handwritten

[unwakingwaters]

[this is written in dark blue fountain pen on nice paper with a close cursive hand]

7/19/2013

Right, so, starting out in my usual way of warmups with too much exposition as to my exact circumstances at current -- trying to remind myself of the dream I had when I was thirteen exactly by exactly copying out the contents of the journal I made that night.

So...

#2027952

February 7, 1966

Dear Diary: Last night I had the strangest dream, the most wonderfully clear dream, about a golden room with great stained glass windows, and a test I had to take to--

[there's a great big ink stain here and then actually some significant time passes as Maya reads all the text suddenly in her nice new notebook. At least an hour.]

Well.

If it weren't for the fact that this fully navigable website appeared in a perfectly ordinary leather-bound notebook, I would dismiss it as a particularly inspired ARG. But as it stands, this appeared in a notebook. I normally consider myself quite a skeptic but well. This, I believe, qualifies as extraordinary proof.

I think I met some of you at the convention the other day. My name is Maya Aaronson. I've at least gathered from your entries that this is a secret network of some sort, that some of you are experiencing physical and mental changes that seem impossible (but again, you've provided extremely compelling evidence) and that there's... something out there.

Could someone provide me with a little more detail?

Comments

text; computer

[needsmorezippers]

[....that name sounds familiar and he can't figure out why.]

Long story short, a bunch of us got these numbers in our heads and we can use them to access this, and we still don't have hardly any answers about anything except we're apparently supposed to help stop some kind of 'invaders.'

handwritten;

[unwakingwaters]

I'd gathered that much, at least. Do we really not know anything?

text; computer

[needsmorezippers]

Not really. I think there was something in there about finding stones, but we don't even know where to begin looking for those.

[text; computer]

[caosgo]

The fact that it works on paper is what managed to convince me, too. Someone apparently wrote a guide for newcomers--which there have been a lot of, lately. It might take me some time to find it, so I apologize for that.

[Now, why does that name sound familiar? Hmm...]

The short version is not to mention all this to someone who doesn't know. It could be dangerous.

handwritten;

[unwakingwaters]

If you find it, please let me know. I do have a lot of time, at least.


Ah. I had figured that. So, the usual don't go to the police or any other authorities and such?

[text; computer]

[caosgo]

[there's about a seven minute delay as he finds it, then figures out how to send it as a link. Hey, he's not totally helpless with computers.]

Here you are. It hasn't been updated in a few weeks, but not much has changed.

I'm afraid the last person who did that isn't with us anymore. I'm not trying to be dramatic. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I want to make sure everyone understands how serious it is.

[Handwritten]

[originaloddcouple]

Maya Aaronson... That sounds familiar

In any case, welcome to the network! Of alien-fighting.

And terror.

And violence

But mostly terror.

[Handwritten]

[unwakingwaters]

I'm known here and there around town. I teach fencing...

[she avoids mentioning the famous author thing. No need.]

I really am not interested in violence or terror. But I've equally gathered that there's no way to cancel my subscription.

[Handwritten]

[originaloddcouple]

The whole scenario is pretty messed up...

From what we've found, we're supposed to protect people from aliens!

And terror.

And possibly corrupt police officers.

Who are ready to [Gulp.] kill.

So it could be worse.

voice;

[recollection]

Extraordinary proof is one way to put it. And that is the general jist of things, but there are also creatures that seem to be capable of temporarily infecting other living things.

[She pauses, and when she pipes up again, she sounds a bit unsure. Thalassa doesn't go around the convention circuit, but she knows that name well.]

Maya Aaronson... the author?

voice;

[unwakingwaters]

Oh, goodness, it talks. Er, the journal, I mean. Ah.

[pause]

Yes, the author.

video {iphone}

[ursoreckless]

[last time she met this bleached blond, he was dressed as a character from S&M games. this time, he's in a much more normal outfit of sleeping pants and not much more.]

Hello again, Ms. Aaronson.

video; this book somehow I guess

[unwakingwaters]

[eyebrow raise and... how is this book displaying video? How is it TAKING video??? She's half convinced that magic IS real at this point. Gah.]

Hello again, Shou.

I can't tell if I'm out of my element, or in exactly the right place here. This all certainly seems like something out of a novel.

( audio )

[argents]

Skepticism is hard to try and keep up with when the world suddenly changes. [ Boy did he give it a fighting go. But no dice. ] And you change along with it... in ways that seem just as extraordinary, I mean. Is there anything you want to know specifically?

audio;

[unwakingwaters]

Well, the newbie-guide mentions grues, which while a cute reference to old text adventure games, doesn't tell me very much about what we're facing. How can we identify these creatures and avoid them? How much DO we know about the enemy? What are institutions to avoid? Is there anything I can do to help..?

spazz spazz voice-- wait, text.

[depolarized]

You're here-- [Annd that relatively excited voice abruptly cuts off, switching to text. He hopes it didn't send but it probably did.]

2/2

[depolarized]

There's a newbie FAQ set up-- [A link appears next to it.]. Plenty of weird things have been going on pretty recently, though.

[Voice]

[seriallylucky]

Aunt Maya?

[Oh, man, now he's transmitting, isn't he, she's heard him, she knows he's here...

And more importantly, she's here. On the network. Which means that all this stuff is going to be happening to both of them, and what about the rest of his family, and...

No, it's not time for a panic attack, even a minor one. Though by the time he's pulled himself together she's probably had ample opportunity to respond.]

[Voice] i just realized that fred has the same last name as my mom o_o

[unwakingwaters]

[first Kairi, now her own grand-nephew? God damn it.]

Fred?

[THIS IS ALL HORRIBLE]

[handwritten]

[moarnomsplz]

[Ohmygod ohmygod she's on the secret network.

Cool, Alex, be cool.]

It showed up in one of my school notebooks the first time.

You already got the link to the info, good.

[Yeah, he can't be cool.]

It's me, Alex! I saw you at the con.

[handwritten]

[unwakingwaters]

I remember you, Alex. We talked about Galaxy Quest, right?

text, computer

[salvagedlight]

(ooc: I'm just gonna go with it. Feel free to change future responses based on what comes up in the log thread.)

So you do have the numbers.

It's Ben.

handwritten;

[unwakingwaters]

[long pause. That combined with what happened at the book signing... what did that mean about that first dream of the Mark of Mastery? What did it mean about all of this?]

You too? And your brother, as well?

text; iPhone

[earnedmystripes]

That's the long and short of it, basically. There's a guide thing floating around on here too. Basically all we know is that there are some kinda aliens that want Earth and don't really care who they gotta hurt to do it. We're basically the only snag in their plan, which'd be great if we weren't all ordinary people who probably didn't even believe in aliens before all this.

One other thing's really important. Don't talk to anyone outside of this network about it. A kid and his whole family were murdered because he went to the cops for help with this stuff.

[And guess who got to relive the fun moment of watching that video just a couple days ago in the middle of work :'D]

[There's a pause, and a minute later a second text arrives.]

Not all of the cops are involved. I didn't know, and I've been on the force some 15 years. I know at least two others that weren't.

[Though one of them is an...ex-cop by now...]

handwritten;

[unwakingwaters]

It's good to know that there's at least a few people in law enforcement that we can trust. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?