No updates on the experimental front necessarily, but I did have one other bit worth mentioning I guess. Wouldn't really call it an experiment, more just like... me being a dick I guess. Sort of.
So I caught sight of this operator symbol spray painted on a wall in an alley I was passing through and I kind of had to stop and stare at it for a bit. What was it even there for? A warning? A calling card? A ward? A summons? A what? A fucking WHAT??
....so I went into a hardware store and found myself from harlequin purple spray paint. And now the thing's been replaced by a fleur-de-lis so beautiful that I'm sure Dave Strider would be giving me a nice pat on the back for an artistic job well done. Which for those of you who aren't ironically cool enough to get that reference, means that it Sucked. But whatever, I covered it up. Why a purple fleur-de-lis? Because "Saints Row, Bitches!" But really, it didn't matter what it was. I could have drawn a great big penis or a huge set of tits. The point is that I covered it up.
And why? Because it's HIS Symbol. And Fuck Him.
Why are we putting these things everywhere? It doesn't matter what they do or do not do. I don't care if they are "eyes" and they freeze/ward him or some shit. It's still the Construct's symbol and we're branding it on everything. Regardless of whether Tulpa is a thing or not, this thing spreads its influence memetically. Exposure to Marble Hornets, exposure to the blogs, exposure to the SomethingAwful posts. Whatever. That's the hook and you bleed yourself out from there. And hey, guess what? He's doing all that shit pretty well without our help, so lets oh, I dunno, saaaaay maybe NOT spread his freaking propaganda around?
I don't need an operator symbol in the area to tell me that there are fellow runners nearby. I'm not going to find them. If I could find them, they wouldn't be very good runners now would they? Which also means they'd be Dead. I don't need an operator symbol to tell me the Construct has been sighted in the area. Because it's the fucking Construct and it can pop up Anywhere and Anytime. Anywhere. Anytime. Already aware of the danger there buddy. Thanks.
So yeah. I find any more, I'm covering them up. Suggest you do the same. All we're accomplishing otherwise is the infection of more people and this ain't the time for that.
Mar 28, 2012
Mar 23, 2012
So what have we learned?
Good Question. Fuck if I know. I've been thinking about it as much as I can, whenever I'm not running around anyways... hm, sometimes even then... but I'm having trouble coming to much of anything you'd call a "conclusion."
Most of the recent experiments I've attempted have been a matter of me going in expecting one result... and getting a completely unexpected result. So the most common factor out of all of it, is that attempting to predict this thing's actions and/or motives is pretty damned near to impossible. Maybe I just went into the experiments not taking enough possible outcomes into account? I mean, I typically went in with a black and white, "He'll either to This or he'll do That" approach... and then he's wind up doing "This Other Thing" instead.
So I've pretty much opted for the option of, "He's fucking with me." Trying to mess with my perceptions and get me to drop my guard in the confusion. Well, that ain't happening mister. The more confused and/or terrified you make me the more my guard is going UP.
Still, to simply say he's been toying with me the whole time is a mistake within itself. Because that's the most obvious conclusion to make in regards to the situation. And as I recently commented on the Overseer's blog, the most obvious conclusion is almost always WRONG. And my experiments kind of back that up. All of the most obvious conclusions were wrong. The results were always something unexpected and far from the obvious. An attribute to the Construct's chaotic nature perhaps, but a fact nonetheless. So perhaps the correct conclusion is to assume that the Construct is not toying with me and that these were all genuine, natural responses to the stimuli which I introduced him to. Okay. Lets say that's what it was. Now what?
...Another good question...
I don't know.
Start carrying around Emergency Ponies? I don't- Ffffffffff-
So, yeah. Okay. Not making a lot of headway here. But I may be on to "something" at least. Lets pretend that's progress. I'll get back to work coming up with ideas for testing and trying to play a more logical game with as many of them as I can.
Most of the recent experiments I've attempted have been a matter of me going in expecting one result... and getting a completely unexpected result. So the most common factor out of all of it, is that attempting to predict this thing's actions and/or motives is pretty damned near to impossible. Maybe I just went into the experiments not taking enough possible outcomes into account? I mean, I typically went in with a black and white, "He'll either to This or he'll do That" approach... and then he's wind up doing "This Other Thing" instead.
So I've pretty much opted for the option of, "He's fucking with me." Trying to mess with my perceptions and get me to drop my guard in the confusion. Well, that ain't happening mister. The more confused and/or terrified you make me the more my guard is going UP.
Still, to simply say he's been toying with me the whole time is a mistake within itself. Because that's the most obvious conclusion to make in regards to the situation. And as I recently commented on the Overseer's blog, the most obvious conclusion is almost always WRONG. And my experiments kind of back that up. All of the most obvious conclusions were wrong. The results were always something unexpected and far from the obvious. An attribute to the Construct's chaotic nature perhaps, but a fact nonetheless. So perhaps the correct conclusion is to assume that the Construct is not toying with me and that these were all genuine, natural responses to the stimuli which I introduced him to. Okay. Lets say that's what it was. Now what?
...Another good question...
I don't know.
Start carrying around Emergency Ponies? I don't- Ffffffffff-
So, yeah. Okay. Not making a lot of headway here. But I may be on to "something" at least. Lets pretend that's progress. I'll get back to work coming up with ideas for testing and trying to play a more logical game with as many of them as I can.
Mar 21, 2012
Back to Business...
Alright, so now that we're done with that and we're still alive, the big question on everyone's mind, which I've been refusing to answer because... I dunno, suspense? Because I can't legitimately justify such a STUPID course of action to you people? Whatever. Fuck it. I did it because I could. Because I knew nobody else would do it and some weird part of me just HAD TO KNOW what would happen. Oh... and of course, I did it for the lulz. Because as I have explained numerous times now, given the situation we find ourselves in, we need every cheap laugh we can get. So, you know... You're Welcome. I just risked my life for your amusement. You'd have better laughed your fucking asses off.
Carrying on from there... there has actually been some greater method to my madness as of late. Sort of an extension to my last four experiments. A uniting theme as it were. I was trying to test the Construct's perceptions regarding "toys." Children's playthings. Basically trying to emulate the qualities of a younger person and how they might react to the Construct, given a more innocent nature. Can't say for sure how I feel about the results but... it was something at least.
I guess the theory was something to do with the idea that he protects children... though that could be attributed to the instinctual nature of a territorial predator eliminating its competition... or at the very least seems to simply watch over them more often than take them. At least until they grow up. That seems to be the more common story as of late anyways. Or at least the one you'd get from the blogs... most runners seem to have had early life experiences with the Construct, but were spared or otherwise left alone, and then the hauntings return as they enter adulthood. This may not be universally the case however, so I may be drawing the wrong conclusions, but despite the original myths, I just don't hear about attacks on children very often anymore. Perhaps we just haven't run across those rare six year old bloggers yet? Well... kids are getting iPhones by preschool these days, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before that becomes a thing. I can't wait to see the cryptic proxies trying to compete with people on an Actual third grade spelling level.
Ahh... think I hit a tangent somewhere...
Anyways, the idea being that perhaps if we responded to the Construct in a more childlike nature, he would perceive us as children again and leave us the fuck alone. Still a stupid idea, but an idea. Perception is Key and all that, so lets toy with perceptions. With Toys. The only problem I'm left facing is the distinct feeling that he's just toying back with me. Hard to say. When you're dealing with an element whose very existence is tied to the "Unknown" it becomes impossible to really predict or fully understand the nature of the beast. Not that that's going to stop us from trying.
Which brings me back to experiment one in this particular set. Which, I shall now point out, was NOT the redlight stunt. I kind of kept this one under wraps because I wasn't sure how to respond to it and was generally weirded out by the whole ordeal so I just didn't want to talk about it. But given everything else that's happened in the last two weeks I guess it's not that big a deal now so... here we go...
This instance occurred in the same location as the water gun experiment, but on the day prior to said experiment taking place. Actually, it was the first day I saw the Construct there. I had been sitting around with one of those cheap plastic bouncing balls of thereabouts basketball size, just waiting for him. When I spotted him, I approached, ball at the ready, and when I came within a certain distance and was certain I had his attention, I tossed the ball at him. I had expected that he would either do nothing, letting the ball bounce harmlessly off of him and continue staring at me blankly... Or that he would smack the ball away before it reached him, presumably with a tentacle or something.
Instead... He caught it.
It took a moment or two for this to fully register with me. I hadn't expected him to play along with the "game" as it were. But given that he had... I held out my arms and smiled, in a sort of "Okay, your turn" gesture. There was something of a pause in which I thought he wasn't going to do anything... and then he tossed it back to me. Not forcefully as though in annoyance, nor weakly as though he didn't care, but with an almost deliberate, practiced level of control. I caught it with ease and found myself pausing again to consider this. And then I threw it back to him. Held out my arms again and he threw it back.
