Phone Conversation with Marcos 4/24/17

So….. OSDM checking in on the progress of shenanigans they’ve created to measure our responses?

Next time he calls you, ask him about Levi.

So weird that he introduced himself from The Lust Experience… And mentioned Noah’s role from The Tension Experience? Sounds kinda OOG?? Maybe Marcos is the new investor (from Panama)?

There have been too many instances of trolling and gamejacking lately, so I’m skeptical of your call until more is known about this Marcos guy… Why would someone claiming to be part of Lust reach out and ask questions? Very odd…

@theladyj Uhhh this sounds extremely suspect.

They don’t call from “Unknown.”

They call from “No Caller ID.”

This is very suspect.

@thebuz Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the wording change depending on the type of phone you have?

Yeah that’s super weird they introduced themselves as “the Lust experience”… I feel like that’s not… normal for this? Am I wrong?

This feels very strange… Can we get a ruling on this one? Though, for the sake of argument, if this is legitimate, could it be the start of a twist? Michelle and the OSDM taking our expectations based on what we saw in The End and subverting them in order to cover up what they’re doing? We thought the Tension Experience was real and it turned out to be a show used to collect data for the OSDM. Now, so early on, could they be claiming they’re doing the same thing as a way to stop us from taking any of it seriously, when in fact Noah and Sarah ARE real? If they were going to wage a misinformation campaign, this is certainly one many of us are primed to fall for. Again, this feels like a strange choice given how many different things are already expected to happen in the next two weeks… but maybe that’s the perfect time for a violent left turn?

Yeah, every line of this sounds sus and oo

Jackie did you give your phone number to the Sinclair’s or only iConfidant ?

Yeah, every line of this sounds sus and OOG

We’re on it guys.

Well @thegilded is.

@theladyj Is your cell number easily available online? Got it posted anywhere publicly? If not, I’d say it’s likely IG. If it’s out there, it very well could be another attempt at a game jack.

Honestly (and yes this is creepy) there are endless sites that all you need is a name and you can find out where they live, email and phone number. I’ve tested the sites out and they work. It’s creepy as fuck, but it’s much easier to get a phone number than you’d think.

Must be IG, too much trouble to get her number, etc. just to ask a few random questions??

And the freckles?

I really hope it wasn’t a game jacker.

If it’s NOT, then I do like the theory of it being one of the investors checking up on things…Darren did say that they’ve taken control from him. Maybe they’re finally starting to surface?

I hope it’s not game-jacking for your sake @theladyj! I love how excited you sounded after receiving a call. And after meeting you, I can totally see you using an outdoors voice.

If this is in-game, I would lean towards it being an investor from Panama. I was curious when they would come back up in the storyline. But it does sound very suspect.

And my call from Sarah came from “Private Number” for those keeping track.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Taylor Winters.

@anakindrew, exactly! New investor checking in, speaker phone, calm, collected… Just seeing how things are going…

Leave it to the investors to kick out the creatives and mess the whole things up. This would be an interesting explanation of his “consequences” remark. Because it’s true, Noah has been getting away with a lot of things he shouldn’t be, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense why he’s been allowed to continue. So this could be the investors checking in on the optics. Maybe even one of the people Sarah has been so fixated on appearing in control for.

TPTB are pretty on it when it comes to deleting unrelated posts so the fact that this thread has not been struck from the forums is telling me that it’s IG even though my first thought was another game-jack.

BUT if it’s in game that whole investor from Panama idea makes so much sense!! @theladyj I don’t know anything about accents but did it sound like someone from there? Maybe youtube some videos of people talking from there and compare? lol

@theladyj honored to be on your FB to thumbs up any and all unicorn related content.

Everyone’s covered my thoughts already, but I’ll add that if this doesn’t turn out to be game jacking, we’re seeing the meta-narrative take a very big step forward. I think it’s a bit strange that Marcos referenced Tension, since Lust is supposed to be a complete stand-alone (correct me if I’m wrong).

Welp…

Talk of investors?

Red flags?

Then Lust posts this on FB.

Game on!

Confirmed Marcos is the investor.

When the money people step in, you know some shit is gonna go down.

This just got really interesting.

So there’s investors putting on The Lust Experience in which Darren and Clint were fired from, in which iConfidant and The System are apart of and somehow Otis is off making friends with a woman who like Chickens?

