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.
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cartesianism2018-10-14 10:52 am
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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.]
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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.]
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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.]
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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?
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[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?
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[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.
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What kind of "regular teen angst?"
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Like...worrying about what I’m going to do about college, if me and Veronica dating each other’s best friends is a good idea or if I should fear her wrath if I end up breaking Betty’s heart, or whatever clique warfare is happening at school this week.
[He folds his arms behind his head.]
Would be nice to have those as my biggest problems.
[Not like they ever were with the whole murder thing, dad issues, homelessness, etc. That was slightly more irregular teen angst.]
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A life with minor problems, then.
[That much, at least, Kino can understand. It's not like traveling is without its challenges, and there's been many a time in which Kino was frustrated by some obstacle or another.]
But... I wonder if it's possible to live a life like that in any country? [Even the most peaceful countries Kino has seen had their own shares of problems...]
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Probably not. Even then, the small stuff would just seem like a bigger deal.
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[Maybe that's human nature - or maybe that's just life itself.]
...Of course, that's not to say a peaceful country with small problems is the same as a war-torn one, either.
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[Some problems you’ve just got to let yourself be humbled by.]
There’s always gonna be stuff that sucks, just on different levels, I guess. You just hope it’s relatively not that bad.
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We have food, water, and shelter provided. Death at the rate of one per week isn't as bad as some countries where people die to illness or violence every day.
I still don't like it. But I can imagine worse scenarios.
[Survived through worse.]
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Two a week.
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[He pauses.]
But this whole setup makes it...worse, somehow. Like we're encouraged to feel comfortable just to make it hurt all the more when its torn apart.
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Mm... the last time I was in a situation like this. The country where they made everyone fight each other for citizenship. It was over in three days, but I missed having a shower or good food.
[It's kind of hard to say which Kino would prefer of the two...]
Well... it was easier to get away without killing.
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It'd be too much to hope people are all murdered out now, and we won't have to worry about it anymore, wouldn't it?
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[Unfortunate as it is.]