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]

...Are you sure you want to hear?

[Natalie's been pretty uncomfortable about all of this.]

[robitussin]

How much am I going to hate the answer?

[quickpersuader]

...You'll probably hate the answer a lot.

[robitussin]

[A beat.]

You know what, I hate literally everything here, so go for it.

[#logic]

[quickpersuader]

The traveler was staying at the inn my parents ran. Because of that, I would talk to him during his stay.

I couldn't understand how he could look like an adult, but not "be" an adult - that is to say, he never had the operation. He didn't have a job like the other adults, and he actually had fun traveling... even though work isn't supposed to be fun.

The adults got angry that he had caused me to think like that. It was his fault I was considered disposable. As he was about to leave on Hermes, they were going to dispose of me. But when my father charged towards me with the knife...

...

He stepped in front of it.

[robitussin]

[As expected, she sure does hate that! There's a pause of distress, but more than that... There's concern in her expression.]

...Your dad was going to kill you himself?

[quickpersuader]

[Kino nods.]

Adults in that country are considered to have ownership of their children, so they're allowed to dispose of their failures if they need to.

[robitussin]

Right, he was allowed to, but I would think he'd at least... I don't know.

[She sighs.]

I'm sorry.

[quickpersuader]

There's nothing really to be sorry about. It happened years ago.

[Kino is and has been over it for a while now.]

I've seen many worse things than that by now. But... Because I left then, I've been able to see many wonderful things, too.

[robitussin]

Still, though.

[From her point of view... She can't imagine ever really getting over something like that, even if it's different for Kino.

Regardless, she'll take the opportunity to move on to something happier.]

What are some of the better things you've seen?

[quickpersuader]

...There was a beautiful country in the shadow of a mountain that I traveled to once. There was a rumor among travelers that they mistreated tourists badly, but when I arrived, they treated me with more kindness than I've ever received before.

The country was clean and peaceful. Everyone was eager to meet with me, because they hadn't seen a traveler in so long. They shared their history with me, and the daughter of the innkeepers showed me the best places in the entire country.

[robitussin]

...Sounds like it was pretty nice. You didn't get tempted to stay there any longer than three days, though?

[quickpersuader]

[There's definitely a pause.]

...Actually, I was. I wanted to request it, for the first time since I started traveling. Hermes was shocked.

They wouldn't let me.

[robitussin]

Oh.

[She tilts her head.]

Why wouldn't they?

[quickpersuader]

...

You're going to hate hearing this.

[robitussin]

...That's not exactly new. Lay it on me.

[quickpersuader]

The mountain was a volcano. I happened to arrive three days before it was set to erupt.

When I stopped to rest for the night... I woke up suddenly just before it went off. They all died instantly.

[robitussin]

[Her mouth opens, then closes for a moment. Finally:]

...Okay, that is significantly more fucked up than I thought it was going to be. I thought they'd, like, just turn out to be awful like everyone else you've told me about? Jesus christ.

[quickpersuader]

[Welcome to Kino's Journey, Natalie.]

Even if I'd known, there wasn't anything I could do. They decided that because that country was where they were able to find peace, they were willing to die with it. They didn't tell the children either, but... By the time I arrived, I couldn't have fixed that.

Hermes can only seat one.

[It's a very good thing, in a twisted way, that the innkeeper's daughter insisted herself that she didn't want to try traveling when her parents suggested it.]

So... Instead, they left me with my memories of the country, and the history that no one else will know.

[robitussin]

None of them had any cars, or...?

[She rubs at her face. It's not hard to see that this, more than most things Kino has told her, rubs her the right way.]

[quickpersuader]

I wouldn't have left behind Hermes. And traveling with even a few children with whatever we could pack into a car is too dangerous.

[robitussin]

You could have taken him and their parents could have driven the cars, right...?

[quickpersuader]

The parents didn't want to leave. That's why they told me everything about their country before I left, and why they only wrote a note about the volcano in the food they gave me for breakfast.

[robitussin]

That's...

[She already looked horrified, but now she looks angry, too.]

They just let their children die because they didn't want to leave?

[quickpersuader]

Yes. They decided not to tell the children, because they planned to take their children with them from the start.