SUNDAY JULY 24TH, 2011
(Sanctuary Francisco)

8:42 AM
groggy.
"You're awake. Good."
hi Donnie. :)
"Hi. Wow, you really are quick with that thing."
what? oh, the journal. I've been doing it for two months now. Kinda got a good system going.
"Cody wonders if it's a good idea."
Does he, now?
"I told him it's part of the package. I think it helps you stay aware in the rabbit holes."
Part of the package. So you guys have been talking about me.
"He's... ugh. He's so paranoid. I think I dodged a bullet with him."
What else is he saying?
"He doesn't like new people. He says he's alright with me, because he 'knows' me. But he doesn't know what to think about you. I think you should talk to him today. Spend time with him."
I mean. I can... but how long are we planning on staying here? I want to search for Bones.
"Well, help him out, maybe he can help you in return. I want to stay here for a little longer."
Heaven has that plan, doesn't she? Apparently we'll be hearing about it in a few days. We could stay to find out what it is, at least.
"A few days? Sure. That works."
Okay. You going out?
"I'm going to have a look around the area, now that it's daytime. You go find Cody, okay?"
kiss
"Love you."
I love you too. :D

9:50 AM
...FUCK I FELL BACK ASLEEP
okay okay, I'm getting dressed.
Hat, coat, scarf, pants, velcro shoes.
San Fran, here we go, baby!!!

9:51 AM
Tiger's here. Cody's eating cereal.
Morning!
tiger waved.
What's. What's going on?
"Winston's missing. I came around to get a search going."
cody "I'm on it. Gotta eat first."
Can I come?

10:03 AM
Walking in a pack!!!
cody "Do you really expect to do much with a piece of plastic?"
tiger "Oh, you should have seen him last night. He took a zombie's head clean with it. It was swag."
You can doubt Tiger Stripes all you want, but this thing came from the sky. It's built to last.
cody "The sky?"
Yeah, on the first day of all this. I took my guitar controller out and lost it pretty quickly, and then that night, this thing fell from the sky.
"Sounds like a lot of horseshit to me."
Have you. Have you seen what's happening?
"I've seen plenty enough. The walking dead. A dog that takes people's skin. Moving shadows. Those damned sirens…"
Sirens?
"They looked like speakers on legs, but they were tall enough to be tripods from Mars."
"Like in that movie."
"I saw them towering over Lincoln before I made the decision to come to California."
That sounds like Legsteps. You saw them in... Lincoln?
"Nebraska."
On Earth. Huh.
"You've never seen them on Earth?"
Only ever in Xanadu. The, uh, the other world.
"Oh yeah. Donnie tells me you guys have spent a lot of time over there."
Is that weird?
"...a lot about you is weird, kid. That one maybe more than most."
But. But it's another world, accessible just by walking through a door. What's not to be curious about?
"It's a danger. Bad things are coming out of there. We don't know how it works. We don't know for sure how to come back out."
They're. They're doors. You just.. walk back out.
"Do you ever wonder if maybe you got lost in there long ago, and this thing that's come back out isn't even you?"
Well, then I'd be the one talking to you right now, so, no, I wouldn't really wonder about that.
tiger "I like him, Cody. He's seen things."
cody "We're not here to like people. We're here to stay alive." looking at me. "If you can protect people and keep them alive, then you're alright."
But you're still unsure?
"I think being unsure is the right move in all this."
Alright, I can respect that.

10:07 AM
Met up with Jackie, Tiger's friend. She's helping look for Winston.
She says he was last seen in John McLaren park. That's where we're going now.

10:25 AM
At the park.
Cody's putting a backpack on the ground. Looking at the rest of us.
"Alright, McLaren's not a small place, so we're going to need to split up, cover more ground. I'm pretty sure Jordan is the second-oldest, so he and I can take separate groups. Jackie, Tiger, you.. pick who you're going with. Jordan, you go north" pointing "and loop around the paths up there. It'll take you some time, but I'm giving you the easier task, as you're new here. I'll go south, where most of the land is off the trail. I'll head to the soccer fields first, then cut back and hit Visitacion, then head back here to meet up. I put that at about... 2, 2:30. Understood?"
Understood!
"I'm actually glad you wrote this one down. Alright, if you find Winston, or if you run into some serious trouble, I want you to send a signal. Why don't you... hit that guitar of yours against something metal? Hit it as hard as you can, and keep hitting it; hit it to a pattern. Meanwhile, if I run into anything…"
pulled out a pistol.
"..I think you'll know."

