Back to work.

Vieve here. Christmas was fun, it was nice having a couple of days off, but today Chester and I have work. And, since I've been working here for a couple of years now, I know that the days after Christmas are usually pretty insane. Oh well. It pays for my rent and it's not boring, although I'm really not looking forward to the next two months, where it's gonna get a fair bit more humid and working in a space with several hot ovens in it is not going to be fun. I don't mind the heat, the heat is fine, but the humidity drives me insane.

Chester is in the kitchen. He is trying to learn to cook. While it's sweet of him to want to be able to help me, Chester is a notoriously awful chef and I'm having to check on him once every five minutes to make sure he isn't turning the bacon into charcoal and burning the pancakes. He seems to be doing alright, but you can never be sure. If things start to go wrong, Chester is the sort of person who flips out and runs around in circles for a while before he gets down to the business of fixing things, and in the interim the problem has usually got worse.

Ah well. Chester's got an invitation to come along to Matarangi, so I will not have to spend ten days totally alone with my folks, which is nice. Unfortunately, as far as I know I will not have an internet connection so you lovely people will have to get by without me. Let's just hope nothing too major happens while I'm gone...

Well, work starts in just over an hour so I'm going to see if nothing too awful has happened to those pancakes.

I survived Christmas.

Chester here. Dinner with the Sullivans not as scary as I thought it would be. Her family are utterly insane, every last one of them, but in a fairly friendly/harmless way. They're not all Genki, (just Elaine and her and Vieve's brother Jonathan) thank goodness. They could actually pass for normal for the first fifteen minutes before Viv's brother excused himself to use the bathroom with "Excuse me, my bladder meter is full." Apparently he watched Scott Pilgrim and has never been the same since.

Then I ended up talking to Vivi's dad, who took drama lessons as a child. I think they broke him, because unless what is happening is Serious Business he does everything with a generous serving of-- what's the same of that trope? Large Ham.

Yeah, that. Not to mention the dinner conversation. If anyone ever has dinner with Vieve's family, bring up next years Rugby World Cup, sit back, and enjoy the show. Partially because the Sullivans (Especially Elaine, who has just finished High School) have a very low opinion of the people who decided to rearrange the school year around the World Cup. Personally I agree with them, even though I'm a fan of rugby and played it for the school way back when.

Then somebody brought up Monty Python. Then somebody else brought up movies. Then somebody else brought up the bomb scare in Remuera on Christmas Eve (bet the retailers there were pissed about the loss of business) and so on so on so forth. Surprisingly normal except for their senses of humour.

Then we went home at around 10, cleaned up all the wrapping paper all over the place, and went to bed. Vieve's still asleep. She looks pretty different asleep. She's usually pretty animated. Not necessarily restless, just...lively. I'm enjoying spending more time with her- there's a lot about her that I didn't know that I didn't know. She wore a dress yesterday, which is something I've never seen her do. Skirts, yes, but that's casual stuff.

I like to think she's learning as much about me as I am about her.

(I am! --Vivi)

GAH! Don't startle me like that, Vivi.

(When you concentrate on something, you're really easy to sneak up on because you're so focused.)

I'm going to have to work on that.

(It's endearing. And also the look on your face is pretty funny.)

Yes, but you managed to paint half the nails on my left hand before I noticed what you were doing yesterday morning.

(My statement is still valid. Now, I'm absolutely starving, so I'm going to go make breakfast.)

Yeah, now you mention it, I'm hungry too...

Christmas Day.

Hi guys, Vieve here. Lunch with Chester's family went fine, since unlike him and my family, I've met Chester's family before, and they know me. Chester's an only child but his extended family is huuuuuuuuge- he has fourteen cousins. Crazy.

