#staff only

[constantlyfalling]

They're keeping watch. The bestest guard.

[the-magnusinstitute]

All staff,

In recent months there’s been an uptick in absences from work, and while we in the PR department appreciate that sometimes our Institute can be a difficult place to be employed, Elias Bouchard has asked us to lay out the following guidelines:

ACCEPTABLE EXCUSES FOR MISSING WORK

- illness (physical or otherwise)

- travel difficulty

- medical appointments

- family emergencies

- religious holidays

UNACCEPTABLE EXCUSES FOR MISSING WORK

- ‘a freaky friday type of situation’

- ‘gender crisis’

- ‘trapped in a spiral maze’

- ‘met my clone on the tube’

- ‘jon from the archives’

[cloth-fabric]

staff only - ss24

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Repeated symbols: Spirals

Staff Only page, Staff Only framing

I tried to do this as spirals, then Staff Only framing, but they are two great tastes that go together and apparently are tangled in my mind.

Spirals abound on the hidden staff only page. Given that we have no proof that Wally can manifest anything in the physical world, it means that someone in that building has been drawing these spirals.

The Question Answerer (QA) is a bit freaked out about this. The original spiral in this space appears to be the red notebook, which the QA has asked people not to write in, as it is an artifact or item provided by the Welcome Home Restoration Project (WHRP). At first, I was a bit confused about the difference between the two, because the WHRP is the group that has presented us with the website and the information we have so far (hence ghe focus on framing i keep having), including announcing that the QA will be participating.

So, the QA appears to have joined as a museum/archival professional that is building an exhibition for the WHRP, presumably because the team is jazzed about it, but also because they hope to find people who can remember the show.

We have two documents describing the first interactions with WH. The first appears to be from the first person on the WHRP, from the red notebook.

The interior of the book has some of Wally's drawings as the inside cover. Did patient zero put it there? (Courtesy of u/foxbrush_darazan on r/welcomehomearg)

So, patient zero is some kind of archivist? Why does their name not matter, why are they writing about it? It could be a journal entry, but who ends journal entries with xoxo? Text i can barely read, children's book, black goo. And including antiques?

Sounds an awful lot like the image they first interacted with was this image, though we would have to assume there were more pages, some of which included Wally:

Brightly colored envelope, is this delivered by Eddie? I think i read something about him traveling and not being able to remember where he has been. "The running joke often had him stating a place that did not exist, followed by an admission to misremembering it as a place he delivered to as opposed to a place he lived." Could this potentially be a result of traveling to other areas that he shouldn't be able to, or just forgetfulness and confusion caused by the black stuff?

The black stuff is present, and the paper appears to have been wet at one time, and we can assume this person also is now possessed or linked to all of the others through the black goo. I guess the end result isn't clear. They have potentially contracted whatever the QA has.

From the website, we learn that Patient Zero (PZ) is sharing thoughts that almost appear to be experienced on a subconscious level. These bits of text don't appear unless they are highlighted, like "it hurts" and "when i first...open, open, open." Is this something that the PZ is unconsciously adding to the discussion?

Back to spirals before I get totally derailed.

Staff Only Room:

So many spirals. Spirals everywhere.

I am not sure why I can't place where this one is from. I will return for him. It is pretty cool that you can see a lighter version of the drawing behind the red drawing.

This is a lightened version of the picture and the floor, with the colors adjusted. I mess around with the colors sometimes until I can see a good amount of detail. Throughout the Staff Only area, there are these spirals on paper. They are on the floor, and they are posted to walls. You can see some of the black sprinkled throughout on the paper. I can't see whether or not these spirals have the eye in the middle.

Here we can see some more of the set up, and more spirals. Color adjusted. The interesting thing here is the specific clarification that these items give us. The red notebook we have established as belonging to the WHRP, and here is further proof, as it is labeled "For Research! ON LOAN DO NOT WRITE IN >:("

But the book laid on top of it belongs to the Question Answerer. The image shows a question mark and a bubble with an A, with a note that reads "THIS ONE IS MINE ALSO FOR RESEARCH ALSO DO NOT WRITE IN" It really leads me to wonder what was written in the book. One would assume that they would have had to discovered writing that didn't belong to them in the book for this to be the case.

Is there any indication of how many people are working on this exhibit/team? The prevalence of notes to people, calling them jerks for using office equipment to punk them, makes you at least hope others are involved.

There are more spirals on papers tacked to walls and sprinkled on the floor throughout, but none out where the public could see it.

I think we'll save this one for the discussion of invisible writing.

