I've kind of been working under this design where, in the event I think about or someone else suggests an in person meetup... I kind of stop and really consider that for a while before I jump into it. Like... do I trust this person enough? What's the likelihood of something bad happening while I'm around them? Just how dangerous of a person are they? Can I even make it to where they are realistically? You know... "things and stuff." Is this really a good idea or not? I like to weigh my options and make sure I'm making a good decision before I do something like this. Because believe it or not, I do THINK about things before I do them. Though that probably just makes me seem like even more of an idiot sometimes... Oh well. Think what you will of my logic, but that's how I try to roll.
Keyword "try"
Because when I suddenly found a message in my inbox earlier in the week from Hakurei Ryuu basically saying "We need to meet." I immediately came back with a "When? And Where?" without giving it a second thought.
....I'm not sure which part of my brain is broken.
Maybe I was just too intrigued by the suggestion. I feel like she's been acting a little ...cryptic? is that a good word? She's been a little odd lately. How about that? Not necessarily in a bad way but... enough to raise eyebrows. And now she wants to meet with ME of all people. So something's got to be up. Because I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would want meet up with me. And... okay, there's the Sage thing. The Title attracts my attention and my respect, so it's not someone I can ignore very easily. Not to mention her connection to- to-
....damnit.
So a few days go by and I find myself standing around in a park, waiting around at a picnic table, and having these sudden paranoid realizations that she may just be coming to kick me in the balls for calling her the c-word a few weeks back. But before the insane half of my brain could convince me to bail, I look to my right and "Hey." she's sitting right fucking next to me... and I am not ashamed to admit that I probably jumped five feet at that and nearly stumbled completely over onto my ass(if I hadn't taken my backpack off before hand I probably wouldn't have regained my balance in time). So I asked her when the fuck she turned into "The Gods Damned Batman." Then she gave me this agitated look and came back with "Of course I'm invisible. Haven't you been paying attention?"
"Uhh... yeah... right, sorry. I uhh..." I'm rubbing my temples and trying to regain some sense of composure at this point. Off to a great start Gargoyle, way to fucking go.
So moving on... -.-;;
Gargoyle - "So, okay, now that we're here... What's this all about? I mean, no offense, but I hardly see how I register as a priority contact for someone of your caliber. Unless you're just making house-calls to everyone now..."
She seemed to be actively thinking about it as she started responding, like maybe she wasn't entirely sure herself, even though her words and thoughts came out pretty clearly. "I guess half of it was just to make sure that you were real. You've posted some stupid stunts in the past so I wanted to make sure you weren't just some poser jerking people around... like someone else I know..."
I shrugged and sort of held my arms to the side in a sort of 'behold' gesture. "Whelp... here I am. In the flesh. Dirty, raggedy, and beat all to hell. Probably don't smell at that well either... but I wouldn't notice that. Oh-" I reached into a pocket and moments later produced a small plastic animal with rainbow swirled hair, setting it on the table. "...and carrying around ponies. That fit all the basic criteria?"
She sort of stared at Rainbow Dash for a moment, shaking her head. Didn't take a mind reader to guess what she was thinking, but hey... I set myself up for the ridicule, may as well roll with it now. If she'd got up and left in that very instant, I would not have blamed her. In any event, she eventually continued with, "All that aside then, you happened to be nearby, and you're crazy enough to be of use. Plus you seem like you still have some misplaced awe in a title that an insane person gave to me just because I'm friends with two people who actually deserved it. In other words, Gargoyle, I am using you. Are you on board with that?"
There was a bit of a pause here while I stared back at her with this wide-eyed look of... confusion, I guess. Really more a matter of my brain processing this information too slowly. And then this enormously stupid grin spreads across my face. "M'lady, that's what I'm fucking here for." I dropped down onto the bench and leaned forward over the table, "What have you got in mind?"
So maybe an hour or two later, we're strolling along the park's nature trails, going a bit off the beaten path in search of Who-the-Fuck-Else? My previous experimentation, combined with my dumb/terrible luck, suggested that this was as good a place as any for an encounter. I hadn't failed to run into him in such a place to date... barring that One Other Time that we will not be discussing further... So, seemed like only a matter of time. And with two Runners instead of just one I figured the odds were more highly stacked. Even though the point of the experiment we were planning to perform was technically meant to override that fact...
