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

Am I kicking this off right, somebody's gotta

[theserpentsmiles]

["Awake" and "aware" are two distinct things, and one comes sooner than the other. It's some moments that Nagisa lies on the floor, groggy, operating too slowly. It's worse than when he'd been drugged. Ultimately, it's remembering the electric shock that snaps him to reality, and in a single fluid, athletic movement, he's leapt from the floor to his feet.

Cartesio. He's still here.

Good.

He'll start by thoroughly studying the guestbook. New faces. Not good. Only a few familiar faces - highly concerning. A distinct lack of his own face, raising a few questions.

Later, but not much later, Nagisa can be found systematically walking through the entire town, including a loop or two around the perimeter. Though he remains as casual and harmless as ever, there's something in how he moves... It's not cautious, but with purpose. He's a boy with a plan.

He will approach anyone who doesn't approach him first. Familiar or not, he has one first question.]

Do you remember anything from the last two weeks?

[cartesio]

[ Nagisa will find someone who doesn't approach him very soon. As soon as he makes it from the motel to the park, he'll catch sight of a boy who might be familiar. Natsume is seated on a bench, holding his hand out for a stray cat to sniff.

When confronted with Nagisa's question, he doesn't even look up. ]

[theserpentsmiles]

....Hello?

[Come on... He makes sure he's not doing the thing where he completely escapes notice again. Maybe he just wasn't heard.

He keeps a close eye to Natsume's tells, too. We might have a problem.]

[cartesio]

[ There's nothing. Though Natsume is clearly alive and well, alert to every movement of the cat, he doesn't show any sign of perceiving Nagisa at all. ]

[theserpentsmiles]

[He doesn't seem to be drugged or anything...

What if we try touching him? Just a gentle tap on the shoulder.]

[cartesio]

[ Nagisa can tap Natsume without issue - he is tangible and feels alive. He just doesn't notice he's being touched. ]

[agoreable]

[ Lovepon doesn't initially pay Nagisa any mind when they cross paths on the street. Even when he speaks, she seems tempted to just walk past, but then she turns around with a start and gives him a wide-eyed stare. ]

Y-you can see me?

[theserpentsmiles]

[He hadn't processed who he was looking at yet. Maybe because she's a whole person.]

Lovepon-san...?! [Not within expectations. Very much not. The dead don't come back.]

[agoreable]

[ Well, that's... that's her name. He said her name. Judging by the way her shoulders are shaking, she finds this to be a quite overwhelming experience.

But she nods. ]

I'm-- Yes. D-did you die? Did you get executed?!

[theserpentsmiles]

[Her tells are pretty intense. He has so many questions.]

Not as far as I know. Sergeant-san used some kind of shock to knock me out, but it didn't feel like enough to be lethal. Judging by the calendars, that was two weeks ago.

[He lets out a breath. This is weird. But weird is good, weird puts information on the table.]

It's good to see you....in one piece.

[agoreable]

[ In one piece, huh...? ]

That terrible woman... she really desecrated me... that much then....

[ She bites her lip in agitation, but then forces herself to relax just the tiniest bit. Deep breaths, Lovepon, deep breaths. ]

Two weeks... You really weren't on the other side then...

[ayuzawa]

You're–

[ she remembers him. nagisa, right? she talked to him briefly before that. at his question, she pauses, pressing her fingers to her temple. ]

Unfortunately, everything is a blur. I remember getting shocked...then, nothing.

[theserpentsmiles]

[He is, perhaps, better remembered as 'that kid who claimed to be an assassin' from the trial. He seems nothing like an assassin.]

I do, too...and nothing after that. I think we were kept drugged, but...I'm not positive.

[ayuzawa]

Nngh... [ drugged. god. what kind of sicko does this–oh that's right, the sergeant. ] This is ridiculous. What reason is there to keep us here? Hasn't the Sergeant had enough of this? [ apparently not!!! ]

[theserpentsmiles]

Apparently not, and I don't think we're the only ones anymore.

[Nagisa has been drugged before. It's never fun.]

[ayuzawa]

If the newspapers are to be believed, then it seems so. [ and honestly...as much as she hates to admit it, she is pretty inclined to believe them. ] Anyway, are you feeling alright, Shiota-san?

[paciscere]

Well, fancy meeting you here.

[ he sits in the motel lobby, going through the newspapers. but hey, he's polite enough to spare nagisa a glance and a smile. ]

And to answer your question: no. Though somewhat related - [ he holds up two newspaper articles. ] Have you read these?

[theserpentsmiles]

Surprise. [Nagisa is confused, but as gentle and polite as ever.

He looks at the papers, reading through the articles quickly. No culprit....re-opening...]

The new group is being misled.

[paciscere]

I suppose.

[ does he care that the new group is being misled? not at all. ]

But notice the date mentioned. "The tragedy occurred on March 31st"... Mira committed her crime on the 30th, did she not? The night of the thunderstorm. [ then there was the trial on the 31st before noon. ] During the trial, she was named the culprit.

[theserpentsmiles]

Come to think of it...there was something Sergeant-san said that sounded kind of like the "one death" he was after was Mira-san's, not Lovepon-san's.

[Things aren't quite adding up. They "left" on the first...and now it's the fifteenth...] So he's skewing the timeline. Why cover up the part about finding the culprit but not the full...

[He's already coming up with some ideas.]

[paciscere]

That's right. It doesn't make any sense - if we apply it to the events of that night, that is. We're missing a fair amount of days and memories, however... [ "fair" like he's talking about the weather. ] These articles could be referring to some other event completely.

[ then he laughs. ] That ice cream parlor sure has unfortunate luck if that were the case.

[monstrology]

Ah, Nagisa!

[Nagisa has (perhaps unsurprisingly) found Will at the chapel. He might be putting on a cheery greeting, but it's obviously a bit forced.

He shakes his head to answer Nagisa's question before elaborating.]

Not a thing. I went through the motel and found what I assume to be some information in there, but it's all correct...I'd say we've found ourselves in another set of unfortunate circumstances.

[theserpentsmiles]

[Oh, yay, another person who can see him. Not like Natsume. Nagisa, of course, knows forced cheer when he sees it, but it goes unmentioned. For now.]

Or, more like, we never left them. So far it doesn't look like we'll get answers about this. [Hmm. Nothing to do but investigate then.] I take it you don't recognize anyone from the guestbook other than the three who were with us?

[monstrology]

Apart from our not so blissful slumber, I suppose you're not wrong about that.

[Could that have even been considered sleep? The whole thing was so unpleasant.

Anyway, as for the guestbook:]

'fraid not. Though those three still being on the guest list raises more concern, doesn't it? [...] Must be what the Sergeant meant about choosing some of us.

[theserpentsmiles]

It didn't really feel like waking up after being drugged. And it didn't feel like enough of a shock to be lethal, either, but... Lovepon-san is here.

[Which, you know. Implies some somewhat troubling things.]

I wonder what his criteria were, in that case. And why he didn't just send the rest of us back. [Unless he...can't? That's something to ponder.]