Back In Town

Hey.

I didn't get to announce this, and I'm sorry for that. But I was in Columbus for the past two days doing my BPA thing.

I also now know how the other four of us feel.

Having It follow you constantly...is not a party. It rarely appeared while in the city though. Which means one of M's theories holds water. At least for me.

I'm surprised my body hasn't decided to quit yet. So...tired. I must be running on sheer willpower by now.

Because HEY! Shit's gone down while I was gone. I expected somebody would hop on and keep up the blog (coughcaseycough). But they were being kept VERY busy...now I've got to catch up on the mess too.

I was talking about that poem/note thing written inside the envelope...I had some theories on stuff before all of this happened during my "vacation". And now some of them match to those events.

1. "D(X)N'T L(X)(X)K (X)UT THE WIND(X)W LITTLE W(X)LF"
2. "We've sent a crow."
3. "HE WILL WATCH Y(X)U"
4. "How is your kitty?"
5. "THE RAVEN FINALLY FLIES T(X) BATTLE"
6. "The mates hole up in defense."
7."S(X)RR(X)WS(X)RR(X)WS(X)RR(X)W"
8. "We are more than you know."
9. "THE OWL WILL TURN"
10. "It is imperative that you understand."
11. "N(X) ESCAPE"
12. "The Master has plans."
13. "RATTYRATTYRATRAT WILL S(X)(X)N BE UP T(X) BAT"
14. "How will you ever escape the snow?"

1. Refers to It now having full on interest in me. Fabulous.

2 & 3. There is, in fact, a crow that periodically struts around the house, peeking in the windows. He doesn't scare off easily either. Little bastard...

4. Casey's fine, thank you very much. Not great, but better than when this first happened with It.

5. Sammi chased Crow. With a crowbar. Several times.

6. Skyler and Seth. Skyler is up here this weekend too. Wonder how she's convincing her parents...oh well. Doesn't matter. Those two are sticking together as much as possible. The constant wore out, as did the salt. We need something else...

7. "Sorrow". Four times. A birth. Which I'm guessing refers to those irritating poems...god Aiden. Please be okay...

8. I don't doubt that, you creepy jerks.

9. Notice that this is the only "O" Crow's written that's not crossed out. Almost reverently written, I think. Like whoever Owl is is untouched. So far. And I think I know damn well who it is.

10 & 11 & 12. I understand NOW. Perhaps. And perhaps not. And of course It does.

13. Oh have I got a story for you guys regarding this one...

14. It melted, idiot. If it snows more, that will quickly vanish too. Ohio's seasons, Fox. Clearly you don't know them well.

Deduced that this was Fox and Crow based on the speech patterns. Rat doesn't have any sort of distinction yet. But oh is he ever annoying. Where Fox and Crow actually give information, Rat's fallen mostly silent and has resorted to simply being a nuisance.

How do I know this? Columbus is three hours away from us. As is Skyler's home. (They are not the same location.)

I didn't really think about it, but I guess Rat noticed I was heading out of his friends' territory and more into his.

He more or less just acts like a troll. Stalks you around. Mimes annoying things. If you pay attention to him, you're feeding him. And he'll only seek to aggravate you more.

They're adding to their outfits. Rat sports a different mask than Skyler saw last (no idea what the first one was). It's like a grinning rat now. He's got a ratty (EDIT: Ratty? Really?) old top hat, a worn coat, and a scuffed cane.

Fox has more of a masquerade style mask now, so I can see part of his face. Though I've been told he still wears the full one...suspiciously whenever It is around. He's ditched the hoodie too, settling for the black leather gunner jacket lookin' thing and a shirt of some sort to wear underneath.

Crow's also got a masquerade mask, but the beak covers up a lot of his exposed face. He wears a black zip up hoodie now. I saw him decorating something with a red bow not too long ago...

Skye. Skye Skye Skye...

We've been trying ANYTHING to get a hold of her. Nobody's been able to contact her since Wednesday evening.

Do you want to know what Skye's favorite animal is? The Owl.

I really don't want to be right about anything anymore...not about this. Skye...

We've got some ideas on a massive collaborative story tomorrow, Frap and co.

Now to figure out what time noon GMT is for us...

AIDEN. Aiden please be okay...

Brennon I'm so sorry we haven't found him yet...

I don't even know where to start there...where would It take him?


EDIT: Tomorrow's the Equinox AND the Super Moon. I wonder what that will bode for us. I hope it's good luck.

Seth

Hey, I’m Seth.

I haven’t really written anything or blogged before so bear with me on this introduction stuff. 