This continued for the span of thereabouts fifteen minutes. I think I might have started giggling at some point.
Then without any real warning, I suddenly found him standing a mere two feet away from me. Once again, this type of movement caused me to freeze up for a moment before I registered it as having occurred. I looked up at him a bit nervously, not sure what to expect. He handed me back the ball... patted me on the head... and then he turned around and walked away, disappearing a moment later.
I think I must have spent another fifteen minutes just standing there trying to figure out what the fuck just happened and how. And then I ran back to my hotel and tried not to think about it too much.
I point out once more that we were not alone in the park. In fact, I'm pretty sure I watched a couple pass by right behind the Construct while we were passing the ball back and forth. No one ever noticed him or responded in a manner one would assume a person who just saw a tall faceless man playing ball would react. It was fucking surreal.
And I honestly still don't know what to think of it. I'm totally at a loss. Either he's fucking with me or... or I don't even know what. Draw your own conclusions...
Carrying on from there... there has actually been some greater method to my madness as of late. Sort of an extension to my last four experiments. A uniting theme as it were. I was trying to test the Construct's perceptions regarding "toys." Children's playthings. Basically trying to emulate the qualities of a younger person and how they might react to the Construct, given a more innocent nature. Can't say for sure how I feel about the results but... it was something at least.
I guess the theory was something to do with the idea that he protects children... though that could be attributed to the instinctual nature of a territorial predator eliminating its competition... or at the very least seems to simply watch over them more often than take them. At least until they grow up. That seems to be the more common story as of late anyways. Or at least the one you'd get from the blogs... most runners seem to have had early life experiences with the Construct, but were spared or otherwise left alone, and then the hauntings return as they enter adulthood. This may not be universally the case however, so I may be drawing the wrong conclusions, but despite the original myths, I just don't hear about attacks on children very often anymore. Perhaps we just haven't run across those rare six year old bloggers yet? Well... kids are getting iPhones by preschool these days, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before that becomes a thing. I can't wait to see the cryptic proxies trying to compete with people on an Actual third grade spelling level.
Ahh... think I hit a tangent somewhere...
Anyways, the idea being that perhaps if we responded to the Construct in a more childlike nature, he would perceive us as children again and leave us the fuck alone. Still a stupid idea, but an idea. Perception is Key and all that, so lets toy with perceptions. With Toys. The only problem I'm left facing is the distinct feeling that he's just toying back with me. Hard to say. When you're dealing with an element whose very existence is tied to the "Unknown" it becomes impossible to really predict or fully understand the nature of the beast. Not that that's going to stop us from trying.
Which brings me back to experiment one in this particular set. Which, I shall now point out, was NOT the redlight stunt. I kind of kept this one under wraps because I wasn't sure how to respond to it and was generally weirded out by the whole ordeal so I just didn't want to talk about it. But given everything else that's happened in the last two weeks I guess it's not that big a deal now so... here we go...
This instance occurred in the same location as the water gun experiment, but on the day prior to said experiment taking place. Actually, it was the first day I saw the Construct there. I had been sitting around with one of those cheap plastic bouncing balls of thereabouts basketball size, just waiting for him. When I spotted him, I approached, ball at the ready, and when I came within a certain distance and was certain I had his attention, I tossed the ball at him. I had expected that he would either do nothing, letting the ball bounce harmlessly off of him and continue staring at me blankly... Or that he would smack the ball away before it reached him, presumably with a tentacle or something.
Instead... He caught it.
It took a moment or two for this to fully register with me. I hadn't expected him to play along with the "game" as it were. But given that he had... I held out my arms and smiled, in a sort of "Okay, your turn" gesture. There was something of a pause in which I thought he wasn't going to do anything... and then he tossed it back to me. Not forcefully as though in annoyance, nor weakly as though he didn't care, but with an almost deliberate, practiced level of control. I caught it with ease and found myself pausing again to consider this. And then I threw it back to him. Held out my arms again and he threw it back.
This continued for the span of thereabouts fifteen minutes. I think I might have started giggling at some point.
Then without any real warning, I suddenly found him standing a mere two feet away from me. Once again, this type of movement caused me to freeze up for a moment before I registered it as having occurred. I looked up at him a bit nervously, not sure what to expect. He handed me back the ball... patted me on the head... and then he turned around and walked away, disappearing a moment later.
I think I must have spent another fifteen minutes just standing there trying to figure out what the fuck just happened and how. And then I ran back to my hotel and tried not to think about it too much.
I point out once more that we were not alone in the park. In fact, I'm pretty sure I watched a couple pass by right behind the Construct while we were passing the ball back and forth. No one ever noticed him or responded in a manner one would assume a person who just saw a tall faceless man playing ball would react. It was fucking surreal.
And I honestly still don't know what to think of it. I'm totally at a loss. Either he's fucking with me or... or I don't even know what. Draw your own conclusions...
Mar 19, 2012
We Inturrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Bullshit
To Bring You This Important Message!
You know... I really hate you people sometimes.
No, no... that's too strong. And a lie. How about, I'm really really annoyed at you people sometimes? Yeah, that works better. And do you know why? Because you're all stupid as hell fucking cowards. The whole lot of you. (Except for like... Nightscream and... probably just fucking Nightscream.)
I get flak for a lot of stupid shit I do. Because I do a lot of stupid shit. So I kind of expect that. It comes with the territory. I've been learning to cope with it. But sometimes... sometimes... it just really bothers me when you jump up my ass for being a douchebag when the plain and obvious truth of the matter is... I'm really not.
So what am I talking about now? Well... if you haven't notice it, I might have said some particularly nasty things recently to Hakurei Ryuu. I'm not gonna lie, my words were practically dripping venom, so to be seen as an incredibly high-ranking asshat for that one is kind of the expected response. But because of that, people just assume that I'm some angry raging jackass picking on someone while they're down. But I'm not. In fact, I was pretty chill about the whole thing. I technically even asked for permission first.
And oh hey, look at that! It kind of worked out, huh?
You may all begin apologizing to me at any time. XP
I'm kidding about that by the way... I'm not expecting nor asking for apologies. In fact, I still consider my contribution to the turn around to be minimal at best. All I did was open my mouth and let profanity spill out for a bit. Anyone could have done that....
But no one else did...
And therein lies my Real Problem with this shit.
I don't know what fantasy land some of you are living in where you think all you have to do is throw a few words of love and affection at a person and then everything will turn out fine. To just tell them to keep at it because things are going to get better eventually. Ahh... Bullshit. Things are NOT going to get better. They are going to get continually and exponentially WORSE. You're outright lying to people when you do that. I mean, how many times do you have to have the odds given to you before you stop playing the lottery? Before you realize that your chances of getting out of this scot free are stacked so highly against you you'd have better luck trying to Breath on the Moon.
And hey, you know what? Maybe sometimes that IS what a person needs. Maybe all they need is a little love and a little encouragement and they'll be alright. Maybe sometimes they just need that right nugget of wisdom to guide them on their way and they can pick themselves up and move on. That kind of thing happens. Sometimes people just need a little extra support. So kudos to you for providing that when it's needed.
But sometimes that just isn't enough. Sometimes no amount of love and happiness and uplifting philosophy are going to cut it. Maybe they're just down too low. Maybe they're just not listening anymore. This was one of those times. This was one of those moments where being nice was simply not going to cut it. Someone needed a wake up call. Someone needed to be walked up to and slapped in the face.
And not a single one of you would do that. You either sat there blind to the truth of the matter or you copped out because you didn't have the balls to say something that might upset someone. So I had to step up and do what no one else would. I had to play the asshole and do what needed to be done. So I did it. And I did it knowing full well the consequences that would come of it. Because I've done it before, haven't I? And you know what? I'm fine with that. If there's anything I've learned recently, it's that I can take a beating and walk away from it just fine on the inside.
And that's something you all need to learn I think. Because I'm not always gonna be around to be the asshole. Eventually some of you are gonna have to step up and be a dick to get a point across, and stop being afraid of the backlash you're going to get for it. Sometimes there's just no other way. And that kind of sucks, but it's just one more in a long list of things you're gonna have to deal with.
So, wrapping up, Hakurei, if you're reading, I'm sorry about all that, but it had to be said. Don't make me have to do it again, okay? I still respect you and all that, but you've got to keep it together. Too many people looking up to you in this for you to just fall apart like that. No hard feelings, alright?
You know... I really hate you people sometimes.
