The Isabel Initiative/Strength

Chester here. Today, we said what will probably be goodbye to one of the most memorable bloggers currently around. I didn't know her too well (I don't really know anyone too well, having only been around since just before the solstice) but she seemed not only like a good person, but like a complete and utter Bad Ass. I'm not just talking about her Crazy Survivalist tendencies either, I'm talking about the fact that she was a good friend to Vivi and to everyone, which in my eyes is just as valuable as all the badassery in the world. In short, about as badass as they come.

We're going to fight in your name, Fizzy. The Isabel Initiative. I like it. We're fighting for you, Fizzbomb.

Vivi would be making this post in my place as she knew Fizzbomb a damn sight better than I do, but she's had a tough time lately and the events of this weekend have been a bit much for her, I think. She might say something once she's finished using up all the tissues.

Goddamnit, I need a tissue too. It always hurts when you people die, you know that? Whenever someone goes off, and you know the likelihood of them dying is high, it hurts. God knows I'm deadly afraid of all you people dying around me, so many more people just flooding in only to just die and die and die and even though there are always more, you feel more and more alone.

There, I admitted it. Seeing as Vivi never told anyone, not even her parents, about her claustrophobia and they still managed to exploit, I'll come clean. The thing I'm afraid of most is being alone. I spent most of my early life being a total social outcast, to the point of attempting suicide at one point. I transferred schools for the last three years, met a certain quirky redhead on the way to school a couple of months into the school year and never looked back.

I'm terrified of something like that happening again. I don't mean sitting in a room by yourself alone, I mean having no one who you really mesh with, no one to confide in, just yourself and a bunch of science documentaries left to you by your dead granddad. That kind of alone. The kind of alone that makes people like me, who thrive on light and colour and noise, go crazy.

The thing I'm not afraid of however is admitting it. The first step to overcoming fear is to acknowledge that it exists, because if you sit on something like that it's bound to emerge somehow, probably at the worst possible time.

Vivi wants to say something. I'm handing the laptop over to her now.

--Chester.

Fizzbomb.

You were a friend to me. An awesome, badass friend. You called me Vivi, a name that's spread like a virus and now everyone calls me that.

It's a name I'm proud to bear. It's mine, a reminder of you. I'll wear it proudly.

Thank you for everything, Fizzbomb.

If you're reading this by some miracle, whether alive or up in Heaven (where you most definitely belong) we love you. We'll never forget you. I don't care if I give up and take Redlights offer a thousand times over, somewhere in my heart I will remember you.

R.I.P., Isabel Dorter.

--Vivi

I'm okay.

Vivi here. I've recovered from my...ordeal. Sorta. I start freaking out if I'm the only person in a room or if there's no-one in my line of sight and I feel like I've been put through a tumble drier, but I'm okay. I slept most of this morning. Chester, on the other hand, hasn't slept in about 36 hours so he's gone to sleep using my lap as a pillow. He's spent most of the day fussing over me. It's quite sweet, especially since he, Jeff, and Cheska apparently either slept little or didn't sleep at all last night so I am literally the only one awake at the moment apart from Cassy. Everyone else has passed out. I'm making Chester's birthday present at the moment since he's asleep and I can hide it pretty quickly if he stirs.

As per Jean's advice, we are no longer in my apartment. Thankfully, due to circumstances unforeseen we currently have access to a house. And will have access to it for-freaking-ever unless the person who owns the house sells it, and he won't, because it has sentimental value. Once the lease on my apartment expires (end of January) we'll be living here. We'll have a lot more funds, too, because although there will be electricity and water bills etc even combined they are a fair bit lower than my rent. And Jeff and Cheska get a proper bed of their own instead of having to use our fold-out couch-bed thing.

I've also realised something about the proxy in the butterfly mask. The reason why I couldn't detect their gender was because I was expecting an adult, not a tween. I still can't tell, but it'll be easier now I'm not expecting to be able to tell the difference on sight alone. Bloody Slendy, that's a kid who's life you're ruining.

