text: > describe your surroundings
  The vestibule, that most Freudian of rooms, is the liminal space between the front door and the interior of the house proper. This one, like the rest of the house, is wood-paneled and vaguely beaux-arts in a way that can only be described as "tweedy."
  
  You try not to catch yourself on the full-length mirror.
  
  You can also see a coat hook (on which is a coat) here.
  
  > enter the rooms
  [That is either not here, or you don't need to refer to it over
  the course of this story.]
  
  > go north
  You find your way to the dining room...
  
  A large bay window lets in no light through the thick drapes; a brass chandelier that Julia hasn't been able to get rid of clashes a bit with the modernist minimalism of the furniture.
  
  On the dining chairs are Julia, Raul, Francis and Janet.
  
  On the table are a sterling silver epergne (on which are some marbles), some silverware, some plates (on which are some seafood vol-au-vents) and some glasses.
  
  Julia looks at you thoughtfully from her chair at the head of the table. "Please," she says, "take a seat."
  
  You do so, and she adds: "I see you didn't bring a date. That's a shame."
  
  [Your awkwardness has gone up by one point.]
  
  > examine Julia
  Proudly grey-haired and staring at the word from behind wire-rim glasses. Julia teaches classics, or so you understand to be the case, though as far as you know she gives only seminars, not lectures, and spends most of her time on various obscure side projects.
  
  "Please, dig in. I think you'll enjoy this one," Julia says. Francis pokes at the dish in front of him with a fork: "What is it?" "Why don't you take a bite and tell me?"
  
  > eat
  (the phone)
  Your eyes run across the silverware you're using:
  A full set of silverware, including mirror-polished knives, forks, spoons, and so on, carefully placed next to everyone's plates.
  
  You catch a distorted glimpse of your additional head, reflected
  on the silverware: "Worms issue from the mouth! Black ichor!
  Falling and falling!"
  
  That's plainly inedible.
  
  Francis uses his fork to collapse the construction on his plate. "Is it... crab?" Julia just smiles and takes a bite out of her own plate.
  
  > eat the food
  You take a look at the seafood vol-au-vents before digging in:
  
  A vol-au-vent is a little bucket made out of puff pastry; this one is filled with some kind of pinkish material that you strongly suspect is some type of seafood, but you can't identify which. It's also topped with three thin, artistically-arranged chives.
  
  You take a few bites out of the seafood vol-au-vents.
  The filling consists of pale bits of vaguely crustacean flesh floating in vaguely sea-tasting sauce; it's either lobster in a crab sauce, or crab in a lobster sauce. It runs all over your plate the moment you crack the exterior of the puff pastry.
  
  Francis turns to Raul: "So how's the teaching going?" "Fine. How's the business going?"
  
  > examine raul
  Balding, spindly, European (but you're not sure from where). Raul mostly takes credit for the work of his grad students and gives lectures on physics that consistently get accused of being "boring" on RateMyProfessor.
  
  Francis replies: "Really well, actually. We just applied for another patent last week."
  
  > examine janet
  Francis' long-term partner and the one other person in this dinner party without more than one post-graduate degree. You don't really know what her deal is.
  
  "I love this," Janet pipes in. "Is it lobster?"
  
  > examine Francis
  Francis quit academia to join some kind of biotech startup, and he looks exactly like someone who quit academia to join a biotech startup should look like: Smug in a fleece.
  
  "Keep guessing," Julia continues. "I think Raul had some really good lectures last term, didn't you?" She pats her husband on the shoulder, for emphasis.
  
  > ask Francis about the patent
  Really, you couldn't get a word in edgewise even if you had the mental fortitude to try.
  
  "Scallops. It's gotta be scallops," Francis finally realizes. "Got it in two," Julia replies. Raul seems almost relieved that's over.
  
  > wait
  You stare at the ceiling.
  
  Julia: "What's that patent about again?" Francis seems positively delighted to explain.
  
  > eat the food
  You finish eating the seafood vol-au-vents.
  It's a bit large for an amuse-bouche, to be honest, but you did skip lunch today.
  
  Francis launches into his explanation. It goes over your head but you think you catch the word "telomers". He's interrupted, of course, when Julia asks if everyone is ready for the soup. Everyone is about as excited as you can get for soup, which is to say not very much at all.
  
  Your phone chirps as a notification comes in.
  
  Julia steps away with the plates and returns with the next course: A soup.
  
  > look at the soup
  A bright orange broth. Seasonal. Safe. Surprisingly clear, actually, almost like consomm��...
  
  You catch a distorted glimpse of your additional head, reflected
  on the squash soup: "You cannot save them! Nobody can be saved!"
  
  "This is good soup," Janet says delightedly. "Is this yam?" "Squash," Julia replies.
  
  > eat the soup
  You take a few bites out of the squash soup.
  The taste is so subtle that you could be forgiven for thinking it doesn't actually taste of very much at all.
  
  You're getting a bit anxious about that unread notification.
  
  Francis tries to get back on track explaining what his company does, but nobody seems too interested.
  
  > Scream
  You turn to the empty space over your shoulder and scream: "SHUT UP!" [Your awkwardness has increased by five points.]
  
  Julia suddenly turns to you: "So how's the job search going?" You try to talk for a moment about what you're working on now, but end up trailing off.
  
  [Your awkwardness has gone up by one point.]
  
  > look at the phone
  A mid-range Android. The notification light is pulsing.
  
  You clear away the notifications; there's nothing important. Looks like someone liked one of your tweets.
  