We have our friend Fen over here with us at the moment. He normally resides in the U.S. of A. but he's visiting his parents so he dropped in to say hi. He hasn't changed at all since I last saw him, it's like I got into a time machine and wound back four years. It's pretty funny. The Anzac biscuits are in the oven, since they're his favourite, they're a kiwi tradition, and we didn't have time to buy him a present n.n

Chester's a bit freaked out because I'm wearing a dress at the moment. It's quite funny. He was yelling about the temperature in Hell being seven degrees below zero and flying pigs being imminent this morning, the weirdo. I own dresses. I wear them on special occasions. He just hasn't been around me when I have a reason to dress up, that's all.

Dinner with my family tonight. Chester is pretty nervous, although my family are, in fact, Mostly Harmless. Just don't let my brother challenge you to a game of Mahjong.

--Vieve

Giftwrap and Genki Girls

Leaving Vieve unattended with wrapping paper is a spectacularly bad idea. Her giftwrapping is hilariously haphazard. (Insert short pause in which Vivi hits Chester) It's rather endearing really. I've had to help her with all the things that aren't square otherwise the results are an epic waste of paper. Which her cat then lies on.

I went out this morning and got her a present. Just something small since I'm currently unemployed although I do have some money because I'm renting out my house until the end of January, although Mr Irving is rather kindly giving me my job back after Christmas since he couldn't find someone to replace me. He's also fine with Vieve and I being away over part of January, which is awfully kind of him, but the two others who work here sometimes in the mornings are apparently buying a house and need the extra work. Everybody wins.

Today, I met Viv's sister Elaine. Elaine is a Perky Goth, emphasis on the perky. Elaine is what happens if you put a litre of Red Bull, five cups of sugar, and glitter in a blender, take the top off, turn it on the fastest speed possible and then run for cover. She has so much energy it isn't even funny. She literally flung the door open, raced in grinning, accosted me and asked why I was sitting on the couch in my pyjamas and did I stay the night last night oooooooooh did we do anything she should be worried about last night (No, we didn't) and Vieve's cat has gotten sooooo much bigger since she last saw her, maybe she's getting fed to much, oh my god did you see The Social Network it was such a good movie I went to see it with my boyfriend last week and it was amazing and instead of popcorn we smuggled in a tin of those chocolate-filled wafer sticks, which are soooooooooooo delicious AND OH MY GOD I HAVEN'T FINISHED MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING BYE SIS BYE CHESTER I HAVE TO GO!

And then she left. Which makes me wonder what the rest of her family is like because I've only ever met her mother, who's also energetic- her brother lived in Finland or somewhere until early this year, her father is in Singapore 9 months out of twelve and Elaine just wasn't around very often. I always thought that since families tend to have similar temperaments, the rest of Vivi's family would be pretty quiet except when you irritate them. Maybe Vieve is the odd one out. Maybe her entire family are Genki.

...

God, if you're up there, please help me.

Christmas dinner with the Sullivans. I'll inform you of the death toll on Boxing Day.

And now for something completely different

Today was meant to be my day off, but Mariko has conscripted me to help her show her relatives around because I know a miniscule amount of Japanese picked up from reading my best friend's japanese textbooks and one year taking the subject at school. My grammar's pretty awful and I don't remember most of what I learnt but it's better than nothing.

Solstice is coming up. I plan to take my mind off my possible impending doom this weekend with liberal application of the most recent season of Doctor Who. And when i run out of Doctor Who, musicals. When I run out of musicals...

[DATA EXPUNGED].

With a squeaky mallet.

Okay, okay, enough shout-outs and other silly business. No sign of Slendy since I last mentioned him showing up. No proxies since the chick in the drama mask. I still have the number of the phone that called me last weekish, which I THINK was some proxy trying to fuck with my brain. I may try calling it back at some point, although that's possibly not such a good idea.

I've finished all my christmas shopping now. I've stuck all the stuff to my family under the communal tree at my Mum's place and I'll be giving my co-workers their presents next week. Before the Solstice, in case something happens to me.

That's not a very cheerful thought to end an entry on. Oh dear.