I need to make dinner. the kitchen looks on to the living room so I'm going to have someone in my line of sight. It's just something simple because I'm so tired that I think after dinner I'm just going to clamber into bed and sleep.

Thank you all so much for your messages of support while I was in there. Although I couldn't reply, I did see them, and they helped me make it through. I love you guys. Please take care.

--Vivi

we found her. In the hallway in the apartment building we live in, there are several small, enclosed spaces. There is a storage closet, but that's larger than Vivi described. There's another cupboard but it has shelves, none of which could fit a person, even one Vivi's size.

At about 5am we heard a dull "thump, thump" from somewhere in the hallway. We couldn't locate it, so we went back to the apartment and discussed how to find a way into the not-apartment Vivi's trapped in. It stopped soon after.

It started up again about an hour ago, this time accompanied by someone muttering "let me out of herepleaseletmeoutofherepleaseletmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletmeout." We searched the hallway again, but couldn't find her. It seemed to be coming from several directions at once. I admit, I was freaking out. My girlfriend was trapped in what I assume is either her worst fear or very close (she's never admitted to claustrophobia before) and I could hear her, but I could do nothing.

It was about that time that someone (Jeff or Cheska) got the idea to call out "Vivi? Is that you?"

"letmeoutletme- whuh?"

"Vivi?"

"This...is she."

"Where are you?"

"Somewhere dark and cramped... I don't know. Smells weird."

"Can you whack the door, or the side you think is the door? Hard?" (Jeff, bro, you absolute genius.)

"...How hard is hard?"

"As hard as possible."

*WHAM*

She even did it again just to make sure. Then we realised where she was. There's a small cupboard, just above head height, that used to house two spare fire hydrants. We managed to get it open and there she was. Bruised, scratched up, unable to stand up, but alive.

I read her all the comments on the "trapped" post to her. She says two things: "I'd post but I am a living breathing heap of pins and needles." and "I love you guys so much. You are all amazing. Thank you so much..."

I think she was going to say something else, but she's asleep. She needs it. Thank goodness we don't have work today.

Thank goodness she's still herself and not a proxy.

Thank goodness we found her.

She's alive. 

Everything's okay. 

--Chester

trapped

i was in my apartment just a moment ago. i hung up on the phone to chester got changed and huddled in a corner with a baseball bat, waiting for something to happen.

a proxy came in at maybe 9.30. they were wearing one of those carnival masks, one shaped like a butterfly. I couldn't tell what gender. flatchested, but small and slim. androgynous sounding. they looked at me and said 'its a pity. you got something right, at least. '

i asked what. they shrugged and said it was none of my business. then they opened the door and left. there was no corridor outside that door. just this jumble of senseless everything. i tried to follow them out (even managed to get the proxy in the head and in the stomach with my bat) but i just wound up coming in through the bedroom door again.

i went back to my corner. i read a book for a little then i drifted off.

when i woke up, around 10, it was there. arms open, welcoming me.

about then was when i started to feel sick. i threw up. there was black stuff, like kaylee, but a lot less. maybe a teaspoon as opposed to a bucketful.

it just stood there. waiting.

i got to my feet, swaying, pins and needles spiking through my legs, and smiled. the ultimate 'fuck you' to a creature that ruins our lives by filling them with fear and paranoia.

then the world went black and I woke up here.

let me tell you a story.

i used to get bullied a fair bit in middle school, around year 8. 7th grade to you americans. it only bothered me a little until one day they got the bright idea of locking me in a storage closet. i was in there two hours in the cramped dark. i have never been able to tolerate enclosed spaces since.

you can guess what happens next.

i cant even stand up, just sit with my knees drawn up to my chest. it's only just wide enough to fit me. one of my arms is pinned to my side. i can't reach the shift button on my ipod touch onehanded or some of the letters. notice i havent used the letters immediately above and below a. i wish i hadnt disabled autocapitalisation now.

the panic is rising too fast. the air is stuffy and hard to breathe but i wont be running out of air anytime soon.

chester

please help me

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

I swear, as soon as things actually start to go well for me, something like this happens. Vivi went out this afternoon to the store a five minute walk from here to get some groceries, and still hasn't come back. Sorta. The thing is, I called her at about 6, 45 minutes after she left, to ask her where the hell she was. I recorded a transcript of our conversation.