No, no... that's too strong. And a lie. How about, I'm really really annoyed at you people sometimes? Yeah, that works better. And do you know why? Because you're all stupid as hell fucking cowards. The whole lot of you. (Except for like... Nightscream and... probably just fucking Nightscream.)
I get flak for a lot of stupid shit I do. Because I do a lot of stupid shit. So I kind of expect that. It comes with the territory. I've been learning to cope with it. But sometimes... sometimes... it just really bothers me when you jump up my ass for being a douchebag when the plain and obvious truth of the matter is... I'm really not.
So what am I talking about now? Well... if you haven't notice it, I might have said some particularly nasty things recently to Hakurei Ryuu. I'm not gonna lie, my words were practically dripping venom, so to be seen as an incredibly high-ranking asshat for that one is kind of the expected response. But because of that, people just assume that I'm some angry raging jackass picking on someone while they're down. But I'm not. In fact, I was pretty chill about the whole thing. I technically even asked for permission first.
And oh hey, look at that! It kind of worked out, huh?
You may all begin apologizing to me at any time. XP
I'm kidding about that by the way... I'm not expecting nor asking for apologies. In fact, I still consider my contribution to the turn around to be minimal at best. All I did was open my mouth and let profanity spill out for a bit. Anyone could have done that....
But no one else did...
And therein lies my Real Problem with this shit.
I don't know what fantasy land some of you are living in where you think all you have to do is throw a few words of love and affection at a person and then everything will turn out fine. To just tell them to keep at it because things are going to get better eventually. Ahh... Bullshit. Things are NOT going to get better. They are going to get continually and exponentially WORSE. You're outright lying to people when you do that. I mean, how many times do you have to have the odds given to you before you stop playing the lottery? Before you realize that your chances of getting out of this scot free are stacked so highly against you you'd have better luck trying to Breath on the Moon.
And hey, you know what? Maybe sometimes that IS what a person needs. Maybe all they need is a little love and a little encouragement and they'll be alright. Maybe sometimes they just need that right nugget of wisdom to guide them on their way and they can pick themselves up and move on. That kind of thing happens. Sometimes people just need a little extra support. So kudos to you for providing that when it's needed.
But sometimes that just isn't enough. Sometimes no amount of love and happiness and uplifting philosophy are going to cut it. Maybe they're just down too low. Maybe they're just not listening anymore. This was one of those times. This was one of those moments where being nice was simply not going to cut it. Someone needed a wake up call. Someone needed to be walked up to and slapped in the face.
And not a single one of you would do that. You either sat there blind to the truth of the matter or you copped out because you didn't have the balls to say something that might upset someone. So I had to step up and do what no one else would. I had to play the asshole and do what needed to be done. So I did it. And I did it knowing full well the consequences that would come of it. Because I've done it before, haven't I? And you know what? I'm fine with that. If there's anything I've learned recently, it's that I can take a beating and walk away from it just fine on the inside.
And that's something you all need to learn I think. Because I'm not always gonna be around to be the asshole. Eventually some of you are gonna have to step up and be a dick to get a point across, and stop being afraid of the backlash you're going to get for it. Sometimes there's just no other way. And that kind of sucks, but it's just one more in a long list of things you're gonna have to deal with.
So, wrapping up, Hakurei, if you're reading, I'm sorry about all that, but it had to be said. Don't make me have to do it again, okay? I still respect you and all that, but you've got to keep it together. Too many people looking up to you in this for you to just fall apart like that. No hard feelings, alright?
Mar 17, 2012
Operation Brony Phase Two
This may have happened a day or two ago, but I postponed posting it because I tried involving myself in something and that kind of upset the tone of things to just follow seriousness immediately with stupid, so... gave it another day. I'm not sitting on this forever though, so lets just get this out of the way already...
I decided to take a more distanced approach this time. I staked out another nice park with a healthy woodland backdrop and a few tall-ish buildings nearby I could observe the place from. Like previous experiments, I waited around a day or two to see if he'd actually show up in the area before commencing with the experiment. Like before, it was only a matter of time. So I set up shop and prepared for phase two.
Now, I'll admit, I haven't been entirely sure how to approach this dumbass idea of mine from the start so this wasn't the brightest move perhaps, but at least it seemed smarter than the "walk up and hand him a doll" idea. So, the working theory here was that I would set up a pony figure out in the park near to location I last saw him manifest during the previous day, then observe from the rooftops through binoculars (which are fucking expensive by the way... I had to get a cheap ass toy pair and they SUCK... gotta remind myself to look for some in pawn shops or something later) and see if the Construct would take notice of it upon his inevitable return.
So half the day goes by with me lounging on a rooftop staring out at the tree line, back and forth between it and Applejack, waiting for this thing to show up again. Sometime around the point where I was explaining to myself mentally how fucking stupid this whole idea was for the fiftieth time, I felt something that I can only really describe as a "pressure." It was just sort of a feeling, you know? Something not right. So I close my eyes and start swearing under my breath before slowly opening them again and rolling on to my side so I can look behind myself.
Aaaand there he was. With Me. On the fucking rooftop. Standing there behind me, holding one of the other ponies I had laid out back there... because I "might" have gotten bored and started playing with them at some point... Shut up... and just kind of looking at it like I'd seem him do before. Being in kind of a terrible position, I just sort of laid there, staring at him and not making a sound. After a moment or two, he seemed to "look" up enough to indicate that he noticed that I had noticed him. Upon which, he causally set the pony back down and promptly disappeared.
.....yeah, I think I'm done with this one for the time being. These up close and personal moments we've been having with one another, though sweet of him, are really starting to unnerve me in ways that I've been careful not to fully detail while making these reports. I think I would like some "me time" for a bit. So I am packing up my ponies and getting the fuck out of dodge and back on some HIGHER freaking rooftops.
I decided to take a more distanced approach this time. I staked out another nice park with a healthy woodland backdrop and a few tall-ish buildings nearby I could observe the place from. Like previous experiments, I waited around a day or two to see if he'd actually show up in the area before commencing with the experiment. Like before, it was only a matter of time. So I set up shop and prepared for phase two.
Now, I'll admit, I haven't been entirely sure how to approach this dumbass idea of mine from the start so this wasn't the brightest move perhaps, but at least it seemed smarter than the "walk up and hand him a doll" idea. So, the working theory here was that I would set up a pony figure out in the park near to location I last saw him manifest during the previous day, then observe from the rooftops through binoculars (which are fucking expensive by the way... I had to get a cheap ass toy pair and they SUCK... gotta remind myself to look for some in pawn shops or something later) and see if the Construct would take notice of it upon his inevitable return.
So half the day goes by with me lounging on a rooftop staring out at the tree line, back and forth between it and Applejack, waiting for this thing to show up again. Sometime around the point where I was explaining to myself mentally how fucking stupid this whole idea was for the fiftieth time, I felt something that I can only really describe as a "pressure." It was just sort of a feeling, you know? Something not right. So I close my eyes and start swearing under my breath before slowly opening them again and rolling on to my side so I can look behind myself.
Aaaand there he was. With Me. On the fucking rooftop. Standing there behind me, holding one of the other ponies I had laid out back there... because I "might" have gotten bored and started playing with them at some point... Shut up... and just kind of looking at it like I'd seem him do before. Being in kind of a terrible position, I just sort of laid there, staring at him and not making a sound. After a moment or two, he seemed to "look" up enough to indicate that he noticed that I had noticed him. Upon which, he causally set the pony back down and promptly disappeared.
.....yeah, I think I'm done with this one for the time being. These up close and personal moments we've been having with one another, though sweet of him, are really starting to unnerve me in ways that I've been careful not to fully detail while making these reports. I think I would like some "me time" for a bit. So I am packing up my ponies and getting the fuck out of dodge and back on some HIGHER freaking rooftops.
Mar 15, 2012
Broken Swords
So lets say you're a sword smith. Maybe there's a better name for that... whatever. You make swords. And you really enjoy doing it. It's what you're good at. It's your passion.
Now, these things, these uhhh... "Bandits," lets say. So now these bandits come around and have been sort of wrecking shit around town and you're kind of worried about that, but you're not sure how to fight them because they're really strong.
So you're doing some research and some experimenting and you design this new sword. It's a great sword, one of your best. You simply adore the work you've put into it, it means a lot to you. Then you realize that it's really effective against these Bandits... so you use it against them and sort of drive them off.
Everyone praises your discovery, so you work to recreate the sword so that others can use it to defend themselves as well. And things are pretty good for a while.
But then one day, a Bandit gets his hands on your sword... and he turns it against you. Humiliating you and leaving you beaten and broken. Your own work used against you. Betrayed by your own love.
