WEEK 0 — ARRIVAL

[cartesio]

Week 0: Arrival

When you wake up you immediately feel something’s off. You sit on the bed and find it’s not your bed, and this isn’t your room either. You seem to be in a rather normal-looking motel room. To your side there’s a trunk, if you open it you’ll find a military uniform, the key to your room, a set of rules and a debit card. Don’t lose those items! Or do lose the rules, you'll find a brand new copy the next day under your pillow. There’s also a calendar on the wall, you can see today’s date. The year is unreadable, but the month and day are very clear:

March 28^th
There it says ‘Meet the Sergeant at the Lodge, 9:00 AM’. There’s also a circle around March 31st, with the word ‘END’ scrawled there.

For now leaving your motel room would be a good choice. When you reach the lobby, you see the receptionist’s desk— no one’s manning it. There’s a rack filled with maps, marking several locations in the town.

There are also many strangers here – and you’re one more. For now it may be a good idea to take a map and explore the town.

After all, looks like you’re stuck here in the boonies for a while.

Links

IC Rules
Room Assignments
Locations
Tasks (LOCKED currently)

March 28^th
March 29^th
March 30^th

Comments

[agoreable]

a.)
[ You'll meet a concerned looking Japanese teenager in the hallway in front of the rooms. She's holding the rule booklet and when she walks up to you, she points to the "danger of being killed part". ]

Just what kind of "participant" is there supposed to be in this place?!

b.)
[ Lovepon wants to know just what on earth is going on here, so she'll make her way from the motel to the lodge pretty soon after, though she'll stop and examine just about anything on the way there. She's never left Japan, so all of this is a little foreign to her and warrants a curious glance. ]

a

[streetwolf]

[He's leaving, but he stops, tilting his head back to look at her.]

Who knows. It all sounds like a load of bullshit, you see the last bit?

[agoreable]

[ She nods three times in quick succession and then huffs. ]

That sergeant seems like a very controlling person. I don't think we should listen to him though.

[streetwolf]

[He turns fully now.]

Yeah...It says we can't leave for four days, but hows that work? There a fence or something to tell us when we're leaving?

[agoreable]

Maybe the police they mentioned is manning the frontier? And they'll try to shoot us should we attempt leaving!

[ A fence is too normal and non-intimidating, Lovepon loves jumping for a bit more dramatic scenarios. Or rather, they are truly just what is most realistic to her. ]

[streetwolf]

...That's one way to keep us in. I guess. Shit, they probably have one of them patrols that checks your id or something.

[Fortunately, that's normal where he's from.]

a.

[londonstar]

[ as a former participant of the holy grail war and a witness of one too many incidents involving murder, the lord is only mildly annoyed over the fact that he has to deal with something like this again.

but when he sees strangers involved in this, especially a teenager, it's hard to hide his scowl. ]

I believe the rules are quite clear, Lady.

[agoreable]

They're not clear at all!

[ She shakes her hand vehemently and points back to the rule booklet, just for further emphasis. ]

If there is a police in this place, shouldn't murder be outlawed? What kind of civilization just integrates crime like that?! That's just weird!

[ Being in a strange new location overall doesn't bother has as much as it should - this place or the place she was actually headed... It doesn't really matter as long as it is far away from home. A new continent will definitely do.

But this is really not seeming inviting, is it? ]

[londonstar]

Observe rule five.

[ he's already read the rules back and forth, forth and back. they're not too difficult to understand, but that doesn't mean that they're not unsettling in the least. ]

Violence is outlawed, but only against the residents and the Sergeant. I wouldn't be surprised if this includes murder. We, however, are most likely not included in this room. Therefore, it's clear that the police are not there to protect us, but the citizens.

[ he sighs, his expression grave. ] It is terrible situation.

[agoreable]

We're not citizens here, that's true, but we're still people! Letting us be killed is criminal in and of itself. They shouldn't call themselves police if they allow that kind of thing.