As per the usual at this point, I'm not sure when he actually popped up. I just know that I suddenly took notice of him. And I'm not sure... because my attention was jumping about and I'm forgetting things now, but I think she might have actually noticed him first. So... there he was. Time for mildly suicidal action.
So, let me explain the deal here. Hakurei is basically invisible to the Construct for as of yet undetermined reasons. I don't know how many people are actually aware of that, and for some reason Hakurei herself always seems to avoid the topic in her blog, but I'm not going to beat around the bush. Some hunches are flying about, but no real answers, so lets not speculate too much there. Point of matter, it doesn't seem to see her. So what we wanted to do was test to see if this ahh... "cloak," or what have you, effect she's got going on extends to more than just herself. Presumably to confirm whether those around her are also protected by the effects or if it applies only to herself.
Now, at this point in the story, I'm pretty damn sure it can at least see ME. I mean, it was pretty clearly looking... "in my direction" at the time and just the plain fact it was here at all suggested I'd probably summoned it there somehow. So I was pretty confident it was aware of me. Whether it saw Ryuu or not was another thing all together. At that moment in particular, she was right next to me, so hard to say. He could have easily been looking at both of us. So it was time to get a little confirmation on that...
So I took a few steps away from Ryuu, we'd already kind of been over that she would stick to one spot while I did my wandering around, so she stood her ground while I made sure I had the big guy's attention. Sure enough, his gaze did appear to be following me... but maybe that was just because I was moving. In any case, I had it's attention. So I switched directions and walked back towards Hakurei, moving behind her and stopping for a bit. Kept my eyes on him to make sure he was still watching me, though I will note that I was trying NOT to look directly at him this time... (See? I can take advice.) I didn't notice any changes, no signs of confusion when I stepped behind her. The only thing I really noticed at that point was that Ryuu had started shaking... and I was trying to ignore that... but in any event, I hadn't "gone invisible" by hiding behind her best I could tell, so moving on...
I started walking in an arcing path around the Construct, circling him basically, with Hakurei keeping to her position still. His gaze followed me perfectly the entire time. He never split his attention between us or looked back at her once. Just kept following my movements the whole time whether I was in direct proximity to Hakurei or not. I felt loved... Really. -.-;; But for all I knew at the time, he was just ignoring her for some reason, so I needed some sort of confirmation this was working at all.
I chose a spot that put the Construct thereabouts directly between us both, but not quite, since I didn't want him obstructing my view of Ryuu. I turned my gaze directly to Hakurei at that point and basically said 'Shout something.' She seemed hesitant for a moment... during which I noted again that she wasn't looking near as confident about this as she had seemed before we came out here... maybe... maybe this was a mistake... But then she called out something derogatory that I can't remember because I was too busy laughing at both what she said and at how quickly the Construct turned his head in her direction after she said it. Keyword "direction." For the first time in a while, or maybe ever, I felt this notion that it was confused.
I asked her to move to her left a bit, circle a little like I had been doing. She did. It didn't follow. It kept gazing towards that same spot. "Son of a bitch." It turned it's gaze back to me. "Well, at the very least I think that proves he can't see you... but I don't think your presence is having any effect on its ability to see me, so... do you want to try-
I'm not sure what changed. I'm still kind of confused by it. I guess because he's never really acted aggressively towards me, that I could tell, except for that one time when I provoked him. Maybe that's what he was taking this as... provocation. I guess that's reasonable... All I know was that I saw things snaking up from behind him. And that by the time I registered this, one of them was flying towards me.
"Look Out!!"
Did not know the girl could move that fast. Kind of wish she couldn't have. But she shoved me out of the way just before it struck.....
and took the blow herself.....
In retrospect, I think I'm having more of a panic attack thinking about this NOW than I did when it actually happened. Adrenaline had kicked in and everything sped up, so there wasn't much time to think about it. Just react. Unlike now, when I have all the time in the world to sit here and fucking hate myself. Why did she have to- tangent. Tangent. Tangent. LATER.
I clambered to my feet pretty damn quickly and rushed to her side. All I could really tell was that the thing had hit her in the shoulder, presumably at thereabouts the location of the large tear in her clothing, and that there was suddenly a lot of blood. I shot a freaking deathglare over at the Construct, but he didn't quite seem to be looking at me anymore. A little above us I think... There had been a small spray of blood when the blow connected... I think that's the only reason he didn't follow up with anything... I think he was too busy trying to figure out what the fuck he'd actually hit. Thin air doesn't normally bleed I guess?