But you survive... you recover... slowly, but... surely. You make it uneasily back to your feet in time. But you're still broken on the inside. You stand over your forge and stare down at the hot metal, but you can't bring yourself to work.
Meanwhile, the Bandits have returned in full force. Everyone is hurting and dying around you. Your research... your sword... it could save them. But every time you draw up the strength to fight, the Bandit waves your sword above his head, reminding you of your defeat... of your shame. You cower away from the fight. You turn your back on your former love.
You could help. The people cry out for your guidance. For your sword. But you deny yourself the forge. Why? For what purpose? Are you so broken? Is your defeat so utter?
Then why do you live? If your soul has already abandoned this plane, then why does your body remain?
Stand and fight. Return to the forge. Face down your burden. Take hammer in hand and pound away your shame. Certainly the sword you forge could be turned against you once more, but what is one sword against many? What is the point of living if not to try your hand again? And again? And again?!
Take your place upon the world's stage and shine like the brightest star.
Or step off and fade into oblivion.
Were it your choice. What would you choose?
Now, these things, these uhhh... "Bandits," lets say. So now these bandits come around and have been sort of wrecking shit around town and you're kind of worried about that, but you're not sure how to fight them because they're really strong.
So you're doing some research and some experimenting and you design this new sword. It's a great sword, one of your best. You simply adore the work you've put into it, it means a lot to you. Then you realize that it's really effective against these Bandits... so you use it against them and sort of drive them off.
Everyone praises your discovery, so you work to recreate the sword so that others can use it to defend themselves as well. And things are pretty good for a while.
But then one day, a Bandit gets his hands on your sword... and he turns it against you. Humiliating you and leaving you beaten and broken. Your own work used against you. Betrayed by your own love.
But you survive... you recover... slowly, but... surely. You make it uneasily back to your feet in time. But you're still broken on the inside. You stand over your forge and stare down at the hot metal, but you can't bring yourself to work.
Meanwhile, the Bandits have returned in full force. Everyone is hurting and dying around you. Your research... your sword... it could save them. But every time you draw up the strength to fight, the Bandit waves your sword above his head, reminding you of your defeat... of your shame. You cower away from the fight. You turn your back on your former love.
You could help. The people cry out for your guidance. For your sword. But you deny yourself the forge. Why? For what purpose? Are you so broken? Is your defeat so utter?
Then why do you live? If your soul has already abandoned this plane, then why does your body remain?
Stand and fight. Return to the forge. Face down your burden. Take hammer in hand and pound away your shame. Certainly the sword you forge could be turned against you once more, but what is one sword against many? What is the point of living if not to try your hand again? And again? And again?!
Take your place upon the world's stage and shine like the brightest star.
Or step off and fade into oblivion.
Were it your choice. What would you choose?
Mar 14, 2012
Passing Time with Questions
Okay, looks like a couple similar inquires are coming in recently, so I figured I'd do what I could to answer them real quick while I'm not particularly busy. If you've got an easy question I didn't answer here, throw it into the comments and I'll try to edit this before I go back into the field tomorrow...
Where are you staying? Where are you finding Shelter?
Rooftops...
Can you be more specfic?
High Rooftops
....
Okay okay, uhh... typically hotels or parking garages (these are totally the best, btw), but really anything that's a good 10-20 stories or taller is good in my book. Higher the better obviously. Getting to the roof is the tricky bit...
Step one, I just follow Doctor Who principles... Walk around like you own the place. Like it's a perfectly natural thing for you to be where ever you are. People don't pay a lot of attention to their surroundings most of the time anyways. So unless you're dressing like a hobo or a character straight out of an anime then odds are they're not going to notice "random guy number 69" and more than they noticed "random guy number 7". So just go about your business and odds are no one will bother you. And if they do? Liiiiie to them. If you can't come up with a good excuse for being there, tell them you're lost and ask them for directions, then calmly leave and find someplace else to infiltrate.
Most places of this nature have roof access, though generally only for maintenance, so it's just a matter of climbing the stairs to the top and then finding that entrance. You'll probably have to use your pocket knife to... and if you don't have a pocket knife, for fucks sake, get yourself a pocket knife... this is survivalist training 101. Anyways, there's typically going to be either some panel to unscrew first or a card reader to bypass, basically just something you're doing to have to disable or remove to ensure you don't set off an emergency/fire alarm. You can do that easily enough with a simple knife. Once that's done, you're in and on the roof. Close the door behind you, hide the evidence. Your tampering will be discovered eventually, so you typically don't want to stay in the same place for multiple nights... unless you're replacing the stuff you tampered with every time you leave or something... but honestly, I'd recommend relocating nightly. I'm pretty sure that's how The Rules are supposed to work.
Parking Garages are a lot simpler since you just walk to the top, hide behind some cars and ...well, there you go. No extra work. You are a bit more vulnerable in these spots though, since they don't have the same infiltration challenges as a rooftop. So... be weary of that bit.
Where are you getting your money?
Well, I've explained the credit card fraud trick already, but that was for when I was in the bunker. I don't have physical cards like that and even if I did, I wouldn't want to be using them in personal face to face senarios. (God I still need to find a way to pay those things off too..)
But I've kind of got a bank account... I just couldn't access that from the bunker. Well, not without doing it online and signing up for a bunch of shit and... I didn't want any transactions traced back to my location or for it to get hacked or something. Typical paranoia. So I didn't touch it. Now that I'm out though, I can hit an atm on the fly and be on my way. I don't exactly have a lot saved up, but it's enough for what I need to get by if I stick to the cheapest resources I can find. I'm hoping to have Plan B worked out before I start running out, but... yeah, story for another time.
My "experiment" materials have mostly been pretty cheap too. I mean, I got that super soaker off the clearance isle. Most expensive thing I've paid for was a hotel room that week that all the storms were going around.
What the fuck are you thinking with this ponies bullshit, have you lost your fucking mind?
Yes. Yes I have. Now shut up and let me handle this bullshit that no one else seems to have the balls to do so that it'll be done and no one else will have to risk their asses trying it.
And hey, you got ideas for better experiments?
GO DO THEM!!
One or two "zany researcher types" every blue moon isn't going to be enough for us to ever truly figure this thing out. It'll help, sure, but until we all get in on this together, we're never going to get anywhere.
Now if you're excuse me, I've got fucking ponies to attend to.
Where are you staying? Where are you finding Shelter?
Rooftops...
Can you be more specfic?
High Rooftops
....
Okay okay, uhh... typically hotels or parking garages (these are totally the best, btw), but really anything that's a good 10-20 stories or taller is good in my book. Higher the better obviously. Getting to the roof is the tricky bit...
Step one, I just follow Doctor Who principles... Walk around like you own the place. Like it's a perfectly natural thing for you to be where ever you are. People don't pay a lot of attention to their surroundings most of the time anyways. So unless you're dressing like a hobo or a character straight out of an anime then odds are they're not going to notice "random guy number 69" and more than they noticed "random guy number 7". So just go about your business and odds are no one will bother you. And if they do? Liiiiie to them. If you can't come up with a good excuse for being there, tell them you're lost and ask them for directions, then calmly leave and find someplace else to infiltrate.
Most places of this nature have roof access, though generally only for maintenance, so it's just a matter of climbing the stairs to the top and then finding that entrance. You'll probably have to use your pocket knife to... and if you don't have a pocket knife, for fucks sake, get yourself a pocket knife... this is survivalist training 101. Anyways, there's typically going to be either some panel to unscrew first or a card reader to bypass, basically just something you're doing to have to disable or remove to ensure you don't set off an emergency/fire alarm. You can do that easily enough with a simple knife. Once that's done, you're in and on the roof. Close the door behind you, hide the evidence. Your tampering will be discovered eventually, so you typically don't want to stay in the same place for multiple nights... unless you're replacing the stuff you tampered with every time you leave or something... but honestly, I'd recommend relocating nightly. I'm pretty sure that's how The Rules are supposed to work.
Parking Garages are a lot simpler since you just walk to the top, hide behind some cars and ...well, there you go. No extra work. You are a bit more vulnerable in these spots though, since they don't have the same infiltration challenges as a rooftop. So... be weary of that bit.
Where are you getting your money?
Well, I've explained the credit card fraud trick already, but that was for when I was in the bunker. I don't have physical cards like that and even if I did, I wouldn't want to be using them in personal face to face senarios. (God I still need to find a way to pay those things off too..)
But I've kind of got a bank account... I just couldn't access that from the bunker. Well, not without doing it online and signing up for a bunch of shit and... I didn't want any transactions traced back to my location or for it to get hacked or something. Typical paranoia. So I didn't touch it. Now that I'm out though, I can hit an atm on the fly and be on my way. I don't exactly have a lot saved up, but it's enough for what I need to get by if I stick to the cheapest resources I can find. I'm hoping to have Plan B worked out before I start running out, but... yeah, story for another time.
