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]

Is that number meaningful in some way? I can't help but notice that's the same number of profiles they gave us in our little computer, here, too.

[He raises his arm to let his sleeve drop to show the wrist computer. ...How is he okay with THIS, too?!]

Oh, of course I do! But when there's no way of knowing what could happen to me if I do and I were to fall asleep... well, it just seems safer to stay in here. At least if I doze off, I'm still technically in my home.

[Smile~.]

Just a week, but it was more or less out of the pan and into the fire with this.

[beguiledcard]

[ He nods. ]

Fifteen here, fifteen in my previous game, fifteen in a game someone else told me about... [ always... fifteen, then? ] So I can't help thinking it might be significant somehow. So I guess it's a matter of figuring out how and possibly why.

[ There's a soft frown. ]

And considering how this game works, I guess it's fair not to trust anyone to carry you back...

[ Just a week...? ]

That's... definitely not how long I was in my last game. But hopefully this one is only as week, too.

[narcoolepsysensei]

Hmmmm. An interesting set of data points, indeed... I'll keep it in mind. And, I suppose, should I uncover anything, I'll report it back to you.

[As to not trusting anyone, though, Nanaki simply nods before continuing. Well... that sure answers THAT.]

It does seem like ours was rather short. I think our "host" may have done worse, if he weren't stopped. But here's hoping, yes? And perhaps we can be just as short on casualties this time around.

[beguiledcard]

Thanks.

[ And, yep, that sure does answer that. He just smiles in an understanding kind of way. There's a pause after the next part. ]

If you don't mind telling me... What did your host do? Ours wound up being a game that was part of some bigger thing - a way to save the universe, technically.

[ Technically because of how twisted and messed up Yotsuyu had become. ]

[narcoolepsysensei]

...I'll be honest, I slept through most of it. He was a raving madman and I couldn't really find it in me to care. Everything was already so chaotic, it was just... "well, this might as well be happening," at that point.

[why. is he like this.]

But I remember him screaming about how this had to be done, how he needed to use us to get someone's attention. To stop something horrible? That was the gist of what I got, but... like I said, stark raving mad.

[beguiledcard]

... Ah. In a way, I can't say I blame you.

[ He wound up sleeping or staring into space a lot for some of his game? So. ]

But... if he was trying to stop something horrible, maybe he was less crazy and more just... desperate?