The Insomnia Experiment

ElijahRyne

A Hermit that’s NOT that Lazy, currentlycomplainen
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Memo from Lead Experimentor:

To all who are reading this, you are officially invited to join the Insomnia Experiment. Your role will be to generate words and phrases to give to the test subject(s) through the parasite I have implanted in their soul. You have two goals, the long term one is to keep the test subject(s) alive, and in the short term to figure out what your sent words do.

You ‘generators’ will have collectively only 20 words that you can give the test subject between each update from my end. If you don’t indicate the twenty words you wish to send, if you have more or less than twenty words between each of my updates, and/or if you send words that violate the spirit of the experiment I will choose the twenty words to send.

You will be given the twenty words sent to the test subject at the top of each update. The information you are given is translated and adapted from soul form to English by my apprentice @ElijahRyne, you can contact them if you have any questions or complain to him if you find errors in his translation.


……………………………………………………………………………………………

The bright starlike lights of the cars on the highway faded as I pulled over my bike and carried to the ditch of the road, a semi passing by me. In front of me was a field of corn as tall as I am tall. I had pulled over because I had heard a series of notifications from my phone going off. It was John, he was asking if I had arrived at the drop off spot.

‘I am about to enter the field you mentioned, just pulled up to the sign.’ I texted back before walking with my bike through the corn.

After fifteen or so meters I had reached a small clearing in the field, a circle with a radius of about 3 meters. John was impatiently pacing back and forth in the small clearing. He didn’t notice me until I touched his shoulder. He shouted in fright and looked like he was about to start attacking me before he saw my face.

“Good! You have the money right?” John said after a moment. I said nothing and pulled out an envelope from my backpack, John opened it, smiled, and then crouched down into the corn like he was Velma looking for a nonexistent pair of dropped glasses.

He grabbed something with two hands, tossed it at me, and then sprinted off through the corn. I caught it and was about to chase after him before realizing I had been tossed the promised goods. Its cover was worn, with one of its corners missing, looking as if it had been gnawed on by a dog. The moonlight was bright enough for me to barely make out the faint words on its cover, Aiden’s Dream Journal. I put the journal in my backpack, walked out of the corn field from where I entered, and began my journey home.

The moonlight faded as I entered the city's outskirts, I pedaled my bike to the apartment building’s bike stop, the lights in the lobby were still on. After locking my bike I took a deep breath, I had finally done it. Before I knew it I was in my room. My excitement grew and grew, the lights were switched on and the journal was in my hands. I opened it and read as I walked to the couch.

“For Aiden’s eyes only! If you are not Aiden beware do not read past this page, and destroy it now! You have been warned!”

The words were written by pen, the ink had a faint blue color to it. The author's handwriting was neat, but robotic. I almost tripped on the couch before carefully sitting on it and continuing my reading. I flipped over to the next page.

“Reality is an illusion made by your mind. This reality fades and is replaced as soon as you dream. You are just in possession of a mind that is just foolish enough to replace the new reality with the old one.

§§§§§§ §§§ §§§§ § §§ §§§§ §§§ GABD’OTH!” My eyes went over that line over and over again, but all I could make out was the final word. The word stung my eyes, as I closed them I felt myself falling to sleep.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

You have at most a day to choose your twenty words, the experiment has just started.​
 
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Anemic_Vampire

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A few questions. @ElijahRyne. :meowsip:

So, we have two goals:
Keep the test subject(s?) alive.
Send 20 words each time and find out what they do.

Do all of the twenty words need to be totally random (like Woolen_Monkey did), or we can form a proper sentence using the twenty words or less?

For example, something like “Do, Your, Best, You, Are, Not, Alone” etc? Or this isn't allowed?
 
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Arkus86

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A few questions. @ElijahRyne. :meowsip:

So, we have two goals:
Keep the test subject(s?) alive.
Send 20 words each time and find out what they do.

Do all of the twenty words need to be totally random (like Woolen_Monkey did), or we can form a proper sentence using the twenty words or less?

For example, something like “Do, Your, Best, You, Are, Not, Alone” etc? Or this isn't allowed?
We have 20 words limit collectively, not each. This limit was already exhausted in the first response (unless it is judged as breaking the spirit of the experiment), and if you add any over this limit, the words that might be chosen are no longer in our control. So even if we were collectively to pick words that form a sentence, you won't know what the subject will get in the end until the experiment update.

My word is "Cat"
 
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Maelstrom556

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I can't use my favorite word because that will almost certainly kill the subject, so... Second-favorite word:

Panache
 

ElijahRyne

A Hermit that’s NOT that Lazy, currentlycomplainen
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A few questions. @ElijahRyne. :meowsip:

So, we have two goals:
Keep the test subject(s?) alive.
Send 20 words each time and find out what they do.

Do all of the twenty words need to be totally random (like Woolen_Monkey did), or we can form a proper sentence using the twenty words or less?

For example, something like “Do, Your, Best, You, Are, Not, Alone” etc? Or this isn't allowed?
You can form a sentence, make sure that you have it indicated as what you wish to send to the lead experimenter though.
 