Branwen has little snippets of me in conversation, but I figured you guys wouldn’t really get much of an understanding of who I am with just that. So I guess I’m going to tell you about myself. At least that’s what Branwen wants. Haha.

So, I’m 17, I’m in the process of getting my license (I know, I should’ve got it a while ago) so maybe a couple of us would be able to skip town if needed, even though us being in a group is a horrible idea.

Enough rambling though. I won’t tell you my full name for privacy reasons, but I was named after Adam and Eve's son Seth in the Bible :D WOO. 

Haha. Umm.. me and Skyler have been dating for 3 years officially today. Like everyone else, me and her stumbled onto this stuff and thought it was interesting, just like everyone else. 

I’m a graphic artist, or at least I try to be. Doing anything else besides working and trying to pretend all this isn’t happening is a pretty hard thing to do. Oh yeah. I work at McDonald’s (yeah go ahead and make your jokes.) And I guess that’s enough about me.

I guess it would also be fair to clue you in on my situation though too while I’m here.

I guess Bran's already told you some stuff. Not all of it though. See...

It wasn't bad at first. I thought it was just me freaking out, like I do when I watch ghost shows (don't laugh). Then He actually SHOWED UP. In my yard. And then near the windows.

And I was so scared of Him...

What if He got in the house, you know?

And then He did. I woke up one night. And He was there.

And maybe I should start saying It now...because apparently that's the one that's stalking us?

It/He/Whatever...started whispering to me. In my head. And I couldn't tell anyone. Because who could I tell? I was even scared Skyler would think I was crazy or something.

But I guess He...um...It was watching her too.

I don't remember a lot about the drawing and the messages and stuff. I just know that I made them. And I kept having to throw them away.

The nightmares? They were like everyone else's, I guess.

I don't remember telling people about this either. Except for Branwen. That was stupid. I don't know why I did that...

Logan.

Sammi.

I know there's more.

So I hope we can get all this figured out. I’m sick of all of it. I wish it could just stop.

Before I go for the day...

I know. I've been drowning myself in Diablo II. Killing evil things helps me forget that the real evil is back. And sitting in my yard.

I'll be extremely busy this week, even without the proxies and their bullshit.

I believe I've figured some of that message out. I don't like what certain parts imply. I'll share later.

Also, Fox. The snow melted. In like, a day. Suck it.

Kaiju is in some sort of trouble?

Elizabeth encountered Him.

The Redlight caught up with Yggy/Dennis. And is implying he killed him. He'd better hope he's lying.

Frap is depressed...come on, man. Snap out of it.

Zeke is on his way to Indiana. And he hilariously humiliated an FBI agent. And he was apparently in Cleveland for some time. Whoa.

Aiden is missing again. It has him. It thinks he's a pet.

We'll get him back. One way or another.

Hey there...

I know Casey JUST posted. Just wanted to say...

As creepy as everything is, and despite the crow I saw across the street staring at me this morning...

Japan. I'm so sorry. I'm pouring donations into the first relief fund I can find.

Reminds me of the die off phenomonon that was going on. Nobody seems to care about that anymore...I guess it was nothing?

Ripley is still missing...I saw a poster today. That poor little puppy...where could he have gone? Please be okay...

Thanks for posting that update, Casers. We'll talk about them eventually...I just don't feel like it right now.

Trying to wash my mind out. Busy week coming up. So is the 20th. Looks like I've got things to read regarding yesterday...

By the way, a friend of mine, Cara, let me borrow Diablo II. Not TWO MINUTES into playing it, I found this:

...You've got to be kidding me, Blizzard. That's not funny.

At all.

EDIT: HE'S ALIVE. OHMYGOD. OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD. Hope. Hope is beautiful. M. IS. FUCKING. ALIVE.

Do not trust the tapping.

It won't be them this time...just don't look out the window. Think of something else. Anything else. Just not It.

Trust me.

...I didn't actually forget to do this, but now I guess now would be a good time.

Branwen is recovering still. See...the paper was blank. The one Fox handed to her. She tested it in any way she could think of to make sure there wasn't a hidden message.

Then wrote "?" on it and proceeded to stick it back in the envelope.

They wrote on the inside. That was the message. She figured it out yesterday.

"D(X)N'T L(X)(X)K (X)UT THE WIND(X)W LITTLE W(X)LF"
"We've sent a crow."
"HE WILL WATCH Y(X)U"
"How is your kitty?"
"THE RAVEN FINALLY FLIES T(X) BATTLE"
"The mates hole up in defense."
"S(X)RR(X)WS(X)RR(X)WS(X)RR(X)W"
"We are more than you know."
"THE OWL WILL TURN"
"It is imperative that you understand."
"N(X) ESCAPE"
"The Master has plans."
"RATTYRATTYRATRAT WILL S(X)(X)N BE UP T(X) BAT"
"How will you ever escape the snow?"