My "experiment" materials have mostly been pretty cheap too. I mean, I got that super soaker off the clearance isle. Most expensive thing I've paid for was a hotel room that week that all the storms were going around.
What the fuck are you thinking with this ponies bullshit, have you lost your fucking mind?
Yes. Yes I have. Now shut up and let me handle this bullshit that no one else seems to have the balls to do so that it'll be done and no one else will have to risk their asses trying it.
And hey, you got ideas for better experiments?
GO DO THEM!!
One or two "zany researcher types" every blue moon isn't going to be enough for us to ever truly figure this thing out. It'll help, sure, but until we all get in on this together, we're never going to get anywhere.
Now if you're excuse me, I've got fucking ponies to attend to.
Mar 12, 2012
Operation Brony Phase One
What, you thought I was joking? Hells no. We are doing this. I already have results! ...sort of.
So I wandered around town earlier today, sticking within the crowds until finally I see him. And just as every other time I've had this sort of encounter, nobody seems to notice him. This will never cease to fascinate me. In any event, this is as good an opportunity as any so... I dug into my backpack and retrieved Twilight Sparkle.
I steadily approached the Construct, pony in hand. I started to throw it at him, but I stopped myself. "No. We're going to do this Right." I told myself and continued forward. So now I'm standing like a foot or two away from this thing, holding up a tiny plastic animal like it's a gods damned holy cross and just waiting for something to happen like a complete idiot. Just standing there like, "Here, take it."
....and he did.
I'm pretty sure it took me a moment to register this fact. I'm sensing a pattern here somewhere with that. But yeah, he took it right out of my hand. Just like that. And now he's standing there, holding it in his hand, "looking" at it. Which I took as a good time to slowly back away from him while I observed his reaction. Which I suppose I would describe as "generally neutral" as he turned the thing this way and that, like he was studying it as closely as I was studying him.
And then I bumped into some idiot on his phone and got distracted because he was all "Hey, watch it!" and I was all "Oh, Sorry! Sorry! My bad!" and by the time I look back over... it was gone. Just "Zoop!" vanished. I ran back over to check and... no sign of Twilight Sparkle either. So... I guess he took it with him. Which is... interesting. Though not exactly conclusive of anything. Other than they definitely do not repel him. I mean, maybe you could say because he disappeared right after but... no, because he took it with him. So, yeah... results inconclusive. Let me try something else...
So I wandered around town earlier today, sticking within the crowds until finally I see him. And just as every other time I've had this sort of encounter, nobody seems to notice him. This will never cease to fascinate me. In any event, this is as good an opportunity as any so... I dug into my backpack and retrieved Twilight Sparkle.
I steadily approached the Construct, pony in hand. I started to throw it at him, but I stopped myself. "No. We're going to do this Right." I told myself and continued forward. So now I'm standing like a foot or two away from this thing, holding up a tiny plastic animal like it's a gods damned holy cross and just waiting for something to happen like a complete idiot. Just standing there like, "Here, take it."
....and he did.
I'm pretty sure it took me a moment to register this fact. I'm sensing a pattern here somewhere with that. But yeah, he took it right out of my hand. Just like that. And now he's standing there, holding it in his hand, "looking" at it. Which I took as a good time to slowly back away from him while I observed his reaction. Which I suppose I would describe as "generally neutral" as he turned the thing this way and that, like he was studying it as closely as I was studying him.
And then I bumped into some idiot on his phone and got distracted because he was all "Hey, watch it!" and I was all "Oh, Sorry! Sorry! My bad!" and by the time I look back over... it was gone. Just "Zoop!" vanished. I ran back over to check and... no sign of Twilight Sparkle either. So... I guess he took it with him. Which is... interesting. Though not exactly conclusive of anything. Other than they definitely do not repel him. I mean, maybe you could say because he disappeared right after but... no, because he took it with him. So, yeah... results inconclusive. Let me try something else...
Mar 9, 2012
In which I attempt to emulate a Jester
Well, I tried a logical seeming experiment(disguising as Redlight), a risky but theoretically sound experiment(Super Soakers are fun), and now I'm thinking it's about time I try something ridiculously stupid... for kicks. Because why the hell not? It's not like I can honestly make myself that much more fucked than I already am, so screw it, let's be crazy.
Going under the assumption that the Construct is a memetic entity, bound subconsciously by rules set by the memes and other nonsense surrounding him, then theoretically he could be affected by exploitation of said memes. This is pretty much old news and we've been over tulpa being pretty much nonsense before, but we're being irrational right now, so lets just take a whack at this pinata again and see if anything new falls out. Now I could just do the old $20 gag, but I feel like I'd be stealing someone else's gig by doing that, so we're going to take things a step further into the inner realms of 4chan and hit this fucker with the most powerful element of uncontrolled madness I can think of.
So I've started walking around with a set of My Little Pony figurines and wearing a Friendship is Magic t-shirt everywhere I go. During my next encounter with the Construct, I intend to observe whether or not these ponies have any effect in either repelling or attracting it. Probably by throwing them at him, but I haven't quite decided on that yet. May have to wing it.
In any case, should the ponies prove effective in repelling it, then I would theorize that either the stronger meme does indeed possess the strength to counteract the weaker one... OR that the inherit symbolic properties of FRIENDSHIP contained within the figurines is enough of a positive emotion surge that the negative influence of the Construct is overwhelmed. However, should they instead cause the Construct to become further attracted to myself, or the figurines themselves, then I must speculate that the Construct is a Closet Brony and that the key to defeating him lies in the production of a significant enough number of muffins. (I am now also carrying around a small supply of emergency muffins.)
In the event that these ponies have absolutely no identifiable effect on the Construct, then I shall deem this experiment a total failure... though not necessarily a waste of time. As I will have most certainly gotten a great deal of amusement out of the testing procedures. And provided I escape with my life, that's good enough for me. A barrel of laughs for us all.
...however, I have decided that I am keeping Rainbow Dash.
Don't judge me.
Going under the assumption that the Construct is a memetic entity, bound subconsciously by rules set by the memes and other nonsense surrounding him, then theoretically he could be affected by exploitation of said memes. This is pretty much old news and we've been over tulpa being pretty much nonsense before, but we're being irrational right now, so lets just take a whack at this pinata again and see if anything new falls out. Now I could just do the old $20 gag, but I feel like I'd be stealing someone else's gig by doing that, so we're going to take things a step further into the inner realms of 4chan and hit this fucker with the most powerful element of uncontrolled madness I can think of.
So I've started walking around with a set of My Little Pony figurines and wearing a Friendship is Magic t-shirt everywhere I go. During my next encounter with the Construct, I intend to observe whether or not these ponies have any effect in either repelling or attracting it. Probably by throwing them at him, but I haven't quite decided on that yet. May have to wing it.
In any case, should the ponies prove effective in repelling it, then I would theorize that either the stronger meme does indeed possess the strength to counteract the weaker one... OR that the inherit symbolic properties of FRIENDSHIP contained within the figurines is enough of a positive emotion surge that the negative influence of the Construct is overwhelmed. However, should they instead cause the Construct to become further attracted to myself, or the figurines themselves, then I must speculate that the Construct is a Closet Brony and that the key to defeating him lies in the production of a significant enough number of muffins. (I am now also carrying around a small supply of emergency muffins.)
In the event that these ponies have absolutely no identifiable effect on the Construct, then I shall deem this experiment a total failure... though not necessarily a waste of time. As I will have most certainly gotten a great deal of amusement out of the testing procedures. And provided I escape with my life, that's good enough for me. A barrel of laughs for us all.
...however, I have decided that I am keeping Rainbow Dash.
Don't judge me.
Mar 7, 2012
This Again
I'm starting to become worried about a Proxy...
Normally that sentiment, when announced by a runner, would mean something to the effect of "Oh God, there's this Proxy stalking me, and oh fuck what do I do?" Well... it's a human. So I suppose you would shoot them. That sounds like an idea. Honestly not my first choice of reaction, but just saying...
But no, for me that's not really ever been the concern. Proxies are not the enemy, but I've been over this before. So when I start worrying about any given proxy, it's for the same reason you might worry for a fellow runner. You think they're starting to lose themselves to the monster... or that they're going to die... and that makes you feel bad. Because you don't want to see them go like that.
Now granted, I'm still an optimist when I can be. Hope is not lost. I firmly suspect that each of the proxies I'm presently concerned with will pull through in the end. I believe in them. Odd as that may sound to some. But that doesn't stop me from being concerned about them.
