The Fifteen Strangers Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strangerpeople) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
15strangers2020-02-09 12:08 pm
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2020-02-09 12:08 pm
W̧E̷E̡̕K ͡3̴
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.]
no subject
Oyo? Where's this happening-lun?
no subject
[Said in the most serious voice as “Cat”!Bruno Mars slams his hand against a jukebox to start it up.]
I recommend you shield your eyes to prevent yourself from being further scared mentally.
[Him? He’s too far gone.]
no subject
Oh, they're just in costumes-lun.
no subject
[KING NO YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO EXPLAIN THAT TOO-]
no subject
[Lala has no idea where Uncanny Valley is or what it has to do with anything, but fortunately she understands the concept of CGI well enough.]
no subject
Not to mentions what the story is from...
[He shakes his head, like he disapproves of the movie’s very existence.]
no subject
[That's what comes to mind for her first, anyway.]
no subject
[He sighs as he looks at the screen, trying to disassociate the movie with his memories.]
Back where I’m from? This wasn’t a secret. This was a headline. And not a pretty one.
[He’ll pause, waiting to hear if Lala really wants to hear this. He won’t blame her if she doesn’t.]
no subject
Did they look like this, or like regular cats-lun?
[Evidently she does. Or thinks she does, anyway.]
no subject
[Just. Immediate.]
Do you...need an example, for what they look like? Because where I'm from, most animals are...anthropomorphic, I think is the word. They talk and walk on two legs.
[Does she need and example, or does that explanation suffice?]
no subject
[She thinks she gets the idea!]
I know about planets like that-lun. The planet I was thinking of is a little different, though-lun.
no subject
[And he'll just ignore the bit about another planet because, honestly? A planet with "cats" like that is not something he wants to think about.]
So, do you want me to explain the story, or...?
[Again, he is perfectly fine not saying anything if Lala doesn't want to hear it, but he should ask, at least.]
no subject
Why so racist against Planet Rainbow, King?]Lun.
[She's nodding, so apparently that's a yes lun, not a generic space filler lun.]
CW: Cults
His only example of the planet is this movie that is literally the worst first impression possibleHe sighs, but speaks.]
It was a long time ago. Back before I was even born. A couple of cats in this one neighborhood decided they'd do something special. Make their mark on the world. They decided they'd do it by founding a religion of some sort. They called themselves Monic Cats. They'd sing a lot, and once a year, they'd have a get-together to decide who would...ascend.
They got popular fast. Really fast. To the point there were Monic Cats in near by towns. They were loved by a lot, and even humans seemed to like it, calling it cute and imaginative.
Then...they took in an honorary Monic Human, and when the time came, he was chosen to ascend. That's when people found out what ascending really meant.
Around that time, when cats were chosen to ascend...a cat would always go missing. Without a trace, like they just ceased being.
Turned out, to the Monic Cats, ascending was killing your own members, thinking they'd go to Heaven.
The guy managed to get out alive, and they were able to get most of the cats that'd either killed or were gone far enough to not give up the whole thing, but...when people found out, it really shook them up, you know? That a cult could just grow like that, under everyone's noses, and that it took one rogue "member" for people to finally see it.
…sorry for the sad story, it's just...there's not many bright sides to what happened. And seeing a movie that's more or less the Monic Cats' better years? It kind of ruffles my fur.
[Just seeing this-the smiles on the "cats'" faces when that stuff is brought up...it makes him feel sick.]
Re: CW: Cults
O...oyo.
[What the fuck.]
no subject
Sorry if I scared you. I'm pretty sure the entire group is gone now. The movie just...brought back bad memories.
no subject
no subject
[Like an evil corporation that prefers the “easy” way of getting rid of toxic waste.]