The Mandelbrot Blot

The Mandelwish Effect

A Sniffy Story

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[Scene: Yarcs’ Lair – lit only by candlelight and a glowing thermal printer.]

Yarcs (chanting):

“Spiral and swirl, iterate and bend,

Make the image that steals in the end!

Sniffy, bring the printer paper soaked in tears and pocket lint!”

Sniffy slaps a sticky wad of something suspicious onto the table. The printer screeches.

Out comes a glossy, intricate Mandela — a perfect radial rendering pulled from deep within a corrupted Mandelbrot set.

It pulses faintly. The fractal arms seem to move if you stare long enough.

Yarcs cackles:

“I call it… The Mandelwish! Anyone who looks upon it feels an irresistible urge to toss all their coins into the nearest wishing fountain. Which, coincidentally…”

(He gestures out the window toward a gaudy stone fountain labeled “Make a Wish, Fool”, half-buried in fog.)

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[Scene: Downtown – the next day]

Tim strolls by Yarcs’ pop-up art booth. A laminated fractal poster flaps gently in the breeze.

Tim:

“Is that… a math flower?”

Yarcs (sweetly):

“Oh, just a decorative pattern to inspire serenity and fiscal surrender. Take a gander!”

Tim looks.

His pupils dilate.

Without another word, he walks—zombie-like—to the fountain and dumps his entire coin pouch into it.

Children nearby follow. An elderly tourist throws in a pocketful of euros. A man in a suit tosses in his wedding ring and tokens from Chuck E. Cheese.

Tim (snapping out of it):

“Wait… what just happened?! Why do I feel lighter? Where’s my—YARCS!!”

Yarcs is already scooping coins out of a hidden compartment in the fountain.

Yarcs (grinning):

“Just a mild compulsive suggestion embedded in mathematical recursion. Nothing sinister! You made a wish, remember?”

Tim:

“I didn’t make a wish!”

Yarcs:

“You wished you hadn’t looked, which means the system works.”

Sniffy giggles from behind a stack of fractal-printed “art therapy zines.”

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[Scene: Later That Night – Fountain Side]

Yarcs reclines in a floaty ring on the surface of the now overstuffed fountain, sipping a jar of glowing lemonade through a curly straw.

Yarcs (to Sniffy):

“I should publish a coffee table book of cursed fractals. Maybe call it: ‘Math That Takes Your Money’.”

Sniffy spins a coin and it lands on edge.

It doesn’t fall.

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The Billboard Incident

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[Scene: Highway 22, just outside Salem]

A mysterious billboard appears overnight.

Plain white. Black, slightly wiggly text reads:

“Support the Yarcs Recreational Fund. It’s the Right Thing to Do.”

(Suggested donation: all your spare change)

A pixelated image of Yarcs’ glowing skull stares out with oddly lifelike eyes.

There’s no phone number. No website. Just… a QR code shaped like a question mark.

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[Scene: Tim’s Apartment – the next day]

Tim is sipping coffee when there’s a knock at the door.

He opens it to find two city officials in wrinkled suits, holding clipboards and looking mildly uncomfortable.

Official #1:

“Are you Timothy… you go by Tim?”

Tim:

“Uh, yeah?”

Official #2:

“We’re with the City of Salem’s Department of Municipal Charitable Affairs. We’re following up on some irregular donation activity linked to a… ‘Yarcs Recreational Fund.’”

Tim (deadpan):

“Oh no.”

Official #1:

“We’ve received over 240 individual donations in the last 36 hours. Small, mostly coin-based. One man mailed in an old Game Boy and six Canadian quarters.”

Official #2:

“There’s no 501(c)(3) record, no EIN, no paperwork. But the billboard has legal placement permits signed under… ‘Timothy, caretaker of the crypt.’”

Tim (facepalming):

“That skeleton fraud forged my signature again, didn’t he?”

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[Scene: Yarcs’ Lair – beneath the Old Orchard Inn]

Yarcs lounges in a kiddie pool full of pennies, sipping an off-brand energy drink labeled “Bolt Venom.”

Yarcs (delighted):

“People donate faster when you give them no context! Just a little mind-hint and a feeling of mild guilt.”

Sniffy rolls over, a “Recreational Fund Ledger” balanced on his back. It contains crayon entries like:

• “Fog Machine Juice – $8”

• “Glowing Frisbee – $3.50”

• “Suspiciously Smart Pigeon – $5 (bribe)”

• “Two more billboards – $200 (on Tim’s card)”

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[Scene: City Hall – Later That Week]

Tim sits at a hearing.

City Lawyer:

“So just to clarify, this Yarcs entity is… a haunted skull?”

Tim:

“Technically.”

City Lawyer:

“And he used hypnotic billboard advertising to create an unlicensed charity?”

Tim:

“Yes. And he’s also trying to buy a haunted go-kart, so please shut this down fast.”

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[Scene: Final Shot – On the Highway Again]

The billboard is gone.

In its place is a new sign:

“Yarcs Recreational Fund has been temporarily disincorporated.

Please send donations in the form of riddles or unopened snack foods.”

Below it, a smaller tag reads:

“Tim, we’ll talk. – Y”

⸻

Epilogue:

Sniffy now wears a tiny accountant’s visor and guards the vault.

Yarcs is plotting a new campaign using AR goggles and haunted treasure maps.

Tim cancels his credit card and applies for billboard removal reimbursement.