WEEK 0 — MARCH 29, 30

[cartesio]

Week 0

You have been threatened by the Sergeant: if nobody dies before March 31st at noon, you, along with everyone else, will forfeit your lives. The Sergeant pushed everyone away from the Lodge, judging that had been enough interaction with his guests. So what now?

Will you submit to the Sergeant’s demands? Will you resist him and wait to see what happens? He wouldn’t be capable of killing you and everyone else, right?

Only time will tell.

The next day you'll find a newspaper at the motel lounge, telling you about today’s weather forecast with 100% accuracy. Looks like you can expect to find a newspaper every day to find out the weather and any other news about the town. It even includes something branded 'THE SHARK ALERT'. Who could that be directed to?

There's also a copy of yesterday's newspaper. There's nothing about the Sergeant or about your predicament, but there is something about your arrival to the town.

Cartesio is your world for the next four days, better make the most out of your time here.

OOC Note: The current IC:OOC ratio for the days is as follows: The 29th top-level covers Monday and Tuesday, while the 30th top-level is for Wednesday and Thursday.

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

Comments

[doublelammy]

[She pops her head up with a manic grin.]

Some!

[And back to digging. Is that a reassuring answer...?]

[dvaita]

[ Yeah it really isn't. ]

...I can show you the ones you're not familiar with, if you want.

[odoruhinokaze]

When you're in a situation where you would be forced to pick. Just imagine it or something.

It'd be like having to make the choice between rescuing the life of someone you care about or not, except it's much less dire than that.

[doublelammy]

[That actually gets her full attention.]

Could you?! That'd be even more awesome...!

[If it were physically possible for people to sparkle with excitement, she would be right now.

Millium, following strange people with an offer to learn weapons is not the best way to not die... oh, well.]

[odoruhinokaze]

Yeah, he seems about that level of crazy.

[ Paaaaause. ]

... I just thought about something. Sure, not a good idea to try hurting him right now and we probably can't get the chance until a good opportunity comes up, but can you imagine trashing the Sergeant's office?

[ Because as far as he's concerned, the guy probably has one. ]

[odoruhinokaze]

You don't know how to cook?

[ It's Axel and he can be a bit of a busybody, so he catches the other guy's words and follows him for a bit just because. ]

Jokes aside. It looks like somebody needs to haul ass to the diner -- you do know where that is, right?

[dvaita]

[ Hey Axel. Serph looks up with those brightly colored eyes of his before resting his head on his knees. ]

I do, but I'll pass. Staying here is fine.

[paciscere]

[ that's such a bad example for someone like matoba, so his smile widens as he tries to imagine it. then comes his amused answer: ]

I'd certainly try my best to save them.

[ but if they die, oh well. ]

How's this? I'll go with the flavor of the day, whatever that is.

[paciscere]

Hm, no. Don't you think you should keep it if you're still hungry?

[ he holds his palm face out, declining to take it back. those teeth were interesting, though. show him that bite again. ]

[paciscere]

If you start that young, is it normal for soldiers to die young then? Or will they throw you away when you're no longer useful, White Rabbit-san?

[paciscere]

Intentional, hm? I suppose it would be an easy way to fulfill Sergeant-san's demand. It's too bad people are fussy and prefer to live.

[snailedit]

[Well, she's not particularly surprised by arson. It would be too convenient for the fire to be an accident, anyway. So Mira just nods and goes along with this for now.]

You're saying whoever wanted to light this place up used both?

Did anyone notice anything in particular that it seemed to be targeting? From a distance it just looked like it was in the middle of the street.

[snailedit]

Really now... see, I figured you were just trying to be brave. Plenty of people are like that.

[Well, she's here having a conversation, so she'll finally serve herself another scoop. She'd tried the sea salt ice cream earlier, but this time she'll go for something fruitier.]

I met someone earlier who seemed like she'd be fine staying here though. As long as that Sergeant was gone... then again, he 'listens' to you. [She sounds amused. Look, she paid attention to all the people talking to him.]

[dvaita]

It's yours and- [ He could lie, but that's just not the type of person he is. ] it wouldn't help. But it does taste pretty good.

[ Take it back maybe? Not being shy about his teeth at least, kind of hard to hide that while talking. ]

[paciscere]

[ he smiles. ]

That much is obvious. Teeth like that aren't meant for just sweets. [ he takes the ice cream back and deliberately takes a slow bite of the waffle cone, then pulls back to compare the bites side by side. fascinating. ] Are you possessed by something, Serph-san?

[ youkai possession tends to blur physical characteristics, after all. ]

[londonstar]

It is scary. [ maybe not so much for the lord, who has seen more murder than any person should, but he can imagine why others would. ]

That is why it would not hurt to take a couple precautions.

[londonstar]

Yes, it's such a terrible trait. [ said with 800% sarcasm right there. ]

Nevertheless, I suspect that the fire was not started with the purpose of murder.

[doublelammy]

[She studies him for a moment, expression neutral, before finally responding.]

I dunno. Maybe.

[And that's honest, despite the flippant way she often talks.]

But I don't think I'm gonna change too much from the way I am now. Even if I did, I'd like to think they'd look out for me.

[doublelammy]

Ehehe. Don't have to try. I've seen way scarier stuff than this place.

[Granted, as of this point, nothing here has been more than vague threats, so. Hindsight may be 20/20.]

Well, I mean. I don't wanna stay here. I wanna get back to class, and I wanna see everyone again.

[She pauses for a brief moment - it came naturally, but she seems surprised by even her own admission that school - and everyone there - came first. ...Ah, well.]

...And as for the Sargeant, I mean. It's not my fault I have the best ideas!

[Why think about problematic things when you can be weirdly thrilled about blowing stuff up, instead?]

[doublelammy]

[She's seen a lot, too. That might be what's really getting her about this - how close to home it's all really starting to feel.

It's probably not good that she's feeling this way, in her line of work, but Rean was right - her time at the military academy has changed her forever.]

Mm. So, what kinda precautions are we talking, here?

[Don't mind her if she just takes a seat somewhere near him. At least she's actually seriously discussing something...?!]

[londonstar]

[ he doesn't mind at all. it reminds him a little of back home, guiding confused students back into the path that they're supposed to go; the only thing he's decent at. ]

I suppose the number one precaution is to avoid being alone as much as possible. Always be with someone else; a group is even better. There's strength in numbers, my Lady, and a person will be less willing to attack if there's a group of people around.

The other is to...arm yourself with something. While I am one that doesn't believe in violence, it is a lot easier to survive if you're capable of defending yourself from an attacker.

[ he sighs, crossing his arms. ]

While these methods are far from perfect, I believe it is a start to ensure our survival.

[doublelammy]

Buddy system, huh...? [She laughs a bit despite herself.] ...Yeah, that is a good point. Really... I should have been keeping my eye on the princess this whole time. If anything happens to her while we're here... I don't even wanna think about how screwed we'll all be when we get back home.

[She sighs. It's been fun just being allowed to explore on her own, but she does at least take some aspects of her work and life seriously. Her Highness is among them.]

As for defending myself, I'm not worried. I wish they'd let me have Lammy, but I'll be fine on my own for now. What about you, though?

[clearities]

I'm... fine. See? I'm fine.

[She beams a bit, showing him her hands. She's uninjured at least.]

[anonsoldier3]

We--are the police.

[Quick improvisation.]

The Sergeant sent us to investigate a possible break-in. We wanted to call you to make sure you've not had any problems on...your end, where you are.

[Plz believe them]

[paciscere]

[ ahaha. ]

If not murder, then a distraction, you mean?