15strangers | I̝̻̣̱͖͚͗̈̆̕T̤̞̠͎̘̜̤ͬͭ̋ͬ͂̃̇́ ̣̱̳̗̋̾̑ͥͥ̀B̮̺͇̝̼̺ͯ͌̾͗̿͋Ē̝̞̼̣̻͙̙̒ͭG͓̜̅͐̽̐͞Ï̜̳̥ͯN̯͙̮ͧ̀Sͫ͐̂͏͖

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*round 6

I̝̻̣̱͖͚͗̈̆̕T̤̞̠͎̘̜̤ͬͭ̋ͬ͂̃̇́ ̣̱̳̗̋̾̑ͥͥ̀B̮̺͇̝̼̺ͯ͌̾͗̿͋Ē̝̞̼̣̻͙̙̒ͭG͓̜̅͐̽̐͞Ï̜̳̥ͯN̯͙̮ͧ̀Sͫ͐̂͏͖

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.]

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Don't be silly! Vita Clotilde-Morris can tell you exactly what I am! As human as you, Eric, if not more. Just a young man with too much power.

Which is why... I hope to share it with you Strangers when the time comes soon enough. Then it won't be unfair anymore.

[He's now holding up the bat King gave him to have even one barrier between him and this guy. Also, that dig at his humanity stings just a little.]

And... Where does that power come from, huh? My only power .... [He flicks a sparkle at Hiyori.] ... came to me through some kind of torture.

. . .

[The glints of light on his smile seem to flash in time with the thrumming in the air.]

Come again? Was there something you felt like you were ready to know about?

[Eric's hands tighten anxiously around the grip. He likes smiles but not like this!!]

Are you bullshitting me? That better not have been a threat.

ThreaaAt? We don't have to worRy about threats here.

[He's getting a bit zalgo again RIP...]

[Eric definitely does not look convinced about the absence of threats.]

You definitely have a screw or two loose...

Even before this happened, I'd get that a lot!

[well gosh, he feels a little bad now?]

I don't really get it, but.... it's because of the death game you were in that this happened, isn't it?

[he overheard a bit of other conversations.]

Yes. The two of us were selected as the Hosts because we had gotten wrapped up in a death game. They only needed two of us for this task, and we were deemed particularly likely to be effective. And so we've been... training and otherwise working our way up to this for a long time.

[He seems like he can feel the way this draws him and Eric closer...]

[Not that close. The bat is still between them, guard not lifting. For a moment, he just stammers. Hiyori clearly recognizes the similarities in their positions, yet there's something so insincere about those simple phrases that it takes him off guard. He wants to ask.]

W-Why would you go that far...?

[but he also can't shake his unease here.]

Call it training or whatever. Both of you sound like you're just saying shit you rehearsed a bunch.

Hmmmm... I used to get that a lot too. That I smiled because I didn't know what else to do, ever since I was little.

[He smiles, even wider, to the point it should hurt his face, at Eric. Three seconds of buzzing in the air, before he relaxes his mouth to talk more.]

...but I can do other things like fight now.

So you! You're saying all of this is actually normal for you?

[he squints a bit. He's starting to sound pretty convincing, at least as far as it goes that no, he really is doing this on purpose.]

Tsk... You're starting to remind me of the others in the decision game. My team's the only one who didn't go completely ruthless based on some past death game where they got to become psychic!

[let's put aside that Mira was ruthless to begin with]

Now I can believe you really do think you're trying to help. But I need to go back. I'm not going to be useful to you anyway!

Oh, don't be so down on yourself, please! Vita Clotilde-Morris and her brother in law were never hesitant to express that type of sentiment towards me, that I was in all respects incapable of being any use, but Jonathan Morris has evidently observed enough to tell you how dramatically my physical strength has increased since the battles on that plane!

[h e a d tilt]

So, no, I guess I'm not as different from those people as you might like. Daily life, death games where you are in control, death games where they're not in control... Clinging to one definition of "normal" is so hard. That's why I just do whatever our leader says.

Edited 2020-01-30 05:27 (UTC)

Y-You got a grudge against those guys or something? Because that's got nothing to do with me, you know!

[still, maybe he should ask one of them about all this... not the time though.]

I've got some news to tell you about how following the leader can work out. But that's got nothing to do with them.

[in other words he's not gonna air his dirty laundry right here and now, but stick a pin in that one, Mr. Host]

A... A grudge?

[He bats his big black eyes.]

What, pray tell, is that?

?

[don't do that...........]

Ugh, now you're just bullshitting me!

[Shit-eating grin:] Maybe.

[Seriously, though...] We're all [onaji] "Strangers" in the end. That's how I feel about them, no matter how much I think they could have approached more rationally. Just because you're the only one from your group this time, doesn't mean you shouldn't get to savor the opportunity to realize such a wonderful thing!

I-I don't care that I'm the only one from the Depths! That's how it should be.

[in the end you must stand alone yada yada!!]

Just what the hell am I supposed to be savoring though? It's the same as it was last time! I can feel it in my bones...

The situation certainly might not differ from last time. But your feelings can!

[Eric scoffs at that.]

You think that's gonna keep me alive?

Are you kidding me? It's the only thing that's kept me alive this long.

That doesn't make your company sound safe!

It's the only thing, but it's such a simple thing! Would you not want to live on the moon just because the moonbase is the "only" thing protecting you from the lack of atmosphere?

Here's what I'm saying. At any moment, you could just - mentally sign the dotted line, and indefinitely be secure! You have that option!

Yes actually, we are all trying very fucking hard to make sure we don't get to the future where we have to live on the moon.

Thanks, but no thanks. I only have feelings for one person and that's how it's gonna stay.

[he actually gets a bit of a halo there]

Ohhhh...

[This moon thing makes Hiyori croon in soft realization to himself. He keeps listening to the end, and... His lips quirk mysteriously, like he wants to laugh.]

Well, be careful what you wish for, Prince Eric.

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poorlovefool - 2020-02-03 08:16 (UTC) - Expand

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