So what do the scattered spirals mean? Why are they just left there scattered? Can the staff see them?

I think at this point, we can assume that the spirals are somehow operating on a less than conscious level. The spirals are coming out, but like in the case of the puppeteer parasite, people might not realize that they are riding along. Whatever is driving it, they have enough control, whether theirs or whatever is riding along, to keep the spirals in a contained area.

Another note on the spirals before I leave the spirals for a bit:

Later I want to explore the Staff Only area as a physical space, as well as discuss a potential popular culture reference that could inform the story quite a bit.

But hopefully, we will have a whole new set of things to obsess over soon!

[moth2304]

GUUUUUUUUUUYS

"Can you hear me?

I had a dream when I began working on the Playfellow Exhibition. Wally Darling was sitting at the foot of my bed with a rotary phone in front of him, ringing away. It looked just like the little toy phone we were restoring for the exhibit. It kept ringing. Wally stared at me like he was waiting for me to pick up the phone. Just staring, unblinking. The phone ringing and ringing. I couldn't move. I couldn't figure out how to move and pick up the phone. He kept waiting. I couldn't pick up the phone.

I keep getting phone calls, now. Or at least, I assume that's what's happening. I keep hearing it ringing. All day, sometimes. I check my phone and there's no new messages. I thought maybe some of the site staff were pranking me, but I tore up the workspace and couldn't find another phone that might be ringing. All that was there were the toys for the exhibit, and obviously those couldn't be ringing. But I kept hearing it anyway. The phone ringing and ringing.

The more I work, the more questions I have. Why didn't any of the site staff I worked with remember this show? Even the ones who grew up in the 70s? Why can't I find any files on the Playfellow Workshop? Why isn't there a single TV guide ad saying what network or time the show was on? I keep digging and digging. I've poured over every recovery the WHRP has given me access to, every inch of their website, and the things I find make less and less sense. If I didn't know better I'd say everyone was coming together to pull an elaborate prank on me.

I can still hear the phone ringing now."

OMGOOOOOOD THIS IS THE FULL TEXT ON "STAFF-ONLY" PAGEEEEE

How can YOU find this?

Alright! You're here

You can read the whole text and find some pictures, here's some of these:

Interesting? Ofc

But, for some reason, I was interested in the dates on some reports/emails, here they are:

AAAAAAH I CAN'T INCLUDE MORE THAN 10 PICTURES, PART 2 RN

[dyingenigma]

Hair by Eda Lee for StaffOnly SS23

[handsoffmydinosaur]

Staff Only

[chippersweetbaby]

[wombocombo4x3]

Staff Only part 12 - Thrilling Intent 517

[queenburd]

in the span of hours tumblr has banned an out trans woman who was outspoken about her harrassment and the unfairness of the website's system and MULTIPLE out trans women who commented on the absurdity of the situation--has even banned them for posting pictures of hammers and cars.

if staff thought this was going to make the situation go away, all staff's gotten is a class action lawsuit. good job, hellsite "moderators." you showed your whole ass and you're going to go to court. again.

[hiveswap]

?

[the-magnusinstitute]

All staff,

It is the twentieth of April.

In the Institute we have a STRICT no-drugs policy. However,

—

Elias Bouchard here. Illegal substances, whether ingested on or off Institute property, will not be tolerated. Can the following employees please report IMMEDIATELY to my office.

- Tim Stoker

- Murphy Reynolds

- Simon Smith

- Jenna Yang

- Darren Humphries

- Ade Okonma

- and the entirety of the Artefact Storage senior leadership team

[iseeyoujon]

The S1 Archives main staff was composed entirely of people who (at least partially) liked men. I choose to believe the OIAR will continue the trend of being equal but opposite to the Archives by having the entire S1 main staff like women.

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Black Stuff in Staff Only

Potential spoilers, read at your own risk (though most of this is from the July 2023 update).

Welcome home

Black stuff

What is the black stuff?  I think we first encountered it in either the original document that is a storybook page featuring Julie and siblings, or in the space underneath home.  The original and a lightened copy are below, and definitely has paint smeared on top of it as well as some of the black stuff. 

“All of the paper materials tucked away inside the envelopes we have received are usually crammed together and covered in paint and ink. Despite this, volunteers have both restored and recreated most of what was found on the documents. Below is an example of our work as we extract information from the original document and translate it into a digital state.”—(emphasis mine) About Us

Information about the black stuff from Staff Only:

We know not to touch the black stuff, based on information from W, written to the QA.(interestingly, it seems to say that the QA got all of the stuff that they had to this point, but the information given by W in awayfrompryingeyes seems to indicate that W was holding the weird stuff back)  In the photo we have of the original document (Julie and sibs) they already know or have an instinct to wear gloves when handling the stuff. 

