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

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.

[clearities]

[What startles her out of her reverie is the sound of the familiar voice, nodding as she presses her lips together.] Is there... [She does agree that they shouldn't stay here, lest they get hurt.] Do you think we could find some sort of fire extinguisher?

[londonstar]

[ considering that this city's fucking useless, waver realizes quickly that help is not going to come.

but still, he has to thank wayne is doing something useful and decides to take matters in his own hands. ]

Run back to the motel and see if there is one, my Lady. I'll stay here and see if I can help guide the citizens.

also mod ping just in case!

[clearities]

Right! [Thankfully Sakura is good in situations like this, so she's definitely going back to the motel to check if there's anything she can use here. She will also call out to anybody else who's still around for help if necessary as well, yelling out things like "There's a huge fire and we have to stop it! Someone, please help!" And thankfully being both a magical girl who is also a cheerleader means that she runs fast and doesn't get out of breath easily. But if there's nothing there that can be of any use, the next thing that comes in mind is to actually check the fire station -- she remembers that being on the map, so clearly there has to be an extinguisher there, right?]

[cartesio]

[The storage is well-stocked, and thankfully they paid attention to some fire safety measures, because there are several extinguishers in there. If that's not enough, there are also empty buckets.

Do you think you can carry all that by yourself, Sakura?]

[clearities]

[OH THANK GOD........

She wishes that that she could carry them all by herself but while we're here, let's also check if there's something in here that dispenses water for those buckets. If not, she'll prioritize on carrying the extinguishers herself. At the very least, she can carry two in her arms and then run back for more if necessary.]

[streetwolf]

[Wayne's still running around bashing on doors and yelling in the motel.

If you need a dog's body to boss around?]

[clearities]

[Her expression is serious as she calls out:] Excuse me! Um... could you possibly help me put out this fire? I'm thinking about going to the fire station to see if I can't find anything!

[cartesio]

[You want help! Looks like you're not getting it right now.

Undeterred, the fire keeps crackling and, attracted by the danger,some townspeople are beginning to gather. “What the hell is going on?”, “Did someone spill something here?”, “That’s my house! My house’s gonna burn!” are among the exclamations coming from the crowd.

Not the help you need, and while there are a couple police agents starting to arrive, there's no fireman in sight.

When you want something to be done, you may have to do it yourself, it seems]

[londonstar]

[ thanks for nothing cartesio public services. thanks for fucking nothing.

nevertheless, having told sakura to see if there's some sort of fire extinguisher, he turns to the crowd and tries to get their attention. ]

I need your attention! Whether you're a "tourist" or a citizen, we need to help each other in order to stop the fire! We need buckets of water in order to put it out and/or prevent it from reaching any further!

[cartesio]

[The crowd seems to quiet down a little to listen to Waver. Buckets...they should have some. A couple of the townspeople with houses somewhat away from the fire rush inside to bring pots with water, others taking them.

At least you have some people cooperating, Waver. Will that be enough? That remains to be seen.

Anything else you can do to help?]

[londonstar]

[ waver decides to lead the townsfolk the same way he would lead a group of studens during practice. he’s no good when it comes to manual labor, but he’ll make himself useful by giving out instructions. ]

Alright, some of you try to keep the ground close to the fire wet; it’ll help it avoid spreading further. The rest with water, start putting out the fire. Hell, if any of you have a hose or a fire extinguisher, use those too!

[cartesio]

["Understood!"

Looks like having someone who seems like he knows what he's doing is helping a lot. During Waver's directions, a firetruck finally arrives, stopping some distance away. A couple residents immediately run to it, to try to get the firehose and prepare to blast the fire.

All is fine...at least until some of the pots are emptied onto the fire.

As soon as the water touches the fire, the flames grow in intensity, threatening to scorch the residents. The heat’s quickly becoming too much to bear. It looks like water would only make things worse!

Yet those near the firetruck didn't notice that, they're still unraveling the firehose. This can get ugly if it isn't stopped]

[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.]

[theserpentsmiles]

[Three things are required for fire to start and continue: heat, oxygen, and fuel. Take away any combination of those and there's no way for the fire to continue burning.

He needs non-flammable material, and a lot of it. Rocks, water, sand, metal.....metal. There's a hell of a lot of metal in the junkyard. He doesn't have a lot of time so he'll figure out the rest of the plan on the way, once he sees what he's working with. Are there people near? He'll shout to anyone he spots:]

We need to keep it from reaching the park!

[...Something is weird, though. Asphalt may be made of the same kinds of things that end badly when exposed to fire, like petroleum and gasolene, and liquid asphalt is flammable - but it's generally made from the 'bottom of the barrel' material, after most of the usably flammable materials have been taken for other purposes. It almost never burns.

Not with a normal fire, at any rate. Which tells Nagisa this is probably arson. Dammit.]

[paciscere]

[ here's matoba arriving late to the scene, and probably the only person still smiling about everything. he doesn't look worried at all, but someone's gotta stay cool and fresh here. he waves cheerfully to nagisa when he hears his call, nods to show him that he understands, and then eyes the fire. oya, what an impressive fire. and it's heading right for him and the park, so he should do something about it, he supposes. ]

Well, it is my job as an exorcist to protect people. [ tossing that comment out like it's an afterthought.

he breaks off a sturdy branch from one of the trees and starts... drawing in the dirt path? first a large circle, about 6 feet in diameter. then, quickly a large one around that. split into sections. squiggles that look more like symbols than they do words. finally a bigger symbol in the middle, what looks to be a spiral around three hugging commas - the mitsu tomoe. the entire process takes mere minutes.

then he's off again to draw one, two more so that in the end, there are three arrays in a row, pointing at the approaching fire. binding seals, meant to slow down the fire and buy them time. ] These should help, but they won't hold up for long once the fire is here.

[cartesio]

[Matoba's actions may have saved the park. Almost as soon as he finishes the symbols, the fire seems to be deterred, it's not advancing as quickly as before. It was only matter of time until something was done.

Thankfully, something was done. A couple streets away, Alfin managed to arrange the Cartesio public services to do something useful. The foam covers the fire, flakes of it fall around Matoba and into the park. The heat is gone in a moment, for the first time since the day started, it feels like things aren't going to be as bad as they seemed before.

Still, there's the fire on the streets left, almost consuming the townspeople's houses. Sakura is helping with a fire extinguisher over there, and Waver is trying to organize people so they don't get hurt]

[cartesio]

[It's as if the gods heard you, Nagisa. Alfin's intervention saved the park!

Still, you're right in that the way the fire moves is odd. The way it's along the streets...there must be a cause for this.

Perhaps once everything's over you'll be able to find something about why this all happened? With some luck you will]

[theserpentsmiles]

[He'll start heading back toward the other fire, and examine the road along the way. Maybe something was spread over it? Even if the fire was started unusually, that can't be all. It would still spread normally...right?

Whoever is responsible for this must have been planning this in advance. He's sure it's a 'who'. Which makes this an assassination.]

[cartesio]

[If there was something spread all over the street to help the fire, it seems the fire consumed it. However, in a street that's still intact, there seems to be something useful: some sort of liquid on the asphalt, forming a line. Odorless, transparent, but undoubtedly abnormal. Given how it's in the middle of the street and some awful things have happened...

It's a confirmation, that's for sure: this was intentional. The exact cause of the fire is still a mystery, but there's no way it was an accident]