Did you guys notice I have a title now? Apparently I'm a batman villain now, and unsurprisingly I'm kind of o.k. with this.
Well I was, but after this week, I'm pretty much sick of all of this. You think I would have been able to hold this off a bit longer, but no, I'm clearly not the only one playing this game, and apparently I'm not even the only one cheating. You know what, that's not even fair, I've probably had a better week than any of you, possibly excluding some of the proxies in the audience, but I really don't care all that much. Because this is the week I betrayed a friend. It's not like I didn't see this coming, like I haven't spent this time mentally preparing myself for when I had to make this choice. But then it's not like I ever really had a choice, is it? Do or die isn't much of a choice, really.
So yes, my good friend the Slender Man payed a visit to Elizabeth this week. How do I know this, you might ask yourself, well I know it because he payed me a visit shortly prior, good friend that he is, to let me know he wanted a "favor." Obviously I'm paraphrasing. He wanted me to introduce him to Elizabeth, or rather, he wanted me to help set the mood. I didn't exactly have the necessary cards to say no. Both of us know there is a line, a constantly shifting, moving, unseen line that he can't cross and another equally unstable line that I won't cross. The day either line is broken one of us gets hurt... and I get killed. I don't know exactly where either line is, but that wasn't it, so I agreed to his suggestion.
So Saturday I broke into Elizabeth's apartment.
That's not true, I ransacked her apartment, I flipped furniture, I destroyed her television, I stole her computer, I emptied her trash all over the floor, I made sure the place was a complete wreck. My final touch was to add an operator's symbol to her mirror in blood. This is a point where having a school with a good biology department is a mixed blessing. I made sure that no one saw me entering or exiting from the apartment, and I made sure to stop by the security room and destroy all of the recordings from that day. Fortunately not many people stay on campus during the weekend here, so I didn't have to worry too much.
After that I returned to my dorm and waited. I just sat on my floor and waited for what was going to come, I might have passed out at some point, but I honestly don't remember either falling asleep or waking up at any point in all that time, so maybe I didn't. maybe I've been awake for almost 48 hours now. I'm going to sleep after I finish typing this. It was around two in the afternoon when what I was waiting for happened: Elizabeth called.
She had just gotten back from visiting her parents for the weekend, I can only imagine what went through her head when she opened the door to her apartment and found the chaos waiting for her. The chaos I had left for her to find. She called me before she called the police. Is that ironic or just sad? I ran there to make sure I arrived before the campus police did, the ones I told Elizabeth to call. I found her in the apartment's parking lot, waiting for me. She was holding herself and shivering, even though it was probably the warmest day in a month. I don't even remember what I said, but somehow I calmed her down as quickly as I could, and I got her to tell me what was wrong. When she told me someone had broken into her apartment I rushed up there as quickly as I could, telling here to stay behind. She didn't, just like I knew she wouldn't, but when we got to the door and I went inside she waited outside, just like I knew she would. I should have made a mistake, I should have thought up a worse plan, but I didn't, I knew exactly what I was supposed to do and I did it.
I made a big show of flipping over the furniture, burying through piles trash, and looking in ransacked cabinets. I made sure to put my hands as many places as I could, to leave as much of a mark behind as possible. To contaminate the crime scene. I found a wrench where I had left it in my original mess, under the last piece of furniture in the room. I picked it up and held over my shoulder like a bat and moved towards the bedroom door. Elizabeth called after me nervously, asking what I was doing. It wasn't difficult to make my voice nervous and uncertain, it may of been for different reasons than she believed, but I was barely holding myself together at that point. Have you ever had to destroy the very sense of security and peace of someone you cared about, then had walk through the shattered bits of their happiness while trying to convince them you're just helping? It isn't easy. But I told her I was going to look in her room to make sure whoever did this was gone, and I said it with a straight face.
