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Welcome one and all to The Eternal MxTape! I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, and I hope you enjoy.
Many thanks to everyone who has helped out with draft critique, including kinchtheknifeblade,
cybersqyd,
DrAkimoto,
NatVoltaic, and
Kybard.
I'll be honest, the main character really doesn't interest me as a person, and I don't think any amount of characterization will change that for me personally.
That said, this doesn't change the fact that this is one of the best tales and stories I've seen in a while and possibly the best newbie entrance on this site. I said it before but I was absolutely glued to my seat reading the latest page and was surprised when I looked at my monitor and learned 45 entire minutes had passed.
Have you written before? I feel like most people who join this site, join as complete newbies who've never written a short story in their lives, and yet you're able to produce some high quality writing immediately.
Good luck! I'll be following this closely.
EDIT: I know this goes against the "theme" of the page, but as someone who actually read Smile! before SCP-4581, I remembered feeling like I missed something quite important and it kind of confused me enough I stopped midway and went to read 4581 before reading the rest. I wouldn't recommend reading it in any other order than the way it was chronologically written. Tiny nitpick.
Gosh, thank you! I've been reading the SCP Wiki on and off for a few years before I thought of anything worth sharing. I've been writing fiction for a while (largely for horror RPG groups), but this is the first time I've shared something on this scale! It's certainly the first time I've tried something so experimental, and I understand if the "alternate paths" gimmick doesn't appeal to everyone. (In fact, I wrote "Smile!" before coming up with the theme… I should probably give it another go-over, for clarity's sake.) Edit: I've gone back and revised "Smile!" to include more context on the cassette's anomalous traits. Hopefully it's clearer now!
the MxTape/mixtape pun here is awful i love it
and also im super hyped to see where this goes next :3
oh man the mxtape pun.
i really like your writing and i appreciate this series. keep up the good work.
Wow. This is… extremely confusing. Don't get me wrong, I loved reading it, but I also loved analyzing it and trying to form some sort of a coherent timeline because, to be honest, I have no idea if I got anything right. I'd appreciate some confirmation from the author on what I have right and wrong!
Edit: turns out CTRL+S doesn't save, it just posts your comment before you're ready. Here's my guesses:
Background: Wren Masterson is an individual possessing poorly understood anomalous abilities apparently relating to pataphysical manipulation and anomalous filmography. These abilities appear to be part of, or interacting with, underlying dissociative disorders. As a result, Wren Masterson is the current or most frequent one of at least three identities held by this individual. Any aliases - including but possibly not limited to ‘The Director,’ ‘steakshift,’ and ‘Anna Bojarski’ are likely distinct identities, not simply alternate names, and may even differ in abilities or physical attributes. Wren Masterson does not appear to be in control of this facet of their abilities.
‘The Loop and the Jam’ is a two-part anomalous weapon. Initial activation (‘The Loop’) marks individuals with a memetic hazard which replaces any content they create or alter with ‘junk’ information, usually music or music video. Secondary activation (‘The Jam’) erases hazardously affected material, closing ‘The Loop’ and preventing uncontrolled spread of the anomaly.
‘Unwinding’ is a highly destructive anomalous device with physical and pataphysical properties. Physically, ‘Unwinding’ represents an infohazard which compels individuals to observe it, then consumes or erases them. However, ‘Unwinding’ may also unintentionally have a powerful pataphysical effect which recreates the narrative circumstances of its only activation. This effect seems to be spacially and temporally unmoored.
Timeline:
1- The pataphysical backscatter from ‘Unwinding’ results in ‘Tilford’s Folly,’ an event in which Samuel Tilford, a visitor to Canada from Britain, is murdered by an individual whose identity is erased completely, either as part of the punishment for their crimes or as an inherent part of the event.
2- Wren Masterson, under the alias of Anna Bojarski, creates and uses ‘The Loop and the Jam,’ on their grandfather Harold.
3- Wren Masterson, under the alias of The Director, creates ‘Unwinding’ but fails to control it. Five of their (presumably) friends are erased by its effect, setting up the first instance of its narrative structure: a visitor to a foreign country being killed by an assailant whose identity is absent.
4- Due to guilt, confusion, underlying mental issues, and unconstrained pataphysical abilities, Wren Masterson, still under the alias of The Director, experiences a catastrophic identity erasure, and for some period, demanifests either physically or narratively or both.