...the rest is scribbles, sketches, and some of that "HE SEES" crap.

I'd be so angry if I weren't terrified...

Crow says "no escape" and Fox mentions snow...

This is why running is difficult...

None of us can drive. Two of us know how...mostly. None of us are legal to.

And this is how we're dispersed.

It was color coded, but we didn't want anybody to be able to pick us out individually...any proxies that DON'T already know where we live...

It's not impossible with the four of us sort of clustered together...just hard to organize. And then the one that's so far away...

Branwen likes to go to Pittsburgh to hide. She feels safe there. But that's about 45 minutes away, even more if you're farther from the border.

We have two cities pretty close by. We'll call the one Phoenix and the other Poverty. (Bran names these things, not me.)

Phoenix is a city "rising from the ashes", as she put it. It was really bad for a while, but the city has been improving. But it still has shady people. It also has a steel mill right next to it, full of really creepy warehouses. And from what I've read, runners have a bad history with warehouses and creepy buildings.

Poverty is the closest to Whelan and I. And it's probably the most dangerous of the two. Seriously. We cannot stress enough how much you should NOT go by yourself at night anywhere in that city. It's even scary in the daytime. But that's because it's "zombie apocalypse empty". Which is pretty accurate, I think. Both down town and east end (the worst parts) are pretty empty then. Because there's no business. That enitre city is on the decline and it's sad. But also hilarious in a really morbid way.

...It's something that's funny if you live here I guess...

But yeah. Poverty is no place to be running from a monster. You'll just end up being shot and killed. Besides that, neither of these places actually LOOKS like a city. Phoenix is still being rebuilt. Poverty is old and crumbling. There, buildings have been repaired with OTHER BUILDINGS. No joke.

And we all have normal lives we're trying to keep up to mask what's really going on...

We can't run. Not yet. Now is not the time.

Something happened yesterday. The 10th. That's what Branwen told me.

I have catching up to do.

I owe chips my life today.

Because I would have starved without them.

Guess that's one perk about the BL. They always kept an eye on when Lent was. Thanks, Career Center, for having two options that were inedible to me today. :l

I had two bags of barbecue chips for lunch. And I just ate a bunch of Pringles.

...I'm so tired. From this. From the eight billion assignments I have this week for whatever reason and the phone is ringing and FUCK YOU GEORGETOWN DELAWARE YOU'RE JUST A TELEMARKETER.

Why, yes. I AM that irritable today.

Go away, Fox. I don't wanna talk to you today.

...no you cannot come in the house.

I don't care that it's raining and you're getting wet and it's cold. You creep me out and HOLY SHI-

-ahem-

Okay...so I forgot he can totally just...appear in here if he wants.

I used to really like trees. Why are they betraying me?

He walked towards the tree, vanished outside, then appeared in the middle of my living room. About ten feet away.

Sighed, held out an envelope at arm's length.

I took it gingerly, curtly replied, "Thank you."

And he turned around and let himself out the back door. Even when Ace came barreling down the hallway after him, he just...calmly walked out the door.

Good boy, Acey-bear. Least you tried...

I just realized. The entire genderless aspect of The Gentleman Wolf is ruined. They know I'm a girl.

FFFFFUUUU-

...I have to start making dinner in about forty minutes. And look at this message.

This envelope is so dirty and torn...we need a new one...

Shut up.

GIVEUPLITTLEPUPITSTOOLATETOSAVETHEM

Now, who was that meant for, you sick creep? Us, or them? Or all of us?

And why leave your pawns in the dark about this, hm? Unless they're lying. It IS Fox...

Fuck you. I just bought Aiden a shitload of Oreos. And YOU'RE going to let him enjoy them. Got it?

............. [sigh]

I never realized how insane this all is. Not fully. The five of us, we're pretending to be these perfectly normal kids while simultaneously being this band of...what we want to call heroes. Casey and I are STILL checking other people we're scared might be infected. No sign of any odd behavior. No proxy cult either. Yet. We're going to leave that 'yet' on there.

Seth's friend Logan...she's been a little TOO interested it seems. He's been charged with keeping an eye on her.

None of the notes Sammi got are really legible enough to get anything useful.

Skyler should be up here this weekend.

I need to talk to Fox. Now.