15strangers | W͜͏̶Ę͏E͝͠K͝͞ ̧1̵͟

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[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ha, we uh...we still might.

But, first-

[He moves that paw from behind his back, and now Nanaki can see the photo of some bird with the face crossed out.]

Is this yours?

...Ah.

[He reaches out to take it, and it's clear from the way his expression just drops that yes, this is his.]

...So they got a hold of this somehow.

[He's staring at it, mouth set at a thin line and his fingers brushing over the marked-out area. He closes his eyes with a sigh, then opens them up to look back up at King.

He's smiling now. It's no different than usual, but if King's looking, he might notice that it never reaches his eyes. It never did.]

Thank you very much for thinking to bring this back. I'll be sure to take better care of it from now on.

[Yeah, uh...you can bet that King’s noticing, and now he’s starting to wonder if this was a wise decision...

Whatever the case, he can’t really change what he’s done now. Best he can do is work with what’s happened.]

It’s...no problem. Just try to get anything that might be mine to me, if you can? So we can be even.

So, uh...do you need anyone to talk about the whole...changing into a different species thing?

[This...also may not be the wisest decision, but hey, he’s still feeling bad for this guy for what he’s going through, so he may as well try, at the very least.]

Oh, of course. [Nanaki nods at the request.] It would only be right. I haven't found anything yet, but if I do, I'll be sure to deliver it back if I think it's yours.

[As for the talking, part...]

...Haha. I'm really not sure how much there is to talk about. For me, it was just... I woke up like this one morning. And in a house with 15 other people, with us all expected to kill one another.

I should think that most stories are a little more involved than that.

Cool, thanks.

[Now that that's out of the way...]

Okay, yeah, that's...not as long as I expected, but the bigger thing is...

[He gets a bit closer and whispers, just loud enough that Nanaki should be able to hear it.]

I have some...experience, with stuff like this. So if you have any problems adjusting, I might be able to help.

[Oh! You have Nanaki's attention, King. Granted, this is shown by a minor widening of the eyes and not much else, but, like... half an emotion, though?]

Ah.

[He'll whisper, now, too.]

I can only assume it's, ah... in the other direction, shall we say?

[This feels like a really bad idea now, but...no going back now!

Though he can still lie a bit.]

Yeah. Not me, but...another dog I know was originally a human. Ended up getting turned into a schnauzer when a demigod decided he’d use him for the game he was playing, and they were only allowed to use cats or dogs.

So, I...haven’t gone through it myself, but I know what it’s like.

[He’s a bit nervous, but Nanaki should still think he’s telling the whole truth.]

[Well, Nanaki doesn't know the difference, so he just nods along.]

I see... sounds awful. A demigod, though, hm...? It seems like all these other worlds I keep hearing about are so much more fantastical than my own.

And yet everyone reacts so strangely when they find out I've changed...

Trust me when I say that it's a lot more of a pain than it sound.

[Nanaki can almost feel the annoyance radiating off of King as he thinks about said demi-god...]

It might just be because it doesn't happen as much in their worlds. It's not an often occurrence in my world either. I-Ivan's just gotten used to it.

[Smooth]

Aiaivan? That's a fascinating name. I really haven't looked too closely into other cultures!

[did... did he actually fall for it...]

It's true, things like this are considered fantasy for a reason. Still... I've heard of magic more than a couple of times, by now. I guess there has to be something to that.

I...think it’s Russian.

[Apparently, and King isn’t questioning it.]

It’s most likely magic. I’ll admit, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was really something else.

Ah, I see. I don't know too many Russians.

[jfc nanaki]

That's what confuses me. Magic is totally acceptable, but talking birds is too much?

Other worlds are so confusing.

[~~wipes the imaginary sweat off his brow~~]

If it makes you feel better, most animals talk where I’m from, so birds not talking sounds weirder to me.

...That does help, actually.

Well, glad I could help make you feel better, then.

Do you think you have any questions about the whole thing? Or do you think you’ve got the hang of this?

[Nanaki seems to have a hold of the situation, so it might be time for him to stop bothering him about it, or at least change the subject.]

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