C: Vivi?

V: Speaking.

C: Where are you? You've been gone ages. Is everything alright?

V: What do you mean? I'm in the apartment. I thought you must have gone out while I was gone...

C: I'm in the apartment as well. I can't see you anywhere...

V: Neither. I'm going to try leaving the apartment, see if that does anything.

C: If it doesn't, I'll try.

V: Okay the-

*phones goes dead. About ten seconds later it rings again.*

C: Vivi?!

V: I can't leave.

C: What?

V: I can't leave the apartment. If I try to go through the front door I end up coming into the living room from the bedroom.

C: What.

V: I can't leave. My only avenue to anyone is my cellphone, which has 2 hours of battery left, and the laptop. I keep glancing over my shoulder because I know It's coming.

C: Vivi...

V: If I don't make it out, I love you. More than I can put words to. More than anyone could.

C: I love you too. Promise you'll survive.

V: No promises, love.

*she hangs up here.*

She always has to have the last word. And now this apartment is full of reminders of her and her lack of presence. The silence is eating me. I just want to hear her voice again and see her smile and feel her fingers intertwined with mine again. That's all I want now.

I can't think of anything else.

--Chester

Kaylee's back

Or so I hear. On our last post I got an anonymous comment directing me towards this tumblr blog: Let Go Of Me. Which appears to be written by Kaylee. A substantially different Kaylee to the one that I befriended a few months ago, substantially different even to the one we met around New Years.

I feel a little sorry for her, to be honest. She seems very unhappy.

She says she doesn't know who posted the anon. comment as it wasn't her. Odd.

It's nice to know she's alive. We would have been good friends if it weren't for circumstances.

Still no sign of Slendy, It's making me nervous.

--Vivi

Strange.

No sign from Slim Shady, but apparently some homeless guy got found dead in South Auckland, impaled on a tree, organs removed, etc. Another victim. The police are trying to keep it quiet because apparently this is the third one in the past six months but one of the perks of working in this industry is that people treat you like you're deaf, so Chester and Mariko hear all sorts of stuff.

On the subject of Chester, we spent about fifteen minutes earlier this evening just staring at each other (he has really pretty eyes) for no particular reason. Oh, romance~ Why do you make me do such strange things~

Also, back on the subject of work: Our employer, Mr Irving, has to have a operation so he's going to be in hospital for who-knows-how-long. Over a week. I hope it turns out okay, because Mr Irving is one of those people it's impossible not to like. He's nice to us and to the customers, enthusiastic about pretty much everything he does, etc. And if he died I'm not sure what would happen to the restaurant...

We still have Jeff and Cheska staying with us. They've been good guests. We have converted them to the goodness of Vegemite (in case some people have caught up with this blog through the condensed summary as opposed to reading the full blog, Vegemite is my Trademark Favourite Food). :D Maybe Slendy would like some Vegemite?

Stay safe, everyone.

--Vivi

What does normal mean anyway?

I'm having trouble with the concept at the moment. Normal at the moment means hosting two ex-proxies, getting nervous when there ISN'T an Eldritch Abomination hanging around, your current girlfriend teaching you how to fight and also how to slow-dance (don't. ask.) and getting wacky notes from aforementioned Eldritch Abomination's mooks. To most people, that wouldn't be normal. I swear, if this keeps going on by the time I die (hopefully of old age, although this is looking gradually less likely as time goes on) I won't be surprised by anything. Even if Slendy suddenly shows up cosplaying Kamina.

I had another Radioactive Coffee moment today. To clarify, I daydream a lot, and when I snap out of it I tend to say some weird shit until I come fully back down to Planet Earth. When Vivi first started working here last year,  she was so excited about getting a job she enjoyed that she did everything very...energetically. So, the first day she was here, I was off with the fairies thinking about interior design (it made sense in context) when Max tapped me on the shoulder and went "Who turned her speed setting up to Eleven? She seemed normal enough at the interview." and I replied with "Radioactive coffee gave her super speed?"

