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

[katzenpfote]

[No. No. He can't think of anything, but right now he can barely think at all. 'See and hear things that weren't there'.]

[It's not the same, but the fear twists in him anyway.]

... Did it make you think people were saying or doing things that weren't what they were really saying or doing?

[It's pointless, pursing this line of questions, but now that the possibility is there he has to know. He needs to know what he's dealing with.]

[... And part of him wants to feel like he's not alone.]

[incendiarize]

I didn't really get any of that, mine was mostly location-based hallucinations, but I think Eric had some trouble like that? And I know Franciscus saw a different person doing something, instead of the person who was actually doing it.... A lot of it made us more aggressive, too. We were all fighting pretty much the whole time.

[Arthur is probably lucky he only saw places that weren't where he was, at his worst. That at his worst he was a manic godslayer. ....But then, maybe that's balanced by how many times he's died.]

[katzenpfote]

[He just puts his head in his hands for a moment, rubbing the area around his eyes. He lets out a few deep breaths and then looks up, his voice very small.]

The name 'Trent Ikithon' never came up there, did it?

[incendiarize]

Not that I heard. You could ask Ambrosine or Osomatsu. Maybe they got that...the Stewards served a lady, though, her name's Arachne. Except she's dead, but not totally dead, because she's spiders.

[Arachne's the big name, so...if someone else is going to recognize any of the names, that'll be the one.]

[katzenpfote]

Wonderful. More people capable of doing that sort of thing.

... If you need extra food, you can take some of mine.

[incendiarize]

I can't speak for the rest of us, but I have a promise to keep - but after that, I'd be glad to help stop anyone else pulling that kind of crap. [Need an alchemist in the party????

At that offer he looks up with wide, hungry eyes. He doesn't want to make anyone else go hungry, not knowing what it's like to starve for a month, but also.....food. Immediately he's interested.] I-- can I?

[katzenpfote]

[They could use another one, sure.]

Of course. I... know what it is like to go without food. I had to steal or scam for many years. You should not have to go without.

[incendiarize]

[Growing up in the Library, he's had it good. Way better than most. They've pretty much never known serious shortage or famine. But he remembers before he and Simon managed to get out of what was left of Gotham - somewhat blurrily, certainly, but he remembers hunger.]

Thank you...

[katzenpfote]

You're welcome. There's too much sad about this situation. It would be nice to help fix the problems rather than solve them, ja?

[incendiarize]

Yeah. [There's still that nagging voice to not trust, don't believe, don't accept, but it's completely overridden by survival instincts. Food is food.] This place is already loads better than the mansion... Might as well enjoy that while it lasts, right?

[katzenpfote]

True. And even if the food tastes awful, at least it will keep you going for now.

[incendiarize]

And probably not turn us into anything.....wrong.

[katzenpfote]

... What were they trying to turn you into?

[incendiarize]

Same kind of thing the god of fear freak was, as far as I could tell. It looked like he was afraid of everything and went so crazy, his crazy started infecting everyone around, 'cause it got worse the closer you were to him.

[katzenpfote]

... I am glad that you were able to escape. That whole place sounds... horrendous. Far worse than our situation, even though there were still deaths.

[He hesitates a moment. He doesn't know this boy, but if everyone is out to get him then it doesn't matter who he trusts. He leans in slightly.]

If you have trouble with nightmares you are... welcome to sleep in my house. I can set up one of the couches for you.

[incendiarize]

[There's hesitance. He can't completely trust anyone here, right? He can't. But...

More than that, he hates being alone. After growing up in the Library with the other orphans, after sharing rooms with the guild, after all fifteen of them stuffed into close quarters in the mansion....the house he's been given here feels too big for him. He doesn't like small, cramped spaces at all, but he hates being alone. And even if he hasn't actually slept since that last vision yet, he knows sleep will come eventually whether he likes it or not.]

I'd like that. Thanks.

[katzenpfote]

[He nods and stands, rolling his shoulders.]

We'll get people out of here. That's a promise, ja?

[The number of people though... he's not sure.]

[incendiarize]

Yeah. Hopefully without everyone being at eachother's throats the whole time.

[Though Vita and Akira aren't giving him a lot of hope right now.]