15strangers | (no subject)

W̡͜E̶EK ̵̕2̕͠

[The blight would not stop.

The world's leading experts have been trying to find a cure, to no avail. Th blight keeps changing, keeps foiling all attempts at being fully understood. It's almost sentient, or at least more sentient than any disease that's been encountered before. People fear the disease jumping from what's left of the grapes into other plants, into animals, or even humans.

You can only watch as entire economies and ecosystems collapse. You can only bury your head in your hands as your own business comes to its end. The destruction of the clusters of grapes has not simply destroyed the wine industry, either-other businesses are being destroyed by the plague. Food, transport, retail, nothing is untouched.

You look on your own vineyard, its yield almost entirely blackened and dead.

This can't keep going on.

-

A week has passed since everyone's arrival. No one has died, yet. But surely no one is holding their breath to see if they would survive this unscathed. They are veterans of the game, and they must know that whoever it is that is in charge demands their pound of flesh. The question is when it will happen.

It is the second week, after all-and when the second week of the game comes, death is not far behind. Not even when you wake up, feeling something different in your mind as you remember the truths you originally woke up with, deep in your mind. You feel...lighter, somehow, when you realize there is a change.

Even so, there are 15 strangers left in this place.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But if all you ever make is mistakes then staying put starts to make more sense, doesn't it? You must've done a few things right.

[case in point - eric is literally on a rooftop right now, and if he took a step forward in this moment, he would fall off of it.]

Not being alone means you've still got something to lose. I'm married to someone I went through a death game with, I get it.

[ That gets a grim smile out of him. ]

Yeah... I have. But, I've found that, usually, people remember the mistakes more than they remember the successes.

[ And the last part has him releasing a sigh as he nods. ]

It sucks. [ looking to the side ]

Who's bringing the rope?

Ummmm!

[that's DEFINITELY awkward to answer after what he said just previously.]

Rope? Haha... that was... just a joke! I'm not ACTUALLY stuck up here, you know. I like high up places!! Don't you?

[flawless deception!!!]

Okay.

[ That's said with an absolutely calm, casual "bullshit, but I'll let it slide" expression. Though a small smile appears as he shrugs and looks away. ]

I do, actually. It'd be a problem for me, if I didn't - professional thievery requires being able to scale walls and parkour all over the place.

[ There's a tiny grin flashed as he says that. ]

Oh. You don't say...

[he is slightly math ladying at this bit of flexing but he... really doesn't think he's in a position to judge people who do crimes, even if he's also paranoid enough that the admission worries him.]

Well thanks for letting me know. No one tells someone they're a thief if they're planning to steal from them... unless they're one of those phantom thieves or something.

[he had the vaguest recollection that there were a couple of those in the depths]

[ And, at that last part, his lips twitch the tiniest bit. ]

That'd be pretty terrible, huh?

Yeah. Well, but one of them from the Depths was alright I guess.

[slightly fretting as he thinks about her even so]

[ He blinks... ]

Yeah? You've met others?

Yeah. One of them was with us the whole time, got back a black catsuit with night goggles and everything. The other one... I thought he was kind of a douche at first, but he did paint us a bunch of flowers. He got screwed over pretty hard by the death game. Hope they're both doing okay now that they went back home.