In the letter below, the QA approaches W to let them curate the items, aka clean and preserve them in a way that won’t damage the items, and is told no in no uncertain terms. 

The response to this seemed a bit over the top, but as we have seen, the WHRP members (maybe just W) have reported some kind of influence from the items.  The insinuation here is that the black stuff has lead to a number of symptoms and they are bad symptoms:

“It means it is inside of you too, then, this urge to find it. Our efforts won’t be in vain.”—About us

The statement, “it is inside you too, then,” is an interesting one, because I have always taken it to mean that some mysterious force or unknown evil is spread by touching these things.  It hasn’t been specifically linked to the black stuff, but it seems the obvious choice in “being infected” with Welcome Home.

“To be honest, we were drawn in unexpectedly. All of the information found on this website was extracted from documents that had been uncovered in brightly colored envelopes. We are thankful to be the first to jump start this exciting journey! But it hurts.”—About us

As we have seen above, items received have black stuff on them.  It is after exposure that they become obsessed with solving the mystery of this show (have we been exposed?)  The person above is using gloves, and there are notes in Staff Only about wearing gloves and they are available.  There are also dirty gloves on the table.  I would assume that means that they are taking the necessary precautions. But, these are far more dirty than the exhibit items. (Maybe the gloves were used with the paint roller? At least some of the black stuff appears to have been spread by fingers and hands, based on look.  In addition, you can see two paint cans in the bottom corner of the image. Is this where the paint comes from? It would seem less mysterious with the paint cans there, unless this is the black stuff controlling the QA and staff and making them paint.)  

To begin with, I assumed that people had become lax and were handling them directly, but it is possible that whatever influence is spread, it isn’t through direct touch.  They are asked to return any items with black stuff on them:

“We are overjoyed you have received all of the work we have so far uncovered!  Please take care of it while it is in your possession, but under no circumstances should it be touched with your bare hands.  Please wear gloves:  If a substance begins to grow on anything delivered (?), please place it back in the box it was shipped in and return it to us at your leisure.  If you or anyone on your team experience nausea, dizziness, or fatigue, please don’t be alarmed!”—Staff Only

You can see in the picture below that they have gloves for this purpose.  The letter instructs them to return anything that has growth on it, though they don’t specify what it would look like.  It says not to be alarmed if any of them experience dizziness and fatigue.  I don’t know why the QA would take the risk of the black stuff, and it seems that W knows it is there, potentially there, or that it grows quickly and unexpectedly. 

This particular email has always captured my interest for two reasons:  the content, but also, you can see the black stuff in its physical form.  Where on the paper and walls it looks like ink, this stuff looks/acts more like kudzu (for those that aren’t familiar, an invasive species of ivy native to Japan and other Asian countries that massively took over the American south, also known as “mile a minute” or “the vine that ate the South” from Wikipedia).

In these pictures, you can see instances of the creeping black stuff.  It is all over the staff only room, and on the ceiling in the exhibit space/or back room (I think it is exhibit space).  We can see that this stuff has gotten out of hand and is creeping along. Is this what happens after the inky stuff starts to spread? Or when staff members touch the inky stuff and then touch something else?

As previously discussed, there is a roller on the table, and in some shots you can see what looks like paint cans. This could mean that the roller on the table and the black stuff on the walls are related and it’s just paint.  There are some gloves close by covered in the black stuff as well.  The QA believes someone is punking them, so this could be evidence of that, but who would know enough about this stuff to play that particular prank?

Known symptoms of contact are headache, dizziness, and nausea, and while WHRP says it isn’t anything to worry about, we know that the QA was sick for quite a while, and whether that is physically, mentally, or both is not stated.  I believe paranoia is listed as a symptom as well, with both W and QA experiencing this (as evidenced by their written concerns that someone is tricking them..)

It appears that the QA didn’t take that advice in the email (or is subject to another force), leading to the spread of black stuff.  Given the state of things in the Staff Only room, it would appear that the black stuff has arrived.  This leads me to wonder, can they see it?

What we can extrapolate from all this, is that the black stuff could account for the behavior of the individuals we have seen so far.  The ick, which can be seen underneath Home, and has grown in size during the last year, has stringy bits that reach further and further out. 

(Could this explain why Eddie has his moments of paranoia during the Commercials?  All his increased heartbeat and strange faces, the sweating and feeling disoriented?)

