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

[quickpersuader]

[Park]

[Ominous weather for an ominous day, really.

After all of last night, Kino can be found in the park today, throwing stones into the pond. The traveler has quite the arm judging by the distance on those pebbles as they go flying for the water with tiny splashes.

Until Kino gets a hold of a larger rock and heaves it, too, into the waters. That one causes more of a sploosh.

Feel free to catch Kino either as they're throwing stones or a bit later, when Kino simply falls into a sprawl on the grass to stare moodily at the dark sky. Seems some things can get to the kid after all.]

[marmoron]

[Keith's passing through the park, not wearing his paladin armor for once and wearing clothes he's salvaged out of the abandoned clothing store. He sees Kino sprawled out on the grass and look, it's not like he's a little concerned about you or anything.]

That comfortable?

[quickpersuader]

[Kino glances Keith's way, though inevitably those eyes are drawn back to the clouds.]

Not the most comfortable grass I've lain on... but not the worst. [A pause. And then:] No more armor?

[marmoron]

[He's raising an eyebrow at that, but eventually he takes a seat on the grass next to Kino.]

I needed something a little more subtle.

[A beat.]

You okay?

[quickpersuader]

[Kino nods from the ground. Picture of health, right here.]

I'm annoyed, but I'll live.

[That's the only thing to do, sometimes.]

Why do you need to be subtle?

[marmoron]

Not that important.

[Depending on how long Kino stays at the park, this might provide a clue.....]

Need to talk about it?..

[quickpersuader]

[That is quite possibly the best damn show Kino's getting all day, possibly all week.

Anyway Kino fixes Keith with a look that says "That sounds like a lie" but otherwise allows it, because it's not Kino's job to make suspicious people talk about their suspicious activities unless it's trial time.]

I don't know about "need to."

[It's not like Kino makes a habit of talking about feelings.]

This is just what it's like to be stuck in one place for a while, I suppose... Or maybe it's different because he knows everything about us?

Either way, it's annoying.

[marmoron]

The circumstances don't exactly make this place enjoyable.

[But really, he thinks he kind of understands where Kino's coming from with that first part. After seeing as much of the universe as he has, it's hard to really imagine beign content with staying put on Earth when the war with the Galra is over.]

How long do you usually stay in one place?

[quickpersuader]

Three days and two nights.

[Kino lazily holds up a hand with the appropriate number of fingers up before letting it drop to the ground again.]

A traveler once told me that's just about the right amount of time to get to know a country while still having time to visit others.

[Were Kino in the correct world, there would have been many more countries explored by now.]

[burgerprince]

[Jughead comes across Kino a bit later, and for a moment he just silently stares at them sprawled across the grass before coming to meet them.]

Need a partner in brooding?

[quickpersuader]

[Kino glances his way before looking once more to the sky.]

There's plenty of grass. Just stay away from the water unless you want to get damp.

[The last sploosh gave the nearer grass a nice drink... hopefully not too much, however, depending on those clouds overhead.]

[burgerprince]

[Well, Jughead will just sit down not too far from Kino, but not too close for it to seem overly familiar.

He just lies there for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet. He likes talking to Kino, so conversation isn’t unwelcome, but it’s sure nice to just have a break from everything right now.]

[quickpersuader]

[A break really is nice, and sometimes, so too is silence.

It's kind of a shame the sky is so cloudy. Maybe there's no such thing as a true blue sky, but Kino still longs for it, for that boundless sight hanging over lands untraveled and places Kino knows nothing of, places Kino can't even imagine.

And maybe, just a little, a longing for places where problems can be neatly and conveniently abandoned after only three days.

It can be a nice chill out time for a while.]

[burgerprince]

[It can be.

Jughead maintains the quiet for a while, watching the clouds as they roll over and shift, but the longer he looks, the less peaceful it becomes, and instead begins to feel like an ominous buildup. Foreshadowing, surely.

At least Kino's presence, that constant calm, can ground him. It takes either incredible control, extreme desensitization, or complete dissociation to be able to maintain that. He realizes that he doesn't really know which it is.

So, he ventures a question.]

How are you holding up?

[quickpersuader]

I'm annoyed.

[Is the reply he gets, even if Kino's voice remains calm and level.]

Usually it doesn't matter if I dislike a place, since I always leave after three days. But I can't do that here.

[The annoyance can't just be left behind along with the place and the problems that caused it. It pulls a soft sigh from the traveler.]

You?

[burgerprince]

I don't know.

[Emotions are hard when you're a teen and they're even worse when you're stuck in a creepy murdertown.

With a sigh, he runs a hand over his face.]

I'm...scared, and pissed off with this whole situation, and I wish I could just be worried about regular teen angst bullshit instead of whose body I'm going to find dead each week.

[He exhales.]

I just...this sucks, man.

[quickpersuader]

[That gets a curious glance from Kino. Shockingly, for all Kino's worldly experiences, there's quite a few things the traveler hasn't really been in a position to ever know.]

What kind of "regular teen angst?"

[robitussin]

[Natalie's lost in thought - so preoccupied, in fact, that she nearly doesn't notice the person laying in the grass. When she does see Kino, though, she's surprised enough by that demeanor to say:]

...Did something happen?

[quickpersuader]

[Hi Natalie. Kino glances over before looking again to the sky.]

Just that mission.

[It's a lot to take in, especially with Kino's history.]

[robitussin]

[After a pause, she nods.]

...Fair enough. The tail end of it was sure something else.

[She doesn't outright ask if Kino is going to be alright, but there's a note of concern in her voice regardless.]

[quickpersuader]

It was.

[Is Kino's completely useless agreement. Kino isn't actually ignoring that note of concern, but then, Kino is enough of a "don't tell unless asked" type of person that it may well come across that way.]

[robitussin]

[Natalie, unfortunately, is a "don't ask directly or you'll seem like you care" kind of person. Jury is still out on whether they will find a middle ground that doesn't boil down to awkward silence.]

...It seems like it's getting to you more than most things do, is all.

[quickpersuader]

[They're very good at this "feelings" thing, Natalie and Kino.]

Mm, I guess it is.

[Though you'd never guess just from tone alone, because we're back to the usual even voice.]

Maybe it's because I've been in one place for too long. [...] Or maybe it's because they know everything about me.

Maybe it's both.

[robitussin]

...Yeah. I bet it'd feel weird, for someone who travels a lot.

[But it makes her curious, too.]

But back home, you never stuck in one place for this long?

[quickpersuader]

Three days, two nights. That's about the right amount of time to stay in one country to get to know about it, while still having time to visit others.

[It sounds like something oft-repeated.]

One time I got stuck by a country because of the snow for a winter, and one time I rode with a country for a few days longer, but... other than that, only three days.

[It's so much easier not to carry troubles with you when one simply moves on all the time. It's something Kino's made use of on multiple occasions, even.]