Friday, December 17, 2010

Questions, Answers and the Solstice

M asking about trees gave me an idea, so I thought I'd set up a nice little blog post for anybody to ask me questions they have about my job or my boss. It's basically midday right now and I'll be hanging around here for most of the day, I figure, so feel free to fire away if you're reading. I'll post a comment saying when/if I have to leave my Internet connection, so until then, I'll at least be checking the blog every few minutes. I'll probably be on tomorrow, too - since I know for a fact this weekend is going to be uneventful, barring an unforeseen emergency.

And another thing - three days, twenty one hours and fifty seven minutes to the Solstice (did I get that right? I'm still not sure I made the time conversions correctly when I set the countdown clock on my laptop), and I have the hotel rooms booked. Yes, that's right, my colleagues and I are going to ground for the Solstice. On my insistence, might I add. That's is, of course, if I'm lucky and He doesn't show up between then and now to Walk us all somewhere for the big showdown you all seem to think is going to happen. I'm not the kind of Servant you ever see bothering Heretics anyway, so I'm actually quietly confident that even if He does come to take my colleagues somewhere, He won't need me. Or at least, that's what I've been hoping and praying for. I'll be honest in saying I have absolutely no idea what's going to go down on the Solstice or if anything will be going down at all, being that I'm not the kind of person who's all that well informed in my little organisation.

If I were Him, and everybody on the Internet was talking about how they were investing all their hopes in fighting back on a particular date, then I'd probably do the smart thing and just not bother anybody on that particular day. Actually now that I think about it, has anybody considered the possibility that the Solstice will come and go, and all that will happen is you'll spend all day looking out for Him and His 'children' while we all hide? It's what I'm planning to do, and I've heard absolutely nothing about special plans from anybody.

Then again, I do live in Australia, where we'll be having the Summer Solstice, rather than the Winter one, so maybe the opportunity for whatever it is you all think you're going to do only exists in countries that lie above the equator. Personally I have no idea how or why the Solstice was picked as the date to fight back. Maybe there's something I'm missing, being relatively recent to Internet discussions concerning Him, but it never made much sense to me.

So I guess, in the spirit of this post being one for questions, I'd like to ask, why did you guys pick the Solstice to fight back, and what are you planning to do? And yes, I know I work for the enemy, so if you don't want to tell me what you're doing, that's fine. But why the Solstice?

22 comments:

  1. I also don't understand the significance of the Solstice, perhaps because I just haven't been keeping up well enough with things, or because it's hard to think of it as a winter event right now (although, the way the weather's been going in my area you'd think it WAS winter).

    I suppose that brings me to a question I've been wondering; which part of Australia do you live in, Andrew? I understand if you don't want to give out details, but it may put my mind at ease if I find out all this activity isn't near me (even though that may not even be of consequence).

    That actually sounds a little insensitive to me now. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be. I'm just curious, and slightly worried too.

    Stay safe, Andrew.

    - Red

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  2. Don't worry about it, and thank you. I think I can get away with saying I'm on the East Coast in a capital city at the moment, but I'm not sure I wouldn't get in trouble being more specific than four possible locations, even if they are so general.

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  3. East Coast, not my area then. That's something of a relief, let me tell you, terrible as that sounds to me. I feel rather selfish now.

    Thank you, anyway. I appreciate it. Peace of mind can be so difficult to come across sometimes.

    - Red

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  4. Uhm, hiya! I just discovered your Blog and decided to take a deeeep dip with my nose right into your affairs. *smiles*

    First question: Did you read about your boss a lot? I would really like to know of which theories only you approve and of which you don't. Of course I'm most interested in your opinion at the Santa theory, being the egoistical little thing I am.

    The solstice thing might have something to do with celebrating events of our plane and the plane of spirits being close to each other. Also, this winter solstice is on a full moon (at least in Germany, is it the same in the USA?) this year, which makes it a night perfect for any mystical things whatsoever, I think. But there are lots of people who know the reasons better than I do, because they have a tighter connection to this topic.

    All I know that the idea comes from Robert of White Elephants and that Halloween is another day where SM should be weaker. I also know why Robert thought He'd be weaker on Halloween, if you like to know.

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  5. Have you ever read H(a)unted?

    What do you think of your bosses actions in that blog? It paints Slenderman in a very different light than the others.

    Do you think M is correct about his calling Slendy a beast?

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  6. I've read a bit, but not a whole lot. I know M's collection of 'rules', and I've identified what I believe are a couple of exceptions to them (mainly the 'get up high' rule), but I'm not sure the exceptions apply universally.

