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

[clearities]

Hoeeeeeeeee—

[It doesn't matter where you are in the town, because the moment Sakura wakes up her eyes and goes out of the motel, she is immediately yelling that single sound out of sheer surprise, frantically running around to see if she can find out where she is and if there's anyone there. Or anything.

But of course she's only paying half attention, which means she might end up ramming head first into a stranger.

Sorry.]

[londonstar]

[ oh good fucking god that was definitely someone running into him.

el melloi the second may be a tower in terms of height, but he's as thin as a toothpick and stumbles when sakura rams into him. at least he doesn't fall, so he can keep at least some of his pride.

he quirks an eyebrow, and sees that it's...a young girl. ah. ]

Are you alright, my Lady?

[clearities]

Um! Um...!

[The moment she finds out she's run into someone is the moment where she realizes that she should honestly slow down, taking a step back, even though she's stumbling quite a bit.

She nods several times, bobbing her head up and down in response.]

I'm sorry! [Let her just. Bow in apology for bumping into him first.] I'm okay, I just-- I don't know where I am, so...

[londonstar]

Don't fret. [ he should have seen her first, so he accepts her apology without a second thought.

his expression softens when he realizes that she's lost in this place as well. ]

It seems that we are in the same situation-- did you also wake up in the motel?

[clearities]

[She nods, bringing her hand to her chest to take in a few deep breaths, in and out, trying to calm herself down. Panicking would do her no good in a situation like this. Even if she's fully aware that she knows who would be concerned about her...]

...Ah, yes! I did!

[dieharddiehard]

Whoa!

[ Jake catches her with hands on her shoulders, pressing her backwards slightly. He takes one look at her face and blanches. She innocent. ]

Hey, uh, hey. Hey. You okay? You cool?

[clearities]

Ahh--

[Okay that definitely was a bit of a shock to her, but she's fine, at least. Definitely unhurt. Sakura manages to straighten herself and skip backwards, away from the person who helped her and smiles brightly, reassuring.]

Mm! [A rather triumphant nod.] I'm okay! But... you don't know where we are, do you?

[dieharddiehard]

[ Jake doesn't handle kids well. But he's going to try, because scaring her off isn't exactly on his to-do list. Or making himself look stupid. He's not sure which is the worse one. ]

I just know what I found when I woke up, a bunch of stuff in a motel room. What about you? You know anything?

[clearities]

[Thankfully, Sakura isn't scared of adults-- rather, she's terrified of ghosts, along with a bunch of other things. Like monsters. But she tries her best anyway.]

I think I saw some things, but... I panicked and left the room almost immediately.

[semperperatus]

Hey, woah—

[He...isn't sure this isn’t a dream. But this girl seems like she needs help. So he tries to remain as calm as he can.]

Hey, calm down. Are you ok? Do you need help?

[clearities]

Ah, um...

[Okay, deep breaths. She needs to calm down. Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic.]

I-I'm fine! See? [She makes a rather determined gesture, pumping her hands into tight fists.] But... I do need help, since I don't know where this place is.

[semperperatus]

Makes two of us...

[...which...is one more than he’s currently used to rn. He can at least stay calm fir the kid’s sake, right? Right.]

Damn. You need help looking for anyone you know? You know, if they’re...around?

[Saying they might be dead would be bad after all what with...what...happened...?]

[clearities]

Oh! [Looking for someone that she knows is definitely important. Especially since she knows exactly who she was just with, just moments prior.] There's someone really important to me. [She says those words with full confidence, her cheeks tinging a slight pink.] I was with him before, but I haven't seen him here yet... I'd definitely like to look for him.

[paciscere]

[ he looks mildly surprised when she runs into him, though by the time she looks up, he's probably smoothed it over with a smile. maybe it makes him a little more approachable? ]

Hello there. You should always pay attention to where you're going, little miss. Carelessness is what gets little girls kidnapped by monsters and men.

[ don't mind the creepy guy saying creepy stuff. he's smiling, so it's ok, obviously. ]

[clearities]

M- M- Monsters?! [Even though he's smiling, she's already freaked out because he said one of the number one words that one shouldn't be telling to her.]

[paciscere]

Monsters. [ yep. ] And men. Some are both, you know.

[ not him, though! ]

[clearities]

...Really?

[Wait.] You're not making fun of me, are you?

[ayuzawa]

[ oh-! misaki stumbles backwards and nearly falls when sakura runs into her. she's annoyed at first, until she sees that it's a little girl, and she looks down at the little girl once she finds her footing again. ]

Ah! Are you alright?

[clearities]

[Being athletic means that it's actually not all that difficult to get her footing together, but she does stumble a little bit.]

Y-yes, I'm alright. Are you, miss?

[ayuzawa]

I'm alright!

[ oh no... ] I apologize. I wasn't watching where I was going, and that seems to be how I ran into you...

[beanstarscream]

Oof!

[RIGHT IN THE STOMACH, KNOCKING THE WIND RIGHT OUT OF HIM]

Ex- Excuse me!?

[clearities]

[REST IN PIECES......] I-I'm sorry!! [and Sakura is, of course, polite, so she finds herself stumbling back and bowing several times - once, twice, maybe three times - looking rather embarrassed.] I didn't mean to bump into you!

[beanstarscream]

...hm.

[....she's at least showing proper respect, so he doesn't lay into her.]

You're a polite young lady, so apology accepted. Just be more careful in the future.

[valimar]

W-Whoa!

[ Fortunately Rean's quick enough on his reflexes to catch her?! He's a professional horse who leads dogs (read: Millium), it's fine, we're fine. ]

Easy there...! Any faster than that and you might've broken something.

[ He'd meant to say it in jest, but now he's suddenly recalling one of the rules about damaging property. ...Maybe it was a good thing he was in her path, because he really doesn't want to consider what might happen if that weren't the case. ]

[clearities]

Ah... I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

[The apologies spill out pretty naturally as she looks at him with curious eyes.]