WEDNESDAY
JULY 13TH, 2011
("Operation:
RIse Against Fear")
12:32
AM
We’ve hit the Kentucky border. Great.
Like I care.
12:40
AM
Donnie’s
trying to grab my hand.
I’m trying to drive! >_>
Gah.
One-track mind.
12:44
AM
..sorry. .____.;; I didn’t mean to get like that.
I..
I don’t know.
I just don’t know.
12:56
AM
I hate.. I hate something.
Myself, probably.
It’s
who I always hate, after all.
I am the sickness, and I’m
down.
..ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah?
God, that was cheesy.
…heh.
Like, wow. That was insanely cheesy. Even for
me.
Hahahahahahaha.
Ha.
What was I even mad about
earlier?
Ah, who cares.
1:49
AM
Hitchhikers!
1:50
AM
They kicked us out of the car and drove off.
2:29
AM
I did not miss the slowness of walking.
"It
definitely sucks."
We can’t even listen to music. And
I've got an Alice in Chains craving!
"We didn't have any
Alice in Chains."
Yeah, it was kind of burning in the back
of my mind even still. It's "The Man in the Box," I want
that song. It was in Rock Band 2.
"That's a good
song. That was in Rock Band?"
I'm
telling you, the best setlists in either the games or music industry
were in those games.
"I liked Guitar Hero 3."
Yeah,
see, you're missing out. There's a whole thing, I can prove
algebraically that Rock Band
was leagues above Guitar Hero.
I mean, RB3 was seen as a weirder setlist, but I think it just needed
more time to grow on people. The fact of the matter is, the RB
trilogy is unrivaled. You'd be hard-pressed to find a single mediocre
song.
Case in point: “Pull Me Under” is Dream Theater’s
only hit single in their, what, 26-year career, yet when Harmonix
decided to give them a song in Rock Band 2, they instead chose
“Panic Attack.” Neversoft played it safe in Guitar Hero 4
and chose the hit single, while Harmonix made sure to choose a song
that would be downright impossible to play on all
instruments.
Harmonix knows what they’re doing. They don’t
just choose the popular songs; they choose the songs that will be fun
to play. Because every member of Harmonix is a musician in some way.
Who better to craft a music game?
And, y'know, Harmonix were the
creators of Guitar Hero. They
made the first two, then went off and made Rock Band as just.. a
Bigger and Better kind of thing. Meanwhile, Guitar Hero gets
Neversoft assigned to them, and look, I love
Neversoft! I grew up with the Tony Hawk games! THUG and THAW were my
childhood! But
Neversoft are good at making skateboarding
games. They're not musicians; they can't compete
with Harmonix, and they'd never
beat them at their own game. ...literally!
...I mean. Am I going
on?
"I like it." :)
Ah, Harmonix! You and
Valve were my all-time favourite video game developers.
2:38
AM
I remember reading an article, an interview with a couple
Valve employees. They talked about the way Valve works. And it was
like first fuckin’ contact with an alien species! They said that
there are essentially no higher-ups in that company, no set agendas,
no status quo, no conventional business structure at all. The way
they decide what game they’re gonna make next? Someone experiments
and makes a little demo— entirely by themselves or with
whoever else wants to help— and tries to get more and more people
to help him make it. That is it. Can you believe it?
o_o
"o_o"
So the only reason Half-Life 2:
Episode Three never came out was because nobody actually got
around to finishing it.
..I’m sure there were more complicated
reasons than that; I respect Valve more than that.
5:35
AM
Decided to stop at the nearest hotel.
We’ve been
walking for so goddamn long, though we’ve been trying to make it
easier by talking about just about anything we could think of. Video
games, movies, even resorted to talking about porn at one point.
(There were opinions to be had...)
Map says we’re about
halfway through Kentucky now.
We’re making great progress! But
then again, we just lost our car, so.. this next leg might be a lot
slower than before.
And plus we’ve still got to pass through
Missouri before we reach Nebraska, let alone even California...
ugh.
Anyway, Donnie and I are talking about our plans for this
journey. We know, maybe even more than trying to get to any physical
destination, we’re gonna have to figure out how to find the
Cipher.
Me, I’m kinda hoping we’ll run into EAT again.
She
has her suspicions about that thing. “It’s a Fear. It’s no
different from the Harlequin. It’s planning something. When
we get past a Fear unscathed, we're not safe,
our backs are turned. And that one knows a lot
about us.”