Lamp Santa!

Fixed.

--Vivi

Breather Episode.

As mentioned last post, there are now fairy lights all over my flat. My living room is quite small so I don't have room for a tree, so I compensate with fairy lights and a christmas star on my coffee table. My family are atheists but we've always been big into christmas. Every year we'd get a freaking massive tree and cover it with decorations, and we'd put fairy lights on the outside of the house and tinsel on the letterbox and my little sister would spend the week leading up to christmas permanently wearing a reindeer headband. I have fond memories of Christmas.

I don't know why I'm in such good spirits, what with Slendy and his band of merry mooks cavorting around spreading blood and crazy this Christmas season. I guess it's helping me cope, in my own way. The world is not crumbling around me. I'm just another little light in a sea of them, and most of them will never be affected by Slendy. Slendy can go on infecting people, but someday, even if all of us currently blogging (except, of course, for Zeke Strahm) are all dead or crazy by then. It's quite a comforting thought. Even if we fail, we'll be another step on the ladder to success.

Also, this could easily be renamed "The Yandere Song". For those of you who don;t want to listen to the full song (don't like it, etc) the final part of lyrics is as follows:

"Star so light and star so bright
First star I see tonight
Star so light and star so bright
Keep him by my side

I want to settle down
I want to settle down
Baby there's no need to run
I'll love you well, oh
I want to settle down
It's time to bring you down
On just one knee for now
Let's make our vows.."

Also, it's a handy excuse to plug another New Zealand musician.

Animals and Slendy

First, the serious bit of this post, so those of you here for the drama and not for my yattering about my cat and vegemite on toast (BEST THING EVER) can read it without having to sift through all the other stuff.

First, I've been researching and in the only tale that I remember people owning animals such as cats and dogs (Marble Hornets), said animal has reacted with fear or aggression whenever Slendy's around. Cassy, my cat, was quite hostile towards the proxy, but they may have been because he was a stranger. I don't know, Cassy is an attention whore and loves people so it's quite strange that she reacted that way.

Okay. My stomach troubles are over- I ate a huge bowl of museli and milk this morning and I haven't brought it up. Huzzah! 48 hours of living on crackers/vegemite on toast is not fun and I will hopefully not have to do it again anytime soon.  Being hungry all the time but not being able to eat very much is pretty awful. Even though vegemite on toast is pretty much the best thing ever, especially if you like that kind of sharp, salty taste. I'm a Kiwi, I love the stuff, but Kaylee tried it when she was here and hated it. People are weird sometimes.

Turns out the reason my brother wanted to talk to me last entry is that Mum has a beachhouse in the Coromandel and wants to know if I can come down for a week or so in January. I didn't know what to tell him. What with all this going on, I'm not sure if it's safe for me to spend too much time around my family in case a proxy comes after me. And I'm also not sure what's gonna happen on the Solstice. It's possible that most of us won't make it past Christmas...

Keep calm and carry on, I guess. You can't think like that. Now is the time to invest in some pluck or some determination or both and see where things go.

--Vivi

Fragging Proxies

Got attacked by another proxy. I was just walking in the Domain, minding my own business when this girl in a comedy mask jumps out of the bushes and launches herself at me. She kept telling me to listen to the Call, but all I could hear was slightly staticy music in my ears from my iPod, which I keep on pretty much all the time now. She had a knife, too. She made a couple of notches in Mr Cricket Bat, and in me, but I can just say I fell on some glass or something. I have a split lip as well, which is an awful lot more visible than cuts on my face, arms and torso, but I've got worse split lips from cricket accidents and the like. I'll be fine. Physically, at least. Mentally, what's been going on lately is pretty taxing.

The proxy ran off and the static stopped, so I went to the hospital and got two of the cuts stitched. I don't have work today so I'm just sitting around watching Black Books and trying to eat, but I honestly just feel so sick and unhappy that I can't make myself eat anything more than some crackers and hummus, and some tea. I don't know if it's losing so many people so quickly, getting attacked by a proxy in a fucking creepy mask, or that I'm actually sick but either way I feel pretty under the weather right now.

