recolle | FEBRUARY EVENT LOG

EVENT

FOUNDER'S DAY
It's finally here. This is the day the city has been waiting for. It's a day like no other when every resident of Recollé can be found buzzing with energy and excitement. Shops open early. The Recollé High School and University marching bands begin to play, and over in Tribunal Terrace Mayor Mayer strides up to the microphone atop his beloved giant chicken, Seabiscuit.

--wait, giant chicken? You're sure the Mayor has something important to say, but all you can do is focus on the fact that Seabiscuit didn't have bright red feathers the day before. The rest of the Mayor's speech may not get through to you, but it's his last sentence that makes everything official.

"Welcome to Founder's Day! Let's do our part and celebrate the city that we love."

I.
All of the hard work from the days prior has paid off. The weather is slightly brisk with no chance of snowfall until well into the evening and businesses are booming. Shopkeepers and employees working today will have their hands full taking orders from customers and keeping up with demands. Maybe that 50% off deal on wool-knit scarves wasn't such a great idea. On the other hand, residents that aren't working today will find the streets pleasantly busy. Chata has plenty of sidewalk sales to peruse. Music and the scent of cinnamon-sweet coffee will surely lure some people to the businesses in Tisse. School is closed for the day but an open campus tour runs a few times a day at the university, and the Founder's Day play is performed once in the morning and once in the evening at the Atrium.

Are you enjoying a day with your friends? Or are you stuck behind a register wishing you were? Wherever you may be, the spirit of Founder's Day is all around you.

II.
At noon sharp, the bands strikes up again as crowds gather around Tribunal Terrace. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the main attraction! That's right, it's time for the annual Founder's Day Parade featuring the city's newly elected royalty: King Kurt Wagner, Queen Maya Aimoto, Prince Ryoji Mochizuki, Princess Rose Strider, Duke Viktor Nikiforov, and Duchess Arlene Sinclair. The marching bands play with gusto as they stride through the streets, the Recollé High and Recollé University cheerleaders right behind them. Beautiful floats follow in their wake, all decorated with flowers and depicting the historical events of the city. One thing that's different this year, however, is the addition of beads from the King and Queen's float at the end of the parade. The Recollé Royalty's float-helpers sit on the edge of the float tossing colored strands of beads and candy to the audience below. Most residents may not notice, but the beads seem to be shaped like a new logo some residents are quickly becoming familiar with.

Residents will find that wearing the beads will produce some interesting results though. Are you on a romantic date? Your beads might slowly turn red with passion. Are you nervous about one of those floats suddenly veering off and rolling down the hill? Your beads might turn pitch black. No matter what district you're in after the parade these beads will respond to your current mood, and even if you take them off they seem to mysteriously turn back up in your pocket. If you take them off and try to get rid of them often enough, they might just appear around your neck, and you won't be able to remove them for the rest of the day. Then again, this doesn't seem to be a rule so much as a pattern. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to ditch the beads to your pocket instead of having them prominently displayed no matter how many times you do away with them. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. What's up with that?

The beads may not be everyone's first priority. After all, once the parade's said and done someone has to be on clean-up duty. Will you volunteer?

III.
Later, back at Tribunal Terrace, residents who passed by a large metal truck earlier in the week will quickly see what all of the fuss was about as Mayor Mayer walks Seabiscuit down the street, monitoring over a small, gated pen for Chocobo-back rides. You know the Mayor used to own a horse. Seabiscuit has always been a beautiful Palamino with a shimmering coat. Asking most of the other residents, however, will earn you a concerned look. Recollé has always been home to Chocobos. What's a horse?

Nearby there's a petting zoo that has been set up by the same company. Thankfully, those animals look familiar. Goats, sheep, bunnies and other small animals reside in the petting zoo. Are you the type to feed them? Or are you stuck on pooper-scooper duty? Gross.

The Chocobos themselves seem friendly enough, though the little ones are prone to nipping at hair and fingers. Are you brave enough to get closer to take a better look at these mysterious creatures? Do try to be careful...especially since some of them are prone to running away and relocating themselves in other parts of the city. Seems like even the Chocobos want the Founder's Day special from Expressive.

