(no subject)

[11calls]

Uh guys? I'm pretty sure that this whole 'Twig Man' thing? Is Slenderman. Like the creepypasta meme that definitely became a thing a few years ago for me and then became even more well known when a couple of preteen girls who were extremely mentally ill thought he was real and that they needed to end up sacrificing their friend to him.

Slenderman is a nightmareish overly tall man who wears a suit and has no face and who in the story was often found around tragedy involving children. He was supposed to show up in pictures and on video. This is probably really, really bad. Be careful if you do go looking. Seriously. If he's around he can make you sick, like physically ill. And not only that but he causes electrics to go shorting out and we don't know what that might mean considering we're connected to our partners and Navi.

But none of it sounds like a good idea.

Comments

audio; un: panoptes

[sisterswitch]

[omg. slenderman. THE slenderman?]

So you’re totally going, right?

[11calls]

I uh. Definitely wasn’t planning on it. I mean, I’ve got enough demon-like things that are too tall with too long limbs back home.

audio | UN: presage

[albatrossomen]

You are quite certain this Slenderman being is a real entity, and not simply a construct of [Don't say human.] superstition coupled with purely explainable phenomena?

Re: audio | UN: presage

[11calls]

[Alex is just going to... well she’s going to sigh because this is so familiar it hurts a a bit. ]

It’s not apophenia no. At home it’s fictional. People made it up. But here, it definitely seems to be real given talking to people in town.

audio | UN: presage

[albatrossomen]

[As such things are wont to be. Forgive him his skepticism, he has seen wild superstitions run rampant before.]

Given infinite worlds of infinite possibility I suppose it is plausible. With that in mind perhaps it would behoove us to quit this place sooner rather than later.

Unless someone would like an autograph first.

[11calls]

God I hope not. I’ve had enough creepy overly tall demon-like things to deal with back home.

[albatrossomen]

Oh? It sounds like you have some interesting stories to tell.

[sisterswitch]

OK, I definitely need to hear more about that, but later.

[demons! how exciting! first she meets an angel, now there are demons as well.]

Right now, let’s talk about Slenderman. How often do you get the chance to meet an actual urban legend? And that’s not even considering the fact that it’s well-documented fact that he’s completely made up.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

The... what that "became a thing"?

[...guess who isn't familiar with the idea of memes. Or creepypasta.]

[11calls]

Considering my life is an urban legend I'm kind of not in the mood to go end up meeting one who murders me on a planet that's not mine and is so incredibly far away from my home.

And given that this is a multiverse or whatever, there's a good chance that this is where the story originated. Maybe someone else like us had ended up on this planet and that's why we know about it.

[11calls]

Yeah, I do I guess. I'm a reporter back home, and this was my story honestly. I've been mired in it for the last two years.

[11calls]

[Oh right, people who aren't as tech savvy or even from the same time frame as her. Possibly the same planet. Well, at least Alex has experience explaining memes.

Thanks Richard.]

A meme is like an incredibly short story kind of, one that's based around an image normally that's gets passed around people. As more and more people like it and use it, it gathers popularity and becomes more integrated into the common discourse. A creepypasta is a collection of scary stories that come from the internet. The internet is kind of like a network like the one we're on now.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

[Definitely not the same planet, though he's not about to suggest as much.]

A simple enough concept, I suppose. Although I can hardly claim to understand why they happen to be called any of those things.

[11calls]

Honestly, I don't know where the terms came from. Well, I think creepypasta came from like... copying and pasting stories but I could be wrong. They've been around for most of my life; memes I mean. I wasn't there when that started, and I used to not being able handle horror.

[sisterswitch]

... You know, that's a great point. You're probably right, and now I have to wonder what other urban legends might be real on another world. But here's the thing - assuming you're right, and somebody brought this story to our reality, how do we know that it's accurate? What if Slenderman isn't some evil, scary demon? What if he's just a guy who's very misunderstood?

[albatrossomen]

You've been mired in a story you knew to be fictional? An odd subject for a reporter. For what purpose?

[11calls]

I don’t think generally misunderstood men go around kidnapping children.

[11calls]

Unfortunately the things I’m investigating aren’t Slenderman. They’re a different thing entirely.

[albatrossomen]

Were they suspected of being Slenderman? What were they actually?

[11calls]

They weren’t suspected of being him, no. The children who I spoke to who knew about them called them “the Tall Men” or individually “Tall Paul.”

They weren’t Slenderman. They were a demon.

[albatrossomen]

"Tall Paul" [There's a huff of amusement.] an interesting choice.

Demons would certainly complicate matters. Even lesser demons can pose a significant threat to the inexperienced.

[11calls]

Well, I mean they were kids who thought that the demons were their friends. It makes sense that the demons would confirm that.

But yeah, demons suck.

[albatrossomen]

[Oh... no. Yeah, that sounds about right. Unfortunately.]

Indeed. I daresay that might even be putting it mildly.

[Talking shit about their local resident demon? Absolutely.]

[unnecessaryflourishes]

[There's a sigh at the response, but it's more one of resignation than anything like annoyance.]

One of the inevitable oddities of language, I suppose.

[sisterswitch]

Do we know for sure they were kidnapped? They could’ve just run off.