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]

I appreciate it. It's not easy to talk about and I've only been able to talk about it with Jonathan.

[comesaround]

Considering the possible nature of it, I can kind of see why.

[ That and he is close to an Akira so that probably doesn't help. Same with that distrust burning at the backs of all their minds. ]

If it were me, i'd probably do the same and keep such things between me and someone I cared about that much, too.

[illusionarymelody]

I appreciate your understanding. [And she does give a genuine smile because she's also used to having to dodge this topic with most people because she either can't talk about it or prefers not to.]

Maybe we should change to a nicer topic? I know I'd love to hear if you have any stories of Nagisa that I could tease him about when we get home.

[comesaround]

[ Giving a short nod to her words, he could tell just by the smile of hers that she did mean what she'd said. There were times he could understand certain things were just a matter one didn't press too much, and now was definitely one of them.

Then... she said that and immediately the tone of his smile changed, a fire burning within his eyes. ]

You've come to the right person, then.

[ Wherever you are, Nagisa? He's 150% not sorry for what he's about to say. ]

There was a time during our summer break where our class kinda got caught up in some messy business by this vengeful loser who just couldn't let things go when it came to being defeated by Nagisa. Some of our class ended up infiltrating this mafia-lead hotel and tried to get to the guy since he'd poisoned some of our other classmates, and at one point? The girls had to go through this one club but didn't want to send them alone, so guess who got sent with them?

[ Oh he looks so happy talking about this. ]

Nagisa! Except it'd be too obvious if he was dressed normally so after tracking down some clothes, he got sent there in with them. Dressed like a girl! It was almost hard to buy him as a guy for a little while after that. I even have pictures of that and oh man, do I ever plan to never let him forget that one.

[ He can't help some actual, genuine chuckles of laughter after that, simply remembering that time and even nodding a bit afterward. ]

Then there was this time one of our classmates? Turned out to have these powers similar to our teacher, and to make things short, she tried to kill our teacher out of vengeance for her sister and the best way to distract her ended up being Nagisa just going up and kissing her. Didn't think he even had it in him.

[ His whole expression lights up as soon as he finishes that. Closing his eyes now in thought. ]

Our class was also doing an event of sorts at some point, too. We were running this ramen shop and everyone was doing their best to get customers to come to us, and at some point, this dude from our summer trip showed up and he knew Nagisa as a 'girl' so as not to break that? Me and another classmate shoved him in a skirt and had him go talk to the guy since he was rich. It all still worked out, and it was worth seeing Nagisa get all worked up during the whole thing.