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]

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.

[katzenpfote]

... People act irrationally when they're protecting people they care about. I'm not the best person to judge what the appropriate reaction is, but I do try to stay objective where I can. I won't ask for the details because it sounds personal and painful for you to relive, so I will not make you.

[illusionarymelody]

Perhaps the best we can hope for is that none of us are placed in a situation where we have to make that decision or face someone making it for us.

[katzenpfote]

And that when we we do, we can anchor each other.

[illusionarymelody]

That may be the harder part, but even I can admit I lack the experience the rest of you have to know how possible it is.

[katzenpfote]

I was been surprised by the people in the train. I expect I might be surprised by the people here, too.