Song

Stroke of brilliance.

Music.
In reverse.

Think about it. REALLY think about it.

Our mutual Tallish Friend can be repelled by music- "showtunes" according to the original source, although I wouldn't put it past 'The Construct' to be indiscriminate.

What happens if you turn it around?

No, I'm not saying "playing music backwards reverses the effect and attracts HHIZ attention" or whatever. It's still soundwaves, so it'll likely produce similar effects from that factor alone, and to say it'll do the exact opposite would be childish. Nor am I saying it'll produce a drastic increase in effect that would completely obliterate the entity in question.

But if our mutual Tallish Friend is a 'Tulpa' or some kind of telepathic entity, then what we know matters- if it didn't matter, perception filters wouldn't exist, no?
Well, we know what the music sounds like right-way-forwards, so what would happen if we deployed THAT variable? Caused two frequencies to be sent simultaneously, one auditory and one from recall, trick 'The Construct' into believing we don't hear what it does?
How would Tall Pale and Faceless react?

I'm not saying I know. I'm specifically saying I don't know.
But it's worth a try, no?

Schrödinger's Fear

I already know what you're thinking: contemplating the existence and psychology of a creature that can at best be compared to a pocket-edition Cthulhu is not a very sane thing to do. My apologies, and let it be stated here that I do not expect anything good of it in the future- not that I can stop once the cage is rattled.

But it strikes me as odd- this "Construct" (ugh typing that feels so unnatu- wait.) is not bound by the same dimensional travel limitations as the rest of us, right? So our mutual Tallish Friend can be at any point in spacetime, provided that the location fulfills the unknown prerequisites, anyway.

So can TPF ever overlap HHIZ own timeline? Is there some rule or force preventing zirlikschten (not gonna use that one again, lest I screw it up...) from being in two places in the 3rd Dimension at once, given that the complete transcendence of the 4th is already more than possible?
And are there periods where TPF just doesn't exist within spacetime at all?
If so, then where does zi (nope... not using that one again either, my apologies to Ms. Elaine in particular) go during those periods? Anywhere? Maybe the same dimension as that Path of Black Leaves thing, given that they're so close? If so, does that mean the Path can be used to travel or at least glimpse backwards or forwards in time, relative to us? If not (to that last one, still doing this linearly like an idiot), does that mean the Path does have its own relevant time, meaning it exists at a point relative to our 3rd Dimension?

And that's where the train of thought derails, I get the feeling that anyone with experience will just repeat 'no' reading it.
If any human with the necessary experience exists.

On HHIZ Knees

In my last post I mentioned the possibility of TPF being weakened by HHIZ own Proxies. But that's just a theory, of course, so what do we KNOW?
In short? Nothing! We don't know anything as far as weaknesses go. We can make assumptions based on past experience, of course, while going under the assumption that our mutual Tallish Friend has an aversion to lying about HHIZ capabilities. You don't need to speak false truths to bluff.
...
The bluff metaphor is oddly appropriate, actually.
Remember when I said this was a game? I didn't mean one that we're playing. We're just the toys.
But perhaps even extradimensional thought-constructed non-entities have a concept of gaming, fun, and rules? Even if TPF is actually invincible by human standards, limitations could be set on the Tall One's game, by HHIZself.
... Okay, phonetically, that sounded like some half-retarded attempt to sound 'gangsta'. My bad.

Back on topic, it just means one needs to take advantage of them before TPF understands cheating as well. So just to pick out a few of these possibly-self-inflicted 'rules'...

1. Subject may(?) have some aversion to EITHER man-made structures OR elevation
This is one that's been hinted at by M's rule of 'getting up high', and has been recently re-examined by The Gargoyle. Conventional man-made weapons have little-to-no effect on TPF, of course, but buildings seem to wear it down a bit. There's a possibility that TPF understands us and our structures as little as we understand TPF, and would be gawking at our structures as much as we would at the city of R'lyeh.
Oh no, did I just blow my cover on that one? Drat.
The other possibility is that TPF can't handle the fluctuating pressures caused by rapid gain in height or depth, and thus must slow down. Depends on if you've ever seen the Tall One climb a tree before.

