December 8th, 2017; 11:36 AM.
The next day, you are greeted with Big Top coming up to you and saying, with a very serious tone, that he needed to talk to you privately in your house. Once in the house, he pulls up his sleeve to reveal that a part of his arm had... well, it was multiple colors. Where once was the hide of an elephant there was a mixture of bunny fur, cat fur, and alligator scales. You yelp and knock the things off your table in your house, including the sparse bag you arrived with, and everything in the bag came crashing to the floor.
"Binyot... ya are the ah, carrier of this weird thing, aren't you? Weren't ya from Vinetown?" Big Top asks.
You are hyperventilating; you thought you could handle this! Why did everything you touch turn to shi...take mushrooms?! Before you can really stop yourself, the truth comes out of you like a gushing waterfall; about Vlinny, about you, about your curse, about how you thought this town was abandoned, how you failed to leave when you realized it wasn't because everyone was so nice and you couldn't let them down....
After a while, Big Top raises a hand. "Ah, Bizhawk as ya see it is kind of new." he says softly. "I'm not surprised ya old mayor didn't know that this place had 'a been re-populated since tha 12 or so years it's been abandoned."
"Wait, you believe me?" You ask.
"Normally I'd think ya'd be full 'a lies, tellin' me 'bout aliens and such," Big Top replied. He then reached down and picked something up. "You are lucky that, ah, ya bag dropped this." He then hands you what he had picked up. It was a handheld device; it looked like the pad portion of a Wii U. However, it had clearly been modified with electronics clearly not of this world; little loose pieces seemed to poke out of the framing. Vlinny must have slipped it into his bag before he left, but what was it for? Your eyes catch on a note hanging half out of the bag, and you pull it out and read it.
Hi Binyot! :>
Sorry I had to slip this into your bag without knowing. I had one of my entourage do it without the mind link between us active, so my queen won't know what I've done. I know you'll be lonely, so I decided to give you at least someone to talk to. I mean, hey, you probably would rather not talk to me after the whole 'keeping the fact that I was an alien' fact from you, but it's better than sitting in a tent all by yourself for a year with no one to talk to but yourself.
If you ever need someone to talk to, press the power button on this modified pad, make sure the anntenna is up all the way, and then put in this code: 5B00-000F-78EB. That should patch me to you, and I'll make sure to answer you if I can! :> Stay safe, Binyot.
Vlinny
You finish the letter, and then you hear a loud "ERROR" from Big Top's mouth. You look up to see him shivering.
"Sorry, ah... I can't a.... control that." He looks nervously at you. "Do ya... have that happen to ya too?"
You tell him yes to make him feel a bit better. It seems to help, him thinking that you are just a victim as he is. You can't appease your mind, however. This is your fault.
December 8th, 2017; 1:42 PM.
You feel your sins crawling on your back, and to take your mind off of what had transpired earlier today, you visited the new model homes that were around two miles away from the town. They were decorated by people who lived in other towns, as a model of their own houses. Happy Home Acadamy, the organization that you had apparently signed up for when you bought the house, ran it; if your house was nice enough, they would make a model of it here. You think about the bag of chips on the floor back home and wince. You weren't going to have a model home any time soon.
You turn in the plaza, and his red, curly hair assaults your eyes almost immediately. With a twirl, he takes your arms and starts singing, dancing you around. He then lets go of your arms and smiles. "Ah, sorry! I just got carried away, I think... I'm Thandion!"
"I'm, ah... Binyot." You reply.
"It's very nice to meet you, Binyot. You are very handsome, by the way," He says, then he snaps his fingers as if he forgot something, and reaches into his pockets and presses something into your hands. It's a blue balloon.
"A-ah, thanks..." You stammer out. You aren't sure what to make of this guy as he turns and leads you to the houses, talking excitedly about his roommates (His partner, and a mysterious guy he offered lodging to a year ago in another town.) When you hear about his partner being a doctor, you stop.
"Uh, is your partner knowledgeable about rare diseases?" You ask Thandion.
"Oh, probably. He knows a lot!"
"Do you think I could schedule an appointment with him?"
You were able to get a same-day appointment with Thandion's partner. He was a doctor, but he didn't look like what you expected. He'd gotten early experience healing people on battlefields, Thandion had told you earlier. You had asked him to stay with you during the visit. You barely knew him, but you couldn't help but trust him either; and it was better to make small-talk with him then sit in the waiting areas having panic attacks.
When you had explained your illness and how it manifested, Dr. Edomir had put his hands on his chin for a few minutes, brow furrowing.
He then looked up at Thandion. "Can you leave us for a few moments?" He asked gingerly. Thandion opened his mouth to say something, probably a question of why, but Edomir blinked twice and looked directly at him. A conversation seemed to happen between the two just with their eyes, and Thandion nodded and left the room.
It was a few moments before the Doctor spoke again. "I'm sending a field doctor to that area to help contain the spread of it. This is the same strain that affected Vinetown, so him and I have dealt with it before."
"You have?"
"Yes. You lived in Parkfeld before, yes? We were able to stop most of the spread there and save it. Unfortunately we arrived too late to help Vinetown..." He blinks. "You existing fills in a lot of holes for us, actually. It also creates more issues." He rummages around in the cabinets and pulls out a bag, placing it on your lap. "This is the prototype for an antidote for what you carry. It won't help you, but it should help your friend. It should stop the spread of it, though we haven't found a strong enough antidote to reverse the damage."
"...Do you think maybe I can help with that?" You ask.
"Most likely. That's why I'm sending Dr. Raddle to your area."
December 9th, 2017; 2:10 PM.
You didn't think Dr. Raddle would have moved in to BizHawk, much less this quickly. By the time you had awoken and delivered the medicine to Big Top, his house was sitting freshly-built in a remote section of town.
He introduces himself, and then goes over what him and Dr. Edomir had learned about your disease. Heearing about it made you ill. You couldn't get Scoot's face out of your head; or the thought of his rotting body on your carpet, probably still there...
You slip a few bells in the donation box for a new bridge, and are told that your contribution had paid for the bridge! You blink twice, and then a smile dons your face. Mitzi, nearby, hears and gives you a hug, laughing. "I've always wanted a bridge there! Oh my god! I'm so excited to see it when it's built and cross it and this'll make travel to and from the houses easier!!"
You can't help but be excited with her.
December 10th, 2017; 10:38 PM.
There's another plot set aside for a villager. Doctor Raddle sighs, but there isn't much he can do to stop the immigration; it's not as if him and Edomir have any real power. But you do, you realize. You tell Isabelle to only allow 10 villagers in. She tilts her head, but then nods. "You want to keep it a small community?" she asks.
"Yeah. For now. I am new to this, and I think... having less people as I start out would help."
There's a meteor shower tonight. You stare at the sky as not one, but two fall; you've never been a praying man, but you pray at them with a wish. You tell the star that you need something to help protect your villagers from you with. Something that you can use to save them somehow. Anything.