So I had a similar moment today when a customer, one of our regulars, Joseph, asked me what on the menu was good and I went "Vivi and Max adher to food safety regulations at all times." which most people would be weirded out by, but Joseph has been eating here fairly regularly for ages so he just laughed and told me that I keep him young. Whatever that means.

Jeff and Cheska stayed in the apartment today, making sure we didn't get vandalised again, which was awful nice of them. Cassy has really taken a shine to them as well, more than she usually does to new people as well. I guess she has no problem with people who used to be proxies, just actual proxies since she didn't like Kaylee that much until just before she left.

The material used to deface our bathroom has been positively identified as the same stuff as what Kaylee threw up post taking the cure. Except it appears to be breathing and starts trying to get out of the tube occasionally. It's been destroyed now that we've verified what it is, because keeping something like that lying around is probably not a good idea.

Speaking of Slendy, still no sign. Vivi is making me spar with her every day before breakfast and before dinner. I'm improving, sorta, but she's been doing Karate for the past 7 years and I've only just started learning so I can't really expect to be an Instant Badass Just Add Water. It doesn't work that way. I guess I'm lucky in that I'm hardly out of shape, so if worst comes to worst I can just grab Vivi and run like the wind.

Time for dinner with Jeff and Cheska (who have discovered the awesomeness that is vegemite) and Vivi. That girl really loves cooking. She does it all day at work and then makes dinner. And she bakes sometimes. She has a book of recipies that have been PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG SULLIVAN FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS?

(...You can tell Chester's just had coffee, haven't you? Oh well. Everyone try not to die overnight, okay?)

What she said. Everyone stay safe.

--Chester.

Chester has gotten surprisingly good at disassembling and reassembling guns over the past few hours. He's been doing so pretty much nonstop ever since he figured out how. Way to go, Jeff, you figured out one of Chester's strong points- he likes taking things apart and seeing how they work. He was quite the Science nerd back in high school, when he wasn't being a Performing Arts nerd. Odd combination but it kind of works.

Tonight is our second night of having Jeff and Cheska around (I KNEW that couch bed would come in handy someday!). It's nice, since we don't have guests often. Unfortunately we have to leave them to their own devices tomorrow because we have work. We've given them a map of the city and directions to our workplace in case they get lost, get bored, or want a place to eat (Because there are a fair few dodgy eateries out there >.>) with a warning that Mariko flirts with anyone and everyone who isn't obviously taken and even then you aren't safe and not to think anything of it, that's just how she rolls. If she doesn't flirt with you, THEN you should worry about her being interested in you.

Well, I should probably go. If anything happens, we pinky promise to let you know. As as any person who has been through school should know, pinky promises are serious business.

--Vivi

Check-in

Thank god Jean is okay. Still worrying about Fizzy as she hasn't posted for a while. I hope she's not gone.

Dinner with Jeff and Fallen went fantastically. They are model guests. No sign of Slendy, which is somewhat unusual as we've had him chilling on our street or outside work or otherwise nearby pretty much every day on-and-off, so I'm a little nervous. If anything unusual happens we'll be sure to tell you guys...

We're in the process of trying to narrow down who defaced the bathroom and Vivi's drawings while we were away. The problem is that they didn't exactly leave any handy evidence as to their identity lying around. the only people we've struck off are Viv's immediate family, who were with us, her best friend who is in Japan, and a few of my more distant relatives who don't know that I'm living with Vivi.

Everyone stay safe. Try not to die.

--Chester

P.S. I turned my phone on this morning and found 17 missed calls from Max. He's kept calling me to tell me about things that have happened to him on Minecraft (which I sorely regret introducing him to.). Even really trivial ones like finding a squid or getting chased by a Skeleton. I can't wait until he finds out about Herobrine, thinks it's real and then flips out, that'll be fun to watch.

Visitors

We have a Jeff and a Francheska! :D They made it here without incident, so yeah. We just got home. :D Traffic was unusually good, so we got home in supermegadoubletime.

