#grew up watching reality tv and took psychic damage

[pkmnsdarkqueen]

Specifics on how the Masked Man Affected Karen

TW: child abuse, TW: violence, TW: sex, TW: alcohol, TW: death mention, TW: grooming-ish? (I don’t know how else to phrase that last one so here’s mini version you decide for yourself: to sum up at one point Karen wanted to learn how to seduce people but didn’t do anything until she was of age. details are limited)

Also it’s long, I’m sorry.

For background: I head cannon it that Will and Karen joined at the same time, and knew each other before joining. Will ran from home because people were scared of his psychic abilities. Karen ran from home because it was overall a bad place with a mom that ignored her unless she wanted something. Karen wanted to be a pokeathlete so she made a base under the bleachers and competed. Will and her ran into each other, and when she saw he was homeless to invited him to stay with her. Things went great until Karen was successful enough that her mom saw her on TV and rushed to get her. Not wanting to be trapped at home again Karen went on the run again with Will in tow. Although now it was harder because they didn’t have hardly any income leading to pick pocketing, and light crime. How they met the Masked Man was because Will tried to pick pocket form him using his powers, failed, and instead of being mad or scared the guy was super kind and even offered to take both he and Karen in. Will was rather sold on this but it took a week to convince Karen cause she didn’t really trust this guy. 

Ok everyone caught up? Cool.

So Karen’s crux as far as a weakness is that if she cares about someone she will do next to anything for them. Usually to get into that inner circle it takes time with her, and some deep level of similarity with the person. She also never had really a family except her pokemon, and again was mostly ignored by her mom unless needed. So training started and how she got manipulated was that the Masked man would spend dedicated time with her not always for training, just time with her, which meant alot and contrasted her mother. He set the tone of them being a family, something he knew she wanted. This helped with the similarity function, and during the one on one time would always make it sound like they had alot in common. Plus with how Rocket operated this felt so much bigger and grander than when she was wanting to be a pokeathlete just to have Will tag along. No in her mind they were all together in this. 

She wanted to be a part of this bigger grander thing, she wanted to make the Masked Man proud because in her mind he genuinely cared about her more than what she could accomplish, everyone here including him felt like her in one way another thanks to his manipulation, and she actually had a family. Everything seemed right to her. 

During the more formal training he managed to convince her killing, stealing, lying, destruction, etc. was all valid as long as she did it for the group. If someone wasn’t part of the group they weren’t part of the family, and they were a possible threat to it, so if she was told to do something bad to someone then it was ok because they were a threat. 

He also wore Will out during training with him thus making it hard for Karen and Will to have good quality time with each other to really talk about things. 

Again Karen is thematically the light in the darkness from what I summarized here. How this plays in is that Karen like in the beginning always had a lingering doubt about everything, like a candle in a dark room. The Masked Man tried desperately to snuff it out constantly telling her to care less. Her light though was Will. He was the first human she considered a friend, and even family. She watched the Masked Man change him, as time went on she felt a separation between him. Of course this was intentional. The Masked Man while outwardly structured it as a family the connections of loyalty were supposed to only be drawn to him. He wanted connections between each individual person to be weaker than connections to him. Karen though couldn’t make herself put The Masked Man higher in loyalty than Will no matter how he tried to force her. He did alot to try and make this happen such as gradually sending them on missions with others or on solo missions and this started to work slowly. 

The double M scar carved onto the back of her neck started when she was 14, had been with him 3 years, and already had committed enough to wrack up a high body count. What she did to earn the scar was something that would seem minor. During training she was beating Will and at point stopped thinking that she’d done enough damage. The Masked Man told her to keep going, she did a bit, and stopped again, he said to keep going, she did a bit and then stopped again. Then he got furious asking why she kept stopping, and she explained that she didn’t want to hurt Will more than was necessary. Then when The Masked Man told her she shouldn’t be worried about that she argued back. Next thing Karen knew she was forced on the ground, and he was carving the letters into the back of her neck. It started with him telling her it was a reminder on who knew best, then that eventually became who she ought to listen to, then who she obeyed, and then finally who owned her.  He would recarve it anytime it started to fade, or she put someone else above listening to him.

