15strangers | WEE͠K ̸́4͝

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do I? Or is that just the pulsing of the system we're in? Everything beats here.

[he's putting a hand on his chest anyway. Hoping it's not synchronizing.]

I don't know, do they have heartbeats?

I'm a robot, so I never had one to begin with.

[Real helpful there, Proto.]

No pulse here. Not for a long time.

[Alright, well in that case, here's a brief sigh of relief as he puts his hand down at the same time. Although he's still not sure how to process this information.]

I'm sorry.

[He shrugs.]

It's been seven or eight months, maybe? Time is weird there. So I've kind of gotten used to it. I don't like it, but...

[He can't do anything about it right now.]

[It occurs to Eric that he's basically surrounded by zombies right now. The undead. Some instinct inside of him triggers, his eyes glowing for a second and then fading as he gets a hold of himself. Don't do anything crazy, Eric, that's stupid. But he has to be honest here.]

I-I don't like it either, honestly. I need to think about this...

As long as you're careful and don't get killed, you'll have a while.

I'm not gonna die. I-I'm not. People know I'm useful. Somehow.

See, we have no idea.... [Eric that's just one dude.]

I already didn't have a heartbeat when I woke up here, and I never gained any facsimile of one.

W-Well, that could have just been because they're all trying to trick us.

But, I believe you. Everyone else thinks so too. I know I'm stupid, but this is so weird.

No...

Okay... then....

[He tries to calm down. To think.

It's not really his forte, though.]

Ugh! It still doesn't make any sense how you can just drive here! Seriously, what the hell is going on? Is this what it was like in the Mall?

I can't say what it was like on the other side there... This was my first time- dying. [ looking to Kurama actually... since he could probably give better comparisons here ] We were only on the same side of things after the big fight.

[Kurama takes Akira's hand and also takes a steadying breath before speaking.]

It was different in the Mall. We were in the same physical space as the living but on a different frequency.

We could see and hear them normally, but we couldn't affect the living outside of very limited ways. They couldn't see us, hear us, feel us... anything.

[Maybe squeezing Akira's hand a bit harder now.]

[oh... that's... sad. He would hate that, it sounds like being a regular ghost. Nothing like this, but maybe he should zero in on something more easy to talk about AND more relevant to his interests.]

Frequency? That sounds kinda familiar.... what do you mean?

Edited 2020-02-19 21:28 (UTC)

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.

[.........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?

That almost sounds like quantum signatures-lun.

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

(no subject)

byanyother_name - 2020-02-19 22:51 (UTC) - Expand

touchsensors - 2020-02-19 23:08 (UTC) - Expand

poorlovefool - 2020-02-19 22:57 (UTC) - Expand

touchsensors - 2020-02-19 23:26 (UTC) - Expand

[ He squeezes Kurama's hand in return, and then leans to whisper into his ear. ]

But we're together now. That's what matters most.

[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.

[ 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.

I don't have one-lun.

Lalaaaaa... [he already has been told so now he's just going to be sad about it]