Give me a minute while I put my head back together.

My head is spinnnnning.

OK OK OK… what? so the OSDM hires Darren and Clint as creatives/patsies for The Tension Experience. Next, the OSDM comes out day one saying they are presenting The Lust Experience. But then new investors come in and fire Darren and Clint. Why does the OSDM need investors from Panama? And what is the goal of The Lust Experience in their eyes? Is Marcos working with the OSDM? Are the OSDM in trouble and are now subject to the whims of the Panama group? This call doesn’t feel like something the Clockmakers would be happy with. But maybe that no longer matters?

Also, great job reporting, @theladyj! What a ride.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Chris.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Chris.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Chris.

@theladyj, your ebullience is infectious 🙂 How thoughtful of the Investors to employ such direct methods for feedback on how consumers are enjoying their Lust Experience… and this “Tension Experiment” sounds intriguing, too – were those his exact words?

I thought it was kind of odd that the Investor narrative seemed to sort of disappear. This feels like the tip of a huge iceberg. Maybe @theladyj just opened page 1 of chapter 1!

@izryn How exactly Tension and Lust are related is unclear to me , but I think it’s fair to say that this exists in the same world as Tension at least. When Noah saw Mike outside the focus group didn’t he make some reference to an experience Mike had in Tension? Something about being in a bathtub full of blood? Unless I misunderstood and that’s just something from Mike’s personal life

This is such a weird weird 4th wall. I can’t even process what this means in terms of the game we think we’re playing.

@theladyj, Sarah said “He’s going to replace me!”

I thought the she was referring to Noah–but maybe it would refer to the investors. She never was clear about that. While Noah seems like the obvious answer, it’s always good to look at all available choices and keep an open mind. Maybe she could be referring to an investor ready to replace the actress.

How weird would that be–to meet someone completely new introducing herself as Sarah Sinclair?

@maxzumstein Lust and Tension are definitely in the same world, that’s for sure. What I wasn’t clear on was the extent to which they are separate stories, but now it seems one-off references are fair game.

Ok, so now we have a fourth wall, and Mr. Investor Marcos has just broken it (or did he build it? I’m not sure). So if we say things on the level of game-jacking and stuff are OOG, are we talking about the fifth wall? Walls are appearing out of thin air, and are being broken as soon as they do.

@taysavestheday Replacing the actress would certainly be a curveball we’ve not yet seen. Hurts my head just thinking about the impact that would have on the Sinclair’s storyline.

@izryn @theladyj; how would you even warn Sarah about that? Could you convince a person that they are merely a character in a world that is danger of being replaced? Would Sarah understand?

Look at how Sabrina took it during The End. This could be soul crushing for them.

Seriously, @theladyj, if he calls back, ask about Levi. It’s the name of the actor playing Noah. I didn’t focus on that much recently, but now that we’ve got this call I think we need to bring it back up again.

Things are no longer what we assumed they were.

@theladyj @taysavestheday The idea of the investors starting to pull strings just brings up a million more questions about what and who we’re actually dealing with here.

What would extracting the Sinclairs from the greater narrative even entail? Can they just walk away? Would we move on and forget about them?

Also, if the Sinclairs arent getting the results the investors are after, what ARE they after? What more do they want from us that we haven’t already tied up a ribbon on and handed to them?

@nothenrygale and @theladyj Let’s avoid hunting down the actors just yet until we’re invited into that aspect of everything. Most of us are good peeps but we don’t want a nut job hunting one of these people down.

Right now Marcos is our first behind the curtain person. Let’s focus our energy there.

It’s possible Sarah and Noah are Sabrina-type situations, and can thus be replaced, but with Darren and Clint having been kicked off the project, we might also ask ourselves if we’re even taking part in an entertainment experience anymore, or something more nefarious masquerading as an entertainment experience. Maybe the investors (whoever they are) saw the reach and command that Darren and Clint’s creative project had over us and decided to forcibly use it toward different ends. If that’s the scenario maybe Noah and Sarah aren’t characters of DLB and CS’ imagination, or aren’t even “characters” at all (speaking IG of course).

God this is even getting hard to talk about without being confusing.

