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.

Links

IC Rules
Room Assignments
Locations
Tasks

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

Comments

[cartesio]

[When Wayne and Sakura return, they arrive just in time to see the effect of water on the fire.

The firetruck that's nearby is there, though. From the open doors you can see what seem to be tanks of foam for the hose. If using water is only going to make things worse, then using a different thing should be good, right? The extinguishers are going to be of help, but more potency could be useful]

[alfin]

[ Alfin has finally arrived on the scene and sees that there are some townsfolk helping put out the fire, but there are more just standing there in fear and confusion. They won't be of much help like that, in fact, they're just endangering themselves. She needs to get them out of there before things get even worse. She runs up to the firetruck. ]

Excuse me! Do you have a megaphone I can borrow?

[ Look, we might have never seen one in use in canon but you can't tell me Zemuria doesn't have handheld megaphones. They have cellphones, they have megaphones. ]

[cartesio]

A megaphone?

[The fireman was about to reply when something get his attention on the other side of the street. Looking at that with some urgency, he decides what has priority]

Hold that thought.

[And jumps off the truck to go help. Sorry, Alfin, it seems the residents of the town have priority when it's about the public services.

But the truck is left unattended, and there's a megaphone attached to the top of the truck, and the wires that connect to it snake into the inside of the truck. There may be a microphone to talk into that megaphone in here!]

[alfin]

[ ...Well. That was rude. But she supposes she forgives him, given the situation. But she still needs that megaphone... She eyes the truck itself, and notices the megaphone attached to it's top, and follows the wires inside the truck. After a moment of deliberation, she jumps inside the truck. She'll apologize if the firefighter comes back, but for now, she needs to focus on saving the townsfolk.

Now... Where does that wire lead to... ]

[cartesio]

[Just as expected, not only there's a microphone for the megaphone, there's also a communication line towards other services, helpfully labelled in different ways.

'Megaphone', 'Police', 'Station', 'Aerial recon'.

Feel free to use anything you want from the console!]

[alfin]

[ ...Aerial recon? Wait, if there are planes, can't they help put out the fire?

Alfin switches the mic over to aerial recon. Okay, just... talk like Major Vander. ]

Requesting immediate backup for the fire-- Immediate backup. We need an air drop of fire retardant, right now. Over.

[ She can't exactly disguise that her voice is that of a 15 year old girl's, but she can at least sound professional. ]

[cartesio]

[A few seconds pass before an unidentifiable voice sounds on the other side]

Fire? Which one? [There are noises of clicking before the person talks again] Right, right, the ones near the park. Sure, boss.

[Apparently the person on the other side isn't very professional, Alfin sounds nothing like the fireman she had just talked to]

No can do much, we're running out of foam, but we can get rid of one of 'em. Which one you'd like, the one in the park or the one on the streets?

[Looks like you have enough only for one. It's your choice, Alfin: what's your priority? The immedate benefit of solving the fire that's starting to touch the citizens' houses, or the longer-term benefit of stopping the fire that could light up the park and expand further?

[alfin]

[ She's a princess. Princesses must think about the long-term benefits else their kingdom go up in smoke. If she can prevent the fire from expanding, it will be easier to recover from even if some of the citizen's houses get torched. But if the fire expands, there will be more damage than if it remains central to this area. Where this Erebonia, she would make certain the people affected by her choice would be properly recompensed... As it is, she can only pray for their forgiveness. ]

The one in the park. We'll handle the one on the streets.

[cartesio]

Understood, boss. The park it'll be.

[The connection is cut.

It takes a few minutes, but after a while the faraway noise of a plane approaches, until it's louder than the noise of the fire trying to consume everything. For a moment the shadow of a plane covers the place while it goes towards the park. If Alfin and anyone looks up, they'll manage to see a bright plane, crossing over the park. When it approaches the junkyard, a spray of foam falls from it, floating down to the raging fire.

Anyone who is near the junkyard can see how the foam crash onto the fire, showing to be rather effective. The flames it touches are almost smothered immediately, the foam stays there. Surely it'll be evaporate during the day, and even if more fire were to get there, it wouldn't be able to get past the foam.

The foam reaches all the way to the junkyard, so the only fires left are those on the streets near the motel.

Well done, the park is safe. The oppressive heat is gone, all that's left is the sun and the breeze that's still all over the town. Take a moment to breathe, you deserve it.]

[alfin]

[ Alfin breathes a soft sigh before switching the mic over to the police. ]

Prepare to receive evacuees.

[ She gives them a moment to reply, and only a moment. ]

[cartesio]

[Another inidentifiable voice crackles through the console. This thing needs better sound quality]

On it!

[Short and sweet. It sounds like it'd take a while for the police to arrive. Who knows how long they'll take, but at least you can be certain they'll get there at some point]

[alfin]

[ Finaly, finally Alfin connects the mic to the megaphone as was her original plan. ]

Citizens of Cartesio! We have established a safe location for you to evacuate to! If you are not helping put out the fire, head to the police station! There are police on the way to help guide you to the station, and give you any aide you might need. Please go in a calm and orderly fashion! I repeat! We have established a safe location for you to evacuate to!...

[ She repeats her message a few times, making sure that everyone hears it. ]

[cartesio]

[It takes some effort to get anyone to listen to her. Those who notice who is talking see someone who definitely isn't a fireman nor isn't authorized to order them around.

Then again...who'd stick close to a fire to risk getting hurt? Even if it seems many townspeople didn't trust Alfin's instructions, at least they're leaving the immediate area of danger.

Someone approaches, though. Maybe Alfin will recognize him as the man that owns the flower shop]

What's up with the fire? You know anything about this?

[alfin]

[ Well.. That's all she can ask for. She hops out of the firetruck before answering the man. ]

I'm sorry, I don't. I haven't been here long. Now that people are evacuating, I'm going to try to find out more about what's going on.

[ She did recognize the man from her visit to the flower shop yesterday. They hadn't spoken, but she had lingered in his shop long enough to recognize him. ]

Are you going to head to your shop instead of the police station? I can drop by later to let you know if I find anything out.

[cartesio]

I should be going back. Looks like things will be okay over here, so I better return. [He looks around] Sure got a lot of people here. Like half of the town is gathered here right now. Not a lot of stuff would make everyone come take a look at something, that's for sure.

[And indeed, it seems the amount of people gathered right now is extraordinaire. When did so many people get here? True, it was an impending disaster and people would want to see and help, but it's still surprising]

Tell me if you find out anything, okay? And enjoy your stay in Cartesio, it's nice to finally have visitors!

[He walks away, waving and going in direction to the flower shop. Looks like you're done with the urgent emergency, Alfin!]