Zenith : In Character Network → Computer Communica

I had this online friend from Colorado, and he always used to tell me a bunch of creepy legends about Riverdale Road. Stuff like a phantom jogger who was killed when a dude ran over him and now he haunts the site of the accident, ghostly slaves hanging from trees, all that kind of shit. Not sure if I believed him or not.

I dunno if I've seen anything unexplainable but I sure as hell experienced something. How the hell do you grab a guy from a crowded nightclub without anyone seeing? I'll never understand that one.

Just a heads up, but the furby is an asshole now. It's saying some personal, mean shit. Ignore it if you can, but it's a thing that's happening today I guess.

going to work on a supply list of things we saw at the 7-eleven if people want stuff or if there are things we can use as ingredients for stuff. should be able to do a better one once we can get back there. not today though. rain is going to make it hard to cross the bridge.

almost everything was really old and not edible but the boxes we opened in the store room had at least a few fresher things of each kind. had some decent not-edible stuff like sunglasses, some t-shirts with the store logo on it, lighters, that sort of thing. there are also gas cans. gas pumps work.

will try to make another trip over when the weather clears up if anybody wants to come to bring stuff back too.

I [...] think Lucy's gone. She's usually up before me, but her clothes and stuff are gone. I think she's gone.

Tobias and I found a 7-eleven. the stuff in it is pretty old but there are some batteries and useful stuff we're going to grab. found one of the lanterns and were going to look for the other one.

there's food but it looks like it's probably expired. will check for anything good.

does anyone want us to grab anything specific if we can find it? gonna take the batteries, some plastic bags, and some lighters. there's also gas at the pumps and I think I saw cans we can out it in if we need it for anything.

think we're going to set up a lantern in here once we find the other one. building seems really sturdy and in good condition, just old. power is running.

It turns out we've got a glass-floor bridge crossing from one side of the ravine to the other at M14. It's sturdy enough, but there are three spots where panes of glass are missing that are about three feet across.

I don't remember off the top of my head, but did anybody get any pieces of plywood from the fish contest? And if so, would you be willing to let us keep a piece at the bridge to use for crossing? The plan is anyone going across can set it down over the patch they need to get over if they don't feel comfortable making the jump, then move it down as needed. I don't want to put anything permanent down because we don't have a way to weather-proof it, and the last thing we need is a section of the bridge deteriorating on us. We can figure out a way to keep one piece dry and set aside until we can come up with something better.

Edwin and I also found some strawberry bushes while we were looking around the area. We don't have a way to carry much back right now, but we can rectify that tomorrow.

If anyone needs anything we'll be in this area for a bit, and then we'll take a walk up the edge of the ravine to see if maybe we can find a more reliable path down. I know it goes without saying, but stay in contact, and stay safe, and keep an eye on the clock.

So Harper already brought this up, but just so we don't bombard and scare the new girl on her post, I think we should talk about how we want to go about this lantern retrieving thing! It would be a really smart idea to go get these things, and earn a path! GUYS! Won't it be nice to have a path? And have some space that we can, like, set up a fire pit and sit by that at night now that the weather's getting warmer?

So! Who wants to go where? I'm going to put who's volunteering for where below!

H18 (7): Owen and Scotty!
U20 (6): Felix, Lennon, and Marco!
U32 (4): Ivy, Harper, and me!
T12 (11): Chase and Tobias!

General nondescript ravine area: Oliver & Edwin

Do you want the good news, the bad news, or the weird news first?

Seems to me like we're behind on our art projects.

Hey, seems like we haven't really talked in a while. We should hang out if you aren't doing anything.

I can't think of anything weird enough

I was on the subway once and watched a guy clipping his fingernails. he actually took one of the clipped nails and used it to floss his front teeth.

That was weird (and yes it was really disgusting).

Honest to god, no lie, I was working one day, and we had a client come in with their pet duck, telling us there was something wrong with it, because it couldn't swim. It was just like a really bad swimmer. I had to stand there and explain to this person that their duck was actually a CHICKEN, and I honestly don't know how they thought that their chicken was a duck. To this day, I still think about how strange it was that this full grown adult BOUGHT a CHICKEN thinking that they were spending their money on a DUCK.

[Attempt 1] Well, I've been a vendor at a bunch of cons before and well... there are some cosplays I regret seeing.

[Attempt 2] Okay, you want me to be more specific, alright.

I've worked at Heroes for Hire since I was sixteen, I became a key holding manager right after I turned 18. I was often in charge of our 'away team' which was basically a crew I would take with me to run our booth at local conventions... and well, it was 2014.

This is only important, because for those of you who don't know, this was BronyCon's biggest year and when that happens... well, copy cat cons form. BronyCon happened in Baltimore, and closer to home in Texas HarmonyCon started. Along the same lines, it was dedicated to all lovers of My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. We had just gotten a bunch of their comics and collectables, and so away we went.

This brought on a weird sect of Con followers and Cosplayers--- from realistic MLP horse style cosplays, to equestria girls and... well, Brony's in their finest furry fetish gear. I say this not to shame anyone of, of course, but...

It was weird. To see some little girls child show turned complete fetish galore. It was actually one of the last cons I did before coming here.