It was about 15 when Karen wanted to help prove her loyalty, and convince herself this was good. Her attempt to snuff out the light. It started when while training she had a cyst on one of her ovaries burst. Of course she needed an opperation, and it resulted in her loosing an ovary. After that she questioned why she needed them anyway. Periods interrupted missions at times, and she wasn’t planning on ever having children. She had seen her mom bring home guys and simply use them, she heard about other girls being able to do it, and without ovaries she could seduce with no consequences. So she wanted to gain skills in that kind of manipulation. The one good thing The Masked Man did is that he didn’t want her to do anything too far for her age, and also questioned the medical safety of this. He convinced her to keep the other ovary. She could learn but not do until 18, and Karen obeyed this. So she made friends with a stripper, who would later become her bartender Kimiko, and learned how to seduce people. Thus warping the concept of love for her by her own choice. Karen at the end of the day though felt rather proud seeing it as her giving even more, and proving her loyalty even greater. However she still kept seeing that metaphorical flickering candle light as she watched Will change telling her something was wrong. 

He grew to be so much more invested in the whimsey of essentially doing as he wanted since they were outside the law. While Karen justified it by, this is for the family, he was sold in on the fact he could do what he wanted when he wanted as long as it was within the reigns of helping or obeying Rocket. He could even use his psychic powers more freely and they were hailed as something to be proud of. He didn’t see he was being used just like Karen didn’t. Also to block out the emotions of guilt Karen carved her emotions out slowly but surely even with Will to some extent putting a strain on their relationship. 

When Blue and Silver entered the scene Karen was so bent on proving to herself this was good she often lashed out at the pair of kids. She was a bit nicer to Silver since she could relate to the awful home life, and absent dad. To Blue she was the most vicious since Blue had everything before coming to the Masked Man. It was around then Karen and Will also surpassed Carl and Sham in favoritism to the Masked Man, and Karen was hell bent on not having Silver and Blue take the spots she and Will had so viciously fought for. Doing so also kept her from asking ‘why do I want this so badly?’ When Blue and Silver managed to get out later she was both disgusted they leave, happy to no longer compete, stressed because she couldn’t let out her anger anymore, but ultimately it aided in her questioning.

Ho-oh and Lugia entered the picture soon after, and Karen felt such an honor to have the pokemon. Pokemon were also her family. She knew they were supposed to just be tools to most of Rocket, but Pryce treated his well so she did as also. The only thing was that the more time she spent with Ho-oh the more she found a reflection of herself. The bird may look majestic, and powerful but at the end of the day it was trapped. It never emoted, just did as it was told. It didn’t seem happy or sad about anything simply existed because it had no other option. In fact it only really emoted when Lugia did something and viece versa. Besides those times the pokemon never really felt as though it was alive, just existing. 

Back at her mother’s house she had left because that’s always how she felt. She only existed really when her mother needed something or in school when she caused touble. She wasnt a part of anything either so she couldn’t exist in any other place. She had people that were friendly but not many friends since she was given weird looks when she talked about home life like the other kids. She just didn’t exist really for any reason at all. And looking at Ho-oh now she wondered if she was repeating the process. Did she only exist when she was needed?

She tried to talk to Will about it but by then there was such a gap betwen them it was hard. She couldn’t talk to any of the other kids because they despised her. So she would talk alone to Ho-oh, and even if it wasn’t able to understand she didn’t care because in her own way she sort of existed to someone then.

As these questions piled up and this small candle of doubt grew bigger the reality shattering moment happened. They lost the legendaries. Now she knew that was bad and she knew the Masked Man woukd be upset. He’d hurt them before but this was different. Will took the blame, he shouldn’t of because it was Karen that pushed for them to keep fighting when they shouldn’t of. It confirmed for Karen that even though there was a gap their connection was still there, he still cared. And then Pryce hit Will so hard he went down in record time. Karen saw one of her idols almost kill her only family member and then told her,“Handle this.” Like he was a stray piece of paper to be picked up, as insignificant as a squashed fly. And that’s when Karen knew everything she feared was real. They didn’t matter. They only mattered, they only existed when they were needed, and they were nothing more. They weren’t a family. The only family she had was Will and at the time of it happening she thought he died.

