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]

Yet you indirectly confirm I was correct about the title and him committing murder and fail to deny the rest. Didn't the people in the Mall also have their memories tampered with? The same was true at the Base. That seems far more likely than yet another coincidental double that betrays people's trust. Either way, you're not someone I would trust anywhere near me or Jonathan if we want to stay alive and well.

[And that having been said, she's going to go try and calm down her husband now and will be ignoring Akira and Kurama for the rest of the meeting.]

[byanyother_name]

'Coincidental'.

[There's a cold, angry disdain to the word.]

Bringing an innocent version of him to face your scorn sounds like an excellent way to sow further division and distrust. In which case, congratulations on playing right into their hands.

[Kurama shifts closer to Akira, a gentle hand brushing his boyfriend's arm. Vita is very welcome to ignore them; Kurama will be doing exactly the same to her.]

[incendiarize]

In the mansion, our memories got tampered with - they got changed. I thought a good friend had turned against my guild, when she never had. If memory tampering's a constant, then we can't guarantee that's not what's happening here.

I'm not saying you're wrong, just that maybe that's a bridge you should cross when you get to it instead of right now.

[illusionarymelody]

[She does hear Arthur and the other two, but she's focusing on her husband first. However, once the meeting is over, she's going to approach the boy again.]

I get what you are saying about the memories, but I also recall clear distrust for him before coming here and that distrust came for a very good reason. I know what they are doing to us, but I can't resist it for someone who I couldn't trust before in a situation like this.

[incendiarize]

[A little unexpected, if he's being honest.] They changed my whole relationship with Ricky, so I wouldn't say that's necessarily proof your memories of him weren't changed.

And no one said you had to trust him, but insisting he's the same guy when there's no proof yet isn't useful. Time's a load of crap to begin with.

[illusionarymelody]

It would be rather difficult for a living person to add a memory of being murdered. At least with that much detail. I'll give you that changing who it was is possible, but I can't trust him on a possibility and my husband recalls him and what he did too.

What is a fact is that the one who killed me came from the Mall and many of the details are the same. Even if he is a double, I've met one who also killed.

[incendiarize]

Literally no one said to trust him. But treating him like he's already a criminal, when this particular one might not've done anything, is just being mean. Watch your back, sure, but don't make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm sick of people being at eachother's throats all the time, trust or no trust.

[illusionarymelody]

That's what you don't understand. To me the Akira from the mall already is a criminal who was executed for his crime of my murder. The best I can do is agree to stay away from him and if I need to be in his presence to make sure we're not alone ever again.

But would you mind if we change the subject? I did have a question I wanted to ask you.

[incendiarize]

[He tries to hold in an eyeroll, unhappy with that response. She's not getting his point. It's like talking to a brick wall. ....or someone who's deliberately trying to sow discord.

In either case, that's going to just go in circles. So he lets it go.]

Yeah, sure. What's up?

[illusionarymelody]

[That's why the change in subject, it's clear they won't see eye to eye on this and she can't really be neutral towards something so traumatic.]

Your profile mentioned liking an Emma. What's her last name?

[incendiarize]

[Emma.




Ah.

He's never been one to hide his feelings, and the shift in his expression is swift. From annoyed and grumpy to....upset, and vulnerable.]

Milstein. Emma Milstein.

[illusionarymelody]

Did she mention having a sister then?

[incendiarize]

[He blinks, digging through memories...]

She mentioned family a couple of times, that she was raised by her grandmother and-- [How did he not notice sooner.]

...."Vita did something the clan deemed unforgivable".

[illusionarymelody]

That would indeed be me, except unforgivable is a bit of an exaggeration. I learned a forbidden spell. Our grandmother is more forgiving than one may think and we have made amends.

[incendiarize]

Emma didn't mention that.

[He can't trust anyone here? Maybe, maybe not. But he can absolutely trust Emma's words. Even if all he has now are the memory of them.]

[illusionarymelody]

It happened after the events at the Base. Did she speak at all of events from our world?

[unwittingking]

[Dog ears, as usual, seem to lead to him getting involved with other people’s business. At least this time no one’s life is at steak or something, but he’s still going to head over here, with a question now coming to mind.]

And why exactly did he kill you?

[Sorry if this comes as a surprise, his appearance. He doesn’t mean to be stealthy or anything, he’s just shorter and therefore harder to notice.]

[illusionarymelody]

A motive involving reviving the dead. I'd really prefer not to dig further into it since it is obviously a very unpleasant experience to remember.

[unwittingking]

...who’d he kill for?

[Yeah, sorry Vita, but he kinda has to ask this question, at least he thinks he does. From what he’s heard, things went well after the mall murders. Unless it was someone from his home (which is a possibility, he’ll admit) he doesn’t see too much of a reason behind it.]

[illusionarymelody]

Everyone in the mall. It was a trick where his memories were tampered with that led him to believe they were all dead. I know the reasoning is sound, but that doesn't do anything to stop me from being scared he'll do it again and that doesn't stop Jonathan from having nightmares of seeing me dead.

[unwittingking]

[Okay, yeah, that sounds reasonable. He thought others were wrong when they said he was on another train before The Eventide, and instead he was. Doesn’t sound impossible.

However...]

He’s still a kid, though. It’s not the best excuse, but...kids are willing to do a lot if it’s for the people they care most about.

[He understands that concept very well, now.]

[illusionarymelody]

Please don't try to make excuses for him. We already have enough trying to convince us to not trust and more reasons just makes it harder for me to resist. You'd be better off pretending you never heard this and never speaking of it again.

[unwittingking]

[…well, that just gets him to narrow his eyes at you, Vita.]

Wouldn't this just make more distrust? Keeping secrets and not listening to people that are trying to reason with you?

[Seems like the opposite of what they should be doing, tbh...]

[illusionarymelody]

Your excuses for his actions that are very wrong not only are a poor attempt at sympathy but make it sound like you think it was right and just serve to upset me further. In my world, someone his age is a young adult and treated as such.

[beguiledcard]

[ Ignore him all you want, Vita, he's getting within feet of her, right in her line of sight and loudly saying-- ]

And what makes you think it'd be just one of us who's got their memories messed with, lady? I'm not fucking special.

[ Then walking off, lightly shaking hand taking Kurama's upper arm, gently, as he goes. ]