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

[comesaround]

He sure did. Koro-sensei helped bring our class's grades up by a huge amount and improved our morale compared to where it'd been at the beginning of the year.

[ For what it was worth he seemed unphased talking about his awful school experiences now, as there was no use in sugar-coating how ridiculous things had been there. ]

By the end of it, I'd say our class actually got the respect it deserved.

[katzenpfote]

That's very good to hear.

... You know,when I was a little younger than you are now, I wanted to be a teacher.

[comesaround]

[ That was enough to make him stop short, blinking a bit and raising an eyebrow. ]

Really? Shame things didn't work out and you weren't able to, since you seem like a good teacher-type to me.

[katzenpfote]

Ja. Not every teacher at that school was completely evil. Many of them were not archmages, so there was a chance for even someone like me to teach. I did not want to leave the school and possibly go back to the little farming town I was from. I wanted to stay in the capitol, keep learning, keep researching...

[It almost hurts to think about now, but he was so joyous and ambitious then...]

[comesaround]

I can only imagine. Think you'd have turned out the way you are now if you'd have become a teacher instead?

[ It's a genuine and honest question after all. ]

[katzenpfote]

If I hadn’t caught Ikithon’s eye? Probably. ... I would still be power-hungry, though that’s not as uncommon among wizards as it probably should be. I would have done something incredibly immoral eventually. I would not have turned into an executioner, but the academy is still somewhat... it treats anyone other than humans, elves, and half-elves as second-class citizens.

... I probably would have ended up ‘testing new spells’ on them. And I specialized in evocation. Also known as “the magic mostly known for blowing stuff up and setting it on fire”. I was very interested in more power and pushing the envelope. And the fact that while I missed home I was mostly glad for getting to leave a ‘shithole town’.

... So I am glad I have mostly shed all of that, though it still doesn’t justify the horrible things I did.

[comesaround]

[ This is honestly quite riveting to listen to and as such does keep his attention pretty damn well. It was kinda akin to hearing someone read something out of a novel, but this was actually a real thing Caleb had legitimately experienced in his life. ]

I suppose it doesn't, but... our pasts do make us who we are today. They're a part of you, but it says something to at least how you acknowledged the things you did. [ A small sigh escaped him and he did frown just a slight bit, though it didn't stop him from smiling once more. ] Your honesty IS appreciated all the same. Weird how bad things could have turned out, isn't it?

[ A pause. There was a part that had been said before that he couldn't help but comment on. ]

That academy kinda sounds like what my school did, what with how the rest of the school looked down on Class 3-E. Treated us like 'examples' to the rest of the school with their perfect grades and made a point of emphasizing how we were lesser compared to them. To that school, we were nothing. They even had us attending classes on this campus on the mountain behind the school so we wouldn't have to 'mingle' with the rest of them.

[katzenpfote]

... I gave up trying to hide my past in these sorts of games. It comes out eventually. I am sorry that you were treated so badly. I am glad your teacher seemed to make up for it.

I... I would have been happier at the Academy, but I think... I think I would have been a worse person. So it's not really... clear... what the trade off would be.

I... might see, one day.