Thankfully he didn’t die, but she never wanted to get that close again. And she ran away with Will who was still fading in and out. She didn’t know where they were going, and she didn’t care all she needed was him, and their pokemon. To her nothing else mattered.

A day later they ran into Koga and Bruno. The best way to describe Karen was a cornered injured animal viciously protecting her companion so nothing about her was friendly or welcoming. She would of denied their help, but she was desperate to help Will and accepted it. Eventually this lead to a very positive outcome too! When Will was better he bonded alot with Bruno since both of them had their heads messed with/adapted to fit Rocket’s wants. They could understand the trauma and invasiveness of it on a very deep level. Plus they proved to be the two goof balls when together. Koga and Karen bonded being the ones who were a bit more serious about the matter, Karen also reminded Koga of his daughter, and well Karen’s father figure record was absent then abusive so an actually healthy one (compared to the others yes he’s healthy)was a nice change of pace. Although it took MUCH longer for her to open up to Koga this time around still traumatized from The Masked Man. While with Pryce it only took three months roughly to trust him. It took about a year and a half to really trust Bruno or Koga. Then it wasn’t until 3 years and they were in the league that Karen accidentally called Koga ‘dad’, and then realized Bruno was like an uncle to her. 

For the record. Karen has learned by now her bio dad wasn’t absent by choice but forced to be, and is a great person. Though she sees him as her father Koga is in her mind still her dad. 

As for the aftermath of Pryce well she despises the fact that he’s allowed to still be a gym leader. However they can’t do anything about it because if they did it’d put all of the Johto league behind bars as well. She’s contemplated murder multiple times, but anything that happened to him would automatically make her and Will suspects especially since Carl and Sham have seemed to disappear. It irks her to see him anyplace and she tries to simply not acknowledge him. One time he called her daughter at a league event, and Karen shattered the glass in her hand by squeezing it. Thankfully she was with Bruno and Lance so they were the only ones to see it, and helped her bandage it up.  She  simply refuses to address him. She also can’t bring herself to go to Mahogany town. The memories are run too deep and she will start to have a panic attack. Yes, she’s tried multiple times to go back even with Lance since he loves the lake of rage, but she just can’t do it. 

She is doing her best to make amends with Blue and Silver. What really bothers her is Carl and Sham though. She has no idea where they are even with all of her contacts, and she is afraid they might come back to destroy all that she’d built.

To sum up love now for Karen btw. She concluded when she was younger love was only something a couple had as long as everyone in the couple got something out of it. When you couldn’t give anymore you weren’t wanted. Which was why she never wanted to pursue love for anything serious, after all why bother when it was always doomed to fail or trap you. Karen has adapted that but still takes her time in relationships avoiding anything sexual especially because in her mind:”I want to know that even when you don’t need me my I exist to you, and my existence means as much to you as yours will to me.”

[slendermanlore]

Original Mythos + Literary References

Here’s a compilation of references to (allegedly) real books, movies, online stories and sites, etc. made by contributors to the Original Mythos.

Original Mythos Meta:

Slender Man would make a pretty nice horror novel in the lines of "House of Leaves".

Essentially, make the novel a collection of witness statements, newspaper clippings, pictures, drawings, articles discussing evidence for an against the slender man and, to tie it all neatly together, a few stories of people who want to track the slender man, unravel the mystery,

And the kicker would be the last 20 or so pages would be missing, with only scraps of paper left, arranged as logically as possible, just excerpts, words, rips, ink stains, etc.

Original Mythos Meta:

It's The Rake all over again!

