And just how do you deal with Gribblies?

[TeaDidikai]

Damnit Reagun! You've further altered my speech patterns!

Anyway- We all know about Mr. Darks- however, we also know that the world is not all light and cotton candy.

So- when a nasty gribbly comes along- how do you folks know that it is real and how do you get rid of it.  

[CuAnnan]

I don't concern myself with whether or not something I perceive as a gribbly is real or not as I am perceiving it. I deal with it first and then concern myself with whether it exists independantly of my mental processes. Essentially, shooting at shadows is better than not shooting at enemies.

Shield.
Ground.
Look.
Strike.

In that order.  

[Aesi]

Depends entirely on the gribbly. If it can just behave around people I like and around my cat, it can stay. It may even get to play once in a while. How many have I ever encountered like this? None yet. Well, I've only ever met them because they did something bad. So I've always removed them when I could. Before I moved a couple months ago, they did try to get back in the household. And my friends didn't care. They made pets of nightmare thoughtforms. Real or not, I don't want them even hanging out by my windows.

Haven't had any around since I moved, though. If I see one in my new place, I think I'd rather try attacking it than let it keep trying to return.  

[blindfaith^_^]

Don't care if the gribbly is real or not, I'll spend time reflecting on whether the threat is in my head or not after its gone. I'll throw up shields and potentially do a protection spell depending, and I'll do a few to renew my home's safty. I'll tell whatever energy it is to go away and I'll try to change up what I'm doing just to throw it off. If it doesn't leave by itself after a week or so then there is a good change I'll call in my guides and help to convince it that its in everyone's best interest if it moves on.

If it was nothing I've already changed my mental outlook on whatever it is so that's good. If it was something I'm protected.  

[TeaDidikai]

Of note- Gribbly by nature isn't something that behaves.  

[VisasMarr]

TeaDidikai

Damnit Reagun! You've further altered my speech patterns!

Anyway- We all know about Mr. Darks- however, we also know that the world is not all light and cotton candy.

So- when a nasty gribbly comes along- how do you folks know that it is real and how do you get rid of it.

What exactly is a 'Gribbly'? [/seriousness]

Sounds like animated chicken gibblits - like, that came back from the dead....  

[Kal Eldritch]

I'm with reagun on this one. protect yourself then attack it if you know or even suspect it of being a gribbly. Afterwards, turn your house into a veritable spiritual fortress and ponder it's nature afterwards.  

[TeaDidikai]

It's a catchall term for a generic "infernal" that will mess with those of this world in unpleasent ways that said victims do not appricate.  

[Doctrix]

Reality is a moot point for me.

Similarly to others who have posted, if it's not responding to communication, I use energy structures to protect myself, but I rarely attack right away. Usually I alter myself instead. I look for anything tied energetically to me, I ground, shield and/or make myself invisible. I then ignore it and we all go on our merry little way. I have plenty of protections set up already, but I might reconsider those if certain entities keep getting past them.  

[Aesi]

TeaDidikai

Of note- Gribbly by nature isn't something that behaves.

Among the street kids I've known, two have at least appeared to have put enough fear in one to make it behave. Note: "appeared". One of said kids, I'd lay odds was in cahoots with the thing, the other one was in every other way a Mr. Dark story who may or may not have genuinely commanded a gribbly and who may or may not have gotten his due when I wasn't looking.

I still get the feeling that someone evil enough could make them behave. I'd rather not try to find out by myself, you know?  

[VisasMarr]

TeaDidikai

It's a catchall term for a generic "infernal" that will mess with those of this world in unpleasent ways that said victims do not appricate.

Do these Gribblies just show up? Or are they there due to some magical/spiritual working? Or are they just everywhere messing with anyone and only a certain state can make them 'visible'? Are they like sock gnomes?  

[CuAnnan]

VisasMarr

Do these Gribblies just show up? Or are they there due to some magical/spiritual working? Or are they just everywhere messing with anyone and only a certain state can make them 'visible'? Are they like sock gnomes?

Sock Gnomes are pests. They're not infernal in nature, they're just mischievous.

The one or two times I've had dealings with gribblies (edit: that I'm allowed to talk about), it's been by virtue of inadvertantly drawing their attentions (walking through the wrong part of a forest at the wrong time of night) or because friends of mine have inadvertantly draw their attentions.

This came up in conversation with one of the members of the Wiccan coven who I keep referring to. I have a three stage mechanims. Banish personally, Call for help from upstairs and run. So far, it has never gotten beyond stage two.  

[TatteredAngel]

Departing from a few others here, the nature of their reality is very important to me. That's my first step, because I have a hyperactive imagination and found early on how easy it was to lead myself, which then meant worse trouble in the long run. That said, determining reality isn't easy, and sometimes I'm really just guessing.

At the risk of becoming incoherent (having a very unpleasant day and therefore not firing on all cylinders) I'll just say that most of the time, it's my own mind/body acting up and not something external, and I find I really have to deal with that in different ways than something that's an external factor. So I determine the best I can the nature of something before trying to deal with it.  

[CuAnnan]

TatteredAngel

Departing from a few others here, the nature of their reality is very important to me. That's my first step, because I have a hyperactive imagination and found early on how easy it was to lead myself, which then meant worse trouble in the long run. That said, determining reality isn't easy, and sometimes I'm really just guessing.

Granny Weatherwax once said, and I'm paraphrasing:
"There's only three things you need to know about magic: What's real, what's not, and what's the difference"
Can something which isn't real hurt you?
No.
Can protecting against something which isn't real hurt you?
No.
Is there anything to be lost from doing so?
No.
Is there anything to be gained?
A multitude:
You can retrospectively analyse the situation and run the "did it really happen, what did others around me get, how is my shielding, where do I need to improve".
And that's what I'm thinking off hand.
Turn it around.
Make the gribbly real and ask the questions again. Now what's the difference.

TatteredAngel

So I determine the best I can the nature of something before trying to deal with it.

Nothing to stop you doing that from behind a shield.  

[TatteredAngel]

reagun ban

Make the gribbly real and ask the questions again. Now what's the difference.

For me, it's how I deal with it. If I deal with something as real and external, then decide that it's actually internal, I have a real hard time switching gears. I acknowledge it as a probable failing, and maybe I should be working on changing that. But grounding myself in relation to something in my own mind and grounding myself in relation to something outside of it have always been two different things for me. I'm not sure how to separate the internal and external so that how I deal with them doesn't conflict.

Maybe the reality of something shouldn't be such a big sticking point for me, but it always has been, and the difference has always been an issue in my life.

I... let me try to describe what I mean and why it's a problem for me, and hope it doesn't sound as silly as it might. When I was a kid, and got the acute feeling that something was in my closet, and assumed that there was indeed Big Bad lurking in there that I should be cautious of before going and investigating the truth of it, I built up a monster in my head. Any assumption of the reality of that monster made it worse for me. So even when I went and yanked open the door in broad daylight with all the lights on, that monster was there in my head because I'd let it be real.

I feel like now that I'm grown up, the same principles apply. I can make the monsters in my head practically crippling, and even if I know afterwards that they aren't real external entites, I've allowed them enough reality that they're much, much harder to shake.

And also, I'm not trying to stonewall here. If it honestly shouldn't be a difference, any advice on getting over my particular hangups would be great. I'm here to learn after all.