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

[katzenpfote]

Yes. Mollymauk Tealeaf. Or that was the name he gave himself after he revived... apparently some people before knew him as Lucien, but he dosn't remember that. ... Anyway.

[He takes a deep breath and pushes onward.]

He... was in one of these... things... with Vita and Jonathan. And he made it out alive. And I realize that there are... different timelines at work here, but...

But I wish we had had more time...

[Time. Never enough time. It's always time with him, isn't it?]

[unwittingking]

[If possible, his grimace deepens. He's quicker with the next note, at the cost of the writing being a bit sloppier.]

I mean, it's not impossible, is it? Even if it's not the same version of him, maybe if you can talk to him, you can feel some closure that you didn't get before.

[He hopes that closure is a word in Caleb's world, or at least one he's heard of.]

[katzenpfote]

[It's a word, but it's not one he's good at.]

... Maybe. Mayb,e I don't know, I just...

... He'd have found the pirate thing ridiculous. Probably tried to seduce Avantika. He... he was so bright, King. He was colorful and ridiculous and always wanted to entertain and cheer people up even when he was having a hard time.

He was infuriating at times, but everyone has their moments. We weren't particularly close, but... he was still a member of our team. We weren't quite the... we weren't as close as we are now at the time, but still...

... The road we buried him on was Glory Run Road. It's fitting. It's hard to get back to, so we cannot exactly visit.

[He pulls his arms around himself, trying to keep his emotions in check.]

... His death crystalized our team into being closer, working together, but I know we'd all give up a great deal to speak to him again. To... to tell him what he meant to us. To tell him what he taught us, that we still try to uphold. 'Leave every place better than you found it.' 'Don't steal from happy people.' They seem simple and stupid, but... but we're trying.

[He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to not cry. It's harder than he thought.]

[unwittingking]

[For a second, he smiles. A genuine, honest to goodness smile.]

Yeah, I know that kind of person. The kind that can just make you happy, just by being around them. The kind of person that’s a handful at times, but always means well. It’s always nice to have known someone like that.

It may not be easy, but if they can get in touch with him, they might be able to get you all to talk with him again. Get that proper good-bye this time. Let him know about all of this. I don’t know too much about him, but from what you told me? I think he’d be happy to hear it.

[katzenpfote]

[He opens his eyes after a few moments to look at the note, read it over again.]

I hope that they can. ... Though I think he'd be pleased that Beau got drunk and hired a 'companion' that night. He's the sort of person who would want you to be drunk at his funeral.

[unwittingking]

[...well, that’s something he didn’t need to hear. The ‘companion’ part, anyway.]

I won’t ask about the companion thing, but I think I can understand that. He sounds like the kind of guy that wants his funeral to be a celebration of his life instead of grieving over his passing, if that sounds right.

[katzenpfote]

Yes. ... Look, he burst into a room after like an hour with two hired people wearing nothing but a tapestry and carrying a fruit plate and proclaiming himself to be our king.

Jester's mother is possibly the highest-paid and sought-after companion on the entire continent. I have grown used to it being brought up.

Mollymauk was a circus man through and through. He brought it wherever he went, in a way.

[unwittingking]

[He is...trying very hard not to laugh. He’s trying to have a vow of silence, dang it!

It takes him a bit longer to write the note, and he’s still smiling when he hands it over.]

Well, you can’t tell me that didn’t get a laugh out of someone there.

And I don’t know much about circus people, but I can see why that’d probably make him proud.

[katzenpfote]

We first met at the circus. He and Yasha were there - mostly for setup and take down, and Molly read tarot cards. Or bullshitted his way through readings, really. Yasha is incredibly strong and very precise. She shaved me with her greatsword once.

They came into the tavern we were all eyeing each other up in and handed us flyers for the circus and chatted with us. It was cheap, it was a shithole town with nothing but brewerys fighting over is the best, so we went. We ran into the two of them again, and the performance... it was... interesting. And then a creature came out and we did not know it was a fiend at the time, and it turned several people into walking husks.

So we sort of ended up pushed together by all of that... we did kill the thing eventually, once we figured out that the husk things were its fault.

[unwittingking]

[Ah, more story time. King can’t help but feel awkward when these times happen. Caleb may know more about his life than many others, and vice versa, but he just feels bad that he’s shared so little, compared to others. He...may need to think about that, later.

Now, he needs to respond to that. His smile shrinks a bit, but doesn’t disappear as he writes.]

Sounds like it was memorable. Probably a little traumatizing, but memorable. Glad to hear it was better than when we first met on The Eventide.