I didn't have to do as much to her room, after I opened the Elizabeth couldn't see me any longer. Still, I made a point to move the bed and open the closet, just to make it clear that I had examined the room. However I tried to avoid wasting any more time than I could afford, in my mind I could see the campus police pulling into the parking lot, and preparing to take control of the situation, the real police right behind them. I exited the bedroom and moved to the bathroom, making sure to gasp loudly enough for Elizabeth to hear. I heard my name called from the doorway, then the voice of a man asking what was going on. I quickly touched the blood on the mirror, completing my claim that any evidence of my involvement happened after the crime. The blood was mostly dry, but I still managed to get enough on my hand for what I needed before the campus police officer came and piratically dragged me out of the apartment.
After we got outside he turned to say something, and stepped back after noticing my eyes; for a brief moment I was acutely aware of how easily I could have pushed him over the second floor balcony. But he recovered and proceeded to ask what I was doing in the apartment and give me a lecture about disturbing a crime scene and going into a potentially dangerous situation that lasted until the real police showed up and took over. Elizabeth and I both had to answer several questions before we were allowed to leave, and by that time Elizabeth was even more uneasy and scared. This was the plan, she had to be as vulnerable as possible, she needed to be scared and confused and hopeless, and I needed to be there to save her.
So I suggested we go somewhere to calm her down.
I suggested the campus nature trail.
I walked one of my only friends into a trap I had meticiously laid out for her, and I did it knowing full well I would have to watch her lose every shred of hope drained from her eyes, and I did knowing that I would be lieing to her and pretending I was really helping her all the while, and I did it anyways.
Because the nature trail was where it happened.
That's where the Slender Man made his move.
I saw him standing off behind the trees, and I saw her see him. I watched the color drain from my friends face, I felt her grab my shirt. I heard the fear in her voice as she asked if I saw what she saw, as she asked if the monster she only knew from a fictional series on youtube was really standing there, watching her. That's when I did the most despicable thing I did that entire day: I smiled. I gave Elizabeth the calmest, most reassuring smile I could manage, and I told her nothing was there. I pretended convinced her that what she was seeing was just stress or shock or anything but what she thought it was. I told her she was the only one who could she the darkness about to consume her mind.
I told her she was alone.
I took her back to my dorm, I convinced the RA to let her stay the night, and I told her to get some sleep. I got online and looked at a few things, but it wasn't even an hour before she woke up from her inevitable nightmares. We spent the night talking, neither of us slept, even though my roommate passed out long before dawn. We both saw the man in the window, I'm sure, but neither mentioned him once. We talked of life, fate, the future, hope, dreams, we spoke of these things as though we had them, we acted like they were obtainable for us, rather than just illusions that would ultimately serve to crush us even further. I even spoke like I meant them, even though I didn't.
When the sun took to the skies I left Elizabeth in my room to get some sleep, to descend further into the madness of her nightmares, and I went to class. When I got back she was gone, so I sat down and typed this up. I just betrayed a friend in the worst way possible, and I wrote it up to put on a freaking blog read by a mix of stupid victims that don't even realize what's going on, and egotistical psychopaths who live to hunt down the victims.
I can't publish this. I'm erasing this and going to sleep.
This needs to be seen.
Showing posts with label Names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Names. Show all posts
February 21, 2012
November 4, 2011
Prophecies of a Madman
O.k, it's time to address the Core Theory, I can already imagine what some of you are thinking, but I feel I need to discuss this, and I simply ask that you hear me out before making your judgments.
I feel it is practically obligatory that I begin this post this way:
”There's a dark jungle next to the village. People who go into it never return. The villagers fear the jungle. Then one day a man with a torch goes in, the villagers scream at him to not, but he does anyway. He returns the next night, crawling back, bleeding to death, claw marks on his back. With his last breath he says 'Within the Jungle lives a Tiger, who is twelve feet long, obsidian claws, and has fire in its eyes...but it is just a Tiger and it bleeds.' After that he dies. The villagers no longer fear the jungle after that day. Oh, it's still scary and they take precautions from the huge Tiger...but it's just a Tiger. No longer is it Unknown or Shadows, perhaps one day someone will go and kill the Tiger...but there is no need for pointless fear.”
