I̝̻̣̱͖͚͗̈̆̕T̤̞̠͎̘̜̤ͬͭ̋ͬ͂̃̇́ ̣̱̳̗̋̾̑ͥͥ̀B̮̺͇̝̼̺ͯ͌̾͗̿͋Ē̝̞̼̣̻͙̙̒ͭG͓̜̅͐̽̐͞Ï̜̳̥ͯN̯͙̮ͧ̀Sͫ͐̂͏͖

[strangerpeople]

I͔T̫͉̄ͮͮͪͧ ̲̜̪̥̓̈́͂̚̚B̫̲̼͕̦͓͕ͩ̏̊͆E̥̱͚̦͓̍G̠̬͓̟̥ͪͣ͆ͬ̓I̅ͯͣ̿N͐̉̎̂ͫͧS͑͆̒ͣ̆


[There is a blight in the vineyard.

It started without warning, deep into the crop. No one noticed. The blight was an insidious little thing, cultivating itself in the weaker vines over the long winter. Then, when summer came, it struck, and there was no stopping it.

The farmers could only watch the blight ravage their gardens. Grapes shriveled up by the bunch, day by day. Sometimes, it would be hours between the time a perfectly healthy vine caught it, and the time when the fruit was little more than black ash and slag. The problem was so serious that it threatened the very future of the business. It was all the farmers could do to try and isolate the sections of the vineyard still healthy, and the parts that were as good as dead.

Then, one day, it happened. The business recieved a phone call.

The blight was no longer just in their vineyard. It had spread to neighboring farms, and everyone was demanding answers. Yours could not have been where it started. It just couldn't have been.

Where did this pestilence come from? Could it be stopped?

You do not know, and you fear what the answer may be.



-



Good morning, Strangers.

Wake up. Look around. Do you feel like this might be familiar? Not your surroundings, but the circumstances. Do you feel the fear in your stomach? Do you sense the wrongness that permeates the air?

You should. Because your gut is right. You are exactly in what you think you are. Right now, there is no other explanation. There is only the sureness of experience informing you that you have been plunged into a game, once more without your consent. A game where blood will be spilled, and death will happen.

The only other thing you are sure of are the thoughts that pop up when you think of your circumstances. No matter what you do, you cannot shake the finality, the truth of what you are thinking. You cannot deny your own beliefs, after all, when they are so embedded, so imprinted on you, that they are as a part of you as anything else, like your face, or fingers, or hair.

And so perhaps you remind yourself, as you ready yourself to leave the house, of the truths you know to be real.



So steel yourselves, Strangers. You know what to expect; there will be others like you, trapped here. Maybe it will, this time, be for forever.

So welcome, one and all. Welcome to the City at the very End, in the eye, the center. A City that gave in long before the code distorted and collapsed and unleashed a virus on reality. Make yourselves comfortable.

You are not going


an̛͡y͠҉w̸h̢ȩ͢r̸͝e̸.]

Comments

[illusionarymelody]

[Vita will be checking out the kitchen and sees Lala.]

Not usually, but I'd say space food comes close to it.

[touchsensors]

We have much better food than this in space-lun.

[Seriously, what the hell.]

[illusionarymelody]

I'm sure anything tastes better than that foam that was supposed to be food. The only other choices though were spaghetti and grapes.

[touchsensors]

I wouldn't be so sure, because this really does taste like rocks-lun.

[illusionarymelody]

Which sounds like an improvement over my attempts at cooking. Though I admit my attempt at the Base was somewhat intentional. Our captor dying of food poisoning would have been a good thing.

[touchsensors]

Oyo?

Your captor... were you in a death game-lun?

[illusionarymelody]

Two actually. From what I'm hearing from others, being in at least one seems to be a trait we all have in common.

[touchsensors]

I only just left mine-lun.

[illusionarymelody]

I had recently left as well. Jonathan and I were working on getting our hostages home before we ended up here.

[touchsensors]

So we're probably dealing with someone who goes after people who just got away-lun. That probably means something-lun.

[She raises her hand toward her face like she's about to talk to her wrist. This action ultimately goes nowhere.]

[illusionarymelody]

Not quite just got away though. Jonathan and I had time to get to a warmer place, rest, get a change of clothes and get the hostages home. It also had been months since the first time. It does seem true they are targeting people who have been in these places before though.

[touchsensors]

I had a little time, too-lun. But...

[Argh.]

Why do people keep doing this-lun?

[illusionarymelody]

I can't answer that since I can't even fathom what would go through the mind of someone who finds this fun. Life is precious and it shouldn't be an easy decision to decide to end one. It should be a last resort for only when keeping the person alive would cost more lives, not as a part of a "game".

[touchsensors]

Lun.

[Thank you, Vita, despite what you claim you truly have all the most important answers.]

Maybe it's better not to understand-lun.

[illusionarymelody]

I think you're right. There is definitely some knowledge that is better to not have.

[As she knows all too well, how it feels to die is definitely up there in things no mortal being should know.]

[touchsensors]

Whatever it was, there has to be some kind of reason-lun. Something terrible must have happened-lun.

[mastermind-kun did someone destroy your planet]

[illusionarymelody]

Not always. One was just an idiot hijacking a plane and the other thought it funny to have us kill each other rather than execute us as she was ordered to.

[touchsensors]

That doesn't mean there wasn't something that made them that way-lun.

[illusionarymelody]

It doesn't, it's just hard to believe there is something that can justify it.

[touchsensors]

It doesn't justify it-lun. It's just...

[She doesn't finish that sentence.]

[illusionarymelody]

Just what? [Now Vita is curious.]

[touchsensors]

It's nothing-lun.

[It's definitely something-lun.]