WEEK THREE

[shimmermods]

THIRD WEEK

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While very few things have been made entirely clear since you've been here, one thing certainly seems to have been: there are no more survivors. There's no one else to watch out for, but there's no one that you're going to be able to save, either.

You are truly and utterly on your own.

With two of your number injured, it's likely that this isn't a welcome thought; it also means that the going may be slower than anyone would really like. Unfortunate, as this is where the hike starts becoming more difficult; it isn't particularly treacherous - there are no steep dropoffs or cliffs to be wary of, and it is still hiking more than climbing - but the paths are becoming steeper, requiring more exertion to traverse. It will give you time, however, to pay attention to your surroundings, and the way they start to shift around you - almost as though in response to your presence itself.

It's simple things at first - a familiar flower, a plant you used to see all the time back home. Perhaps it will even feel nostalgic for a moment before you realize that it has no business being here. Some of the changes are small - glasswing butterflies with wings the shades and colors of real stained glass, beetles with their hard backs glittering in jewel tones that serve no real purpose. Occasionally the bark of the nearby trees have cracked open, wood splitting to reveal inner mechanisms and gears like clockwork.

Some of the changes are reflected in you as well - or perhaps Wesker's words simply have you thinking too much. The notion that the Shimmer resides in you seems impossible; after all, you don't feel any different.

It begs the question, though.

Have your fingerprints always moved like that?

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY

code by vuvuzela

Comments

[instrumentalized]

Let's get into formation. Combat team, surround the more vulnerable party members. We may not get any readings, but in an area like this, it means nothing. Stay vigilant!

[ It's the return of self-declared leader Garma. Time to check this out and step in a little ? ]

[planetary_bonds]

Un.

[Nod of assent. He's not exactly a combat team member, but he does end up grouping closer to the front. Please don't get shot again, Garma.]

I and Grace can stay closer to the front, we can let you know if something strange comes up.

[Let's...fucking go???? heck yeah we're going]

[me_underfire]

[Grace stares at the reading on her radiation test, not entirely sure what to make of it.]

Well, it probably won't kill us immediately. I think.

[notjustawriter]

Or it'll kill us some other way.

[Sorry, Gracie.]

[pr159]

I think you still fall into the latter category for the time being.

[ Even if you're healing weirdly quickly... ]

[instrumentalized]

[ ... flinches. ]

It's healing up far faster than one would expect. I'll be careful, though.

[ He will be competent if it kills him, but he's going to at least make an effort so it... doesn't do that. ]

[notjustawriter]

...You too, huh?

[what the hell]

[instrumentalized]

[ .... ah. Well, this isn't unexpected, but still deeply questionable. ]

... we carry the Shimmer in us. I think Wesker wasn't lying about that.

[notjustawriter]

Didn't think unusually fast healing would be on the docket, to be honest.

[instrumentalized]

If it is actually trying to... advance us into something different, then it makes sense.

[notjustawriter]

Not to me.

My injuries didn't go away any faster than before when I was bitten.

[By what, he doesn't say. Naturally.]

[instrumentalized]

... when you what?

[ ???? ]

[shimmermods]

[The path seems forgiving, at less steep of an incline than the one you were previously on; there doesn't seem to be any immediate danger, just a way to go that's lined with more of those crystallized trees, surprisingly not winding at all but seeming to go on for a while in what's more or less a straight line.]

[planetary_bonds]

[okay stupid question

is it possible to break off a piece of the crystalline trees to sample it while they're walking

yusei's just used to being the guy who breaks off weird plant samples for his more research-inclined crewmates now]

[shimmermods]

[Some of the thinner pieces will break off with about the same amount of force required to snap glass - so maybe not with your bare hands, but if you take an object to them then go ahead. Just maybe warn people in your vicinity about the small shards of crystallized material that's going to be raining down? Or don't, it's your call.]

[planetary_bonds]

[yusei's kind of an ass who gets absorbed a little too much in work sometimes so he's . . . not gonna warn people i'm so sorry you have to deal with this man]

[me_underfire]

[Grace has to step back to avoid getting rained on.]

Can you try to be a little careful?

[blunders]

[She's right there with you, Grace, good gods--]

Please, a little warning would have been nice!

[shimmermods]

[Bruh.

That said, are we continuing onward once samples have been secured?]

[planetary_bonds]

[aye, aye, captain. we movin.]

Oh, er. Sorry.

[you could at least try to look sorry, yusei]

[shimmermods]

[Oh my god.

Well, whether he's sorry or not, continuing on will actually get them places; the path opens up eventually, the crystal trees arcing up overhead widening out and leading to a clearing dappled with sunlight that spills down from above, filtered through the Shimmer's light and landing softly on the ground below. The ground itself is nourished but devoid of fallen leaves, likely for obvious reasons; rather, it's overgrown with tall grass - enough so that the patches that aren't are extremely obvious. Those particular patches seem to be comprised of disturbed earth, as though it's been dug up recently.

There's also something that seems to be lying at the far end of the clearing - something massive and clearly organic in nature, though it doesn't seem to be moving or giving off any indication that it's alive.]

[planetary_bonds]

[oh boy!!! so many interesting things to look at!

well, let's kneel down at those patches of disturbed earth. Is there anything left behind in those patches? How big are these things, anyway? please don't tell him its more dug up graves]

[instrumentalized]

[ Garma meanwhile is, against all good sense, drawn to the big and exciting things, so... it's time to approve our friend the organic object slowly.

Can he make anything out as he inches closer? ]

[notjustawriter]

[Please don't let it be a body, please don't let it be a body...]

[skelkro]

[... thanks, yusei.

But hey Emma gets you, she wanted a sample of this stuff here anyway.]