This topic has 44 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 2 months ago by 
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At 8:30pm, I met Mason at a bar in Studio City. He was sitting down when I arrived. I walked in, said hello, and he gave me a hug. We sat down and started talking.
The conversation started out like normal bar chit chat. He asked me how my day was. I said that it was a shit show, and he asked me to tell him about it. I said that my job is basically cleaning up one giant mess at the moment. I asked about his, and he said “Exhausting. Lots of cleanup.” I asked what he was cleaning up, and he said other people’s and his own messes. I said that sounded familiar.
He then asked if it bothered me that he was late, and I said no. He said that was unique. We had a brief chat about time and how some people can be constrained by planning. He then said “There’s something unflappable about you. I get the feeling you’d be much the same in the middle of a storm.” Then his phone rang. It was the babysitter.
He got off the phone, and I asked if he had kids. He said one, a girl, and that she was three. She’s apparently not feeling well. I asked what she was like and he lit up. He started talking about how smart she was, kind, and “everything you say and everything you do she sees. She still has nightmares. It’s scary for her.” He said that it was just the two of them, and that her mother, his ex, is still in the OSDM. He got his daughter out, but his ex is still very much there.
I asked how big the OSDM was. I said that it’s interesting to go from believing it was an umbrella corporation of sorts, to learning that it had a following with members. “That’s something that leadership has been quiet about. It’s big enough that you can’t sleep, you can’t breathe, you can’t go anywhere.” Me: “How involved is your ex?” Him: “Very.”
He then asked about my childhood. I told him I have four brothers, and that we were close. He asked “Were?” and then said “I’m so sorry, do you want a drink?” We went to the bar, chatted briefly about whiskey. Then he said “It’s fascinating. You find intimate and uncomfortable things easy, but ordering a drink seems so awkward for you.” I agreed that sometimes the basic interactions can be more difficult. We got our whiskey and went back to our table.
He asked me how Scotland was. I laughed and said “You do do your research, don’t you.”, and he replied “You have no idea.” I gave him the cliff notes of the trip, and then asked if I could ask him a question. I asked “How did you meet Morgan?” He said “That is a good question. That I’m not going to answer. But I’ll tell you something. Morgan’s angry at a lot of people. I did what I had to do.” I asked if he regretted any of it, and he said “No. That’s not something that comes easy for me.” And then his phone rang. The babysitter again. His kid had a fever, and he had to go.
“This is why I think I do what I do. If people understood. They don’t know what’s real and what’s not. If they understood, I think they’d see that I’m doing what I have to do.” I asked what is real. “What’s real is the cult. This is not a game. Do you believe me, or are you going to post this? Have people say shit and ask oh is this in game or out of game?” I said, “I believe that it’s a cult. I believe that these people are bad. And I believe that they need to be stopped. I *am* going to write it up! But I believe that all of those things are true.” He said he had to go. After a quick stop to the restroom, he said “I have something for you! It’s silly and stupid, but I have it! It’s just out in my car.”
We walked to his car together. When we got there, he opened the trunk, and DUN DUN DUN. Joyce was in the trunk. I said something along the lines of “Jesus fuck fuck! That’s, um, probably not the best place to keep that.” And replied, “Like I said, cleanup day.” Then he handed me the Rubik’s cube. He gave me a hug, said said he’ll see me soon and to have a good night.
I feel like the really important parts of this are that 1. He has a kid which is his main motivation for taking the OSDM; 2. His ex is “very involved” in the OSDM; 3. He believes he’s doing what has to be done.
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Heeeeey glad you’re alive @chelsea but uh…. on that subject….
Was Joyce?
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@nothenrygale Joyce could have been held captive/alive in the trunk… right?
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Sorry yes. Details. She did not smell like she was alive.
@kortneydarling I thought about that and took a blacklight to it. I’m not sure I want to break it open, but maybe I should? I kind of want to keep in intact.
@nothenrygale I don’t think he was just chilling with her in the trunk. I think it was on the way to disposal. -
@chelsea Nice job on this write-up! My initial thoughts:
– I think it’s very convenient that he is revealing the existence of a child to you now. It seems like a strange tactic to elicit empathy towards him. Child or not, he’s a violent sociopath.
– Why won’t he just tell us how he and @111error first began working together? It’s frustrating to say the least.
– Forgive me if this is a naive question but I seem to recall reading of past instances where people were presumed dead but were not. Did you get the feeling @joycecarlberg was actually dead or was this meant to be a scare tactic to show you he still has her in his possession? e.g. Did you witness any sign of life or was this visual confirmation of her being dead?
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His persona is so at odds with itself. He wants to portray the caring father archetype, but then he swings it around and slyly shows you the dead body in his trunk. Which screams of manipulative emotional control. It almost seems overkill. Especially for someone, @chelsea, that is arguably already on his side.
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Seems like he’s still cleaning up people’s messes… even though he has a part in it all, he may feel he is less resppnsible for her death if he’s just disposing of her. Regardless he does not care. The ex mentioning is interesting and I wonder if we have already met her? This again goes back to @tanyathompson mentioning that the OSDM destroys families. Mason’s family is currently split up because of it.