10:27 AM
Tiger's with me. Jackie's gone with Cody.
Tiger, can you lead the way?
"Yeah, no problem! Just keep your eyes peeled, okay?"

10:44 AM
Been walking at a somewhat slow pace, shouting for Winston.
"I hope he's okay. He and I went to the same school, y'know. I did everything with him."
Do we have reason to believe he's not okay? o:
"Well. He's been saying some things lately. I think he was already not okay."
What kinds of things?
"That the Fears are talking to him in his sleep… That I should just let him die."
...ah. Yeah, that's cause for concern.
.........does he ever specify which Fears?
"I don't like to listen to it when he talks about that kind of thing, but.. I think he said there were two different voices."
I like to think I know at least a little bit about some Fears by now, is all. So if there's a Fear I recognize, then I'll have an idea of what to do, or not to do.
"There was a. There was a Ruin. God, I hated when he went on about the Ruin. It wasn't his friend. It wanted him to stop trying. It wanted him to grow up with it. Grow up and get used to the cold…"
The cold.
Was this a little boy?
"It's not a little boy, it's a monster."
No, I mean.
"I know what you mean. It.. looks like a little boy. Yeah."
I've.. run into it before. I've never tried to do anything with it, but.
Well. I can try, can't I? I'm the White Jester. All I can do is try.

11:16 AM
God, these trails are thick with foliage. 'Cause it's a... it's a park. Not a big wide open play-sports-on-a-hill park, but winding trails and sprawling trees and tall shrubbery. Like. Like Marble Hornets.
"Yeah, I don't actually know why Cody sent you this way. It'd be way easier to search the south side. That part has fewer trails because it's so much more open."
....what.
Were we duped?
"By.. Cody? No, he knows what he's doing."
But Winston could be in any of this tall grass. There's no way we can search it all.
"We still have to try. If Winston's alive, he'll hear us. Searching through all the grass is only if he's...…"
...right. Yeah, that's.. that's right. Sorry.
"It's okay. You're new here. And you're helping."

11:53333333333333333333333
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11:54444444444444444444444
"Why won't you just play with me? You never wanted to play with me."
and there he is. skin blue as laura palmer, hair black as ice, eyes open and black too. red and yellow striped shirt, he looks like he belongs in a time that never was, except for in our fiction. and today he wears a red glove on his right hand that is too big for him.
he's the cold boy, and he's called the Ruin.
"No matter where I find you, you're always the exact same. You're no fun."
I'm inoculated.
"You're antisocial."
You prey on the social.
"What do you know about it? You're not supposed to know anything."
In my loneliness, I write. It makes me feel not so lonely.

(Attached: "The Ruin is a sad one. He was always aware of the red glove. And no one was around to stop him from listening to it. But how could anyone be? He was always alone. He thrives when alone.
That red glove is the thing that makes these early Ruin passages so strange. That red glove doesn't talk to us. It talks to... you. And that red glove is playing a long game.")

11:56 AM
We found Winston.
He's sitting on a park bench.
He looks completely spaced-out.

12:24 PM
Okay, we've been waiting here at the center of the park for a while now. I banged my guitar, we shouted for Cody and Jackie, and he's not showing up.
Are we gonna have to wait for 2:00?

12:25 PM
At least Winston has been talking.
He's been seeing the Ruin for years, he'd play with him during his lonely childhood. High school has been better for Winston, so for a while the Ruin had gone away.
Then the Rapture started. And Winston started hearing voices in his room at night, when he'd try to sleep. Not every night, but usually when he was sleeping alone. One voice was the Ruin, urging him to leave his shelter and come and enjoy the apocalypse. The other voice is a name I don't recognize, Grendel, just saying "Let me in. Let me in." The Ruin said not to listen to Grendel, that Grendel would "take your face."
Evidently, today Winston did go with the Ruin. They had been playing in the park, waiting for Thursday. Because something's gonna happen on Thursday.
And Winston says I came and talked to the Ruin? And that's what caused him to let Winston go.
I don't.. remember that. But my journal has a new passage in it, just like last time I felt really cold. There was no lost time this time, though?
...questions for later.
For now: WHERE ARE YOU CODY????

