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

INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

DRESSING ROOM

[relieable]

[okay, so Osomatsu has decided to come up to this... store? whatever it is. he's going to start checking through the men's clothing. for starters, he just does a general sweep of the room. anything aside from clothing in here?]

[strangerpeople]

[Well, he might notice that, among the 50s and 60s clothing, there are other suits of clothing that don't remotely fit the aesthetic of the City. He might even find some clothing that reminds him of the Mansion!]

[relieable]

[really! intriguing. as he rifles through the clothing, he's also... checking pockets, and taking note of other things that are out of place]

[strangerpeople]

[Yup. He'll find spacesuits, jammin' 2010s fashions, a Wabuu costume, a clothing-shaped piece of static, a very elaborate set of what looks like medieval armor, a very spiffy Victorian dress...not much in the pockets though.]

[relieable]

[too bad about the lack of things in pockets. he was looking for keys, or papers that had information on them.

oh well! let us further inspect that static clothing! neat! can he touch it? will that injure him?]

[strangerpeople]

[He can touch it, yes. It won't hurt him, but as he does he will see the static sputter and flicker.]

[relieable]

[HM. someone at the meeting yesterday said something about static things, if he remembers. he decides to pull the... whatever it is off the hanger, and hold it in his hands]

Show me your power!

[secrets, he means]

[strangerpeople]

[It takes several minutes, and at first Osomatsu could be forgiven for thinking it wasn't working.

However, eventually, it does work-and after the static dissipates, Osomatsu is left a teal tunic. It's got a gold accent around the collar, which at the end resembles a sword going down towards the chest.]

REVENGE OF THE NAMEPLATE FROM BEYOND THE ABYSS

[backuphero]

[...or something like that.

Anyway, with the intel from yesterday's meeting fresh in his mind, Jonathan's got plans. He could've done this yesterday, true, but after all that he honestly wasn't in the best place to be anywhere besides right next to Vita. Now, though, he's back at House 7, grabbing what food he had in the fridge there. Once it's all tidily wrapped up somehow - wait, did the house come with a picnic basket?, he'll head back out, and stop after closing the door.

Does the nameplate here have the same weirdness going on as at Number 12?]

[strangerpeople]

[Yup.]

[backuphero]

[All right, then! He's gonna touch it. And... focus, thinking about it settling down so he can see.]

[strangerpeople]

[It takes some time. The static and darkness is clearly not willing to give it up so easily. But eventually, it sputters, flickers, and gives way, revealing the nameplate beneath it at last.]

[backuphero]

[So, whose house is this, then, according to the door?]

[strangerpeople]

[It belongs to the Browns.]

[backuphero]

[Just a last name, then, no initials even?

Still, finding a name... he feels a little bad about almost-trashing the place, now. But if he heads back to house 12 and its nameplate, and repeats this... what's the name there?]

[strangerpeople]

[No initials.

House 12's nameplate belongs to the Wilsons.]

[byanyother_name]

[No motive? Kurama isn't sure whether to be relieved or anxious. But he sets both aside for later.

After the talk he and Jonathan had, he's checking House 13's nameplate for static.

[strangerpeople]

[Yup. Static there.]

[byanyother_name]

[Time to touch it and focus until it goes away, then.]

[strangerpeople]

[It takes time, but eventually, the static does flicker, and the darkness dissipates.]

[byanyother_name]

[So what were they trying to hide here?

>Read the nameplate.

[strangerpeople]

[The nameplate reads the Stevensons.]

[byanyother_name]

[...a family home? Kurama can't help remembering all their speculations about why the mall was 'empty'. They'd been wrong then, but...

He slots the new information into his mind and steps into the house, closing the door behind him for privacy. There's one more thing he wants to check here today, since the book had been inconclusive about where he stood as a Reaper.

So he's going to try to change into his Noise form.]

[strangerpeople]

[He can certainly try.

But he will find that it does not work.]