Which leads me to the point of the matter I suppose. In most of the current cases there is one standout feature which seems to hold the highest degree of relative significance when searching for the root cause of their dilemmas. And for once, it's not the Construct. It's the Bureaucracy.
Lately, whatever mild admiration I had for the effectiveness of the proxy organizational structure has been summarily lost in light of recent events. With so many bungled mishaps, infiltrations, and clear abuses of power, I'm left to wonder why any self respecting proxy listens to these so called "Highers" at all. What sway could they possibly hold over you? What reason have you to believe that the orders they give you come from the Construct at all? I for one am left to believe that these fools are sitting around wanking it in a comfy chair while sending people out on suicide missions for their own personal amusement. And in regards to human ass-fuckery, this is about as evil as you can get in my book. These bastards are sending people off to die while they stay it safe in a hole somewhere, never once rewarding successes, yet quick to anger at the slightest failure. That sickens me.
Am I drawing the wrong conclusions here? Do enlighten me. I'm always happy to learn more about the system. Or the "culture" if you prefer that.
But if I'm anywhere near to correct, then wouldn't you agree it's about time for some new leadership? I mean seriously, what's stopping you from revolting against these clowns? The Construct? You think it cares? Unless you suddenly change sides, it doesn't even seem to notice you lot, so that can't be it. What do you think is going to happen? The Highers are going to send some elite proxy kill squad to eliminate you? What elite proxy kill squads?? Last I checked, you guys ARE the elite proxy kill squads. They have nothing on you. Your leash has an invisible chain. They can't tug back on something that isn't there.
But maybe I'm being too idealistic. It's not my place to be making such calls. But given what we've been seeing lately... a little defiance shown from you guys now and then would be a much appreciated change of pace. Hell, you might even make some actual Progress if you tried it. Just a thought.
Ugh, I dunno...
Just... just stay safe out there... you crazy bunch of bastards.
((Except you Writer... you've recently managed to achieve sole ownership of my list of "People Who Can Go Die in a Fire." So that means you're a bigger douche than David now. Congrats!))
Normally that sentiment, when announced by a runner, would mean something to the effect of "Oh God, there's this Proxy stalking me, and oh fuck what do I do?" Well... it's a human. So I suppose you would shoot them. That sounds like an idea. Honestly not my first choice of reaction, but just saying...
But no, for me that's not really ever been the concern. Proxies are not the enemy, but I've been over this before. So when I start worrying about any given proxy, it's for the same reason you might worry for a fellow runner. You think they're starting to lose themselves to the monster... or that they're going to die... and that makes you feel bad. Because you don't want to see them go like that.
Now granted, I'm still an optimist when I can be. Hope is not lost. I firmly suspect that each of the proxies I'm presently concerned with will pull through in the end. I believe in them. Odd as that may sound to some. But that doesn't stop me from being concerned about them.
Which leads me to the point of the matter I suppose. In most of the current cases there is one standout feature which seems to hold the highest degree of relative significance when searching for the root cause of their dilemmas. And for once, it's not the Construct. It's the Bureaucracy.
Lately, whatever mild admiration I had for the effectiveness of the proxy organizational structure has been summarily lost in light of recent events. With so many bungled mishaps, infiltrations, and clear abuses of power, I'm left to wonder why any self respecting proxy listens to these so called "Highers" at all. What sway could they possibly hold over you? What reason have you to believe that the orders they give you come from the Construct at all? I for one am left to believe that these fools are sitting around wanking it in a comfy chair while sending people out on suicide missions for their own personal amusement. And in regards to human ass-fuckery, this is about as evil as you can get in my book. These bastards are sending people off to die while they stay it safe in a hole somewhere, never once rewarding successes, yet quick to anger at the slightest failure. That sickens me.
Am I drawing the wrong conclusions here? Do enlighten me. I'm always happy to learn more about the system. Or the "culture" if you prefer that.
But if I'm anywhere near to correct, then wouldn't you agree it's about time for some new leadership? I mean seriously, what's stopping you from revolting against these clowns? The Construct? You think it cares? Unless you suddenly change sides, it doesn't even seem to notice you lot, so that can't be it. What do you think is going to happen? The Highers are going to send some elite proxy kill squad to eliminate you? What elite proxy kill squads?? Last I checked, you guys ARE the elite proxy kill squads. They have nothing on you. Your leash has an invisible chain. They can't tug back on something that isn't there.
But maybe I'm being too idealistic. It's not my place to be making such calls. But given what we've been seeing lately... a little defiance shown from you guys now and then would be a much appreciated change of pace. Hell, you might even make some actual Progress if you tried it. Just a thought.
Ugh, I dunno...
Just... just stay safe out there... you crazy bunch of bastards.
((Except you Writer... you've recently managed to achieve sole ownership of my list of "People Who Can Go Die in a Fire." So that means you're a bigger douche than David now. Congrats!))
Mar 6, 2012
I'm not sure which part was more unexpected
The following is thereabouts the closest thing to a full report as I can recollect from the event we shall henceforth be dubbing as "Experiment Two" until otherwise noted. These events occurred about two days ago and I'd have related them sooner but I kind of felt the need to relocate myself first, so we made that a priority thing.
So as you may have gleaned from my previous postings, I've been staking out a park recently that I hoped to run some tests in. The idea was to find a place with children and a dense treeline, as that seemed like prime hunting grounds or whatever. Plus, I felt safer so long as I remained within an area of his potential territory in which there were still plenty of people around to hopefully prevent him from taking much public action against me. But mostly I just wanted to try encountering it under conditions in which it was not specifically looking for ME.
So a few days of waiting around and keeping an eye out, and jackpot. He showed. I took note of the location and made plans to return the next day, hoping for a repeat performance. I got one.
Oh, uhh... I guess I should note at some point here that I got myself a hotel for the nights I was in the area, since that becomes relevant later. But mostly that was just so I could store my shit somewhere while I was scouting and not worry about losing anything important if shit went awry... and also so that I could clean myself up a bit and not be wandering around the park looking like a dirty hobo that all the parents would start moving their children away from. I also heard there were potentially nasty storms coming so I didn't want to be sleeping on rooftops during that shit either.
Carrying on...
Day of experiment, I camped out with my testing apparatus and waited for the Construct to show. Kept my eyes shifting back and forth across the treeline for hours. I forgot to check my watch, but just going by the time of day, I think he might have actually turned up about the same time he had the day before. Not entirely sure what to make of that... because I went a few days without seeing him in that same timeframe so... I dunno, speculation for another time.
He was doing thereabouts what you'd expect of him and didn't appear to notice me yet, so I took it upon myself to make my move. So I started walking towards him... no shouting, no acknowledgement other than general eye contact as I bee-lined for him. By the time I got to about... I dunno... somewhere between 10 and 20 feet from it, I stopped. He had definitely taken notice of me by this point and turned his body accordingly to face me. Moment of truth. I raised my weapon, took aim... Fire.
And liquid flew from the Construct's body like a makeshift sprinkler system...
...but that's because the water I was blasting him with was ricocheting off of him just like it would if you were the one I was shooting with a Super Soaker. Because that's what I was doing to him, hitting him with a toy water gun. Because "Water, yaaaaay...."
I held the blast for about 15-20 seconds before letting up. I could have kept up the stream but I wanted to take a moment to observe the reaction before applying another dose of H2O to the Construct's suit. It was about like I'd have imagined based on Onewinged's less scientific attempt... but I did note that the water just seemed to run off of him. None of it appeared to be absorbed by the suit or anything, like you'd expect of actual fabric. It all just kind of ran down him, so that even though there were water droplets trailing down his body, he didn't actually look wet at all. And he hadn't responded to the "attack" yet so... I finished pumping back up, took aim once more and fired another burst.
...I'm not sure at exactly what moment I realized I was in the air. Presumably right before the part where I hit the ground. I'm having trouble recollecting it, but given the evidence, I'm pretty sure he slapped me with "something". Because not long after pulling the trigger I was lying on my back and complaining of a headache... but I'm pretty sure that's just because I landed on my head... in any case, I guess that's the point where things actually got "weird".
So I'm lying there on my back, when suddenly my nice clear view of the sky is intruded upon by a tiny face attached to a tiny body leaning over me from my left side. Or more specifically, some 4-5 year old kid, who was staring down at me as though I had just fallen out of the sky... which I suppose is because I Did. I was expecting him to poke me with a stick at any moment. What I was not expecting was for him to open his tiny little mouth and say, "You shouldn't have done that."
So being me, I responded to this in the most sane and logical manner I could think to react to it in by replying to him with, "I swear to god, if your name is 'Ben' I will fucking End You right here and now."
He scrunched up his face and gave me this weird sort of look, "My name's Davy."