When I was working as an intern at a marketing firm one summer during college, one of the junior executives used to bring her pet iguana to the office every day. she'd walk around with it on her shoulder like it was a parrot and it barely moved except for when it was blinking. she told people it was her emotional support pet. everyone was too scared of her to say anything.

that was pretty weird.

You guys know that I'm a guy who literally sees weird shit on a regular basis, right? Like my brain's really good at making up weird shit? My first visual hallucinations were of a man who lived halfway in the ground of the soccer field that I used to play in. Kind of like how I was in the ground yesterday, I guess? Except he liked it, he just lived there, and he was dead so he was fucking creepy, and he wanted my skin so I couldn't go near him. He never said he wanted my skin, but I knew. He's probably the weirdest thing I've seen, but I don't know if you guys will count this because he's not real.

[#1] the strangest thing I saw before this was your mom's bumhole

[#2] that time at the circus when I was high

[#3} So when I was sixteen my parents decided to take us to this big circus performance. I'd never been before because of my deprived foster childhood and all that, so it was gonna be cool. Right before we left I took some molly I got from this dude at school. IDK why, I just thought it'd be a good idea. It was my dad, my mom, my brother who was 19 then and my sister who was 18. We got inside and did the whole shebang, ya know... weird glasses, cotton candy, hot dogs, popcorn, gigantic sodas. The lights went down and by then I was feeling weird. I know it was MDNA and not acid or whatever, but I was tripping. I guess some people are more sensitive to shit than others. They had all kinds of stuff along with the animal acts. People on trapezes and balancing, lights, music, fog and special effects. I kept seeing weird shit and to this day I dunno what was real and what was imagined. I thought there was this guy with his face painted like the devil who kept watching me from around corners and from behind seats, and I saw stuff in the fog whenever the lights would go down and then come back on. Creepy as fuck.

My brother caught on about halfway through and he kept giving me that your ass is mine when this is over look. Right before the end I had to go puke up about a gallon of soda and hot dogs and I felt a little better even though after we got home I got the full lecture from Johnathan about how I was an idiot and drugs were stupid. He never told on me though and I never took molly again until I was 20 or so.

The weirdest thing I've ever seen before this place? I mean, it's probably going to seem tame in comparison but there was this one time at a New Year's Eve party at a friend's place. It was like 4 am and we were all outside, saying goodbye and whatever, and this random dude walked up to a friend of mine and asked her to spit in his hands. She did, which was weird, and after that the guy used it to wash his face and then said goodnight and walked away.

[Attempt 1] That I can think of right now, camel spiders.

[Attempt 2] Camel spiders. They're some of the freakiest looking bugs I've ever seen. During daylight hours in the desert they'll actively chase people to hide in their shadow. They also like to show up in your bunk at night. Pretty harmless critters, but you'd be surprised how many hardass grunts turn into squishy babies when one turns up.

This Japanese gameshow called Denpa Shonen where this guy had to survive on nothing but winnings from sweepstakes until he earned a million yen worth of prizes. They tossed him in an apartment with no food or clothes or furniture, just a little table he could sit at with a radio and postcards he could write prize entries on, and shelf full of magazines that had contests. He only ended up with like a pair of ladies underwear for clothes the whole time, and I think for most of it he ended up cooking whatever food he won in a soup can. They had to move his apartment a few times because the whole thing was being streamed live on the internet 24/7, and people in Japan were starting to figure out where he was.

In the end it took him something like a year to earn the million yen, but then they didn't even release him. They didn't even tell him he'd made it. They moved him to fucking Korea or Taiwan or something (I don't totally remember that part) and made him do it all over again in language he didn't even speak. Then when they finally let him go they acted like they were moving him to another new apartment, so he was sitting there naked, waiting for stuff to start again, and it turned out they'd just stuffed him into a tiny Japanese-apartment-sized box that they pulled away, and he was sitting in front of a live studio audience in his birthday suit.

See? This is why you should have let me have coffee all those mornings you pulled this shit. I work better caffeinated.

[Private to Kiley]
Dragon friend! Hey! I heard you were on a cliff? How are you doing? Lennon and I were heading out to see if you needed help, but it sounded like you were rescued without issue. You okay? Is your guy spoiling you after your cliff adventure? Cliff adventure sounds way more fun than what it actually was.


[Private to Dylan]
Dylan! How are you? Where were you? Are you okay? No injuries, right? Sorry I didn't message earlier, when we finally got back I took a long nap. It's been a day, as you know. If I don't run into you on the way to or from the bathroom at some point tonight, I owe you a hug tomorrow. I realize that I could just walk over and knock on your door, but my legs are dead and I have a boyfriend leaning on me. But that hug's coming.


[Private to Lennon]
How are your legs? My blisters have blisters. We did good today. I took a serious nap when we got back. Marco's here with me and Oliver, and he seems pretty okay, in case you were worried. You doing alright?


[Private to Jack]
Hey! I just wanted to reach out and see how you were doing. I know you were taken today, though I don't know where you were or what you went through. I felt like I needed to check in, though. You doing alright? Oliver just brought up the fact that we have everything to make potato chips, and I think I'm going to do that tomorrow, and wanted to offer you some. But mostly I wanted to see how you were doing.