I.. don’t know what to say to that! She
could very easily be right. But in the end, I told her the fact that
EAT knows so much about us is also what makes it our best bet at the
moment. It’s a being of knowledge; we’re X factors. It’s not
gonna attack us unless we prove ourselves to be a threat.
Besides.
The Ciphers seem to be the answer. We scared Archie and the Musicians
last time, didn’t we?
..right?
1:11
PM
Awake now. Nice sleep. Dreamed of sweet foods.
..wow,
Donnie looks great today. .w.;
Well. Time to resume our long
walk. ^^;;
1:13
PM
Wait a minute.
We just entered a rabbit hole, didn’t
we?
I mean, we’re kinda now in Rachael Land.
1:20
PM
Oh, now all the Rachaels are crowding around me.
I’m
making sure Donnie stays close.
..oh, now they.. left. o_o
1:24
PM
Donnie says they’re all glaring at her.
..I don’t
see them doing that.
1:30
PM
I asked a Rachael where I might find the exit to this
rabbit hole.
She asked which exit I wanted.
I said I wanted
to go to Nebraska, specifically, but anywhere close is good.
Then
she looked at Donnie and said she’s not helping us. So now we’re
on our own.
Now, I admit, I can see them glaring.
Tiger
Stripes is at the ready.
1:37
PM
Some Rachaels are coming our way.
Some are cracking
their knuckles.
I am so ready fo
oh
Donnie says she’s
got this.
1:38
PM
holy shit. o_o
She really does got this.
1:40
PM
She fucking wiped the floor. Owo;;
Oh shit,
look out, second wave!
She threw her frying pan on the ground
and pulled out the empty rifle. She's swinging it like a baseball
bat.
1:44
PM
That one’s got a gun.
Donnie’s got her hands
full.
I’m not just gonna stand here.
1:45
PM
HELLO
MEET X-PLORER
Got her hand, dropped the
gun. Good.
Now the Rachaels are coming for me too.
Tiger
Stripes, we’re gonna have to strike harder than we really want to.
1:48
PM
RACHAELS WITH SHOTGUNS
FUCKING REALLY?
"Hold
onto your hat, let's go!"
yes, ma'am!!!
1:49
PM
DOWN THIS ALLEYWAY
1:50
PM
MOVE IT BLUES BROTHERS
…WAIT
1:85
PM
A voice speaks to me: "Do you want to
see?"
Repression, obsession,
lay your character bare.
You make a good pair.
4:44
PM
Ugh.
Where the hell are we now.
It’s a
house.
…OH hello dead person on the floor. I’ve gotten
pretty used to this by now.
Where’s Donnie there she is
hi.
Okay. Next step is to figure out where we are.
4:48
PM
This seems to be a town. Not sure how big it is
yet.
SCREAM
what
What’s happening.
4:49
PM
..a lady ran out of the house and called us monsters.
o_o
Now she’s chasing us!
4:58
PM
Crowd of people, hoping they’re people and not zombies!
4:59
PM
Yep, people.
The crowd’s shutting up, the lady
stopped chasing us.
A man’s coming up to find out what the
hubbub is.
5:00
PM
The lady called us monsters, and we said we weren’t.
The
crowd’s pretty sure we’re not monsters.
The lady said we
killed the mayor. We said we didn’t; we just arrived via rabbit
hole.
The crowd believes us.
Now the dude’s gonna speak
to us in private.
5:40
PM
He told us what was going on.
Apparently, we found a
sanctuary under armed protection. Apparently, we’re in East Saint
Louis, Illinois. Just a little further west is the state of Missouri,
actually.
Apparently, the organization protecting this
town calls themselves “Operation:
Rise Against Fear.” It's a reference
to the international organization, but word is flaky on if they're
actually related.
And apparently, the
organization’s logo is a faceless suited man flipping off the
slender man.
Are you starting to get the picture, journal?
Okay,
last clue: A good portion of the people in this town keep a Guy
Fawkes mask with them.
These guys are Anonymous.
..well, I
mean, to be exact, they were formed by various members of
Anonymous. That was kind of a big project, after all. But this
was one of their branches. They must be at least competent
at defending people?
5:45
PM
The guy I’ve been speaking to tells me a black
dog’s been spotted.
Well, he said the black dog.
