WEEK 2: April 8th - April 12th

[cartesio]

Second Week

Seven days have passed. Quite peaceful days, almost too peaceful. The town has welcomed you, excited to see tourists for the first time in many, many, many years. Some may have liked the peace, others may have been annoyed by it, but it was undeniable Cartesio seemed like such a nice and safe place it was hard to believe you had been told to kill each other.

But the threat is still up in the air. What's more: how much patience does the Sergeant have left?

Every time you take a look into the Lodge, you see the Sergeant. Lately he's looking more and more annoyed. Even though you can't see his face, you can feel he's getting frustrated. How long will it be before he lashes out and does something about these peaceful days?

Nobody in the town could suspect the harrowing times that'd befall Cartesio.

When you wake up on Sunday, you'll find new maps in the map rack and brochures on the table, showing places you hadn't noticed in the town before. Enjoy!

Links

IC Rules
Guestbook
Room Assignments
Events
Locations
NPCs
Activity Check

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

[Welcome to the second week! If you want to contact the Sergeant, please post here!. Also please remember to submit your activity check!]

Comments

[burgerprince]

[This morning, Jughead heads out pretty early towards the diner, sitting in what is now his usual spot by the window, overlooking the door. He looks pretty deep in thought, writing in his notebook.

This is the story of a town. A small town. No, no - he already did that. He can't be boxing himself into a creative corner already.

This is a story of strangers. Thirty newcomers to a town...

Around him are the torn pages from his notebook, some with details of the past events, some with peoples' names on them, and several small details.

He's in there for a good long while, working and eating, but eventually he stretches his legs to go to the abandoned building and check it out some. He walks around with some care, but perhaps not enough for how fragile the place looks, and heads up to the second floor. No prizes for guessing what happened here.]

Looks like someone needed a party on fire safety.

Diner

[integratedsoul]

[ Cian's been seeing Jughead around the diner a lot when she comes in to eat but she's never really made move to talk to him. After all, his profile does say he dislikes most people... but also, Cian really is starting to like having 'people who dislike people' as conversation partners again. Which means she should really take her chances for a chat here. All that writing looks interesting too!! ]

Oh, you're writing down our story...?

[burgerprince]

Trying to.

[Jughead twiddles the pen between his fingers. He’s not very far in yet, but if anything good can come of this situation it’s that there’s a good story beneath it all.]

I was hoping for a thematic departure from my last work, less murder this time.

[A flat expression.]

We’ll see how that works out.

[integratedsoul]

We can only try our best to make your tale a happy one then.

[ Cian attempts what is supposed to be an optimistic smile. ]

Why was the last one about murder?

[burgerprince]

[You can try optimism right now, Cian, but the look Jughead has is completely devoid of it.]

Because my muse was a town, and that town got shaken up by one.

[integratedsoul]

[ Cian kind of wants to ask what it is like, to experience a murder so close-by. Maybe it would be good to know for future reference... But also, that's not the kind of question she should just dump on someone. ]

Do you only write about real events then?

abandoned building

[linearcrash]

[ He's just really lost again when he spots movement in the building. Just going to head in and look around. ]

Hey, someone in here?

[ He's half expecting it's Creeper McSargebutt, but he sees it's just some nerd up in the second floor. ]

The hell? What are you looking for?

[burgerprince]

[Jughead looks over to him with a flicker of judgement.]

Not sure. That’s the point of investigating.

[When there’s a big derelict building in the middle of town you kind of want to know what’s up with that.]

What’re you doing here? You don’t look like the type to get your kicks from the decaying corpses of small-town business.

[linearcrash]

[ Oh hey, he was kid of missing judgemental looks.

Also excuse you. ]

Huh? What the hell does that mean?

[ He's not sure if it's a good thing or not that he doesn't look like that type. ]

[burgerprince]

[He tilts his head a little from side to side.]

‘Tresspassing for fun’ doesn’t seem like your idea of a good time.

[He pauses.]

But I’ve been wrong before.

[He could cite Betty as a source for never judging by appearances.]

So, am I?

[linearcrash]

[ He lifts his hand and shakes it while talking. ]

No no no. You're right. It's just how you said it, yo.

