Writers' chat log #1

Writers’ Chat Logs #1

hollow well writers’ chatroom

(here) - recently

The following is a transcript of a conversation in the hollow well writers’ chat room. Edits have been made to improve readability. Sensitive material has been redacted.

silendra: I know it’s something bad, but what the hell IS the Hollow Well?

nanderson: our employer

syrynsmyth: ha ha!

nanderson: Oh! You mean (there)!

silendra: ha! yeah! The place that bad people get sentenced to. (there) The prison.

nanderson: no one who goes there ever returns, so no one knows what it is.

syrynsmyth: it’s a really, really bad place… Ooooo! Scary!

silendra: But, I have an assignment that says to write about life in the Hollow Well.

nanderson: That must be a mistake. If you go to the Hollow Well you would never return.

subgrrl: Are you sure that it says Hollow Well, or does it say hollow well? There’s a difference. Hollow Well is that bad place that exists (there). hollow well is our employer who I assume is (here). Maybe our employer plans to help you with your research.

silendra: No, it says Hollow Well. Capitalized. And, specifically, it says that I need to describe the sights and sounds of the Hollow Well.

nanderson: must be a mistake…

syrynsmyth: yeah, you can’t go there. At least, people from (here) can’t go to the Hollow Well. You have to be immortal. I don’t get the sense that mortals would last very long.

nanderson: they don’t exactly have cafeterias

subgrrl: are you immortal, silendra?

silendra: uh… no!

syrynsmyth: then I don’t know how you’re going to do that

nanderson: they don’t exactly have the internet there either. No one ever communicates from the Hollow Well. There is no mail system. You can’t pass notes to someone on the outside.

silendra: Then how the hell am I supposed to write this story?

subgrrl: Have you talked with any of our immortal contacts?

silendra: not yet, but I’m scheduled to go (there) in two weeks.

syrynsmyth: What?!

nanderson: The benefit of the chat system is that there is no need to say “What?!” as a way of getting someone to repeat themselves. You merely need to scroll higher to review the recent past.

syrynsmyth: Fuck off, nanderson smartass! I can’t fucking believe that silendra gets to go (there). I’ve been waiting for fucking years!

silendra: sorry… Didn’t know it was an issue…

syrynsmyth: I thought I was supposed to be next now that subgrrl has gone twice - at least - probably more - she’s so cagey about it. silendra hasn’t even worked here a month yet.

nanderson: Whatever! Still, she can’t GO to the Hollow Well. None of us can go to the Hollow Well. And speaking of “cagey”, syryn. I thought that was your thing.

syrynsmyth: It must be a mistake. @nanderson - fuck off!

silendra: No… my assignment sheet says that I should report to [redacted] prepared to go (there) to study and gain admittance to the Hollow Well...

nanderson: And I’m telling you that that cannot happen. There is no building or cave or whatever that you would just walk up to and sashay into the Hollow Well. People can’t GO there. They are TAKEN there…

syrynsmyth: And that would be a death sentence… No one is ever brought back. NO ONE. I can’t even believe that you are going (there).

nanderson: give it up, syryn! It’s not her fault that she gets to go (there).

syrynsmyth: !!!!!

silendra: where can I find information on what the Hollow Well is like?

syrynsmyth: HJUGYUIU*(&^FF*IHH

subgrrl: in art and stuff, it seems to be represented by your archetypical images of bad, scary places where people are punished - subterranean, dark, dungeon-like

nanderson: extensive bondage

silendra: how is bondage scary if the people who live (there) are all supposed to be bondage-philes?

nanderson: no, I mean Extensive Bondage. Eternal Bondage. Think of it like being force fed chocolate bars… forever…

subgrrl: personal bondage and environmental bondage

silendra: what does that mean?

subgrrl: by personal bondage I mean things embedded in the flesh, gags, hooks, piercings. environmental bondage could be cages, chains, bricked-over exits. Also, it seems that many believe that the prisoners are marked extensively, tattooed… at least they are in the pictures that I’ve seen.

nanderson: sometimes the prisoners are isolated, but sometimes they are chained with others… Not sure which would be the worse punishment… regardless, no one knows for sure what it’s like there. No one ever returns. Never.

subgrrl: you know what they always say about “never” (there) though…

silendra: What do they say about “never”?

subgrrl: Every event has a non-zero probability of occurring. It might be an extremely minute probability, but the key is is that it is non-zero. And when you live for an eternity, then eventually every event will occur.

nanderson: So you think that someone has returned from the Hollow Well?

subgrrl: fuck if I know.

silendra: so, someone COULD come back…

subgrrl: no

silendra: but you just said that it is a nonzero probability

subgrrl: but you aren’t immortal

silendra: So, tell me more about the types of bondage.

subgrrl: There is an extensive art collection in the bookcave in Laria. [redacted] can get you some samples

silendra: you’ve seen some samples

syrynsmyth: we all have, haven’t you?

silendra: no

syrynsmyth: yet, you are the one who is supposed to go (there) and find out?

nanderson: she can’t go to the Hollow Well. It doesn’t matter.

syrynsmyth: sounds to me like she IS going to go there

nanderson: gibbets welded shut hanging in empty voids, prisoners buried in various materials, sealed in sarcophagi, caged underwater, melded into the bedrock… no, silendra can’t go there.

silendra: it would be cool to see what it is like… Don’t you think?

subgrrl: Well, you know, [extensively redacted]

syrynsmyth: Holy shit!!! [redacted]

subgrrl: Yeah! Life changing.

silendra: so what are you going to do?

subgrrl: wear overalls and tube tops for now. otherwise, wait…

(transcript continues. devolving into typical boring minutia)