Conspiracies:

When you posted the part about the chest injuries it reminded me of the Dyatlov Pass incident that was posted in the Unsolved Mysteries thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_pass_accident

Wikipedia posted:

and both Dubunina and Zolotarev had major chest fractures. The force required to cause such damage would have been extremely high, with one expert comparing it to the force of a car crash.Notably, the bodies had no external wounds, as if they were crippled by a high level of pressure. One woman was found to be missing her tongue.[1]

Original Mythos Meta:

I'm suddenly imagining a Slender Man "documentary," done in a style similar to The Last Broadcast or that old Alien Abduction TV special. Interviews with witnesses of various encounters through the years, investigation into the different events brought up in this thread, and specialists analyzing photographs, intercut around home video footage taken by a missing family, showing them being picked off by the Slender Man. As we get further into the film, we also start to see behind the scenes footage of the making of the documentary, with crew members not showing for work and not answering calls, various production problems… then finally ending with a note that the director disappeared immediately after completion of the film.

Original Mythos Meta:

"Some say that the worst monsters reside in the imagination, drawn from the greatest fears of those who imagine them. I say there are horrors beyond mortal imagining, and they are far worse. And I have looked on both."

Original Mythos Meta:

The backstories have been working well so far because they talk about things without explaining them, it's sort of along the lines of House of Leaves in that way.

Marble Hornets Preamble:

He agreed, but only under the circumstance that I never bring them back to him, and never discuss what was on them with him. He also highly discouraged me from showing any of it to anyone else. I laughed at this, and said that he must have accidentally made The Ring or something with the way he was talking. He didn’t acknowledge this and brought me up to his attic, where he was storing the pile of tapes.

British Myths, Legends, and Unsolved Tales:

Adair, J. (1989) British Myths, Legends and Unsolved Tales, London: Pan Books.

Original Mythos Meta:

Has anyone thought about the possibility that we are creating a tulpa? It's a thought form that is realized through the efforts of a group of people. We might be creating the Slender Man, making him real.

The Toronto Society for Psychical Research did this with an entity called "Philip" in the mid-70's. There was a book written about it, called "Conjuring up Philip." "He" was a fictional person, knowingly created by the group. It was all fun and games until "Philip" started to take on a mind of his own. "Philip" became real, as far as any paranormal thing could be said to be real. So take all this with a big grain of salt.

Original Mythos Meta:

Now go watch Aphex Twin's 'Come To Daddy' video. Take careful note of the inhumanly tall, emaciated figure the children gather around.

Original Mythos Meta:

The Slender Man, to date, is the only thing to creep me out worse than the Black Eyed Kids… of course, not all the missing children were recovered… who knows what happens to them when the Slender Man is finished?

Original Mythos Meta:

After all, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

Original Mythos Meta:

No, the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he DID exist.

Small Findings:

I have this coffee table book of photos from Life magazine. The pictures go back to the late 1800s.

Imagine my surprise when I took a closer look at this photo of Yosemite Valley from the 1870s.

Not only did I see our mysterious boogie man

But also the skull and rib cage of some unfortunate soul.

I can’t say for sure that the remains are one of its victims, but I’d be willing to bet on it.

Conspiracies:

XI 20: He who several times has Held the cage and then the woods, He will return to the first state His life safe shortly afterwards to depart, Still not knowing how to know, He will look for a subject in order to die.

Original Mythos Meta:

"There are those who believe they can be "one" with those who are not of our world. These people often think that somehow they have some kind of mental or "spiritual" link. Oftentimes these people will go out into areas that have been reported to be the hunting grounds of said creatures. These individuals are often more dangerous than the creatures that they worship/are in love with. When faced with the choice between the reality of the creature not existing or staying in a fake world they will choose, sometimes to the bitter end, the made up world.

In a somewhat ironic way, those who believe themselves to be the worthy follower/lover of these beings are in fact far removed from the "ideal" being the creature would choose!"

