W͜͏̶Ę͏E͝͠K͝͞ ̧1̵͟

[strangerpeople]

W͜͏̶Ę͏E͝͠K͝͞ ̧1̵͟

[The national council just announced the blight to the country.

There was no sugarcoating it anymore. This was a critical time. Saving all of the vines is paramount, but what does one do when the blight hits? It keeps encroaching on the grapes, day by day. Entire clusters, entire bunches, dead and rotting, while allowing the blight to spread, and the leading botanists and viticulturists cannot identify the origin or the cause. They can't even successfully isolate the culprit in their labs; it seems to disappear like air no matter the precautions taken.

It is a catastrophe that seems to be beyond science, and it will result in the complete collapse of the entire country's wine industry. Already, embargoes on this year's crop have forced other grape-growers to close shop for the year after they'd sold their previous stock; it is all too possible that no grapes might ever be grown here again if a cure cannot be found. The tourists have stopped coming. The towns have grown silent.

You, meanwhile, are devastated. With the way your business is going, it will be on the brink of bankruptcy within the year. You will soon have no choice but to close shop and let every grapevine die, let the land go fallow. There must be a cure for this, there must be. Yet everything that can go wrong is.

Then, as you watch the news, it happens. Breaking news. The blight has been found in another country.

It is a pandemic-and it is only getting worse.


-

Well. This is...what else can can anyone say? You all know the deal. You all know what situation you're in. All that is left is to figure out what you can do about it. If there's anything that can be done.

You still feel that compulsion to distrust. To know you cannot win. To know that only the hosts have your best interests in mind. It would be easy to just do all that. But would it be the right thing to do? You can't be completely sure. Indeed, nothing is certain here, except for that damned ticking sound. If only you could stop it.

But you can't stop it. It is inevitable.


There are 15 strangers in this place.]

Comments

[illusionarymelody]

[After obtaining a few socks and exchanging them for items and checking out the dressing room, Vita can be seen in the dining room with a very colorful bird on her shoulder.

She'll place the following items except the whip and the christmas lights onto a table and stick around for a bit to see if anyone wants to claim them. She'll probably hang up the lights in her house because she's sure Jonathan would like some color there.

A few times she is seen having to keep the bird away from the food items, especially the gummies. Her familiar has quite the soft spot for sweets now. But feel free to come over, or say hi to the pretty bird or Vita.]

[katzenpfote]

[He just sighs and rubs his face as he passes by and catches sight of the array of items. He eyes the bird for a moment before going and grabbing the pouch.]

Danke for finding this for me... even though it is not much use here without magic, it is still good to have your components on you.

[illusionarymelody]

[Sadly Grianos has no powers either so he won't clearly be a familiar other than the fact that he's a rather odd looking bird. Still, she smiles at him and definitely seems far more pleasant than she was at the meeting.]

It is. Tools for magic are important and it's understandable to want them on you in case something changes. I use magic as well, though it may not be the same.

[katzenpfote]

[He's had Experiences with birds before. Professor Thaddeus shat on his coat more than once.]

Ah, probably not... no one on the train seemed to know what the kind of magic I was talking about was. What sort of magic do you practice?

[illusionarymelody]

I admit, I can't be an expert on all but I've heard of some that use components and even my own has requirements for some spells. I use witch magic mostly that harnesses the users's mana and an incantation in most cases, but some require special conditions or components. I've also learned a bit from Charlotte and Yurick along with the Lecardes just from all of us talking about our various types of magic.

[And for like hours on end at that. She's at times come back to finding Charlotte and Yurick had gone for hours talking about it when they should be sleeping.]

[katzenpfote]

Mine is a little similar - each day I prepare spells and set out components I will need, and the magic is less using of personal power and more very carefully bending the arcane weave that surrounds the world in just the right way to get the result you want. It's very complex, and even for someone like me who has an extremely good memory you can only keep so many equations and instructions in your head at once.

I've also been working on some new spells, though they aren't quite ready for use yet.

[... Hm.]

You know Charlotte well, then? Or... ah. One version of Charlotte? It is a bit confusing...

[illusionarymelody]

I'm sure they'll be most impressive! I know I enjoy seeing the results of experimenting with something new and then seeing it work. It's also quite the experience to have to adapt what you know to work in another world.

