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

[narcoolepsysensei]

[Nanaki waves back, with a slight smile.]

Hello, there. I'd say good day to you, but I suppose none of us are having particularly good days, are we.

[You could be SLIGHTLY less calm about this, Nanaki...]

[katzenpfote]

[He walks over towards Nanaki.]

Ja, that is true. Did you have to deal with a Little Courtesy as well?

[narcoolepsysensei]

I can't say that name does much for my memory, but...

Well, I suppose there's no way around it. Before this, I was in a "game" of kill or be killed. We were lucky in that all of us made it, more or less.

[katzenpfote]

I see. My group was as well... the Little Courtesy is what our... ah... conductor called it.

[narcoolepsysensei]

Is that so... I'm frightfully sorry to hear that. One madman with such an idea was bad enough.

[That would be a lot more believable if he didn't sound just... mellow about everything.]

I do believe I saw your face on our little... apparatuses, here, [he lifts his wrist to show off the wrist computer,] but I can't say that the names of those I wasn't with before have quite stuck with me yet.

My name is Kazuaki Nanaki. A pleasure, or at least it would be in a better situation.

[katzenpfote]

Ah. I took some time to study them. My name is Caleb.

[... Hm.]

You're not exploring?

[narcoolepsysensei]

All right then, Mr. Caleb. I can work with that.

[And to the question, he shakes his head, calmly as anything.]

No, not yet. I am certain our "hosts" will appear to us sooner rather than later, and I have to inquire about their rules.

I have a bit of a... disorder, you see. I don't particularly want to test the rules about falling asleep outside the house without questioning it first.

[katzenpfote]

[He looks confused for a moment, before nodding.]

I've heard of something like that. If I see you asleep somewhere else should I get someone to take you back here? I don't want to move you without permission.

[narcoolepsysensei]

I would appreciate it, yes. Better you, or whomever else you might find, than one of them.

[katzenpfote]

I'm not very physically strong, but I know at least one person who is.

[narcoolepsysensei]

Well, however it shakes out is fine with me. [...Good luck finding much that isn't.] So long as I'm not terminated for my illness or something like that, I suppose I'm fine with being manhandled by humans.

[...Wait what]

[katzenpfote]

... So you are not human, then?

[narcoolepsysensei]

No.

[...]

Err, well. I wasn't, before I woke up in the house last time.

I'm a button quail, you see.

[katzenpfote]

[You know what? He's friends(?) with a talking, walking dog and his best friend at home isn't in the right body, either. This is fine.]

It must be very confusing for you, then.

[narcoolepsysensei]

[SOMEONE? ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDS? What is this.

Nanaki actually looks genuinely surprised for a second, before slipping back into his usual even smile.]

Oh, extremely. I've been like this for over a week now and I'm still not sure I understand fingers.

[katzenpfote]

I have known someone who has been turned into the wrong species before. Not nearly as dramatically, but still. If... I can help, let me know.

[narcoolepsysensei]

Hm... well, for now, I think it's fine. It's interesting, getting to experience this. Getting to feel what my one student feels every day... I think it's a good learning experience for a teacher.

[katzenpfote]

A - all right. You have a human student? What do you teach?

[narcoolepsysensei]

Hm? Oh... I teach math

and

physics

and...

sometimes... homeroom...

[Oh, no.]

...zzz.

[katzenpfote]

[... Ah. Well. He quietly steps away, leaving the birdman to his rest. There's no point in waking him right now.]

[narcoolepsysensei]

[Well, okay! Birdman wakes pretty easily, but for now, he'll just snooze happily(?) in his doorway.]