WEE͠K ̸́4͝

[strangerpeople]

W҉͘E͜͠͝E̕K̡̛͡ ̡͟4̸

[The blight is all-consuming.

Within days dozens are confirmed infected, and you and your unexpected new scientist friend find yourselves trying to work on a cure. If not a cure, a stopgap of some kind. Anything to prevent this thing from destroying everything. It's hard work. It's not going very well. Really, it feels like with every step forward, you're taking ten steps back. Discouraging is an understatement, to say the least.

A week passes, and the death toll rises. It's really starting to look bleak. You constantly second-guess yourself, and even get into a fistfight with your new ally one night. It's getting to the point where you are working on fumes.

Then, unexpectedly, you get a phone call. It's been a long night, and the sun is beginning to rise above the mountains, when it happens.

You and the scientist are not the only ones looking for a cure. In fact, there are at least a dozen others-and they think they may be close to a breakthrough.

But-and you can't believe you're hearing this, after all of the failure you'd experienced throughout this blight-they need your help.]


---


[To say that the end of last week sucked would be an understatement. To say that no one knows what this week will bring is not even in question. Yet even as you wake, you feel a cloud lift from your mind, as one of the truths you've been living with since the beginning has suddenly changed.]




[But is it possible to abide by this new truth? The Hosts, and IT beyond, seem intent on making that impossible. And the rat...well. Obviously the rat's not an ally. Let's not kid ourselves.

There's only one way to find out if more deaths can truly be prevented-and that's to keep going, and hoping that the new floor that has opened up will offer something in the way of an opportunity.

In the meantime.


There are 11 strangers left in this place.]

Comments

[poorlovefool]

Oh... sorry. Well, then...

Um, what did you search in the void?

[byanyother_name]

It's... This would be easier with paper and a pen.

[Kurama draws three invisible lines in the air with one finger.]

As I understand it, it's all vibratory frequencies to an extent. There were three in play at the Mall.

The Realground, where the normal people not involved in the game were at a supposedly normal mall and could only see effects we had on the physical objects there.

The Underground, where the dead played the Reaper's Game. We could see the living and the civilians but couldn't interact with either, though we could affect the physical mall. We picked a few locks for the living, and fought the Noise.

The Strangerground, where the killing game was played. The living could not see or touch the people on either of the other frequencies but they could be affected by the Noise or Imprinting.

[touchsensors]

...I don't really know you very well-lun.

[And she's therefore not entirely sure why she's speaking up.]

But you helped me and told me not to give up-lun. So I won't-lun. And I won't give up on you either-lun.

[incendiarize]

I'm just guessing, at this point, all I can do is put information together. [Do you wanna see his notes--]

[icanhearscreams]

Probably. All I can do is be stubborn as hell and annoy the dumb girl who's doing this 'Reaper's Game' thing but not too much.

...mods? Lenga? Both/all?

[backuphero]

Glad you can hope there'll be a later for both of us... ugh, forget I said that! It's a date!

[Not the best phrasing, with the grin he's got forced onto his face right now, but it's not like he did something cheesy and winked or anythi -

Oh. Oh dear. It was a reflex! IT WAS A REFLEX - why is his sense of humor like this - somehow, Hiyori ignoring him to keep needling at Caleb feels safer right now than the alternative.

Plus, if he's focused on talking to Caleb, that means he's not focused on his axe. (Maybe. Hopefully.) Heading his way and trying to yank it away with the whip would be simple under normal circumstances, but this definitely isn't normal....]

[byanyother_name]

[For just a second, Kurama's breathing pattern falters, slides a little too close to a too-familiar rhythm, but it steadies again as he focuses on his boyfriend's words. On the hand holding his.

On the fact that they are together again, instead of on the fact that they were parted.]

It is. I love you.

[incendiarize]

Sounds worthwhile to me! She deserves it!

[beguiledcard]

[ If he had a heartbeat, it probably would have started racing...

But he gives a relieved smile at the words. ]

I love you, too. Let's fight our way back to Goro - together.

[poorlovefool]

[.........He understands maybe half of this.]

S-So basically, if you're on a different frequency, you can be in the same place but hidden?

[that's the important part right? The rest is whatever.]

How do you change frequencies?

[mermaidkin]

Oh, Akira Kurusu can still fight! What a huge comfort that is! Given his track record of... Defending himself and making the trial very easy!

[incendiarize]

..... probably waves of the same howling darkness that nearly got me when I saw IT.

[touchsensors]

A school-lun. Someone had drawn a lot of grapevines on one of the chalkboards-lun. It went past the borders onto the walls-lun.

[beguiledcard]

[ That just gets a smirk. ]

Maybe you should take notes from some of the people I've managed to defeat - their insults and goading were way better. Cute try though... Maybe... 4 out of 10? 5?

[comesaround]

[ That gets SUCH a snicker out of Karma. Looks like he didn't need his help at all. ]

[touchsensors]

[WHY THIS WHY THIS WHY THIS]

[poorlovefool]

We found some bullshit about grapes too... on a chalkboard in the winery. We think it's kind of metaphor for the multiverse.

[touchsensors]

That almost sounds like quantum signatures-lun.

[lala here with your daily dose of useless technobabble taken directly from star trek]

[comesaround]

...I AM hanging out with them, or I was before you interrupted us. So why would I consider those options of yours?

[ He can't help but laugh a little, almost seeming at ease again, if not for the fire in his eyes right now. ]

There's no need to be so grim. I'm not accepting anything that has to do with IT... and besides.. [ A hum and he taps a finger against the pocket he's been keeping his knife in. ] Tell me, Hiyori. Do you remember what it was like to be a normal human who has real, honest friends that weren't given to you while being a brainwashed puppet?

[ In a way that's sort of implying they're not really friends, but hey. There's more to it, right? ]

Right. I'm sure if they want to fight, they'll get pretty creative in doing so. I wouldn't underestimate them, and i'm absolutely positive they don't fear you enough to hold back, either.

[byanyother_name]

[Um. Guess who really likes Star Trek? Kurama outright brightens a little.]

In some ways it does but I think frequency is less immutable than a quantum signature. Reapers and Composers can normally adjust their frequencies at will to interact with them, or even bridge multiple frequencies to interact with both at once.

[poorlovefool]

[Eric is just staring at that because he's the dumbest Zero Escape character. OH NO. QUANTUM MECHANICS, HIS NEMESIS]

[touchsensors]

Did yours go past the board too-lun?

[backuphero]

So, the stuff outside the barriers, then? That's... I don't like what this is starting to add up to... but hey, I'm bad at math, I could be wrong!

[relieable]

[he looks stunned upon seeing Emma and Franciscus, and... everyone? but let him... try to do the thing now. he's still in the doorway, after all.

so he grabs what he needs from his house, then walks over to Link and holds the tunic out for him]

You need to chill.

[beguiledcard]

[ Ah, he can't help cracking a genuine smile at Karma for that snickering. ]