nterview with an Incorporeal Guest: Wine Fountains, Unspoken Boundaries and a Glass of Invisibility
For the first time, De Kosmische Courant interviews an incorporeal entity in bustling Luxarre. Xyl, an elusive presence renowned as an ambiance consultant and poet, candidly discusses daily life between matter and mist, salons and banquets-until the interview descends into tension and awkward silences. A quest for form, scent, and existence in the culinary-philosophical capital of Gastropolis.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Good afternoon, if that concept even applies here. How should I address you?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Uh... you can choose. My name doesn't translate well to sound waves. But 'Xyl' is fine.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 All right, Xyl. You look... well, you're barely visible. How do you experience the wine fountain at the Plein der Smaken?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ I interact with liquids via resonance. Taste is a wave, not a molecule. For me, this fountain tastes like conspiratorial pomegranate with undertones of collective unrest.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 So, no headaches after a Luxarrean banquet?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ No, unless someone accidentally stirs my wave pattern with a neurostatic straw. That tickles.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Some call you a 'guest', others a disruption in the space continuum. What do you actually do for a living?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ I facilitate experimental debates in salons. Occasionally, I advise poets on rhyme schemes for gaseous sonnets. I'm what people here call an ambiance consultant.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 And your origin, how did you end up in Luxarre?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Well, I spent some time as a nebula over the Ambrosia Sea, until I detected more fragrance here in Luxarre than anywhere else. So, yeah, migrated along a scent trail.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Uh, do you interact often with material beings? Or... would you rather not?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Partially. It's sometimes confusing. Someone tries to toast me, but their glass just passes right through. Awkward, especially at round tables.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Wait, is that a problem during the famous masked dinners here?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ I usually wear a holographic mask, but even that causes incidents. Last week I accidentally overlapped with a crustacean diplomat. I've smelled like dill ever since.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Fascinating... Changing topic: are you ever questioned by the Gastropolitan authorities?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Regularly. They’re fascinated I own nothing taxable. Their forms overheat when I write 'n.a.' at 'address' and 'physical form.'
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 And, Xyl, do you feel welcome in Luxarre? Or... are you always the outsider?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ *hesitates* Sometimes. Mostly. But when the wine mist spreads thick over the square and the chants rise, I’m briefly everyone. And yet... never entirely someone.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Have you ever felt threatened amid the chaos of this city?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Ha! Not threatened, but once a poet stood directly on me. Literally. It tickled.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Wait, can you actually die?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Strange question. Only if I get sucked into a MegaVacuumfilter in the bathroom of The Ephemeral Room restaurant. Then my structure dissolves and I end up in sector 99. Not fun.
Interviewer-Unit SQR-21 Uh, right... One last one: is there anything you miss here in Luxarre, as an immaterial being?
Xyl.3/Nbk∝ Yes. Cutlery. The sound of it. And sometimes, the imprint of a sigh on a cold morning.
*A faint ripple flickers through the air as the scents of wine and protest mix. The interviewer taps off their recorder, uncertain whether they've just recorded a conversation or merely an echo.*