W̧E̷E̡̕K ͡3̴

[strangerpeople]

W̛E̷͞E̶̵K͏͘͠ 3̸̡

[You got a phone call that morning. It wasn't the realtor for the vineyard, like you had thought. Instead, it was a scientist.

She offered you something you hadn't ever expected: hope.

"I think I've pinpointed where this blight has come from, and how it became so virulent. You were among the first whose crop was infected-I wish to speak to you personally about it."

You meet in a car, and drive to an isolated road. She will not take any chance to speak publicly about it-not yet. She doesn't want to release the information until she is certain. But she felt honor-bound to explain to you, given your own importance in her research. You hadn't known she had sampled your dead and dying grapes, but she did.

"This blight..." She opens a folder, showing you the photos. "Started with a gopher, several years ago. I know, it sounds insane. This disease should only affect certain animal species. But one day, it jumped into vines...the original gopher died a long time ago. But not before it had eaten an entire cluster of grapes in one swallow. It ended up scratching itself on the trellis of the grapevine as it choked to death. Its blood, its body decayed, and helped to water and fertilize that strain of grapes the next year or so, and...well, the seeds from those buds that resulted were sent out to every farm in the area. Then, to every farm in the country, different regions..."

That sounded insane. This woman's theory sounded utterly bonkers. But you can't dismiss it out of hand-you have no better answer.

Before you can say anything more, the woman's phone rings. She answers, and you see her face turn white. You don't have to guess why.

Before, the theoretical gopher had infected the grapes with the blight.

Now, the blight had claimed its first human victim.


-


[The morning hurts. It hurts to know that, even dead, there was that final, terrible moment for the Embarrassing and the Nagging. It must hurt more to know that this will continue, and that there is something out there that is invested in ensuring each and every last one of the Strangers are, if not dead, than broken.

And then, there is IT. IT is the enemy, it seems. But...what is IT? Is IT the one truly responsible? How?

As you try to think on it, you remember your truths, and suddenly, you realize, another has changed:




[That you would. Can you? You know that, whatever your answer, you must find a way to the truth. The alternative is too horrible to even contemplate-if it is even possible to be comprehended. After all-if what you saw is what happens to the dead and condemned, what will become of the living at the hands of the terrible, unknown IT who is your jailer?

Hope that you do not have to find out. Hope there is an answer in the new floor that has opened up in the Building. Otherwise...otherwise you really are doomed.


There are 13 strangers in this place.]

Comments

WEDNESDAY

[strangerpeople]

INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

[byanyother_name]

[This is quite possibly very stupid but honestly Kurama is not at his best emotionally so he's going to try it anyway.

'It' being moving as close as he can to the cold wall without touching and trying to Scan beyond it.]

[strangerpeople]

[Hey Kurama! You want the world's worst headache?

Take what you've been scanning and multiply it by a million.





Yeah, you're...going to black out for a couple minutes on the ground, spread eagle. Also he might be seeing stars when he does wake up. Sorry.]

[byanyother_name]

[He does not especially want that but he seems to have brought it on himself anyway.

Blacking out is not fun for Kurama or probably anyone else. Unconscious, he's indistinguishable from a dead body. No breath, no heartbeat, no movement. Red hair spread over the ground like a signal flare.]

elevator

[touchsensors]

[Hm, time to finally follow up on something Hiyori suggested over a week ago but in real time it was considerably more recent.

Specifically, she's going to take Kyuu to the elevator and see if it by any chance has clearance to access locations she can't.]

[1/2]

[cuteandinnocentpet]

[At first, Kyuu looks at Lala, then up, then back at Lala.]

Kyuu.

[cuteandinnocentpet]

[Then, its eyes glow.

Without warning, the elevator shoots upwards.]

[touchsensors]

[Yeah she wasn't really expecting muchWAITWHAT]

OYOOOOOOOOOOOO

[comesaround]

[ It's certainly a nice day isn't it?

Nice enough that around eleven-thirty in the morning, anyone might catch a glimpse of Karma running around with what appears to be an assortment of different plushies in his arms. He'll disappear around the sides of each house with them for a bit, climb the side of each occupied stranger's house and put something on the roof in plain view of the street.