Edvard Tobin "Humanity and the Supernatural: A Dangerous Combo" Pub: 1994

Original Mythos Meta:

In reading this thread, I'm struck by one behaviour of Der Ritter in particular, that of its impaling its victims in a tree, while removing and reinserting their internal organs. It's remarkably akin to the feeding habits of shrikes, also known as butcherbirds.

See, what a shrike will do is capture a smaller animal - anything from a cricket to a smaller bird or mouse - and kill it. Shrikes are songbirds, and their musculature is pretty lacking compared to a straight-up raptor like a hawk or owl, so their kill is messy and inefficient, consisting of many pecks and bites to the head and neck. This continues until the prey animal is either dead or too tired to fight. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that as weak as their jaws are, their claws are weaker, and they wholly lack talons. They're built to perch. So, what a shrike will do, is it will take its prey to a thorny tree, or bush, or even barbed wire, and it will ram its prey down on a spike so that it won't move when the shrike tears it apart.

It's a songbird that's learned to kill, and it does so far more cruelly than any raptor.

Anyone ever hear the Slender Man sing?

e: Wikipedia on Lanius excubitor, the Great Gray Shrike: "This species will lure birds closer by mimicking their calls."

Original Mythos Meta:

I'm still REALLY seeing Slender Man as being related to Shadow People and, now, the hat man. http://www.thehatmanproject.com/

I have this vision of Slender Man coming up to you and Shadow People just… gurgling out of his shadow. As if he creates them.

Original Mythos Meta:

Slender Man is like that stupid game where you lose as soon as you think about it.

If you think about him, he knows. If you fear him, he comes. The only way to escape the Slender Man is to not know about the Slender Man.

Conspiracies:

In 1977, as Led Zeppelin embarked on their tour of the United States, Jimmy Page’s interest in the occult and addiction to heroin were at their peak. His playing was spotty at times, his weight had dropped considerably, and his focus was clearly elsewhere. His delving into the supernatural spirits made him lose sight of the goal of the band, with Zeppelin’s lights manager later remarking that singer Robert Plant would often have to snap Page out of his between-song trances, with Page not remembering how their own tunes went. Page also grew increasingly paranoid in an infamous incident prior to an interview with Cameron Crowe where he ripped a phone out of the wall because he felt that someone was spying on him. It was as if a force he tapped into was corrupting him.

Original Mythos Meta:

I wonder perhaps if Slenderman's name is Zoso, but he would come for anybody who figured it out, which is perhaps why Jimmy Page has been so secretive about exactly where they got their symbols for their IV album.

Hang on guys, I think there's somebody standing in front of my house…

Ghost Stories of the American South:

So once the Slender Man began popping up in this thread, I could have sworn something about it seemed familiar. I’m an amateur folklorist, so I had a few source books lying around. It took me a while, but I finally found something in W.K. McNeil's Ghost Stories of the American South. Most of the tales collected are transcripts of recordings other folklorists made, but McNeil compiles them and offers notes. A really handy book. So anyway, this particular story appears in the book’s seventh section, “Other Supernatural Creatures.”

Original Mythos Meta:

Wasn't there an artist who painted a picture—supposed to be really famous, its in all the big fancy art books. Isn't called "The Scream" or "The Screamer" ? It showed an elongated person with its hands besides its head or doing like the microphone around its mouth.

[...]

Hasn't ANYONE seen the movie "Mimic" ? The Judas Bug. It EVOLVED to look like the prey that it hunted. Now, i understand that this doesn't fit every story (like the wood carvings, But it does rather fit the Woodcarving with the skeleton with the arm-spear, It looks human)

Nathaniel V:

From a grimoire of sorts I picked up at a used book store.

Called The Observations and written by someone calling himself Nathaniel V. I don’t know if that is a letter “v” or a roman numeral 5.

Original Mythos Meta:

I think I mentioned this before--but the original Slender Man pics associated him with fire, as in preceding or instigating fire. Dissection and other means of destruction came later--not that I'm complaining. As Call of Cthulhu d20 once said, a beastie can have a thousand legs today and no legs next time, so long as it makes each encounter more horrifying.