The Mystic: ”The Mystic can equal to -Veteran.- Mystic has fought, stores the knowledge of the past, and continues to give support when possible.”
The Hermit: ”The Hermit lives by himself, has developed methods to survive, and is willing to pass on instructions, but has his own priorities, and odds are will not fight as opposed to run.”
The Warrior: ”Brave, Bold, Stupid in that headstrong way, Fights for the sake of the fight, Fights without fear, Only fights on This Side, Can push /Construct/ back to Other Side for a while, cannot beat it. A stop gap, and if they become an /Agent/ then there's going to be a lot of trouble.”
The Guardian: ”Calm, controlled with knowledge, FIghts for others BUT will have nothing left on This Side, FIghts on Other Side, Stays on Other Side and keep Him there for a much longer time, will return when the Vigil is over, or if a Hero emerges.”
The Hero: ”Afraid but pushes on, Foolish but gains wisdom from Sages and Mystics, Fights for those who are important to him, Fights on both This Side and Other Side Only a Hero can kill a monster...but the Hero always dies at the end of the story.”
I like this...
Remember I asked for you to hear me out.
The story painted by Robert Sagel is artistic, inspiring, and heartfelt, it has everything a good story should (or at least the outline of a good story should), including a fair amount of fiction. The very concept on which the Core Theory was founded is flawed, the Construct, as Sagel called him is not bound be the rules of fiction, and naming someone a hero does not ensure His demise, no matter how many people believe in the Hero. Core Theory is not something people should ever have relied on, the more thoroughly I look at Sagel's blog the more apparent it is to me that the man was delusional, he was brilliant in many ways, but his grasp on reality was compromised, and people who live exclusively by his rules are unlikely to survive extremely long.
That said, the Core Theory did provide some interesting points, and it offered something up to the Runners at the time that they needed: Hope. Granted hope won't do you much good when you're bleeding out on the ground, or being ripped to shreds by an inhuman monster, but it isn't a currency that should be undervalued. Of course the one thing I admired the most was the concept of Names that Sagel introduced. Perhaps it's just the avid reader in me, but the concept of naming the players in this battle made it so much more interesting. Of course he was wrong in assuming that his players would be bound by their roles, there is absolutely nothing keeping The Guardian from having something left on "this side", and there is no reason that the Hero has to be the one to make the final blow, or even die at the end, for that matter. Rather I liked the names because they identified people, it showed how they were important, what they thought, and where they came from, I didn't need this theory to hold these people to a standard, but perhaps it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it had been used to organize people into a unified front, with the titles identifying the officers of the group. I suppose in a way that this is the one true effect of the Core Theory, people have become more organized, and show special respect to the Named and the Sages, however it is done on such a small scale as to be almost irrelevant and so I suppose I shall never get to see such unification. Well I suppose this simply makes my current situation that much safer, but, since I'm feeling creative why don't we add a few roles to Sagel's Theory: (I will be using gender neutral for all of these, as they can be filled by anyone.)
The Scholar: The Scholar is a reservoir of knowledge, it is xis goal simply to learn, xe will never fight if xe can help it, however xe is also unlikely to run, and will always stand xis ground if xis research is threatened. Xe may send people out on errands for xim, but xe will never purposely task anyone with a quest they cannot handle so long as it can be avoided. That said, xexe is often unaware of others capabilities, and will go to great lengths to obtain any piece of new information.
The Merchant: The Merchant is a skilled barterer, and might be known for trying to swindle xis friends and foes alike. However, xe has a way of getting xis hands on very rare or difficult to acquire items, and will gladly trade them for something xe wants or needs. Unfortunately for those who seek xis wares what xe wants is not always something material, as xe is more than capable of getting such things on xis own, rather xe will request favors from his clients, and some can be quite difficult.
