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

[incendiarize]

[Arthur bolted to the door of Caleb's house, at the noise. A van.... Charles had said he'd send something, and those wings - and Kurama (hadn't Charles not known what was happening to the dead?), and



and everything goes silent and still like absolute zero.]


.............Emma......?

[Has time actually stopped? Is he breathing? He can't tell. He isn't aware as his feet start to move again, running toward her as fast as he can.]

Emma!

[hexposition]

[Guess who's distracted enough by all these people talking to her – especially her sister – that she doesn't actually have time to prepare?

Sooo chances are, if Arthur is coming in for a hug, he's going to tackle her right up against the van.]

Ah-!!

[...In time with the tick.

She will hug him, though, out of instinct, before responding in pure shock.]

Arthur?! What are you still doing here?!

[incendiarize]

[He's hugging, hugging tight. He's starved and never had a lot of muscle to begin with, but he has a lot of FEELINGS and that's basically the same thing, right? He might....be tearing up...]

Emma..... I-I'm sorry, I tried to-- I couldn't-- I should've focused on you instead, not that thing....

[Oh, wait. She asked questions, didn't she?]

I-I never made it back to Etria.

[hexposition]

[Emma is a witch. Why build up muscle when you can just spam magic at everything? That's how she's always lived her life... and un-life.]

No... no, no, no, Arthur, it's not your fault... there was nothing you could have done. [She's definitely tearing up herself, her hold around him tightening.] It already had me. I'm just glad you all could get rid of it before it could hurt any of you...

[Wait, hang on. He never went back?]

W-wait, did you just get dragged straight from the mansion to here?!

[She is, visibly and audibly, Fretting™ now.]

[incendiarize]

That....that thing was what was causing all the hallucinations and everything, and the Stewards wanted us to turn into things like that - Eric was closest...

[He doesn't know how much he has to tell her. Those wings. Reapers, that's what Charles said, right? So she's still dead, like Kurama? He listens for a heartbeat.]

Excalibur took us to a pub in another time, but after like two hours I woke up here.

[hexposition]

[Unfortunately, Arthur, there is none to be found. She still breathes, ever in time with the beat of the city, but without a heartbeat it's unclear whether or not she has to.]

But you didn't, right? Not even him?

[Aww, look, she didn't actually completely hate him. Mostly.]

Have... have you been okay here, at least? I know you're not safe, but unharmed, at least? ...Able to eat?

[incendiarize]

[....So she is. But that's okay, right? She's here and breathing and speaking and almost alive.]

No, none of us did. And we killed them, both of them, and left the island before the other guy got there.....that world has a new future, and they built a big statue of me, and everything...

[His power can be a curse, but sometimes gives him nice things. Like that. That was a nice thing.]

I'm okay. M-My power's been kicking in randomly a lot more, and there's..... But there's been food......except I don't trust any of it, it's not souls this time but it's weird....Caleb's been making me eat a little, though.

[hexposition]

[Okay, the big statue news has her smiling, even if her eyes are full of tears still.]

A big statue, huh? After what you pulled off, I'd say it's well-deserved. [She squeezes him just a little tighter.] Like I said... you don't have to apologize to me. You did amazing, Arthur.

[And with that, she'll rest her head against his.]

...Please eat. I understand why you'd be concerned, if it's anything like what we've had, but it's not healthy for you to be getting this thin. Especially after what we went through in the mansion, you can't just keep starving yourself.

[incendiarize]

Yeah, really big. Like, bigger than the buildings!

[He's not sure about amazing, but he certainly did something. And the six of them got out of there, and maybe the other nine are basically okay too...]

It's-- all the food tastes like sand. The water too. A-and there's pills, but the Hosts eat those and are all mind-controlled-y, but the food might have something to do with the brainwash stuff too...I don't wanna give IT any wiggle room.

[hexposition]

[You murdered the Big Bad out of sequence, Arthur. Shut up and accept the compliment.]

What I remember from the carnival did, too, so I imagine it's the same... still, we don't have to eat anymore.

You do. I don't want to see you where we were.

[There is a part of her that wants to add on something about this "Caleb" having the right idea and to trust in him at least for that, but the words die in a spasm of static.

Anyway, maybe now is a good time for other people to jump in and poke at Emma? Not that she's letting Arthur go, mind, but. She's at least calming down enough she might be able to hold multiple conversations.]

[incendiarize]

[listen sequence-breaking isn't ic knowledge]

Carnival? You were at a carnival? [...] Fear couldn't break me. This won't either.

[hexposition]

We've been through a couple of places, now, but yes, at one point. [Tick, sigh.] It was about as creepy as you'd expect a dead carnival to be. Almost got swallowed up by something, [well, more like Nothing, but that's really hard to word,] too, but managed to make it out of there before waking up where we were before coming here.

[byanyother_name]

[Hey, so, about poking Emma. Kurama understands reunions are very engrossing but he is getting Really Concerned.

Especially since he's not sure she's noticed she's in beat with the ticking.]

Emma, please be careful. You're breathing and moving with the ticks and that is IT's rhythm. It's not safe.

[hexposition]

—Eh?

[Still in time.]

...I am? Ah... I'm sorry, I'll try not to...

[And she does make an attempt now to try to manually desynchronize herself, but it seems like despite her struggling, her body is working against her a little.

...That's probably not good.]

[icanhearscreams]

... Oh. Hey, Arthur.

['Sup, doorlicker.]

[incendiarize]

Hey, Jun.

[Not much, just intensifying his shounen spirit.]

[icanhearscreams]

... Are you... uh. Okay?

[He wasn't super friendly with people so this is hard!]

[incendiarize]

....mostly? [Kinda starved, kinda been through hell, you know.] A lot's happened. What about you?

[icanhearscreams]

... Honestly? Even though there's a bunch of floating stuff around us? Bored.

Not all that many books, no TV, no computers... being dead is boring. No wonder there's so many ghost stories - they're probably bored as hell.

[incendiarize]

The teevees are bad anyway. They do brainwash-y things.

That's not what I'd expect, but....Boring's kinda underrated, after all of this. Makes sense about the ghost stories, though.

[icanhearscreams]

Yeah. Other people say some of the things floating around remind them of places that were either in their round of events or from home, but I don't recognize any of it.

[incendiarize]

Huh....so there's nothing from the mansion there? I guess maybe it makes sense? With the time weirdness and all, maybe the mansion got demolished in whichever timeline.

[icanhearscreams]

Not that I could see... but it's strange that it's excluded.

[incendiarize]

Hmmm.... Well Atsushi said Rachel's there. And Rachel directly caused the mansion stuff.... Maybe that has something to do with it?

[icanhearscreams]

... I don't know. You'd have a better idea than me. It's been a while for me, so some of the exact details of the information has kind of... you know.

[He can only remember so much for so long.]