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

[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.]

[robitussin]

[It seems interesting to her, but... Very lonely, too. That might explain the slight downturn of her lips, the way her eyebrows knit together a fraction of an inch.]

And that doesn't get old or anything?

[quickpersuader]

No.

[In contrast, Kino smiles faintly.]

I miss it. Being able to go and see something new all the time... Being able to find out something I never could have known otherwise... Even just resting after a long day's ride with Hermes, talking about the places we're going to visit next.

I'd eat portable rations for a whole month if that meant I could get back to it right now.

[robitussin]

[She can't say it sounds nice to her; really, the idea of passing from place to place sounds like torture to her. Dislikes: instability, and all. Still, though, it's nice to see Kino so happy talking about something.]

Who's Hermes?

[quickpersuader]

My motorrad. A two-wheeled vehicle [in case Natalie isn't familiar] - he usually gets bored when we're driving, but he likes to run, so it's a pretty good deal for him.

[And, well. Hell for a motorrad is not being able to run.]

He takes forever to wake up in the mornings, and he can complain about being bored nearly two hundred times in one day... but he's still my traveling partner. We rely on each other a lot.

[There's definitely a fondness to the traveler's tone now.]

[robitussin]

...Your motorcycle talks to you.

[She sounds like she's waiting for a punchline.]

[quickpersuader]

[Nodding.]

Yeah. It's something most motorrads do, I think. Unless they don't want to talk to you.

[robitussin]

[Once she realizes that this is, in fact, not a joke, she just looks incredibly confused.]

How... does that happen?

[quickpersuader]

[That is a very good question.]

I never asked. It seemed kind of rude.

...And even if I did, he'd probably just say something like, "Well why do you humans talk, Kino?"

I don't think that conversation would be worth it.

[robitussin]

Wait, so it just started one day and you kind of rolled with it?

[quickpersuader]

Well... it happened the first time we met. But I had other things to worry about first.

[robitussin]

[...]

Kino. You are the only person who makes one grain of sense in this entire town. Please don't do this to me now.

[Save her from this anime bullshit!!]

[quickpersuader]

[Just because Kino seems reasonable does not mean Kino's world is even remotely so.]

Do what?

[robitussin]

Do the whole... not making any sense thing. I really need this from you.

[quickpersuader]

[Um...]

What part doesn't make sense?

[robitussin]

Your motorcycle - motorwhatever talks! How is that not weird?!

[quickpersuader]

I think being brought to another world is weirder. Besides that, somehow, the Sergeant doesn't even have a face.

You've never heard of a machine that could talk where you're from?

[robitussin]

Just because those things are weirder doesn't mean that this isn't weird, you know.

[She pauses.]

There's artificial intelligence, sure, but not anything too advanced.

[quickpersuader]

It's not that weird where I'm from, though...

[Hmm...]

He isn't really an AI, but it might be easier for you if you thought of him like that. Motorrads talking is just... how it is.

[robitussin]

...You’re telling me that the talking vehicles don’t do that because of technology? They just - talk like people would?

[quickpersuader]

[Only motorrads, not cars or the like, but...]

Yes.

[robitussin]

Were they... No, if they were designed that way, it would be artificial intelligence, and we already went over that.