The Thief: The Thief may work with The Merchant or may work alone, in fact sometimes the two roles can be combined. However, the thief is far more withdrawn than The Merchant in most cases, preferring to brood by ximself instead of hawking wares and swindling travelers. The thief can find a way into almost any place, no matter how safe, and relive it from its belongings. The thief will always take great pride in xis work, and has some level of honor. However xe is also quite reclusive, and finding xim will surely take a fair deal of work.
The Dragon: The Dragon is a very powerful creature, xe may work for either side, but it is not unlikely for xim to betray xis current allies for seemingly no reason. Xis reasons for fighting are often just the fight itself, and if it is anything greater xe is likely not to reveal it. Often The Dragon works directly with either the Hero or The Construct, and is extremely unpleasant to anyone who tries to become him and his master. The Dragon is also quite fond of flames, and will use fire as a powerful tool or weapon much more effectively than xis comrades.
The Spy: The Spy will maintain the allusion of working for one side for a considerable period of time with the sole purpose of reaching a position to do considerable damage to that side. While The Spy almost never actively sabotages anything xe is a part of, xe will often feed information to the other side subtly. Xe is quite clever, but will often make ximself appear only moderately intelligent so that xe will not inadvertently help the side xe spies on win the war. Xe will either try to come of as needy to gain sympathy, or heroic to gain respect, the damage xe can do changes with each role. Xe is most likely to relay information back to xis side through The Scholar or The Thief.
And because its after midnight, and sleep deprivation makes me do stupid things because they seem funny and clever at the time:
The Princess: The Princess is always in need of rescuing, though xe(Yes I'm still going with gender neutral here, The Princess may very well be male) contributes next to nothing to the group when xe is captured or cut off all other matters take a back seat. Saving The Princess is of the highest priority, as xe will usually be a romantic counterpart for The Hero. Xe is quite concited and foolish, and almost always falls for The Merchant's scams, occasionally endangering the group in the process. If one must choose between saving The Princess and ensuring survival, victory, or the continuation of the human race, one must always rescue The Princess first.
The Expendable Crewman: The Expendable Crewman is a title that should be given to a new person at least once a month, and if someone has held on to the title for longer than a month xe should promptly be sent on a suicide mission. Xe will be someone with very little background, and will be generally considered useless and stupid. For added meaning this title should always be given within minutes of sending xim on a mission that has very poor odds and is virtually obsolete.
The Fool: The Fool has made one very bad decision that has tainted everyone's view of him. Xe exists without respect and is often blamed for the most embarrassing failures. The Fool is actually quite intelligent, and will usually have a plan with good odds for saving the day, however because of the stigma against xim no one pays attention. Sometimes xe will grow very bitter and spiteful and switch sides, when this happens xe is a very destructive force.
EDIT: Well apparently Sagel's back, so in honor of his (fourth? fifth? I don't even know) return I give you a new title:
The Zombie: The Zombie is the one person who just won't stay dead. Whether it's because of proper planning, pure luck, a mistaken witness, or actual necromancy, this person has a talent for raising form the dead.
Well there you have it, the new and improved Core theory. I'm aware that this whole post is probably in very bad taste, and I do not plan on going around and handing out titles to anyone. But what the heck, I put a lot of work into making those characters, so if you want to name someone go right ahead, let me know and I'll even make a separate page to keep everyone listed. Just be warned, names are good for identifying someone, giving them authority, but don't blame me if what you got from here doesn't turn out the way you expected, that's not the way it works, people aren't bound by their roles, merely given direction by them. Oh well, I'm done, obligatory hate for anything relating to the Core Theory goes below, and thanks for hearing me out.
