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The Thing From Beyond Time

 
  

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Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
12:53 / 13.07.02
put up a page of handwritten text on stephens page, tried to make it look like i scanned it,
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
17:53 / 13.07.02
If you wanted to be shockingly underhanded, you could have your protagonists submit the URLs for their blogs to The Guardian's weblog list.

Not that I'd encourage such a blatant abuse of trust, you understand.
 
 
grant
19:51 / 13.07.02
Y'all are freaking me out. Can't wait to read what happens next!

I've noticed the different voice thing, too (although if you've ever seen my blog, you know it ain't standard).
 
 
grant
17:43 / 18.07.02
I'm beginning to get a sense of what our feckless trio are up against. Try this theory on for size:

Arthur has, unknowingly, gained the attention of an eldritch, interdimensional beastie that is linked to complexity and information theory in much the same way that Yog Sothoth & Azathoth had to do with entropy and nuclear chaos.
Our beastie is insectoid, non-local, and accessible through/related to HIVE MIND - thus, swarming insects, but possibly also all kinds of other things, like traffic patterns, weather, the movement of droplets of water in fog, cells in the body and the behavior of groups of friends.
The book somehow accesses this entity, and chaos is gradually unleashed, yeah? Bugs start organizing, while the body's cells start acting autonomously - the swarm vs. the tumor.

How does that fit with what everyone else thinks?

----------------------------------------------------

Relating that to the story at hand:

It seems like Phil is going to have to bring Arthur back into the fold. I like to think that his culty group is responsible for going through Arthur's trash.
Minty's going to have to get involved as well. Although maybe that can wait until after Arthur's death, it'd be nice if someone thought of a way to tie her into the scene in some way, so she can follow Arthur into doom & destruction when he goes, rather than just sitting back and mourning. After all, she's a main character too.
I don't have any ideas yet.

So what's the next scary thing that happens??
 
 
gridley
21:01 / 18.07.02
Well, we can take Minty's sanity out in a plenty unique style, but we should probably let Arthur have the spotlight first.

I tried to seed Minty's blog (back in the day) with things that I thought could come back and twist her perceptions when she went crazy.

I always imagined her updating her blog even as she was balls out crazy.
 
 
grant
21:16 / 18.07.02
Awww, yeah!
 
 
rizla mission
14:25 / 19.07.02
Just to say: recent entries on the weblogs have been ace! Haven't taken part yet, but I'm enjoying being a spectator..
 
 
grant
14:51 / 19.07.02
Jump in, Rizla. You know you want to.
 
 
deja_vroom
20:07 / 19.07.02
Ok, my entry:


"Gah. Oh-fucking-"gah", indeed. Live cockroach in glass of milk. No good, no good...
Felt the thing crawling in my throat. Swallowed it before I could spit it (duh). Of course, proceeded to copious vomiting afterwards.
The cockroach was nowhere to be found, though. Just say "Gah" with me, I know you want to..."

How's that? If it's lame, sorry, go ahead and delete it... I tried not to intervene with the story.
 
 
Graeme McMillan
21:24 / 20.07.02
"Live cockroach in glass of milk. No good, no good...
Felt the thing crawling in my throat. Swallowed it before I could spit it (duh)."

That happened to me when I was a kid, by the way. Except there was no glass of milk, just me swallowing a live cockroach by mistake.

Out of interest, a Diaryland diary has just revealed itself to be fiction and people have been rather taken aback. Just thought you might want to know (the diary is http://limeycarter.diaryland.com if you're bothered)...
 
 
grant
13:47 / 22.07.02
gorgeous!
 
 
gridley
14:43 / 23.07.02
well, at least if barbelith goes under, we're going to keep this up, right? it might get a little harder to discuss future plans, but we could do it. an email list if nothing else. maybe we should all email minty4resh@yahoo.com, so that she has our emails and can organize us for future actions.

I'm sad.
 
 
grant
15:26 / 23.07.02
Yeah, minty's the one. This should be updatable, no problem, with an email group list to keep some of the madness in line.
 
 
deja_vroom
17:59 / 23.07.02
What if the bug arthur swallowed was a vector for some psychic illness?: "Since I swallowed that bug, I seem to... etc etc"
 
 
grant
18:09 / 23.07.02
Yes! Yes! Do it! I'll help!!
 
 
deja_vroom
19:37 / 23.07.02
Ok, Grant, finish this:

"I've just learned a new word today. Meaning "I will harm", a nocebo has the exact opposit effect of a placebo. It isn't supposed to harm you, but it does, if you're like me, highly sugestionable. I remember [insert funny anecdote from childhood here]

Case being the cockroach I savored the other day [insert the effects of the bug eating experience here]..."
 
 
grant
20:23 / 23.07.02
I've just learned a new word today. Meaning "I will harm", a nocebo has the exact opposit effect of a placebo. It isn't supposed to harm you, but it does, if you're like me, highly suggestible.

The case being the cockroach I savored the other day.

Ever since then, I've been feeling really odd. I get headaches, I have a ringing in my ears, and, most disturbingly, there's a taste.
It's like something put sea-salt on my tongue, and nothing will wash it off. I've even tried straight vodka.
It's not all the time, but it's enough so I'd notice.

In other news, I ran into Phil last night. Or he ran into me. Just as I was leaving work. He says he's figured out a lot about the woodcut I gave him a copy of (I forgot I'd done that) and that the book it came from is very, very rare. (Well, duh. Rare books being my job and all.) Then he said something about the illustration being a "metaphysical diagram of higher mathematical principles" or something like that. I couldn't really follow what he was saying, but he seemed really excited.

