What a Lovely Day for Valentines...

Why is it so dreary? At least it's warm...er.

Nothing much has happened here. Nothing NEW anyways. I was up with Seth this weekend. So we could exchange presents. :)

Still haven't gotten to see Sammi or Branwen yet. Not even at E79. =/

Seth really loves the salt. I've abandoned mine in favor of testing the Constant, which I'm pretty sure works.

Not much to say today, other than Happy Valentine's Day!

And...has anybody up there seen a man in a rat mask? I think he was following me...

Biiiirdy Booooooy

Couldn't talk earlier. Have to go soon. Workworkwork. Keeps taking up my free time. Lucky I have a counterpart.

(It's math today. ACT and brother-in-law's party yesterday. And a Valentine's Day box as well today.. I'm not making that up. I really have to do that for a grade. It's pretty awesome, actually.)

There was a guy in my yard. In the woods in my yard, actually. Which isn't technically my yard its the neighbors but I walk through it all the time and nobody cares.

But this guy. It wasn't the same guy. I don't think so. Unless it is and he changed masks.

Same black hoodie. Black pants. Crow mask.

Ace saw him first. I thought he saw Him, but then I looked. Ace pawed the door. I let him out.

I have never seen anybody run so fast. I almost cried from laughing.

RUN BIRDY BOY RUN.

Ahahahahahaha! I love life.

Redlight is such a sore loser. I laugh at him.

Related: I've given up researching him. At least for the time being. I don't have a lead other than Jay. And we have more pressing matters.

Reach! You live!

Frap! Back to regular Frap. The cheeriness was fun at first, but you got really scary there. Please keep being Frap.

Yggy. Lmao. Good job. Update us when you're in the clear.

Ava. Keep an eye on him. Stay safe. I'm sure those boys will cover you. Men are handy like that.

Casey and I have so much to say about yesterday. Oh goodness. You have no idea what we've found. No idea.

Caser Eraser, keep blunt objects handy. You see that black hooded figure again, there is definitely no chance it is me. Especially since I'm here and not there. Remember to keep the alarm system on. And keep an eye on your windows. All of the windows. All of them.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough time right now (busybusybusy) and she is fighting with the equipment. So much to show you...

Don't worry. We're fine. Shady kids in black hoodies have nothin' on us. Especially the ones that try to look like me. (Was that an animal mask we saw...?)

It mostly involved surprised yelling. And then stalking around like we were ready to knock something out if somebody showed up again.

My injuries? I fell twice. Stupid ice. Stupid fence. Stupid spiny plant things stuck in my shoe...

Hurt my pride more than my leg. Was never very good at fences.

Sammi. I have her camera. We just decided to do it that way instead of sending them. Took us long enough to figure out. Stupid.

Seth is fine. He says, "Hi."

Skyler is safe too.

Skye looked...better?

Casey. Morale back up. Mission: Success. I don't suck as a best friend after all.

We haven't seen Him. But we did see a him. At least we think that was a boy. Will be on the lookout for this kid again. And others, if there are more. All is well right now.

"Branwen's Big Forest Adventure!" #2

Okay. Anybody that saw my last post, sorry if I alarmed you. Nothing really bad happened. It was just really weird and I was startled and confused. I headed off to church choir practice to sing and relax. And now I've got some green tea and Pringles. (Shut up they're awesome. There is nothing weird about that combination.)

Let's talk.

After I made my explanatory post, I donned the costume, snapped on Ace's leash, and made like I was walkin' the dog as usual. You know, neighbors. Forgot to factor those in, only remembered when I walked out the door.

Fortunately it's cold enough to freeze your urine outside, so anybody with any sense wouldn't be out there. I wonder what that says about me...

Skipping the part where we're walking up the street - and god it's so cold why didn't I wear gloves under these gloves - we come to the fork. And here I must choose. Left, into the trees. Right, only near the trees. I decided, for the sake of this beginning experiment, we should go right.

I hadn't really thought of anything like how long He might take to show or if He'd be there at all or how in God's name would I explain this entire situation if He became aggressive and I lost my cool under the Gentleman Wolf and screamed and attracted neighbors...

All on the walk down there. But none of that ended up mattering anyways.

He was already there, about 20 feet away from the top of the hill. The hill I refused to climb down. If we were going to interact, He was coming to me. In the open.

Yup. If I'm gonna do something dumb...what's that expression...? In for a penny...

So. Anyways. Things aren't weird yet. Other than the fact that I'm now staring down the Slenderman through a wolf mask. He tilts his head a little. I respond by tilting mine in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, Ace is not pleased. Not aggressive yet, but clearly alert and prepared. Allow me to explain it in WolfQuest speak. When a dog is standing alert, ears erect, tail parallel to the ground, they're saying, "You're not my family. Who are you? Why are you on my property?"