They both survived me glomping them and they seem to be doing fairly well for people who've just been on an international flight. Kudos. the last time I went of an international flight all I wanted to do when I got home was sleeeeeeeep. And then sleep some more. Cheska lifted me right off my feet and then gave Chester a hug so tight his immediate reaction was "Please don't crush my ribs Ms. Francheska ma'am" so I guess being ex-Slendymooks has a few perks.

I'm just about to put dinner on. I've put out a few vegemite sandwiches out in case our guests get a tad hungry while they are waiting for delicious dinnery goodness, and even if they don't Chester eats a lot of food, it's like feeding a person and a half. You can say what you like about New Zealanders in general, but I believe in a little thing called hospitality. Neither of us have work tomorrow (we work 4 days a week) so if they want any help seeing the sights, Chester has lived here since he was born and I have since not long after. If any of you ever stop by, Auckland Zoo has kiwi birds and the Sky Tower is awesomely vertigo-inducing. :D

Now if you'll excuse me, I have pots and pans to stir. And use to make a one-person percussive orchestra, but that's besides the point.

--Vivi

Something in the Water

I love that song.

Slendy appears to have found the restaurant we work at because he's chilling outside the gardening centre next door. Buying some roses for your garden, Slendy? I swear, next thing I know he'll be walking in and ordering the mushroom risotto.

Leah and Max have become Sickeningly Sweethearts in our absence. It makes my head hurt just LOOKING at them.

I'm about to have my lunch break, which I will use to duck down to the supermarket down the road and get some ingredients for dinner since the cupboards are looking rather sparse and we're feeding Jeff and Cheska as well as ourselves tonight.

--Vivi

Done Condensing

We have a schmancy new header bar that contains links to the home page and to the condensed version. Go have a look, and if you haven't already done an Archive Binge due to tl;dr, go have a read. It's long, but it's only a fraction of the length of the entire blog.

Work tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing my workmates again. Apparently a LOT happened while we were gone. No sure what. We'll fill you in when we find out.

Nothing too big happening on the Slendy front. We were cleaning when Vivi found that whoever broke into the apartment didn't just deface the bathroom- they found Viv's old drawings. When she was younger she couldn't draw faces so her little people wouldn't have facial features. Now they do, even if all it is is a few pen strokes forming an (X). The ones that did have faces have had them meticulously whited out with correction fluid. Huh.

We're seeing Jeff and Francheska tomorrow. I'm not sure where your flight is in, guys, but our work ends at 5 and we're usually home by 5.15. We can pick you up from the airport if your flight arrives in the evening, and we'll treat you to dinner. Well, Vivi will, I still can't cook. Speaking of which, watch out. Vivi likes to glomp people and she is stronger and heavier than her stature would suggest.

Speaking of dinner, I'm going to see if I can help Vieve with ours. :3

--Chester

Recovery.

Okay, next time someone breaks into our apartment and writes all over our bathroom walls and floor, you could at least try and make your scary words last. The black paste stuff they used to write/draw everywhere smudges really easily and was a cinch to clean off. Probably because they wrote on the tiles. Awfully polite of them, but srsly gaiz?

In other news, my sense of humour has taken up bungee jumping from it's normal state straight into the gallows and back again. At least I still have a sense of humour.

It's come to my attention that this blog is getting kinda long. 60 posts in the last two months of 2010, which means if new readers want to know what the f**k is going on in full they have to read 60 posts of me (and later Chester) ranting and raving about stuff. So over the next few weeks I'm going to write a summary of the first 60 posts so people don't have to do a FREAKING MASSIVE ARCHIVE BINGE through all the filler and just read the STUFF THAT IS RELEVANT. :D

I have far too much energy right now. I think I'm gonna go out for a run. I'll have my phone, I'll tweet if I get into any trouble.

--Vivi

Unwelcome Surprises

Hello, children. We're back.

It seems like a fair bit went down while we were in Matarangi. Jean is missing, Fizzy is god-knows-where trying to find her before Blankie does. We're expecting a visit from Jeff and Francheska (are you still coming here? please forewarn us before dropping on our doorstep) and just general stuff. Is anyone dead?

