, except I'm sure it had something on it's back, and that something looked like a long stick, ornately decorated at one end. For some reason my mind thought sword, you know, Katana! And I'm sure the dog was watching me. In fact I'll rephrase that.. I know the damned dog was watching me as when I turned to approach it it bounded away.

Oddity 2! I catch the bus for Oban. After about a mile I notice that we're being followed by a motorcyclist. Most likely female, as they have long black hair sticking out under their distinctive red and blakc helmet, which match the very distinctive red and black leathers they're wearing. 2 things are distinctly odd.. they definately have a katana on their back, they're riding a big bike, so why are they doing 40mph behind the bus?

When the bus stops at the next stop to take on passengers, she, yes defiantely female, rides past only to pull in about 500yds up the road and then fall in behind the bus once we start moving again. This happens twice more as the bus stops. Oh and the bike is a Yammaha with some sort of custom firery paint job. After the third stop she disappears until we get to the bus station in Oban.

As I get off the bus I can see she's definately watching me, even with her visor down. At this point I did something stupid, and sprinted towards her.. you know what was I thinking? Away she just drops the clutch on the bike and takes off in a screech of tyres and a cloud of smoke. Who ever she is she's good. I don't think I'd have been able to control a wheelie like that!

Oddity 3! The rest of the day is quiet. I spend money I don't really have on a smart skirt, blouse, and jacket, then head home. Enteringg my room it's obvious somebody has been in here. For a start Katherine's picture, yes that one, is on my desk, not in the back of the portfolio where I hid it. Stuck to it is a postit, on which somebody has doodled a cartoon dragon, and written "here be dragons". It feels similar to the invite when I pick it up.