I contemplated this. "Well... the gods of fate have smiled upon you then." and sat myself up to investigate my situation further. The Construct was where I left him, thereabouts. Though I appeared to have placed several additional feet between the two of us than there previously had been. SEVERAL. Additionally, inspection of my gun revealed that the front barrel had been sliced cleanly in two by something... which made be wonder why I was in much better shape by comparison... not that I'm complaining.
"He doesn't like it when you do mean things like that."
I glance to my left again, cocking an eyebrow. "Okay, what are you, some kind of midget Proxy?"
He gave me that confused look again, "What's a Proxy?"
"Oh for fuck's sake..." I climbed to my feet. The bottle that contains the water was still in one piece, so I started unscrewing the container. Kept my eyes darting back and forth between gun, kid, and Construct. Having removed the bottle, I dropped the broken gun and took a tentative step towards the Construct when I hear, "If you're mean, he'll make you disappear like all the others."
"Is that so?" I turned around to look at the kid again. I think I was about to say something else, but that's when I noticed the other kids, all sort of in a group not too far behind the first kid, all looking at me with this blank stare, sort of quizzically, like they were the ones studying me. In retrospect... I don't remember seeing a single parent with any of them. 'Fucking Creepy' would be the understatement of the month.
The kid started to say something else, but that was interrupted by a sputtering noise followed by a yell of irritation. Presumably because I had turned up the bottom and was dumping the contents over the kid's head. I think I thought it would snap him out of it... that assuming there was something to snap him out of. He kicked me in the shin and ran off, the other kids scattering along with him.
There wasn't much water left after that, so I was kinda like, 'Screw it' and put the bottle to my lips and tilted it back. Started to turn back to check on our mutual 'friend' after that and discovered he wasn't way over there where I left him anymore... Instead he was standing directly in front of me, looming overhead like a disgruntled soccer mom. I slowly tilted the bottle back down as it leaned it's head down until it was level with mine.
I swear to god I heard growling.
I felt something in the back of my mind, like... he was about to Say something to me... but then I spit the water out in his face.
I woke up four hours later lying in a dumpster conveniently located outside the hotel I'd been staying at. I still had a headache and not a single piece of my super soaker was anywhere to be found. Given where I found myself, logic insisted that I get the fuck out of there now, but upon further consideration... Fuck It. If he dropped me off here, then clearly he already knew where I was staying. Which meant I was no safer here tonight than I was any of the previous nights and that furthermore, had he wanted to take me he could have done so by now. Or, you know, just a second ago when he was in my face. So, given I'd already paid for the night anyways, I did the dumb thing and stayed the night in the hotel again. Washed up, went to bed, raided the buffet in the morning, and then got the fuck out of dodge. No further problems. So... yeah... that was a thing that happened.
As for results, I... dunno. I feel pretty safe saying that he's not "weak" against water or anything like that. There was nothing to indicate such. At most, the dousing seemed to just really annoy him. Which, hey, that's a plus in my book, but still not really helping. Probably going to require further study of some kind... I'll try to think of something else later.
More concerning discovery was probably just those kids and how they were reacting to it. That kind of disturbed the hell out of me really... but I don't think there was anything I could really do to "fix" that situation. They seemed fine other than the fact they appeared to be of a way too friendly mindset with the Construct. But hey, maybe that's a good thing? I dunno. I'll have to think some more on it...
uhh... more later I guess... that's all for now.
So as you may have gleaned from my previous postings, I've been staking out a park recently that I hoped to run some tests in. The idea was to find a place with children and a dense treeline, as that seemed like prime hunting grounds or whatever. Plus, I felt safer so long as I remained within an area of his potential territory in which there were still plenty of people around to hopefully prevent him from taking much public action against me. But mostly I just wanted to try encountering it under conditions in which it was not specifically looking for ME.
So a few days of waiting around and keeping an eye out, and jackpot. He showed. I took note of the location and made plans to return the next day, hoping for a repeat performance. I got one.
Oh, uhh... I guess I should note at some point here that I got myself a hotel for the nights I was in the area, since that becomes relevant later. But mostly that was just so I could store my shit somewhere while I was scouting and not worry about losing anything important if shit went awry... and also so that I could clean myself up a bit and not be wandering around the park looking like a dirty hobo that all the parents would start moving their children away from. I also heard there were potentially nasty storms coming so I didn't want to be sleeping on rooftops during that shit either.
Carrying on...
Day of experiment, I camped out with my testing apparatus and waited for the Construct to show. Kept my eyes shifting back and forth across the treeline for hours. I forgot to check my watch, but just going by the time of day, I think he might have actually turned up about the same time he had the day before. Not entirely sure what to make of that... because I went a few days without seeing him in that same timeframe so... I dunno, speculation for another time.
He was doing thereabouts what you'd expect of him and didn't appear to notice me yet, so I took it upon myself to make my move. So I started walking towards him... no shouting, no acknowledgement other than general eye contact as I bee-lined for him. By the time I got to about... I dunno... somewhere between 10 and 20 feet from it, I stopped. He had definitely taken notice of me by this point and turned his body accordingly to face me. Moment of truth. I raised my weapon, took aim... Fire.
And liquid flew from the Construct's body like a makeshift sprinkler system...
...but that's because the water I was blasting him with was ricocheting off of him just like it would if you were the one I was shooting with a Super Soaker. Because that's what I was doing to him, hitting him with a toy water gun. Because "Water, yaaaaay...."
I held the blast for about 15-20 seconds before letting up. I could have kept up the stream but I wanted to take a moment to observe the reaction before applying another dose of H2O to the Construct's suit. It was about like I'd have imagined based on Onewinged's less scientific attempt... but I did note that the water just seemed to run off of him. None of it appeared to be absorbed by the suit or anything, like you'd expect of actual fabric. It all just kind of ran down him, so that even though there were water droplets trailing down his body, he didn't actually look wet at all. And he hadn't responded to the "attack" yet so... I finished pumping back up, took aim once more and fired another burst.
...I'm not sure at exactly what moment I realized I was in the air. Presumably right before the part where I hit the ground. I'm having trouble recollecting it, but given the evidence, I'm pretty sure he slapped me with "something". Because not long after pulling the trigger I was lying on my back and complaining of a headache... but I'm pretty sure that's just because I landed on my head... in any case, I guess that's the point where things actually got "weird".
So I'm lying there on my back, when suddenly my nice clear view of the sky is intruded upon by a tiny face attached to a tiny body leaning over me from my left side. Or more specifically, some 4-5 year old kid, who was staring down at me as though I had just fallen out of the sky... which I suppose is because I Did. I was expecting him to poke me with a stick at any moment. What I was not expecting was for him to open his tiny little mouth and say, "You shouldn't have done that."
So being me, I responded to this in the most sane and logical manner I could think to react to it in by replying to him with, "I swear to god, if your name is 'Ben' I will fucking End You right here and now."
He scrunched up his face and gave me this weird sort of look, "My name's Davy."
I contemplated this. "Well... the gods of fate have smiled upon you then." and sat myself up to investigate my situation further. The Construct was where I left him, thereabouts. Though I appeared to have placed several additional feet between the two of us than there previously had been. SEVERAL. Additionally, inspection of my gun revealed that the front barrel had been sliced cleanly in two by something... which made be wonder why I was in much better shape by comparison... not that I'm complaining.
"He doesn't like it when you do mean things like that."
I glance to my left again, cocking an eyebrow. "Okay, what are you, some kind of midget Proxy?"
He gave me that confused look again, "What's a Proxy?"
"Oh for fuck's sake..." I climbed to my feet. The bottle that contains the water was still in one piece, so I started unscrewing the container. Kept my eyes darting back and forth between gun, kid, and Construct. Having removed the bottle, I dropped the broken gun and took a tentative step towards the Construct when I hear, "If you're mean, he'll make you disappear like all the others."
"Is that so?" I turned around to look at the kid again. I think I was about to say something else, but that's when I noticed the other kids, all sort of in a group not too far behind the first kid, all looking at me with this blank stare, sort of quizzically, like they were the ones studying me. In retrospect... I don't remember seeing a single parent with any of them. 'Fucking Creepy' would be the understatement of the month.
The kid started to say something else, but that was interrupted by a sputtering noise followed by a yell of irritation. Presumably because I had turned up the bottom and was dumping the contents over the kid's head. I think I thought it would snap him out of it... that assuming there was something to snap him out of. He kicked me in the shin and ran off, the other kids scattering along with him.
There wasn't much water left after that, so I was kinda like, 'Screw it' and put the bottle to my lips and tilted it back. Started to turn back to check on our mutual 'friend' after that and discovered he wasn't way over there where I left him anymore... Instead he was standing directly in front of me, looming overhead like a disgruntled soccer mom. I slowly tilted the bottle back down as it leaned it's head down until it was level with mine.