I feel it is practically obligatory that I begin this post this way:
”There's a dark jungle next to the village. People who go into it never return. The villagers fear the jungle. Then one day a man with a torch goes in, the villagers scream at him to not, but he does anyway. He returns the next night, crawling back, bleeding to death, claw marks on his back. With his last breath he says 'Within the Jungle lives a Tiger, who is twelve feet long, obsidian claws, and has fire in its eyes...but it is just a Tiger and it bleeds.' After that he dies. The villagers no longer fear the jungle after that day. Oh, it's still scary and they take precautions from the huge Tiger...but it's just a Tiger. No longer is it Unknown or Shadows, perhaps one day someone will go and kill the Tiger...but there is no need for pointless fear.”
The Mystic: ”The Mystic can equal to -Veteran.- Mystic has fought, stores the knowledge of the past, and continues to give support when possible.”
The Hermit: ”The Hermit lives by himself, has developed methods to survive, and is willing to pass on instructions, but has his own priorities, and odds are will not fight as opposed to run.”
The Warrior: ”Brave, Bold, Stupid in that headstrong way, Fights for the sake of the fight, Fights without fear, Only fights on This Side, Can push /Construct/ back to Other Side for a while, cannot beat it. A stop gap, and if they become an /Agent/ then there's going to be a lot of trouble.”
The Guardian: ”Calm, controlled with knowledge, FIghts for others BUT will have nothing left on This Side, FIghts on Other Side, Stays on Other Side and keep Him there for a much longer time, will return when the Vigil is over, or if a Hero emerges.”
The Hero: ”Afraid but pushes on, Foolish but gains wisdom from Sages and Mystics, Fights for those who are important to him, Fights on both This Side and Other Side Only a Hero can kill a monster...but the Hero always dies at the end of the story.”
I like this...
Remember I asked for you to hear me out.
The story painted by Robert Sagel is artistic, inspiring, and heartfelt, it has everything a good story should (or at least the outline of a good story should), including a fair amount of fiction. The very concept on which the Core Theory was founded is flawed, the Construct, as Sagel called him is not bound be the rules of fiction, and naming someone a hero does not ensure His demise, no matter how many people believe in the Hero. Core Theory is not something people should ever have relied on, the more thoroughly I look at Sagel's blog the more apparent it is to me that the man was delusional, he was brilliant in many ways, but his grasp on reality was compromised, and people who live exclusively by his rules are unlikely to survive extremely long.
That said, the Core Theory did provide some interesting points, and it offered something up to the Runners at the time that they needed: Hope. Granted hope won't do you much good when you're bleeding out on the ground, or being ripped to shreds by an inhuman monster, but it isn't a currency that should be undervalued. Of course the one thing I admired the most was the concept of Names that Sagel introduced. Perhaps it's just the avid reader in me, but the concept of naming the players in this battle made it so much more interesting. Of course he was wrong in assuming that his players would be bound by their roles, there is absolutely nothing keeping The Guardian from having something left on "this side", and there is no reason that the Hero has to be the one to make the final blow, or even die at the end, for that matter. Rather I liked the names because they identified people, it showed how they were important, what they thought, and where they came from, I didn't need this theory to hold these people to a standard, but perhaps it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it had been used to organize people into a unified front, with the titles identifying the officers of the group. I suppose in a way that this is the one true effect of the Core Theory, people have become more organized, and show special respect to the Named and the Sages, however it is done on such a small scale as to be almost irrelevant and so I suppose I shall never get to see such unification. Well I suppose this simply makes my current situation that much safer, but, since I'm feeling creative why don't we add a few roles to Sagel's Theory: (I will be using gender neutral for all of these, as they can be filled by anyone.)
The Scholar: The Scholar is a reservoir of knowledge, it is xis goal simply to learn, xe will never fight if xe can help it, however xe is also unlikely to run, and will always stand xis ground if xis research is threatened. Xe may send people out on errands for xim, but xe will never purposely task anyone with a quest they cannot handle so long as it can be avoided. That said, xexe is often unaware of others capabilities, and will go to great lengths to obtain any piece of new information.
