GRAVEYARD

[cartesio]

The other side...?

Have you started feeling at home in Cartesio yet? The town has offered you every hospitality that its citizens could think of. They love every corner of this town and they want you to feel the same. Have you accepted Cartesio into your heart yet?

Then it should be comforting to wake in your hotel room. A ceiling you have gotten used to, the warmth of a blanket surrounding you, your own breathing... and silence. All-encompassing silence.
It perseveres when you leave your room, it perseveres when you leave the hotel... Cartesio is quiet because there is nobody in Cartesio who could be making noise. It's a ghost town.

There is only you now, you think. And then, just as you've given up, a noise comes to your ears. A voice, unmistakably. It's time to follow it.

As of Week 5 you may see random objects and buildings of any size flicker. For milli-seconds they seem to glow on and off, blur around the edges, even distort a little. It only happens for a moment at a time, but it happens fairly often.

Welcome to the Cartesio Graveyard. Your character has woken up in a version of the town that is devoid of citizens, but there do seem to be a few people around. Time to explore the mysteries of the other side. For a more thorough OOC guide, we have compiled an FAQ.

Links

Graveyard FAQ
Living Community

Comments

[chiefminion]

[It took Moloch a while to get used to, you know, being dead. Thanks a lot, Nine. Still, he knows he can't let himself be inactive. That's not how he is. He's going to do something useful, and try to find a way to make this entire thing make sense.

Which is why he strolls towards anyone he finds]

Okay, my name is Moloch and I'm trying to gauge how well we'd do if we band together.

[After how things went when he sat back and did nothing -- he was murdered -- he figures the least he can do is ensure nobody else will be murdered again, especially not him. Better put leadership skills to use! He led a roving band of mechanics who were formerly extremely dangerous prisoners, how hard can this be?]

What are your skills? And why are you here?

[Because really, everyone other than Nine are people he hasn't even seen before.

When he sees Nine, though, he frowns. He doesn't go away or anything, instead he crosses his arms and says:]

The least I ask for is an apology, and a pretty good one.

[linearcrash]

[ He doesn't appreciate the mop spear legacy?

Nine does wince at that. Rubbing the back of his head. ]

I'm sorry.

[ His voice is low and look there's no cursing or anything. He really is sorry.

Though how do you do a good apology? He's never needed to do one... ever? Ever. ]

[chiefminion]

Really? That's it?

[He could appreciate how brief it is, but it's hard to let it go when he was, you know, stabbed with an improvised spear in a rusky junkyard. Moloch's keeping his anger under check]

Did you at least have a decent reason or anything?!

a million years later

[linearcrash]

[ He looks away for a moment as he tries to figure out what he can or should even say.

Looking up to meet his gaze. ]

I'm not used to actually thinking anything through, but after the trial... [ A beat and then he shakes his head. ]

That doesn't matter. I don't think there's really a good enough reason, yo. I wanted to see my my family again. To make sure that bastard didn't do anything to them. Then I got the flag we made and you were there when I was gathering stuff that night... It was a lot of shit all going at once and I was weak, yo. I did something stupid..

[chiefminion]

[Moloch wants to be upset, he really does, but it's hard to be enraged when you're not dead. Supposedly. He rubs his face with both hands, groaning with discontent]

You know what, you're lucky there are other things to be worried about!

[Because otherwise he'd be giving you so much anger over this]

Just don't do it again!

[paciscere]

Hello. [ this guy is smiling, so he must be friendly, right? don't mind the fact that he looks rather unconcerned for someone who's supposed to be dead. ]

My name is Matoba and I'm good at this and that. [ so friendly and helpful. ] As for why I'm here... well, there are reasons, I suppose.

And you?

[chiefminion]

This and that tells pretty much nothing. There must be something you consider yourself good at that's above everything else.

[Moloch sounds distrustful because nobody without skeletons in the closet is so vague! Immediate distrust!]

You live here in Cartesio?

[Hoh, don't turn it around, buddy]

As I said my name is Moloch, and if you want to know more read that guestbook in the motel. I'm asking you directly precisely because you're not in it.

[paciscere]

[ he shakes his head. ]

No, I'm not asking your name again. I'm asking you to tell me what your skills are. Why are you here? The so-called guestbook isn't terribly detailed [ or precise in some cases ] if I recall correctly.

[chiefminion]

I'm a mechanic. Anything that's machines's my turf. It's hard to explain further than that because it's easier to show, you know.

[He sounds really confident about that]

As to why I'm here...I suppose this is where that Sergeant people guy puts people after they're revived. My head was intact, reviving me would have been easy.

[He can only guess he even received a new brand body or something, because he's uninjured]

[paciscere]

[ well, that's new. ]

I'm afraid that's all gibberish to me. Can you explain? Ah, and before we get confused again, I'm referring to the part where you were... revived.