Slendy tilts his head back up, and then the other way. He's turned towards Ace now. I pretend I am unfeeling and am a statue. I'm not moving from this spot. I place a hand on Ace's back.

And then suddenly Slendy is halfway up the hill into the woods. Much, MUCH closer. I have to look up now. I slowly raise a hand and wiggle my fingers in a casual hello. He waves back, then looks down at Ace. I push my shoulders back, chest out, back straight, and try to push an irritated aura around me. Slendy looks back at me. I'm not backing down. "Don't you hurt my dog," I think as hard as I can.

And then He pats my shoulder.

And I drop back into a slouch from being completely dumb founded. Ace growls.

And then He gives Ace a couple pats on the head. And Ace drops his tail, ears still erect, head tilted, also completely confused.

He taps the nose of my mask. And then He leaves.

Ace grabbed the leash in his mouth and guided us back home again, but not urgently. We casually walked in the door, I unhooked his leash, and then we just sat in complete silence in the kitchen for about five minutes.

After that, I look Ace in the eyes and say, "What the hell was that about?"

Ace groans his usual frustrated groan, slides to the floor, buries his snout in his paws, looking back up at me with his puppy eyes that say, "I have no idea. Now give me a hug."

He relentlessly stalks Casey.

Remember Sammi's possible concussion? Got the full story. She fell headfirst on the ice. A quad accident that HE caused.

Skyler. Also relentlessly stalked.

Seth. God, there were so many things happening there short of him losing time and getting injured.

And all I get is some nightmares, a cold, a few sightings, and a pat on the shoulder that's basically telling me, "Calm the eff down I just wanna pet your dog,"?

Slenderman. Make up your goddamned mind. And also, you're SUPPOSED to ASK before you pet a stranger's dog. He could have bitten you. What if he had rabies? You'd have Slender-rabies.

[sigh]

Confusion and attempted humor aside, I guess I should be glad I'm not being attacked. Yet.

Tomorrow I go to Casey's for a few hours. Maybe I'll get a look at that shack...I've always wanted to. I forgot it was there.

And I'll either a.) break His schedule or b.) see Him constantly while I'm there.

Again. Sorry if I scared you there.
Yggy, please get out of that trunk in one piece.

I don't understand...

None of that made sense...

"Bonjour," says the Gentleman Wolf

I'm finally alone. Mom is visiting the doctor and picking her car up. Dad is at the store. Not that this couldn't be accomplished with one, or even both parents in the house. But I don't want to have to answer any questions at all. As far as they know, the Gentleman Wolf is just another character I've invented. They saw it a couple days ago, but don't need to know what I plan to do with it.

Perks of being furry and being me: parents are used to the costume deal. And the cosplaying.

And now I present to you, the Gentleman Wolf.

Yup. That's my bathroom.

And that mask is the thing I found in my basement. And that is indeed the Zeke Strahm coat.

Not wearing the gloves, though.

I'm taking a page out of Maduin's book here.

This is my new second skin. I feel shielded this way. Despite the name, Gentleman Wolf is ambiguous in gender. Anonymous.

Materials:

- Coat

- Hoodie

- Wolf Mask

- Gloves (it's freezing balls outside)

- One large German Shepherd mutt

Experiment #1:

Achieve contact.

That is all. Get close to see what we're dealing with. I'm cloaked in the new mysterious character and guarded by a mastiff-sized beast. I am not afraid.

Okay...maybe a little...

Too much to say...

I'm going to combine this all into one message for the sake of us not spamming a bunch of posts. Guess who was having technical problems? All at the same, inconvenient time? Casey and Skyler broke through enough to tell me what they had to say. Sammi's is still prevailing. I guess Slenderdouche is camera shy. Because He won't let us see those pictures.

And now I feel like a despicable person. Because I didn't know any of this was going on. Because I haven't been around enough. Because I'm a terrible best friend. Because...let me tell you what Casey has to say...

Sorry this is late. Craptacular computer was having even more problems than usual. Because of him...

So, uhm, hi. I’m Casey. I’ve been a good friend of Branwen’s for…ever pretty much.
I’m kind of reluctant to do this because I feel like putting it in words is admitting what’s going on. Like I could wish it away otherwise.
It started out with Branwen mentioning it a lot on Facebook. I’ve heard of him through other people, but I know how I react to these types of things so I stayed away. I caved eventually, watching the videos through a hole between my hands. Bran left after that. I figured I would be scared for a week at most.
Wrong.
I was always very obnoxious. The social butterfly of the school. Smiles all the time. Straight A student. Ambitious.
So here I am, almost two months later, paranoid. I can’t sit still. I can’t sit. Sitting would be like inviting him. I can’t sleep. I can’t think. I’m spent. My entire manner is dark. People have asked me about the change. I don’t tell them. They don’t need to know. They find out anyway.
I know he is following me. I see him everywhere. It’s as if he isn’t even trying to be hide anymore. He wants me to accept it. I want to accept it.
I can’t go to college. He’ll go to.
I can’t go anywhere.
I have to stay.