5- For unclear reasons, Wren Masterson remanifests near the home of Felix Kipp. Kipp assists Wren Masterson either in the formation or the logistics of their new identity.
6- Wren Masterson joins the POI Gamers Against Weed under the alias steakshift.
7- Wren Masterson, under the alias of steakshift, provides a GAW member with the use of ‘The Loop and the Jam,’ which subsequently draws the attention of the SCP Foundation. During containment, Researcher Penelope Gore accidentally exposes large amounts of Foundation records to the anomaly.
8- Researcher Penelope Gore is assigned to infiltrate GAW under the alias ‘whistl_stahp’.
9- Researcher Penelope Gore interviews Wren Masterson several times both officially (in connection with ‘Unwinding’ or ‘The Loop and the Jam’) and unofficially.
10- Researcher Penelope Gore and Wren Masterson are involved in an incident resulting in the death of Felix Kipps and a complete erasure of information about the event’s exact nature.
Everything else is, to be honest, completely opaque to me. Also, what is a pattern screamer and why is it tagged?
Hi, Ruby! Thank you for reading - I'm glad it's the intruiging kind of confusing, rather than just obtuse. Let's see whether I can clear some of this up for you.
For the record, I haven't been writing Wren Masterson as a multiple system. They use different aliases to blend in with social contexts inside and outside the Veil (tradecraft!), but they only have one personality. They were assigned the name "Anna Bojarski" at birth, adopted "The Developer" as part of AWCY, and eventually left both those names behind because they didn't work anymore. Adopting a new identity isn't uncommon for transgender people, but things are extra complicated for Masterson, on account of their experience with Unwinding. It's sort of a pataphysics version of the Ship of Theseus problem: if you replace every single part of "Anna Bojarski", is "Wren Masterson" the same person afterwards? What if they don't want to be that person anymore? Can you leave the worst parts of yourself in the past, while still taking responsibility for the things you've done?
individual possessing poorly understood anomalous abilities apparently relating to pataphysical manipulation and anomalous filmography
Accurate! Penelope Gore's best guess is that Masterson is a reality bender, but she doesn't have the means to confirm it on her own (Scranton anchors aren't easy to come by), and she can't bring it up with the Foundation without getting both of them in deep, deep trouble.
abilities appear to be part of, or interacting with, underlying dissociative disorders
Also accurate! Masterson's abilities, worldview and psychological issues inform each other, but not in a particularly healthy way. In writing this story, I don't want to give the impression that mental illness is itself a superpower; if anything, I think living with derealization in a fictional universe would make things even harder. Hence Wren's issues with "tracking".
may even differ in abilities or physical attributes
Like I said, I'm not writing Wren with multiple personalities; they've got one core set of anomalous abilities, and their uncertainty when looking in a mirror is generally related to dissociation and dysphoria. Although… does a fictional character even have physical attributes, besides those described in the text?
the Loop and the Jam
Correct!
Unwinding
Close! Without spoiling too much, the narrative backscatter isn't solely because of Unwinding's activation in 2008. It's also symbolically tied into what happened on July 23, 2019… whatever that was. More detailed answers are coming soon!
Also, what is a pattern screamer and why is it tagged?
Pattern screamers are one of my favorite parts of the SCP Wiki mythology, in part because they're so abstract and weird. Examples include SCP-3930 (which does not exist) and SCP-4314 (highly irrational math). My interpretation is that pattern screamers are a reflection of conscious observation: when you gaze into the abyss, you impose meaning on it, and the abyss is not thrilled. The pattern screamer in "The Not-Too-Distant Future" is growing in the collapsibles, the cracks in the narrative, using junk data to assemble itself into a coherent entity. As for why it exists… what happens when someone realizes there's a murderer-shaped hole in the universe? What happens when the murderer-shaped hole "remembers" who they wanted to kill in the first place?
Here's the timeline from my end, minus the parts in Spoiler Country:
The NUMBERS, Tsercele! What do they mean?!? [spoilers for Black OPs 1, I guess].
I started with Shuffle, because I am a contrarian, and everything was so delightfully confusing as I resisted the urge to click cross-links and patiently read through the playlist, then read it normally. I'm not sure when or if the loose ends will be tied up, but I'm making a prediction here now that whatever the hell Wren did sure obliterated that poor random man in the past.
Or maybe I should reread this later and see if there are any hints already.
Cal me M-zero-zero-en again and I will strangle you.
Forgot if I've explored this series before, but leaving a comment now to note my intention to go through the series