Phone's ringing. It's my brother. I'll be off to talk to him now.

It seems that people are largely recovering from all the Chaos of the last week or so. Apparently Nessa is safe and all of the Sages seem to be in internal working order. I haven't run into It (the Construct, Tall and Faceless, whatever he's being called now) or any proxies, although now it's probably a matter of "when" rather than "if" now.

If anyone reading has not checked White Elephants within the past couple of days (since Entry 27 of Marble Hornets was uploaded or thereabouts) I would recommend you do so pretty much now. Everything's gone completely bonkers around here lately. Everyone, try and stay sane. Don't let It get to you.

On an unrelated note, the Pike River Mine disaster in Greymouth. R.I.P. to the 29 men who died in the blasts.  I hope they can recover the bodies so their families and other loved ones can put them to rest.

I'm waiting for my nail polish to dry. It's purple. I normally paint my nails pretty often, but ever since I started this blog I've been so busy trying not to freak out that I haven't. I don't do my fingers except for special occasions because it chips so easily and means I can't use my hands until it dries, just my toes.

I guess I'm trying to keep some semblance of normalcy in a world gone mad. I still get up at the same time and go to bed at the same time, I still go to work, I still try and catch up with my best friend from high school even though she's going to university in Nagoya at the moment, I still spend a lot of my spare time reading. I just happen to have a cricket bat or other bludgeoning weapon on me at all times. I'm pretty sure my handbag is actually a pocket dimension now.

Sorry for the absence...

Things have just got that little bit weirder.

First thing, Chess is staying with me at the moment. He saw It on Monday. More accurately, it was outside his house. I don't blame him for wanting to sell and find somewhere else to live, if he isn't going to run.

If Max makes one more insinuation about why exactly he's staying over, colleague or not I will not be very pleased. This is just temporary. He should probably get moving.

Second, I had a total freak out yesterday because my dad turned up at my apartment building while I was at work and Chess let him in then left to go do something so I go in and there's this bald guy in a suit standing in my living room with his back to me. Thanks, Dad. Really thanks.

To clarify, my Dad lives in Singapore. I only see him a few times a year. So I didn't know that he'd lost what remained of his hair and he hadn't told me he was coming. Thankfully he turned around otherwise I might have done something... stupid.

Third, Dad brought a folder of my drawings that he'd found in his house. When I was young I fancied myself quite the artist for a while, even though I wasn't actually that good. You can kind of guess where I was going with this, can't you?

I was never very good at drawing faces, so I used to leave faces blank. I now have sheet after sheet of drawings of faceless people. Which makes me wonder if this is a really contrived coincidence or if this goes back further than I think.

On a totally unrelated note, I am totally unrecognisable with brown hair. Okay, so I'm a redhead, but being unrecognisable as a brunette is actually kinda funny. Huzzah for semipermanent hairdye. It's nearly washed out now. Now I know what to do if I ever need to go incognito.

Thanks muchly to Omega of Encyclopedia Slenderia for linking to my map. The only pin on is so far is Kaylee's. I'll be adding Chess's to it shortly although I guess that will give away where I live. Greetings from New Zealand (in case you don't know, it's those two islands shaped like a canoe and a fucked up stingray nearish to Australia). I think I'm the first Slenderblogger from around here, although I wouldn't be surprised if there were more.

Funny quote of the day

"His alibi seemed pretty watertight to me, but I left it in a fishtank overnight just to make sure."

My older brother is a lawyer. He's also pretty hilarious. I went to see him today. My younger sister (she's 18) is on holiday in Europe with her boyfriend. She's back end of next week. I get emails from her every day. Somehow I think she's worried about me. I should be more careful.

Still no sign. Nothing. Should I be scared?