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

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MARCH 30TH

[cartesio]

[The newspaper is nowhere to be seen right now. There is a note on a table, though:

Weather: Sunny during the day. Thunderstorm alert for tonight / ARE THERE SHARKS TODAY? HARDLY. / News: TBD]

EVENT - THE DAY HEATS UP

[cartesio]

[In an instant everything can change. That’s the lesson of this week, isn’t it? Just a few short days ago twenty people were in the comfort their own worlds. Maybe they were living ordinary lives, maybe they were facing something terrible, or maybe they were the terrible thing being faced. But in the blink of an eye everything changed for them. They were kidnapped and told just one of them had to die so the rest could live.

In much the same way, something is about to change.

It starts as a few embers in the middle of the street but in seconds it turns into a raging inferno. Against the asphalt the flames rise and twist as they quickly extend, almost unnaturally so. They rush down the street until reaching the junkyard where they, seemingly without any reason, suddenly come to a halt. If anyone has the presence of mind to stop and look for a source they’ll find it a difficult task. There are no signs hinting at how or where the fire began. The sunny weather also doesn’t help, it’s as it’s enticing the fire to spread and be stronger, and there’s even a slight breeze fanning the flames. It’s a bad combination of weather at the worst possible time.

What’s plain to see, however, is how alarmingly quick the fire seems to be expanding. It’s coming dangerously close to not only to the motel nearby, but also houses belonging to innocent citizens. If the fire reaches them, this is bound to turn into a tragedy.

Will you try to resolve this situation before it escalates out of control?]

[clearities]

A... There's a fire!! [Sakura shouts that out aloud even if it's obvious that it's there. She doesn't know what to do, because she can't use her own magic right now - after all, the clear cards aren't with her, nor is her key staff here, either, so she can't do anything. And she hates that she feels so terribly useless like this and can't do anything but bring her hands towards her chest, staring at the flames but keeping a bit of a distance to them.]

[londonstar]

[ fuck.

it’s difficult for the lord to keep himself from swearing in front of the girl, but boy he sure feels the word right at the tip of his tongue. ]

My Lady, we musn’t stay here. [ he coughs when the wind blows the smoke his way. ] We must find some sort of help.

[streetwolf]

[EXCUSE YOU THAT'S WHERE HE LIKES TO HIDE!

Hes running away from the fire, stopping just down the road and turning back. He's fine, he's fine. Just give him a moment to catch his breath-no pulling the neck of his hood up to cover his mouth.]

What the fuck...?

[Yup that's all he has to say. Then he's running around, pounding his fists on a few nearby doors. After a few he's jogging through the motel to hit those doors.]

Fire! You better get moving if you're in there!

[cartesio]

[Thank you for your service, Wayne. You may have saved a few lives by warning them about the inferno outside!

Now there's townspeople gathering and murmuring to each other, with no idea of what to do. At least they're aware of the danger now.

Hope everyone else in the motel also realizes the danger!]

[theserpentsmiles]

[Fire. Fire again. At least he's not drugged this time.

Nagisa isn't strong and he isn't leaderly. He's small and quick and easily missed. So...what he can do? There's always something he can do. His usual approaches won't work in this scenario where there's no target to strike, no one to kill. But he has eyes that can pick out a person's tells and note small details easy as reading, and he's been trained in free-running.]

I'm going ahead! [With that all the warning he gives, Nagisa finds ledges and handholds to parkour his way around the fire - on the rooftops if possible - in search of...something. Maybe there are people trapped. Maybe the fire is spreading faster in some directions than others. Maybe if he looks carefully, he can find some clue as to how this started.]

[cartesio]

[The fire seems to be covering up any causes right now. The odds of finding that while it's still ongoing seem pretty low.

What Nagisa can see from his vantage point, though, is alarming:

In the distance you can see other columns of smoke, coming from places in the town that are too far away. Had the fire extended that much? With some luck the firemen of Cartesio will take care of those, but there's a more immediate threat, in the form of fire extending from across the junkyard to the park.

Luckily the plants of the park haven't been set on fire yet, but unless something's done about that, it's bound to happen sooner or later, and if the park is set on fire, it'll be too big to handle.

Godspeed, Nagisa.]

MISSION - FAIR RETRIBUTION

[cartesio]

[They say when it rains it pours. Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of rain that will help anyone put out any fires. It looks like this time there’s something amiss at Cartesio Electronics. Fortunately, it isn’t a fire—though the day is still young—but it does spell trouble. It looks like there’s a small group of people dressed in military uniforms gathering near the entrance of the building.

Once they’ve all arrived, the glass doors open and they find that the receptionist is away. Strangely, the lobby is also devoid of people. Thankfully, at least, the building isn’t completely empty. The comfy couches, hardy tables, and the receptionist’s desk are all still here and in pristine condition. To the side there are some stairs leading to upper floors of the building.

Failure isn’t an option. If you don’t succeed, you won’t get your reward.

Once the group has completely entered the building there’s a gentle “click.” Sounds like the doors may have just locked behind everyone. If anyone tries to open the doors they’ll find them impossible to move. A closer examination shows the doors can’t be unlocked from the inside. It might be a security measure. If so, that’s certainly a peculiar time for them to activate. Then again, it may not be the time to think about that, after all, you’re here to commit a crime. Maybe the best thing to do in this situation is to get it out of the way and then worry about finding an exit.

