The Fifteen Strangers Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strangerpeople) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
15strangers2020-01-27 10:38 am
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2020-01-27 10:38 am
W͜͏̶Ę͏E͝͠K͝͞ ̧1̵͟
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.]
no subject
no subject
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.
no subject
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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.
no subject
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.]
cw: death by strangulation, nudity, mention of suspected sexual assault
Then once Arthur tries for the vision he'll see see the inside of the Base. It will be on the first floor and he's seeing from the point of view of someone running away. She's scared and there is an incredible amount of pain from her right wrist. She's only wearing a bedsheet, but in her thoughts this doesn't seem to be strange. She is trying to hold it up with her good arm though, but it keeps trying to fall off.
She runs towards an elevator, but the door doesn't open right away, she knows that Akira will catch up to her if she doesn't hide, so she darts into the women's bathroom.
"Maybe he'll come to his senses and not follow me here.
It's clear that hope is dashed quickly. She ran into a stall in the back and closed the door. She can hear footsteps coming in clearly and she knows those don't belong to Angela or Barbara.
The footsteps come closer and she can hear a stall being opened. It's not the one she's in though. Perhaps that will give her enough of a chance to run and get out to the elevator. Her room is close to the elevator.
She gets out but the sheet she was wearing got caught in the door and stops her progress. She's thrown off balance just enough that she tries to right herself with the broken wrist. Suddenly she's hit with intense pain to the point of tears.
Then she can feel someone grab her and pin her down from behind. She tries to struggle to get free and in the process what little clothing she's wearing falls off. She can feel shame and humiliation on top of intense fear for her life.
She knows very well if she can't get away that she will die. Her struggles amount to nothing and a cord is wrapped around her neck. She's still struggling as it gets tighter and intense pain can be felt on her neck. She can't breathe and it hurts. She needs to get away before she dies because she doesn't want to die.
She grows weaker and her struggles weaken along with it. She can't breathe, it still hurts and she can't even move. She knows she's going to die and nothing can be done any longer.
Her last thoughts are of how Jonathan is going to be upset but that she doesn't regret kissing him. At least now Crow can come back and Emma will be able to guide him in her place.
Then for a time everything goes black.
But it's not over, about a minute later for Arthur, but an unknown time for her, she wanks up in a very simple room in a futon. She's clothed again in an outfit that isn't hers. She checks a nearby mirror and sees her throat is fine and her wrist is healed. Then she turns and sees Akira sleeping in another futon. She feels intense fear, but Akira wakes up before she can scream. They have an argument but while the exact words are not clear, it is clear that Vita is more upset about being stripped of her clothing and dignity than dying. She understands why he had to kill her, but is upset that he did so in such a horrible way that was downright humiliating and made the others thing she'd been sexually assaulted as well. She actually agrees to a truce with him, but it's clear she doesn't completely trust him and is still scared of him.
Then it will change to her and Akira finding the priestess of the temple running with Richard as her and Akira assist. Vita places a futon to put Richard between her and Akira. They are told Richard is breathing and has a pulse, but he's not waking up. Vita and Akira find out that they have actually escaped the Base and may very well be alive again.]