Whatever. She looked shocked from the experience, but she was still lucid, so I yelled at her to snap out of it as I pulled her to her feet. Then we started running. She was stumbling a bit at first and I practically had to drag her, but she recovered after a moment or two and was moving along just as well as I was. From there it was a mad dash back towards civilization. The trees seemed like they were closing in at times and I swear I saw dark fog rolling in from the corner of my eyes a couple times, but it never caught up with us. Not sure if it was actually following us, or just screwing with us as we fled... just told myself to keep following the "First Rule of Amnesia." Don't look behind you...
We'd been running hand and hand for a while by the time the first signs of life greeted us along the forest exit. Which is why I was surprised went I suddenly realized her hand had slipped out of mine. I had been able to hear the panicked deep breaths as we ran... the strange... humming? she was doing as we fled... and then nothing. We ran past this large tree just moments before hitting civilization. It blocked my vision of her for less than a second... and she was gone. Stopped dead in my tracks. Looked everywhere, called her name, tried to find a blood trail... Nothing. I wanted to call foul play, but there were no signs of the Construct anymore either. Everything looked and felt perfectly normal.
"....fucking Batman."
Listen... I've postponed this post for a while now because I was worried how you guys would respond but... I swear, she's not dead. She can't be. I fucking scoured that place. I'd have found something. But she is gone... and I don't know where she went... but I'm sure she'll turn up again soon. That... seems to be the pattern. So, try not to worry too much...
But I'm still kind of annoyed that she just ditched me like that and left me to worry, so... whoever runs across her next... smack her upside the back of the head for me will you? Christ.
Showing posts with label Experiments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Experiments. Show all posts
Apr 26, 2012
That was also a bad idea
Okay, so I had this bright idea, right? The redlight costume didn't really get me anywhere, but what about a Slender Man costume? Yeah, yeah, EMH did it, but that's just what "supposedly" drew it to them. They didn't keep using it to see how he'd react to the costume directly. And hey, I figure, why not take it a step further?
So I tracked down this store I found online that sells costumes for people to wear while on stilts. All I really needed were some long-ass black pants and the stilts, the rest I picked out elsewhere(they didn't have any business suit costumes anyways). So now I'm walking around as this 8-9 foot tall fucker in a business suit, my head covered in a makeshift white face mask thingie... even got some of those little white gloves to make sure my hands were the right color.
But I didn't want to walk around like this in public, cause there's more than enough shit going around to infect people as it is. So I trekked out with my gear to set out in costume through a big open forest environment. Which is the BEST IDEA, I know... but I figured his own territory was the best place to draw him out in, so into the woods we go. I reiterate, I am aware of the fact that this is the BEST IDEA EVER, so you should not need to point this out to me at any time during the comments.
So guess what happened? As I'm walking around, deep in the forest, dressed as the Construct? Can you guess it? Do you know what I ran into out there?
The Construct? Ha, haaa... no, no, that's the obvious conclusion, try again.
Proxies? Nope! Not quite... though that would have probably been interesting.
A local gathering of The Fears? Le Gasp! Could it be true?? No. No it's not.
A panicked Runner with a gun? Ooo, man, that would have been tough to explain... but no...
Give up?!?
I ran into Bear. A fucking BEAR.
Now, had this been a true slender-shenanigans incident, I would have gladly described every stupid detail of this event to you, in the deluded belief that doing so might help someone figure it out a little better based on how it reacted to me and how I got away from it. But since that isn't the case... Fuck you guys, I am keeping my embarrassing-ass story to myself, thank you. All you need to know is that I'm still alive and I'm only telling you this at all as a simple reminder that "Oh yeah, there are other terrible things in the woods that maybe you should remember to be aware of and only forgot about because there was an eldritch abomination behind you."
For the record however...
-I have a sudden incredible disliking for Bears.
-Bears are not fond of muffins.
-I'm out of muffins.
-Running in stilts through a thick wooded area is difficult as fuck.
That is All.
So I tracked down this store I found online that sells costumes for people to wear while on stilts. All I really needed were some long-ass black pants and the stilts, the rest I picked out elsewhere(they didn't have any business suit costumes anyways). So now I'm walking around as this 8-9 foot tall fucker in a business suit, my head covered in a makeshift white face mask thingie... even got some of those little white gloves to make sure my hands were the right color.