    For instance, I've been told climbing stairs or buildings to get up high while He's watching can give Him ideas, and then up high isn't so safe any more because He already saw you on the ground and knows you're a person. But then other times it doesn't matter, from what I can tell. It's about as hit-and-miss as the operator-symbol-as-a-protection-device seems to be, which is something I think everyone agrees on. Still, I wouldn't recommend running up high while He can see you to anybody.

    And then there's trees. If they're touching the windows, there's no such thing as high enough. I know that.

    I'm not one for theories, though. I know He takes children and like forests and can Walk wherever He wants when nobody's watching, but I don't exactly spend my spare time trying to guess at where He's from and what makes Him tick. He's a thing pretending to be a faceless man in a suit, who is alien, incomprehensible and wrong. That's all I know. I'd rather not guess.

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  7. I've read H(a)unted, yes. I'm not sure it's not fake, but it's got nothing to do with how He acts. It's because He writes. It wouldn't surprise me if He wanted to protect somebody who didn't fear Him (at least until He figured out why), but I've always had trouble believing people who say He just talks to them, even if it's in their head.

    You know how He talks to me, when He ever bothers to notice me? I get a Migraine and start seeing my memories - only they're warped beyond recognition into violent and depraved mockeries of my life, while the whole time I want to hurt myself, or other people, or animals, or burn down buildings and destroy fine artworks and just generally do things that are pointlessly violent, destructive or bad for the sake of it.

    And then about half an hour after He's gone, I look back and try to remember what's it's like and get a vague impression of a conversation I've half forgotten.

    And no, I have to respectfully disagree with M when he says He is stupid, or just a beast. So what if He doesn't recognise you're a person if you're up higher than Him? A person who's up higher than Him makes about as much sense to Him as a dude with no face does to us. He's wholly and completely alien and incomprehensible, not stupid.

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  8. Well... I was thinking He rather uses Calvinball-like rules for His behaviour. As if this was a game with the rules made up on the go. For every rule, there could be made a counter-rule - like someone makes up the rule: "You can't go higher than second floor" and believes in it firmly enough to make it true. Then He makes up counter-rules, exceptions, like: "If branches touch the window, it's not to high for me" and "I cannot reach you at third floor but I can follow you there."

    But I digress, I'm sorry.
    So... how do you get the things you need to live? Mostly money and food I mean. Stealing would draw attention to you very quickly, so it's supposedly not an option...

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  9. For the most part I pick pockets for money, though I'm not what you'd call excellent at it. My old teacher was very well practised at it before he went nuts, but I never had the knack for it. It helps that I'm living in a larger city at the moment, because that makes it easier to do, and one or two of my colleagues are sane enough to be used as incredibly effective distractions.

    The next time someone who looks like they might be homeless starts having a fit and pushes you over or scares you into stepping back and colliding with someone, check your wallet. Seriously, it's like the oldest trick in the book.

    Other than that, I beg and borrow from Touched or Taken that come through. Some are sane enough to be struggling for cash like I am, but others have bank accounts they just plain forgot about when they went crazy and are more than happy to turn over now they've forgotten how money works.

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  10. How tall is he, on average?

    Ballpark it if you have to.

    While impossibly tall is a real answer, I guess, I'm hoping for something more like meters/feet.

    Second question. How many touched/taken would you say there are in your area, if you were forced to say/guess?

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  11. But why weren't you already noticed by the local police? I mean... you said you were staying in one place for a long time, most of which you are in the same two stores. That *is* kind of noticable, isn't it?

    Also, how do you feed all the people you have to take care of? Pickpocketing might work for one person, but with all the plastic money nowadays I can't imagine you getting enough for two or three more people every day.

    And I prefer to have my wallet in an inner or closable pocket because of that. *laughs* If I can't, I hold it in my hand at all times. My mum taught me that very early.

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  12. His height varies as He sees fit, as far as I can tell, but He's always tall. In what I guess you'd call his default state, He tends to be two or three feet taller than the tallest person in the room, as best as I can tell. Of course, when indoors, His height is limited by the ceiling.

    I wouldn't have a clue how many Touched are in the area, but I'm currently taking care of three Touched and three Taken, now that the new girl's here to stay. Two or three others just 'passing through' would constitute a normal month, but some months are quieter and some aren't.

    I haven't a clue if there are other groups of us in the city, or if there are more living on their own. Some lead dual lives, pretending to be normal people when they're not wearing masks, so I couldn't really say. I really don't know.

    On a side note, Taken are a subset of Touched who are completely bereft of their own free will, so if you want to refer to them both as a group, Touched works.

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  13. Damn! I keep answering one person while someone else write a comment and then it looks like I'm writing to them.

    As for the police, I don't pick pockets near where we're living. I take public transport into the city whenever I need cash. Though you do have to avoid areas with security cameras, so you can't do it right in the CBD.

