Eccentrically Bored tells the story of Joey Steward, a college student who finds himself drawing the attention of dangerous supernatural entities.
The story initially follows the format of a slenderblog. Joey goes about his life, and begins catching glimpses of the Slender Man watching him. However, at the same time, there is a serial killer terrorizing his community, and the victims of said killer seem to be appearing alive and well, and attacking Joey with murderous intent...
Being one of the earliest works in The Fear Mythos, Eccentrically Bored helped pioneer a number of the concepts in the series— most notably the concept of the Grand Game and the Fear known as the Archangel. The story is very basic and threadbare compared to the blogs that would come afterward, but the story is still read by fans and other Fear-writers both for its historical significance, and the fact that it spawned a much more well known sequel: Hidden in the Trees.
This blog contains examples of
- Arc Number: 417
- Arc Words: "We are the pieces."
- "Embrace the Archangel."
- Broken Bird: Crystal. According to her, she was once an innocent, but seven years on the run from the Archangel have made her cold and ruthless.
- Eldritch Abomination: Two of them! The Slender Man and the Archangel. And they're playing a game against one another, using humans as the pieces.
- Face–Heel Turn: Joey becomes a servant for the Slender Man at the end
- Fate Worse than Death: If Joey's theory about the Archangel's true nature is correct, then this awaits everyone.
- Gas Mask, Longcoat: While it eschews the long coat in favor of a hoodie, the Archangel's favorite form is one of these. Joey nicknames it "Gas Mask."
- Go Mad from the Revelation: The Archangel is the afterlife. Joey's psyche did not take this very well.
- Mind Screw: Joey is given some pills by a psychologist. Said pills are highly addictive and cause Joey to become giddy and borderline in-cohesive... except the doctor didn't give him any pills, even though Joey clearly remembers it. So Joey throws the pills out and promptly goes into withdrawal... and that's when things get really insane
- Sacrificial Lion: An odd example, because the character in question only becomes this trope in the context of the whole story (i.e. both Eccentrically Bored and Hidden in the Trees): Crystal
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: A borderline case in Crystal's backstory. The Archangel first appeared to her in the form of her recently-deceased brother.
- Later on, It takes Crystal's form at the end, when it comes for Joey. If Hidden In The Trees is anything to go by, it keeps taking Crystal's form whenever it and Joey have an encounter
- Start of Darkness: The entire blog is one for Joey Steward
- Villainous Rescue: Joey is tied up and about to be killed by some thugs. Crystal has abandoned him to his fate. Looks like it's the end— oh wait! Slender Man is tearing the thugs apart!
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: The Archangel, who can take the form of anyone who's died.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: This is apparently what Slendy and Archie were up to. It's probably for the best that we don't know what their goals were.