Uh. Well. Our holiday went fine. We had a few problems with proxies. Just two, standing outside the window at night. They never did anything too insane, just stood outside our window and stared in at us. Weeeeeird. We went outside one night and chased them off. They didn't resist (even weirder) which I guess was a good thing since they were both teenage girls, about 16 or 17, and I still have issues with hitting girls unless they hit me first. I really need to work on that, don't I?

I found out several things in the worst way possible over the past ten days.

-I get very, very carsick if I drive on windy roads on a full stomach. (Thankfully I did not do a Leah and throw up all over Vivi's car.)

-Vivi is ticklish (That was one knee to the crotch I definitely did not deserve.)

-Do not go swimming on windy days shortly after eating.

-I can get sunburnt. My Mum is Maori and never gets sunburn (my Dad is Caucasian/Pakeha/whatever else you want to call it and does get sunburnt), and for the past nearly-21 years I have thought I was the same. Now I am paranoid about skin cancer since I don't wear very much sunscreen and Vieve is unsympathetic because she's always meticulous when it comes to that kind of thing.

Slendy seems to be taking more of an active interest in us now. We saw him more times in Matarangi and on the way home than we have altogether. This is really not a good sign...

I'm doing this post from Vivi's iPod Touch, since she's using the computer for something I am apparently not allowed to see since it's related to my birthday. Which is on the 4th of February. So it's a bit early to be thinking about that but Viv is the sort of person who likes to get things done well in advance.

Aaaand she wants to say something so I'm going to go.

Shit, she looks freaked out.

--Chester

I just went into the bathroom to put away some of our stuff and someone had written all over the walls and floor. The tiled parts, thank god, because I would hate to have to explain that to my landlady...

I wish I had a camera so I could photograph this.

It's written in the black stuff, stuff similar to what Kaylee threw up post-cure-taking. It's mostly nonsense, just squiggles and operator symbols, but some of it's decipherable.

I SEE YOU (pretty much the most common one)

WATCHING (repeated in clusters, sometimes it's FOREVER WATCHING or ALWAYS WATCHING or something similar)

Drawings of eyes and doors and linked circles kind of like chains. I might copy down some of these- does anyone here know anything about symbolism?

Then there's...other stuff. My full name, and Chester's. Our birthdates, our places of birth, the college courses we're taking, our workplace, the name of our high school and respective middle schools, our cell phone numbers, all this stuff related to us, personal stuff. Shit.

This is just scare tactics, they're trying to wear us down I know it

but they were in my apartment, they disabled the alarm (how the hell did they know the code) they wrote all over my bathroom with all this stuff about me and Chester

they know us, they're someone close to us.

Someone who knows Chester and I are living together.

That really narrows it down.

Dad.

Mum.

Elaine.

Jonathan.

My aunts and uncle and my cousins

My grandparents

Chester's (massive) extended family.

Mariko

Max

Leah

Mr Irving

Our common friends (Kathy, Dan, Simon, Lily Anne, Mike)

This isn't good.

I'm going to try narrow that list down further. We can strike off my immediate family and Kathy off right away because the folks were with us the entire time and Kathy is in Nagoya...

That still leaves a lot of people.

Fuck.

--Genevieve

Leaving

This will be our last post for 10 days unless we can get ahold of a wi-fi connection, in which case we will post updating you all on what's been happening.

As mentioned before, we'll try and stay in touch via Twitter Mobile. There's a gadget on this blog that will show you the last 5 tweets.

I'm done packing. Chester has had to repack because although he remembered to pack books, a chessboard, and his iPod he forgot to pack shoes, a toothbrush, and his wallet. *facepalm* I love him, but he's more than a little bit scatterbrained.

Here's hoping we don't run into any proxies. Fingers crossed. We're bringing guns and cricket bats in case things turn nasty.

Everyone, please stay safe, okay?

--Vivi

Girls are weird.