But I didn't want to walk around like this in public, cause there's more than enough shit going around to infect people as it is. So I trekked out with my gear to set out in costume through a big open forest environment. Which is the BEST IDEA, I know... but I figured his own territory was the best place to draw him out in, so into the woods we go. I reiterate, I am aware of the fact that this is the BEST IDEA EVER, so you should not need to point this out to me at any time during the comments.
So guess what happened? As I'm walking around, deep in the forest, dressed as the Construct? Can you guess it? Do you know what I ran into out there?
The Construct? Ha, haaa... no, no, that's the obvious conclusion, try again.
Proxies? Nope! Not quite... though that would have probably been interesting.
A local gathering of The Fears? Le Gasp! Could it be true?? No. No it's not.
A panicked Runner with a gun? Ooo, man, that would have been tough to explain... but no...
Give up?!?
I ran into Bear. A fucking BEAR.
Now, had this been a true slender-shenanigans incident, I would have gladly described every stupid detail of this event to you, in the deluded belief that doing so might help someone figure it out a little better based on how it reacted to me and how I got away from it. But since that isn't the case... Fuck you guys, I am keeping my embarrassing-ass story to myself, thank you. All you need to know is that I'm still alive and I'm only telling you this at all as a simple reminder that "Oh yeah, there are other terrible things in the woods that maybe you should remember to be aware of and only forgot about because there was an eldritch abomination behind you."
For the record however...
-I have a sudden incredible disliking for Bears.
-Bears are not fond of muffins.
-I'm out of muffins.
-Running in stilts through a thick wooded area is difficult as fuck.
That is All.
Apr 18, 2012
Collaborative Efforts in Perception
So I had been passing notes back and forth a while back with Manic Muse regarding ideas for experiments because... ahh... he asked for them? And there's this one thing he had been asking me to try out and... mmph... I guess I finally caved a bit. I mean, I've been given a number of reasons as of late to doubt his general level of sanity, but I'm still intrigued enough by his thoughts on perception to go along with it. Besides, I needed something to get my mind off of things and I don't want to play with that other thing anymore right now... so... here we are.
Anyways, he basically had these ideas about using Perception to do something akin to drawing energy from the Construct, or perhaps rather from the chaotic elements surrounding him, to basically gain special abilities. Which obviously sounds kind of farfetched and out there but... stranger things have happened, right? I dunno. It's still a suggestion of low-level super-powers, so that's kinda... nnnngh, yeeeeeah... I mean, on the one hand, I really liked The Last Mimzy. I like this idea that you could present high concepts to children at an early age before their perceptions of reality have solidified and give them a chance to excel far beyond the mental and physical capabilities of even the most able of modern man. I mean, a little girl basically taught herself to levitate and speak telepathically, simply by providing her with knowledge and changing her perceptions in an age of innocence. That kind of crazy level of perception alteration is right up my ally. And instances of people with "powers" or whatever within the mythos does seem to suggest that such things might be more plausible than you'd think...
But I'm an adult damnit! I'm already pretty damned convinced that I can not fly. Because if I could fly, I wouldn't need to worry about some tentacled douchbag that can't seem to handle climbing more than 3-4 flights of stairs on most days of the week. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only thing left to worry about if I could fly is like the Convocation or something. So hey, yeah, learning to do something like that would be fucking awesome, but I don't think it's gonna happen regardless of how much I try to "believe" that I can fly.
Still... there's potential validity to the argument... so I figured I could try something a little smaller scale. He mentioned one idea of being able to lift small pebbles or stop oneself from hitting the ground when you fall. So... low level telekinesis, basically. I didn't feel like putting myself through the stupidity of trying to Jedi-mind throw a rock, so I went with more the latter option. Basically an idea that you could catch yourself in the heat of a dangerous situation by slowly down time or something. So... bullet-time, I guess. And it's pretty simple to test, just spend some time jumping around and prat-falling, while believing really hard in yourself. That was... "basically" what I wound up doing.
A few hours of "exercise" later and I was pretty certain that this wasn't working out. But then, obviously I was skeptical from the start, so I feel like that was probably holding me back. So I figured I'd try a more in depth approach and really push the boundaries here. So I found myself a nice spot, sat down, and really, truly meditated on the idea for about half an hour or so. Trying to find my center and all that. Focus my thoughts and energy. I can do this. I believe!