I think we will find out when and how Mason and @111error first met and started working together when the time is right. For now it will still remain an unanswered question.
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He believes what he’s doing has to be done. THEY/THEM/HE/SHE, all believe they are doing what has to be done, on all sides of the board. Everyone justifies their actions, for a whatever reason allows them to sleep at night.
I wholeheartedly, believe Mason does not care nor feels guilt from what he did/facilitated/orchestrated to Joyce. I also feel like this won’t be the last body in his rampage. He has ends, and needs means to those ends, whatever the cost or corruption. And, with Joyce’s body in the trunk (further elaborated on Slack), it’s clear. He is simply a rabid dog with, maybe one thing to lose: his kid. Regardless, to him, this game is worth it.While Horace may not care about Joyce, or her absence, Mason one day will do something Horace will care about and what will that fallout be? I want to be there when he, and whatever orbits him, loses everything.
@chelsea, Fantastic recounting. Bravo. -
@chrysalis359 It didn’t seem like an empathy ploy. He was not pleased to be getting a call, and made it clear that he didn’t want that. He was genuinely happy when I asked about her.
I’m not sure why he wouldn’t tell me how he and Morgan met. It raised some more questions that I’m trying to find the best way to articulate.
I think she’s actually dead. I had the same thoughts before tonight, wondering if she really was or if we were just supposed to think she was. But I believe now that she is dead. There was no sign of life, and a very strong smell coming from the car.
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Beating a dead horse here, but I just don’t see how Mason can be trusted in this instance. Everything he’s done so far has been to string people along until he can cause them some level of harm.
I don’t think Sarah would be the mother of Mason’s daughter, I doubt Horace would have stood idly by while she was pregnant with someone else’s kid.
RIP Joyce.
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@chelsea Ugh, a smell? Terrible. Well, I’m horrified to hear this but I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. I think we all knew it wasn’t going to end well for @joycecarlberg.
RIP, Joyce. Your hands may not have been clean but nobody deserves this.
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Thanks @chelsea!
It’s possible we may not ever get any closure on who Mason’s ex is. If the OSDM is as big as it seems, the ex could very well be just another member. This isn’t some movie where Chekhov’s guns are laying about left and right waiting to be fired.
Looks like we were too late for Joyce. Perhaps Mason got all that he needed from her. By not doing anything more, are we complicit in her death? I can’t shake the feeling that we are. As for his relationship with Morgan and the BOS, we should ask Morgan directly. @111error, would you care to fill in the gaps here?
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But why kill Joyce? It’s easy to write him off as a psychopath, but there’s method in his madness, and there has to be a motive for killing her beyond simply anger at the OSDM. What was Joyce talking about when she said there’s still time? Whatever it was, it got her killed. It makes me think Mason was pulling her strings in some way. Could she have been secretly working for him?
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@remrelganaps Why keep her around though? Mason has shown he’ll use people for his own ends to get what he wants out of them and then drop them. He got what he wanted to get out of Joyce (a public confession about the retreats and whatever else he’s had time find out) and then got rid of her when she couldn’t provide him any more information.
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@creepsociety That is such an excellent question. I wish I had asked.
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@Chelsea you did so good though! it’s hard for me to even remember everything on a phone call due to the anxiety I can only imagine in person! I’m also not excited about him mentioning his daughter cause holy shit the thought of kids being brought into this is too damn much for me
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@creepsociety I wonder if that was the point… That there are children inside the OSDM being harmed. That this isn’t just a company looking for data, that there are actual real people being hurt by them.
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@chelsea they are definitely striking a nerve with that one… now my mind is racing even more!
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I don’t know who would fuck Mason AND have the kid.
You raise an interesting point.
To speculate wildly, maybe the kid was the result of an OSDM conception ritual. Or, at least, wasn’t conceived in your average normal-world way/context. Not sure how marriage and bloodlines always work in the OSDM, but we’ve certainly seen that they’re not opposed to arranged marriages for the sake of procreation.
If the kid exists, that is.
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All signs point to Joyce being 100% dead. FB post quoted my “Guess I was wrong” since I suspected Mason would keep her alive as leverage on us. The song they posted is very minimal on lyrics, but of course, what lyrics there are are all about death.
“And I am not frightened of dying
Any time will do, I don’t mind
Why should I be frightened of dying?
There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime” -
Sounds like ‘Jack’ is as charming as he was when I met him. No sarcasm there, he’s a suave motherfucker when he wants to be.
I didn’t want to just vomit out how we met until some more of our own investigations had finished up, but if he’s dragging around the walking dead in his trunk and showing it off while meeting friends of mine for a date, obviously these questions are going to keep coming up. The truth is pretty boring to be honest with you, but here you go.
He showed up to help. Was a while ago, at least three months. Met him through a mutual friend who I don’t want to name because they’re pretty fucked up from how this played out. He had a lot of money, was a smooth talker, dressed the part, did what was asked of him and always went above and beyond expectations. The kind of guy that brings you a coffee the way you like it right when you need it and before you ask for it, and doesn’t let you pay him back. Seemed weird, distant at times, but solid and willing to put himself in danger for the sake of the cause. Now it all makes more sense.