Vieve's bag is half again the size of mine, probably because she packed a lot more clothing than me and because she has packed shampoo and shower gel and thing that she says I don't need to know about because they are feminine mysteries. n_n But seriously we have access to a washing machine and clothesline amirite? We don't need to bring that much clothing...

(Layering, Chester. I layer my clothes because it gets boring wearing a t-shirt or tanktop and shorts all summer.)

Slendy showed up earlier today. Both of us shat bricks. He's just left. He didn't do much. He was on our side on the road facing #27 for a while then outside #27 looking up at us. If you looked at him directly he'd do this weird headtilt thing but otherwise, just there. Weird.

Oh well. Matarangi tomorrow. 4 hours in a car, two of which I will be driving (I got my full license yesterday! :D) then 10 days of hanging out with Vieve and her family at the beach. It's like a 10-day-long Beach Episode! Yay!

--Chester

...Hah hah. We won't have internet down in Matarangi so if you want to know what we're doing, check our twitter Chestevieve , since you can update twitter from your mobile as long as you have signal. We're adding the widget to our profile as soon as I can figure out how, because Chester tried and he crashed Internet Explorer. I have no idea why he was using IE anyway, that thing is slow as hell.

Anyway! I've got to go make dinner (Macaroni and Cheese) and then I've got to take Cassy down to Alice in 5C, who will be looking after her while we are gone. I've left Cassy in Alice's company before. I got some pretty funny looks last time I went away because  was standing in the elevator with a half-grown cat perched on my shoulder. Cassy's small for a cat so I can walk around with her on my shoulder and she's mellow enough that I can actually go in the elevator, walk through the lobby and check my mailbox and she will just sit there. It's awesome.

--Vivi

Closure

EDIT: Our Twitter, @Chestevieve, is now online and functioning.

Well, Kaylee's gone. She decided continuing to sleep on our couch was probably not a good idea and left in the middle of the night. So, that's one problem solved. Although I think we're going to have to barricade the door shut at night instead of just locking it to prevent proxies picking the locks and getting in that way. You have to hand it to them, they're a pretty resourceful bunch, even if they're using that resourcefulness in service of Where's-his-face.

Genevieve and I are leaving for Matarangi tomorrow. There's no internet there, so we'll be signing up for Twitter, which will allow us to stay in touch so if we get pwned by proxies we can let you know, although we won't be able to check the blogs etc because both Vieve and I have older cellphones without all this schmancy internet browser stuff. Well, Vieve's has a browser but it's text-only and pretty much good for absolutely nothing. If we can get ahold of a Wi-Fi connection we'll make sure to check up on you all.

Okay, so dinner with the Sullivan family was bad enough, right?

I'm going to be spending 10 days LIVING with them. Help meeeeeeeeee.

(You'll be fine as long as by some miracle Jonathan doesn't challenge anyone to and game of Mahjong and Dad doesn't decide it would be a good idea to barbeque something. Charcoal is not food, Dad. --Vivi)

...If there's one thing related to food I can do, it's use a barbeque. If your Dad doesn't mind help it'll probably be fine.

(...Where have you been all my life?)

Around, usually. Don't worry, guys, we'll be on the lookout for proxies and any other slender-shenanigans and we'll be taking weapons in case thing turn nasty. We've still got one shot of the cure left as well...

(Slender-shenanigans? Seriously, Chester? Ah well. He's right, we're not optimistic enough to think that we're going to be left alone...)

We'll just try to enjoy ourselves in the meantime.

Kaylee

 woke up about an hour ago. She's surprisingly coherent now and quite emphatic about several things.

1) She wants to go home to America.
2) A shower and a change of clothes, since the ones she has she's been wearing for at least 36 hours and also while proxy!Kaylee may be fine with short skirts the real Kaylee is most definitely not.
3) Food. We offered her something to eat before but she couldn't keep anything down so yeah.

The only thing I could see a problem with would be 1). However, last night we got a call from the police in America, saying that they found Kaylee two weeks ago, turns out she was having paranoid delusions or something and just ran off, and she refused to go to therapy until she'd gone to New Zealand to visit me and let me know she was alive, had I seen her? They seem happy with that story, the case is closed

So Kaylee is catching a flight to America on the 5th and she's going to go and try rebuild her life.