I returned to my feet refreshed and determined. We were really going to do it this time. I am Not Afraid! I can Do This! Just keep telling yourself that. You have the power, you just have to draw it out. The potential for greatness lies inside of you, now is the time to let it out. No turning back. We're ready. Lets do this!
And then I stepped forward and basically flung myself down a flight of stairs.
....yeah, that didn't work.
So now I'm back on the rooftops trying the one where you make yourself heal faster. Because that would be really great right now.
Anyways, he basically had these ideas about using Perception to do something akin to drawing energy from the Construct, or perhaps rather from the chaotic elements surrounding him, to basically gain special abilities. Which obviously sounds kind of farfetched and out there but... stranger things have happened, right? I dunno. It's still a suggestion of low-level super-powers, so that's kinda... nnnngh, yeeeeeah... I mean, on the one hand, I really liked The Last Mimzy. I like this idea that you could present high concepts to children at an early age before their perceptions of reality have solidified and give them a chance to excel far beyond the mental and physical capabilities of even the most able of modern man. I mean, a little girl basically taught herself to levitate and speak telepathically, simply by providing her with knowledge and changing her perceptions in an age of innocence. That kind of crazy level of perception alteration is right up my ally. And instances of people with "powers" or whatever within the mythos does seem to suggest that such things might be more plausible than you'd think...
But I'm an adult damnit! I'm already pretty damned convinced that I can not fly. Because if I could fly, I wouldn't need to worry about some tentacled douchbag that can't seem to handle climbing more than 3-4 flights of stairs on most days of the week. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only thing left to worry about if I could fly is like the Convocation or something. So hey, yeah, learning to do something like that would be fucking awesome, but I don't think it's gonna happen regardless of how much I try to "believe" that I can fly.
Still... there's potential validity to the argument... so I figured I could try something a little smaller scale. He mentioned one idea of being able to lift small pebbles or stop oneself from hitting the ground when you fall. So... low level telekinesis, basically. I didn't feel like putting myself through the stupidity of trying to Jedi-mind throw a rock, so I went with more the latter option. Basically an idea that you could catch yourself in the heat of a dangerous situation by slowly down time or something. So... bullet-time, I guess. And it's pretty simple to test, just spend some time jumping around and prat-falling, while believing really hard in yourself. That was... "basically" what I wound up doing.
A few hours of "exercise" later and I was pretty certain that this wasn't working out. But then, obviously I was skeptical from the start, so I feel like that was probably holding me back. So I figured I'd try a more in depth approach and really push the boundaries here. So I found myself a nice spot, sat down, and really, truly meditated on the idea for about half an hour or so. Trying to find my center and all that. Focus my thoughts and energy. I can do this. I believe!
I returned to my feet refreshed and determined. We were really going to do it this time. I am Not Afraid! I can Do This! Just keep telling yourself that. You have the power, you just have to draw it out. The potential for greatness lies inside of you, now is the time to let it out. No turning back. We're ready. Lets do this!
And then I stepped forward and basically flung myself down a flight of stairs.
....yeah, that didn't work.
So now I'm back on the rooftops trying the one where you make yourself heal faster. Because that would be really great right now.
Apr 4, 2012
I am SO Dumb
So I thought I'd take a nice risk and see what would happen if I ignored "Get Up High" for a few days. I've been following it pretty close for the most part and sleeping in high places thus far, but the last couple days I thought I'd try camping out at ground level and sleeping on park benches. Basically just to prove if there was any merit to the theory or if I could sleep where ever I wanted and it didn't matter because he just wasn't following me that closely at the moment.
So, first couple days? Been going pretty well actually. No problems. No encounters. Everything's been cool.
Granted sleeping on a park bench is no more comfortable than sleeping on a rooftop, so not a lot of change there.
Last night on the other hand....
I knew something was wrong when I woke up in a bed. Because obviously I had not gone to sleep in a bed. So I blink myself awake and lean up to absorb my surroundings. I notice two important things thereabouts immediately. One... I'm naked. Pretty sure I don't remember being naked when I fell asleep. But all my shit is gone so... that's not very reassuring.
Even less reassuring! Two... There is Blood Everywhere.
Like I'd just woken up on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 14 or some shit. The stuff was all over the place. It was dripping down the walls like they were Bleeding. Yet there were no bodies, no apparent source, it was just THERE. In regards to my condition in that moment, "Panic" would be an understatement.