W doesn’t mention the black stuff.  The curator only mentions “more of that stuff is on the walls.”

There is more of that stuff on the walls.  I keep hearing phones ringing.—Staff only, QA’s notes

The association of the black stuff and the ringing has stuck with me as we have progressed. 

It’s probably a not so common reference, but it reminds me of Red vs. Blue, where Tucker keeps getting volunteered to go through the portal.  Tucker comes out covered in black stuff (which I believe he says is carbon.)

I don’t believe it gives Tucker any special powers, just a lot of armor cleaning.  But he is pushed to be the one to go through it, because those kinds of portals have potential consequences.  The rocks they test it with come out black, and they make Tucker do it anyway. (bowchickawowow?)

But the direct reference to more black stuff and the phone is ringing reminded me of W as well.  They hear the phone ringing.  They hear Wally talking sometimes.  W finds themselves seeing things on a TV that they shouldn’t be seeing (hmm…but Eddie specifically), and the QA has a note on the TV that says to replace it ASAP if it gets broken. I can see two different ideas here:  either the QA thinks the TV is broken when it starts playing things it shouldn’t, but also could be a note to have it fixed ASAP, because like W, they are seeing things in the TV that they aren’t supposed to be able to see.  W, in particular, knows that there is weird stuff going on in the website, going as far to test Wally’s response.  They don’t seem to be willing or able to make the connection to Wally specifically. 

What if  all the stuff on the website is for W specifically?  Wally could be talking directly to W.

I think it is very possible that touching the black stuff not only opens you up to symptoms/not feeling well, but also infects you with something that allows you to hear or see Wally and Home.  Those are the only two that have spoken to us directly.  There is an argument for Eddie speaking to us, but I don’t think he is aware of us.  I’m not sure where the video comes from, in universe.

But we do know that Wally has stated we draw eyes, and that allows him to see through us (or W and their team.)  We have seen eyes littered throughout.  On the website, all the eyes in the borders are presumably from W, since they are still on the site.  In Staff Only, there are post-its with eyes littered around, including one that says “who are you” and eyes on the WHRP folder as well (in addition to the background being upside down eyes.  With upside down text.  OK, maybe upside down eyes.)

We are all drawing his eyes, but does he know about us?  I don’t think we have communicated back in a way that is specifically identifiable as us.  It could be that Wally/Home are trying to desperately break down barriers through contact with individuals in W’s universe. 

That would make for a good explanation of why the show disappeared.  If the black stuff started to spread in our reality, any of those kids would see the show for what it is.  I don’t think we have a full idea of what it is yet, but we haven’t touched the black stuff.  If kids started to act weird, and people started to notice black stuff around, they would have avoided it.

I can really see something like that coming through in a toy or other merch, and begin to spread, leading to strange behavior in the kids, leading to parents thinking it is black mold or something and pushing the series away for that reason. 

This concept art portraying Sunny seems to lay out the plan a bit more (though it could have been a former plan, not the current plan for the story).  “Children have seen it and now they know what to do!”  It’s really creepy and shows Wally as an oppressive force.

“Everything is so disgusting to touch.  Sometimes the mail doesn’t come for weeks.  I want to rip into everything I have.  My head feels so muddled, too.  Ever since I opened that envelope.”

This interview/questions for the website are asked by WHRP and answered by QA in the email above.  The note discovered by using blacklight is presumably the QA, either answering in some kind of invisible ink, or maybe they don’t remember, leading them to think it is another part of the supposed “prank.”  I suppose it could be an actual prank, but I don’t think that fits the story very well.

I haven’t ever really understood the use of the blacklight/invisible ink.  The messages are of the type that Wally leaves, but there is no expectation that it is Wally who wrote them.  It could be the QA or another of their staff, as well.  But the QA leaves instructions to use blacklight on everything.  I assumed in the beginning that maybe the blacklight catches the black stuff, but given the use of ink, maybe the QA is looking for the messages from Wally.  I don’t think there is enough information at this point to know the answer to that, but am open to hearing some, if anyone has theories about it. 

The important thing about the black stuff, especially as experience in the Staff Only page, is a visible type of infection into our world.  If we can see this stuff, either we are able to see it because we haven’t been infected, or because we have.  Either way, in the realm of Staff Only, we see a physical manifestation of the influence of Welcome Home on people who come into contact with it, even now.  

As we see more of it, I will try to adjust my theories, but the black stuff is an important part of the explanation of what is exactly happening to people in the direct sphere of influence of Welcome Home.

[calware]

new type of person just dropped. who even does this. what's going on here