And yes, I do know Charlotte and McBurn told me about her being on the train. Hard not to meet her at some point when you go home with her best friend. I heard she got out all right though?

[katzenpfote]

She did, though I can already see how she and Jonathan get along. She had to be literally smacked out of doing something stupid and attacking something without thinking about the situation.

[Let's just pretend she didn't have to do the same for him, okay? Okay.]

[incendiarize]

[Arthur looks over the items.....and picks up the jar of blob like an item at a yard sale.]

So this thing turned up here, huh?

[illusionarymelody]

I guess so. I can't say I know what it is but even with what happened I know that some of these things can actually belong to others. Is it something dangerous and that's why it's in a jar?

[incendiarize]

I dunno exactly how dangerous it is, actually. The normal ones were basically inert, but this one's different.

This thing's a soul.

[illusionarymelody]

A soul? I thought souls would glow and something you can't touch or hold, not in glass that makes them look like they belong in a factory or workshop.

[And hey, she did see Eric's soul and it was definitely all glowy and ghostlike.]

How is it different though? [And do they need to try and destroy it so it can't be brought back?]

[incendiarize]

Nah....they're these jellylike egg things. Innocent souls are blue, and the souls of killers are red. But this one's gone way beyond that. Way, way beyond. I dunno all the details, though.

[illusionarymelody]

It must be different in different worlds then. I admit I had a suspicion that anything related to souls and the afterlife varied between worlds. Do you even know who this belongs to though?

[narcoolepsysensei]

Oh, hello there!

[Yes, he is over here to say hello... directly to the bird, like Vita isn't even there.]

I don't suppose you're like me, are you?

[...He doesn't clarify what that's supposed to mean.]

[illusionarymelody]

[Well one thing Nanaki would definitely pick up on is that Grianos looks nothing like any bird he's seen. Also, the way he acts, he seems rather intelligent and it's like he actually understands what Nanaki is saying, but he's only able to make a normal bird sound in response. It's a bit like he's trying to say no, but in bird. However, Vita will respond.]

Oh, I'm sorry, he's not capable of human speech.

[And the way she says that makes it sound like she's seen ones who can talk.]

[narcoolepsysensei]

[Nanaki actually nods at the response. He has a student that speaks entirely in bird coos and even the human can somehow understand him, so... yeah, he can probably understand Grianos.]

Ah, I see. Still, intelligent enough to understand me! Well on his way.

It's nice to meet you, friend.

[And that smile he offers Grianos is actually pretty genuine. Aww, look, he's making a friend(?).]

[illusionarymelody]

[Grianos looks like a happy bird at making another friend, but he's pretty easily pleased.]

He's a familiar, so he's a bit different from a normal bird. He's very comfortable around people, so he won't be scared of you.

[She did hear what was said at the meeting, and she knows Grianos probably is picking up on Nanaki being a bird in human form and that is going to make it easy for Nanaki to befriend the familiar.]

[narcoolepsysensei]

Haha, well. Where I'm from, what you'd think of as a "normal bird" are pretty few and far between. This lovely fellow here would actually be a bit lower on the intelligence spectrum than some of us.

[A pause.]

...Which is of no offense to you, of course. [Spoken gently to Grianos.] My world has been through a much different set of circumstances. I'm sure, in yours, you're much brighter than your peafellows.

vague mention of CS4 spoiler

[illusionarymelody]

If we both had powers he'd be more clearly magical in nature. Some familiars can even talk and change into human forms and use magic like a witch. Grianos isn't like that but he has ways to communicate with me. Sadly without his powers he's not much different from a well trained pet.

[touchsensors]

[That sure is an... interesting collection of items you've got here, Vita. Lala eyes some of them suspiciously before noticing the familiar little pile.]

Where did you find Cosmo Gummies-lun?

[illusionarymelody]

They came out of the vending machine after inserting a sock into it. It's weird, but seems to be something that happens in these places a lot. Please take them before Grianos decides to eat them.

[Seriously, her bird is definitely eying those gummies. To him they look like fruit and he loves fruit.]

[touchsensors]

[Lala gathers them up as requested.]

A sock-lun?

[illusionarymelody]

Haven't you had some weird socks show up on your bed yet? At the Base it was tapes, but here I guess it's socks.

[touchsensors]

Lun. But I never thought I should put them in a vending machine-lun.