So I slide out of the bed and- 'Squish'
Because of course, it would be pooled up all over the floor too. Not in my happy place. Not in my happy place. Not in my happy place....
So I check under the bed because... I'm a genius like that. Nothing there. Open the closet. Empty. Only bothered to check one of the dresser drawers after I found the same results. Best I can tell from the furniture and the layout, it's a hotel room, which means this door over here should be... a bathroom. A surprisingly spotless and clean bathroom. Save for the big sloppily drawn in red message on the mirror reading "N(X) ESCAPE." Which was, of course, Reeeeally reassuring. As was the realization that the reflection of myself in the mirror had a few things very much in common with the state of the other room. I thought about getting into the shower but I was afraid of what color the water would be so I just grabbed a towel, threw it around my waist and hurried to the other door with the locks and the peephole on it which I assumed to be the exit.
I eased it open and there he was. Just standing there in the hallway, leaned slightly back with his arms held out to greet me. His whole posture looking to me as though he were meaning to shout "Surprise!"
...and then I woke up Underneath the park bench I had originally fallen asleep on.
So I got up, gathered my things, and did what any sane and logical individual would do in that particular situation. I started Running. I didn't really have a destination in mind, it was really more a matter of putting as much distance between that place and myself as physically possible. So I ran and I kept running and I didn't stop running until the sun came up and I promptly collapsed in front of a gas station. Whereupon I was later awoken by an attendant who informed me that I could not sleep there. To which I promptly responded that quite clearly I could as I had just done so. To which he replied that I couldn't do so anymore. To which I contradicted that I was rather certain that I could indeed continue to do so as my previous attempt clearly indicated. But then I remembered I was tired and hungry so I got up anyways and went inside with the man to buy something to eat.
....so now I'm on a rooftop again.
Because fuck you that's why.
So, first couple days? Been going pretty well actually. No problems. No encounters. Everything's been cool.
Granted sleeping on a park bench is no more comfortable than sleeping on a rooftop, so not a lot of change there.
Last night on the other hand....
I knew something was wrong when I woke up in a bed. Because obviously I had not gone to sleep in a bed. So I blink myself awake and lean up to absorb my surroundings. I notice two important things thereabouts immediately. One... I'm naked. Pretty sure I don't remember being naked when I fell asleep. But all my shit is gone so... that's not very reassuring.
Even less reassuring! Two... There is Blood Everywhere.
Like I'd just woken up on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 14 or some shit. The stuff was all over the place. It was dripping down the walls like they were Bleeding. Yet there were no bodies, no apparent source, it was just THERE. In regards to my condition in that moment, "Panic" would be an understatement.
So I slide out of the bed and- 'Squish'
Because of course, it would be pooled up all over the floor too. Not in my happy place. Not in my happy place. Not in my happy place....
So I check under the bed because... I'm a genius like that. Nothing there. Open the closet. Empty. Only bothered to check one of the dresser drawers after I found the same results. Best I can tell from the furniture and the layout, it's a hotel room, which means this door over here should be... a bathroom. A surprisingly spotless and clean bathroom. Save for the big sloppily drawn in red message on the mirror reading "N(X) ESCAPE." Which was, of course, Reeeeally reassuring. As was the realization that the reflection of myself in the mirror had a few things very much in common with the state of the other room. I thought about getting into the shower but I was afraid of what color the water would be so I just grabbed a towel, threw it around my waist and hurried to the other door with the locks and the peephole on it which I assumed to be the exit.
I eased it open and there he was. Just standing there in the hallway, leaned slightly back with his arms held out to greet me. His whole posture looking to me as though he were meaning to shout "Surprise!"
...and then I woke up Underneath the park bench I had originally fallen asleep on.
So I got up, gathered my things, and did what any sane and logical individual would do in that particular situation. I started Running. I didn't really have a destination in mind, it was really more a matter of putting as much distance between that place and myself as physically possible. So I ran and I kept running and I didn't stop running until the sun came up and I promptly collapsed in front of a gas station. Whereupon I was later awoken by an attendant who informed me that I could not sleep there. To which I promptly responded that quite clearly I could as I had just done so. To which he replied that I couldn't do so anymore. To which I contradicted that I was rather certain that I could indeed continue to do so as my previous attempt clearly indicated. But then I remembered I was tired and hungry so I got up anyways and went inside with the man to buy something to eat.
....so now I'm on a rooftop again.
Because fuck you that's why.
