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

[illusionarymelody]

[She'll just point at the snake and hatbox.]

The snake. The hatbox was just the first item Jonathan could find to put it in.

[katzenpfote]

Ah. ... Should I not be doing this? I assumed since it was dead no one else would want it.

[illusionarymelody]

Oh no, that's fine if you can make use of it. I suggested Jonathan keep the snake I killed in case we needed to make more anti-venom and we won't need that any more.

[She smiles, he seems like a decent enough sort that won't use the poison on anyone here, she hopes. Especially not with her knowing he has it now.]

[katzenpfote]

I see. I don't quite know what type of snake this is, but the stomach is usually good for spell components.

[illusionarymelody]

I'm not so sure either. I only know for sure they were venomous and not instantly fatal. That was the motive, kill someone and your hostages would be safe from the snakes because the amount of anti-venom was limited.

[katzenpfote]

... I think I will burn the rest of the body once I have finished with this, then. I do not want anyone being tempted.

[illusionarymelody]

That may be best. Or bury it since fire could cause the poison to become a gas and more dangerous. I'd not want something to happen to you.

[Who needs a destruction of property rule when destruction could kill them all in some cases? It was definitely not an easy situation to deal with.]

[katzenpfote]

Ah... that is a good point. I wonder if... hm.

[He produces a flame in his hand, but it doesn't give off any heat. Instead when he touches it to a bit of discarded snake, it seems more like frostburn than anything else.]

Maybe if I were to freeze it and then crush it before burying that part of the snake it may help.

[illusionarymelody]

Would your powers work for the whole thing? They do tend to not last long or at least mine only lasts about ten seconds. We do have the appliances in the kitchen if needed, though.

Actually, maybe if the poison is diluted in water that would be enough to ensure it becomes useless.

[katzenpfote]

I can keep it sustained for a while... I have used it as a light source for a bit.

[He waves his hand and dismisses the flame.]

Perhaps... we may need a decently large container, but the sinks here seem to produce enough water...

[illusionarymelody]

That actually sounds more useful than mine. I just dislike relying on them and I dislike that we have to even think about the fact that someone might use poison to kill another here.

[katzenpfote]

Of course. I... have some experience with seeing people killed using that method.

[He wavers a bit for a moment like he's about to fall over, but takes a few deep breaths and starts muttering quietly.]

Ein, zwei, drei...

[illusionarymelody]

[Vita moves in closer to try and catch him if he does fall.]

Are you ok? If you need to sit or lean against me please do.

[She's looking to see if he looks pale or ill or anything.]

[katzenpfote]

[He does look pale, and he takes a few more breaths, counting in what will sound like German to her. He gets to twenty and sits up a bit straighter.]

... Let us just say that the train was not the first time I have seen people killed covertly.

[illusionarymelody]

[Well, she's probably heard German and noted it was similar to Zemurian and has enough of an idea to figure out he's counting.]

I admit, I didn't see anyone die at the Base because I was the first victim, but I have seen people die before that and it truly never gets better. If anything it feels like each time you see it that it just breaks you more.

[katzenpfote]

Ja. I... we have to fight humanoids in our line of work sometimes, but it is a necessity to both keep ourselves safe and often to reach our goals. We try to not kill where it is not needed, though. And battle is different than something like that.

But it is... unfortunate that you had to go through that as well.

[illusionarymelody]

It's rather normal in my original world. Jonathan's world is a bit nicer in that regard where the lines are clearer and those that need to be killed are clearly evil and the average person doesn't see what he does to protect them. In my world the lines are more blurred and a terrible person could have good intentions and a good person's intentions could become warped into something terrible.

In places like this it's worse because you don't know who could betray, you can only hope that you aren't going to be their victim. All this distrust they are putting in our heads certainly doesn't help.

[katzenpfote]

It does seem that way. Monsters are a bit more... openly known where I am from, from what I understand. And they're sometimes people, as well.

... I've dealt with magic putting things in someone's head before. I refuse to let it grab hold of me again.

[illusionarymelody]

Have you noticed that resisting seems easier with some people than others? It's easy to resist with Jonathan, I'd not have married a man I couldn't trust. Yet I can't resist it with someone I had reason to distrust before even coming here.

[katzenpfote]

It is easier with King, somewhat easier with McBurn. I tend to be suspicious of people in general, but we cannot afford that here. So I am trying to at least dampen my natural suspicion.

[illusionarymelody]

I already knew McBurn so he's easier to trust because of previous knowledge. Same goes with Estelle, though I know her more by reputation. I just seems earlier to cling to evidence that they can be trusted or the lack of evidence for distrust.

[katzenpfote]

I'm possibly the last person to talk to about trusting people. I was ready to walk away from my group many times. ... I am glad I did not, though. We may be stabbed in the back, but... we have to at least give people a chance.

[He holds a hand up before she can say anything.]

And I am not telling you that you must hug it out or something with Akira, or even like him. But we need to at least do our best to not get violent and at least listen to the information we all have. I am not saying that you will not, but he may have some information we need. If you don't like him, at least let him be useful.

[illusionarymelody]

It's not as easy as that. The Akira at the Base told us about how these games work based on his experience at the Mall and that we shouldn't fall for their motives and we should try to find a way to escape before anyone dies. He was useful and everyone trusted him and looked up to him as a leader with experience.

And then he's the first one to kill. I'd not even fault him for taking the motive, he had good intentions. It was his method for killing that was terrible and I know Jonathan was horrified by what he saw because he still has nightmares of it and reacts poorly if I'm not there when he wakes up. I know I'm broken and all these voices don't help when I can't deny what they say.

Maybe if we can break this control somehow I may be able to stay calmer around him? I think without the constant "don't trust him" voice I could do better.

[katzenpfote]

... I see. I am... sorry for that. I should have asked for the circumstances first. ... If we can at least lessen the effect it may help... I will need to think through what I might have read about that kind of magic. It's been... a bit since I researched it.

I feel like we all might be a bit on edge even without that, given what we have been through, but this isn't helping.

[illusionarymelody]

No, it's fine. It's not a pleasant topic and hard to bring up with someone. Even Jonathan didn't ask until he realized he needed to know exactly what happened. The other thing that bothered me was how quick everyone was to defend him and insult me. To me there is something inherently wrong with him that causes him to become a monster when his loved ones are in danger. It's not the murder, it's how he did it.