  Francis faces you: "You could come work with us at Agrosynth. You did your dissertation on plant genetics, right?" "Minoan archeology," you reply reflexively. "Ah, my mistake."
  
  > drop the spoon
  You haven't got those.
  
  "I seem to remember Julia did some Minoan work back in the day," Raul notes.
  
  > Kiss julia
  Julia might not like that.
  
  Julia: "Really, it wasn't anything important. A side project at best."
  
  > jump
  You jump on the spot.
  
  You can tell that some tension is hanging in the air, just for a moment.
  
  > Scream
  You turn to the empty space over your shoulder and scream: "SHUT UP!" [Your awkwardness has increased by five points.]
  
  Janet: "Really, we should do this more often. It's been so hard to get together with friends lately."
  
  You try to say something, but you're basically paralyzed by mortification at this point. Coming here was a terrible idea, and you realize that you're going to scurry home feeling like a damn fool.
  
  > About you
  You get tired of staring at yourself, and your eyes wander over to the full-length mirror instead: A nice, big mirror on a wooden frame. Of course.
  
  You spot your reflection clearly on the full-length mirror, and
  also the reflection of your additional, unseen head: It has inky
  black pits for eyes, but it still seems to stare right at you. "Breach the seals. Open the gate," it says, in a cracked voice that's not quite your own.
  
  The head in the mirror belongs to a version of yourself from a previous iteration of the universe. One that seemingly ended really poorly, given that it's clearly possessed by some kind of world-rending evil. You're really in no state to attend a dinner party, but you'd already RSVP'd.
  
  > examine coat hook
  For hanging coats on.
  
  > hang coat
  What do you want to hang the coat on?
  
  > hang the coat on the coat hook
  (the coat on the coat hook)
  You take off your coat and hang it.
  
  > examine coat
  (the coat hook)
  You get tired of staring at the coat hook, and your eyes wander over to the full-length mirror instead: A nice, big mirror on a wooden frame. Of course.
  
  You spot your reflection clearly on the full-length mirror, and
  also the reflection of your additional, unseen head: "Worms issue
  from the mouth! Black ichor! Falling and falling!"
  
  > search the coat
  (the coat hook)
  On the coat hook is a coat.
  
  > go north
  You find your way to the dining room...
  
  A large bay window lets in no light through the thick drapes; a brass chandelier that Julia hasn't been able to get rid of clashes a bit with the modernist minimalism of the furniture.
  
  On the dining chairs are Julia, Raul, Francis and Janet.
  
  On the table are a sterling silver epergne (on which are some marbles), some silverware, some plates (on which are some seafood vol-au-vents) and some glasses.
  
  Julia looks at you thoughtfully from her chair at the head of the table. "Please," she says, "take a seat."
  
  You do so, and she adds: "I see you didn't bring a date. That's a shame."
  
  [Your awkwardness has gone up by one point.]
  
  > examine glasses
  Nice-looking stemless wine glasses.
  
  You catch a distorted glimpse of your additional head, reflected
  on the glasses: "You cannot save them! Nobody can be saved!"
  
  "Please, dig in. I think you'll enjoy this one," Julia says. Francis pokes at the dish in front of him with a fork: "What is it?" "Why don't you take a bite and tell me?"
  
  > sit
  (on the phone)
  That's not something you can sit down on.
  
  Francis uses his fork to collapse the construction on his plate. "Is it... crab?" Julia just smiles and takes a bite out of her own plate.
  
  > take the glass
  You're not in the practice of filching other people's possessions while you're a guest at their house.
  
  Francis turns to Raul: "So how's the teaching going?" "Fine. How's the business going?"
  
  > look at the chairs
  L-shaped blocks of wood and foam covered in cream-white fabric, supported on four blocky legs of darkly stained wood.
  
  On the dining chairs are Julia, Raul, Francis and Janet.
  
  Francis replies: "Really well, actually. We just applied for another patent last week."
  
  > sit on the chair
  But you're already on the dining chairs.
  
  "I love this," Janet pipes in. "Is it lobster?"
  
  > stand
  You could EXCUSE yourself to go to the bathroom.
  
  "Keep guessing," Julia continues. "I think Raul had some really good lectures last term, didn't you?" She pats her husband on the shoulder, for emphasis.
  
  > Excuse
  You politely excuse yourself to go to the bathroom.
  
  This is the secondary, downstairs bathroom, so there's just a sink and a toilet, and a small high window to let in some moonlight. The floor and wall tiles are a jadeish shade of green, and they thankfully aren't reflective enough for you to see yourself in them.
  
  You can see a bathroom mirror (closed) here.
  
  > look at the mirror
  A nice-looking bathroom mirror cabinet.
  
  You spot your reflection clearly on the bathroom mirror, and also
  the reflection of your additional, unseen head: "Knock down the
  doors and listen as hell makes itself heard!"
  
  > look at the reflection in the toilet
  [That is either not here, or you don't need to refer to it over
  the course of this story.]
  
  > open the mirror
  You open the bathroom mirror, revealing a bag of cotton balls.
  
  Your phone chirps as a notification comes in.
  
  > open the bag
  It isn't something you can open.
  
  You're getting a bit anxious about that unread notification.
  
  > look at the bag
  Fluffy.
  
  > wear the cotton
  (first taking the bag of cotton balls)
  You haven't fallen so low as to steal whole bags of cotton balls from other people's bathrooms.
  
  You're getting visibly agitated about not looking at your phone.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  your phone
  
  You really, really wanna look at that notification. What if Margo texted?