IV.
Mayor Mayer, as good and true as he is, isn't one of the most careful people in the city of Recollé. It would make sense to keep Seabiscuit away from the city's pride and joy, the world's largest ball of red string. If you've been in Recollé for any length of time, you'll immediately recognize the ball. Large enough to see from any district, the ball has been wound and displayed near City Hall for years.

Too bad Seabiscuit isn't one for tradition and this creature does startle easily. It's hard to say what caused the poor thing to become so scared that it kicked the ball right off of its pedestal, but once it starts rolling there's no stopping it. The red ball of string picks up pace, rolling down the streets and unraveling to tangle up anyone in its path.

The string winds its way around the city and all districts, seemingly pulling people in and tying them up with at least one other person. It seems that the only way to undo this mayhem is to find your other half and work together to unravel yourselves.

BONUS.
You don't remember that building in Tisse being there. Was it there before? Perhaps it was empty in the days prior to Founder's Day, but today a small neon sign illuminates the front of the building with the name of its current business.

Retrospec. Huh. Isn't that the name of that app that installed itself on your mobile device? As you've noticed by now, all aspects of the app are available to use. But there's still something ominous about that building. If you're brave enough to go inside, you'll find…

…nothing. The building appears to be empty save for a few chairs in a waiting room-type area and a large fake potted plant in the corner. There appears to be several doors and even an elevator, but it seems no matter how hard you try you can't access any of those. What a waste of time. (And why isn't there a staircase?) There's really no point in staying here when the festival's outside waiting for you. When you try to open the front door to exit though it appears to have locked behind you. Are you alone? Hopefully you aren't alone, that would be quite dreadful.

Of course, you can try a few things to break out. You can try ramming down the door for example. That won't work, but you may certainly try. Though the city is full of creative people with undoubtedly interesting methods of breaking free, residents locked inside Retrospec will find that the only way to open the door is by using the Retrospec app to post a status update, comment to someone else's status, or post a picture from their Founder's Day adventures. Is there a right or wrong way to do this? That's for you to find out. Time to get creative and maybe make a few new friends!

Welcome to

recolle's February event! As a reminder, all characters will be begin in-game AU'd as Recollé residents. As with our TDM, you may use any of the above prompts for ideas or make up your own depicting your Recollé AU! Prompts do not have to be set in the districts listed above. You can review our list of locations for what's available and be as creative as you'd like.

As a note, the effects from the beads in the second prompt can last throughout the month if you would like, but will fade as soon as February is over. Additionally, you may post Retrospec updates in your top-levels on this log for the bonus prompt if you wish to keep everything in one place.

As another note, by participating in this log in a thread with five or more comments from you, you are eligible for one free memory regain! This means you can claim a memory without a trigger required. Please see our monthly plotting post for more details.

Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Maya, meanwhile... doesn't really know what to do with herself! Up at the lead of the procession as "Queen," she's really not sure how she got there. She'd always been fairly confident of her abilities, and sure that left a tiny bit of ego to that end, buuuuut... it never really translated to friends or attention very much.

So, this? She doesn't know how to function, hence why she looks rather stiff waving to the crowd while other people seem to have taken to it a lot better.

Such as her counterpart here, who... as it would turn out... is a famous actor! Well, famous enough for her to be a little starstruck. As it stands she's not freaking out as much as she might normally, as the sudden spotlight and a mental voice questioning but why am I here is taking the lion's share of her attention.]

Ahahah... well, at least some people here are used to this sort of thing...!

[Kurt didn't know the person chosen to be his queen, but he did quickly catch on to how lost she seemed in the role. He wondered how to help her out of her shell.

Then, as she spoke up, he ceased his own antics as he looked towards her with an easygoing smile.]

Is something wrong, dear queenie? [Clearly that's what a king would call his wife.] Aren't you used to saying hi to the little people?

[Maya seems momentarily startled.] Queenie?! [It doesn't come out mad so much as unsure, and she does at least look a little embarrassed.

