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

[backuphero]

She's - I'm - I don't know if that's the best idea. They call it post-trauma stress syndrome or something like that, in the future, I was used to hearing "shellshock" but... I don't know if she can be calm around him, or if it's even right to expect that.

[He does turn around, then, though looking King in the face is difficult - more from shame than the height difference, really.]

I know it's probably hard to believe after how I've acted so far, but I am trying to get better. Used to be worse, but - it was that other him who helped, him and my brothers and C and -

And -

I think I only managed to survive that first "game" because there wasn't this - nothing was trying to get in my head, I could take everybody at face value, and it messed me up when people killed each other anyway but... I could try harder when it didn't feel reasonable. I could deal with having so much I didn't know, then, too. Here it feels like that's gonna kill me faster than pissing everybody off.

[unwittingking]

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, or PTSD for short.

[Said almost automatically, like he’s heard of the concept before.]

And if that is the problem, she can either try not talk at meetings, unless she wants to anger people, or you might be able to help her in some way.

[Whether that be by going to the meeting without her and tell her what they discuss, or simply being morale support to keep her from actively losing her cool, he doesn’t know, and also doesn’t care. King’s just sure he needs to do something to keep her from doing that again.

And at the latter part, he looks down a bit and lets out a sigh.]

Okay, yeah, that’s not helping things at all. It’s hard to even trust friends here with...whatever they’re doing in our heads.

But if you want my advice, the best you could do...is to maybe try to prevent both. Try to figure things out so you know what your doing, and try to keep from making enemies. The former will just...help in general, and the latter is makes it so people are a bit more trusting of you. Don’t see the worst in you and all that.

[He’s trying his best to help, but...he’s not fully sure how to help this situation himself.]

[backuphero]

I'm not about to tell Vita "be a good little wifey and stay at home while the men talk", but... I can do better at trying to help. I'll stay between the two of them such as I can, and I'll try to make it so she doesn't feel like she has to protect herself. I mean, that's halfway my job, right? If it's a disorder, then it's a sickness, and you're supposed to be there, times like that.

[He may be obliquely trying to see if one of the other guys with a wedding band on thinks he's normal for that train of thought, yes. But he nods, apparently satisfied that it sounds good outside his brain...]

I'm better at all of that when my head's not full up with screaming panic, but... can't do anything but try, you're right.

...thanks.

[unwittingking]

...okay, I would like to clarify, I am not saying it like that. [His own wife would kill him if he did.] I mean more like, “You kind of caused a big scene at the meeting, maybe tell me about the things you brought up unless you think you can control yourself around Akira” or something like that.

[Seriously, please don’t mistake him of being that kind of person.]

And that sounds like a good idea. Since I’m pretty sure she also hates me too now, I’ll make sure not to bother her.

And...it’s no problem. Just wanna make sure things go better this time.

[He’d prefer all of them getting out of here, however unlikely that may be.]

[backuphero]

Pretty sure we all got that same hope, at least. And... I don't think she hates that easy, but with the pressure this place has us under who the hell knows....

[His voice trails off, and the smile on his face a moment later is both wry and bitter, somehow.]

I'm a real piece of work if I can't even trust my knowledge of my own wife, goddamn.

[unwittingking]

Eh, you probably know her well. Maybe I'm just assuming things. I'm just sure that she doesn't like me after our chat after the meeting.

[Sympathizing with a someone's killer kind of does that to people, King. Even if the motive was sympathetic, in this case.]