2. Subject has an aversion to water
One of the few things that's been "proven" (using the term as loosely as is healthy) to work in warding off our mutual Tallish Friend is water. Kind of. Only moving, open water has been shown to have effect, and even then there's the fact that TPF has moved between continents freely. While it's interesting to contemplate TPF having a fear of drowning, perhaps something about proximity to the tides and currents keeps it away? Getting to that in a bit.*

3. Subject has a connection to forests and nature(?)
This one has never been really 'defined'. I've always assumed it was because TPF had the most opportunity to disappear in the forests, 'Slenderwalking' from the blindspots the trees provide, but perhaps there's something more to it. This needs to be looked into further... I say as if there's any feasible way to research this phenomena... but perhaps someone could try burning down a forest with TPF inside you know what? I'm just sticking to 'look into it'.

4. Subject has some aversion to electricity
KK Collins, wherever she is now, was absolutely BRILLIANT in the procurement of this information. I'm not saying this one drives TPF off, no sir, TPF was absolutely LIVID about being shot by a bolt of lightning.* (A similarity to humans, perhaps?) But it may have stunned or even harmed TPF... if only temporarily.

5. Subject has been repelled by showtunes
Self-explanatory. KK again. It's difficult to tell if the positive energy of the music drives it away as KK said, if it's the erratic sound waves of the song that repel it,* or if TPF is just a really harsh critic.
Which actually explains a lot, but I'm getting farther away from the point.

6. Subject can be confused, or even have what could best be described as 'anxiety', under unusual circumstances
Do you really need to ask who I'm citing for this? Rest in peace, Mad Maduin, how I would have loved to meet you. Or at least ask if you'd be too disappointed I'm overusing your acronym.

7. Subject reacts negatively to mirrors (and cameras... ish)
Not that I advocate the use of the mirror,* but during the experiment I have just improperly cited, Kay found that the same noise TPF makes on camera is made against a mirror, so congratulations: your camera is just fine.
Although... the cameras capture the imagery/energy that Kay said the mirrors reflect, so maybe the camera eats the reaction for the Tall One. In which case your camera's absolutely screwed.
And may technically be haunted. And no priest can exorcise or bless it enough for you.
I'd like to say it's just because TPF hates HHIZ reflection more than an anorexic schoolgirl does, but given the lack of visible eyes, that's another one 'to be looked into'.

8. Subject has mixed reactions to "magic"
I get the feeling that if I were a practicing sorcerer or wizard or whatever that this would be a big steaming pile of basilisk dung spelled out into the letters D-U-H. Followed by a cloud of flies trying to form the letters V-A-G-U-E while swarming said feces. I apologize for not being clear enough to say what stones and herbs and symbols and foci actually work. I've read at least two reports of summoning/sending-type spells working quite effectively, and warding spells working inconsistently, but I really can't get any more specific beyond that.
There's enough practitioners out there that my speed-reading powers do me little good. That and since I have no idea how magic really functions- much to my annoyance and chagrin- I can't honestly define what does and doesn't work about it.

* Theory time!
Just to pull a few items with commonalities from out of the mix: Water, Electricity, Sound, Reflections/Light.

What if our mutual Tallish Friend has an aversion to anything that moves in a wave or current? I still don't know about things like the wind, but it's worth looking into, no?
I mean, yes, each of these items has their own way or reasoning behind repelling TPF, so expanding the field may be seen as a bit of a stretch. More individual testing would need to be completed by someone more capable than I, of course- Perhaps someone should try exposing The Construct to the activities of a church bell or one of those lamps used to kill bacteria, and observing the reactions?

Of course, don't be surprised- and be ready to run like the dickens- if it serves only to make TPF angry.