Because apparently the Black Dog is a Fear. It’s said to be a
deathly omen.
7:21
PM
Donnie and I
have decided we’re not gonna leave these guys on their own. We’re
spending the night with these guys. We support their cause. Besides,
it’s about time we stood up to the Fears.
8:19
PM
Dinner time, hell yes.
8:22
PM
Good god. The whole town has gathered into this hall just
to receive some food.
These guys look skinnier than I expected.
8:30
PM
I was just asked why I’ve got so much meat on my
bones.
…I don’t. o_o I'm kinda unhealthily thin?
8:41
PM
This man wants Donnie to go with him. I asked if I can go
along. Donnie assured me she’ll be fine.
..well, okay. ._.;;
9:05
PM
Donnie’s
back.
She says the man told her we look like Fears; people don’t
trust us. Apparently, it’s because we look too young, too
normal. Everyone around here’s pretty much either starving or dying
of some disease, and here we are, two relatively not-bad-looking kids
with absurd clothing and strange weapons just waltzing on in
via rabbit hole!
So he gave her two Guy Fawkes masks to disguise
ourselves.
And then he tried to make some advances on her. She
says she took good care of that problem, though; Donnie can really
take care of herself.
..she winced a little after saying it. ._.
9:39
PM
The people around here are offering us a place to
stay.
Well. I mean. I guess sleeping would be nice!
11:00
PM
Knock knock.
I’ll get it.
11:01
PM
Oh, it’s an Anon. See, Guy Fawkes mask. It’s the mark
of the culture.
:3
..o____o
SHUTTHEDOOR
WHATTHEFUCK
WHATTHEFUCK
WHATTHEFUCK
THATWASN’TANANON
OHMYGOD
OHMYGOD
WHATTHEFUCK
That
guy’s mask wasn’t a mask, it was his face. o__e Its
mouth moved, its eyes blunk, it
breathed.
whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck
11:05
PM
Donnie took a peek outside. There’s no one out there
now.
Ohhhhh, I have a bad feeling about this.
11:08
PM
Guy Fawkes masks? In the trash.
11:11
PM
I WISH SHIT WOULD GO WELL FOR US.
I wish shit would
go so well for us.
ohgod
11:13
PM
At the heavy advisement of my cohort, I’m.. I’m going
to try to get some sleep.
11:20
PM
We’re talking about methods of relaxation and stopping
panic.
Donnie knows a lot about it.
..hugging her.
11:35
PM
..are you sure you’re okay, ma’am? After all the
excitement and after that guy..
“I’m fine.”
You’re
shaking.
“I don't want to talk about it.”
Well… you
don't have to. But I want to say something.
Donnie, you've been
an angel to me, placing your trust in me and working to keep me up
and going. Ever since we met, you've been an unexpected friend,
flawless and selfless. And I need to do the same for you. I need to
back you up. I need to listen to you. And I need to make sure you
know that we're in this together. I've got your
back.
…"Thanks."
We're not in a safe place
here, I don't think. We're getting back on the road tomorrow.
"Yeah.
That's a good idea."
...I'm going to hug you now, if that's
alright.
"Please do."
(Attached: “As an aside: The narrative of the world, as it were, doesn’t quite match the flow of Jordan’s journals. When he and Donnie were trapped in Blackpool, a team of scientists in South America had the idea to sail to Antarctica and hold a global convention with lead scientists from the rest of the world. Contrary to what one might expect, that actually worked. In fact, the plan may have been communicated a little bit too well. When the day of the convention came– I believe the date was June 30th, not that it’s important– the hall was well beyond capacity. One headcount later, and they realized they were trapped on a frozen continent with Camper. Jump forward to this date, that of July 13th, and the narrative of the world had hit a sort of rock bottom. China had completely abandoned its west half, electing to migrate east for reasons I’m actually not all that sure about. I think it was a nasty case of Eldritch Bear. Either that or the abundant fertile soil in the east. Yeah, maybe it was that one. South Africa, however, may have been the only country not totally lost of hope. Their local sect of Rise Against Fear-ites were quite successful in recruiting members, and as much as the Fears like to boast about their ‘eldritch’ this and 'incomprehensible’ that, they don’t really fare well when against literal armies of gunfire and all-terrain vehicles. But yeah, generally people were fucked. See, for another example, Sweden. What’s that? You can’t see it? Not anymore.”)