[ Crossing his arms. It sounded like an insult or something. ]

I thought maybe that Sarge bastard was sneaking around.

diner

[yonosoymaria]

[Well, isn't this a familiar sight... granted, not so familiar as it might have been if he'd been in Paris a decade later, but a writer at work in a cheap restaurant, surrounded by scrap paper... it's nostalgic. It's nostalgic enough that Eric isn't subtle in pausing to peer at the pages, and he isn't subtle enough to hide a little surprised sound at the sight of his own name.

And there's no recovering from that, so - ]

Yes, "seriously". What reason would there be for a lie?

[burgerprince]

Where I come from, ‘vampire hunting’ isn’t something you see outside of movies or classic video games.

[You can practically hear those air quotes.]

You can’t blame me for some skepticism. I appreciate the confirmation, though.

[He’s just going to underline that “seriously”, giving it some weight.]

So, what, are you a Van Helsing type or...?

abandoned building

[robitussin]

[Natalie's prone to wandering around as well, especially when she gets as restless as this town makes her; that's why she's entering the second floor of the building in time to hear him.]

Sakura said at her meeting thing that someone set a fire in the town when they were here before us, right? Maybe that's why it's extra crispy in here.

[burgerprince]

[Oh, hey, he turns to her as she speaks, only a little surprised that someone heard him.]

That she did.

[He says it with a slow nod, looking around.]

So we have a case of arson here. [Running with this connection, and not assuming there’d be two separate incidents in the same town. Which...isn’t too unlikely thinking about it, but still.] Question is, why just leave it here?

[robitussin]

[She thinks about it for a moment, but none of the answers that cross her mind seem compelling enough to her. After a moment:]

Maybe he just didn't care enough to fix it. Or maybe he couldn't.

[burgerprince]

[He gives an approving nod at the suggestions, and takes a few slow steps around, surveying the burnt walls.]

Or...what if he meant to leave it here? Like a sign. Make some kind of point.

[pecker]

[Niwa typically takes her meals to go, although there may or may not be a sparrow perched a little way outside that window peeking at his notes.

Does he notice?]

[burgerprince]

[At first, Jughead thinks nothing of it. It’s a town, there’s birds. Nothing too notable there.

When he looks out the window, and the sparrow is still there, his suspicions are raised. He double checks his notes - bird powers.

With a sigh, he writes something on a clean page, tears it out, and holds it up to the window.]

Staring is rude.

[pecker]

[Birds can't read, you silly man! at first it seems like it's not reacting, but a moment later it hops up the branch a bit. It still doesn't fly away. It sees him, but not his notes.

Niwa really doesn't need to confirm his suspicions either way. It's likely that he's bluffing just in case. But on the other hand, there really are plenty of birds, so maybe she's a little impressed he was keeping an eye out in the first place. And then, she can't overlook what was in the page he turned to as he checked. Useful, huh? Well... that's a little bit of a confidence booster, isn't it?

Well, he won't miss her since he still lives there, eventually she shows up, gets a glass of the famous orange juice, and after a moment where she appears a little nervous, swivels around on the barstool to face him.]

So... um. Was I really that obvious? Or did you just kinda guess?

[This isn't an apology.]

[burgerprince]

You just gave it away.

[When spying on people, it might be more effective to leave them wondering than speak to them afterwards. Jughead wasn’t sure, and was riding on a guess, but it seems it paid off.]

What can I do for you?

Diner

[cartesio]

[ Here's his usual, set down in front of him, with a smile, and... Well, it's a slow day. ]

You don't mind me saying, sweetie, you're in here a lot. I'm grateful for the patronage, but shouldn't you be out seeing more of the town?

[burgerprince]

[He takes his food with the unsaid thanks of a true patron, and holds off from tucking in just yet.]

Used to say that back home, too.

[Pop's was his home away from...well, he didn't have a home. Soon it just became a fact of life that Jughead would spend his evenings there instead of hitting the town like all the other teens, aside from when he worked the drive-in.]

I need somewhere to work, and this place has just the right atmosphere.

[Said with a smile- the highest compliment Jughead could give.]

[cartesio]

[ Aw, what a friendly young man. ]

Well, I can certainly appreciate a boy who knows what he likes. What are you working on, if you'd accept my asking?

[burgerprince]

[He takes a moment to consider the pitch.]

A companion piece to my previous work. A chronicle of the goings-on in a small town. Similar themes, different components.

[He'll refrain from going into the similarities in depth.]

Published it in the school paper, the blue and gold, before compiling it together. [and...there's a thought.] You know who runs the local paper?