Has this terminology annoyed you yet? 'Cause I simply refuse to call the creature without any distinguishing sexual characteristics 'Him' just because some misguided fool decided to stick 'Man' at the end of the name.

Anyway, this is everything I've heard works from my readings thus far. I've got a LOT of catching up to do though...

Tulpa

I ponder this term quite often. A creature in existence solely due to a single thought shared between a mass of people, conglomerating into one entity. I used to think of this as sort of... a reverse Quantum Theory, multiple minds changing their universe rather than one mind making a new one.
From what I heartell (and by that I mean what I've been reading), bloggers such as a certain Robert Sagel popularized this theory behind the existence of our mutual Tallish Friend, in that the Tulpa Effect allowed said Tallish Friend to enter our world from Zirlikscht's (getting too long to type... hmm) own through our depictions of it. Or something like that, right?

Such a wonderful theory, too bad it's all wrong. Or perhaps just incomplete?

Consider for a moment: If the Tulpa Effect were real, why was TPF allowed in, rather than something else? Many of the people who know of HHIZ existence are killed by TPF or a Proxy anyway, so the following can't really be that large, right?
If that offhanded idea shared between a few people worked, then (to use some examples with a wider following) where are my dragons? Almost every culture in the world has at some point believed in the existence of dragons or equivalent creatures- the wyrm, the lung, the coatl, the wyvern, the lindworm, the zmey, the naga, not to mention anything that was given a NAME... Where are my unicorns? Where are my phoenixes, sphinxes, pegasi, kirin, gryphons, hippogryphs, dwarves, djinn, elementals, fair folk, smurfs and laser-mounted sharksI'mgettingsofarofftopic?
Assuming any of these live in the Astral Plane I've been hearing about, shouldn't they be able to cross over too, and probably in greater numbers to match a greater following?

But see, there's a difference: how far the belief goes. Not to be absolutely morbid, but how many of those people who believed in dragons took that idea to their graves? How many of them truly believed they were being KILLED by, or in the name of, a creature they've never actually seen before in this world?
Now the number drops to a few scattered and unrecorded incidents in the dark ages, doesn't it. Possibly even a smaller following than that of our Tallish Friend.

And now Dear Reader begins to see where I'm heading with this ball.

The problem is one can still tell the Tallish Friend shouldn't exist in this world, and never honestly believed in HHIZ existence until they saw TPF up close for themselves, so there's no natural reason to believe at time of death, right? "So how do you explain that away?"
Hasn't it already been said that TPF isn't affected by the same boundaries of time we are?

Let's call what I'm about to explain... Giles' Paradox Theory. Keyword being theory of course! Do feel free to criticize and call me a tool provide exceptions you've already noted.

It's really quite simple. You don't truly believe in 'The Construct'- at least, not enough for the Tulpa Effect's occurrence- until the moment you're about to die. You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes in that moment? Well, maybe not all of it, but certainly enough to ask yourself "how did it come to this point?" So you simultaneously see all instances of TPF's effect on your life in a second... and that one Essential Moment is all TPF needs to sneak into your life forever, a moment strong enough for it to truly exist. TPF takes a few steps back and plants the idea of its own existence in your mind earlier on- perhaps a video, a forum post, a hieroglyphic- which catalyzes when the Essential Moment occurs, ensuring HHIZ existence. An endless loop forms. The paradox in question. You are essentially screwed by destiny.

Which of course means that every time someone dies, TPF becomes a stronger part of this universe, because more and more people acknowledge 'The Construct' as their dying thought. Also, that the reason things like, oh... the Solstice wouldn't work, is that you have no influence over 'The Construct' until after these things should have already happened.
If I'm saying this right, then it might also mean that whenever a Proxy kills someone- at least, without telling them they're a Proxy, rather just going up and stabbing a guy without some big show for viewers with the attention spans of goldfish- there is a chance(!) that they weaken their own master.

Suddenly, "why don't you just shoot him" seems like less of a solid suggestion, doesn't it?