@thebuz Totally agree to not go hounding actors, but this ties back into something that’s been bugging me since this began. The Tension book is pretty clearly in-game with the edits and redactions the OSDM made before going to print. Noah is clearly displayed in there, along with the actor’s name. If this was information they didn’t want us to know, it would’ve been removed as they did information on other people.

So now that we have a clear indicator that there’s more going on that the surface layer we see, I’m feeling like it’s time to ask Marcos about it and see where that leads.

Omg all of this gave me crazy butterflies!! ? where’s the 4th wall?! *head spinning!*

@theladyj ? that video had me dying ?

I love me some meta narrative. Let’s do this!

Also, to go full tinfoil hat with the links Noah shared. What if the OSDM was honest about swinging the election. What if the actual investors are the Russians and this is all a giant rise to get data to improve their bots and Sarah is going along with it and Noah, after joining in, is ready to blow the whole thing up. Which would make the ultimate layer of this not a story, but international espionage couched in an immersive theater experience.

@nothenrygale If it was where they wanted us to go there’d be more arrows pointing towards it.

You’re fixating on the wrong thing I feel.

Focus needs to be this investor.

@thebuz I could very well be, but for me personally, Marcos mentioning Noah being in Tension WAS such an arrow. A clue to look backwards for something maybe we weren’t mentioning. I’m sure Noah is just one piece to this ever growing puzzle, but I feel like that’s the piece that will lead to something. Yes the attention is on this Marcos person, but we have nothing else to go off of on that thread. He brought up a different thread that we do have an unexplored bit of info regarding.

It’s up to @theladyj how she plays future calls, but I know for damn sure if I hear from Marcos or see Noah again soon I’m going to mention the name and see what happens.

@theladyj Your exuberance is nothing but infectious! I don’t think it’d scare anyone off

I’m happy this wasn’t a game jacker, but not happy that I’m utterly confused, especially since I was not involved in Tension. I hope there’s a way for newbies to understand this a little better. Never heard of any Investors.

@jared I believe the investors aspect of the story was discussed in a Periscope that @julierei made after running into Darren at a Covell show about a month ago, maybe longer. He told her that he included were off the project and that investors have taken over. I’ll link you: Julie’s periscope

@jared I was a participant in Tension and the investor thing makes some sense, this is my personal take. DLB had to keep Tension running by having an investor. Someone who gave money here and there just like any project that needs a boost before customers actually give money for an end product (in Tension’s case, Ascension and merch).

Now, did the investor keep going with Lust? I’m not so sure. When I was at the book signing DLB was actually mentioning to @kingkill33 and I that he was going to Panama for a few days. I think we all asked why he was going but he dodged the answer. Perhaps his trip down there was to talk to another investor, perhaps Marcos*.

This would make sense knowing Marcos asked @theladyj how Lust Experience is going for her. Hopefully this all makes sense.

*Why else would Lust FB post a song titled “Money” and the post is directly tied to something @theladyj said here in this thread?

Thanks @wanda102 and @mkarrett. It’s all pretty weird, but it does make sense… I’m usually quiet here because I’m not sure my thoughts matter too much, but I’d love to give some feedback to Marcos as a newbie to this world.

This hurts my head, AND I LOVE IT!

Yea my head is ALL OVER THE PLACE! And now with their new FB quote by the original Sadist himself…#mindfrizzled

So, I have this vague memory that I believe(d) at the time was OOG but now sounds increasingly IN GAME…@mkarrett, @addisonborn, @daela, @rizzzoooooo, remember we were on the beach that night I was out there, and talking about Light2Dark, this weird character from early Tension days, didn’t someone say something about the meaning of “wind the clock” (something that L2D said frequently) and how it referred to investors spending money on the project? Clocks, investors, etc…

Investors were also mentioned during a small one off of a small gathering of tension participants who were asked to come back to the compound post-The End and give interviews about their experience “to show the investors”.

The other thing that I just realized kinda supports this in and out of 4th wall thing with actors in a play for the investors thing is DLB telling @bcbishop several times in the car outside the hotel during his rant about being kicked off by the investors, that the prostitute was an actress.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Meghan Mayhem.

Perhaps Noah is trying to purposely destroy what the OSDM and Investors are setting up? And Sarah’s trying to keep it together by staying on script (which makes sense since she had a script with her at the Focus Group).

@coryphella I always thought “wind the clock” was us basically us moving that clock along as we discovered more and more and posted our findings.