I didn't know. All this time she's been spiraling downward and I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE because I'm too absorbed in my plans or experiments to think of asking how everyone's doing and if they're okay. I could hunt her down at school if I wanted. I could make an excuse to go to the copy room during math, or even stop there BEFORE I go to that class. But I didn't. Because I'm an oblivious moron.

I could have even figured out how to get to her house. Just for one day...

...enough of that. Time to step it up. We are a team now, whether some of us know each other or not. This gives me a whole new reason to try this insanely idiotic experiment. Vigilance. We are the Aries, Casey. We are fire. I'm going to try to be the- No. I'm GOING to be there soon. Even if for one day. In the mean time, do what you can to defy Him. Make faces at Him. Call Him mocking names. Anything to empower yourself. Just don't give in. And the wards. Use them. We're testing them all for a reason.

And you can use Phoebe and Sparky at home to your advantage, in case you didn't already know. When they start flipping out, guard yourself. Two toy sized dogs might not feel as secure as a large working breed, but it's something.

And I'm ranting to you because you're the one who is most faithful to this blog. I KNOW you're going to read this.

This is why I'm Mother Goose. Teamvigilteamvigilteamvigil...

Speaking of insanely idiotic experiments, Skyler had something for me too. Which means material gathering is complete. Which means I'm going to be endangering my life tomorrow. Because of SCIENCE. And because I'm the least affected for whatever reason. I feel obligated to be the one doing the moronic things. I'm probably less likely to die.

Don't worry. I'll give you all a full briefing before I do it. I will have Ace with me as well.

I finally have it. By now you've probably figured out or assumed I've been having computer trouble. So I took those extra few days to extend testing. To be sure. And I am now.

Constants are definitely a good temporary ward. We're calling all of them temporary right? Because of something some guy named Robert said? Okay...since I have nothing to do now, I guess I'm going to be doing some reading.

-This is where I think, "Yes, do. Mr. Sagel is insane amounts of important."-

Or trying to. If this computer will stop spazzing enough for me to send this to you.

Also, even though you probably already know this too, I think the salt's working for Seth. I can't say if it did for me or not. I don't think I can really test both of these things at once.

-Oops. Okay that was entirely my fault. Sorry, Skyler.-

Again, sorry this is getting to you late. But at least we know for sure. I hope nothing terrible happened up there on your end.

-S'okay, Skyler. And thank you so much, if you can read my commentary here.-

If I'm correct, that makes three wards. I'm well aware that they may not work for my entire crew. And that they won't work forever. And that they might not even be working, we could just be being screwed with.

And I feel like I NEED to say this.

Thank you, everyone.

To the crew, for staying alive and sane enough to function. To Seth, who's trying as hard as he can to keep his head above the water. To Sammi, for being an idiot like me and risking her life for the photos. To Skyler, who I don't even personally know but has been willing to test things for me, for us. To Casey, for still being my best friend even though I've horribly messed up her life. And Skyler, it is not your fault. You didn't cause this. Because if you hadn't told Seth and he hadn't told me, I would have found out from Aiden who would have found out from Taben. Or Casey might have told me. Anybody could have been a facilitator.

Thank you to my Followers for existing and for the helpful and encouraging comments. You have no idea how happy it makes me to see you guys in that little box up there, or to see a comment. It seriously brightens up my day.

To Maduin, for inspiring this stupid idea of mine. And for being British. Yes, I AM one of those Americans. Heehee.

To Zeke, for existing. And to Robert and to M. You guys are geniuses and I don't know what we'd do without you.

To Ava, for being a Scientist. I STILL have catching up to do. But I've heard of your electricity stunt. And I've definitely gotta try that. And for being witty, even when life is throwing disaster after disaster at you.

To Aiden and Brennon, for being my big brothers when my real siblings aren't around. Even if you're still working something out between the two of you, you're still both there for me. Even though I just did a really stupid impulsive thing and it appears Aiden's kind of annoyed with me. You're there. All the time. ...I might cry...

To anyone I forgot or just to everyone in general, THANK YOU. The ghost phobia was crippling. I didn't know how I would be able to handle the goddamn Slenderman. But I did. Because all of you could do it too. And you've said that you're ALL scared. But it doesn't stop you from doing what you do. I won't let it drag me down. I might be the least affected by Him, but everyone else being dragged down around me is what gets to me more than anything. More than the nightmares. More than the sickness.

Keep holding your heads high, everyone. I will be. It's time I kick it into a higher gear here.

God this is such a long post. I'm not even sure what compelled me to do this. No more sappy stuff.

Okay I lied. THANK YOU. And I love ALL of you.