    And as for watching your wallet, you'd be one of the smart ones - which not everybody is. I've seen women walking with open handbags over their shoulders with the wallet right on top on the odd occasion, which is just a piece of cake.

    And food is a bit of a struggle, but fortunately Taken don't exactly care if they only eat a can of cold baked beans once every two days, so it's not too hard to live off less money than usual. They don't do a whole lot of moving unless He makes them, anyway, so it's not like they have high energy needs.

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  14. Thank you very much for your answers. ^^ It's okay, I think we catch up very quickly while reading your answers.

    One last question, I might read the answer later, but it just occured to me: Does He prefer light or dark in general? Not really like "for hunting" or so... but really more like people do, who have a time they seem to feel best with.

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  15. I wouldn't have a clue about that one, sorry.

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  16. Is it true that the Taken who are in the deepest are in a sort of hivemind with one another? It's been proposed by Jay of Anomalous Data, and I've been wondering.

    How's the situation back at home, Andrew? I hope we haven't caused any more nosebleeds.

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  17. I'm not doing shit on the 21st besides hanging out in a diner and trying to stay out of the cold. Don't know what people have planned but they should watch themselves. Not to insult you, Andrew, but people who are flashy and try to pull off fancy shit get picked off by, well, you're kind. I'd tell people to stay down and keep moving like any other day of the year. And yeah when you go upstairs Slenderman can see you. Keeping up high works because he can't tell you're human, not because he can't get people at tall heights.

    Also question about how long do your hollows live?

    - M

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  18. Sorry to give such a useless answer, but I haven't the faintest clue about the hivemind theory. Though if you want to get technical, I've seen no evidence for it, nor any to the contrary. It's possible, I guess.

    And I'm not really sure how long my colleagues tend to stay alive, but most of them would starve to death unless they had an order from Him to carry out, in which case they'll eat to keep themselves fit enough to do it.

    After long enough with me, He tends to come and take them elsewhere anyway, like He's got some sort of rotating roster for who I'm supposed to look after. Sometimes I think He's treating my operation like a storage facility, so He'll have spare Touched in the event someone gets themselves killed.

    So in short - some of them would starve to death without me in however long it takes to starve to death, and the others disappear occasionally so I don't really know. Nobody but my old teacher's been with me for more than two months, and I'm 99% sure he's an exception to pretty much every rule, ever.

    And as to the situation back home, there's been no nosebleeds, fortunately, but there was a fight last night. 'Interpretations of scripture' kind of thing lead to a nice little showdown between the two male Touched. Three black eyes and one possibly broken nose later, I managed to break them up, so it's all fine now. I swear everyone working for Him that's still got at least a little sanity left from time to time is so full of themselves.

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  19. Thank goodness. I'd hate to find out our prying was harming you in some manner.

    If you're up to it, would you care to elaborate upon your teacher?


    "I swear everyone working for Him that's still got at least a little sanity left from time to time is so full of themselves."

    Bit hypocritical, don't you think? ;)

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  20. I never said I wasn't full of myself ;)

    And, uh, his name is James, though he hasn't answered to it since he got Taken, which is the only reason I can tell you it. He's got a totheark-style name now that he answers to, but I don't think He'd like me telling you who my colleagues are in case one of you runs into them.

    I don't know how he was before he met my boss, but when I met him, he was paranoid beyond comprehension and 'religious' in the extreme. I kind of have a habit of translating everything I do into work-related terms that I picked up from him, except he painted everything as if he was part of a church working for a physical God (three guesses who). If you see me slipping religious terms into conversation to describe things He does, then you have James to blame.

    We still work together, as much as you can call my doing all of his jobs 'working together', but every now and then I'll wake up and he'll be sitting on my bed, waiting for me so we can talk about 'matters of great importance'. It's the closest he gets to sane these days. I don't know if it's His influence, but whatever we talk about is always useful, once you can extract what James actually means from the paranoid warnings to 'watch everybody' and his religious rants.

    For instance, the night before the whole debacle with the new girl, we had a chat about her and how she was dealing with fitting in with all us guys. That's how I knew she'd be at her old house when she ran, because James mentioned she probably missed it the night before. Stuff like that.

    Despite being crazy and near-comatose more often than not, he is helpful to have around. Whenever one of the Touched refuses to do something because it interferes with a 'plan' of theirs, he'll kinda come back to himself for a moment and back me up if it looks like it might get violent, which then means it never does.

    He's also the person who set up the 'let's all take photo's of Andrew's brother to make sure he doesn't run out on us' thing, so I wouldn't exactly call him a friend, but he is a good ally to have once you ignore the fact he got me stuck in all this.

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  21. Also wow verbal diarrhoea. That comment did not feel that big when I was writing it.

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