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

[touchsensors]

[Gonna follow for a few steps and then fall to her knees for a moment. She feels a little sick after that, actually.]

[cuteandinnocentpet]

Kyuu~?

[what’s wrong~]

[touchsensors]

Don't tell anyone I get motion sickness-lun.

[Not that there's any evidence Kyuu tells anyone anything ever. She stands back up and starts following again.]

[cuteandinnocentpet]

Kyuu~!

[With that it turns and keeps walking.]

[touchsensors]

Lun!

[So what does this place look like, anyway?]

[cuteandinnocentpet]

[It's a massive office space, from the looks of it. There's no one manning them, and yet Lala can hear the sounds of typing, of machines working, of card punchers grinding. It's as if there is a whole arm, all invisible, in this spot.

It is...very unsettling.]

[touchsensors]

[Shows what you know! This is exactly what offices are like on Saman!

No, not really. It's creepy as hell.

Is it just sound, or do the machines appear to be running (on their own, presumably)?]

[cuteandinnocentpet]

[The machines are running.]

[touchsensors]

[That's slightly less creepy than the alternative but still Kinda Weird.]

Where are we going, Kyuu-lun?

[cuteandinnocentpet]

[Kyuu walks up to a wall, pausing at it, tilting its head.

Then, it bumps its head into it, causing it to slide open.]

Kyuu...

[touchsensors]

[Lala gives it a little pat, then looks into the strange new post-wall area they've discovered. What do we have here?]

[strangerpeople]

[A throne and a table.

It looks dilapidated, and the smell of rotted food fills the air.]

[touchsensors]

Oyo.

[Hm, she kinda wishes she could have found this without the motion sickness first. Or maybe, you know, not found rotten food to begin with.

Still, pinching her nose, she sets forth. Obvious things first: can she get an idea of how expansive this meal was supposed to be before someone decided to not eat it?]

[strangerpeople]

[There are three plates on the table, and one plate smashed on the floor.

The meal looks to be a turkey dinner, though only one of the plates has more than one or two bites taken out of it.]

[touchsensors]

[How about the throne, anything interesting about that? For one thing, is it pulled up to the table like someone was sitting in it to eat or is it further away?

No, she's not going to give the dinner a closer inspection. It's gross.]

[strangerpeople]

[Further away. It is bolted to the floor, after all. Or at least, the floor that is the platform it is raised onto.]

[touchsensors]

[Hmmm.

This platform. Does it look mobile?]

[strangerpeople]

[No.]

[touchsensors]

[How about the big fancy chair, anything cool about it besides being attached to the platform?]

[strangerpeople]

[There is a light above it, though it seems to have been turned off.]

[touchsensors]

[Hm, let's see if we can't find a switch.]

[strangerpeople]

[Nope. No switch.]