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

[relieable]

[ah! okay!]

Only one play, huh? Guess I better make it count.

[so, yes. he presses the button to get it going]

[strangerpeople]

[Like it was with Vita before, this game... kinda sucks. It's a little shooter game with a little vector spaceship and all sorts of fun shapes... but oh, god, the colors. And things just keep flashing, and...

Mind the oncoming pounding headache, Osomatsu!

But at the same time, this game is weirdly addictive. Even with the pounding head and maybe even a little stomach churning, it's like the cabinet is compelling him to play.

And every once in a while, those flashes actually look a bit like... words. It's not going to be easy to catch them, but he can maybe get a couple:

OBEY

WORSHIP

CONNECT

So, keep playing for a high score or fight the game's pull, Osomatsu?]

[relieable]

[Osomatsu is but a simple man. and this arcade game is the most fun he's had here, aside from being a scythe.

so he will keep playing for a while, not really minding the flashing words. he does vaguely wonder why shapes? is this a math game? is he killing math? ...that's his new headcanon for the game]

[strangerpeople]

[Wow, Osomatsu. Enjoy the massive hangover you're going to have after this, and you didn't even get to drink! The worst.

He gets a couple more words out of it:

ABANDON FLESH

but eventually, he has to die. Sorry, Osomatsu, but even if you kept up with playing, something this old would probably just kill screen you eventually.

Which... actually seems to happen, sort of, when what should be the score entry tries to pop up.

Instead, everything just kind of garbles up for a second before just making a loud tone like it's stalling out. Or is it? It seems to be changing a little, but it's kind of hard to make out, and even if Osomatsu were to try it'd probably just make him vomit all over the machine. Please don't puke on Polybius, no one wants that "data."

The noise eventually stops, but the screen fills with more text. This time, it just seems frozen:

01011001 01000101 01010010 01000111 00100000 01001100 01001100 01000101 01010111 01010011 01001111 01010010

He can smash the keys or kick the machine all he wants, it's going to be stuck this way for a while.

Looks like that's it! Want to maybe go play Double Dragon? ...Or maybe he should just get some water and lie down. This sort of headache and nausea can't be good.]

cw: intense motion sickness

[relieable]

[now that the game has stopped, Osomatsu realizes that he is... insanely sick. he takes several steps back when the machine starts to make that noise, falling on his butt. he wants to loose the contents of his stomach, and he might. eventually. but not here.

he stops, panting, staring at the jumble of text. he... he knows that's binary, but he has no way of knowing what it says]

N-Not even a scoreboard? You bastards...

[he will come back to this... later... right now, he's trying to move, wobbling towards the door, groping at the walls and trying to stand up again]