@mkarrett – yes but I feel like there was a specific reference that night to…the more we posted, the more people – investors – invested.

@thebuz Her joke was scripted at the OC meetup as well. And then there was that envelope with her name on it. Maybe she only has this job in the first place because she’s sleeping with Granik. The ice she skates on is becoming increasingly thin.

@lilmsfancpants

You ended your post with a Smashmouth lyric and I don’t know what to do with myself.

@thebuz Marcos’ attitude towards Noah doesn’t seem like he’s particularly upset with him. He seems more amused by him, if anything. He could have that attitude even if Noah is trying to disrupt what they’re doing because he know Noah will fail, but why leave a random element like Noah on the board?

Could also be that Noah is working for the investors while Sarah is more involved with the Sinclair companies and he is trying to bring down the company with his name.

I can’t help but remember what happened to the last guy who “took over” the production.

@thebuz we might as well swim.

@kasch

I avenged him.

LOVE THIS.

The comments Marcos made seem to indicate that he is part of a group (he’s an investor, per @thegilded) that are aware of both Tension and Lust as “productions” – things that all of us engage in, rather than being actual, factual realities.

Him asking if @theladyj believed everything she’d seen thus far seems like a huge clue in this direction, and I can’t help but wonder if the sun mention wasn’t also a coded reference to “staying in the dark” – i.e., was she buying the facade.

Him acknowledging Noah as having a different role in Lust vs. Tension also shows a different perspective on this show than we’ve seen from any other character thus far.

So… it’s pretty clear that Tension and Lust are in the same world as each other. The question is, which world?

1. Is it the world where a mysterious group called the OSDM funded a show called Tension to collect data on people, and then decided to mount another show called LUST to do the same?

2. Is it the world where ANOTHER organization (perhaps The Investors™) created a show called Tension, which included the fiction of the OSDM, that is now also responsible for what we’re experiencing as LUST?

We’ve all been super eager to connect the dots by assuming the “OSDM presents” on the LUST invite was something we could trust and rely on. We’ve all done this, even though The Creators themselves have openly said they created the OSDM as an Illuminati-like organization.

Call me crazy, but if you’re hired to be patsy fall guys for an evil conspiratorial agency, you probably don’t use the group’s actual name in interviews, or even the show that you’re writing.

@jared, you mentioned being bummed because you were worried missing Tension would make this too confusing. To that, I would say don’t worry. If I’m right about the above in even the slightest bit, none of that will matter at all. Because all of Tension will have been a lie.

All of tension will have been a lie

Oh, how long I have been on that band wagon…. Good to see someone else hop on board. This entire plot wouldn’t be put together to just f*$k with our heads now, would it? 🙂

The real question is which one of the dudes wearing the masks at The End was Marcos?

Idk why but I think it’s hilarious that he asked you if you were having a good time. Might just be my lame sense of humor.

Anyway, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!

The more I think about this whole thing the more fascinating it is. We currently have both Sinclair and iConfidant going. Sinclair is supposed to start seminars next week, iConfidant is about to launch it’s beta test. Noah is going semi-rogue within Sinclair Inc and iuConfidant is having IT issues. Meanwhile @111error has a coffee date with the assistant to the head of IConfidant.

In steps Marcos, the investor, asking if @theladyj is enjoying herself and if she believes anything going on. Basically jumping in, telling us all “Remember, this is not real.” while continuing the narrative.

I know everyone knows all of this, it just sometimes helps me to process everything.

Why start the meta-narrative so soon? Is everything so far just a prologue that is merely setup for the actual game/story that hasn’t even started yet? Is there going to be a meta-narrative for the meta-narrative? How deep is this rabbit hole gong to go?

I wish I had something new to add, but right now I’m still processing this fascinating turn of events.

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

@bcbishop, this would be utterly exhausting if true, but you may be on to something. A long-standing sticking point for many people on here has been the crediting of Noah and Michelle’s actors in the book. Michelle’s felt especially odd, as she was nonexistant until the final days of Ascension, and never during the actual show (unless you consider The End part of the show). The Gatekeepers (unless I am wrong) didn’t get the same type of in-book billing despite being strong figures in the early days of Indoctrination. But Michelle’s actress got a whole page. If we are now being subjected to Inception-style layers upon layers, where Michelle is shown to be fictional herself even as she points to others and calls them fictional, then we really have nowhere to stand. It is true that if their subsequent interviews and panel discussions could be considered in-game, referring to the OSDM as their invention so openly in retrospect feels very damning.