[He still feels a little bad about not believing Caleb at first. At this point, his adventures sound like the least crazy things he’s heard of.]

[katzenpfote]

It was in some ways, but I'm glad for it.

... But I enjoy the fact that I met you, too. And you are... very important to me.

[unwittingking]

[His smile grows again, and his face softens just a bit more.]

Same here. May not have known you for that long, and I hate what we had to go through to meet each other, but I’m glad that we got to meet each other.

[katzenpfote]

[He just eyes his friend with a sigh.]

Just because she told you to shut up doesn't mean you have to be silent. It's about learning when and where to shut up.

... Will you at least talk to me?

[unwittingking]

[...]

I’m just worried, okay? If I write things out, I think them through more, and I don’t end up doing or saying anything stupid.

[He couldn’t even last a week...]

And...it’s not just her...

[katzenpfote]

... I think it's fewer people than you might think, honestly.

[unwittingking]

No, I mean-

[He grabs at one of his arms, breaks his eye contact with Caleb, apparently finding the ground more interesting now.]

I mean there’s more reason I did it than Vita. I did it...I did it for Arthur too.

He told me about his incident. How it was nightmare where everyone was fighting, only six people made it out, and he could only think it was because they were fighting. And what do I do? I lose it at the trial and nearly make him pass out.

I don’t...want to risk hurting him again.

[katzenpfote]

... Everyone fucks up, King. This place is simply putting our fuckups in front of each other and magnifying them. I am... doing my best to be as honest and open as I can despite my usual general paranoia. I think it is the only way to combat this.

Arthur has a lot going on, I have gathered. That does not mean you do not have a lot of shit rattling around in your head, too. You reacted to it badly, ja. But we made it out of there, and... well. Probably have a week to cool down.

And none of us can get out of here alone, or even dividing ourselves up into factions intentionally or not. We need each other, like it or not.

[unwittingking]

I know. I’ve had more than my share of screw ups. This isn’t exactly the first, and definitely not the worst.

[Caleb should know that much by now, after all.]

And I don’t want to try working alone. I’m pretty sure that if I try that, I’d just get myself killed.

But...what if I end up doing it again? What if I speak before I speak during the next trial? I just...I don’t want to do that again. It hurt the first time, and I don’t want to know what it might do the second time.

[katzenpfote]

[He responds instantly.]

Ans what if I kill someone again, King? Either for a motive or some other reason. I do not want to kill any of you, but I know that panic and fear and desperation can do stupid things.

... Bring the notepad to trial if you have to, but then read it out loud. If you keep yourself silenced, it's going to be harder to speak up again if you need to.

[unwittingking]

[He takes a step back at the mention of it. He forgets, sometimes, that Caleb got away with murder. That he killed someone on The Vespertine, and they didn’t come back. Every time he thinks about someone getting away with it, it’s Cayenne, the smug, smarmy royal that couldn’t even leave the court room alive, that King buried his teeth into. He doesn’t think of Caleb doing it, even with what’s happened in his life.

He looks to the side again, before sighing.]

Alright. I’ll do that. But...I’m still going to use it if I’m near Vita, before that. I just...I don’t need her hating me, just because I said something.

[He doesn’t trust that it’ll help all that much, but he wants to try, at least. He needs to.]

[katzenpfote]

[He takes a deep breath and tucks in a little bit.]

... I am sorry. I did not mean to - I am sorry.

I... that's all right. I just do not want you to cut yourself off from other people.

[unwittingking]

It's...it's fine.

[He just...it scares him to think about that. That Caleb can do that-did do that. He trusts that he won't do it again, but...it worries him.]

And I promise, I won't. I never planned to, just...you know, was worried.

[katzenpfote]

... I know. And I'm worried for you. And for her. And for all of us. We need to make it through this with as many of us alive as possible, because I think whatever is waiting for us at the end of this... we need as much help as possible.

If we could break whatever's holding the 'hosts' we might find more information, but I do not know how.

[unwittingking]

That’s probably fair, at this point. Being worried about everyone and thinking that we need as many people possible for whatever’s waiting for us. At this point, I’d bet money that it’s that thing we heard about in Perdurance. Something that’s seeping into other dimensions or something, right?

[At the very least, he wouldn’t be surprised by it.]

And if it is, it’s going to be easier said than done, including getting those two back to normal. I’ve...only been possessed once, but when it happened, it seemed like the only thing that could end it was the guy actively stopping.

[He’d hope for the best, but...the odds are just terrible, if he’s right...]

[katzenpfote]

I think so. I definitely would put gold on it.

... I have had false memories and also been charmed by demons. It's very difficult to break unless you have someone with skills that are specific to that.