[ Lovepon has no great appreciation for police in and of itself, but this is just violating the very premise of a police force. It makes no sense. ]

[londonstar]

[ as a magus, waver's quite indifferent about the police but he can't help but silently agree with her. this is bullshit, but there's nothing they can do. ]

Unfortunately, I don't think our rules matter much to this "Sergeant". The police obviously work for him, too.

b

[doublelammy]

[Whatever Lovepon's inspecting, turns out Millium also thought it was interesting enough to check out! So she skids to a stop in her mad dash before trotting right up to whatever this thing is.]

Man, all of the stuff here is so weird.

[She sounds thrilled.]

[agoreable]

[ Currently, Lovepon is staring at the entrance to the Tavern, occasionally glancing back at the diner a little ways over. ]

It's like it's out of a movie, right?

[ This amount of stereotype seems like it would be so fake and media fabricated that you'd never find it in real life, or so Lovepon thought... ]

[doublelammy]

...A movie? What's a "movie?"

[Sorry, those aren't... things in JRPG Germany. Millium tilts her head in confusion.]

[agoreable]

... oh, a movie is a recording of motion and sound. It's like a play that you can watch as many times as you want without needing the actors again.

[ Lovepon tilts her head at the lack of knowledge, but chooses to explain rather than question why she has to explain to begin with. ]

[doublelammy]

Ohhh, okay! We have something kinda like that, where we can record things to memory quartzes n' stuff, but I dunno if anyone's recorded anything like an entire play yet.

It does look more like a prop than anything, though. Can't imagine something like this out on the streets, even in the capital...

A

[snailedit]

[Mira blinks at the sudden approach, but the question has her interest. It's one that she's thought about too, so she's obliged enough to share her theory. Her voice is calm, like she solved an easy puzzle.]

I think it means us. You got a uniform in your trunk too, right? That pretty much makes it look like there's something we're expected to 'participate' in.

[agoreable]

[ Lovepon meanwhile is the opposite of calm. Though she doesn't revert to actual yelling, her body language is tense and her voice has a shrill edge to it on some of the words. She's giving her best for a reasonable conversation, but... she thought she'd be done with violence. That was all she wanted, really. ]

Why would any of us want to kill? That question still remains, doesn't it? It isn't normal, to just go and murder people!

[snailedit]

[She squints a bit at that word normal, but lets it go.]

I have no idea. But for better or worse, we're probably going to find out at the lodge.

[agoreable]

I'll make haste to get there. If murder is allowed here, then we need to make sure to put an end to it as soon as possible.

[ The longer she's thinking about murder, the more her voice starts shaking, so she decides to try and walk that energy off by walking towards the end of the hallway. Then she thinks better and turns back to Mira. ]

Are you also coming?

[snailedit]

Well I'm definitely not going to nap until it's time...

[Shame though, this girl seems like she could benefit from a nap. Whether that's terror or rage, it's barely being contained.]

What are you planning to do?

a!!

[paciscere]

Saa...

[ he gives her a light shrug. ]

Personally, I don't kill humans. [ only other things. ] So it's not talking about me. Do you kill?

[agoreable]

[ A strong headshake sends Lovepon's ponytail flying. ]

I'm not a criminal! Whatever kind of event this is, I don't want any part in it!

If anyone here is actually thinking of killing, we need to identify them right away for everyone's safety.

[paciscere]

[ weeeeeell, he didn't ask if she was a criminal, but ok, if she thinks they're the same thing. ]

To be sure. [ handwaves, yes, protecting people is important. ] We don't seem to have a lot of time to figure that out, however. A little less than four days or so - until whatever the "END" means.

[ he'd prefer not to stay here that long, but will he have a choice? hm. ]

[agoreable]

Just four days... And what are we supposed to do after that? They brought me a whole continent away from where I was.

Not that I really need to go back to Japan, but it's strange.

[ Standing without anything or anyone in the middle of a country which's language you don't even speak properly sounds... unfortunate. ]