I'm regretting throwing all that stuff out. What was I thinking?

End of story: I made plans to meet Phil tomorrow night at a coffee shop to go over the picture. He wanted to meet someplace private, but I really didn't feel comfortable with that. And as soon as he left, I tasted that bristly, sea-salt taste really strongly, like a wave, and I threw up on the sidewalk.

I suppose I've had better afternoons.


Like that??
 
 
ill tonic
23:31 / 23.07.02
Sweet.
 
 
deja_vroom
11:23 / 24.07.02
Oh yeah. I'm feeling like that moment in the rollercoaster when the wagon is about to go down after climbing really really really high...
 
 
Captain Zoom
19:40 / 24.07.02
*singing*Arthur's going crazy today, Arthur's going crazy today!

Have we decided how we're going to keep in touch if the 'Lith goes down? My suggestion is a mailing list. Everyone who's in and updating should PM their e-mail addy's to each other and keep in touch. That's my suggestion anyway.

Zoom.
 
 
grant
21:07 / 24.07.02
Yeah, between that and the Delphi Pocket Barbelith, we should be OK.

NICE last entry, Zoom (if it was you).
 
 
Captain Zoom
12:52 / 25.07.02
'Twas, 'twas. I wanted to start Jade's rollercoaster plummeting, and I wanted him to see that the hill never ends.

The real question now is, what did Phil and Art talk about last night, and how did the boss react to his vanishing from work? Or is the boss around? I was thinking Arthur would get to work and no one would be there and after a few days he'd get worried, but not call the police because he couldn't remember what he'd done yesterday afternoon. Or is that too contrived?

Zoom.
 
 
grant
13:41 / 25.07.02
Nah, that sounds cool. One of the things I was thinking was that one of Phil's buddies has one of the xeroxed pages Arthur threw out.

I was also thinking it'd be fun if his madness manifested itself as staying home from work until he was fired and not caring. But if he goes in and no one's there, that's a great way to set him adrift.

Oh, and I have in mind a future entry where he's preparing cockroaches like his butterfly specimens. Because that's really gross.
 
 
deja_vroom
15:06 / 25.07.02
Ok, I just added a comment like if it was from one of the creepy people. Like if they're watching him, slowly setting the trap for him to fall. Don't worry, it's not too straightforward. It looks like a regular blogstalker stuff. Go check it and see what you think...
 
 
Captain Zoom
16:45 / 25.07.02
Okay, here's what I'm thinking as far as the work thing. He'll keep going for a bit, but no one will be there. After a couple of days of this, he'll get messages on his answering machine asking why he's not coming in to work, and eventually firing him. He'll keep going for a while though, and still no one will be there.

?

Zoom.
 
 
gridley
17:43 / 25.07.02
I like that Zoom. Maybe on the days when he goes to work and no one's there, there should be slight envrionmental changes also.

--The air conditioner is off, so the air is warm and sticky. Despite the fact that it's crisp and cool outside.

--There's a smell like cheese or old meat in the air.

--The room he works in seems to be painted a different color than he remembered, but the paint job looks to be at least twenty years old...
 
 
grant
19:12 / 25.07.02
Mmm. He doesn't get that weird faux finish, like the old man is intentionally trying to make the place look old.
 
 
gridley
21:00 / 25.07.02
Minty had a run-in with Spooky Phil today.

Spooky Phil had a Spooky Salad.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
22:37 / 25.07.02
stephen posted again
 
 
ill tonic
23:38 / 25.07.02
What if the boss is also bug demon from beyond?
 
 
grant
13:58 / 26.07.02
Oh, I think his new boss definitely is.
 
 
deja_vroom
15:22 / 26.07.02
Ok, I just did another comment thingy, this time for Minty.

-------------
By the way: Is it just me or the story is about the nasties trying to turn Arthur in some avatar/passageway to abominations from the other side?

By the way2: I like Minty's blog better, because it's more like real life,with small dark interventions. Athur's is getting too lovecraftian too fast, I think - perhaps that's unavoidable because he's the first one to go into the madness, and when Minty's turn comes, her blog's pacing will change too...

By the way3: I know it's a bit too eearly for this, but I think I figured out an interesting way to end Athur's entries:
Say that the nasties (they're foreigners, of course, from distant parts of Asia and Eastern Europe) capture Arthur, do whatever they want with him, he disappears, THEN they get access to his blog, which was hinting to their activities, and WRITE the final entry, saying stuff like "everything is okay, I was just needing some rest, all that crazy stuff I written seems all stupid to me now etc". The twist, as you've noticed, is - they make some innocent grammar mistakes, and they use a different style, so that the perspicatious reader will know that something is really wrong, and that it's not Arthur writing. Minty would get upset, saying stuff like "It's not him!" etc...
Got a little bit carried away here. Which is usually a good sign
 
 
grant
16:26 / 26.07.02
His blog entries are short enough, I'm not sure a change in style would show - unless it's done with flat-out madness, typed in all caps, that sort of thing.
Like:
REALLY, I'M ALL FINE NOW, THANKYOU FOR YOUR WORRIES BUT I HAVE FOUND SOMETHING NEW TO DO WITH MY TIME THANKYOU I AM FINE AND HAPPY.

Then a sequence of comments to the last entry, with Minty and Stephen trying to raise him, asking why he won't answer emails anymore.

That'd work nicely. But not yet!
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
18:36 / 27.07.02
check stephens blog, coffee with minty tonight if nothing well, happens
 
 
grant
14:22 / 29.07.02
Was this weekend the one Stephen was taking Arthur to upstate New York?
 
  

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