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
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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]

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.

[robitussin]

That's...

[She pauses a moment, trying to find a word for just how abhorrent she finds that. In the end, she can't, so she just falls silent.]

[quickpersuader]

...There are many beautiful things in the world. But there's many sad and painful things, too.

I don't regret visiting there. So for as long as I live, I'll just remember the good parts fondly.

[Even if it ended in tragedy.]

[robitussin]

That's not...

[She takes a breath, shaking her head.]

I mean, sure, there are parts that are shitty that you can't get away from, but - this was avoidable. They were making decisions about whether it was fine to end lives that weren't theirs because of how they felt.

[quickpersuader]

There are all kinds of avoidable tragedies no matter what country you go to.

People are like that.

[robitussin]

And you aren't, like... Angry at them or anything? They practically killed those kids.

[quickpersuader]

I was angry when I first found out. But... I can't really dwell on things like that, either.

[robitussin]

Did you have time to try to convince them, or...?

[quickpersuader]

Convincing everyone in a country that they should change their minds according to an outsider who only planned to stay for three days is not something I would do even if I'd known.

[robitussin]

...I guess so.

[Still, she doesn't seem satisfied with that.]