1:10 PM
There he is.
With Donnie! o:
"Hi, Jordan!" Hi, Donnie! :D "Hi! I was on my way into the park and I found him. He says you guys are searching for someone?"
We found him! Winston's right here.
cody "Oh, good job! You are a help."
..where's Jackie?
cody "Jackie was getting sick, so I sent her home."
..tiger and winston are a little confused, but they'll go and see her when we get back.
Tiger's telling Cody that I dealt with a Fear.
He sounds dubious, but he's holding that back.
Donnie, though, Donnie's beaming. :3
That's what I do it for.

1:14 PM
Cody's putting his backpack back on, slipping the gun back in.
"Well, now that Winston's safe, I've gotta go. Got secret work to do."
tiger "Ah, your big secret project with Heaven!"
cody winked at him. "Are you and Jordan gonna stick around until Wednesday?"
donnie "I think we can make the time for that."
Wednesday. Huh.
Uh, yeah! We'll make time for it. Good luck!
"See you guys."
…
Well!
What are we doing now?

1:18 PM
Tiger's taking us to a restaurant. He's treating us.
Hi Donnie. :)
"Hi! So, you scared off a Fear?"
I don't actually remember it happening, and my journal... doesn't really answer anything. But it was the Ruin. That.. coldness we felt, back in St. Louis?
"Ooh, that. Look at you, saving people!"
>w<
What did you get up to?
"Well, I met some of our neighbors. They're really nice. They're really glad the RAF moved in; monster attacks have gotten rare. And plus the blue sky is a great touch. I did actually go looking around to try and look at the Ants of the Sky, but they're.. really high up. They don't come close enough to the ground to give me a chance."
Do you think we should be wary about that? Something up above, changing the sky?
"Until we actually see them for ourselves, we're just going on speculation, aren't we?"

1:33 PM
Here we are! Restaurant!
The Bold Lioness.
Yeah, that sounds like California. Sounds really indie.
It's packed full of people. It's.. nice to see. It does feel normal.

1:35 PM
Got a table. Jeez, look at these prices.
Yep, this is California…
"Don't worry about it, I've got money."
Thanks, Tiger. :)
...these prices.
donnie "Yeah, you said, they're high."
No, not that. These aren't dollars.
This is... Z?
"We've.. seen that before." donnie's tensing up.
In Xanadu. Yeah.
Uh. Tiger? Where do you get your money?
"I steal it." says with a mischievous smile. "The RAF believes in sharing the wealth; we're against the rich, after all. And the few times I've been caught, people didn't even care. I don't think people want money so much anymore."
No one except, evidently, the restaurants.
Huh.

1:47 PM
Well, I can't say no to a good burger.

3:23 PM
We passed a lot of zombies on the way home, and I got to observe much closer their docility.
We also saw a big black dog-- I think the black dog, the Fear, what was it called?-- but we just.. avoided that street.
At one point I saw a patch of red bleed through the blue sky above, and a fluttering of black dots made it blue again.
Yeah... can't say I get the best vibes. Isn't the blue sky just.. making people forget?

5:08 PM
We dropped off Winston and Tiger at the, uh, Party House, then Donnie and I scooted on back to our cots... <3
But I think tonight I want to get started on why I came here in the first place.
I'm gonna go asking around about Derek.

5:32 PM
Well, going door to door was way too slow, so I came over to the Party House. There's a lot of people staying here, and I don't know if many of them are permanent residents, I think mostly this is just a gathering-place for young people. And that's perfect. I can spread the word of who I'm looking for.

5:39 PM
Yeah, uh. His name's Derek Taylor, might also respond to 'Bones.' I guess I don't know for sure what he's wearing, but I wanna say he dresses a little like me? Coat, hat. We were like the Blues Brothers. ..dark hair, last I saw he has a mustache.
And this is kinda important, because he's been leaving graffiti calling for me to meet him.
"Oh, is that what JORDAN IN THE TRILBY HAT means? I thought it was a song!"