I swear to god I heard growling.
I felt something in the back of my mind, like... he was about to Say something to me... but then I spit the water out in his face.
I woke up four hours later lying in a dumpster conveniently located outside the hotel I'd been staying at. I still had a headache and not a single piece of my super soaker was anywhere to be found. Given where I found myself, logic insisted that I get the fuck out of there now, but upon further consideration... Fuck It. If he dropped me off here, then clearly he already knew where I was staying. Which meant I was no safer here tonight than I was any of the previous nights and that furthermore, had he wanted to take me he could have done so by now. Or, you know, just a second ago when he was in my face. So, given I'd already paid for the night anyways, I did the dumb thing and stayed the night in the hotel again. Washed up, went to bed, raided the buffet in the morning, and then got the fuck out of dodge. No further problems. So... yeah... that was a thing that happened.
As for results, I... dunno. I feel pretty safe saying that he's not "weak" against water or anything like that. There was nothing to indicate such. At most, the dousing seemed to just really annoy him. Which, hey, that's a plus in my book, but still not really helping. Probably going to require further study of some kind... I'll try to think of something else later.
More concerning discovery was probably just those kids and how they were reacting to it. That kind of disturbed the hell out of me really... but I don't think there was anything I could really do to "fix" that situation. They seemed fine other than the fact they appeared to be of a way too friendly mindset with the Construct. But hey, maybe that's a good thing? I dunno. I'll have to think some more on it...
uhh... more later I guess... that's all for now.
Mar 2, 2012
I Forgot to Mention
I was focused on the actual report thing I guess, so it slipped my mind. Came back to me today. Just want to get it off my chest.
Hoodies fucking Suck.
I mean seriously, why do so many people wear these things? This piece of shit is entirely impractical if you're going around with the hood up. Your range of sight is shot all to hell. You're being stalked by eldritch abominations and psycho killers, do you really need to be limiting your field of vision? I mean, it's really hard to try and be cool and watch your back when instead of just making some causal barely noticeable glance over your shoulder, you have to turn half your body and entire head around to get a look behind yourself because there's this huge piece of fabric blocking both sides of your face. Yeah, I'm sure your stalker didn't notice THAT move. Way to give away the fact that you're paranoid! Are you sure there's not a way we could make this even MORE obvious??
Stupid thing doesn't even keep your head warm. What a ripoff.
Hoodies fucking Suck.
I mean seriously, why do so many people wear these things? This piece of shit is entirely impractical if you're going around with the hood up. Your range of sight is shot all to hell. You're being stalked by eldritch abominations and psycho killers, do you really need to be limiting your field of vision? I mean, it's really hard to try and be cool and watch your back when instead of just making some causal barely noticeable glance over your shoulder, you have to turn half your body and entire head around to get a look behind yourself because there's this huge piece of fabric blocking both sides of your face. Yeah, I'm sure your stalker didn't notice THAT move. Way to give away the fact that you're paranoid! Are you sure there's not a way we could make this even MORE obvious??
Stupid thing doesn't even keep your head warm. What a ripoff.
Mar 1, 2012
While we're waiting... Some Results
Hmm... park's not as crowded as I expected it to be. I think there were actually more people here yesterday when I first staked the place out. Maybe it'll pick up over the weekend... when school's out and such.
Huuuh, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. We can discuss the next experiment dealie when it's carried out. Instead, lets have some results from my previous on-going experiment. The one I've mentioned was already in progress once before.
It's pretty simple really. The idea was see if I could throw the Contruct off or at least get a reaction out of him by wearing a disguise. Something he'd be familiar enough with to possibly be confusing, all things considered. So I've been running around the past few weeks with my hands bandaged up, wearing camo pants and a red hoodie with an operator symbol emblazoned across the hood.
Yeah... "redlight"
I guess I figured I might could fool him, ya know? Old Red had a habit of not dying after all, so I thought I could fake it. Maybe even fool a proxy or two. Get em to take orders from me or something. That'd be funny, right? Granted, redlight wasn't exactly popular, so I suppose it could have also been even more reason for the Construct or a proxy to want to kill me by pretending to be him.
...but I still haven't encountered any proxies... and the Construct doesn't seem to care. I mean, seriously... he might have "looked" at me funny Once, and that was pretty much it. I even had the balls to approach him once in it when I saw him in an alleyway (and even then it was only because a bunch of people were walking around, so I figured it was safe enough), even tried doing this whole kneeling before him thing like someone I remembered reading about had done once. Nothing. No reaction. No voices. No tentacle rape. Not a damn thing. So after an awkward moment or two I just backed up and filtered back into the crowd.
Hell, Shaun of all people didn't even seem to pick up on it when I was with him earlier. Never said a thing about it. So I've even got proof of runners not reacting to it.
So clearly dressing as redlight isn't going to earn me any perks. The outfit alone isn't standout enough to grab attention and, honestly... I suppose it's reasonable enough to say that most runners and proxies probably don't even know who the guy was. I mean, even when the guy was still around, I read a post by MK-I in which his entire crew nearly attacked the dumb bitch because they had no idea who he was... and THAT was during redlight's hayday. And just to acknowledge the fact, I'm aware that there's another guy who's been going around in the same outfit lately (though for very different reasons) and clearly his life isn't getting any better for it either.
So yeah. Pretty much a bust as far as I'm concerned. And there's not anyone else that really stands out in terms of appearance that I can think of who you could pull a similar stunt with. And even then, you run into the same problems as I did here, where most people just aren't going to recognize you by your clothes. If you're trying to deceive a proxy (or runner) by claiming to be someone you're not, then you've better off just outright saying something like "Hello there, I'm Timothy Holiday, can you hold out your left arm there for a moment?" Because whether the person you're trying to emulate is dead or alive, your words are going to work a lot better than any disguise on an actual person... since most bloggers don't know what each other look like anyways. And, again, the Construct doesn't seem to care what you're wearing.... he knows it's you.
Huuuh, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. We can discuss the next experiment dealie when it's carried out. Instead, lets have some results from my previous on-going experiment. The one I've mentioned was already in progress once before.
It's pretty simple really. The idea was see if I could throw the Contruct off or at least get a reaction out of him by wearing a disguise. Something he'd be familiar enough with to possibly be confusing, all things considered. So I've been running around the past few weeks with my hands bandaged up, wearing camo pants and a red hoodie with an operator symbol emblazoned across the hood.
Yeah... "redlight"
I guess I figured I might could fool him, ya know? Old Red had a habit of not dying after all, so I thought I could fake it. Maybe even fool a proxy or two. Get em to take orders from me or something. That'd be funny, right? Granted, redlight wasn't exactly popular, so I suppose it could have also been even more reason for the Construct or a proxy to want to kill me by pretending to be him.
...but I still haven't encountered any proxies... and the Construct doesn't seem to care. I mean, seriously... he might have "looked" at me funny Once, and that was pretty much it. I even had the balls to approach him once in it when I saw him in an alleyway (and even then it was only because a bunch of people were walking around, so I figured it was safe enough), even tried doing this whole kneeling before him thing like someone I remembered reading about had done once. Nothing. No reaction. No voices. No tentacle rape. Not a damn thing. So after an awkward moment or two I just backed up and filtered back into the crowd.
Hell, Shaun of all people didn't even seem to pick up on it when I was with him earlier. Never said a thing about it. So I've even got proof of runners not reacting to it.
So clearly dressing as redlight isn't going to earn me any perks. The outfit alone isn't standout enough to grab attention and, honestly... I suppose it's reasonable enough to say that most runners and proxies probably don't even know who the guy was. I mean, even when the guy was still around, I read a post by MK-I in which his entire crew nearly attacked the dumb bitch because they had no idea who he was... and THAT was during redlight's hayday. And just to acknowledge the fact, I'm aware that there's another guy who's been going around in the same outfit lately (though for very different reasons) and clearly his life isn't getting any better for it either.
So yeah. Pretty much a bust as far as I'm concerned. And there's not anyone else that really stands out in terms of appearance that I can think of who you could pull a similar stunt with. And even then, you run into the same problems as I did here, where most people just aren't going to recognize you by your clothes. If you're trying to deceive a proxy (or runner) by claiming to be someone you're not, then you've better off just outright saying something like "Hello there, I'm Timothy Holiday, can you hold out your left arm there for a moment?" Because whether the person you're trying to emulate is dead or alive, your words are going to work a lot better than any disguise on an actual person... since most bloggers don't know what each other look like anyways. And, again, the Construct doesn't seem to care what you're wearing.... he knows it's you.
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