WEEK 3: April 15th - April 19th

[cartesio]

Third Week

The peaceful times are over. Moloch von Zinzer was murdered, and Nine was sentenced as his murderer. Everyone in Cartesio knows that.

Although life goes on, it seems the town of Cartesio isn't going to forget the tourists' transgressions. Not only they commited larceny in the cinema, they also murdered and executed in their town! It's no surprise their hospitality towards the visitors has cooled down considerably.

Not only they're maintaining a tense cordiality with them, they also have started talking behind the visitors' backs. All kinds of rumors are starting to sprout, yet nobody seems to be willing to say it to the tourists' faces. Talking directly to most passerby makes them distrustful, and nobody seems to want to be in close quarters alone with them.

It's only matter of time before the relationship between tourists and Cartesio starts degrading even further.

In the lobby of the motel there's a few more brochures, and the maps have been updated once again.

Links

IC Rules
Guestbook
Room Assignments
Events
Locations
NPCs
Activity Check

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

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

Comments

[integratedsoul]

[ Seeing Keith back in action again is nice, even if he looks extremely dismayed about it. That long prison stay had Cian rather worried after a while. ]

There's no pressure to attend, don't worry. I don't want to force people into anything, I just want to offer something nice and optional.

[marmoron]

[Still looking a little skeptical here.]

Right. So you want to know what exactly? What I find soothing?

[....]

[DOES HE EVEN KNOW.]

[integratedsoul]

[ Nodnod. ]

Yeah. It can be anything really... Food, activities... Maybe a color, who knows? Whatever comes to mind first.

[marmoron]

I ... I don't mind red?

[Keith why is your voice going up at the end like YOU don't know.]

[integratedsoul]

And you're... unsure... about not minding it?

[ Keith you didn't even say you like it, how are you still not sounding convinced when you've already chickened out of saying the affirmative statement to start with. ]

[marmoron]

It's just not something I've ever thought about.

[Said in this matter-of-fact tone like what kind of weirdo sits around pondering what colors they do and don't mind.]

It's not that important.

[integratedsoul]

... so I really am not the only one who's never really considered anything.

[ Not that Cian thinks favourite colors are exactly important but she does feel it's some... normal human thing to at least know. ]

[marmoron]

[....]

How are these things remotely comparable?

[integratedsoul]

You encounter colors every day, how do you not have a clear opinion on what you find pleasant and not?

[ Come on, Keith?? ]

[marmoron]

You breathe every day too. Do you have a clear opinion on your exact preferred rate of breathing?

[integratedsoul]

My normal respiratory rate is 15 breaths per minute. WatchMe alerts me if I start getting too agitated and breathing much too fast, but it hardly happens.

[ Take that??? ]

[marmoron]

[....?????]

Why the hell do you have a device that tells you how fast you're breathing? Are you dying?

[integratedsoul]

Oh, no no! Opposite of it!

WatchMe is a software installed onto me that pretty much prevents me from ever getting sick. I'm from... well, does your world have science fiction novels about very controlled peaceful utopias? It's that.

[marmoron]

[Okay. So he's probably not in any position to judge here, but what the quiznack.]

...And that's why you didn't know what a hallucination was.

[Pieces slowly falling into place.]

Because WatchMe keeps you and everyone else from getting sick.

[Feels like that time he freaking stepped into an alternate universe where the Alteans were brainwashing people. Ha. Funny how that keeps being relevant somehow.]

[integratedsoul]

[ She nods. It's actually amazing how late she's having this conversation with Keith as compared to everyone else. ]

I've been told it is a pretty terrifying world for people from other times. I'm public property and my existence is a resource to my society. All that kind of stuff.

Though now I'm here anyway.

[marmoron]

[Raised eyebrow??????]

...So what's your society doing with all of you then?

[integratedsoul]

Existing. Living for the sake of life itself.

Most of humanity died in a nuclear war starting 2019. What's happening now is the response. A desperate attempt at self-preservation.

[ With a tilt of her head, Cian laughs a little. ]

For a world that tries to eliminate all negative emotions, it sure is based on fear.

[marmoron]

[She;s getting a flat stare and eventually:]

Don't most people already just live for the sake of living.

[...Does he know why he's arguing this? No, not really. He just doesn't understand why the heck the forces behind Cian's society thinks everyone would be offing themselves if they weren't specifically told not to do that....]

[integratedsoul]

I've never lived anywhere but there, so I wouldn't really know? The way Miach explains it, in other times people would live for the sake living but only for themselves? And they'd hurt others in the process. This kind of self-interest is what caused the Maelstrom too, I guess.

In my world, you're everyone's property. You live for everyone, not for yourself. 'Everyone's hostage', Miach would say.

I really don't know, I'm not as smart as her.

[marmoron]

[There's a bit of a silence that follows this explanation. This isn't the first time Cian's brought up Miach, but going two for two times, he's associated her name with the most asinine ideas....]

What the hell is your friend talking about? Of course there are selfish assholes around, but not everyone's like that, alright? I know a lot of good people who've sacrificed everything to protect others because that was the right thing to do. Your friend's an idiot. You shouldn't listen to her

[integratedsoul]

She died when I was 15, it's been a while since I listened to her. Or... well, she seemed to have died anyway. I certainly thought she died.

[ ... uh, this is a tangent, back to the point. ]

I'm meeting some genuinely good people right here, I can tell. But please don't speak of Miach that way. She's... she's more than I can convey.

[marmoron]

[JUST. THE FLATTEST STARE EVER.]

You think she wants you to kill people.

[HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THIS PART, CIAN. WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING THIS AGAIN?????[

suicide implications and mentions cw from this point on

[integratedsoul]

I think she wants me to die, actually.

[ .... now that is, uh, a correction. ]

I'm now pretty sure she's not involved with the Sergeant, after all.

[marmoron]

So you call people who want you dead your friend.

[He's just going to repeat that. He knows it won't sink into Cian's head that this is beyond stupid, but he's going to say it because he needs to hear at least one rational voice in the room.]

You make no sense.

[integratedsoul]

It's more complicated than that. And I don't think you want to hear that story.

[ A big plastic smile accompanies these words, as is Cian's habit. ]