ElijahRyne

A Hermit that’s NOT that Lazy, currentlycomplainen
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
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Points
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Memo from Lead Experimentor:

You generators only indicated 8 words to send, I chose the rest of the words from your messages. The following will be the words chosen to send to the test subject, and then which generators participated and how many words chosen from their messages.

Submitted words: Despondent, Gabagool, Cat, Tasty, Moo, Pillow, Panache, Confused, Kool-Aid, Arms, Safe, Alive, Do, Your, Best, You, Are, Not, Alone, Quick.

These words were submitted by: @Woolen_Monkey 3, @Anemic_Vampire 8, @Racosharko 4, @Arkus86 1, @JayMark 1, @AliceMoonvale 1, @Hoshino 1, and @Maelstrom556 1.

Let us proceed with the experiment.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
My head stung and my arm ached. I had fallen off of the couch at some point that night. I had no dreams last night. The morning sunlight was blinding, I needed to head to class soon. As a Freshman in college, I often have found myself sleeping in if I don’t immediately head off to classes.

I grabbed my helmet and backpack, glanced at the journal laying on the floor, and then left my apartment. I was not in the mood to read any further, last night’s excitement was gone.

I rode my bike through the usual shortcut. If I cut through five alleyways I can arrive on campus in 20 minutes instead of 30. As I passed through the first alleyway, I saw a group of 13 cats. They were eating something bloody. My first thought was that it was roadkill, of some sort. I almost crashed my bike as I drew closer, my head hurt, I couldn’t feel my face. The cats were eating an arm, a severed arm.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket, it was dead. One of the cats came up to me. A calico cat with blood smeared on its face. It meowed, as if it wanted me to join in their feast. I felt my stomach churn, I forgot my bike and ran through the alleyway. I tripped on a safe, it opened and was full of some sort of deli meat.

My nose filled with the smell of manure as a livestock truck passed by, the mooing of cows still audible. A stylish man carrying a pillow under their shoulder and a red solo cup in the other walked past me. I stopped them, they looked at me with an emotionless face.

“Do you have a phone on you?” I asked.

“Of course I do, without this baby I would be alone.” The man said with a trace of boredom in their tone.

“You need to call the cops, I just saw a severed arm man, but my phone isn’t working.” The man looked past me before responding, his face looked confused.

“I was doing my best to ignore that you know…” As the man finished speaking, he spiked the red solo up at my face. It was full of some sort of purple juice. I tried to block it from hitting my face, but my arms fell off.



I awoke in a cold sweat, bile rose to my throat but I avoided vomiting. I was on the floor, arms crossed on my sternum, with Aiden’s Dream Journal clutched tight to my chest. I shakenly took my phone from my pocket and checked the time. It was 7:02am. I had two hours until my first class.

“A nightmare, it was just a nightmare.” I shakingly muttered to myself before peeling myself off of the ground.

After changing my clothes and brushing my teeth, I grabbed my backpack and left my apartment. I was going to walk to campus today, and I was avoiding the shortcut I usually took. The walk there was long but uneventful. I managed to get onto campus 20 minutes before my first class, and the classroom 10 minutes before.

Henry was sitting in his usual seat, the one to the left of mine, eating a sandwich and scrolling his phone. I sat down and he began speaking.

“Did you hear about what the police found this morning?” He asked, I shook my head and he continued. “Apparently they found three dismembered arms in an alley about 3 miles away, see.” He showed me a post from the local police station explaining the finding, telling people in that area to be wary, and to contact them if they had any information. My stomach twisted.

“You live in the area right? You should be careful on your way home.” Henry said.

I felt my mind shout and began looking at Henry, well staring is probably a better word for what I was doing. As I was staring at Henry my eyes fell on his sandwich, something about it looked familiar.

“Want some, it is a coppa sandwich. I have an extra if you are hungry.” He must have caught me staring. I shook my head. What the hell was that dream.

The day was boring, I did my homework in the library before heading back to my apartment. I regretted not bringing my bike on the walk back home. The sun was setting by the time I reached there.

I found the journal laying on the floor. I couldn’t help myself from opening it. The first page was the same with the vague warning, the second too with the unreadable line and all. The third page continued, it was written by someone with a shaky hand, not the person who wrote the first two pages.

“I am no longer home, yet I am sitting in it as I write this. No, I am sitting in a place like home, not at home. My dream last night was surreal, I burned alive in my home. Now my home is gone, but that makes no sense! I am awake now, so why is my home no longer my home!” I closed my eyes with a sigh, before my brother died I knew he had a breakdown, John said something of the sort when he mentioned that he had the journal. I continued reading.

“It must be thanks to that spell that I still live, Gabd’oth! Just writing the word fills me with hope. I must, however, still be asleep if my home is like this. How will I wake up?” Something came over me, I stopped reading and I tried whispering the ‘spell’ a few times. As I did I felt more and more tired. I quickly ate something and headed to bed. I fell asleep nigh instantly.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
This is the end of today's experiment. You have about one day to submit your next 20 words, and before the next update.
 

Maelstrom556

Soda Jerk
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Part of me wonders if there will be a regular participant that actively tries to kill the test subject. I'm gonna call "Not me" but still say the aforementioned favorite word: Defenestration

And in case there's less than 20 participant words again, something to hopefully help them survive that word: Trampoline
 
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