[ he knows about mechanics already! ]

[theserpentsmiles]

[Here, Moloch, have a small kid of ambiguous gender and entirely unimpressive build. Nagisa was already approaching of his own accord; another unfamiliar face means another potential source of information on the new 'game'.]

It seems like we had the same idea. [Hm. Moloch, Moloch... Zinzer, the book said? Should Nagisa just give a rundown of the same information the book would have provided?] I'm Nagisa Shiota. I don't know why I'm here - Sergeant-san said we'd be sent home and knocked me out with some kind of electric shock. Apparently that was two weeks ago.

[That's the easy questions out of the way. One more, but it gives him pause. He'd already been open about his training in Mira's trial, so there's not a lot of point in hiding it now. Except maybe from Lovepon. She's kind of....volatile.]

As for my skills....uh. Do you want a full list, or more like broad categories?

[chiefminion]

[Ah, good, a cooperative person. Moloch isn't too surprised to hear the Sergeant lied]

So none of what happens even matter? Once the two months he mentioned were over he'd just knock us all out?

[Figures. Things can't ever go nicely]

Broad categories is fine. Just to give me an idea what you're capable of.

[theserpentsmiles]

I don't know. I do know someone I thought was dead is here, but it didn't feel like enough of a shock to be lethal. [He frowns, still unsure what to make of Lovepon and....all of this. And the way Natsume had been here but not.]

My specialties are research, observation, assassination, and tutoring. [He would probably lose a fistfight with a mosquito.]

[chiefminion]

I'm pretty sure I died. You don't just survive a stab like the one I received. Being revived isn't so weird, though.

[Moloch takes notes, raising his eyebrows. Research, observation, assassination and tutoring. Well one doesn't fit among the rest.

Tutoring, he means]

Right. You'd be good as a scout, I guess...

[To check stuff and fight enemies if they try to stop Nagisa, he figures]

[theserpentsmiles]

[He pauses for a moment. Moloch's words, "a stab like the one", "being revived"... He remembers Kayano. She couldn't have been dead. Sensei just got to her fast enough - they already knew her willpower was stronger than anything.]

It isn't where I come from. The dead don't come back. Ever. [Sensei is gone.] But Lovepon-san is in one piece and even has a pulse.

Recon, I can do. [That's basically scouting.]

[agoreable]

[ Having run into Nagisa and Nine already, Lovepon is finally getting used to actually speaking to people again so when Moloch approaches she's comparatively calm. ]

I was murdered. And I'm good with computers and torture.

[ ... yeah. That's a skillset. ]

[chiefminion]

You mean you torture by using these 'computers'?

[What's a computer anyway? Steampunk world doesn't have those!]

[agoreable]

[ She tilts her head at that, confused. ]

No, I know lots of different torture methods. Computers, I mean like, hacking and stuff. I'll find things on the net that you're not supposed to find.

[chiefminion]

[Hm. He's not sure what this is all about, but he figures it could come useful if it's ever needed. Also:]

Do you think you can use that ability you have to find stuff you're not supposed to around here? Even if this isn't the net?

[agoreable]

I'm a hacker, not a detective. I can look around, but I've been doing that for 2 weeks and it's just a ghost town...

[ A terrifying, empty ghost town. ]

[monstrology]

[The more of the supposedly dead Will comes across, the more he can't help but wonder just what in the skies is going on here. What does this mean for the others of the original group...?]

My, my! A real go-getter, aren't you?

[He expected the dead to be more woeful about the situation, really. Anyway, he gives a tip of his hat.]

Name's Will, for the record. I'm just a humble priest and monster researcher- though I do have combat experience. [A battle priest, if you will.] As for why I'm here...well, that certainly is a good question that I would love to know the answer to. I'm caught up in the Sergeant's business, same as you.

[chiefminion]

Someone has to do it. May as well be me.

[Because he sure doesn't have anything better to do, really.

Another unwilling participant into this entire mess, he supposes. There are so many by now]

You haven't seen anyone else, right? From before you arrived to the town for the first time.

[Maybe they're not the first couple batches, he means]

[monstrology]

Nope. To my knowledge, we were the Sergeant's first picks. He mentioned something along those lines himself.

[He hasn't found any evidence to contradict that just yet, so he's rolling with it for now.]

Thing is...the situation with our group is complicated. Some are acting strangely, and some haven't turned up. One even went missing completely. And, of course, some are in your group now.

[chiefminion]

One missing? Could that person have gotten out of the town somehow?

[This sounds promising, in his opinion!]

[monstrology]

Possibly? But you might want to ask Lovepon for more details about that. I wasn't here for it. Most I know is that she was here, and then suddenly wasn't. So if she did get out, she probably didn't say how she was gonna try.

[Which sucks, obviously.]