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

[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?

[incendiarize]

She did, a bit? She said some stuff about a guy named Rean, and they needed him to operate a thing, to do a thing? Um... [That part's more unfamiliar terms so it didn't stick in his head as well, give him a minute.]

[illusionarymelody]

Did she mention the term Divine Knight or Ashen Knight? Or maybe even mention him by his name Valimar?

[incendiarize]

Yeah, Valimar, I think that the thing they needed the dude for. Except she wasn't sure he was okay, if I remember right?

[illusionarymelody]

Valimar is a being called a Divine Knight. If you know what a mecha is, it's like that, but sentient. Rean was safe, just exhausted from what he did because he didn't have experience using mana like Emma and I do. Emma's friends are also safe. However, that was five months before I was captured and taken to the Base and it's been seven months since we left the Base.

[incendiarize]

...in your world.... Is Emma there? Is she okay?

[illusionarymelody]

Yes, she's there and fine. I chose her as the maid of honor at my wedding because who better than my sister? Our wedding was the day before we were captured a second time and woke up on the plane.

[incendiarize]

....So we've got multiple timelines again, because..... Emma never left the mansion.

[Sisters. He feels guiltier than ever, at this moment. If he'd been just a little bit faster....]

[illusionarymelody]

Why not? Didn't all of you escape?

[incendiarize]

Only six of us got out. And now three of us are here. [You people and your revival mechanics.] Emma.....almost got out, she was the last to die.

[illusionarymelody]

Did the person who killed her die for it or will I need to do that?

[incendiarize]

[....A grin, slightly manic and far from happy, spreads across Arthur's face.] He wasn't part of the game. I killed him - punched his head off and fed it to a crocodile!

[illusionarymelody]

I applaud that sort of bravery and thank you for at least avenging her. If I get out of here, I'll see if I can find a way to bring her back like I did with Eric.

[incendiarize]

....We're really getting too many Erics, you don't mean the one here do you? 'Cause he's not the Eric who was stuck in the mansion with us.

[He'll jump on the topic change. He can admit guilt later, but not right now. Not to someone who'll treat someone who hasn't done anything yet like a criminal just because he might.]

[illusionarymelody]

Not the one here. An old friend of Jonathan's family.

[incendiarize]

Jonathan.... [Clotilde-Morris. Morris. Jonathan Morris. And her profile...] Eric Lecarde was in the mansion with me.

[illusionarymelody]

[Ding, ding ding! Give the boy a prize! Maybe he'll even connect the dots and find another interesting tidbit.]

That is indeed the name of the one I brought back. Quite a nice gentleman and his daughters have become quite dear to me in such a short time. But I know he didn't die in the mansion, he died in Dracula's Castle.

[incendiarize]

Then, him and Krone have...? [That's. Happy? It's happy. Fastuse lives.] But yeah, he....he made it out. Barely.

[illusionarymelody]

Jonathan may know more about that than I do. I'm sorry I can't tell you more than the fact that he's alive again and from what you're saying, it's been quite a few years because his daughters are grown up.

[She's just not going to bring up the fact that the twins' mother is most likely dead and considering his obvious feelings for John Morris, she doubts it was a love like her and Jonathan's. But maybe it was love and he lost his wife to childbirth or something else tragic.]

[incendiarize]

He's uh....you probably shouldn't mention him to Osomatsu. That's all.

[But it doesn't have to even be the same timeline, does it? Arthur knows better than anyone how nonlinear and branching time can be. He doesn't know. It's all a mess. He doesn't know.]

[illusionarymelody]

That's fine and I won't ask you why. I will not say the name to him unless he outright asks about my profile.

[And now that's she's a bit calmer after talking about stuff that isn't her murder, she wants to add one more thing.]

And I do apologize for acting that way, but I do admit I get irrational regarding him and what happened. The best I can promise there is to try and let Jonathan handle talking to him if that is needed.

[incendiarize]

The Akira from the base killed you. Acting like one who hasn't been to the base, who only might hurt you, is automatically exactly the same as the one who actually did is a good way to make sure everyone here is fighting all the time - just like we were in the mansion. And I already told you how many of us escaped.

So yeah, watch your back, go through a proxy, whatever you need to do. But maybe don't treat potential futures like they've already happened.

[That was the point he'd been trying to make. He doesn't expect she'll want to stick around to talk about that much longer, and Eddie Kim just seems like more negativity (to be saved for another time)....

So he waits til Vita's gone on her way, whatever parting pleasantries. And then focuses. He doesn't know the whole story - but he can learn. Maybe. He'll learn something, at any rate. Time to try and look at her past.]