What’s your first course of action? The decision is yours.]

[anonsoldier2]

[THIS SURE IS A GROUP OF PEOPLE DOING SOMETHING SHADY ALRIGHT.]

We don't seem to have anyone bothering us at the moment. Should we work out a plan of attack, then?

[anonsoldier4]

...First, anything paper and wood? We burn it. By the way, I got this part handled, but if you have something to help light things aflame feel free to help out.

Then, anything delicate? Smash it.

That's as far as I got. Anyone want to add anything?

[ This mysterious person puts their hands on their hips. ]

POST-EVERYTHING MEETING

[clearities]

[After things have settled down a bit, Sakura makes a hasty decision that something has to be done. It's important, especially if they want to catch the culprit. Which is why she goes to grab a pen and paper from the motel storage and writes down the same thing on several sheets of paper before sliding it down underneath everyone's motel rooms-- of course, if they're not there, she'll also hunt for them and ask them to meet at the ice cream parlor. The note itself reads, in nice font that matches a child's:] I'm a little worried about everyone and want to make sure everyone is okay after the fire. Please meet us at the ice cream parlor, so we can talk a bit about what happened. Thank you very much. ❀ Kinomoto Sakura [It's short and sweet and straight to the point. So, will you take her up on her invitation?]

[snailedit]

[Getting the note in her room, well, back to the ice cream shop it is!! Mira leans over a little table and addresses Sakura or whoever is there that wants to be chatty]

Yeah, hey. I didn't make it out to the fire fighting effort, so if anyone wants to fill me in on the details, that'd be super.

[She went AWAY from the fire, not toward it.]

[alfin]

[ Alfin arrived at the ice cream parlor just in time to hear that. ]

I haven't figured out exactly how the fire started yet, but I can tell you how it was put out. The town's firefighters had to use a foam to put it out. He [ she nodded at Waver ] tried to organize some of the citizens to put it out with water, but the water only made it worse.

[agoreable]

[ Lovepon arrives at the meeting early and leans against a wall in the corner of the room. Opposed to the amount of yelling she did earlier in the day, she's calm now and intent on just listening what the others have to say.

At her core, Lovepon is a shy and reserved person, surprising as it may be. ]

[londonstar]

[ waver's going to go out of simple courtesy. when he gets there he looks pale and slightly disheveled because sometimes you forget that you're as physically strong as a wooden stick and end up having a near fainting spell.

whatever. it's fine. he's still a lord and therefore he has to act like one. and, not only that, he said he would take care of sakura and refusing her offer would be more than rude. ]

Sorry I couldn't help more, Lady. To be quite frank, I've never been good when it comes to physical effort.

[ he's a weak bitch is what he's trying to say. ]

If anyone has anything interesting to say, now would be the time.

[clearities]

You don't have to apologize at all. It's not your fault that the fire happened.

[She smiles a little weakly, but she honestly appreciates that he helped at all. It means the world to her.]

[dvaita]

[ It's less that Serph decided to come to the meeting and more that he was already here to begin with. Maybe he really likes ice cream, who knows. As soon as he sees people to begin to file in though, he hurredly gets up to leave. Well, as much as a rush as he's capable of as his movements are sluggish and exaggerated. Anyone who makes eye contact will notice that his eyes are bright gold as opposed to the usual silver.

You can try to call out to him or follow, but either way he's not making it farther than around the corner before he sits down head in his hands. ]

The hungers getting worse...

[alfin]

[ Alfin takes note of the man leaving, but doesn't try to stop him. If he's leaving, he probably wants to be alone. But the way he's moving... ]

...

[ She's worried. ]

[ayuzawa]

Some of us found some sort of liquid that left a long trail around the motel and the park. It looked as though that was meant to be set on fire.

In other words, this was all very much intentional, as far as I can tell.

[streetwolf]

[Whose this?

He doesn't know the name or the writing, but he goes anyway. Hands in his pockets and hood up and...Smelling like he hasn't washed at all since the fire. He smells of smoke. But he recognizes the girl, so there's that.]

You Sakura?

[paciscere]

[ matoba's been eating a lot of ice cream lately. it's almost like he's there all the time or something, haha.

at any case, here he is to attend the meeting. ]

We certainly have some brave souls here.

post meeting!

[londonstar]

[ you know what waver's glad about, despite this whole ordeal?

that the motel has no rules about smoking.

once the meeting is over, the lord el-melloi ii, who has until now kept himself as an upstanding member of society with a possible stick up his ass, will basically make himself at home at the motel lobby with a box of cigarettes, a bottle of whatever whiskey he managed to find, and a half full glass.

and, unless your name is sakura, if you approach him he's going to turn his gaze towards your character with Maximum Irritation. ]

What do you want?

[streetwolf]

I'm just passing through...

[He shrugs, it's the lobby. He can do what he likes. Cringing at the whisky and the smoke, and not even reacting to gaze.]

...No wonder to look like you're gonna keel over all the time using that shit.

[doublelammy]

Just wonderin' what you're up to.

[Millium offers him her usual bright smile.]

Didn't get enough burning today, huh? [She motions to the cigarette.]