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 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 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 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 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.
Feb 14, 2012
Where we go from here...
You know, maybe my memory is fucked, but I don't remember M ever really saying what to do with that whole sleeping outside on fucking rooftops dealie when it's fucking Raaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnnnning....
I mean... that's kind of a problem you'd think would come up, yeah? Not that I'm entirely complaining... not at the moment anyways. I've been camped out on top of a parking garage for most of the day, so when it started the downpour I just had to go down one floor and "ta-da" problem solved. I just figure big parking garage's are not always going to be an option, so I'm kinda wondering what the cheat code for this one is... especially if it starts effing snowing or dropping hail or anything like that, I mean, it IS the season... XP
So long as we don't have any Mary Shelley moments I think we'll be fine though...
Anyways, guess I'm plotting out my game plan from here. I've got a few backups I had been working on out in the Bunker, but that stuff isn't quite going to be ready to utilize for a good while yet... so I've got some time to waste learning this whole "running" procedure. Which, I guess is actually going well enough so far... once I actually got out here in the thick of it, it almost came natural. And I even feel better in general because I'm not having to worry about it anymore. Course, I suppose I also feel a LOT better just being the fuck outside. You... you really have no idea... just how good it feels to be out of that hole in the ground and around actual physical people again. The stuff you take for granted....
Ahh... but before I get off on some sappy spill about how the world is beautiful or some such, let me just cut back to the chase and then quit wasting your time.
I figure I've got some time and nothing to lose... because fuck it, dying out here is so much infinitely better than dying in that hole that I do not even begin to care... so I'm gonna try out a couple of experiments I've been pondering. No details yet, don't want to spoil things. But lets just say one of them is already in action and experiment two is coming soon.
Also, I'm pondering over whether or not I want to try meeting anyone while I'm out here... or if that's too dangerous. I'm tempted though... More than a couple of you I'd probably like to share a drink or two with, but... I dunno. Guess we'll see.
In the meantime, I seem to be making it alright on my own. Following The Rules, for the most part anyways... and just keeping moving. I've seen it since the day at the Bunker, but I was traveling in the crowds then, so it didn't make any funny moves for me. No close encounters basically... but it's out there and clearly still after me, so... great.
Think that's about all of it. Will catch up later. Stay Safe.
~Mouselight //Master of His Domain//
}:3c
I mean... that's kind of a problem you'd think would come up, yeah? Not that I'm entirely complaining... not at the moment anyways. I've been camped out on top of a parking garage for most of the day, so when it started the downpour I just had to go down one floor and "ta-da" problem solved. I just figure big parking garage's are not always going to be an option, so I'm kinda wondering what the cheat code for this one is... especially if it starts effing snowing or dropping hail or anything like that, I mean, it IS the season... XP
So long as we don't have any Mary Shelley moments I think we'll be fine though...
Anyways, guess I'm plotting out my game plan from here. I've got a few backups I had been working on out in the Bunker, but that stuff isn't quite going to be ready to utilize for a good while yet... so I've got some time to waste learning this whole "running" procedure. Which, I guess is actually going well enough so far... once I actually got out here in the thick of it, it almost came natural. And I even feel better in general because I'm not having to worry about it anymore. Course, I suppose I also feel a LOT better just being the fuck outside. You... you really have no idea... just how good it feels to be out of that hole in the ground and around actual physical people again. The stuff you take for granted....
Ahh... but before I get off on some sappy spill about how the world is beautiful or some such, let me just cut back to the chase and then quit wasting your time.
I figure I've got some time and nothing to lose... because fuck it, dying out here is so much infinitely better than dying in that hole that I do not even begin to care... so I'm gonna try out a couple of experiments I've been pondering. No details yet, don't want to spoil things. But lets just say one of them is already in action and experiment two is coming soon.
Also, I'm pondering over whether or not I want to try meeting anyone while I'm out here... or if that's too dangerous. I'm tempted though... More than a couple of you I'd probably like to share a drink or two with, but... I dunno. Guess we'll see.
In the meantime, I seem to be making it alright on my own. Following The Rules, for the most part anyways... and just keeping moving. I've seen it since the day at the Bunker, but I was traveling in the crowds then, so it didn't make any funny moves for me. No close encounters basically... but it's out there and clearly still after me, so... great.
Think that's about all of it. Will catch up later. Stay Safe.
~Mouselight //Master of His Domain//
}:3c
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