She laughs nervously, tugging at a strand of hair. Nervous habit.] Ah! W- well, yeah, I guess you could say that! Though I'm sure this is nothing you haven't dealt with, right?

Yeah, isn't that a cool royal nickname? [He gives a thumbs up to try and reassure her.]

...To be honest, this is my first parade. But I am used to being in the public eye! You might feel nervous, but doesn't this feel great, too? It's like being a living icon!

[Is it??? She wouldn't know!] Eh-heh... I mean. I guess! Maybe?

[She tilts her head to one side, thinking on that.] But... it feels really nice, yeah...! I'm just not... used to it. [She smiles a bit, though it's a bit... off. Not really forced, she just holds kind of a distant look.] The fact that I was chosen, I guess... I wasn't expecting that...!

[She's being a bit more honest here than she might normally be, but the situation sort of merits it.]

[She really does seem nervous... Kurt looks on calmly.]

Really? But hey, you still were chosen. So there's gotta be a lot of people who think you're pretty darn cool!

[She REALLY envies his calmness, and begins to realize she's just babbling a mile a minute.]

O- oh, I mean. ... I guess that's a good point, heh...! [Really, it is starting to make her feel a little better about it.

There's a slight pause as she looks out at the crowd, and then whispers back sharply.] Thank you, but also: can I get your autograph?

[Look. Like. She's not going to freak out on him like she might others of his stature given where they're standing but she's still going to ask.]

[It's only due to years of living the tv life that he's managed to be this calm, and in her nervousness he can almost see himself back in his earlier days as Fuzzy. So he understands very well and is glad to help her out.

And what she whispers to him is no surprise; he grins and nods with a brief wink before he responds, matching her whisper.]

Totally! I can't say no to an order from the queen, can I? Got anything on you?

[It's true, Maya's not really used to standing in a place like this. As well as not having that many close friends, and her mind constantly being all over the place, she never really settles on anything long enough to BE that close to anyone. Which is why anyone selecting her for this is such a surprise in the first place.

At the answer she claps her hands together happily, then remembers they're still at the front of the parade.] O- oh, thanks! ...although, maybe afterwards.

[Another, slightly less stiff wave to the crowd.] It'd probably look bad here.

As you wish, my liege! [He says as he imitates a curtsy, before he returns to waving to the crowd.]

Once this parade is done for, it'll be coming your way!

Hmmm... I'm not really sure, the king doesn't need to bow to the queen, does he?

[A shrug, and more waving. She's happily oblivious to most other things for the moment, at least.]

But, thank you! Gosh, at this point, I need to start a book...

Maybe we're a very progressive country!

[He snarks.]

Ha! A book doesn't sound like a bad idea. Seems like there's a few famous faces around town!

Well~ Okay, I can accept that.

[Flattery will at most times go straight to her her head. But the mention of that sparks an excitement in her that overrides her earlier nervousness.]

There are! Like Alicia Clover, you know her, right?! She's super nice! I mean, of course, so are you!

Edited (fixing mix-up :')) 2017-02-17 19:42 (UTC)

[He nods with a nostalgic smirk.]

Why thank you! Yeah, she's a cool one alright. And we really rock it when it comes to the comedy scene, no matter what the haters say! It's cool that we both ended up in Recolle... So you know her too?

[She nods enthusiastically.] I think it was fine, really...! People can be too harsh on things, sometimes!

[Or she's just easily pleased. Whichever comes first.]

But - yeah! I ran into her the other day, and she's been really nice...! [Especially since things have gotten ... weird.]

Yeah! You know what's up! [He answers her with a thumbs up.]

Man, it's cool that you met her. Maybe you have a lucky star - because you're lucky to be meeting some stars!

[She actually laughs sincerely at that, nodding.]

Well, maybe! I sometimes wonder if I don't just pull the short straw on some things, but maybe my luck is looking up!

[She grins.] Even beyond that, I'm glad I got such a nice King, or else this whole parade would be a lot longer.

[He scratches at his hair sheepishly.]

You're going to make me blush like that! I'm just trying my royal best... I'm just glad to help out the lucky queen!

FEBRUARY EVENT LOG

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