15strangers | W̧E̷E̡̕K ͡3̴

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So they're like big fairies-lun.

[And now she's basically picturing a theme park mascot. Save her. Save me.]

Y-yes...?

[WHAT IS THIS CONVERSATION???]

So something like that wanted to undo reality-lun? Did you find out why-lun?

[okay, we're back on the right path]

...No. The Sapiarch just said that reality was restricting? I think they wanted to create a world where there was no free will.

I....might've seen something about that. Elenwen. The destruction of a "reality spike", planning a "game" because of a fell Muse or whatever...

[hmm... he considers]

One of the videos mentioned something about a Reapers Game, Producers, Composers...

Composers got mentioned in one Emma and I saw - that's where I learned about Shoe and first saw Akira, Karma, and Kurama. ...Another vision I had before we left the mansion had someone whose description matched the Conductor Caleb talked about.

Guess I really did get a small peek of all the "games." There were a lot of other characters, too, like the Creature, the Woman... Marie.

I'm starting to feel like I walked into a movie at the end-lun.

I feel like I walked out in the first 10 minutes...

Marie was the name of our captor at the Base. The woman maybe would be Ivy? She was the one we were all actually inside.

[HOOOO he's learning a lot today!

wait]

In... side?

[well, he remembers the woman growing super large on screen]

[She realizes this is something that Jonathan wouldn't be able to explain well since the dead were the ones who remember seeing outside of the Base and how the inside of Ivy's body looked like a regular place.]

We were shrunk down so we'd fit and we didn't even know it until we'd escaped, even though we supposedly agreed to this.

[oh.

oh...]

Suddenly that video makes a lot more sense.

[sort of??? not really???]

Do you know who the Parasite is, then? I think it was a kid with weird hair.

Probably Halley, though it's antennae, not weird hair. She's part virus, part human and looks about 8.

[Her tone gets a bit protective sounding. All the strangers from the Base would gladly stab for Halley's sake now, that's what murderfamily is for.]

[he holds up his hands placatingly]

S-sorry! I didn't mean to offend.

[he saw that in the video, as well, all the Strangers comforting the Parasite. though, how is someone part human, and part virus?]

(no subject)

illusionarymelody - 2020-02-12 03:41 (UTC) - Expand

Oyo?

[There was another person with antennae? "Part virus, part human" could possibly just have been a misunderstanding, as far as she knows...]

So you just saw....scenes from all the places we all came from? But without actually seeing any of us?

Well, there were always 15 strangers in each "game." It was mostly, like, shadow puppets? Sort of. But I could at least pick out someone licking a door and getting in the last blow on Fear in Act 4.

Wah-! Why would they keep that part in there?!

[he's only teasing, and that was just one part out of many. sure, it made an impression, but maybe Osomatsu should tell Arthur the more relevant parts?]

The common theme in all the videos is there're, like, these spores, that enter people, and slowly make them go crazy. It started in Act 1. Something was awakened, after the Sapiarch tore up her reality. She created a powerful monster. And even though the 15 strangers defeated the Sapiarch, it was too late to stop those spores from spreading.

I think the Stewards had spores in them, too.

[not that that changes how Osomatsu feels about those guys]

Spores, huh....gross. [Still....thoughts bounce around in his head like so many marbles. And he really might need to watch these for himself.]

....like a......blight?

[Excuse him while he galaxy brains. And glances at Karma and Kurama]

Wouldn't that just be restricting people even more-lun?

Your guess is as good as mine-lun!

[...all right, she's laughing now.]

You said "lun," too-lun.