Other than that, I have another transcript for you now.

V: You feeling better?

K: I am clean and I have eaten, so I could say that I do.

V: You're using pronouns now.

K: But not contractions.

V: I noticed. Do you think we can untie you or is that a bad idea?

K: I am not sure...maybe it is best to keep me restrained in the meantime.

V: Did you hear about what happened to Lionel?

K: Yes. He knew the truth. It was too much for him. I am glad.

V: Why?

K: If he had been alive I would have been sent to kill him.

V: I see.

K: Who is Chester? He was not living in your apartment when I was last here.

V: Chester is another one of Slendy's Special Friends.  He's also my co-worker and my boyfriend.

K: So that is why you seem very close. ...He is very intimidating.

(insert Chester and I exchanging incredulous looks here)

V: Chester is a gentleman unless you are a proxy, which you currently appear not to be.

C: If it's any help, I'm scared of you too. Out of curiosity, can you explain what precisely you meant by "Compulsion"?

K: Oh. Bad word to describe it, really. Indoctrinated have no will for their own. Their will and that of the Master is the same. They want nothing that It does not want. Their only purpose is as a motherf***ing meat puppet to the Master.

(I will not tell you how funny that last sentence was when said in Kaylee's voice (which is very soft) when she is otherwise speaking extremely formally.)

V: Can you remember what the Master compelled you to do? Did it give you any insight?

K: Very little. There is no pattern between people he wants killed and those he just wants haunted.

C: ...Kaylee, did you know about the blogs? People writing about being stalked by Slender Man on the internet?

K: Yes, but I was under the impression that Logan, Joshua, and Damien had been dealt with...

(She doesn't know? What?)

--Vivi

This poses more questions than it answers.

Managed to feed the stuff to Kaylee an hour ago. She's alternating between muttering "shutupshutupshutup" and vomiting at the moment. Not sure if that's a good sign, but other than that she's pretty docile. We've freed one of her hands so she can grab the provided bucket instead of throwing up on the carpet. She was lucid for about five minutes a little while ago, so I  made a transcript of our conversation which can be found below.

Kaylee: shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up

*Chester and I stop talking and look at her*

K: No, keep talking.

C: Then who needs to shut up?

K: ...*attempts to cover her face*

V: *wary* He isn't going to suddenly walk in here, is he?

K: Nooooooooo...think. Hasn't shown any sign of wanting to come here. Might send Indoctrinated. Probably not.

C: Why not?

K: Not many here. Not many here fighting, either. Have seen no other Indoctrinated.

V: We've had run ins. There are proxies here.

K: Proxies...?

C: You called them Indoctrinated. We called them Proxies, Hallowed, Agents, Maskies...

K: Have many names.

V: Is it still talking?

K: Compulsion.

V: What?

K: Wants, obey. Compulsion.

C: It compels you to do stuff?

K: Almost...not obey. Want the same as. Don't know.

V: Kaylee, is there a particular reason why you are having trouble using pronouns? We can't understand you

K: Huh?

V: Pronouns. She, he, it, you.

K: *startled* Am using!

C: If you are, we can't hear them.

K: *opens and shuts her mouth as if attempting to speak, coughs* Strange. Assured is not intentional. Stuff tastes weird. Water?

(insert pause while I go and get her a glass of water)

K: Thanks. *drinks half the glass* What is stuff?

C: Dunno. Friend of ours called Jeff sent it to us, apparently it cures Hallowed-ness or at least breaks It's grip on you. I guess it works since you've stopped trying to kill us both, although hopefully the speech impediment won't last.

(Kaylee throws the remaining contents of the glass of water at Chester.)

V: Is It still trying to compel you?

K: Yes.

(she falls silent after this and refuses to speak)

Any theories on what she meant by "Compulsion" and "Want the same as"? Or indeed why she is unable to use pronouns? Jeff, you were the one who supplied this stuff to us, any advice on why she is unable to use pronouns or the fact that her vomit looks like she's been eating charcoal?