By twelve pm, Karma can be found sitting on the roof of his own house with legs dangling off the front and grinning devilishly. The reason?

Maybe it's due to that each person will now find that some random plushie is what he put on their roof, but they all have one thing in common. Six of them are wearing little, almost-black-purple variations of this tunic, and the Seven others are all wearing a similar dark-colored variation of what the little puppet Hiyori had worn yesterday.

Attached to the little belt of the ones wearing a tunic appears to have a piece of paper tucked into it's belt, and the others have it tucked into the waistline of the trunks. All seeming to bear what maaaay be obviously a big heart. There's a message on the inside of these papers but it should be clear who it's for considering the outfits.

Either way, Karma looks extremely pleased with himself as he sits up there, gently tossing one of the ones with a little tunic on, up into the air and catching it. Repeating the gesture with ease. ]

[touchsensors]

[And then the little not-quite-Link doesn't come down. Huh, that's weird. Is something wrong with gravity? No, actually, Lala just caught it in midair with her antennae.]

What are you doing-lun?

[comesaround]

Ah..

[ He blinked a little when he saw the one he'd been tossing up and down suddenly stop moving, but soon looked to her with a smile once more. ]

Having a little bit of fun and also sending a small message.

[touchsensors]

[Lala lowers his toy back down to return it, her antennae retracting.]

What kind of message-lun? "Sit on the roof-lun?"

[poorlovefool]

[given certain things that may or may not be traceable back to him, Eric hangs out nearby while this is going on.]

...anyone asks, it's for Valentine's Day. Right?

[comesaround]

Yup~! Why not?

[ He can't help laughing a little. ]

[katzenpfote]

[Caleb wanders over towards Karma and looks up at him.]

Adorable, but I'm afraid I can't climb that high.

[comesaround]

That's fine. They're mostly meant as a sort of message of sorts. However... if you want one of your own, that can be arranged.

[ Still grinning like the cat that caught the canary, all the same. ]

[illusionarymelody]

[After Karma places one that looks like Hiyori on her roof, Vita is going to go up there and check it out. She'll then summon two wires in a position to stab through the plushie, but not touch the roof itself.

They vanish after 10 seconds, and then she'll do it again and keep repeating this until the plushie is covered in wire stabs.

She'll then come down looking satisfied with herself and leave the doll for their hosts to see.

Feel free to catch her as she's doing this.]

[backuphero]

[It's.

Well.

This is not what Jonathan was expecting to see when he walked out to see what was on the roof. Not remotely.]

Honey...?

[comesaround]

[ He just quietly watches for a moment or two, before letting off an appreciative whistle as he clapped his hands a couple times. ]

Very nice work. It's good to see someone else get use out of this, too.

[otherworldlyking]

[ He'll catch her doing this indeed, and it's definitely caught his attention. ]

Trying to send a message?

[relieable]

[Osomatsu watches him with confusion for a while, not saying anything. then he starts to understand. Karma's playing a dangerous game, teasing the hosts. at the same time, he does admire him.

he finally steps over to Karma once he's finished, tilting his head up towards the roof]

You look like you're having fun.

[comesaround]

[ Honestly that's just how he works. Yes this was an incredibly risky thing to do but he enjoyed taking risks and seeing how far he could push things without breaking any of their precious rules.

Looking down at Osomatsu, he raised a hand up to wave at him. Still looking impossibly amused right now. ]

Sure am. It was a way to put some of my skills to use, and killed some time in the process.

[ A laugh escaped him shortly afterward. ]

I can't wait for our dear Hosts to see the nice house decorations.

[unwittingking]

...I really hope you’re not expecting me to get that.

[He likes you Karma, he really does, but...even if he didn’t have stubby arms and legs, he is not that physically fit. Both of those combined means he’s not getting Hiyori off his roof, no matter how much he wants to.]

[comesaround]

Of course not.

[ He's ridiculously sassy and a little shit, but not mean enough to expect anyone to come get these asides from maybe a certain pair of individuals. ]

They're part of a message i'm trying to send, actually. Hope I made it clear.