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

Tales of Abyss & static shock

[byanyother_name]

First of all, I think I should warn everyone that there's a hungry abyss under the cat cafe. We should probably be careful about that so do mind the trapdoor.

[Kurama. Kurama plz why are you like this? After that little mic drop has been dealt with...]

Secondly, if anyone else has or does encounter static in place of objects, it seems they can be stabilized back to full existence by prolonged touch.

[That one seems to cost him more effort to share as the distrust whispers all the things another fabricator could do to sabotage them. He should gather the secrets himself-]

[backuphero]

[While one Jonathan - J. Prime, or J′, if you will - remains with Vita, there is now another of him moving through the rather crowded room. He's got half a minute to say his piece about this, and he knows it, so he sounds far more businesslike than the mess over there being straight in public.]

I haven't looked at the other houses, but the nameplate on number 12 looks like that. It just got worse when I touched it, though, turned black and flickered. I will admit I didn't stay touching it for long, I was just kind of tapping at it.

[He demonstrates, holding one hand flat and tapping his index finger against it.]

No chance it could just be you making stuff do that, is there?

[byanyother_name]

The item I found flickered on touch at first, too. It took time for it to stabilize.

[That last question, though. If J2 has any sort of Sense Motive check, he can probably practically see the fight between Kurama's will vs the conditioning and his natural inclinations toward secrets.]

...There is a chance. I have special circumstances. But it was much simpler and easier than I expected and the impression I have is that any of us could do it.

[backuphero]

I'll try, then.

[He doesn't have Sense Motive, but he did notice that little reluctant hitch before "there is a chance". He doesn't want to mistrust people, it's more unnatural for him than standing in two places at once, but this place is really making it hard to fight....]

About how long did it take?

[byanyother_name]

[At least he's still admitting it, reluctant or not. He frowns thoughtfully as he thinks back to the book.]

Perhaps a couple of minutes of constant contact?

[backuphero]

I'll give it a shot. Thanks -

[And that's half a minute, and there goes the double.]

Re: Tales of Abyss & static shock

[touchsensors]

What do you mean by a hungry abyss-lun?

[It sounds Bad, but also not terribly specific.]

[byanyother_name]

Static and blackness, and when I dropped a fork in, it seemed to be absorbed rather than fall in or through.

[So he is actually being pretty literal here.]

[poorlovefool]

Do you think we should get the cats away from it then? Maybe that's why they're acting so weird.

[byanyother_name]

Honestly, that's something I was considering myself. It might be worth trying, even if we don't know how far that thing actually extends underneath the area.

[poorlovefool]

I definitely think so... I feel sorry for them. Even if it's not the cause, it'd suck if one of em' got eaten by that thing.

[byanyother_name]

The cats ideally shouldn't be able to open the trap door but admittedly you can never be sure with cats. And I'd rather they be as safe as we can make them, too.

I'm rather horrified by whatever has been done to them.

[poorlovefool]

Yeah, me too.

Where should we move them though... the crab place? Cats like seafood, right?

[he's never actually had a pet.]

[katzenpfote]

I am guessing you do not mean electricity when you say 'static'?

[byanyother_name]

No, not electricity. I don't know if you've tried turning on the TV here yet, but it's more like that. The grey fuzz of an absent signal.

[katzenpfote]

Ah, okay. I have only seen those before as RGB's head.

[byanyother_name]

[...you know what? He's over a thousand years old and this is his second murdergame. Kurama can roll with this.]

I see. Well, normally they're used as receivers for fictional and nonfictional communications.

[katzenpfote]

Ah, yes. He showed us some... movies.

[He is unfamiliar with the word but he still remembered it!]

[beguiledcard]

... Planning to try befriending it?

[ The abyss, he means. ]

[byanyother_name]

Well, I did feed it a fork. On the other hand, it's not as cute as Nyaf-ya.

[beguiledcard]

[ Tiny smirk is tiny but still there. ]

Hey as long as you don't go sneaking off - again...

[ Something dims in his expression but he looks away. ]

[byanyother_name]

What if I promise to invite you to any sneaking?

[It's trying to be playful but there's a thread of sadness and guilt there.]

[beguiledcard]

[ The smirk tugs into a tiny smile and he nods. ]

It's a good start.

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama leans over to brush a gentle kiss against Akira's cheek.]

[beguiledcard]

[ Or he tries to, since Akira turns his head at the last second to make it a kiss to the lips? ]