15strangers | (no subject)

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*round 6

(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.]

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[To the main building! Arthur doesn't know what he wants to find, but....weapon storage. At least he knows what to expect.]

[To weapons storage!

Well, as Arthur looks around, probably feeling slightly confused, he will notice a glint of light coming from behind where the swords are.]

[Oh. Oh that's exactly like it.

Somewhat hesitant, but with purpose, he walks over to the swords to check behind them.]

[Sure enough, there is a pair of glasses sitting there.

Pick them up?]

[Oh dear lord it really is his glasses form. Yes, pick them up.]

[It is...and at the same time, Arthur can feel that it isn't. There is something in these glasses, something magical, but it's not a weapon like Arthur's been turned into, that much Arthur can figure out.

There's also a feeling that these glasses might be useful later, though of course he has no idea why. But...maybe he should put these somewhere safe for now.]

...should I try them on?

[It might be a little difficult, and he’s not sure what would happen, but like Hell is he letting another kid potentially hurt themselves by doing something stupid. If anyone’s going to get themself hurt for the greater good, it’ll be him.]

[....Something makes him reluctant to hand these over. They're a surprise tool that will help us later! At least, he hopes they are. If that's the case then the only way to make sure they'll be safe is to keep them himself.

On the other hand, he can't trust his instincts regarding trusting others or not to be actually his. And screw what this place tells him to do???]

You were able to pick me up in weapon form just fine the other day, so if that's a factor at all you should be fine.....not everyone's souls are compatible. Not that I know what's going on.

[Well, that sounds a bit odd. Not unbelievable, of course, but a bit odd. He’s able to get it after a second, though.]

So, depending on how much our souls get along, I can use your weapon form, or I might not even be able to pick you up.

And, for all we know, that could work for these glasses too?

[This is honestly easier to understand than the stuff from his incident? He’d complain but he knows what Arthur’s gone through and knows he should be jealous of something like that.]

Yeah, pretty much. There might be more nuance to it, I don't exactly have a lot of experience or actual study.

Alright. I'm willing to try them if you want to see what they do. Just...please don't put them on yourself, okay?

[He's a bit worried as he says that. Again, teenagers and there apparent need to hurt themselves still makes him that way...]

..............Okay. But I wanna keep 'em, in the end.

[He'll offer them over. This seems like a good compromise between trusting and not trusting.]

Don't worry. I'm not one for collecting pairs of glasses.

[And with that, he'll place the glasses on his face, hoping they don't explode or mind control him or something.

…please tell me they won't do just that.]

[No, nothing like that.

He will feel like maybe he should take the glasses off and save them for something more important, though. It's more like a gut feeling, a hunch, and besides, they don't seem to do anything at that moment anyways.]

[He'll wait for a second before taking them off with a disappointed sigh.]

Nothing but a feeling like they might come in handy later.

[He'll offer them back to Arthur, careful not to mess them up in any way.]

Nothing, huh.... Well, okay.

[He takes them back, folding them and tucking them into a pocket.]

Hey, maybe it actually will be useful. We just don't know how to use them yet.

Gotta ask, though, do you do anything when you're in your weapon form?

[Just curious.]

I dunno, actually. Other than I can share stuff I've seen with whoever's wearing me. [God that sounds weird.] Emma wasn't too keen on trying a lot more, since we saw something as soon as we tried.

[Indeed it does sound weird! But we're not going to think about that for too long.]

So just anything from the future? Or is it super vague most of the time?

[Because he doubts that the powers that be would be kind enough to give out such a useful ability.]

[Ah, we are back to our regularly-scheduled being vague and secretive about powers.]

I don't have great control over it. Like, I can try to look at the near future, but I might get 'in like five minutes' or 'in about eight hundred years'. And I don't always get a place I can identify, or people I recognize. ...And sometimes they come out of the blue.

[He nods.]

Yeah, figures.

You haven't had to see anything too bad, right? Like...no big tragedies or anything?

[Please don't tell him he saw a future massacre or something...please]

[He's quiet for a moment, weighing how to answer that. He's seen more terrible things in the past than the future. Then again, time isn't exactly linear. It loops back on itself and shifts.]

I've seen some pretty bad stuff, yeah. But it's not like there's only one future.

That's...true, yeah.

[He rubs one arm with a paw, in the universal "I'm Uncomfortable" look, before looking down and sighing.]

Well, next time you actively try to get one of these visions, do you think you could...come get me?

You don't have to, but I just don't think you shouldn't have to go through those things alone, you know?

["How can you stand to do this every week?" Thanatos had asked. It's not easy. Arthur knows probably not everyone could, and maybe he's lucky he'd already seen a lot because this could be crushing otherwise. But, he's an explorer - sometimes, buckling down and taking one more step is the only way to survive. If you don't endure, you may never see the sky again.]

If you really want me to, I can. [Maybe.]

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