and used with permissionVox and King Beau is a Creepypasta originally posted on /x/ that takes the format of a young woman named Vox who posts on /x/ looking for advice. Vox has been starting to hear things—particularly, occasional whispered voices and a deafening silence in her apartment every night. When Vox finally brings the strange occurrences up to her mother after it escalates to her seeing a man stand over her bed at night, her mother reminds her of a creepy childhood imaginary friend she had: King Beau, the King of the Quiet Place, whose trademark was causing the same stifling silences that Vox has been dealing with and whose description matches the man standing over Vox’s bed. Scared that either she's hallucinating or something genuinely supernatural is happening to her, she begins chronicling her story on /x/ hoping that someone can help her figure out what's going on.
Over the next several months, Vox continuously updated /x/ with new developments in her story as well as stories about King Beau that he had told her in her youth. At its conclusion, the story takes up a whopping 48 pages in Microsoft Word and comes in at over 31,000 words.
You can read it here. No relation to Critical Role.
Vox and King Beau contains examples of:
- Always Night: Implied with the Quiet Place, which is always described as dark and unlit.
- Anachronic Order: The story switches between Vox relating current present-day updates, giving background on her and Beau's relationship when she was a child, and re-telling the stories that Beau told her about himself that happened long before any of that.
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Anonymous Author: The author of the story writes it entirely in first person and goes only by Vox. - Anti-Climax: Vox posted an update that seemed to be setting things up for a second story arc in which she would get a chance to go on a journey to rescue Beau from whatever was after him... but there are no confirmed posts by her after that. A follow-up comment apparently made by Vox wraps things up by just saying that Beau died, with no mention of whether or not she tried to help him as she talked about in her previous comment. As it was posted anonymously, it's unclear if the post was actually by her or not; making it unclear if this is a case of Anti-Climax or No Ending.
- Audience Participation: All of the segments of the story were originally posted on /x/ as Vox presenting what was happening in her life and asking for help, with comments from readers being actively encouraged and responded to.
- Being Watched: At the beginning of the story, Vox's then-boyfriend complains of feeling like he's being watched around their house. When Vox moves into her own apartment, people who visit her have similar complaints.
- Bittersweet Ending: Vox has a brain tumor, but appears to be making a full recovery. However, the last update is Vox saying that she thinks that Beau is in trouble and something is out to get him. A later comment allegedly posted by Vox actually says that Beau died; but as it was anonymous, nobody is positive if it was actually her or not.
- Body Horror: In the "Beau and the Child Snatchers" section, Beau encounters a (presumably) once-human child who has been kidnapped by a woman who lives in his realm. The child is described as not only missing his jaw, but being starved and malnourished with visible ribs, "pus-filled sacs", and "bony growths".
- Implied Love Interest: Towards the end of the story, Vox is referred to as "the girl Beau loves". While the phrasing of "the person you love" often carries romantic connotations, it's never stated exactly how he feels about her.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The story starts with Vox entirely unsure if anything she's experiencing is real or if she's hallucinating.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Beau is described as having several rows of sharp crocodile-like teeth paired with a smile wider than any human's.
- No Ending: The last confirmed post ends with Vox saying that she thinks that Beau is in trouble and she wants to help him. A short wrap-up post was made later, but as it was made anonymously it's unclear if it was actually posted by Vox or not (see Anti-Climax above).
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Beau to Vox.
- Pet the Dog: The entire "Why the Stars Shine" chapter. It's one of the many Back Story chapters, showing a time when Vox had a nasty flu as a child and Beau stayed up with her telling her stories and patiently listening to her whine about feeling terrible. The last story he tells her before she falls asleep ends with him telling her that the stars love her.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Vox gets one to Beau in "Vox Updates Again" where she goes up against Beau (who could most definitely kill her) armed with only a possibly-iron nail and a salt shaker and calls him pathetic. As soon as she finishes, she thinks that he's going to kill her. He just starts sadly laughing, and Vox slowly realizes that he's been trying to protect her from something.
- The Reveal: Vox has a brain tumor and Beau has been trying to warn her.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: At one point when Vox was a child, she had a monster in her closet.