5:42 PM
The kids are alright. c:
They'll spread the word, as I hoped.
..and I guess, as long as I'm here, I'd may as well hang out some more.
C'mon Donnie! They're playing fun music today! We can dance! :D

5:49 PM
wheeeeere did all the looooove go
I don't know, I don't know

6:30 PM
Donnie's gone home. It has been a longer day for her than for me. .w.
C'mon, play Free Bird! Do Stonehenge!

7:13 PM
Gone to the gamer corner. Nice and chill here. Mood lighting. Everyone's got their PSPs and their DSes and their... is that a Game Gear?
"Atari Lynx."
It's a what? I didn't even know that was a thing.
"It was my uncle's, before all this started."

7:14 PM
Tiger? You.. you okay?
"Jackie never got home."
Fuck. Okay. Do you want to go look for her? Is there anywhere else she'd have gone?
"No... she lived here with me. This was our home. She was my sister."
Shit. Okay. It's okay. Then she'll still be in the park, or on the route between there and here. It's okay, let's go look for her.

7:16 PM
A whole crowd of kids are coming. When the party house owner needs help, everyone listens.
This is good. With a group this size, we'll find her.

7:39 PM
The park. Sun's going down. But some people have flashlights.

7:40 PM
"Listen, Jordan."
Yeah?
"Cody said he was going to the soccer fields and then to Visitacion. He meant the middle school, it's just on the edge of the park. It's where Jackie went to school, before this summer. And I'm wondering if she found her way inside for some reason. So I want to check that place out. Will you come with me?"
Absolutely. o:

8:05 PM
Found an open window. It's just the two of us as everyone else sweeps the park. Tiger's got a flashlight.
Window leads into a classroom. Should be able to get to the hallways. Break down doors if we have to.

8:07 PM
These doors are unlocked.
"JACKIE? JACKIE, ARE YOU HERE?"

8:10 PM
Darkness. Empty classrooms, everywhere. Not even any cryptic messages written on chalkboards. Can't hear a thing, no footsteps, no growling, no clear threat.
Do you know what classrooms she had?
"Yeah, we're heading there. I really don't know why she'd have gone here, but, like. Maybe she just needed to reminisce."
I'd have done the same. Probably. Or maybe she had some.. notes... written down.... that she left here, and.. forgot???
"Maybe! God, JACKIE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

8:13 PM
"TIGER! YOU IN HERE?"
that's one of the other kids from outside.
"YEAH?"
"TIGER, WE FOUND SOMETHING! WE FOUND HER BACKPACK!"
"Oh man. OKAY, I'M ON MY WAY!"
tiger's running back.
but.
it's strange.
there's a faint light in this classroom. the one tiger was taking us to.
I'm gonna peek.

8:14 PM
...it's Jackie. Lying on the floor, next to a candle that's nearly burned out.
She has a bullet hole in her forehead.
...…
sigghhhhhhhh.

8:20 PM
We got out of the school. Her backpack was caught in some tree branches a little distance from the school. It had some fidget toys in it and an iPod, cushioned in colorful cloth.
Tiger's sure she won't have gotten far.
I.. don't... want to.. tell him.
What would I say? How would I break that to him?
Even if I just told him that she's dead, he'd want to go and see. And how would he take... that?
...I mean, who else could it have been?
So. I might just... look into it myself.
Maybe I should tell him. Maybe...

8:55 PM
Home. In bed.
Heaven's making some dinner for us all. I'll eat that and then sleep.
I…
Why do I get the feeling I'm on my own for this one.

(Attached: “If the Omen could write, I bet it’d write the most beautiful thing in the world. Originally so affixed with Hertelap so as to be one and the same, when Hertelap committed his atrocity and brought about the extermination of an entire people all over the morbid roots of vanity itself, a part of him broke free of his body and became the silent god we know today. Over the many years, Hertelap ceased to be and all we were left with were a few figures who we’ll meet eventually. Before we get to any of that, though, let’s end this episode of History Dubious and just shut up about the whole thing.”)