The Merchant: The Merchant is a skilled barterer, and might be known for trying to swindle xis friends and foes alike. However, xe has a way of getting xis hands on very rare or difficult to acquire items, and will gladly trade them for something xe wants or needs. Unfortunately for those who seek xis wares what xe wants is not always something material, as xe is more than capable of getting such things on xis own, rather xe will request favors from his clients, and some can be quite difficult.
The Thief: The Thief may work with The Merchant or may work alone, in fact sometimes the two roles can be combined. However, the thief is far more withdrawn than The Merchant in most cases, preferring to brood by ximself instead of hawking wares and swindling travelers. The thief can find a way into almost any place, no matter how safe, and relive it from its belongings. The thief will always take great pride in xis work, and has some level of honor. However xe is also quite reclusive, and finding xim will surely take a fair deal of work.
The Dragon: The Dragon is a very powerful creature, xe may work for either side, but it is not unlikely for xim to betray xis current allies for seemingly no reason. Xis reasons for fighting are often just the fight itself, and if it is anything greater xe is likely not to reveal it. Often The Dragon works directly with either the Hero or The Construct, and is extremely unpleasant to anyone who tries to become him and his master. The Dragon is also quite fond of flames, and will use fire as a powerful tool or weapon much more effectively than xis comrades.
The Spy: The Spy will maintain the allusion of working for one side for a considerable period of time with the sole purpose of reaching a position to do considerable damage to that side. While The Spy almost never actively sabotages anything xe is a part of, xe will often feed information to the other side subtly. Xe is quite clever, but will often make ximself appear only moderately intelligent so that xe will not inadvertently help the side xe spies on win the war. Xe will either try to come of as needy to gain sympathy, or heroic to gain respect, the damage xe can do changes with each role. Xe is most likely to relay information back to xis side through The Scholar or The Thief.
And because its after midnight, and sleep deprivation makes me do stupid things because they seem funny and clever at the time:
The Princess: The Princess is always in need of rescuing, though xe(Yes I'm still going with gender neutral here, The Princess may very well be male) contributes next to nothing to the group when xe is captured or cut off all other matters take a back seat. Saving The Princess is of the highest priority, as xe will usually be a romantic counterpart for The Hero. Xe is quite concited and foolish, and almost always falls for The Merchant's scams, occasionally endangering the group in the process. If one must choose between saving The Princess and ensuring survival, victory, or the continuation of the human race, one must always rescue The Princess first.
The Expendable Crewman: The Expendable Crewman is a title that should be given to a new person at least once a month, and if someone has held on to the title for longer than a month xe should promptly be sent on a suicide mission. Xe will be someone with very little background, and will be generally considered useless and stupid. For added meaning this title should always be given within minutes of sending xim on a mission that has very poor odds and is virtually obsolete.
The Fool: The Fool has made one very bad decision that has tainted everyone's view of him. Xe exists without respect and is often blamed for the most embarrassing failures. The Fool is actually quite intelligent, and will usually have a plan with good odds for saving the day, however because of the stigma against xim no one pays attention. Sometimes xe will grow very bitter and spiteful and switch sides, when this happens xe is a very destructive force.
EDIT: Well apparently Sagel's back, so in honor of his (fourth? fifth? I don't even know) return I give you a new title:
The Zombie: The Zombie is the one person who just won't stay dead. Whether it's because of proper planning, pure luck, a mistaken witness, or actual necromancy, this person has a talent for raising form the dead.
Well there you have it, the new and improved Core theory. I'm aware that this whole post is probably in very bad taste, and I do not plan on going around and handing out titles to anyone. But what the heck, I put a lot of work into making those characters, so if you want to name someone go right ahead, let me know and I'll even make a separate page to keep everyone listed. Just be warned, names are good for identifying someone, giving them authority, but don't blame me if what you got from here doesn't turn out the way you expected, that's not the way it works, people aren't bound by their roles, merely given direction by them. Oh well, I'm done, obligatory hate for anything relating to the Core Theory goes below, and thanks for hearing me out.
See you around
-Free
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