Obviously, I never realized he was *this* guy. Yes, maybe I should have been more careful, and yes I feel like a fool for trusting him. I do not regret taking the risk though, because time is running out. So there you go, not a very interesting answer I know, but sometimes the truth is a lot more dull and predictable than fiction.
In a way, I’m glad he’s dragging a corpse around and showing it off like a meat bouquet. Maybe now people will see him and these organizations for what they are. Life means nothing compared to their aims.
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@111error Do you think he stepped in to help BOS because he saw some mutual interests or because he was only interested in using it for something? Did Briarberg want something specific?
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@111error Can’t blame you for trusting. Sometimes we need to believe in something or someone because it seems like the lesser of two evils. But this guy turned out to be evil. At least now we know. I’m sure it won’t end well for him either. I just hope his kid doesn’t find out what a monster her father is. I hate that a child is involved.
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As a BOS member who was pretty fairly anti-Joyce, and cracked several jokes at her expense through this, I do want to apologize to the #TeamJoyce crowd for any insensitive behavior on my part. Mason and I have similar goals, but cannot bring myself to reconcile them with his actions. Part of me still wishes this is another one of Briarberg’s “Truth/Lie Tests”, but sadly I’m thinking this was the truth @chelsea was shown tonight.
RIP @joycecarlberg
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@111error Thank you for this! Do you mind follow up questions? You said that you had been meeting with Briarberg. How did you not know that “Jack” was involved? Did you not see him in those meetings? Who were you speaking with? I’m very curious to know who is in charge of that operation.
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Thanks for the excellent write-up @chelsea. Glad you’re safe.
Given Mason’s stunt the other day, I’m sure he’s looking for an emotional reaction from me, given the way things turned out. He’s not getting one tonight.
RIP.
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I’m very interested in both Mason and Noah’s children. We’ve heard things before that suggest that the OSDM is attempting to conceive something. Perhaps their search for Oracles was a failure so they instead started to switch to trying to /make/ one?
It is possible that the titles of the experiences themselves even reference the process of conceiving: romantic Tension of first meeting someone, growing Lust that leads to sex, a rush of Adrenaline as one finds they are pregnant, the bitter turn as you find your partner’s intentions were far more Nefarious than you hoped.
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@chelsea Enlightening to say the least.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but what we know at this point:
— Briarberg says it will use force to achieve its ends…
— But we have no evidence that Mason going after choice was on Briarberg’s order.
— Mason’s assault may have been personal. He said he was cleaning up his own messes.
— Michelle appears to have gone rogue.
— We are in a cult. -
Thank you for the detailed recounting of the meeting, @chelsea, it is appreciated.
What a disappointing ending, though. I am with @remrelganaps in wondering the most basic question… why? It seemed Joyce could have been useful to Mason. @kevin, you seem to think Mason got everything he needed… then discarded her. To me, the over-the-top act of violence is not a simple take-out-the-trash maneuver, it feels personal. Like @larry suggests, it may have been something he felt responsible to do because of some event in the past – a reference to his own “messes.” Something just feels weird about this whole scenario. Getting rid of her cements people (some, anyway) into an anti-Mason position that will now never be undone. He has probably created more enemies than he needs with this act.
@chelsea, I respect your observational skills but I hope, somehow, you are wrong. I hope, somehow, Joyce recovers from the attack. (There’s the optimist in me, again.) I refuse to say Rest in Peace. I do not want her to rest.And, yeah, partially, I am disappointed because she seemed to express some genuine concern toward me and went so far as to get a conversation with Sabrina to happen and tried to figure out other ways to “get” to me. That means something to me. Even if she was just doing her job, it still happened.
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There are a lot of messes to clean up. That’s how Noah got into the picture right?
I too hope Joyce is still alive though the smell is a little disconcerting.
Seems pretty risky to pop open that trunk in public especially with @chelsea reacting to it. Mason DGAF.
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Could it be Joyce was the mother of his child? Maybe in Mason’s mind, she was still alive in the trunk, therefore he would use a present tense of “is very involved”? The lyrics that @nothenrygale posted somewhat points to that.
In a way, I’m glad he’s dragging a corpse around and showing it off like a meat bouquet. Maybe now people will see him and these organizations for what they are.
A bunch of people who obviously know how to kick off haunt season!
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@chelsea – One question that I have that you didn’t mention….what was he wearing? Was he representing #teamargyle?
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@larry He said “Other people’s messes, his own messes.” It could go either way. That one we can’t be sure about. I think I maybe took it as Joyce was someone else’s mess.
@russell Your optimism is refreshing, but nope. That one I’m pretty sure about.
@shaun Meh. It was a dark parking lot. I wouldn’t have thought twice about the risk.
@mike Argyle. It’s funny – When I walked in, I was looking for argyle, but didn’t see any because he was perpendicular to me so I just saw black sleeves, and I thought he had changed his wardrobe. But don’t worry, definitely argyle.
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