But one thing still bothers me, and I think it was bothering @thebuz last night too: if this is real, why is it happening so early? @lilmsfancpants and I have to have said this to each other once a week since this all started– where is Michelle? Why isn’t the OSDM saying anything? If they’re in charge of the Facebook account, why do they seem so far removed from what has been going on, especially in light of her one appearance at the book signing? Why explode the OSDM and retcon The Tension Experience to be 100% fictional instead of the previous, say, 70% at a time when their connection to Lust has been largely indiscernible? If they are truly employing this nuclear option, then we all appear to now be on the same page, knowing absolutely nothing. But the timing of this still feels odd to me. I’m not willing to completely say goodbye to Michelle and the OSDM yet. Maybe this secret organization became uncomfortable with its level of exposure and is now working to repair its cloak of anonymity by rendering itself fictional in our eyes. How would it benefit Marcos and the Investors to so nonchalantly out their entire enterprise? Something about this just feels too easy.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Chris.

So this is the son of a bitch that ousted Clint and DLB…

Don’t mind me, I’ll just be in the corner rocking back and forth as every idea of what’s going on with Lust gets blown up.

Any chance Marcos was actually this guy on forum?

Oh damn, @mkarrett. That would explain the “jajaja.”

@lilmsfancpants I didn’t want to use that as my Exhibit A but….ya exactly.

Why start a meta narrative so early on?

“This is only page one of the forward”

“When they stop believing you, that’s when it’s begun”

Boy who cried wolf.

*rocks back and forth*

Seriously @meghanmayhem, I’m quickly losing any sense of how I want to play this game because I’m losing that sense of what exactly the game is.

@nothenrygale I think it’s probably best to not think of this as a game, and more as a movie. And this one is shaping up to be an Altman or PT Anderson film that takes its time to reveal itself, conversation by conversation, and by the end we’ll be so invested we won’t even question why frogs are raining down upon us.

Actual footage form the end of Lust:

@bcbishop @mike We’ve already had an “I drink your milkshake” moment!

@nothenrygale maybe that’s exactly the point! What if they want us to stop “playing” this as a game and just… I don’t know… “living” the game? What better way is there than to throw us into absolute confusion as to what it’s supposed to be and what is IG and OOG and part of this or that storyline. Just pulling the rug out under us completely.

@lenize: @nothenrygale maybe that’s exactly the point! What if they want us to stop “playing” this as a game and just… I don’t know… “living” the game? What better way is there than to throw us into absolute confusion as to what it’s supposed to be and what is IG and OOG and part of this or that storyline. Just pulling the rug out under us completely.

Like!

That’s a great way of putting it. I may have been a little too engrossed into the idea of an “ARG”, and this sure as he’ll knocked me out of trying to plan my course of action in dealing with the Sinclair’s and iConfidant.

Yeah I’m at a complete loss.

They’re doing it again. I don’t know what’s real.

What if they want us to stop “playing” this as a game and just… I don’t know… “living” the game? What better way is there than to throw us into absolute confusion as to what it’s supposed to be and what is IG and OOG and part of this or that storyline. Just pulling the rug out under us completely

YES YES YES YES YES YES
THIS.
And now I move to Los Angeles.

And also, @thebuz, this speaks to a larger, longer conversation I’ve been having about the definition/nature of reality – that question of “what is real?” may not be the right question anymore, because in a sense it’s ALL real. It’s all someone’s reality.

Playing catch up 🙂

I wonder about something that @theladyj wrote: “So now that it sounded like a Quality Control call, if there’s money on the line, it makes sense.”

I wonder if there is money on the line as much as it was during Tension. I mean, I’m gonna take a guess that since Tension was an overall success in data gathering for the OSDM-to the point where they were able to extend the Ascension event a couple of extra weeks-that after everything ended OSDM were able to get more funding for what was coming next.

As for this investor…guessing he’s trying to keep an eye on things. If the investors aren’t just the ones funding Lust but also now in charge of directing it, who knows where this could lead?

What if this is the “System” Noah wants us to somehow take control of?

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Mustafa Said.